Gospel material was not, for the most part, arranged, as Papias stated, ‘in (chronological) order’. Nevertheless, whatever Papias himself (or his informant) meant precisely by this, the claim was probably related to the desire to defend the Gospel against charges that it differed in its arrangement from that of the other Gospels (especially John). The Papias tradition has indeed a defensive or apologetic air and this may be the clue to its origin. In emphasizing the accuracy of its contents (though