John 20:4

4. Mere reports were rejected.

4. ἔτρεχον … προέδ. τάχ. τ. Π. Literally, began to run … ran on before, more quickly than Peter: τάχ. τ. Π. being epexegetic. The more usual form θᾶσσον does not occur in N.T. (John 13:27; 1 Timothy 3:14; Hebrews 13:19; Hebrews 13:23). S. John ran more quickly as being much younger. Would a second century writer have thought of this in inventing a story? And how simply does S. John give us the process of conviction through which his mind passed: the dull unbelief beforehand, the eager wonder in running, the timidity and awe on arriving, the birth of faith in the tomb. This is true psychology free from all self-consciousness.