Ghosts in the New Testament? – Part 2
Ghosts in the Context of the Gospels
During Greco-Roman times, the definition of ghost included gods and divine beings [1]. Felton [2] discusses ancient beliefs about what ghosts were, with Prince [3] further developing Felton’s work producing four classifications of ghostly accounts:
- translated mortals [never died, just disappeared and then reappeared to the living],
- heroes [disembodied spirits whose bones and graves were revered],
- revenants [reanimated corpses] and,
- disembodied spirits.
As there already existed a large corpus of stories regarding apparitions of the dead within the Greco-Roman world in which the disciples lived [4], it is highly likely they would have understood ghosts within several of Felton and Prince’s categories. It is also against this cultural background that modern translators correctly use the word ‘ghost’ within these Gospel accounts. When we look at beliefs about the dead in the Old Testament and Second Temple Period, we shall see that a belief in the dead communicating with the living was fairly commonplace in their culture and ancestry.
The Disciples see a Ghost
22 Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. 23 And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24 but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. 25 And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea. 26 But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”
Matthew 14:22-33 – Parallel Passage is in Mark 6:45-52
28 Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” 29 He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” 31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 And those in the boat worshipped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
The term ‘ghost’ appears as a translation of the Greek word phantasma in Mt. 14:26 and Mk. 6:49. The context of these verses describe Jesus’ appearance to the disciples walking towards them on the water whilst out on the lake, in the darkness and far from land (Mt. 14:23-24; Mk. 6:47; Jn. 6:17,19). In fear they cried out thinking they saw a ghost.
Note that this comes straight after the feeding of the five-thousand, which itself is hot on the heels of the disciples having just buried the headless body of John the Baptist. They’ve all been sent ahead of Jesus whilst he goes up onto a mountain to pray as well as probably grieve for his cousin, John. If Jesus wept over his friend, Lazarus at the news of his death, we would naturally expect Jesus to be grieving for his cousin.
A question now arises: with the death of a friend uppermost in their mind at this time, and a culture where the dead were able to appear as ghosts, could they have thought that this was John the Baptist coming to them posthumously? Crisis apparitions of the recently deceased to those who knew them were accepted as a possibility, and a few are found in ancient Greek records, such as Vergil’s story of the ghost of Creusa, wife of Aeneas [5].
Whilst we may not be able to provide a definitive answer, I personally think that on the balance of probability, it might just be that they did think they were having a visitation from the ghost of John. Remember, he had died a violent death at the hands of Herod, and culturally those who died in such a violent way were called biaiothanatoi [6], being understood to be restless, wandering spirits of the dead.
A Ghost Story in the Gospels
The gospel writers record this in the style of a classic ghost story, being set in a windy, “fourth watch of the night” (ESV), which is between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m., i.e. in the pre-sunrise light. The lighting detail is important because ghosts in antiquity required a small amount of light to see them as, unlike their modern depictions, they didn’t glow[7]. They were often perceived as shades, seen in just the right amount of light, for too much would make them disappear in the glare of the sun. The story also takes note that the disciples were afraid, another motif for the typical ghost haunting set at that time of the day (and still used in today’s ghost stories).
Having written a ghost story according to their cultural style, they then break the mould of the ghost story, challenging their audience’s understanding of who Jesus is. The disciples are recorded as understanding that a ghost was approaching them on water. So what? Well, for both them and the original readers, this would be an absurdity – in their culture, ghosts could not travel across water, only gods, god-gifted rulers and divine beings [8]! Rather than believe the evidence that Jesus was a divine being, the disciples were actually willing to believe the absurd about him, that he was a ghost crossing water. This may explain Peter’s further testing of this apparition’s identity by asking it to give him the power to walk on water too (if it was merely a ghost, absurd as that was, it wouldn’t have the power to aid Peter).
At the end of the Matthew account, when Jesus steps into the boat with Peter, they all recognise his divinity, calling him the Son of God.
It is important to note that Jesus does not chastise the disciples for their belief in ghosts in both accounts of this event, which he could have, thus allowing the writers to place on record the futility of belief in ghosts. In this omission, both the writers and Jesus appear complicit with the disciples and readers belief in ghosts as real entities. Whilst on its own this is an argument from silence, in conjunction with another part of Scripture dealt with in the next part of this series, the argument has strength.
Next time we explore the Resurrection of Jesus, which is also uses the ghost story genre, set in the time just before dawn. We’ll also see the gospel writers again breaking of cultural expectations regarding ghosts and Jesus’ divinity.
Bibliography
Combs, J. R. (2008) ‘A Ghost on the Water? Understanding an Absurdity in Mark 6:49-50’ in Journal of Biblical Literature, vol. 127, no. 2, pp. 345-358.
Felton, D. (1998) Haunted Greece and Rome: Ghost Stories from Classical Antiquity. Austin, Tx: University of Texas Press.
Prince, D. T. (2007) ‘The ‘Ghost’ of Jesus: Luke 24 in Light of Ancient Narratives of Post-Mortem Apparitions’, Journal for the Study of the New Testament, vol. 29, no. 3, pp. 287-301.
References
1) Combs, 348
2) Felton, 22-37
3) Prince, 289
4) Felton
5) ibid, 29
6) ibid, 25
7) Combs, 351
8) ibid, 347
