NOV IC 1926 B, e Seogiga, sew BS 2410 .G52 1926 Gibson, George Miles, 1860- A history of New Testament times Patio ORY (Or NEW TESTAMENT TIMES Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2022 with funding from Princeton Theological Seminary Library https://archive.org/details/historyofnewtestO0Ogibs_0O welfare and salvation of the people depended upon their unhesitating obedience to the rules the rabbis at- tached to the daily life. Sacrifices, feasts, ritual, pil- grimages, offerings of tithes, rigid Sabbath restrictions —these were enjoined as the vital elements in their religion, 2. Both in theory and in practice Pharisaism gave emphasis to the negative side of life. “Thou shalt not’ was the dominant note in its appeal to both old and young. Withdrawal from contact with the mul- titude of things that, according to their interpretation, brought defilement was made a fundamental duty; and this led to endless washings of dishes, of utensils, of the hands and person, and to a studied isolation of themselves from the common folk about them. Natu- rally, this resulted in the creation of a sect, a church within a church, a sort of “holier than thou” group, whose spirit became intolerant and whose piety became 63 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES offensively obtrusive. They delighted in praying on street corners that they might be seen of men. It is not surprising to learn from some of the things that Jesus said of them that there were many hypocrites among them, for such a scheme of life would have a strong tendency to beget the spirit of hypocrisy. There were, however, sincere, heroic souls among them, men who were living in all good conscience toward God. 3. Starting with its rabbinical assumptions, Phari- saism, with its exacting spirit and endless details, was a natural development. If man is to be saved by ac- cumulating commandments and restrictions, then his life must consist of ceaseless inhibitions and a contin- uous effort to make conduct conform to a complicated system of rules, This was the “yoke” against which Peter protested when he declared that “neither we nor our fathers were able to bear” it. The insistence that righteousness was obtained solely through unfailing observance of the Mosaic Law, while rabbinical inter- pretation was constantly adding to the duties involved, was most discouraging to faith and deadening to in- telligent religious hopes. 4. The carrying out of the idea of “the separated ones,” which was the real significance of Pharisaism, had the practical effect of creating a sharp division be- 64 a A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES Ek EA Tan ear et a OS Le So tween them and the great body of their orthodox fel- low countrymen. However willing the common people may have been to acknowledge the validity and bind- ing force of the minute prescriptions with regard to Levitical purity and the use of foods, strict observance was for them impossible. The daily tasks, to which they were driven by the necessities of life, made con- tact with many of these forbidden things inevitable. But in the eyes of the regular Pharisees all such were to be regarded as unclean, and in order to forestall any tisk of defilement they avoided as far as possible all intercourse with this class. They held that genuine Israelites were those, and only those, who scrupulously observed both the written and the oral law, with special emphasis on Levitical purity, tithes, and the reg- ular religious performances. The rest of the people— the great mass of the Jews—were simply the common herd. Hence the heartless words: “This multitude that knoweth not the law are accursed.” This throws light on the bitter criticisms heaped on Jesus because of his free intercourse with publicans and sinners. Their de- mand for ceremonial and outward purity created also a determination to make Judea an isolated common- wealth, removed, as far as it was possible, from all danger of contamination with heathen life. 9. But in spite of its religious exclusiveness 65 re ee A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES RCA tee ae ROR ol CS ORE Pharisaism cannot be considered a “sect” in the full sense of that word. In their public worship they had to meet the regular Jewish community on a common basis. They must worship in the temple and in the synagogue alongside the great mass of their fellow countrymen, since they all held in common the same general doctrines and were all alike the sons of Abra- ham. This enables us to understand in part the fact that, notwithstanding their undemocratic spirit as shown in their effort to avoid social defilement, they ultimately became the most popular and influential par- ty among the Jewish people. Even the Roman rulers and the high priests had to recognize their superior influence and power. The multitude was with them and finally officials of the Sadducean party had to come to their terms in matters of state. Even when the high priest was still the head of the Sanhedrin and the Sad- ducees were probably in the majority in that body, the Pharisees were the real rulers in determining religious questions. Other things entered into this popular favor. Notwithstanding their offensive self-righteous- ness they were not as undemocratic and as unapproach- able as were the Sadducees, they persistently cultivated national hatred toward the Romans, and their appeal to the Law commanded the respect of many who despised their petty restrictions and endless casuistries. 66 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES 6. It is easy to misunderstand the patriotism of the Pharisees. Theirs was a religious patriotism. What they longed for was not the establishment of a merely independent, secular kingdom of their beloved Israel, but a cleansed people, an Israel transformed through the observance of the whole law, a nation from which all sinners were excluded and over which God reigned in the person of his representative. After their re- peated and humiliating defeats by other nations most of them were now looking for the setting up of such a kingdom, not by political methods, but by the direct intervention of Jehovah; and the one way in which they thought they could prepare the way for and hasten this divine intervention was by emphasizing the law and strictly carrying out its commands. 7. Meanwhile the Gentile order under which they were living was to be recognized as a chastisement for their people’s violations of their law and must for the time be endured; still it was held to be violation of the sovereignty of God over his own people. The one and only rightful king of Israel was God, and there could be no legitimate ruler except God’s vicegerent, a son of David. Hence the rule of the Herods and of the Romans was most grievous to the Pharisees, and they constantly fanned the flames of hatred toward 67 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES Rome until it finally burst forth in a conflagration that swept the Jews out of the country. 8. Thus the Pharisees so stamped their views and ways of life upon the whole social and religious life of the Jews that Judaism and Pharisaism came to be al- most synonymous terms. And this dominant spirit was extremely provincial and intolerant. The Pharisee worshiped instruments. Institutions, customs, ancient traditions were of far more significance to him than were men, or the real truths about life. He was, both in temperament and training, a traditionalist, and was always looking for precedent and listening for the voices of the distant past. His God was the God of Israel, who had spoken to his fathers in the long ago and had hated and overthrown their enemies. But of God as a being of high ethical principles, he had the most inadequate conception; and that God was now immanent in all the affairs of human life never entered the current of his thought. Doctrines, rites, ceremo- nials—to these he gave his utmost loyalty and upon those who did not accept and observe them he was ready to visit the severest penalties. The tithing of mint and anise was of much greater importance to him than were justice and mercy, and adherence to his trivial Sabbath restrictions, than was the healing of one who for many years had been bound by disease. Thus 68 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES Judaism, in the atmosphere in which Christianity was to be cradled, was cold and hard, critical and cruel. This spirit later reveals itself most strikingly in the conduct of the Sanhedrin and other officials toward both Jesus and Paul. UNSPIRITUAL TONE OF JUDAISM 1. Judaism at this time was seriously lacking in high idealism. This may be especially observed in its views and customs with regard to tithing. To their flocks and herds, to the produce from their fields, and even to their garden vegetables, the tithing law was most rigidly applied. But to what end and for what pur- pose? First, because this was the immediate condition to material prosperity. “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, and see if I will not pour you out a bless- ing’’—cried the prophet, and the blessing, as Judaism was then interpreting it, was to be more abundant crops and more fruitful flocks. Then this tithe was to be used in their own interest—in defraying their temple expenses and in feeding and caring for their poor. That this view of the tithe was one of the special fac- tors in both developing and revealing their hypocrisy, is made evident in the language with which Jesus tore off their disguise and left bare their pettiness and ghastly selfishness. Thus Judaism at this period was 69 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES largely bereft of the spirituality that characterized their fathers and inspired their great prophets. 2. But there was another side to Judaism. Not- withstanding the moral defects and the doctrinal hard- ness and narrowness: we have just reviewed, there were teachers among the Jews who went behind all of their casuistry to the fundamental things in their religion and gave a spiritual and constructive view of life, while they also insisted on a freer and more neighborly intercourse with those among whom they lived. These teachers insisted that the essence of Judaism was simply faith in the one true God and a life of purity and up- rightness: “What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” These views made a strong appeal to thoughtful and earnest-minded men and seemed to of- fer the help that was needed for their distraught and blinded world. There was also a growing tendency upon the part of these more thoughtful leaders to tone down the rigor of their ceremonial requirements and thus soften and make more attractive their religion. Thus their pure monotheism and their finer ethical ideas were made to have a more winsome appeal to the conscience and the common sense of the more thought- ful among the other races about them. 3. This larger and more attractive view of their 70 ee EE SE TT SS SS EE TERRE FI TE TOE SSS SET A TEE CR SEE A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES religion was due to the insight and sublime idealism of the great prophets. Indeed the remarkable vitality of Judaism, weighted as it was with rabbinical narrow- ness and casuistry, was due to the unconquerable spirit and the burning messages that had come down to them from the prophets. These were men who, under divine illumination, had been freed from the in- tellectual restrictions of legalism and ritualism, and had discovered that great principles determine the his- tory and destiny of both individuals and nations. In- stead of interpreting religion in terms of petty rules and rites, instead of thinking of God as a Being pledged simply to the task of making Israel prosperous and politically dominant, these men saw him as the God of the whole earth and a Being of infinite righteous- ness; and they realized that religion must be interpreted in the terms of those great principles of righteousness which have to do with the inner life—the motives, the purposes, the desires. They therefore declared that when the people failed to harmonize their lives with these inexorable principles they must suffer and go down in defeat, while true repentance and loyalty to God would bring deliverance from their entanglements and establish them as “the chosen of the Lord.” 4. This prophetic spirit glorified the Messianic hope that oppression and repeated defeat had awakened, and, 71 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES freeing it from Pharisaic fanaticism, expressed it some- times in terms of the “kingdom of the saints’ and again in the terms of an individual deliverer, “The Anointed of God.’ In either case they believed that through this Messiah.God would sweep away the evils that were afflicting them and would establish in right- eousness a kingdom that would have no end. The persistent and progressive conception of the Messianic hope, that ran like a golden thread through the religion of the more spiritual of the Jewish people, was due to this noble group of inspired prophets. There was wide difference of view among the people as to how the Messianic kingdom was to be realized. Some looked for its establishment through organization and force, while others, despairing of success through any sort of political means, confidently awaited divine in- tervention in the form of some fearful cataclysm that would end the old order and establish the true king- dom. However vague and fanatical the Messianic hope may have been in the mind of the masses, the clear-eyed prophets insisted that the God of their fathers was to triumph and reign in righteousness, and something of this exalted conception was at the center of the hope that possessed every Jewish mind in the first Christian century and made every Jewish heart expectant. 72 gee ett eile ls etd ma al a tc A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES See al TL a al Le alae Faith and loyalty toward the God of their fathers, notwithstanding the collapse of many cherished expec- tations, and a tenacious hold on certain great moral principles, despite an environment noted for its pagan- ism and immorality, make Judaism the outstanding religion of the ancient world. God had revealed to her certain fundamental truths and principles that the human heart could never relinquish, and the soil was thus prepared for the planting of that final form of religion through which all the nations of the earth are to be so graciously blessed. QUESTIONS 1. What was it that called the Pharisaic party into exist- ence? 2. What did Pharisaism stand for? 3. Who were the Sadducees and how did they differ from the Pharisaic party? 4. Why did Pharisaism stamp itself so conspicuously on the life of Judaism? 5. What were the outstanding and most dangerous ten- dencies of Pharisaism? 6. What is the great danger in making religion to consist in a system of rules and rites? 7. What attitude did the great prophets assume toward a religion of rites and mere routine? BIBLIOGRAPHY Gover, The Conflict of Religions in the Roman Emptre. GarvneER, Religious Experiences of St. Paul. 73 CHAPTER, THE MORE IMMEDIATE PREPARATION FOR THE BIRTH OF CHRISTIANITY THE most momentous event in the history of the race was the birth of Christianity. It marks such a distinct turn in the tide of human affairs that modern civiliza- tion traces to it its origin, and all of the formative forces that have been contributing to the making of a better world are found rooted in this religion. It is difficult for us to realize how radically it has changed man’s views concerning God and transformed his whole outlook on life. As Dr. Glover has expressed it: “Jesus Christ came to men as a great new experience. He took them far outside all they had known of God and of man. He led them, historically, into what was in truth a new world, into a new understanding of life in all its relations.’”’ For such an epochal event we may reasonably look for a long process of provi- dential preparation traceable through the great move- ments of history, since this “from the foundation of the world” has been the “One far-off divine event To which the whole creation moves.”’ 74 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES Since Christianity is defined as “the doctrines and teachings of Jesus Christ,’’ we may for the purposes of this chapter say that it had its birth when Jesus gathered a group of disciples about him and began to reveal his mind to them and to start them out in his way of life. The birth of Christianity was therefore the beginning of the unfolding of a great body of truth and the starting of a mighty spiritual movement, and these were to reach and vitally affect the whole structure of human life. For such a daring adventure the most opportune time in history must have been chosen. 1. The extension of the Roman Empire and its strong centralized government may be regarded, in a sense, as providential means in preparing the world for the birth and growth of Christianity. In the crude stage of human life at that time it seems that an autocratic government was best suited for securing in- dividual rights, maintaining a stable government, and making possible a peaceful state of society. The strong government of the Czsars made every citizen’s life measurably safe wherever he might find himself within the vast sweep of its territory. Thus when Paul in his journeys in extending Christianity was attacked by “false brethren,” or by Gentiles of the “baser sort,” he had only to declare himself a Roman citizen to 75 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES secure immediate protection. War was no longer a menace that weighed on the people’s spirits, since a foreign war anywhere on the soil of Rome’s far-reach- ing territory could hardly be thought of. Only civil war could be feared and the Roman army was so powerful that this was thought by the people to be almost impossible. The public mind was not, there- fore, enthralled with fear. 2. That there might be easy communication between the city of Rome and her numerous provinces, a great system of highways was constructed, leading from each province or district directly to Rome, and along these highways inns, taverns, and other places of entertain- ment were prepared, so that travelers could easily find places for rest and refreshment. Thus was made pos- sible at the opening of the first century safe and reason- ably comfortable travel throughout the Roman world. These facilities, combined with certain peculiar social conditions of the day, begat a desire for wider knowl- edge and gave a general impulse to travel. Officials and government messengers passed busily back and forth between Rome and her various provinces, and from province to province. Centurions and soldiers were also regularly circulating along these highways, while numerous embassies to Rome from the cities in various parts of the Empire, or from Rome to the 76 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES governors of the distant provinces, pressed their way along these great national arteries of trade and travel. 3. Many were traveling for purposes of health, ed- ucation, or purely for pleasure. Large numbers of patients from great distances visited curative springs and the famous medical institutions connected with religious centers, and students flocked by the thousands to the celebrated schools at Athens, Alexandria, and Rome. Then there was a large floating element in search of employment pouring its streams along these roadways into the great cities, particularly into Rome. There was therefore not only a ceaseless multitude cir- culating over the Empire, but also a great variety of people from all walks of life. Hence men of all shades of thought intermingled, and new ideas easily passed from mind to mind. These physical conditions and this general habit of travel made possible that gather- ing in Jerusalem from all parts of the Roman Empire on the Day of Pentecost; they were also necessary conditions for the rapid spread of Christianity over the Roman world. 4. Another fact worthy of mention in this provi- dential preparation for the introduction of Christianity was the universality of the Greek language as a means of both oral and written communication. As already noted, Rome was made up of peoples from many races Lf A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES LL and tongues and the Greek had become one of the two languages in universal use. Most, if not all, of the books of the New Testament were written in the Greek, and this highly developed language, with its superior facility in expressing delicate shades of thought and thus conveying to the mind spiritual ideas, seems to have been providentially ordained as the most effective means of transmitting to the world this highest revelation of truth. 5. Greek philosophy and literature, marred as they were in some of their conceptions of the universe and of human life, rendered a notable service in preparing the human mind to think in the larger terms of the Christian religion. The increased stimulus given to travel and intercourse under the Roman sway made the people generally acquainted with the rich treasures of Greek learning; this immensely enriched the minds of the people, and also created a bond of intellectual and moral sympathy. The literary and artistic genius of the Greeks became generally recognized, and their achievements in philosophy, literature, science, and art were esteemed and appropriated by the many nation- alities that commingled in the Roman Empire. Thus the intellectual range was immensely extended, the spirit of inquiry was greatly quickened, and the mind 78 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES was made more hospitable to new adventures into the wide realms of thought. JEWIsH CONTRIBUTION 1. It was the Jewish race that made the most pro- nounced, the most vital, contribution toward preparing the world for the coming of the Christian religion. We have already referred to the service the Jews ren- dered the world in giving it their exalted monotheism. From the days of Abraham they had held before men a unique conception of the oneness and spirituality of God. “The Lord our God is one Lord,” they de- clared, and in his nature is “high and lifted up” far above all that is material. The great prophets, whose minds came in such a remarkable degree under the il- lumination of the Divine Spirit, filled this idea with its larger meaning and proclaimed him the God of perfect righteousness and the ruler of the world. These prophets also insisted that he was approachable, that he was reasonable, that he cared for mankind. They represented him as crying to his erring people, “Come now and let us reason together.”’ Loyalty to him, therefore, upon the part of his people, and devo- tion to his great ethical principles, must eventuate somehow in victory over their enemies and in their general well-being. It was this idea deeply embedded 79 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES in their minds that turned Pharisaic teachers with such eager hearts to the search for the path of righteousness, notwithstanding their fatal mistake in adopting the way of casuistry and ritual. In their blindness they were “feeling after God, if haply they might find him.” 2. The literature of the Jewish people had a far- reaching influence in preparing the soil of the first Christian century for the planting of the truths of the gospel of Christ. This literature was a slow growth through many generations and, springing out of the throes of profound personal and national experiences, it dealt with the fundamental questions of human life. “Holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”” With the consciousness that the hand of the Lord was upon them, these men, with poetic insight and prophetic passion, dared to speak for God and thus make known his mind and the great ethical principles by which he was governing the world. This literature made its appearance in the form of history, of homily, of poetry, of prophecy. With its charm- ing imagery, its deep tone of sincerity, and its clear note of authority, it everywhere challenged the mind to a deeper study of the great questions of religion. 3. With the Jewish people there was a growing feeling that the fullness of time had come for the God of their fathers to make bare his arm and fulfill his 80 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES promise of a glorious victory for his chosen people. Hence there was at the opening of the first century a widespread expectation that “the wrath to come,” which was to be poured out on their oppressors as the initial step in founding the kingdom of the Mes- siah, was about to be turned loose. Moved by a strong impulse to equip themselves for this great event, there were those, like the Essenes, who, yielding to a ten- dency toward the ascetic life, retired from general con- tact with society and gave themselves to the most rigorous self-denial and the most persistent self-dis- cipline. Others, like Simeon and Anna, led lives of quiet devotion in the ordinary walks of life, animated with a growing conviction that God was about to send the long-looked-for Deliverer who would lead his people out of their humiliation “into a large place,” where there would be nothing to hurt or make afraid. There were, no doubt, many spiritually-minded house- holds in which this expectation was growing daily more poignant and concerning which they thoughtfully con- versed as they gathered about their hearthstone. It was through such means as this, we may believe, that the Holy Spirit prepared Elizabeth and Mary for their holy functions. This Messianic conception awoke far back in Jewish history with something of the vagueness of a dream, 81 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES but as misfortunes continued and their minds opened to the Spirit it took on more definite form and dif- fused itself through all their religious thinking. At the opening of the first Christian century it had spread among the masses of the people until the Sadducees alone refused to share in this hope. The people at large were waiting for their Deliverer and eagerly ex- pectant concerning his appearance. THE CONTRIBUTION OF JOHN THE BAPTIST In an atmosphere thus charged with Messianic ex- pectancy, and in one of the deeply pious homes in the tribe of Judah, there was born a child, at the very beginning of our era, who was to become the fore- runner of the Messiah in the more immediate preparae tion of the public mind for the ministry of Jesus. John’s father was a priest and his mother was one of those beautiful souls that had been nourished and re- fined by religion and had become inspired by pro- longed dwelling on the Messianic hope. This child, known in manhood as John the Baptist, a child of promise, a gift of God to these devout parents, was to be so trained and so empowered that he could “make ready for the Lord a people prepared for him.” Through all of his childhood and youth he must have been kept face to face with the fact that he was sent 82 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES of God to do a specific work in preparing the way for the promised Messiah. We can easily imagine the effect that such a religious atmosphere—such an un- usual conception of the significance of one’s life and . such exciting expectations—would have on the mind of a highly sensitive child and youth. It seems that quite early in his manhood John became an extreme ascetic, retiring into the wilderness and there medi- tating amid the silences of nature on the hopes of his people and on the strange implications of his high call- ing. The first view history gives us of him after the story of his birth is his sudden emergence from his long retirement with his startling message that the kingdom of heaven was at hand. Of course the sub- stance of such a message would at once attract wide attention; and adding the deep earnestness of the speaker and the authority with which he spoke, we can understand why multitudes were drawn from all classes of society to hear this prophet of the desert. His emphasis on personal repentance and on the im- mediacy of the new kingdom made his preaching im- mensely effective and this in a large way contributed to the preparation of the public mind for the richer and more vital message of the One who came after him. 83 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES Tur BirTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF JESUS 1. About six months after the birth of John the Baptist Jesus was born in the little town of Bethlehem of Judea. Thither Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Joseph, to whom she was espoused, had gone from their home in Nazareth to be enrolled under a special order from Cesar Augustus. “In the political con- dition of the Roman Empire, of which Judea then formed part, a single whisper of the Emperor was sufficiently powerful to secure the execution of his mandates in the remotest corner of the civilized world.” Hence, the explanation of the appearance of Joseph and Mary at the time and place appointed at such a critical period in Mary’s life. In the New Testament record we are told that Mary was betrothed to Joseph as his wife and, as we have already seen, it was not unusual for the couple to have no further ceremony after that of the betrothal, and their living together was regarded by society as good form. 2. Joseph and Mary had their modest betrothal ceremony in keeping with the simple custom of the humble class to which they belonged. Luke, no doubt the most careful historian who has made a contribu- tion to our early records concerning Jesus, relates a most beautiful story, as striking in its reserve as in 84 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES what it discloses, of a divine interposition resulting in the virgin birth of Jesus; and while it is possible to conceive that God might have chosen some other way of sending the Messiah into the world, still from the standpoint of history there is no reasonable ground for discrediting this New Testament account. Luke in- forms us that he went back to the sources and “traced the course of all things accurately from the first.” It must, therefore, have been currently reported among the “eye witnesses” of Jesus, whom Luke seems care- fully to have consulted. 3. The multitudes that came up for this enrollment from distant quarters because of ancestral connection with this historic village, soon crowded its little inns and public houses until all sheltering retreats were sought and gladly utilized by travelers weary with their long journeys. Joseph and Mary, along with many other belated travelers, took refuge for the night in one of the numerous caves which abound in the lime- stone hills about Bethlehem, places which were ordi- narily used to shelter and protect domestic animals. Here Jesus was born. Although we have little more than occasional ref- erences to Joseph and Mary by the New Testament writers, enough is revealed to enable us to form a pretty definite idea of their character and inner life. 85 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES They were both intensely devout and were no doubt deeply imbued with the current Messianic hopes of their race. They evidently were deeply thoughtful and were anxiously concerned about their nation and the fate the future had in store for their distressed people. With such profound natures and with such a thoughtful attitude toward life, their home life would naturally be well ordered and pervaded with the spirit of religion. In such a home moral and religious train- ing would have first consideration and would be of a high order. There is certain to have been some con- nection between such careful home-training and the fact that, at the age of twelve, Jesus’s questions and replies to the doctors of the law were so replete with wisdom “that all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.” And the rapid de- velopment after he returned with his parents to his Nazareth home that led Luke to make the suggestive remark, “He grew in wisdom,” was the result of the most intelligent instruction and training. With our knowledge of Jewish educational methods we cannot doubt that in his early childhood Jesus was made thoroughly familiar with the Jewish ritual, and with the simpler parts of many of their holy books. With the Psalms, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, and others of the prophets, he must have become conver- 86 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES sant early in his life, as his knowledge of them is shown to have been extensive and profound. It is also thought that he was acquainted with the uncanonical Jewish books. He could use both the Aramaic and Greek languages, and there is reason for believing that he also knew Hebrew. 4. Whatever educational advantages were available in the little town of Nazareth, we may be sure that these anxious and intelligent parents utilized them in the training and development of this earnest-minded boy. They must eagerly have watched for every op- portunity the synagogue or the village school offered for developing his mind and giving him a fuller un- derstanding of the religion of their fathers. But above all that was done for his development and instruction by his home and community were his own ceaseless efforts to grow in mind and expand in soul. This was made manifest in his visit to the classroom of the teachers of the law in the temple at the age of twelve. How he studied nature and through her laws came to such a satisfying understanding of God and the great moral order of the world is revealed in that wonderful treasure of wisdom he has left us in the parables of our Gospels. 5. It seems likely that at an early period in his youth he began to work with Joseph at the carpenter’s 87 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES trade. As there were two sisters and several brothers younger than himself in the home, such a large family must have made his labor necessary as an aid to Joseph in supporting them. Then, as his mother appears in the record of the Gospels as a widow a little later in his life, it is likely that Joseph’s death may have thrown the burden of family support on Jesus at an early period. 6. It is evident that he knew the life of his people. Their habits of thought, the significance of all of their parties and sects, their petty religious views and practices and the high hopes that nourished a noble remnant, were all open to his penetrating vision. The Messianic thought that was engaging the mind of the people at large, and was burning like a flame in some of the finer souls, must have profoundly interested and influenced Jesus. The report of the work of John the Baptist, who had suddenly come from his long desert retirement and was now attracting multitudes from all classes of society with his burning message about the new kingdom that was at hand, drew Jesus from his daily task to the banks of the Jordan that he might hear this strange prophet. John’s message was very simple and quite limited in its range of thought, but it came with such moral earnestness that it smote deeply men’s consciences and made keen and 88 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES commanding their Messianic expectations. When Jesus presented himself for baptism, John’s spiritual vision, sharpened by these years of self-discipline and communion with God, discovered in Jesus one not only superior to himself in character and spiritual endow- ment, but also the One prepared and sent to meet the Messianic longing of his sinning and afflicted people. Through the prophetic words of John concerning him may we not believe a fuller consciousness of his peculiar relationship to God and of his Messianic mis- sion was immediately awakened in Jesus? We can thus understand his being seized with an impelling desire to retire into some quiet place where, alone with his Father, he could think through the significance of his mission. 7. This forty days’ retirement was an experience of intense struggle through a period of prolonged and terrible temptation. It was no doubt this experience especially that led one of the New Testament writers to say of him, “He suffered, being tempted.” In this period of profound and prolonged concentration of thought on his life’s work we may believe that he saw in outline all that was involved in his Messianic mis- sion—even the cross itself. He, therefore, came out of this season of deep, anxious meditation with such a sense of moral and spiritual victory, with such a 89 a Ee A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES $$$ SL SSS ll eSNG consciousness of his own capabilities, and with such an intimate knowledge of the mind of the Father that he was ready to commit himself irrevocably to his superhuman task. QUESTIONS 1. Why was the birth of Christianity such a momentous event? 2. Why had it not earlier made its appearance? 3. What preparation do you think was necessary to the effective spreading of the Christian religion? 4. What part could government play in this preparation? 5. What effect does culture have in preparing a people for a higher conception of God and of human life? 6. How did the revival of learning after Alexander’s con- quest affect the religious attitude of the people generally? 7. What contribution did John the Baptist make to the religious life of his people? 8. Did the parents of Jesus have any part in the making of his character ? 9. What effect did the Jewish Church have on his life? BIBLIOGRAPHY Farrar, The Life of Christ. New, Dictionary. Matuews, A History of New Testament Times. 90 CHAPTERS VI JESUS’ PUBLIC MINISTRY Ir was in an atmosphere vibrant with expectancy that Jesus began his public ministry. While all were looking for their great deliverer, their ideas were quite indefinite both as to his nature and his character. Of this much they seemed quite sure, that he was to have kingly qualities and prerogatives, and was to be God’s chosen agent in establishing the new kingdom. In such terms as “King,” “Anointed,” “Son of David,” the idea conveyed was that of a leader chosen and fitted by God for bringing in the new order. It seems doubtful whether, in the minds of either the scribes or the common people, there was any question as to the nature of this expected deliverer. That their long- looked-for rescue and triumph were near, and that the divinely commissioned one who was to effect this de- liverance was about to make his appearance, were con- siderations altogether sufficient for their practical habit of thought. JESUS THE CARPENTER Jesus was about thirty years of age when his public career of teaching and preaching began. Up to this 91 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES time he had lived so simply and humbly that he was hardly known outside of his own community; and in the village of Nazareth, where he had been from his childhood, he had not, as far as we are informed, under- taken any sort of leadership. He was known simply as a quiet toiler, albeit a man of unusual probity of life and marked elevation of thought. His superior knowledge of the Scriptures may have sometimes led to his being invited to read the lesson in the synagogue service ; but the question asked when he made his pub- lic appearance—‘TIs not this the carpenter ?”—seems fully to reveal his standing in his community up to this time. Becinninc His Ministry With beautiful simplicity and penetrating insight Jesus began his ministry. John the Baptist, upon whose sensitive soul had been flashed the impression — that Jesus was the Messiah, introduced him to his disciples as the One who was to come, and this at once gave Jesus the sympathetic hearing of this deeply religious group. It was from this company that he won his first followers, which doubtless led him to spend the first months of his ministry in Judea. Here he called the people to repentance and did his work, in this incipient stage, very much after the order of 92 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES his great forerunner. A little later he withdrew from such close proximity to John and, accompanied by his disciples, went into Galilee; and there, after the im- prisonment of John, he threw himself with great vigor into the work of healing the sick and otherwise min- istering to physical needs, and also in carrying on a persistent campaign of evangelism. In the meantime he seemed to regard the religious education and spir- itual development of his chosen disciples as his major task. THE Contrast BETWEEN JOHN AND JESUS In the most simple and artless way Jesus began his work. Without any reference to any sort of doctrinal system and without even the suggestion of a desire for an organization, he simply took up John’s mes- sage as his starting point and, insisting that the king- dom of God was at hand, began to unfold its nature. But there was a marked contrast between John and Jesus. John was a rough man of the desert, a rigidly self-disciplined, uncultured ascetic, with the ascetic’s meager outlook on life and with but little more than a negative conception of the significance of the new kingdom for whose coming he was looking. He saw that the old order of life must be abandoned. Men must turn from their unrighteous ways. “The ax was os ELE A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES laid at the root of the tree” ready to destroy the old order of life. But he could not envisage the high character of the new kingdom. He most vigorously condemned sin and urged men to repent, but of the deep significance of sin—of its enchanting power, of its terrible mastery over men, and the means of per- manent recovery from it—John had no satisfying message. How different the life and the teaching of Jesus! He lived a thoroughly normal human life, “eating and drinking” with all classes of men and thus taking his place in social life about him, notwithstanding his con- sciousness that he was the Messiah whose coming John had proclaimed, and that to him was committed the work of founding the kingdom of God. So far was he removed from the ascetic life of the Baptist that some of the unfriendly-minded severely criticised him because, as they said, “he eateth with publicans and sinners.” Then over against John’s imperfect con- ceptions of the new kingdom and of the life of the individual in the new order stands the radiant ideal of Jesus. His mind was so saturated with the visions of ancient prophets and psalmists, he had so delighted in the revelation of the divine mind through nature’s processes and had so cultivated the great experiences that grew out of his intimate fellowship with his 94 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES Father, that he brought to his ministry a great con- structive view of the new kingdom, a view laden with the wealth of his own abundant life. As he gradually outlined it, the kingdom was to be a new social order in which God was to be the Father and supreme Ruler and all men were to be brethren working together for the fulfillment of the Father’s will. He saw sin deeply rooted in man’s nature and blighting his whole life, that sin has to do with motives and desires and wells up out of the depths of the heart. In the new kingdom adequate means must be provided for the conquest of sin, and he shows that this can be done only by the life-giving presence and power of the Spirit of God in the heart of man. Right living and fellowship in this new kingdom were not to be secured, he insisted, by petty inhibitions, endless ceremonial cleansings, and a general outward religious routine. They must pro- ceed from great principles divinely implanted in man’s spiritual nature. Viewed from the standpoint of the popular concep- tion of the kingdom, the task of inaugurating and establishing it might be quite easy. With the deep- seated popular discontent with things as they were, with the burning resentment of the Jews toward those who had long held them in subjection, and with the general feverish expectations of some form of divine 95 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES interposition, all that would have been necessary for Jesus to do in order to enlist under his leadership both the Pharisees and the masses of the people would have been to make an appeal to their prejudices and organize them for action. But he saw that only by patiently giving the people the truth, by discovering to them the mind and character of God, and by revealing to them the inwardness and essentially spiritual nature of religion would it be possible to establish the kingdom of God. Since this entire program would run counter to general prejudices and preconceptions, he no doubt clearly saw that the fate of the great prophets of the past would also be his and that he was, therefore, entering upon a mission that necessarily involved vicarious suffering. UNIQUE CHARACTER OF His TEACHING Jesus did not align himself with any of the religious parties of his day and did not champion either the Pharisaic or the popular Messianic view. In the earlier part of his ministry he devoted himself to making known to his disciples the elements of character neces- sary to membership in the new kingdom rather than to the discussion of his Messiahship. The term “Son of Man,” which he so frequently used at this period to designate himself, was taken from the book of 96 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES Daniel where it represents “a man as the type of a kingdom of saints.” Instead, therefore, of invoking a discussion about his own person, Jesus preferred to make clear to them the standards and ideals of his kingdom. He could thus let his own life stand out before them as the type of those who were to make up this kingdom. Later in his ministry he made it plain and emphatic that he was the One sent of God and that to see him was to see the Father; but with profound insight into his mission he held their at- tention at this early stage of his ministry to the ele- ments of character, the way of life, involved in the new kingdom. His significant call was, “Come, and learn of me.” His plan was to have his disciples con- stantly with him, that through this intimate fellowship with him they might see the character of God and catch the spirit of the new kingdom. Men who could not at first understand his words and were unable to grasp his ideals, by this close friendship came to love him, and through this love to grasp his thought and discern his spirit. His WorK IN GALILEE It is of his ministry in Galilee that we have the fullest account in the Gospels. From the beginning he was popular with the Galileans. His interest in the 97 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES poor and the suffering, his evident superiority to other teachers with whose instruction they were familiar, “the sweet reasonableness’ of his message, his gracious spirit—all of these things combined to make him irresistibly attractive to these Galileans with their greater freedom from the bondage of traditionalism and casuistry. Hence, great multitudes followed him and waited with deep interest upon his ministry. But it was the small openminded group to whom he could more effectively unfold the great truths of life that especially attracted him and drew his constant atten- tion. His weapon was the truth. It was the truth that was to make men free; it was the truth that was to sanctify them—hence, his uppermost concern was with those who were really hungering for this bread of life. His DirFicuLtt TASK With their minds so habituated to their ancient rou- tine it was extremely difficult for the multitudes who flocked to hear Jesus to grasp this higher way of thinking and living. Even the inner circle, made up of his chosen disciples, were slow of heart in under- standing him. In the first place, they were men of mature age who, up to this time, had had very lim- ited opportunities for education and had been denied 98 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES contact with all the broader cultural influences. Minds thus neglected, and more or less impoverished up to the age of maturity, lose their flexibility and their power of insight and respond haltingly to all new truth. In addition to this, all Jewish people, with a few rare exceptions like the prophets and the poets, had the traditional habit of mind, a habit that at once resists the approach of fresh truth and thinks only in terms of the past. While this little company of disciples was no doubt made up of the best material Jesus could com- mand, still such limitations were an inevitable part of their heritage. Hence, Jesus proceeded upon the sound pedagogical principle of beginning where the mind of the pupil is found and gradually leading out toward the larger conceptions. Without attempting at once to destroy their misconceptions, he contented himself with unfolding his ideals little by little to their slowly awakening minds. His self-restraint is revealed in the words, “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.” As a result of their mental limitations, many things that he said to them did not yield their deeper meaning until long after they were uttered. Thus it was that the truths concerning the kingdom he came to establish, while they were so ele- mental and so simply expressed, had slowly to ger- minate and develop in the minds of these men before ee A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES they could flower into the full conception of the won- derful “way of life’? which he came to reveal. BEGINNING OF OPPOSITION His ministry had not proceeded far until the crit- icisms and antagonisms of the Pharisees made it nec- essary for him to take sharp issue with their position, and with this system of thought and ritual he soon made a complete break. His view of God and of life was fundamentally at variance with those of Phar- isaism. To his mind God was to be interpreted as a Father, rather than a Lawgiver and Ruler. Right- eousness was to him a matter of motive and purpose, a condition of the inner life. To him religion was “the life of God in the soul of the individual.” These views were gradually working their way into the thinking of the disciples when the Pharisees discovered in this teaching the creation of a popular movement which, if allowed to grow, would inevitably end “fasting as a religious duty, make Sabbath observance vastly less strict, abolish the distinction between clean and unclean altogether, make stricter all teaching concerning mar- riage and divorce, lessen the influence of the oral law, give new importance to the masses and less to the pro- fessional classes, destroy the ultra-national character of the expected kingdom—a movement which, in a 100 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES word, would undo most of the political and social devel- opment which had made them the popular leaders.” As the very foundation of their world, therefore, seemed to be threatened, they threw themselves into open hostility to the new teacher and his religion. His being in Galilee at the outbreak of this hostility probably saved him from the immediate punishment they wished to inflict on him. Even at this distance from the center of Pharisaic influence they misrepre- sented him, hounded him, and in every possible way opposed his work. Jesus now attempted to enlarge his influence by sending out a group of chosen men to the various villages of Galilee that he would not him- self be able to visit, with the hope that these men might deposit in the minds of the people at large his ideas of God and the new kingdom. But the persistent work of the Pharisees succeeded in stirring up opposition which soon became so fierce that it seemed necessary for Jesus to abandon his work in Galilee. Taking his twelve chosen men with him he made a journey through Tyre and Sidon, thence into the Greek cities known as the Decapolis, and finally through Perea on into Judea. This persecu- tion became the occasion of his making it clear to his chosen group that in spite of this opposition of Jewish leaders, and the radical difference of their own former 101 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES expectations concerning the Messiah to the course he was pursuing, he was nevertheless the Christ. He thus drew from them a confession of their faith in him as the Messiah, telling them, in the meantime, of the sufferings he foresaw would grow out of this oppo- sition and insisting that their faith must be prepared to stand the fearful test. On this itinerary, memorable to these disciples, he ministered to men’s physical needs, paused to bring comfort to the distressed, and taught as men gathered in great multitudes or in small groups of anxious listeners. While in his ministry he was moved by his great compassion to give help whenever it was needed, all of this gracious work served as a revelation of God and of the character of those who were to be members of the new kingdom. FINAL VISIT TO JERUSALEM In the spring of A.D. 29, taking with him his twelve chosen apostles, Jesus went up to Jerusalem to the Passover, seemingly with the purpose of publicly declaring himself to be the Christ. As he approached Jerusalem he found himself the central figure of a great multitude from different parts of the country, all of whom were eagerly making their way to the Passover. Suddenly the entire multitude were seized with a strange enthusiasm for him and with a great HL rr SS A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES ovation united in proclaiming him the Christ who was to come. Entering the city, he made his way to the Temple, cleansed it of its defilement growing out of traffic in animals for sacrifice and rebuked those who were responsible for thus desecrating the “house of prayer.” Some Bible scholars see in this incident the complete annulling by Jesus of the old Jewish sacrificial system. 2. The outburst of popular favor that greeted him as he entered the city lifted him, in the eyes of the jealous officials, out of the class of merely radical teachers and invested him with the appearance of a dangerous revolutionist. The Sadducees united with the Pharisees therefore in planning to check the move- ment in its incipient stage by at once arresting Jesus and in some way ridding the country of him. Still he moved openly and unafraid about the city, inspiring his disciples with faith and courage, explaining to the spiritually hungry multitude the nature of the new kingdom and rebuking the rabbis for their persistent emphasis on trivial things while they neglected the weightier matters of the law. It was at this time that he gave some of his most illuminating parables and revealed some of the great creative principles of the kingdom of God. 3. On the night following the Passover, while he 103 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES was alone with the apostles, he instituted the Lord’s Supper, which was to be observed by them and his future disciples as a perpetual memorial of his death. As the hostility toward him spread and increased in intensity his sensitive soul “was sore troubled” and he withdrew with his disciples into the quiet of Geth- semane, where he was later betrayed by one of them into the hands of his enemies. In the early morning he was brought before an irregular meeting of the Sanhedrin, and was hastily tried and condemned. He was then hurried before Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of the province of Judea, for his approval of their sentence, and was there charged with being a dangerous revolutionist: ‘‘We found this man per- verting our nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Cesar, and saying that he himself is Christ a king.’ After much hesitation Pilate was led to confirm the judgment already passed by their irregular court and Jesus was turned over to the officers to be crucified. The sentence was carried into effect with dispatch, and before nightfall his body was in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. In the face of the cruel treatment of the mob that arrested him and of the jibes and insults hurled at him during the trial and while he was on the cross, Jesus’s bearing was so self-restrained, so lofty, so 104 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES super-human that a most profound impression was made, as voiced by the Roman officer in charge of the execution: “Truly this was the Son of God.” During his brief ministry Jesus had made an im- pression on his immediate followers that lifted him above all human teachers and leaders. Through his personality he had won a love and loyalty equaled by no other in human history. He had given men con- ceptions of God, ideals of character, and a radiant view of life that transformed them and bound them to him as leader and Saviour. But now that his friends had seen him die on the cross and his body placed in the tomb, they were so confused, so overwhelmed that they scattered aimlessly about, disorganized, disheartened, and hopeless as to the future of their movement. But on Sunday fol- lowing the Friday of his crucifixion something took place in the experience of his disciples that completely changed their mood, that drew them into a closer fel- lowship, and made them invincible witnesses to the fact that Jesus was the Christ. They declared that he had appeared to some of them alive and had talked with them. These experiences were repeated again and again until not only all of the apostles had seen him, but many others, including “more than five hundred brethren at once.” 105 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES The change that so quickly took place in the lives of these distraught disciples, thus re-making them into one of the most determined and confident groups that ever championed a great cause, has no other adequate explanation than this*experience of contact with their risen Lord. In the light of his resurrection, many of his sayings that they had been unable to understand now became luminous to their minds; and that he was the Son of God, the Christ who was to deliver them and bring in the kingdom, they never afterward for a moment doubted. QUESTIONS 1. What were the leading characteristics of the Messianic expectations of the people when Jesus made his appearance? 2. In what respect, up to the time of his public appear- ance, did the daily life of Jesus differ from that of other men? 3. What was the significance of the forty days’ temptation? 4. How did the teaching of Jesus differ from that of John the Baptist ? 5. How did it differ from the teaching of the Pharisees? 6. What is the difference between a religion of rules and a religion of principles? 7. Was Jesus expecting a sudden transformation of the world, or a slow process of development? 8. Why may we believe that the apostles chosen by Jesus to carry on his work were the best type of men within his reach? 106 ee —— — A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES er ———— BIBLIOGRAPHY Farrar, The Life of Christ. Guover, The Jesus of History. STALKER, Life of Christ. PEAKE, Christianity, Its Nature and Its Truth. Dickey, The Constructive Revolution of Jesus. 107 VII BEGINNING OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH AND: FALL’ OF THE JEWISH) STARE Ir was a small remnant of the people of Judea that accepted Jesus as Saviour. Judaism, therefore, as a religion and a system of thought was little influenced by the Christian community. The materialistic Mes- sianic views of the Pharisees and their sensational fanaticism made a more effective appeal to Judaism’s peculiar bent of mind and hastened it toward its tragic end. More and more Judaism conformed to the ideas and the spirit of Pharisaism. On every hand ambitious fanatics were arising and attempting to establish them- selves in positions of power by an appeal to this Mes- sianic hope. Pilate’s downfall was brought about by the appearance in Samaria of a self-styled prophet who was going to make known the hiding place of the sacred vessels that Moses was supposed to have hidden on Mount Gerizim. When multitudes of the Samari- tans assembled in response to his call, Pilate, through fear of an uprising, fell upon them, killing some and placing many in prison. Then when the Samaritans 108 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES complained to the authorities at Rome, Pilate was at once recalled and Marcellus was made procurator in his stead. ATTEMPTING TO PLACATE THE JEWS 1, These Roman rulers of Palestine, discovering the inflammable condition of mind produced by this grow- ing Messianic expectancy, did all in their power to avoid antagonizing the Jews and used their utmost endeavor to placate them. It was this hope of pleasing the Pharisaical element that led Caligula to appoint Herod Agrippa, grandson of Herod the Great, as king over what was formerly the tetrarchy of Philip and the little tetrarchy of Lysanias. Agrippa was a man of unusual ability as a ruler and his history reads like a bit of romance. Because of his ability, and also through sharp political maneuvering, he was finally appointed king over all the territory over which Herod the Great had ruled. This reéstablishment of the king- dom of Judea, with an Asmonean Herod as king, awakened anew the hopes of the Pharisees and im- parted new life to Judaism. Herod was studiously respectful of the Jews’ religious sentiments and con- victions. He made Jerusalem his home, carefully ob- served all Jewish ceremonies, protected the sanctity of their synagogues, and forbade the stamping of por- 109 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES traits on the coinage used in the city. He also ap- pointed a high priest whom he knew to be acceptable to the Jews, and himself went to the temple and took part in the service. Thinking that he might further please the Pharisaic class, he attacked the struggling little Christian community, putting James the apostle to death and throwing Peter into prison. 2. Along with these concessions to the religious prejudices and convictions of the Jews, the pagan side of Herod’s nature asserted itself, and at the dedicating of a great amphitheater which he had built, he at- tempted to entertain the people by having fourteen hundred criminals slay each other. It was possibly at one of these brutal exhibitions that he was suddenly and fatally stricken just after his admirers had paid him divine honor. His reign was a rather peaceful period in this later history of Judaism. His professed regard for the welfare of the nation and his intimate knowledge of their peculiarities enabled him to re- strain, to a degree, the fanaticism of the Jews and to promote a more normal and peaceful social order. CRUELTY OF PROCURATORS 1. After the death of Agrippa the Romans ruled Judea through a line of procurators who, in character and administration, were worthy representatives of the 110 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES wicked Nero. The procurator was given all the powers of an ordinary governor, having command of a body of troops and possessing complete administrative and financial authority. His residence was at Caesarea, but on the occasion of feasts and other important func- tions that drew the multitudes to Jerusalem, he occu- pied Herod’s palace in that city, and every resident and visitor felt the pressure of his iron hand. Throughout the administration of these procurators the Jews had no voice in their own government—self-government perished—but that spirit of freedom that characterized the Jewish people still lived. Increasingly provoked by this high-handed disregard of their rights, this spirit began to manifest itself by breaking forth in numerous protests and revolts. The Roman officers in crucify- ing and otherwise putting to death the leaders in these uprisings only deepened the people’s hatred of Rome . and intensified their religious fanaticism. Zealots and impostors continued to make their appearance with all sorts of claims to miraculous power. One of these leaders proposed to divide the waters of the Jordan and conduct his followers into a freer and more desirable life. We are told of a certain Egyptian who claimed to be the Messiah and, gathering a crowd on the Mount of Olives, promised that he would make 111 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES the walls of Jerusalem fall. There were also bands of revolutionists, possibly made up of the lower classes, who marched through the country pillaging and de- stroying. Incipient anarchy was everywhere springing up; the whole country was full of unrest, priest wran- gling with priest, Jew quarreling with Jew, so that on every hand were signs of rebellion and a general state of chaos. This is the period of the reign of Felix and his successor, Festus, about whom special historic in- terest gathers because of their relation to the apostle Paul. 2. The feeling against the Romans grew daily deeper with the Zealots and their sympathizers, as Roman re- strictions tightened about them. It is claimed that the procurator Florus tried to provoke them into open rebellion, and thus no doubt hastened their final upris- ing. But the ultimate destruction of Judea was directly due to the extreme Messianic party, and to the men among the poorer classes whom they led. This was the complete fulfillment of the destiny Jesus said awaited them if they persisted in their obdurate un- teachableness and in their materialistic conceptions of the Messiah’s reign. They were determined on estab- lishing the kingdom of God by force and they perished in their own folly. 112 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES FINAL BREAK WITH ROME The final break with Rome came when the priests refused longer to offer sacrifices to the Emperor, and turned on the Roman garrison and slew them. When the well-to-do and official classes among the Jews saw that they were facing war with Rome, they determined to organize the entire state on a revolutionary basis and this placed the Pharisaic party in immediate lead- ership. The whole movement was a political experi- ment, staged by those who had intense Messianic hopes. While the people of Jerusalem at large carried on the revolt, the Sanhedrin was without question the con- trolling body. Josephus, the celebrated Jewish his- torian, figured rather prominently in this revolution, as he had been appointed over Galilee by the Roman ruler. However, with his utter inexperience, he did little more than bustle about the country and subject himself to numberless dangers. Vespasian finally marched into Galilee, and, after conquering a number of her cities and fighting a battle upon the Sea of Galilee, in which many of the people were captured and slain, brought the whole of that little country under the power of his army. Then he marched into Samaria and on Mount Gerizim brutally slaughtered the Samar- itans. Thus almost the entire country north of Judea EES A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES was subdued, but the bands of Zealots escaped to the city of Jerusalem, already overcrowded with refugees and fanatics. CIvIL STRIFE At this point there is a sudden turn in this turbulent stream of history. Vespasian had entered with great vigor upon the second year’s campaign, but before he had time to do more than subjugate some of the border cities of Judea, Nero died and all hostilities of the great Empire temporarily halted. The Jews in Jeru- salem, thus relieved for the time of all danger from the Romans, began to wrangle among themselves. The moderates, led by prominent priests and rabbis on the one side, and the fanatical Zealots on the other, entered into a strenuous encounter. In the first con- test the moderates were successful, completely shut- ting up for a time the opposing force within the temple; and had it not been for the reverential regard they had for the temple, they might easily have destroyed them at once. Finally these Zealots engaged a company of Idumeans to come to their assistance and, presenting themselves at the gate of the city in the midst of a great storm, these Idumeans prevailed on the mod- erates to allow them to enter, and there at once began a reign of terror. All of the leading moderates were 114 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES mercilessly slain. In the name of the kingdom of God the city was for days scoured by robbers and murder- ers, until finally the Idumean band, discovering that they had been deceived, departed from the city. The contest had now resolved itself into a social upheaval as well as a Messianic movement and the revolt had become anti-aristocratic, the old hatred for the Sadducees and the rich bursting out in a consum- ing flame. After a while it developed that there were three revolutionary armies in the city, all contending for the mastery: the Galilean Zealots were occupying the Temple Mount, the Zealots from other parts of the country the inner court, and a company of wild men held practically the remainder of Jerusalem. The outer courts of the Temple were partly destroyed and the sacred timbers converted into means of war. Soon the Holy City took on the appearance of a desert. Tue SIEGE oF TITUS This reign of terror and misery continued through- out most of the year A.D. 69, and when Titus with his mighty army appeared before the gates of the city just before the Passover in A.D. 70, he found them so absorbed with their civil struggle that they had made no sort of preparation for defense against the Roman advance. At once began the long and desper- ibs A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES ate siege, lasting from April to September and char- acterized by unremitting and savage fighting. As the city was filled with visitors to the Passover, the suf- fering and general miseries of the siege cannot be imagined. Men weré crucified and cut to pieces, and streets and houses were filled with the bodies of the dead. Through all of this butchery the daily morning and evening sacrifices were offered until there was no priest left to officiate and no animal that could be offered; so on July 17 the last sacrifice was offered. Even Titus had hoped to save the sacred Temple, but a burning brand was thrown in through an open win- dow and soon the building was in flames. In Sep- tember A. D. 70, Rome’s persistence and might con- quered, and the historic city, so sacred to every Jew, lay in ruins at her feet. The most cruel treatment fol- lowed the conquest. Thousands who had lived through the siege were slain, or sold into slavery, while many were kept for the cruel gladiatorial games. Titus’s return to Rome was celebrated with a great triumph, and the arch which was later erected in his honor still shows the importance Rome attached to this victory. Thus the Jewish state was completely wiped out, and her destruction was due solely to the materialistic ideals of the Jews concerning the kingdom of God and the 116 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES unhappy choice they made of the means by which it was to be established. JupaismM Not Drap However, Judaism was not dead. While she was now left without country, or temple, or h‘gh priest, she still clung tenaciously to the Talmud and Messian- ism, and thus projected her religion with its ancient intensity and most of its peculiarities down through the generations. But the greatest achievement of Juda- ism was the contribution she unintentionally made to the rise of that other Messianic hope that, a generation before the fall of the Jewish state, had taken root in the hearts of a group of Galileans and later flowered into the Christian Church. While Judaism’s fanatical leaders were insisting that the long-looked-for king- dom could be established only by first making war to the death on Rome, the humble band of men who had accepted Jesus as the Christ and adopted his peaceful method of changing the world-order and making it his kingdom, were at this time hurrying into all the chief cities of the Empire and creating centers of influ- ence that were sending forth in all directions light and healing to a darkened and distressed world. When Judaism as a nation was destroyed, the Christian Church, with sublime assurance of final victory, was 117 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES gradually permeating the world with the truth and spirit of Jesus of Nazareth. BEGINNING OF THE CHRISTIAN CHUKCH 1. The disciples who had been scattered and demor- alized by the death of their Leader were drawn to- gether in Jerusalem by their common experience with the risen Christ, and with his Great Commission echo- ing in their souls they began to feel their way toward some form of united endeavor. Regarding the num- ber twelve as having special significance with reference to the integrity of the body of apostles, they proceeded to choose a suitable man to fill the place made vacant by the death of misguided Judas. After council and prayer Matthias was selected, a man who had been associated with them “‘all the time the Lord Jesus went in and out” among them. Then on the day of Pentecost, while they were assembled in their place of prayer, there was a special manifestation of the pres- ence of the Spirit of God and they became possessed of an evangelistic impulse and spiritual fervor that sent them like flaming torches through the crowds gathered in Jerusalem at this Pentecostal season; and their courageous testimony, their glad tidings, and their persuasive appeal startled the multitudes and won thou- 118 EEE a A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES Uhr stein i alls de sands to faith in Jesus as the Christ. Thus was begun the work of the Christian Church. 2. Jesus had referred to his Church while he was in the flesh with his disciples, but had given no instruc- tion about the form of its organization. Evidently he saw that no particular kind of organization could be essential to its successful operation and hence all mat- ters of ways and means of carrying on his work were left wholly in the hands of his followers. There was therefore no thought at this early period of a certain form of church organization invested with an air of divine authority. Indeed throughout the apostolic period there was very little organization, and such as they had was so very elementary and fluid that changes and additions were readily made as conditions and needs called for them. 3. The next step in the program of the apostles after the election of Matthias to the apostolate was the ap- pointment of the seven men to look after their collec- tions for the poor among them and see that the funds were wisely and justly distributed. 4. That is a most beautiful picture the Acts of the Apostles gives us of the social life of the disciples following the Pentecostal experience. They lived to- gether in the most intimate family-like fellowship, with their religion as their bond of union and their one 119 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES absorbing interest. Their fine spirit of brotherhood, the gladness and radiant hopefulness their new reli- gious experience gave them, and their bold testi- mony to the resurrection of Jesus, attracted wide in- terest and daily drew many fellow Jews to the accept- ance of their victorious faith. But beyond the accept- ance of Jesus as the Messiah no effort was made upon the part of these disciples to change either the views or the customs of the Jews who thus affiliated with them. This no doubt added immensely to the force of their evangelistic appeal and made possible that peculiar “favor with all the people’ that especially characterized this early period. The little Christian community at this time was really a group of Jews, who, accepting Jesus as Messiah, remained perfectly loyal to all of the traditions and rites of the Jewish faith. Christianity, as the disciples understood it at this early period, was not a substitute for Judaism, nor indeed an addition to it; it was simply the rec- ognition of Jesus as the fulfillment of the Messianic hope. The great work of changing the existing world order and establishing in its stead the kingdom of God was still in the future, an event that was to take place after Jesus’ second appearance, which they were anxiously awaiting. This Jesus whom they had seen 120 net A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES Ce ee ee etre ascend into heaven was soon to return and trium- phantly assert his Messianic power. ALL THINGS COMMON There developed a semi-communistic order of life among these early Christians which was possibly brought about in part by their ardent hopes of the immediate reappearance of Jesus and the inaugura- tion of the new kingdom. This highly expectant state of mind would naturally produce an attitude of com- parative indifference toward the everyday affairs of life—a condition of mind that a little later showed itself among some of Paul’s disciples and elicited from him a severe rebuke. To the members of this early group of Christians life’s significance now centered in intimate association and worship, and the Acts of the Apostles represent them as spending a large part of their time in joyous spiritual fellowship. As their Lord might appear at any time, they seemed to feel that their business was to keep themselves in a frame of mind to meet him, by social worship, the exchange of religious experiences, and blameless daily living. Just how long this peculiar social condition continued and what were its effects upon the disciples, the author of the Acts does not inform us. Through all of this early period they had a most vivid sense of the pres- 121 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES ence and influence of the Holy Spirit and were deeply conscious of his availability for them for special en- dowments and for meeting all responsible situations. HELLENISTS AS LEADERS Two men suddenly loom into prominence in this Jerusalem Church, Stephen and Philip. Only a little while ago they had been appointed among the seven who were to have charge of the Church’s charities, and now they suddenly appear as leaders in evangelic effort and possibly also in giving to the gospel mes- sage something of its larger significance. They were both Hellenists (Grecian Jews), and it seems likely that a more liberal culture, due to their surroundings in their earlier life, had so freed them from the tra- ditional bent of mind that they were able to grasp more readily than their brethren of Palestine the larger meaning of the Christian religion. It seems evident from the report Luke gives us of the charges made against Stephen that he had come to see that Chris- tianity was something vitally different from Judaism, and with all the self-restraint he might impose on him- self as he cautiously felt his way to the fuller expres- sion of this new way of life, it was inevitable that the implications of his teaching would soon excite criti- cism and finally open opposition. Fierce persecution 122 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES soon broke out, resulting in the trial and death of Stephen and in scattering abroad the great body of disciples—“‘except the apostles.” This, however, was so overruled as to work for the good of their cause, for these disciples, emboldened by Stephen’s testimony and triumphant death, went everywhere preaching the word; and the groups of disciples that later appear scattered over Palestine indicate the extent of their work and the effectiveness of their preaching. Barnabas, who was also a Hellenist, seems to have become a disciple early in the history of the Christian Church. Selling his material possessions, he invested his resources in the life of the Jerusalem Church and evidently became an effective leader in evangelistic work. He later became noted as the colaborer with Paul in his first great missionary journey out into the Roman Empire. QUESTIONS 1. In what sense did the Jewish people themselves bring about the destruction of the Jewish state? 2. How did their Messianic expectations contribute to this? 3. Is not every form of religious fanaticism dangerous? 4. Where did the peculiar views of the disciples concerning the early return of Jesus have their origin? 5. What was the effect of these views on the early Church? 6. In the beginning of their ministry what special subjects did the apostles emphasize in their preaching? 123 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES 7. What relation did these early disciples sustain toward the Jewish Church? 8. To what extent do you think they had grasped the higher significance of Christianity ? BIBLIOGRAPHY Gover, Conflict of Religions in the Roman Empire. Matuews, A History of New Testament Times in Palestine. Dickey, The Constructive Revolution of Jesus. PEAKE, Christianity, Its Nature and Its Truth. SCHWEITZER, Christianity and the Religions of the World. 124 Vill PAUL’S CONVERSION AND EARLY MINISTRY In the trial and death of Stephen and in the fierce persecution of the disciples that immediately followed, Saul of Tarsus appears in Luke’s account as the “‘mas- ter mind” and the leading spirit. Saul was the son of a devout Jewish family, of the tribe of Benjamin, and saturated with the Pharisaic view and spirit. Tarsus, the capital city of the province of Cilicia and one of the great literary centers of the Roman world, was his native city. It was widely known for its un- usual educational advantages and for its devotion to the pursuit of learning. An active, eager mind like that of young Saul could but be profoundly influenced by the very atmosphere of such a city, notwithstanding the fact that in his early youth he seems to have been sent to Jerusalem for his education. His pride in his native city indicates how he cherished the opportuni- ties and influences it made available to him in his earlier years. His cosmopolitan manners, his famil- jarity with all the habits of good society, and his L25 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES rather intimate acquaintance with the great currents of thought throughout the Roman world indicate the cultural effect of this city life on his boyhood and early youth. In all kinds of conditions in after life and in the midst of all sorts of people he felt himself at home and was master of every situation. Although a devoted Jew, he still had the wide interests of a Roman citizen and prided himself in his citizenship in this mighty Empire. His father was a Roman citizen, and possibly a man of wealth whose influence was felt in Tarsus. The Hellenistic atmosphere, there- fore, that thus surrounded Saul in his childhood had much to do in making possible in his later years his broader vision of life and his ready adaptability to the habits of thought of other minds. SAUL A DEvoTED HEBREW 1. But in spite of all this, Saul was “‘a Hebrew of the Hebrews,” thoroughly imbued with the traditions and the extreme national and religious prejudices of his people. While still a youth he was sent to Jerusalem for his education and there, possibly for some years, sat at the feet of Gamaliel, the most celebrated Jewish teacher of that period. This careful rabbinic training determined his habits of thought throughout his life and reveals itself in his public appeals and in all of 126 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES his writings. His interpretation and enforcement of Old Testament scripture, as seen in his epistles, can- not be understood or properly evaluated without keep- ing in mind the fact that in his approach to the scrip- tures he habitually employed the methods of the rabbis. Thus Saul came to his manhood thoroughly trained in the Jewish habits of thought of his day and with his whole soul committed to the Pharisaic interpretation of the Old Testament and of life. With his aggressive personality he soon became one of the most zealous and bigoted defenders of his faith, He was a man of great tenacity of purpose and of most intense na- ture—‘‘the whole man was in every conviction and in every act.” He was therefore both by nature and by training a pronounced leader of men. After com- pleting his education in Jerusalem it seems that he went back to his native city of Tarsus and after some years of residence there, possibly serving as rabbi, he returned to Jerusalem sometime after the crucifixion of Jesus. To his penetrating mind it no doubt soon became evident that the implications of the teaching of Jesus, and of his more aggressive disciples like Stephen, were essentially and fundamentally antag- onistic to the views and religious customs to which he had dedicated all of his powers of mind and heart. Although these disciples were showing perfect loyalty 127 hey A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES to the Jewish religion in their regular devotion to its rites and ceremonies, to Saul’s keener vision it became manifest that the necessary implications of this new teaching were altogether contrary to the views and mode of life for which Pharisaism stood. We may believe, therefore, that he quickly became critical toward these disciples and was watching for some declaration from them that would justify him in bringing charges against them. It is clear from Luke’s record, and also from the confessions Paul makes in his Epistle to the Galatians of his persecution of the early Church, that he was the leader in the trial and death of Stephen and in the terrible persecutions that immediately followed. His reference to the part he played in the trial of Stephen has been taken as evidence of Saul’s member- ship in the Sanhedrin that tried and condemned him. Paul himself declares that he gave his vote against him, and his prominence at his execution that led Luke to record the fact that “the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul” indicates his leadership. 2, That is a most graphic account he gives us him- self of the furious persecutions he waged, following Stephen’s death: “For ye have heard of my manner of life in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the Church of God, and 128 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES made havoc of it.” Elsewhere he is represented as “breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord.” We may therefore safely con- clude that it was Saul who started this wave of per- secution and who became the leader in the merciless attack upon both the men and women who accepted the new faith; and he was doing it “in all good conscience before God.” In his strict devotion to Pharisaism he felt it to be his religious duty to go to neighboring cities in his search for disciples of Jesus and to have the members of the pernicious sect put to death wher- ever they could be found. It was this sort of mission that was taking him to Damascus when his conversion occurred. SAUL’S CONVERSION 1. The complete transformation in Saul’s life on this journey is one of the most remarkable in the record of human experience. We may get some in- sight into the spiritual processes leading to this change by keeping in mind the fact that he had started upon this journey some time after the death of Stephen. This martyr’s impassioned address and sublime mag- nanimity of spirit must have exerted a powerful influ- ence on Paul’s profoundly religious nature. Such an impressionable mind must have thought with deepening seriousness on the significance of a religion that could yee, ee ———————————— A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES DORE SSRN A a lh ee produce such a testimony and create such a spirit, and this sort of a process of reflection would seem to be a psychological necessity to a change so radical and far-reaching in its effects. 2. But whatever intellectual and spiritual processes may have prepared the way, when the change finally came in his experience it was sudden, profound, com- pletely revolutionary—old things passed away and all things became new. God spoke to him through Jesus of Nazareth and completely transformed him. After a conversion that involved a change in all of his reli- gious thinking it was to be expected that a man of Paul’s deep nature would be seized with a desire for a period of solitude in which he might think the whole matter through and properly orient himself in the new world into which he had been so suddenly born. His old philosophy, his theology, his ethics were all at variance with the new life that was now opening to him, and this general intellectual and spiritual up- heaval made his soul cry out for a period of uninter- rupted thinking alone with God. Hence he tells us that at once he went away into Arabia and the three following years seem to have been spent in solitude. 3. Paul came out of this period of reflection and adjustment—a period in which he intimates he was under the direct tuition of Jesus—with a new concep- 130 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES tion of God, of personal salvation, and of the human family. He saw God no longer as a tribal deity, but as the Father of all men; he realized salvation as one- ness with God through the abiding presence of Jesus in the life of the individual, and he foresaw a renewed race bound together in a common experience and in a real brotherhood of mutual sacrificial service. Com- pletely mastered by these great Christian conceptions, he dedicated all his wonderful powers to their promul- gation, and with a determination and enthusiasm that no difficulties or dangers could check he began his great work of teaching and preaching. His early training, his superior education, his peculiar temperament, and his exhaustive investigation of the fundamentals of religion during his retirement in Arabia especially equipped him for interpreting to humanity at large the significance of Christianity and for becoming the leader in establishing permanently in the world the Christian Church. The Christian history of the latter half of the first century was largely determined by the teaching and work of this powerful man. PAuL’s First GREAT SERVICE 1. Paul’s first signal service was in lifting Christian- ity out of the narrow limits of Judaic thought, by showing that it was, in the first place, the religion of 131 nn el A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES the spirit, that it had to do with the motives, the thoughts, the heart, rather than with rules and rites; and in the second place, that it was a world religion, concerned with the salvation of the human race rather than with any special family or nation. He was there- fore the one man fitted at this critical period for giving an adequate interpretation of Christianity, for becom- ing the leader in breaking down racial prejudice, and for leading men to see that Jesus was the Saviour of the world and the founder of a kingdom whose funda- mental principles were the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. 2. Paul’s persistent and usually patient effort to give to the apostles and early disciples his larger view of the significance of Christianity is one of the inter- esting phases of its early development. As it had been their high privilege to journey with Jesus while he was in the flesh and to be sent out by him as his wit- nesses, much tact and self-restraint were needed on Saul’s part in his attempt to lead them into his more exalted conceptions of the meaning and power of this new religion. They were, however, quite docile under the influence of Paul’s powerful personality, notwith- standing the extreme slowness with which they grasped his larger view and permanently adjusted themselves to it. They were persuaded to give their consent, if 132 Esa A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES pL Se eee Ee eee not their hearty approval, to Paul’s missionary cam- paign in behalf of the Gentiles; but neither Paul nor the apostles themselves seemed to regard the Jerusalem Church as fitted for offering the gospel to the non- Jewish world. It was mutually agreed therefore that they would preach to “the circumcision,’ while Paul and a few chosen assistants would go unto the Gentiles. Tue REvIVAL IN ANTIOCH 1. A great religious awakening in Antioch, through which many of the Gentiles were being converted to Christianity, offered the first occasion for the mani- festation to the original disciples of Paul’s peculiar power of adapting and applying the gospel to the Gen- tile mind. Report of the growing interest of the peo- ple of this great Gentile city in the religion of Jesus came to the Church at Jerusalem and they at once turned to Barnabas as the most capable man to direct the work in a field where many difficult questions would naturally arise. Barnabas was a Levite of the Island of Cyprus, who had accepted Jesus and identified him- self with the Jerusalem Church early in its history. He was evidently a man of superior breadth of mind and of thorough consecration to his new religion; hence his selection for this difficult task. He went forth alone to this responsible field; but when he had surveyed the 133 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES situation and discovered its possibilities, he at once departed for Tarsus to seek Saul that he might have his wise counsel and efficient assistance in this situa- tion, in which so much was involved. This decision proved to be most» fortunate and far-reaching in its results. The fourteen or fifteen years of experience Paul had already had in work among the Gentiles made it possible for him at once to give sane direction in the midst of the delicate and difficult problems of this mixed community, and the long and familiar inter- course of Barnabas with the apostles and original dis- ciples of Jesus gave him a fund of first-hand informa- tion about Jesus and his work that must have been of inestimable value at this time to Paul. 2. Here for a full year they carried on their work, preaching to multitudes of both Jews and Gentiles and building up a strong and most aggressive Church. About the close of the year they received information concerning the large number in the Jerusalem Church who were in indigent circumstances, and the Antioch Church promptly made an offering for their relief and dispatched it to Jerusalem by the hands of Barnabas and Saul. This visit to the mother Church, with the bestowal of this large charity as its purpose, made this Church more immediately acquainted with Saul and his work and was a providential preparation for that 134 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES memorable council in which Paul won so completely the freedom of Gentile Christians from the bondage of Judaism. Upon returning to Antioch they took with them John Mark, a young disciple and a kinsman of Barnabas. According to early tradition he had been up to this time intimately associated with Peter; later he became the author of the earliest surviving life of Jesus. THE Missionary IMPULSE 1. Soon after the return of Saul and Barnabas there was a general desire upon the part of the Antioch Church to undertake a great missionary campaign to the Gentile world. We can easily infer that Saul was the moving spirit in this new impulse and that his was the master mind in the meeting that was called to take the matter under consideration. As could eas- ily have been anticipated, Barnabas and Saul were chosen as the Church’s representatives in this new en- terprise, and after they had fasted and prayed they laid their hands on them and sent them forth. Saul and Barnabas agreed to take with them John Mark as their assistant. 2. As Antioch was at this time a city of great com- mercial importance, it is reasonable to suppose that many of the members of this Church were men of large financial resources and that they gave to Bar- 135 a A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES nabas and Saul not only their prayers and good wishes, but also the needed material support for such a difficult undertaking, PAUL: BECOMES LEADER Up to this time Barnabas appears as leader, as he had come to Antioch from the mother Church and had brought in Saul as his assistant and coworker. But on this difficult and hazardous missionary enter- prise Saul’s more powerful personality and more ardent spirit naturally brought him to the front; and when they returned from this first journey, Paul was recognized by all, even by Barnabas himself, as the commanding spirit. Barnabas first led Saul and Mark to Cyprus, his native island home; and after “they had gone through the whole island,’ meeting with stout opposition and having very meager results, Saul becomes Paul, and Paul’s growing interest and deter- mination put him in command of the little company, and, following his lead, they at once struck northward into the—to them—unknown regions of Asia Minor. Paul, possibly from the beginning of this missionary enterprise, had Rome as his final objective. Recogniz- ing the significance of the cities as sources of influence, he had his eye on these great centers; hence his sudden 136 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES assumption of leadership and the energetic movement of the little band into the larger areas of Asia Minor. At PERGA Their first stop after leaving Cyprus was at Perga, an important commercial center of Pamphylia. It was here that John Mark forsook his comrades and re- turned to Jerusalem. The reason for his sudden change of mind is not given by Luke, but his leaving them so deeply affected Paul that it suggests a serious lack in him at this time of the high purpose and en- durance a great enterprise like theirs demanded. Leav- ing this city after only a short stay, Paul and Barnabas made their way over the Taurus Mountains and down into Antioch of Pisidia, an important political center of the province of Galatia. It is quite likely that it was in this city that Paul’s sickness, to which he later refers as “an infirmity of the flesh,’ overtook him and held him in this particular territory until he had preached the Gospel of Christ throughout the region of Galatia. There was in this city a large Jewish col- ony, whose religious life had attracted many of the more thoughtful Greeks. Going therefore soon after they entered the city to the synagogue to worship with this mixed company, it became easy for them to secure a sympathetic hearing. Hence, both the city and the 137 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES surrounding country were quickly informed of their presence and eagerly attracted by this new message. Indeed, it was the popularity of their message that awakened opposition, for very soon the more conser- vative Jews “contradicted the things that were spoken by Paul and blasphemed.” REVISIT THE CHURCHES The method of work in Antioch, the bitter oppo- sition awakened among the Jews and the loyal disciples won, may be taken as characteristic of their work in all of these Galatian cities. After preaching in all the more prominent centers of Galatia, Paul and Bar- nabas, with their far-seeing sense of the need of effec- tive local organizations in order to conserve the results already achieved, turned back at Derbe and revisited the Churches recently formed that they might strengthen their newly won converts and more effec- tively organize them. Their purpose was to make a democratic brotherhood of each local group that could intelligently edify its members and become an active evangelistic force in the surrounding community. Cer- tain officers were appointed in each of these Churches to direct the work of the body and to teach them more fully the way of life. 138 ee — A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES ee —————— THE JERUSALEM COUNCIL 1. Finishing this work, Paul and Barnabas returned to Antioch, in Syria, to the Church that had sent them out, and there reported the success of their mission and the readiness of the Gentiles to receive the Gospel of Jesus. Sometime after their return the most crit- ical and serious situation in the history of the early Church developed. Certain Judaizing Christians from Jerusalem, “false brethren” as Paul designated them, came down to Antioch and taught that Gentiles could not be saved without receiving circumcision. As these teachers were directly from the Jerusalem Church where the apostles were naturally supposed to be the best interpreters of Christianity and its relation to Judaism, their dogmatic message awakened profound concern, if not excitement. Paul’s discerning mind at once discovered that the whole Christian movement was confronting a crisis. The position taken by these Judaizers involved a repudiation of the declaration for- merly made by the Jerusalem Church when Peter re- turned from his visit to Cornelius and reported the manifestations of the Spirit in this Gentile home. It was also a sharp rebuke to Paul and Barnabas, for in effect it declared that their preaching was a misrepre- sentation of the teaching of Jesus and of his Church. 139 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES If this view should prevail, Paul saw that it would carry consternation and dismay to all the Gentile Churches that had recently been established. It was quickly agreed therefore by the Church at Antioch that Paul and Barnabas, and other brethren, should go up to Jerusalem and confer ‘“‘with the apostles and elders” about this important matter. It is evident that Paul was most profoundly stirred by this dispute, and that he spent much time in thought and prayer as to the wise course to pursue, for he tells us he “went up by revelation.” He did not go to the settlement of this question simply as the ap- pointee of the Church at Antioch, but felt himself commissioned and directed by God himself. When he reached Jerusalem his usual wisdom is shown in his taking the matter up at once in private conference “with those who were of repute’; and, pressing the matter with his usual breadth of vision and ardor of spirit, he really won his victory before the council was assembled. When the council finally passed judgment the victory was sweeping. Paul was not given to boasting, but in writing of his position in this cru- cial gathering he says: ‘We stood out firmly... and did not yield even for a moment.” The vital truth of Christianity was at stake. Access to God through mere faith was about to be denied and there- 140 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES fore Paul could not stop short of throwing his whole mighty personality into the contest. His broader in- terpretation of Christianity prevailed and the liberty of Gentile Christians was secured. 2. Soon after the adjournment of this conference at Jerusalem another phase of the question of Christian liberty arose, the occasion of which was a visit of Peter to the Church at Antioch. There were Jews in Antioch who mingled on the most intimate social terms with Gentile Christians. Peter, attracted by the beau- tiful spirit of fellowship that bound together these Jews and Gentiles, overcame all of his former scruples and mingled freely with them, eating with them and recognizing no social barriers. But when “certain came from James” he withdrew and refused further social fellowship with the Gentile Christians, and Bar- nabas and other Jews were drawn away with him. This raised at once the question of the social relation- ship of Jews and Gentiles in a Christian Church or community. These Judaizers from James insisted that their old law governing their contact with Gentiles must be observed with all strictness, while Paul openly de- clared that such a position destroyed the liberty they had in Christ and really made the death of Christ of none effect. The point at issue was of such vital im- portance that Paul felt called upon to make a most 141 rr Le A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES LL vigorous protest, and he tells us that he publicly re- buked Peter for the position he had taken. This inct- dent reveals the fact that the brethren at Jerusalem had not yet grasped the full significance of mere trust in Christ and the gracious liberty involved in the Chris- tian life, while to Paul’s mind it was clear that loyalty to Jesus was the only condition of salvation, and the one bond of Christian fellowship. QUESTIONS 1. What idea do you get from the New Testament of the training and instruction Paul received in his father’s home? 2. How was he influenced by the city in which he was brought up? 3. What must have been the character and spirit of the education he received at the feet of Gamaliel in Jerusalem? 4. What were his temperament and character when he came to manhood ? 5. In the fierce persecutions he carried on against the early disciples are we to regard him as a sincerely religious man? 6. Why did he so quickly become a leader in the persecu- tion of the Christians? 7. What was likely the human instrumentality in his con- version? 8. What was the significance of his retiring into Arabia just after his conversion, and what was the effect of this retirement on his views and life? 9. Why did Barnabas decide on Paul as the needed helper in the Antioch revival rather than one of the apostles? 142 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES BIBLIOGRAPHY Ramsey, Paul the Traveler and Roman Citizen. Farrar, The Life and Work of St. Paul. STALKER, Life of Paul. 143 CHAP TE Kio. PAUL THE GREAT MISSIONARY LEADER Wir8 this disturbing and threatening controversy concerning Christian liberty, that struck so deeply at the very vitals of Christianity and that involved the very continuance of the work he had begun among Gen- tiles, settled, Paul returned to Antioch with an urgent impulse to take up once more the world-wide task to which he had committed himself. As he and Barnabas were planning their campaign a difference of view developed between them with regard to the wisdom of taking with them on such a trying adventure John Mark, who had forsaken them on their former jour- ney, and that possibly at a time when his loyalty and assistance were most needed. As they failed to agree about this matter, Barnabas took Mark and set sail for Cyprus, while Paul, with Silas as his companion, started on his great mission. This was about the year 49 A.D. From this time on we know little of the life and work of Barnabas. There is a tradition that, after spending some time in Cyprus, he went into Egypt; and, as Egypt early became quite an important Chris- 144 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES tian center, Barnabas may have laid there the founda- tion of the Christian Church and devoted the remainder of his life to its wpbuilding. In the Acts of the Apostles Paul appears as the a one towering figure in Christian missions. With Silas he first went through Syria and Cilicia, no doubt revisit- ing the scenes of his earlier ministry that he might strengthen the Churches that were the first fruits of his missionary endeavor. He then hastened, with pecul- iar eagerness, into Galatia, that inviting field in which he had formerly labored under the trying restrictions of his bodily afflictions. The book of Acts gives us a very fragmentary account of Paul’s work on both his first and second visits to this interesting field, but the Epistle to the Galatians supplies much desired infor- mation and suggests the eagerness of Paul to be again among these people. It is evident from the recent dis- turbance at Antioch that the Judaizers at this time were very zealous in their efforts to discount and modify the teachings of Paul and that they had hurried into Gala- tia to poison the minds of these devoted followers and friends of the apostle. There are good reasons for believing that a report of their destructive work came to Paul while he was yet at Antioch and that he at once wrote and dispatched to them the Epistle that bears their name. This Epistle is full of fire and pas- 145 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES sion, and the Apostle was no doubt deeply anxious to know what effect it had produced on these disciples for whom he had such a tender love. The letter seems to have had the desired effect, as Paul was received with the greatest cordiality and we have no intimation of any defection from the faith. PauL FINps TIMOTHY While in Galatia Paul had the good fortune to find the young man Timothy, who came to mean so much to him personally and was of such value to him in organizing his Churches and carrying on his work. Timothy so heartily accepted the gospel and revealed such fine qualities of character that Paul at once chose him as one of his more intimate helpers and in this relationship he continued through all of that future arduous round of missionary endeavor. For the most delicate and difficult tasks in the administration of the Church Paul felt that he had ‘no man likeminded”’ upon whom he could rely, and in his last days in the Roman prison it was this fine soul and loyal friend for whom he longed. DIVINE GUIDANCE Paul had a very profound sense of the presence and guidance of the Holy Spirit, not only in unusual sit- 146 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES uations, but in all the ordinary experiences in which man’s moral nature is involved. While on these great missionary journeys he kept his mind open to divine impressions so that his direction and destination were determined by the Spirit’s influence on his sensitive soul. Instead, therefore, of going from Galatia to Ephesus as he had originally planned, he was, for some reason, “forbidden of the Holy Ghost to speak the word in Asia.”’ So northward, then westward he trav- eled, ‘not knowing whither he went,” till he came to the city of Troas on the A*gean Sea. With all of this heathen country in such urgent need of his gospel, with his unusual sense of self-reliance and with his passion for preaching, this long journey from Pisidian Antioch to Troas without stopping to make his appeal is a most remarkable manifestation of submission to the lead- ership of the Holy Spirit. It seems likely from the “we” passages in the Acts, beginning at this point in the narrative, that in Troas Paul met Luke, “the beloved physician,’ who made an appeal to Paul to carry his gospel over into Macedonia. At any rate, in a dream he heard a voice calling to him, “Come over into Macedonia, and help us,” and when he awoke he was sure that God was calling him to go into that field. Whatever thought Paul may have had of ultimately giving the gospel to Europe, it seems 147 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES reasonable to suppose that that far-away field had no place in his program until the Church was established throughout Western Asia. But after being so clearly led by Providence to change his plan and enter this field, he was prepared to press forward without waver- ing through all sorts of opposition and suffering. IN MACEDONIA Immediately therefore Paul “sought to go forth into Macedonia.” How his discerning soul must have been impressed with the possibilities before him! Here was the charmed circle in which civilization for ages had been nourished. Just before him lay Greece and Rome, out of which had come the culture, the learning, the laws, and the armies that had controlled the world. Here were intrenched the superstitions and false reli- gions of the ages and on every hand was to be seen the blight of their corrupt morals. What a challenge it must have presented to this hero’s faith and to his unconquerable purpose! As he crossed into Macedonia he had for his companions Silas, Timothy, and Luke, and they made their way directly to the important city of Philippi. The beginning of the work of these mis- sionaries in this proud city was most humble and un- promising. In following his usual custom of beginning his 148 a ————— A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES work in a new field with the Jewish people, where he discovered that they had no synagogue, he was led on the Sabbath day to their accustomed meeting place by the riverside outside the walls of the city, where was assembled for worship a small group of women. The author of the Acts gives us a very meager report of the results of Paul’s work in Philippi, but it is evident from our New Testament Epistle ad- dressed to this Church that it had a strong member- ship and that it had particularly endeared itself to the heart of the apostle. His work therefore must have been most successful. By healing a maid “possessed with a spirit of divination” Paul brought on himself the wrath of her masters when they saw that the source of their gain was gone and, dragging Paul and Silas before the magistrates, they had them condemned, severely beaten, and cast into prison. A miraculous deliverance from this imprisonment not only strength- ened the faith of these daring missionaries, but also made a deep impression on the authorities and gave them a notable convert in the person of the jailer. 2. From such a beginning Paul carried forward his work in Macedonia with unabating zeal and vigor until he had planted the Church in all the leading cen- ters of that interesting country. While Luke gives account of his work only in Philippi, Thessalonica, and 149 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES Bercea, it is evident from the first Epistle addressed to the Thessalonians that the Church was established generally throughout the province. In Thessalonica Paul met with bitter persecution from the Jews, thus making it necessary for him to hasten out of the city; but in his work in general in Macedonia the Judaizers who so sorely tormented him in Galatia seem not to have troubled him. His labors throughout the prov- ince were especially successful and the Churches he established were peculiarly dear to him. As Paul’s method of evangelizing was largely the slow hand-to-hand process of dealing with the indi- vidual, and with small groups, in a strictly personal way, he must have spent a considerable period in estab- lishing Christianity throughout this province. But it is obvious from his Epistles that it was for him a period of joy and profound satisfaction. The evidence was overwhelming that the gospel of Jesus thoroughly satisfied the Greek mind and met all the longings and needs of the Gentile heart. It must also have greatly rejoiced him that Christianity was no longer confined to Jerusalem or to a single nation, but was now be- coming a world religion. 3. Paul’s work in Macedonia also gave him the opportunity of training a most efficient staff of co- workers. Four of these, Sopater, Aristarchus, Secun- 150 LK A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES UD Ee A dus, and Gaius, were all native Macedonians, Timothy alone coming from outside this field. Paul was also especially successful in realizing his purpose of mak- ing the local organization in these various communi- ties an active and effective body for the extension of the gospel into surrounding territory. At ATHENS Forced by opposing Jews to leave Bercea, Paul was conducted by a company of friends into Achaia and then made his way directly to Athens. Aside from his great evangelizing purpose, Athens must have had pe- culiar attractions for him. Although it did not at this time have the political power and the cultural prom- inence of an earlier age, it still maintained its mate- rial splendor and was invested with something of the charm of its ancient glory. It profoundly interested Paul, and, from his address later we can see him walk- ing through its streets, visiting its places of interest, and noting especially the evidences of its idolatry. Here he is in the original home of culture and worldly wisdom, and yet a city so spiritually benighted that it was said sarcastically, “It is easier to find a god in Athens than a man.” Paul’s great nature was pro- foundly stirred when he saw the city thus wholly given up to idolatry, and he must have longed for an 151 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES opportunity to show this pagan people “the sweet rea- sonableness” and moral beauty of the religion of Jests. Meeting for a time with the Jews in their synagogue and reasoning with those who met him in the market- place, what seemed to be a larger opportunity pre- sented itself when some of the Stoics and Epicureans led him to the Areopagus and demanded that he tell them what his strange teaching meant. With marvelous skill and most refined tact he attempted to give them an insight into the fundamental things of his religion. But when he touched on the final judgment and the resurrection of Jesus from the dead they mocked and jeered and broke up the assembly. There were, how- ever, a few teachable souls who believed the message of the apostle and became loyal disciples. CorINTH 1. As the ungracious reception given his address at Athens was not encouraging to his eager soul, and as the general lightness and superficiality of the people did not promise favorable soil for the great serious truths of Christianity, Paul hurried on west to Corinth, one of the most important commercial centers in the entire Roman world. It was one of those rich, cos- mopolitan cities which easily develop all sorts of cor- ruption and shameless profligacy. It was a most stra- 152 Le A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES ee tegic center for Paul’s work, for ideas released here would easily circulate throughout the Roman world. Scorned, imprisoned, beaten with rods in the cities through which he had recently passed, he entered Corinth with his usual unshaken purpose and with his unconquerable faith in the power of his message. It was about the year 50 A.D. when he began his work in Corinth, and for a year and a half he poured out the energies of his great soul in planting here the Christian Church. His early acquaintance after reach- ing the city with two Jews recently come from Rome, Aquila and his wife Priscilla, had happy results for both his comfort and his work, and doubtless far- reaching effects through the information given him of real conditions in Rome and in stimulating his de- sire to visit the capital of the Empire. As they seem to have been Christians when Paul met them, and were doubtless therefore led into the Christian life while yet in Rome, there is here the suggestion of an active Christian community at this early period in the impe- rial city. 2. Corinth was in a peculiar sense a cosmopolitan city. Being a great commercial center, it had attracted people of all races and all faiths, and there was the license and the profligacy that usually characterize such a commingling of diverse human elements. It is likely 153 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES that Paul had never faced such extreme wickedness. He seemed to feel at once that his message was here to meet its severest test. We are warranted in infer- ring from his first Corinthian Epistle that he pon- dered most earnestly the question of the most effective approach to a community so steeped in vice, so mas- tered by the material. Finally he determined to attack at once their gross carnality and set over against it in sharp contrast the life of the Spirit. The crucified Jesus was his theme. There must be brought about the death of the carnal nature and a resurrection into the life of the Spirit, and this could be done only through the divine Christ. There were no other means available or conceivable for lifting them out of their moral corruption into the life of the Spirit. But in this gospel was the complete dynamic for righting all wrongs and for making perfect adjustments in all of life’s relationships. When the soul was joined in in- telligent loyalty to the Lord, all moral and spiritual problems would be solved in harmony with the will of God. 3. Paul’s work in Corinth was abundantly success- ful, and he built up a most flourishing Church. While the majority of his converts were no doubt drawn from the humbler classes, yet there were some from the more highly favored social element and some who were pos- 154 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES aaa, sessed of wealth. But the peculiar credential of Paul’s religion was in its power to lift a great company of men out of the vices of the submerged classes and transform them into a serious-minded, decent body of people, whose controlling desire was to know and do the will of God. In EPHESUS 1. From Corinth Paul took Aquila and Priscilla and hastened to Ephesus, which was one of the great centers toward which he had been looking from the time he started on this journey. But for some reason he suddenly determined to make a hurried trip to Syria; so leaving Aquila and Priscilla in Ephesus, he sailed to Czesarea and thence to Antioch. After a short stay at this great missionary center, from which he was originally sent forth, he started back to his field of operation, visiting on his way the Churches he had already established in Galatia. After revisit- ing the scenes of his earlier ministry and strengthening the brethren with the reports of the marvelous results attending his labors, he made his way back to Ephesus, the great Capital of the Roman province of Asia. It was in the midst of one of the largest, richest, and most thickly settled of the Roman provinces, and great high- ways ran out in every direction to other important 155 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES provinces and cities. In many respects it was the most important center in which Paul had yet worked. More than a century before his visit special religious priv- ileges had been granted the Jews of the city by the Romans, permitting their religious rites, giving them the privileges of their Sabbath, and protecting them in their special pilgrimages to Jerusalem; and all of these privileges had been continued down to this time. It is not surprising therefore that Paul found at Ephesus a strong, prosperous Jewish community. This city was noted for its devotion to magic and the various quackeries that had come down from the ancient reli- gions ; and, as we might expect, there were many Jews who for purely mercenary reasons carried on these magical arts. Here all the religions of the world were found, and so long as their votaries did not interfere with vested material interests, every man was free to teach whatever religion he pleased, and he was sure to have interested hearers. 2. Paul’s ability to adapt himself to unusual condi- tions again manifests itself. It was the custom here with all classes to begin work with the rising of the sun and to finish the day’s work at eleven o’clock in the morning. Paul engaged the hall of one of the public rhetoricians or philosophers, and devoting himself to his trade as a tentmaker during the working hours of 156 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES the people, he spent the afternoons unfolding his gospel to groups of listeners. In this atmosphere, so hospi- table to all cults and forms of thought, Paul must have been able to give his message to a vast number of people. 3. The first notable opposition to his work, accord- ing to Luke’s account, came from a band of organized workmen. There was a votive image used in their wor- ship. It was left within the sacred precincts of her temple as an offering to the goddess Diana. Many of these were made of gold and constituted a profitable line of work for a large number of men. When these men saw Paul’s growing popularity, it occurred to them that his form of religion would turn people away from the goddess and thus cause them to lose their trade. They were at once transformed into a mob and threw the whole city into an uproar. The town clerk, dis- covering the trouble, nobly defended Paul and scattered the mob before they had a chance to do him bodily harm. From some declarations in his epistles we are to infer that Luke by no means mentions all of the troubles and hindrances Paul had while he was in Ephesus. Paul says himself he fought with beasts at Ephesus, and it is thought by some Bible students that this is to be taken literally—that he was actually thrown into the amphitheater and, for the amusement of the 157 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES crowd, forced to defend himself against the attack of enraged wild beasts. If this is not literally true, then he must have been in the hands of an infuriated mob that was equally as merciless as would have been the wild beasts. There is no doubt that he met with the bitterest opposition and the most merciless persecu- tion, at least near the close of his campaign in Ephesus. The thoroughness of his work in this great city and the permanence of the results may be seen in the fact that in succeeding centuries this was one of the greatest strongholds of Christianity. Pauw’s Errort to MAINTAIN THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH 1. Paul now determined to hasten back to Jerusalem. We may discover two reasons in his mind for this res- olute purpose. The first was the fulfillment of the promise formerly made to the Church at Jerusalem to remember the many dependent members of their body. It seems that he had a large offering which he had se- cured for this purpose and he considered it wise to de- liver this fund himself into the hands of the Jerusalem officials, as this would be a material expression of his interest and loyalty toward the mother Church. He had a great desire to establish and make permanent the oneness of the Church which was to him “the body of 158 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES Christ.’’ It was, therefore, as the first great champion of Christian unity that Paul made this difficult and dangerous journey to Jerusalem. The other considera- tion that prompted this determination was the fact that the great Day of Pentecost was approaching and his heart was set on being there on that important occasion. It was the harvest feast and it brought to the sacred city a multitude of Jews from all parts of the world. This would therefore give him the opportunity of dem- onstrating to these foreign Jews the unity of Christ’s followers and his standing with the apostles and elders at Jerusalem. With these important objectives beckon- ing him, the threats of enemies and the entreaties of friends were powerless in turning him from his purpose. 2. While the leaders at Jerusalem received Paul with a show of friendliness, it was evident that there were suspicions concerning his attitude toward the Jewish law. With hope of removing these suspicions, Paul acceded to the advice of the apostles and associated himself with four men who had taken a vow, and agreed to pay their expense in the sacrifice demanded. This in the end proved most unfortunate. A company of Jews from Asia, who had doubtless antagonized his work in one of the great eastern centers, stirred up the multitude and attempted to take the law in their own hoe A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES hands and kill him. His declaration that he was a Roman citizen secured him immediate protection, but he was bound and held as a prisoner by Roman authorities. 3. This was the-beginning of a long period of im- prisonment. As certain of the Jews were planning to seize him and slay him, the Roman officers determined to send him to Cesarea for protection until his case could be regularly heard by the proper authorities. In due course of time he appeared before Felix, the gov- ernor of the province, who heard the accusations made against him and then gave Paul full opportunity to answer the charges and vindicate himself. Paul’s an- swer was direct and comprehensive and was a notable exhibition of masterful oratory. Wishing to avoid antagonizing the Jews, Felix deferred his decision, and at the end of two years, when he was removed from office, Paul’s case was still pending, and he was “in bonds” as a prisoner. Festus, who succeeded Felix, was immediately importuned by “the chief priests and principal men” to have Paul brought to Jerusalem for trial, hoping to apprehend him on the way and put him to death. Festus denied their request; but later, when he called Paul before him in Czsarea and discovered that the charges had to do with Jewish rites and cus- toms, concerning which he had very little knowledge, 160 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES he expressed a desire to have the case taken to Jeru- salem for trial. But knowing the danger of falling into the hands of hostile Jews and at the same time failing to be inspired with confidence in Festus, Paul appealed to Czesar for the final disposition of his case. BEFORE AGRIPPA While Paul was waiting to be dispatched to Rome for his trial an episode occurred that reveals the sig- nificance attached to him as a prisoner. While King Agrippa II was making a visit to Festus, the latter in- formed him of his notable prisoner and of his per- plexity of mind with regard to his case, and King Agrippa immediately expressed a desire to hear him. While nothing of value developed in this hearing, either to Paul’s cause or to Felix’s report to the court of Czesar, it gave to Paul an opportunity for a memorable defense of the Christian religion. Luke gives us a classical story of Paul’s voyage to Rome, with a detailed account of the furious storm and the accompanying shipwreck. He quickly won the esteem of the Roman officers in charge of him and in the midst of the storm his calmness of spirit and his commanding personality made him easily master of the panic-stricken crew. 161 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES —— nn A PRISONER AT ROME 1. Word having been received by the Christian com- munity in Rome of Paul’s coming, they determined to send a delegation to meet him and, after his long im- prisonment and trying voyage, it deeply moved his heart when, forty or fifty miles out of the city, these Christians so cordially and sympathetically greeted him. 2. While here awaiting his trial he was allowed to live in his own hired house, a privilege possibly secured him through the friendly centurion who guarded him on his voyage. Friends and visitors had free access to him, and thus for two years in this prison home he preached and taught the gospel. Soon after his arrival in Rome he called together leading Jews from the city and stated fully his case to them, evidently with the hope of securing their confidence and their sympathetic support. The majority of them listened with cold re- serve, but expressed a desire to hear him again concern- ing his religious views. On a day appointed a great company of them came together, and Paul, with his usual passion for his own people, attempted to persuade them that Jesus was the Messiah of the prophets. While some accepted his teaching, the larger number stubbornly rejected it. During the two years of his im- prisonment his “hired house” was a sanctuary toward 162 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES which sin-sick individuals and groups hungering for the bread of life turned for help and found healing and food for their souls; and from it in the form of his Epistles went streams of life-giving truth that have through the centuries been for the healing of the nations. 3. There is a sense of disappointment in the abrupt ending of Luke’s account of this closing period of the apostle’s life, but its abruptness is suggestive of what actually occurred. Had he won his case at the court of the Emperor, we may believe that Luke would have eagerly recorded it, since throughout his narrative there is an evident desire to keep prominent the fair and friendly attitude of Rome toward the apostle. There are Bible scholars who insist that Paul was at this time released and for quite a while afterward carried on ex- tensive missionary work, planting the gospel in Spain and possibly in other sections of Europe. There is a tradition to this effect, but that tradition did not arise till near the end of the second century and is altogether without corroboration. There may be some historic facts difficult for us to explain from either the one or the other of these standpoints, but the weight of the evidence seems to point to his death in Rome in 57 or 58 A.D. in the early part of the reign of Nero, From the beginning of Paul’s work as the apostle 163 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES to the Gentiles to the close of his eventful life he was the outstanding promoter of the integrity and growth of the Christian Church. He outlined its great doc- trines, he made explicit its great ethical standards, he awakened in it a sense of its responsibility as an organ- ization, he illustrated to it in his own life of sacrificial service the significance of the Great Commission and he pleaded with the passion of one of the old prophets for the unity of the Church on the one basis of faith in the historic Jesus as the Saviour of the world. He elevated the Church above all Levitical ceremonial and freed it from all priestly assumptions and usurpations. He emphasized its democratic spirit and magnified the easy way of approach it opens to God through Christ for the humblest and most unworthy soul. He made luminous the idea that this Church is the body of Christ, an organism that receives its life directly from contact with him, and that in turn becomes the means through which he manifests himself to the world. In- deed so vital was Paul’s relation to the Church that its history, up to the time of his death, is in a peculiar sense the history of his life and leadership. QUESTIONS 1. What was the difference of view concerning the meaning of Christianity between Paul and the first disciples ? 164 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES 2. Was this difference fundamental in the interpretation of Christianity ? 3. What would have been the result to Christianity if the Judaizers had won in the council at Jerusalem, and in the later controversy between Paul and Peter? 4. Was the decision of the council at Jerusalem a compro- mise, or are we to understand from Paul’s account of it that his interpretation was absolutely accepted? 5. In what respects was Paul peculiarly suited to lead in giving the gospel to the Gentile world? 6. Why did Paul put himself to so much trouble in trying to keep up friendly relations with the mother Church at Jerusalem? 7. Did he emphasize a particular system of doctrine, or a special form of ecclesiasticism as necessary to the unity of the Church? 8. Upon what single relationship did he base the unity of Christ’s followers? BIBLIOGRAPHY Ramsey, Paul the Traveler and Roman Citizen. WEINEL, St. Paul the Man and His Work. Jerrerson, The Character of Paul. 165 CHAD THRR THE CHRISTIAN CHURGHTAS (AN ORGANIZATION CARLYLE asked, “How did Christianity rise and spread among men? Was it by institutions, and estab- lishments, and well-arranged systems of mechanism? No! . . . It arose in the mystic deeps of man’s soul: and was spread by ‘the preaching of the word, by simple, altogether natural and individual efforts; and flew like hallowed fire from heart to heart, till all were purified and illumined by it. Here was no mechanism; man’s highest attainment was accomplished dynamic- ally, not mechanically.” It has already been shown that Jesus made no at- tempt toward effecting an ecclesiastical organization. He selected a group of disciples “that they might be with him” in the easy and unconventional intercourse of brotherly fellowship prompted by the one desire of learning from him the truths and the spirits of his reli- gion. Binding men to him in this intimate and easy fellowship was the immediate objective in Jesus’s min- istry. His claim to their loyalty was based on the unique winsomeness and commanding power of his per- 166 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES sonality, and it is evident that he would have been dis- appointed at the first appearance of a cold, formal or- ganic life in this group of intimate friends. He was profoundly interested in the individual who was ear- nestly seeking the light of life and he wanted, therefore, to live the most unrestrained and natural life in com- munion and fellowship with those who had left their all to follow him. “One loving spirit sets another on fire.” Jesus saw this and he longed for the privilege of setting each one of this group on fire through this personal contact, and in turn of seeing each of them exert a like influence on other needy souls. Hence his work began and continued through his ministry alto- gether without social or ecclesiastical machinery. He instituted baptism and the eucharistic feast and com- manded that they should be perpetual ordinances with his followers, but their administration was no more a restricted official privilege than was teaching or leading in prayer. This is a feature in the ministry of Jesus that is often overlooked in an age in which men mag- nify mere machinery and look to it mainly for results in their effort to save the world. The men who had been associated with Jesus as his apostles did not regard themselves, after Jesus left them, as clothed with any sort of official authority over their brethren, or indeed as having been invested with 167 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES official functions. It seems quite clear from the record that they held no official position in the Jerusalem church and were not considered as in any degree re- sponsible for its government, or as clothed with any sort of authority over its movements. When Matthias was added to the eleven apostles, it was not as an office- bearer, but as a witness to the life of Jesus and espe- cially to his resurrection, and likely this was the main significance of the apostolate at this early period. At any rate, these twelve men exercised no official control over the Church at Jerusalem. Evidently Jesus foresaw that the Christian movement would necessarily develop into an organization. Large bodies of men cannot work together harmoniously or effectively without an organization. Specific duties with their responsibilities must be defined and the common mind must be expressed in definite rules of action. It must therefore have been clear to the mind of Jesus that the growth of Christianity would inev- itably result in a compactly organized body of disci- ples. But the thing of historic value to us in this study is that Jesus did not regard any special type of organization as fundamental in his movement. The individual with a teachable mind, with a hungering and thirsting after righteousness, and with a passion for humanity, was the unit with Jesus, and on such 168 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES rested his hope for a Christianized world. The impli- cations of this have far-reaching significance; and if they had been even partially comprehended by those who through the centuries have determined the Church’s organic form, it would have saved Christian- ity from much of the bigotry and superstition that at times have marred it, and from the petty and hurtful divisions that have destroyed the unity of spirit that characterized the Church of the apostolic period. The immediate result of the misinterpretation of the mind of Jesus in this matter was that near the end of the first century the erroneous idea was asserting itself that he had ordained a certain type of church organi- zation and had committed its control to a definite body of officials. PETER AS LEADER IN THE JERUSALEM CHURCH That Peter occupied in the Church at Jerusalem a position of leadership from the very beginning is quite evident from the record. But this seems due to these two considerations: (1) His peculiar natural endow- ment with the elements of forceful leadership. ‘This strong and aggressive personality asserted itself again and again during the years of his discipleship with Jesus, so that the body of disciples came to look to him as their spokesman and their natural leader. (2) It is 169 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES suggested by Paul that the first appearance of Jesus after his resurrection was to Peter, and that it was, first of all, Peter’s sturdy and emphatic declaration of faith that dispersed the gloom of the disciples and fixed the truth in their minds that Jesus was still alive. His testimony and enthusiasm at once placed him in the lead of this little band and he brought them into the upper room to await further divine manifestation. Peter was therefore naturally and not officially the leader among the Jerusalem Christians in the earliest stage of the Church development. JAMES THE Lorp’s BROTHER At a comparatively early date we find that James, the Lord’s brother, who did not belong to the apostolic group, and indeed did not become a disciple until after the resurrection of Jesus, was the man of chief influ- ence in the Jerusalem Church. Tradition, running back to the latter part of the second century, makes him the first bishop of the mother Church, appointed to this position by the apostles themselves. Very little weight, however, is to be attached to any of these early tradi- tions; and, as there is serious doubt whether the term bishop was at all used among the Jewish Christians, it seems altogether unhistorical to use the term in con- nection with James’s work in the early Church. We 170 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES may go further and assert that there is no trustworthy evidence that James ever held an official position in the Church at Jerusalem. Because of his genuine piety, his forceful personality, his superior judgment, and his peculiar relation to Jesus, he exerted a controlling in- fluence in the councils of that Church, and not because of official position and authority. THE Earty CHRISTIANS AND THE JEWISH CHURCH 1. In the early years of the Church these Jewish Christians lived in a manner very similar to the easy, spontaneous way of life of the days of Jesus’s ministry. As has already been shown, there was only a dim line drawn between them and their Jewish neighbors. They still worshiped in the temple and in the synagogues, and there is no evidence of any thought of a separation between them and the Jewish Church. Indeed, it seems to have been the confident hope of these Jewish Chris- tians that their entire nation would quickly recognize Jesus as the Messiah and that its whole organized life —priesthood, sanhedrin, synagogues—would come under his direction and control. Not therefore until after the Jewish war with Rome, which forced the Christians permanently out of Jerusalem and into the midst of Gentile peoples, did they realize that Chris- tianity was radically different in spirit and teaching 171 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES from Judaism and the need of a separate organic life. When the Jews rebelled against Rome, it is thought to have been done against the advice and earnest entreaty of their Christian brethren, who hoped for peace in their beloved city under Roman rule. They therefore clung to Jerusalem until the last ray of hope for their doomed city faded and then fled for their lives. As a place of safety for their future residence they chose Pella, a little city in Perea that lay entirely outside of the war area and was largely inhabited by Gentiles. This radical change of surroundings upon the part of these Jewish Christians no doubt created an epoch in the life of Jewish Christianity. Now that the Jew- ish state was hopelessly destroyed, the Christians be- came the object of the bitterest hatred from their fel- low countrymen because they opposed their open re- bellion and did not come to their assistance in the hour of their great conflict. Henceforth they were looked upon as apostates. Thus all hope of bringing the Jew- ish Church into the Christian way of life was com- pletely destroyed, and there was created a state of mind that made possible a distinctive Christian organization. Tue NEw ORGANIZATION 1. In the creation of a new organization their first step was the election of a man named Symeon as their 1/72 Ay HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES leader. As he was a cousin of Jesus, that relationship possibly was the determining consideration in placing him at the head of their Church. Although he is re- ferred to by some later writers as bishop, it is altogether unlikely that he was so called, since these Jewish Chris- tians would naturally be disposed to attach the titles of their former beloved Church to their new officers. Their entire organization must have been very simple and unpretentious, inasmuch as their emphasis was not on organization, but rather on the new life of brother- hood and mutual service. 2. This complete break with Judaism upon the part of this company of Jewish Christians must have had quite a revolutionary effect upon their whole religious outlook. While Paul’s broader interpretations of Christianity had been quietly working in their minds and gradually expanding their views, still this final and sudden severance from the Church of their fathers dis- rupted such a fundamental relation in their lives that they must have experienced a special quickening of thought and expansion of mind. They now began to realize that the old Jewish system was narrow, petty, and altogether inadequate as an expression of the life of the spirit; and that it was now completely super- seded by that perfect revelation of grace and truth that came through Jesus Christ. 173 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES Tue Group THat HELD ON TO JUDAISM There was a small company of these Jewish Chris- tians who remained unshaken in their Jewish attach- ments and regarded themselves the elect remnant of God’s ancient people; and, keeping themselves strictly apart from fellowship with Gentile Christians, they held rigidly to the old Jewish law and the customs of their fathers. Finally divorcing themselves from their Christian brethren and by their fanatical claims exciting the hatred of the Jews, their condition became most pathetic as they grew narrower in view and harder in spirit. They were fiercely hostile toward Paul and re- jected all of his Epistles and finally almost the entire New Testament canon. Thus refusing to take in the larger significance of Christianity, this group of Jew- ish Christians gradually deteriorated into the Ebionism of the second century, and finally disappeared as a re- ligious body. Resisting the great current of Chris- tian development, their speedy decay was inevitabie. Tue UNITY oF THE CHURCH 1. After the council at Jerusalem concerning the liberty of Gentile Christians, it was mutually agreed that Paul and Barnabas would devote themselves to work among the Gentiles while the original apostles 174 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES and their coworkers would give themselves to evangel- istic efforts among the Jews. This agreement was made in the interest of both the effectiveness of their work and of the unity of the Christian body. Throughout Paul’s entire ministry the question of the unity of Christ’s followers was a matter of the profoundest concern to him, From the very beginning of the Chris- tian movement the disciples had a keen sense of their oneness in Christ, as Jesus had himself emphasized it. The first disciples thought of themselves, after Jesus’s departure, as a family and lived together in a sort of family relationship. To foster this idea and cultivate the spirit of brotherhood that was necessary to this unity was one of Paul’s ruling purposes. As Paul conceived Christianity to be essentially a world religion, which must press its way to all the peo- ples of the earth, the value of a body cordially and indissolubly united at once became apparent to this great leader. He was therefore not content simply with gathering in individual converts, but was equally con- cerned with the development and the vitality of “the body of Christ.” Hence his untiring effort to main- tain cordial relations with the Church at Jerusalem and to keep alive a hearty sympathy between this Church and his mission Churches among the Gentiles. It was because this question of unity was so vitally involved 175 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES that he was anxiously concerned about the outcome of the Jerusalem Council; and it no doubt had much to do with his zeal in making his large collections for the poor of the mother Church. Hence, notwithstanding the occasional difference of opinion on certain ques- tions between the Jerusalem Church and the growing Gentile Churches, the great principle of unity for which Paul contended lived on and really determined the course of Church history in the centuries that followed. The term “church” was employed to designate both the local organization and the universal brotherhood. The Church in a given community, or in a private home, was simply a manifestation at this particular place of the great body of Christ, and the fact that its members were widely scattered over the world and made up of people of different nationalities and races in no sense interfered with their unity—their oneness as a brotherhood. In the mind of Paul this unity of the universal Church was a matter of spirit rather than of organization. He organized his local congregations as he traveled over his wide mission field, but there was no effort upon his part to bring these various local bodies into a general organization controlled by com- mon officials. 2. Paul’s local organizations were altogether ele- mentary and democratic. He had no fixed form of 176 LL —— A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES EEC CE EES SE ae ee organic life and claimed no divine authority for any particular features that he adopted. His organization developed as the needs of the situation demanded, and it was all practical, fluid in form, and altogether human in conception. 3. During the apostolic period, and for quite a time afterward, the unity of the Church was a spiritual bond rather than a matter either of organization or of creed. All Christians were taught that they were members of the body of Christ. There was no thought of a central government and no law that compelled one group to submit to the will of another. It was solely a matter of the spirit. They were all under obligation to try to know and to do the will of Christ, but every group, and in fact every individual, was entirely free to interpret that will. 4. With the Church covering so large a part of the Roman world, we may wonder that this purely spiritual bond kept alive such a keen sense of unity throughout this widely scattered membership. Perhaps the chief explanation is found in the fact that constant inter- course was kept up among these widely separated Christian communities. In the constant streams of travel along the great Roman highways were to be found multitudes of Christians going to and fro into all the provinces and cities of the Empire. As they had L7/, A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES a very intimate sense of brotherhood under the inspira- tion of this new religion, they would inevitably be led in the various places through which they would pass to seek out their fellow Christians and rest and wor- ship with them. We get from Paul’s Epistles a very graphic view of this intercommunication. The hospi- tality manifested and the real brotherly interest shown would naturally be reported back in the Churches from which the pilgrims came, and thus the feeling of one- ness would be intensified and brotherly love promoted. 5. Furthermore, unity and a degree of uniformity were cultivated by the many itinerant preachers and teachers who traveled throughout the early Church. We get glimpses in the Acts of the Apostles of evangel- ists and missionaries busily making their way from place to place, and their influence in determining views and methods of church activity must have been very great. These wandering prophets and teachers looked to no ecclesiastical body for their authority to teach and had no claim on any organization for their sup- port. Many of them, no doubt, maintained themselves, as did Paul at times, by the labor of their own hands, but it seems to have been generally understood that entertainment and a measure of support would be fur- nished by those among whom they labored. 6. A third means of promoting unity was through 178 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES the sending of letters. It became a custom to send these missives from one Church to another, so that a number of Churches, in addition to the one to which a given letter might be sent, would get its inspiration and instruction. This seems to have been the course taken by many of our New Testament Epistles. 7. Along with these influences, the persecution of the early disciples had much to do in drawing them into a closer brotherhood. Throughout the early period of Christianity the forces hostile to her teaching and life hung about the Church like a menacing pestilence and awakened within its membership such a sense of their immediate danger that it drew them into a grow- ing intimacy and an ever-deepening sense of their es- sential oneness. While their preaching was at this time limited in both its theological and ethical content, it is evident that their minds were gradually glimpsing the infinite implications of Jesus’s doctrine of God as Father and the correlative truth, the essential brother- hood of his followers. If they were to overcome the ugly hostility of their enemies and make the teaching of Jesus concerning the kingdom of God effective, they saw that they must be one in purpose and in heart. Thus the Church maintained her oneness and cordial fellowship until near the close of the first century, when a tendency developed to standardize certain views con- 17D, A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES cerning doctrine and ritual and to exclude from the brotherhood those who did not accept these standards. This tendency appears only in its incipient stage in the century with which we are dealing, but there is dis- coverable the beginning of a movement that grew in its scope and in the rigor of its demands. This un- fortunate attitude led to a narrowing of the circle of the Christian brotherhood. Instead of the simple union determined solely by loyalty to Jesus and the spirit of brotherly love, uniformity of view and ecclesiastical technique came to be enjoined with growing emphasis, while narrowness and the spirit of intolerance began to disturb the peace of the Church and gradually to de- story its all-embracing unity. Instead of the World- Church that Jesus and Paul had in mind, this ugly at- titude began to produce an exclusive institution, and to usher in the age of Roman Catholicism, which means the age of sectarianism. The beauty of an all-inclusive brotherhood, based solely on loyalty to Jesus was abandoned for the sake of a deadening uniformity in creed and ceremonial. QUESTIONS 1. What do you understand the Christian Church to be? 2. When did the organized Church appear, and what were its essential features as an organization? 3. When did the original disciples begin to regard the 180 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES Christian movement as something different altogether from Judaism? 4. Were the original disciples an organized body, or sim- ply a family group bound together by love and by a common loyalty to Jesus? 5. What was Peter’s relation to this early brotherhood ? 6. What was Paul’s method of work in establishing the Christian Church throughout the Gentile world? 7. Did Paul’s idea of the unity of the Church center in a fixed form of organization? BIBLIOGRAPHY Ramsey, Paul the Traveler and Roman Citizen. Grover, The Nature and Purpose of a Christian Society. 181 GEA IE heat ELE CHURCH OLN I PROGISS OF DEVELOPMENT “WHATEVER we make of it, the Christian Church stands out as one of the most significant factors in human society for nineteen centuries. It has seen civilization overwhelmed and has seen it rise again, and has itself been the center about which it rose, Every phase of life is touched by some relation with the Church. We cannot get away from it, however much we may renounce it. We realize that it means more than we grasp—all that it means is hard to understand.” The beginnings and early growth of an institution that has weathered the storms of the centuries and so power- fully influenced human thought and action challenges the student of history. Tue APOSTLES While the life and teachings of Jesus gave birth to Christianity, its rapid spread in the first century and its organic life were due mainly to the work and influence of a small group of men known as apostles, and to those 182 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES who came directly under their influence. The brave testimony of the apostles to the resurrection of Jesus and the transforming power of the Holy Spirit were the foundation upon which was built that religious superstructure that we call the Christian Church. They were the leaders, the teachers, the men with first-hand information concerning the life and gracious words of Jesus, the human agents that made it possible for Chris- tianity to win its way among peoples not at first in sympathy with its spirit and teachings. In the high respect felt for them and the moral authority of their teachings and judgments the apostles held a unique place in the Church down to the close of their lives. In this company were numbered not only the men known as the Twelve Apostles, but other men of apostolic spirit, such as James the brother of our Lord, and Paul. But only men with a divine call to leadership in the Church, evidenced by special endowments of the Holy Spirit, were numbered in the ranks of apostles. A man’s apostleship was providential in origin; his cre- dentials came from God. When missionaries were or- dained and sent out by Churches, as Paul and Barnabas from Antioch, it was not this ordination that made them apostles; this was simply a formal recognition by the Church of the evidence in the lives of the men that God had called them to such work. Whatever 183 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES authority a man’s apostleship carried was due solely to his character and zeal and ability. Apostles did not consider themselves officers in a particular congrega- tion, or of the Church at large. They were simply men chosen by the Holy. Spirit to bear witness to the risen Christ. Of course the Churches founded by them would have great respect for their advice and counsels. The four outstanding apostles in the New Testament story are Peter, Paul, James, and John. Two of these belonged to the original Twelve. James, the brother of our Lord, was converted to Christ after the Resurrec- tion and became prominent in the Church at Jerusalem. The story of Paul’s conversion and work has a large place in the New Testament. | Paul’s great adventure in carrying the gospel to the Gentile world is historically so important, and holds such a large place in the New Testament, that we are left with limited information about other missionaries, who in their own way and in various fields wrought with a spirit not less heroic than that of the great apostle to the Gentiles. But the work of Paul was so strategic as to account for the whole historic develop- ment of the Church after the fall of Jerusalem (A.D. 70); hence it is easy to see the reason why it has so large a place in the New Testament story. The exact date of Paul’s conversion cannot be fixed, but it was 184 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES not long after the beginnings of the Christian Church. He appears for the first time as a great leader near the year A.D. 50, or about twenty years after the resurrec- tion of Jesus, and from that time on he was by pre- eminence the ‘“‘wise master builder,” under whose leadership in less than twenty years a series of strong Churches could be found reaching all the way from Syrian Antioch to Rome. Next to Paul in order of importance in the develop- ing apostolic Church comes John, one of the Twelve. There is sound historic evidence that John lived in Ephesus during the closing years of his life. Of his work as an evangelist, subsequent to the founding of the Church in Samaria, we have no record. Paul men- tions John and Peter and James as “pillars” in the Church at Jerusalem, although there is no evidence that John took part in the debate at the great Jerusalem Council. The most reasonable conclusion from the available evidence is that John, like Peter, gave his life mainly to the task of evangelizing his own people, the Jews. It is evident from John’s Gospel that he finally freed himself entirely from Jewish narrowness and ac- cepted the broader conception of Christianity so ably championed by the Apostle Paul. It is also a just in- ference from some of Paul’s epistles that John was not in Ephesus during the period of Paul’s active ministry, 185 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES and that he did not arrive in that city until later than Paul’s martyrdom. The most plausible theory is that after the fall of Jerusalem and the dispersion of the Jews, when there was no longer work that he could do in Palestine, John moved to Ephesus, where many Jews had settled. Tradition says that he lived to a ripe old age, and for a number of years John must have been a man of outstanding influence in that group of Churches mentioned in Revelation, with Ephesus as the center of activity. That John could succeed Paul as the guiding spirit in that group of strong Churches must have been most fortunate for the Christian cause. The false doctrines and immoral lives of some within the Church, and the subtle influence of both pagan and Jewish teachings and habits of life, demanded the presence of a Christian leader who had thought deeply and soundly on the doctrines of Christ, and who had verified truth in his own experience. In planting the Church, Peter seems to have given his entire time, with one notable exception, to mission work among people of his own race. As early as the time of the Jerusalem Council, Peter was recognized as “the apostle of the circumcision.” Later Paul mentions him as leading about a wife as he travels from place to place in his evangelistic work. There were many Jews throughout Palestine and 186 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES Syria, and it is probable that Peter selected this as his first field of missionary activity, and that he was working that field while Paul was planting Christianity in Europe. A man of his energy, courage, and devotion to Christ must have been “in labors abundant” as long as he enjoyed life and freedom. There is a very early and well-established tradition that before the end of his life Peter went to Rome and did evangelistic work there among his fellow countrymen. Some of the Christian fathers, writing before the close of the first century, leave little doubt on this point. But his going to Rome must have been after the martyrdom of the Apostle Paul, and probably after the destruction of Jerusalem; or at least after the disorder in Palestine due to the Roman invasion in A.D. 68. Since Peter was the apostle who had opened the gospel dispensation to Gen- tiles in the household of Cornelius, and had taken a firm stand with Paul for Christian liberty in the Coun- cil of Jerusalem, he would seem to have been the prov- idential man for holding together as Paul’s successor the diverse elements of the Church in cosmopolitan Rome. However, the vague tradition that Peter had an apostolate of twenty-five years in that city has no historic foundation and is intrinsically improbable. But that he suffered martyrdom in Rome, probably near 187 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES the end of the persecution of Nero, admits of little doubt. Little is known of James, the brother of our Lord, beyond the fact that he became the most influential man in the Jerusalem Church, where at critical moments he turned the tide in favor of Paul’s view of Christianity as a religion of the spirit. Neither are there historic records of the other apostles of our Lord after the Day of Pentecost; but we may be certain that the rapid spread of Christianity in all directions from Jerusalem was due to the influence of the plain men who in preach- ing the gosepl could say, “We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen.” EVANGELISTS In the apostolic Churches were other preachers and leaders known as evangelists. Perhaps none of these had “seen the Lord Jesus Christ” in the flesh, and so they could not be numbered with apostles; but they were men under the influence of the Holy Spirit, and in some cases they seem to have been quicker than the apostles to free themselves from Jewish exclusiveness and recognize Christianity as a universal religion of the spirit. Stephen, first Christian martyr, belonged to this class. 188 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES PROPHETS Another class of leaders that we see in the early Church was known as prophets. The Old Testament prophets were men who saw God in all the great move- ments of human society and interpreted history in terms of divine providence. The predictive element in prophecy is seen in the Apocalypse, but this was not a chief characteristic of the prophets in the apostolic Churches. ‘They were not an order, like apostles, bishops or presbyters, and deacons, but they were men or women who had the prophetic gift vouchsafed to them.” They were the interpreters of the inexorable workings of the law of God. There was a sense in which the gift of prophecy was common to all Chris- tians, but the persons especially recognized as prophets were those who had obtained this charism in an emi- nent degree, and because of their unusual endowment were held in honor, and the Church waited for their guidance. Prophecy was “a spiritual gift that en- abled men to understand and teach the truths of Chris- tianity, especially as veiled in the Old Testament, and to exhort and warn with authority and effect greater than human.” Their services must have been highly valuable among masses of believers who were with- out access to the Old Testament, and who were 189 eenn nner rer nner reece reer rr SS SSS A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES incapable of thinking profoundly on the problems of life and the nature of the Christian revelation, and of thus experiencing the inner compulsion of high moral and spiritual demands. But the prophets, like the apos- tles, made no sort of claim to official authority in the Church. TEACHERS The early Church developed still another class of leaders known as teachers. They seem to have formed a very numerous and important group, and they shared honors with apostles and prophets. The function of the teachers was similar to that of the prophets, the main difference being that they dealt mainly with the historic facts of Christianity, the prophets with the in- terpretation of those facts. The teachers must first be students, the prophets seem to have spoken largely through direct or intuitive revelation. The four classes of leaders we have just named did not limit their activities to particular congregations, but some of them had the Church at large for their field. Their unusual gifts were generally recognized, and they were free to exercise them in any congrega- tion they might visit. The high esteem in which such persons were held naturally gave them a commanding influence wherever they went. Usually when one or more of them were present at a religious service they 190 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES were expected to direct the service, and its meaning and value would be determined by the message delivered. They were especially looked to for guidance where error or fanaticism was rampant and sanity and truth were to be promoted. CuurcH DISCIPLINE In the whole matter of church government and dis- cipline, the classes just mentioned seem to have exer- cised a controlling influence. Their instruction related to conduct as directly as to belief. The people looked to these leaders to show them the mind of Christ for their daily lives, and of course they would be expected to reprove any who were walking disorderly, and in the case of scandalous conduct to lead in the exclusion of the offender from the Church. BISHOPS The giving of alms was an important feature of Christian worship and their impartial distribution came to be a delicate and a heavy responsibility in the early Church. The real condition of all the dependents in the community would have to be known and then a fair distribution of the alms collected would have to be regularly made. The first apostles, busy as they were with the work of evangelizing and teaching, soon felt 191 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES that the regular distribution of the alms was distract- ing and burdensome, and as a means of relief seven suitable men were chosen to whom such work could be committed, and they were solemnly set apart for this special task. This arrangement at Jerusalem was likely repeated later in other communities of Christian disct- ples. It is thought that this evident need of financial oversight, rather than any other consideration, led to the appointment of the earliest bishops. Paul’s note of thanks to the Philippian Church for gifts sent to him affords us the first reference to bishops in the literature of the New Testament, and this association of them with the sending of the offering suggests their leading function. While this special financial work made the occasion for the creation of bishops, it is evident that this was not their only function. The orderly and in- telligent conduct of religious worship, especially of the eucharist to which so much importance was attached, must have early impressed the Church with the neces- sity of having a chosen group of men who would make this part of the work their peculiar care, and this re- sponsibility was added to the work of the bishops. We can see at once that such an arrangement would naturally lead to a more formal service than had existed up to that time. The original freedom in the early Church, which gave full liberty to every man to speak LOZ Le A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES EARL ITS UE Ra ae aE RE or prophesy as he might feel himself moved, would be restricted by this method and finally suppressed; and the result was that the closing years of the first cen- tury witnessed the beginning of the stereotyped form of church service. Ecclesiastical discipline was also made to function through the bishops. As has already been stated, this duty at the outset devolved upon the apostles, prophets, and teachers; but in the course of time these specially inspired men became relatively less numerous and there developed a need for capable men to administer the dis- cipline of each Church. The bishops were the logical men, and the Churches began to look to them for all matters pertaining to church government. As this work heretofore had been in the hands of their most highly inspired men, in selecting those to whom it was now to be committed they naturally turned to the most mature and experienced men to be found, and that led to the selection of the oldest, at least in point of service. Thus the “elders” came to be regarded as a distinct class in New Testament times. This distinction, how- ever, was quite different from that which existed be- tween bishops and presbyters in the second century, for at this earlier date the elders were not officers, but sim- ply the more mature class in Christian service from which the bishops were chosen. 193 essence A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES ES ene NESTE From the very first, bishops were regarded as teach- ers as well as administrators of charities and super- visors of the services. In the absence of apostles, prophets, and teachers all of the high duties that de- volved upon them fell to the bishops. These officials were not supposed to have the high inspiration of the apostles and prophets, and with the passing of the years and the development of set forms of doctrine and wor- ship their teaching came to deal more and more with matters of organization rather than with the mind of the Spirit as expressed directly through the teacher. Up to the end of the first century the authority of the bishops was very limited. The ability to rule in the Church was regarded as a special gift of the Spirit, and a man was chosen for such a task because the Church believed he was ordained of God for the place. If therefore a Church found itself in doubt as to a man’s call or fitness for the position, it could set aside a bishop and repudiate him as a leader. At that early stage of church development leadership did not take on a rigidly official character, but was determined solely by spiritual and mental fitness for high religious service, In the course of time particular congregations began to feel that the direction of their affairs should be en- tirely in the hands of their own bishops, or overseers, rather than left to the judgment of itinerant prophets 194 ty A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES cae ne ee CS ee or missionaries. This led to the claim of the exclusive right on the part of bishops to govern their own Churches, or dioceses—rights of which no authority could deprive them. With a growing emphasis on the unity of the Church, the congregation came to be con- sidered as but a local manifestation of the universal Church, and we can easily see how this idea of the in- alienable right of a bishop in his own diocese led toward the conception of the universal episcopate, with au- thority extending over the universal Church. THE BROTHERHOOD Thus the Church as shaped during the apostolic period was a world-wide fraternity of people, young and old, gathered from all races and conditions of life and held together simply by their loyalty to Jesus and their desire to promote his kingdom by sacrificial serv- ice. It was not a great piece of ecclesiastical machinery that was holding men fast in its mighty grip and forc- ing its way to influence and power; nor was it a system of carefully worded dogmas to which men’s minds and consciences must be made to submit. Rather it was a living historic movement whose origin and continued source of life and power were found in the personality of Jesus of Nazareth. Through him had come to them such a consciousness of the fatherhood of God and such 195 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES a unique sense of the brotherhood of man that they thought of Christianity simply as a new way of life. It was therefore “a movement which, during the first century, spread throughout the world unfettered by creeds or rules or complex organization and, therefore, free to adapt itself to the varied needs of humanity. The bonds of union in this brotherhood were from within, growing out of a great common purpose and of a mutual love. Their tireless efforts, therefore, were prompted by fraternal cooperation rather than the driv- ing power of an organization or unbrotherly competi- tion. Their great objective reached far beyond all that is implied in man-made ecclesiasticisms and was found in the ideal of perfect realization of the will of God as that will is revealed through Jesus Christ. In the life, of the disciples of the first Christian century therefore we see the great social and spiritual ideal which Jesus called the kingdom of God so illustrated that it served as an inspiring prophecy of its future complete realiza- tion in the life of the race. QUESTIONS 1. What were the functions and qualifications of apostles in the early Church? 2. Who were the prophets in the early Christian Church, and what were their duties? 3. What was the difference between teacher and prophet? 196 Cee ——eEe A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES ee — 4. When did bishops appear in the Church, and what were their special duties? 5. Were these various classes office-bearers, or rather men with special gifts for high spiritual service? 6. At the close of our first century had the Christian Church taken on a general organic form, or was each local group entirely independent? 7. According to our New Testament sources is the Church a special type of organization divinely ordained, or is its organic form solely a matter of expediency and efficiency? BIBLIOGRAPHY (See list for Chapter X.) 197 CHAPTER XII DEVELOPMENT AND INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIAN LITERATURE Tue New Testament period was characterized by great literary activity throughout the Roman world. Writers of various nationalities sent out a stream of literature in all the varied forms through which man had learned to express himself. We are not, therefore, surprised that a life like that of Jesus and a vigorous movement like Christianity would incite many to take it “in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things that were most surely believed among” the early disciples. There were two types of literature much in vogue at this period, the letter and the epistle. The letter was an easy and familiar document written to a particular individual, while the epistle was intended for a group or a number of groups and was therefore more formal and elaborate. Late excavations have brought to light many examples of both of these types of literature and have thus thrown much light on our New Testament writings. Paul made use of both these types in writing to his coworkers and followers and must have exer- 198 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES cised a very wide and effective influence by this means over the early Christian Church; and as these produc- tions of Paul’s busy life constitute the larger part of our New Testament they have mightily influenced thought and conduct through all the Christian cen- turies. Paul not only has the distinction of being the most voluminous New Testament writer, but also of being the author of the earliest Christian literature preserved to us, as the first Thessalonian Epistle is generally regarded as the earliest extant piece of Christian writing. First EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS Under persecution Paul had hurried away from Thessalonica, after having spent some time in that city preaching and teaching the new way of life. His con- cern for the members of that Church in the midst of their enemies was so keen that from Athens he sent Timothy back to encourage and strengthen them and then to bring him word as to their condition. While Timothy, upon his return, had many cheering things to relate in regard to their faithfulness and their devotion to Paul, he also reported that there were many evils in the Church, many outcroppings of their old heathen vices—impurity, lust, wrangling, and especially a ten- dency to neglect the ordinary duties of life under the 199 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES MN ot eeu NA seem Ae EM NER influence of their expectancy of the speedy return of Jesus. There were also some accusations among them against Paul himself. This report from Timothy led him to write this first epistle, and determined its contents, SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS As this first epistle failed fully to accomplish its purpose in correcting the growing tendency to neglect their ordinary avocations through their expectations of the sudden return of the Lord, Paul wrote his second brief epistle, im which he devoted his attention almost wholly to the suppression of this hurtful fanaticism. THE CORINTHIAN EPISTLES It seems likely that two years passed after Paul’s successful work at Corinth before he wrote his first epistle to that Church. His work there had been re- markably successful, and he doubtless left them with the feeling that they were so well indoctrinated and trained in Christian living that their spiritual growth and sound development were assured. But while he was in Ephesus, members from the household of Chloe came from Corinth and brought him very disturbing news of conditions in the Corinthian Church. The party spirit so characteristic of the Greeks had asserted 200 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES itself in the Church to such an extent that it was divided into hostile factions. The Church was also tainted with the social immorality so prevalent in that great commercial center and their Greek minds were finding difficulty in accepting Paul’s view of the resurrection. These and minor questions started a voluminous cor- respondence between Paul and the Corinthian Church. It seems that he received two letters from the Church, making direct inquiry about certain matters of belief and conduct, and later some representatives from the Church visited him to lay before him in detail the whole situation. It is evident from a direct reference in our first Epistle to a former “letter” that this was not the first document Paul sent this Church. This first Corinthian Epistle as it appears in the New Testament is the longest and one of the most charming of all those intimate messages that Paul sent out to his Churches. He takes up the various questions that had come to him and the ugly reports of their immoral ten- dencies and with great courage and beautiful tenderness urges on them the high ethical standards of Christianity which grow directly out of individual experience. It seems likely that our 2 Corinthians contains frag- ments of two other epistles written by Paul to this Church during this period of anxiety. Having received word that his former letter greatly disturbed them by 201 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES ee ee ee ne awakening their consciences, he now hastens to make some personal explanations and then to express his love for them and his deep joy at the evidence of their re- pentance and spiritual quickening, The epistle throbs with the deepest- emotion and is charged with inspiration. In the Corinthian Epistles Paul discusses questions growing out of economic conditions, the sex problem in its varied aspects, the marriage relation, and the general application of the law of love to all social relationships. These views of Paul, so nobly expressed on these vital questions, not only quickened and enlightened the Cor- inthian Church, but have also been most powerful in creating the standards of our present Christian civilization. GALATIAN EPISTLE The Epistle to the Galatians seems to have been writ- ten to a group of Churches established and cultivated by Paul in Galatia. After he had established these Churches and had gone into other regions, certain Judaizing teachers came among these Christians insist- ing that unless they were circumcised and carefully ob- served the Jewish law, Christ would profit them noth- ing. They then attacked Paul’s authority, insisting that he had never seen Christ and had no commission from him as had the Twelve. He was therefore, they 202 -_e—_—e—e—e—e—ee eee A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES a insisted, teaching a false gospel. When news of this came to Paul and he learned that many of his converts were, through this false teaching, turning away from the grace of God, he was most profoundly stirred, and in this frame of mind wrote his impassioned letter to the Galatians. Both from the standpoint of doctrine and of the history of the apostolic period, it is one of the most important of all of his writings. EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS Paul’s Epistle to the Romans is peculiar in that it was written to a Church with whose planting he had nothing to do—a Church in fact which he had never visited. But he had long entertained a desire to visit Rome, and it was evidently a part of his program for the future when he wrote the epistle. From the early part of his ministry he seems to have had his heart set on evangelizing the entire Roman Empire, and hence his deep desire to go to this center of the nation and preach his gospel of the more abundant life. Up to this time it had been impossible for him to carry out this desire, and he now writes to the Church at Rome to present his reasons for not having visited them up to this time, and to prepare the way for the access of his gospel to their minds. And yet with this simple pur- pose why this elaborate doctrinal statement? If his 203 ean err A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES promised visit was to give him the opportunity he coveted, it was important that all misunderstandings and prejudices be removed, and that they have a correct view of the nature of his gospel and a sympathetic ap- preciation of the general soundness of his views before he should make his appearance among them. His long and intimate association with Priscilla and Aquila, who probably began the Christian life in Rome, enabled him to become thoroughly acquainted with the difficul- ties in the way of the approach of his message, and in order to make sure of the removal of all misapprehen- sions; and to secure for himself a sympathetic hearing, this elaborate theological and ethical statement was sent them. As this epistle is the most complete exposition on record of Paul’s views concerning the gospel, it is evident that the fears entertained with regard to his teaching grew out of a superficial conception of the scope and deep significance of Christianity. He there- fore attempted to prepare the way for his personal min- istry among them by this elaborate presentation of the fundamental principles underlying the religion of Jesus. THE EPIstTLEs oF PAUL’S IMPRISONMENT Paul’s long-coveted visit to Rome was finally made as a prisoner in the hands of Roman officers. But not- withstanding the fact that he was thus imprisoned, 204 LL e— A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES ee bound with chains and probably facing death, in addi- tion to the arduous evangelistic work carried on within the confines of his prison, with the help of a few faith- ful assistants, he tirelessly gave himself to the instruc- tion of his widely planted Gentile Churches through letters and epistles. A number of our New Testament epistles came from his hand during this trying period of imprisonment. The epistles to the Ephesians and the Colossians, with their persuasive call to holy living in the name of the glorified Christ; the epistle to the Philippians, with its charming revelation of the deeper experiences of the author and of the intimacy and warmth of the ties that bound him and his converts together; the letter to Philemon about the return of his converted slave, “the most charming thing of the kind ever written,’ manifesting the most refined tact and delicacy of feeling in the approach to the conscience and heart of his friend—all of these came from Paul’s pen during his imprisonment in Rome. The two letters to Timothy and the one to Titus, with their wealth of instruction for meeting their appointed tasks and throb- bing with a deep fatherly interest in these sons in the gospel, cannot be definitely located as to the time and place of their composition, although there are some intimations that they were written during this imprisonment. 205 eres A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES SS Se sensseeeessesseenerereenneeesenens Paul’s service to the cause of Christianity as a writer, as well as a teacher and organizer, is beyond measure. He found it enmeshed in Jewish narrowness and ex- clusiveness and, freeing it from these limitations, he made it luminous before the eyes of a dying world. He was the invincible leader in transplanting Christianity from the unpromising soil of Judaism into the more fertile field of the Gentile world. Both in his life and in his epistles he made the Christian life to appear as a directly personal, spiritual fellowship with God and as being essentially ethical and social in its nature. The implications that were in the teachings and ideals of Jesus concerning the kingdom of God, Paul developed in his epistles in a most masterful way. The external structure and the creeds of historic Christianity are largely the result of his building; but, as he always asserted, the foundation on which it is laid is Jesus Christ. THE Locia The first document containing the written Sayings of Jesus, of which we have any definite knowledge, is what is known as the Logia. The author of it is not known, but it is believed that it came from one of the early disciples. The tradition that Matthew compiled it is not at all certain. Mark, Matthew, and Luke may 206 nnn A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES have had access to it in the writing of the books that bear their names. THE GOSPEL OF MARK The first of the Gospels written was that of Mark. It was evidently the author’s aim to give us an explicit account of the deeds of Jesus, although we find fre- quent recitals of his words in making complete his pic- ture of the worker and ceaseless Servant of man. His style is easy and colloquial ; and while he gives us a bare outline of that busy life, it is unequaled in its vividness and carries all the marks of veracity. John Mark is quite generally regarded as the author of this book. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW Matthew, in the composition of the Gospel that bears. his name, used information found in the Logia and manifests acquaintance with the Gospel of Mark. But his aim in writing was different from that of Mark, his chief purpose being to set forth and emphasize the Messiahship of Jesus. He therefore quotes at length both from the public and the more private utterances of Jesus. We know nothing for certain about either the place or the time of the composition of this Gospel. 207 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES THe GOSPEL oF LUKE In the writing of the third Gospel Luke, the author, tells us in his prologue that he used all available sources in securing his material. He had the real historical instinct and his whole purpose in compiling his in- formation and writing his book was to give to those to whom he was writing an altogether accurate history of the life and work of Jesus. Hence in his careful search for the most authentic information there is no doubt that he consulted both the Logia and the Gospel of Mark. This book is supposed to have been written a decade or two before the close of the first century and there is no reasonable ground for doubting that Luke, the beloved physician and companion of Paul, was its author. To these Gospels we are deeply indebted for our knowledge of the historic Jesus. With all of Paul’s splendid service to the cause of Christianity through his voluminous writings, we derive from him scarcely any information about the life and ministry of the Man of Galilee. It is therefore from the Gospels that we get our ideas of the personality and character of our Lord. They have kept Jesus, as a real character, fresh in the mind of the Church and have been channels through which his vitalizing power has constantly been felt in 208 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES the life of his followers. Moreover, they have held the Church to the great historic facts of its faith and have thus prevented its being carried away by wild specula- tions, “The picture of Jesus as he was in his divine Sonship and in his human brotherhood—a picture pre- served in our Gospels alone—the world could not do without.’’ THE GOSPEL OF JOHN The Gospel of John was written much later than the other Gospels. The author it seems was attempt- ing in this book to combat certain dangerous trends of thought concerning the person of Jesus. On the one hand was the view that Jesus was simply a supe- rior prophet or teacher, and on the other was the equally dangerous doctrine that he had no real human- ity. To meet these dangerous views, this Gospel de- clares with commanding emphasis and assurance the divinity of Jesus and so presents certain great events in his life and ministry as to make them proclaim his divine power. Then, the author is equally concerned that the human side of Jesus’s life be recognized and he therefore represents him as weary, hungry, and unutterably heavy-hearted. He will not let his read- ers forget, as they follow him through the pages of his book, that it is the Man of Galilee, the historic Jesus, who is the Life and the Truth and the Way. 209 Re A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES —— EE ee The author also felt that there was special need for emphasizing the exalted conception of love imbedded in Christianity. Hence he makes radiant Jesus’s teach- ing concerning the love that God has for men, and the self-sacrificing love men experience when they abide in Him. EPISTLES OF JOHN The three epistles that bear the name of John are characterized by a persuasive tenderness and a deep mystical insight into the heart of Christ’s gospel. The first of these epistles was written in answer to certain unsound teachers who were denying that Jesus was the Christ, and were also insisting that the Christian was above all law—that no sin was possible to him even should the whole moral law be ignored. The sec- ond and third of these short epistles were also de- signed to guard the Church against certain dangerous teachers who were circulating among the brethren. THE Book or REVELATION The last of the books with the name of John as the author is the book of Revelation. Obviously this book was written when the Church was passing through a period of great persecution as its theme is the pro- longed and painful struggle that Christianity was hav- ing with the heathenism and organized evil of its day, 210 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES and the joyful assurance of an ultimate and complete victory. The apocalyptic hopes, to which the Christians held as a part of their Jewish heritage, are made artic- ulate in this book, and bold figures of speech and a highly colored symbolism are used to give expressions to these hopes and expectations. Hence the great dif- ficulty the modern mind finds in attempting to under- stand its Revelation. EpIsTLES OF PETER Our New Testament has two epistles ascribed to the apostle Peter. The first of these deals with the per- secutions through which the Church was passing and exhorts those to whom it was sent to patient endurance and faithfulness in living that the Gentiles might, through “their good works which they behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.” The main purpose of the second epistle seems to be confirming of the Church in the faith of Jesus’ second coming for the purpose of “salvation and of judg- ment.’”’ Both of these epistles are thoroughly practical and must have been of immense service in the daily lives of those early Christians. 211 i A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES Ee EPISTLE OF JAMES One of the most interesting and valuable of this group of letters is the Epistle of James. The aim of the epistle is clearly the correction of certain dangerous interpretations that were at that time finding their way into Christian teaching. Paul’s emphasis on faith had evidently been used by false teachers as ground for insisting that intellectual belief was the only vital thing and that therefore conduct was of little impor- tance. This epistle, in attempting to counteract that tendency, is devoted exclusively to works, or the daily conduct of the Christian in his social relationships. THE LETTER OF JUDE The letter of Jude was written later than the date of Paul’s epistles. The Christians to whom it was addressed were in great danger of being poisoned in their minds by false brethren, against whom he warns them. These false teachers were men who were living grossly immoral lives, were ignoring divinely consti- tuted authority, and were therefore creating schisms and seriously hurting the Church. EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS A brief study of the ‘Epistle to the Hebrews” ap- propriately closes this sketch of the Christian literature 212 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES of the first century. “In its literary form and thought this epistle stands in solitary grandeur among New Testament writings.’ It was written near the end of the century, but nothing at all definite can be asserted with regard to its authorship. Whoever may have been the author, he must have been a finished Greek scholar, a thoroughly informed theologian, and a brilliant rheto- rician. The purpose of the author was to strengthen the faith and loyalty of the Christians to whom the epistle was addressed in a time of great persecution and distress. To this end he attempts to show the su- preme glory of Christ’s person and work. To quicken their faith and inspire courage, he dwells at some length on the priesthood of Christ—“‘our great high priest,” he insists. He then reminds them that sufferings prop- erly met and borne deepen and enrich life’s experiences and that there may be produced through them “the peaceable fruits of righteousness.” Finally he calls attention to the covenant relation that exists between the Christian and God, and the idea of the Gospel as a new covenant is elaborated and emphasized. OTHER LITERATURE We have thus very briefly sketched the literature of this period that has passed into our New Testament. But this is only a part of the contribution made by the 213 A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES ee ee a believers of that age to Christian thought and to the development of the Christian Church. It is hardly reasonable to suppose that men who were vigorous thinkers and brilliant writers, like the author of He- brews, for instance, would stop with a single contri- bution to a cause for which they had such marked loy- alty. But the Christians of the generations following the apostles, in selecting the literature they felt valu- able for their guidance and instruction, based their decisions on the contents of the writings and then on the special claim they thought the writers might have to the inspiration of the Spirit. This naturally focused their attention on the writings of the apostles and those authors most intimately associated with them. Hence from the mass of literature that was thus produced they selected and preserved in the main only those writings that they considered apostolic, or that had grown out of intimate association with the apostles. QUESTIONS 1. What evidence do we have that the first Christian cen- tury was a period of literary activity? 2. How did the record of Jesus’ sayings and doings likely have its origin? 3. About what time in his ministry did Paul begin his literary activities ? 4. What evidence have we that these epistles of Paul were 214 errr errr A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES Ea aaaaaaaaaaiaaaaaaaaaaasaaaaaaasaaaaaaaaaaaaa widely read during this early period and were effective in shaping the views and life of the Church of the first century? 5. What has been the special value to the Church of the Gospels, with their simple story of the life and words of Jesus? BIBLIOGRAPHY Standard Bible Dictionary. Fisuer, History of the Christian Church. 215 4's 4 ¥ >A a Wal bate, ‘ap hee Wy , wey aie A he HT Er i Hl || - av wv a Ta) | a .. rae] = © WY iI ament ti + t n Theologic 44 | | II Princeto W960 .G A history of New B