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Conybeare, William John,
1815-1857.
The life, times, and travels
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MAP OF THE COUNTRIES
ADJACENT TO THE
NORTHEAST CORNER OF THE MEDITERRANEAN;
‘TO ILLUSTRATZ THE EARLY PASSAGES OF
ST. PAUL'S LIFE,
AND WIS FIRST JOURNEY
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THE
Sitio tives AND TRAVELS
bel PA OL.
BY
we
THE REV. W. J. CONYBEARE, M.A.
LATE FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE,
AND
THE REV. J. 5. HOWSON, M.A.
PRINCIPAL OF THE OOLLEGIATE INSTITUTION, LIVERPOOL.
WITH INTRODUCTION
BY MATHEW SIMPSON, D.D.
BISHOP OF THE METHODIST EPISOOPAL OCHUROH.
It is very meet, right, and our bounden duty that we should at all times and in all placea
give thanks unto Thee, O Lord, Holy Father, Almighty, Everlasting God, through Jesus Christ
our Lord, according to whose most true promise the Holy Ghost came down from heaven,
lighting upon the Apostles, to teach them, and to lead them to all truth ; giving them bo'dness
with fervent zeal constantly to preach the Gospel to all nations ; whereby we have been brought
out of darkness and error, into the clear light and true knowledge of thee, and of thy Son Jesus
Christ.”—Proper Preface to the Trisagium for Whitsunday.
TWO VOLUMES IN ONE, UNABRIDGED
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NEW YORK:
E. B. TREAT & CO., 654 BROADWAY;
0. W. LILLEY, CHICAGO, ILL; A. H. HUBBARD, PHILA., PA.
A. Τὶ TALCOTT ἃ CO., PITTSBURGH, PA.
1869,
PUBLISHERS’ PREFACE.
Tue Publishers, in presenting “ Tur Lire anp Episrixs or Sr,
Pav,” by the Rev. W. J. Conypzare and Rev. J. S. Howson,
need no apology. It has commanded the admiration of scholars
and intelligent readers of the Bible both in this country and
Europe, and has passed through the ordeal of criticism in both
countries and received the highest commendation. The ex-
pense of the English edition, however, is such as necessarily to
limit its circulation in this country, and the desire has been
repeatedly expressed that the work should be published in a
form and at a price which would bring it within the reach of
ministers, students, and intelligent readers generally. The
present edition, it is believed, will meet the existing want.
Though offered at one third of the cost of the London copy, the
work has in no way suffered from abridgment, but has ‘been
preserved complete in every respect. The notes, coins, maps,
plans, and wood engravings generally have been retained, and
yet the size of the work has been reduced from the unwieldy
quarto to a convenient octavo form. 3
The introduction by the Rev. Marraew Simpson, D. D., the
eloquent and revered Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
is at once the best explanation of the character, and the most
emphatic commendation that could be given of the genuine
worth of this admirable work, and to that, those not fully
familiar with the volume are referred.
BISHOP SIMPSON’S INTRODUCTION.
Tux life of St. Paul is full of interest, not only to the Christian
Church, but to every student of history. By birth a Jew, he was
intensely attached to his race, and yet he became the great apostle
to the Gentiles. Educated a Pharisee, hoping for the supremacy
of Judaism, and hating its opponents, persecuting them even to
death, we behold him a sudden convert to the cross, and his soul
swells with a world-wide philanthropy. Living in a stirring and
an eventful age, he becomes one of its chief actors, and propagates
a religion which changes the face of the world. 116 declares its
sublime truths alike to the dwellers in Arabia, to the tumultuous
masses in the Grecian cities, or to the accomplished and powerful
Roman governors and officers of state. In the intermingling of
nationalities he becomes a citizen of the world, and is at home in
Jerusalem, in Athens, and in Rome. Persecuted in Judea,
mobbed in Greece, and put to death in Rome, yet the productions
of his pen have been translated into more than two hundred
languages, and thousands of readers peruse his glowing pages,
where only a few trace the speculations of Plato or the orations
of Cicero.
Such a life is worthy of profound study. It stands out boldly
in the pages of history. We long to analyze its elements, to exam-
ine the surrounding circumstances, and to understand the causes
of its wonderful power and influence. Such a task have our
authors undertaken, and nobly have they performed it in the vol-
ume before us. Careful inquiry, diligent research, and extensive
erudition are manifest in every chapter. The materials as to his
early associations and his personal habits are scanty, it is true, yet
a few glimpses afford us a partial view. As great naturalists are
able from viewing a small bone of an animal, even of an extinct
race, or a single scale of a fish from a distant ocean, to describe
the skeleton, and to portray the habits and modes of life which such
a being must manifest, so have our authors, from the slight allu-
sions given, endeavored to bring vividly before us the life of St.
Paul. To accomplish this, every department of knowledge has
ιν INTRODUCTION.
been made tributary. As Napoleon, in his life of Caesar, has given
as the groundwork that wonderfully clear, accurate and panoramic
view of the condition of tie lands of the Mediterranean at that age,
ΒΟ have Conybeare and Howson wrought out the picture of Judea
and of the Jewish colonies in the age of the apostle. They have
traced the changes in the form of government, the intermingling
of Jewish customs with Roman law, and the influences which
must have operated upon the various governors. They have
shown the condition of the literature, the schools, the dialects,
and the sects in the Iloly Land. Passing to Asia Minor, to Greece,
and to the adjacent islands, they have traced the mythology and
philosophy with which Christianity came in contact, and have
shown to us the fields of the apostle’s conflicts. We stand on the
Acropolis, wander through the amphitheatres, gaze on the race-
course, witness the games, or enter the abodes, and behold the
customs and manners of the various inhabitants.
To illustrate his travels and writings, they have appealed to the
history of the age in which he lived. They have collected the
records made by travellers who have visited those lands, in the
centuries past, as well as in the present period. Inscriptions on
tablets and monuments have been deciphered and examined. Old
coins and urns, exhumed from buried ruins, and deposited in pub-
lic or private museums, add their testimony as to the state of art
and the habits then prevailing. The currents of the sea and of
the atmosphere, the storms and teimpests still sweeping through
and over the Mediterranean, unchanged by the lapse of centuries,
add their voices to attest the correctness of the narrative. The
islands and banks, the headlands and straits, remain to-day as they
are sketched by St. Luke. The old Roman ship with its sails and
oars, laden with its articles of trade and commerce, seems to ride
the waves before us, as it bears its passengers from port to port.
Biographical sketches of the leading men who were contemporary
with the apostle, and who figure in the same scenes, also add
coloring and life to the picture. Thus fragments of history and
travel, of art and science, of philosophy and language, are skilfully
combined, as scattered rays are converged to a focus, to pour their
light upon the apostle’s person and labors.
It is freely admitted that many of the sketches are purely con-
jectural. A vivid imagination has described not what the apostle
assuredly saw, but what he might have seen. As St. Paul jour-
neyed from place to place, yonder mountain towered, or yonder
INTRODUCTION. ν
plain revealed its loveliness to the eye. Legends of the past
clustered around that monument, or memories of heroes lingered
on the battle-field of yore. Here he may have reasoned with this
dhilosopher, or listened to the fervid eloquence of that orator
But in all such eases, the authors tell us what is fanciful and what
is real We may cast aside the fancies, as we would strip off
some trivial ornament, yet the bold outlines of the figure remain
clearly imprinted upon the mind.
The Christian Church has ever admired and reverenced the
character of St. Paul. The Roman Church commemorates his
conversion by a feast on the 25th of January. It was established
by Innocent ILI. in 1200, though Baronius states that it had been
observed in the earlier ages, and had fallen into disuse. So emi-
nent was he considered that ancient writers often designated him
as “Tue Apostle.” So highly were his writings prized by the
early Christians that we find a portion of the Scriptures, con-
sisting chiefly of his Epistles, designated as ὁ ἀπόςτολος, His exam-
ple has fired many a-youthful heart and stimulated to many a
heroic deed. Possibly because of his utter fearlessness and of his
heroic daring, he is in medigval pictures usually represented
with a sword as his special badge of distinction, as that of St.
Peter is the keys, and of St. Andrew the cross.
Valuable as the illustration of a life so pure, holy, and com-
manding must ever be, there are special reasons why at the present
time we welcome such a work, and desire its extensive diffusion.
Infidelity no longer occupies the purely negative positions as-
sumed in the last century by many of its votaries. It no longer
contends, that the history of Jesus and of his apostles is a fabri-
cation of a later age, and designed to impose upon the credulous. It
accepts the fact of the life, teaching, and suffering of our blessed
Saviour, and of the ministry and labors of his apostles, but en-
deavors to explain away all that is supernatural or miraculous in
the inspired narrative. It professes to admire, and even to reverence
the person of Christ, and to exalt him as a man and as a teacher to
the highest possible elevation; yet it denies his claim to be the
Son of God; derides his miracles as deceptions, and admits him
to have been guilty of duplicity and imposture. The Gospels and
the Acts of the Apostles they admit to be histories, true and accu-
rate in their outline, but they find myths interwoven everywhere
to suit their convenience. So, too, they deal with the apostles.
They trace their history, extol their heroism and their labors, ad-
vi INTRODUCTION.
mit that by their teachings the thoughts of humanity have been
modified and the condition of the world has been changed. Yet
with all this to explain away the supernatural, they admit them
to have been weak and visionary, enthusiastic and fanatical, the
deluded dupes of others or the grossest impostors themselves.
The most subtle German critics have sought to find diserep-
ancies and errors to invalidate the accuracy of the narrative, and
thus to weaken its authority. Colenso, himself holding the office
of a bishop, and professing to be a sincere Christian, has sought to
weaken or destroy the faith of the Church. Others throw an air
of romance around the inspired history, rejecting portions dis-
tasteful to them, and incorporating their own fancies much
after the manner of historical novels. Renan travelled in the
lands of the Bible, became familiar with the localities and scenery,
and has given to the world a semi-historical and semi-romantic
life of Christ, easy in style and graceful in illustration. He writes
the biography as a professedly enthusiastic admirer, yet at
every possible point suggesting difficulties and deriding his
claims to divinity. He writes as a friend, but stabs as an enemy.
To such a writer we may apply the answer of the Saviour to Ju-
das, ‘‘ Betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss?” So, too, he :
writes the lives of the apostles. Paul is intellectual, ardent,
daring, heroic. Yet in his conversion he represents him as weak
and silly. He tells us that after Stephen’s death, he was troubled
with fears. “ That going toward Damascus he suffered with ophthal-
mia, and was temporarily blinded and prostrated by a sun-stroke.
That in his delirium he thought he saw a form and heard the
voice of Jesus. That he remained exceedingly nervous until
Ananias soothed him by his friendly hand and cheered him by his
words of kindness, and then, his nervousness passing away, he
found that he could see. Such is the explanation of the wonderful
conversion of the great apostle—a conversion which changed a
learned and bitter persecutor into an ardent advocate—a conver-
sion which so vividly impressed him, that he relates it everywhere
—attests it before Roman governors, and under its powerful influ-
ence goes calmly forward to bonds, imprisonment, and death.
One purpose pervades all such works. It is to impair the
authority of the Sacred Volume—to cast doubts upon the
eredibility of portions—to give the air of a myth, or romance,
to the narrative—that thus, in the midst of mists and shadows,
men may hesitate to believe in the Son of God. To coun-
INTRODUCTION. Vii
teract this no method can be more effective than to bring vi-
vidly before us the leading personages actively engaged in
the early propagation of Christianity—to show them in their
connection with received historic facts, and to prove by the
unchanging face of nature that they must have stood and acted
where and when the inspired penman describes them. The
times are favorable for this. The eyes of the world are
turning to the lands of the East. Egypt is reviving from the
lethargy of ages. The valley of the Euphrates is attracting ex-
plorers. Phoenicia and Palestine are once more to be on the
highway of nations. The canal through the Isthmus of Suez
will change the route of eastern commerce, and the Mediter-
ranean will be filled with the fleets of all countries. The lands
visited by St. Paul will be revisited by multiplied thousands ;
and when the legends of ancient mariners and the songs of Homer
shall have been forgotten—when the exploits of the crusaders
shall live only in neglected pages of history—the name of the
great apostle shall be indissolubly connected with the cities in
which he sojourned, and with the waters upon which he sailed.
How refreshing is it, also, in this commercial age, to study a
character so free from selfishness. Not a single act or event in
his history suggests the idea, “ Will it pay?” But everywhere
thoughts of truth, of right, and of duty cluster around his move-
ments. He was earnest and sincere, even when a persecutor of
the disciples of Christ. But when converted, these qualities were
sublimely manifested in his suffering “the loss of all things” for
Christ’s sake. Not for a moment did he hesitate to espouse the
cause which he had assailed. Not once did he ask, “ What will
Gamaliel say?” “What will the Jews do?” Convinced that
Jesus of Nazareth was the true Messiah, he hastened, at the peril
of his life, to proclaim him as such in every open synagogue. To
him the frowns of former friends, the rebuke of his revered pre-
ceptor, the scorn of his associates, the loss of his reputation, the
closing of every apparent avenue to fame, and the terrors of per-
secution, bitter’ and unrelenting as he well knew, were of little
moment when he heard the voice of duty urging him onward.
Nor was this because his nature was cool and phlegmatic. On
the contrary, he was ardent, impulsive, sensitive, a lover of the
beautiful and the grand. He was educated and refined—had
studied in the highest school of his nation, and had sat at the feet
of its ablest teacher. Gamaliel had, by special permission, stu-
Vill INTRODUCTION.
died Grecian literature, that he might serve his nation in impor.
tant trusts. Te was a skilful astronomer, delighted in the study
of nature, and admired the beautiful in all its manifestations.
Such a teacher must have left his impress upon the pupil whe
revered him, and must have awakened within him kindred
thoughts and sentiments. Above all these, however, there was
a conviction of the unseen and the eternal. He walked on the
verge of the invisible, and he felt within himself the power of a
divine life. We hear him saying, “I live, yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me.” He recognizes in others the same holy influence,
which he terms “ Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Tow grand
is his conception of life! His pathway is marked out by his Crea-
tor. His race has commenced. Angels and redeemed spirits
look down upon him as he hastens toward the heavenly Jerusa-
lem, ever “looking to Jesus, the author and the finisher of his
faith.”
Such a conviction imparts almost inconceivable strength, either
for labor or suffering. Hence we find him in the city of Corinth,
the centre of pride and of luxury, laboring day after day with
his hands, that he may not be chargeable to the Church, to
whom he is imparting the truths and consolations of religion.
Full of burning zeal, the limits of no'country or province contined
him. From Judea to Syria, Asia Minor, Greece, and the islands,
he passed in rapid succession, longing to visit Spain, and “ to
preach the gospel in Rome” also. If we consider the extent of
the countries through which he passed, the slow and perilous
modes of travelling, and the dangers which he braved, we shall
form some idea of his ceaseless and resistless energy. In the
midst of all these labors of travel, of preaching, and of daily toil,
he found time to write. 16 remembered the converts in Corinth
and Ephesus, in Galatia, in Philippi, and in Thessalonica, and sent
letters of consolation and instruction. He heard of the infant
church at Rome, and dispatched his greetings thither, and pre-
pared for the Hebrews scattered abroad his most labored Epistle.
The same consciousness of the Divine presence cheered him in _
every hour of trial and of gloom. Stoned, scourged, imprisoned,
he felt that God was with him. He was determined “to finish
his course with joy.” Though Nero might condemn, he dreaded
not the execution, for he knew the “righteous Judge” would
present him a martyr’s crown. He who would rise to the gran-
deur of the apostle’s life, must have a profound conviction of the
INTRODUCTION. 1X
power of the gospel, and must realize the influence of the Divine
presence in his own heart.
There is another view in which the life and teachings of St.
Paul possess a deep interest for our age. The Jews, as a people,
are in danger of plunging into utter infidelity. Long have they
looked and waited for a Messiah to come. Diligently have they
studied the predictions of their prophets, and carefully have they
calculated when he should appear. But the centuries have come
and gone, and none, save Jesus of Nazareth, has appeared to
present even plausible claims to that great office. Weary with
longing and looking, their ablest minds are beginning to turn
away from prophecy, and to doubt whether there is to be a reali-
zation of their hopes. Their temple is in Moslem hands; their
sacrifices have long ceased ; they ure scattered into all lands, and
yet are strangely kept separate from the families in the. midst of
which they dwell. They need to-day to hear the voice, and to
listen to the reasonings of their brother—the great apostle—their
‘kinsman, according to the flesh.” While he is called the apos-
tle to the Gentiles, he was in one sense pre-eminently the apostle
to the Jews also. At Damascus, within a few days after his con-
yersion, it is said: “ And straightway he preached Christ in the
synagogues, that He is the Son of God;” and again, he “ con-
founded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is
very Christ.” On his visit, years after, to Thessalonica, it is
said: “ Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three
Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures, opening
and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen
again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto
you, is Christ.”
To-day, such a voice is needed in the large and costly
synagogues which are being erected in our principal cities.
Could the Jews behold one of their own race, educated in their
own literature, sharing in all their prejudices against the cross of
Christ, yet by divine power changed into an ardent disciple ot
Jesus, and consecrating his energies and his life to that holy ser-
vice, they too might be induced to listen and to learn. What
they require, is to be convinced that Jesus is the promised Messiah.
On them no life and teachings can have more influence than St.
Paul’s. And, as in commerce and the higher arts, China has-re-
mained almost stationary, until advancing civilization has swept
round the globe, and its great waves have returned to her shores,
>.< INTRODUCTION.
so the words, the life, the spirit of St. Paul, after having stirred
and ἔς the whole gentile world, are returning once more
to arouse the waiting and doubting Jews.
Lhe ministry of St. Paul is also the connecting link between
the apostles who accompanied and were instructed by the blessed
Saviour when upon earth, and the ministry of the Church in
all ages. In his selection, the great Head of the Church has pro-
claimed his purpose to select his own agents. St. Paul was not
chosen either by the apostles or by Christian congregations. He
received his authority, not from men but from God. Entering
directly into the ministry, amidst the church in Damascus, with-
out the sanction of Peter, James, or John, or of any earthly coun-
cil, he declares himself ‘‘ not one whit behind the very chiefest of
the apostles.” The infant church recognized him as God’s chosen
one, apostles received him as a fellow-servant, and God worked
with him by signs and miracles. It is the prerogative of God to
call to the office of the ministry, and it is the office of the church
to examine, to recognize, and to sanction that call. Forms may
be adopted as becoming and convenient, and persons may be select-
ed by whom these forms may be administered. The forms should
be appropriate, and the officers to administer should be selected
with care, that thus the ministry may be fitly commended to the
attention and the confidence of the world. Yet all these matters
are conventional and secondary, while the call of God is of nba
impor tance.
It is at least worthy of note, that the apostle who had never
seen Jesus during his sojourn on earth, had never listened to his
glorious teachings, and had not been selected as one of the twelve,
should work out for himself the highest position in the apostolate.
He appears to have done far more for the cause of his Master than did
any other, and if we except St. Peter and St. John, more than all
the other apostles combined. Indeed, it appears strange that St.
Peter, who by many has been regarded as the Head of the Church,
and through whom his professed successors claim to have received
supreme power in the church, is scarcely heard of in scriptural
history after his mission to Joppa and the council 1 in Jerusalem.
Once St. Paul meets him in Antioch and withstands him to his
face, “because he was to be blamed.” He doubtless visited
Corinth, as some of that Church claimed to be “ of Cephas,” and
he either visited the churches to which St. Paul had written, or the
Epistles had been sent also to Jerusalem, as he speaks of things in
INTRODUCTION. Xi
them “hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and
unstable wrest, as they do also the other Scriptures, unto their own
destruction.” Is this difference in our information, as to the life
and labors of St. Peter and St. Paul, simply an illustration of
how the pen can give publicity and immortality to the actions of
men? If so, we are taught the necessity of recording as well as
doing, that a wide-spread and permanent influence may be exer-
cised upon the world. It may be, however, that, foreseeing the
effort that would be made to magnify unduly the position of St.
Peter among the apostles, God designed to present to the church
the history of another, who was stronger and more influential.
St. Peter does not appear to have had any voice either in select-
ing St. Paul for the ministry, or in sending him from Antioch on
his great missionary tour, or to have directed his work among
the churches. In other words, the great missionary movements
of the church were chiefly outside of St. Peter’s direction.
As an organizer St. Paul appears to have excelled all his asso-
ciates. He could adapt himself to the peculiarities of any race or
any locality. He visited the synagogue and reasoned with the
Jew, and he stood on Mars’ Hill and quoted to the Athenians the
sentiments of thetr own poetry and philosophy. He took his
illustrations from the habits, customs, employments, and amuse-
ments of the people whom he addressed. Yet, looking far beyond
his own age, he desired to give order and permanence to the
church in all lands. Hence he writes to Timothy, his son in the
gospel, as also to Titus, directing them how to instruct and to
organize the churches in every city. Through them he speaks to
all ministers in all ages, extending thus an influence to the end of
time. Intent on the great thoughts of the gospel, he touched but
lightly on ceremonies. Notwithstanding he preached in Corinth
“Ca year and six months,” and added many converts to the church,
yet he thanks God that he baptized none but Crispus and Gaius
and the “ household of Stephanas.” His great mission was to
preach the gospel, “not in words of man’s wisdom,” but with
divine influence and unction, and to arrange such agencies as
should perpetuate the work which he had commenced. For this
purpose, he gathered around him active workers. In his Epistles,
he refers to a number of these by name, and commends them to
the confidence and affection of the churches. He also employed
the assistance of pious women, but in what mode, and to what
extent, we are ποῦ informed. He commends to the church at
XIL INTRODUCTION.
Rome, Phebe, a servant of the church at Cenchrea, or, as some
translate it, a deacon of the church. He also makes respectful
allusion to several others. And in writing to the Philippians, he
says: “And I entreat thee also, true yoke-fellow, help those
women which labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also,
and with others, my fellow-laborers, whose names are in the book
of life.’ Yet to the Corinthians he says: “ Let your women
keep silence in the churches; for it is not permitted unto them to
speak.”
How far, and in what mode, the services of women can be
employed in the church, is a question which at present deeply
interests the religious world. Unquestionably, pious women in
all ages have done much for the cause of Christ; and to-day
a vast amount of such moral influence is unemployed. It is equally
true that Christianity alone has elevated and educated women,
and made them capable of being not only the ornaments of society,
but active and earnest laborers in its refinement and puritication.
Possibly, the few glimpses we have of their service in apostolic
times were designed to teach us that, in their service, the church
must be determined by the wants of the age and the circumstances
of society.
In this age of missionary enterprise, we look back with interest
upon the first missionaries, and the results attending their efforts.
We behold the apostie visiting the great central cities, and
establishing in them churches, which should gradually enlighten the
entire provinces. Wherever he went he became a bond of sympathy
between the scattered Cnnistians, and he taught them to aid each
other. Poor and strugguny as the infant churches were, yet in
Macedonia and 1n Gurmcn cuey presented their offerings to assist
their suffering brethren in Jerusalem. Irom every point, greet-
ings were sent to the various churches, and the chief workers were
saluted, and exchanged salutations, by name. ‘The great idea
soucht to be realized was the fulfilment of the Saviour’s prayer :
“That they all may be one.” That the great leader in accom-
plishing this had been educated a Phsmece! of the “strictest sect,”
and was exclusive in his ideas and associations, may appear ideale
but we must remember that the conversion which ohanaed him
from a persecutor to a disciple, also swelled his heart with beney-
olence for the whole world. From that moment he yearned for
the conversion of the Gentiles, and in his spirit was forever broken
down the wall of partition, not merely between Jew and Gentile,
INTRODUCTION. ΧΗΣ
vut between all classes and races of humanity. He saw all con:
cluded under sin, that the promise throngh Christ might be given
to them that believe; and he looked forward with glowing anti-
cipation to that fulness of time, when there should be gathered
together “in one, all things in Christ, both which are in
heaven and which are on earth.” Century after century has
passed away; gradually has the gospel broken down barrier after
barrier, and the families of earth are being drawn more closely
together. Missions are being established in all lands, and all
nations are studying one Bible and bowing before one cross.
Improvements are opening up a highway upon the seas, and bind-
ing with indissoluble bonds the extremities of a continent. Men
of all races and of all classes are finding a home in our western
world; and the gospel is proving itself to be the power of God in
so influencing the hearts of men, that for the first time in earth’s
history, these races of the East and of the West, of the North and
of the South, dwell together in peace and safety. Such a consum-
mation can only be through Him who is ‘‘ Head over all things to
the church, which is his body, the fulness of Him that filleth ali
in all.”
No one ean rise from the perusal of this volume without being
both surprised and edified by the vast amount of materials se
diligently collected and arranged as to cast new light upon varions
passages in God’s word. oth to the systematic minister and to
the general reader, this work is vastly superior to any commentary
upon the Pauline Epistles. And, in commending it to the Amencaz
public, the earnest hope is entertained that it may have an exten-
sive circulation.
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INTRODUCTION.
Gan pu:pose of this work is to give a living picture of St
Paul hisaself, and of the circumstances by which he was sur-
rounded.
The biography of the Apostle must be compiled from two
sources; first, his own letters, and secondly, the narrative in the
Acts of the Apostles. The latter, after a slight sketch of his
early history, supplies us with fuller details of his middle life;
and his Epistles afford much subsidiary information concerning
his missionary labours during the same period. The light concen-
trated upon this portion of his course, makes darker by contrast
the obscurity which rests upon the remainder; for we are left to
gain what knowledge we can of his later years, from scattered
hints in a few short letters of his own, and from a single sentence
of his disciple Clement.
But in order to present anything like a living picture of St.
Paul’s career, much more is necessary than a mere transcript of
the Scriptural narrative, even where it is fullest. Every step of
hig course brings us into contact with some new phase of ancient
life, unfamiliar to our modern experience, and upon which we
must throw light from other sources, if we wish it to form a dis-
tinct image in the mind. For example, to comprehend the in-
fluences under which he grew to manhood, we must realise the
position of a Jewish family in Tarsus, “the chief city of Cili-
cia ;” we must understand the kind of education which the son
of such a family would receive as a boy in his Hebrew home, or
in the schools of his native city, and in his riper youth “at the
feet of Gamaliel” in Jerusalem; we must be acquainted with the
ΧΥΪ INTRODUCTION.
profession for wh ch he was to be prepared by this traming, aud
appreciate the station and duties of an expounder of the Law.
And that we inay be fully qualified to do all this, we should have
a clear view of the state of tle Roman empire at the same time,
and especially of its system in the provinces; we should also un-
derstand the political position of the Jews of the “ dispersion ;”
we should be (so to speak) hearers in their synagogues; we should
be students of their Rabbinical theology. And’ in like manner,
as we follow the Apostle in the different stages of his varied
and adventurous career, we must strive continually to bring out
in their true brightness the half effaced forms and colouring of
the scene in which he acts; and while he “ becomes all things to
all men, that he might by all means save some,” we must form
to ourselves a living likeness of the ¢hings and of the men among
which he moved, if we would rightly estimate his work. Thus
we must study Christianity rising in the midst of Judaism, we
must realize the position of its early churches with their mixed
society, to which Jews, Proselytes, and Heathens had each con-
tributed a characteristic element; we must qualify ourselves to
be umpires (if we may so speak) in their violent internal divi-
sions; we must listen to the strife of their schismatic parties,
when one said “I am of Paul, and another, I am of Apollos ;”
we must study the true character of those early heresies which
even denied the resurrection, and advocated impurity and law-
lessness, claiming the right “to sin that grace might abound,”!
“ defiling the mind and conscience ”? of their followers, and mak-
ing them abominable and disobedient, and “ to every good work
reprobate ;* we must trace the extent to which Greek philosophy,
Judaizing formalism, and Eastern superstition blended their taint-
ing influence with the pure fermentation of that new leaven
which was at last to leaven the whole mass of civilized society.
Again, to understand St. Paul’s personal history as a mission-
ary to the heathen, we must know the state of the different popu:
lations which he visited; the character of the Greek and Itoman
civilization at the epoch; the points of intersection between the
political history of the world and the scriptural narrative; the
social organization and gradation of ranks, for which he enjoins
respect; the position of women, to which he especially refers in
many of his letters; the relations between parents and children,
Row. vi. 1. LM ty thy 18 3 Tit. i. 16.
INTRODUCTION. XVii
slaves and masters, which he not vainly sought to imbue with the
loving spirit of the Gospel; the quality and influence, under the
early empire, of the Greek and Roman religions, whose effete
corrup‘ness he denounces with such indignant scorn ; the public
amusements of the people, whence he draws topics of warning or
illustration; the operation of the Roman law, under which he
was so frequently arraigned; the courts in which he was tried,
and the magistrates by whose sentence he suffered ; the legionary
soldiers who acted as his guards; the roads by which he travelled,
whether through the mountains of Lycaonia or the marshes of
Latium; the course of commerce by which his journeys were so
often regulated; and the character of that imperfect navigation
by which his life was so many times? endangered.
While thus trying to live in the life of a bygone age, and to
eall up the figure of the past from its tomb, duly robed in all its
former raiment, every help is welcome which enables us to fill up
the dim outline in any part of its reality. Especially we delight
to look upon the only one of the manifold features of that past
existence, which still is living. We remember with pleasure that
the earth, the sea, and the sky still combine for us in the same
landscapes which passed before the eyes of the wayfaring Apos-
tle. The plain of Cilicia, the snowy distances of Taurus, the cold
and rapid. stream of the Cydnus, the broad Orontes under the
shadow of its steep banks with their thickets of jasmine and
oleander; the hills which “stand about Jerusalem,”? the “arched
fountains cold” in the ravines below, and those “ flowery brooks
beneath, that wash their hallowed feet ;” the capes and islands of
the Grecian Sea, the craggy summit of Areopagus, the land-
locked harbour of Syracuse, the towering cone of Etna, the volup-
tuous loveliness of the Campanian shore; all these remain to
us, the imperishable handiwork of nature. We can still look
upon the same trees and flowers which he saw clothing the moun-
tains, giving color to the plains, or reflected in the rivers; we
may think of him among the palms of Syria, the cedars of Leba-
non, the olives of Attica, the green Isthmian pines of Corinth,
whose leaves wove those “fading garlands,” which he ccntrasts*
1 2 Cor. xi. 25, “thrice have’ I suffered shipwreck ;¥ and this was before he was
wrecked upon Melita.
“The hills stand about Jerusalem; even so standeth the Lord round about his
people.” Ps. exxy. 2.
? 1 Cor. ix. 25.
XVlil INTRODUCTICN.
with the “ineorru stible crown,” the prize for which he fought
Nay we can even still look upon some of the works of man which
filled him with wonder, or moved him to indignation. The tem:
ples “made with hands”! which rose before him—the very apo:
theosis of idolatry—on the Acropolis, still stand in almost un-
diminished majesty and beauty. The mole on which he landed
at Puteoli still stretches its ruins into the blue waters of the bay.
The remains of the Baian Villas whose marble porticoes he then
beheld glittering in the sunset—his first specimen of Italian lux-
ary—still are seen along the shore. We may still enter Rome as
he did by the same Appian Road, through the same Capenian
Gate, and wander among the ruins of “ Ciesar’s-palace”* on the
Palatine, while our eye rests upon the same aqueducts radiating
over the Campagna to the unchanging hills. Those who have
visited these spots must often have felt a thrill of recollection as
they trod in the footsteps of the Apostle; they must have been
eonscious how much the identity of the outward scene brought
them into communion with him, while they tried to image to
themselves the feelings with which he must have looked upon the.
objects before them. They who have experienced this will feel
how imperfect a biography of St. Paul must be, without faithful
representations of the places which he visited. It is hoped that
the views which are contained in the present work, and which
have been drawn for this special object, will supply this desidera-
tum. And it is evident that, for the purposes of such a biogra-
phy, nothing but true and faithful representations of the real
scenes will be valuable; these are what is wanted, and not ideal
representations, even though copied from the works of the great-
est masters ; for, as it has been well said, “nature and reality paint-
wd at the time, and on the spot, a nobler cartoon of St. Paul’s
preaching at Athens than the immortal Rafaelle afterwards has
done.”
For a similar reason Maps have been added, exhibiting with
as much accuracy as can at present be attained the physical fea-
tures of the countries visited, and some of the ancient routes
through them, together with plans of the most important cities,
and maritime charts of the coasts where they were required.
While thus endeavouring to represent faithfully the natural
: Acts xvii. 24. 3 Phil. 1. 13.
8 Wordsworth’s “ Athens and Attica,” p. 76.
INTRODUCTION. xix
objects and architectural remains connected with the narrative, it
has likewise been attempted to give such illustrations as were
reedful of the minor productions of human art as they existed in
the first century. For this purpose engravings of Coins have |
been given in all cases where they seemed to throw light on the
circumstances mentioned in the history; and recourse has been
had to the stores of Pompeii and Herculaneum, as well as to the
collection of the Vatican, and the columns of Trajan and Anto-
ninus.
But after all this is done—after we have endeavoured, with
every help we can command, to reproduce the picture of St.
Paul’s deeds and times—how small would our knowledge of him-
self remain, if we had no other record of him left us but the
story of his adventures. If his letters had never come down to
us, we stouid have known indeed what he did and suffered, but
we should have had very little idea of what he was.!' Even if we
could perfectly succeed in restoring the image of the scenes and
circumstances in which he moved,—even if we could, as in a ma-
gic mirror, behold him speaking in the school of Tyrannus, with
his Ephesian hearers in their national costume around him,—we
should still see very little of Paul of Tarsus. We must listen to
his words, if we would learn to know him. If faney did her
utmost, she could give us only his outward not his inward life.
“His bodily presence” (so his enemies declared) “ was weak and
contemptible ;” but “ his letters” (even they allowed) “ were weigh-
ty and powerful.”? Moreover an effort of imagination and memo-
ry is needed to recal the past, but in his Epistles St. Paul is present
with us. “His words are not dead words, they are living crea-
tures with hands and feet,” * touching in a thousand hearts at this
very hour the same chord of feeling which vibrated to their first
utterance. We, the Christians of the nineteenth century, can
bear witness now, as fully as could a Byzantine audience four-
teen hundred years ago, to the saying of Chrysostom, that “ Paul
by his letters still lives in the mouths of men throughout the
whole world; by them not only his own converts, but all the
1 For his speeches recorded in the Acts, characteristic as they are, would by them.
selves have been too few and too short to add much to our knowledge of St. Paul;
but illustrated as they now are by his Epistles, they become an important part of hie
personal biography.
2 2 Cor. x. 10,
* Luther, as quoted in Archdeacon Hare’s “Mission of the Comforter,” p. 449.
ΧΧ INTRODUCTION.
faithful even unto this day, yea and all the saints who are yet te
be born, until Christ’s coming again, both have been and shall
Se blessed.” ! His Epistles are to his inward life, what the moun:
. tains and rivers of Asia and Greece and Italy are to his outward
‘ife,—the imperishable part which still remains to us, when all
that time can ruin has passed away.
Tt is in these letters then that we must study the true life of
St, Paul, from its inmost depths and springs of action, which were
“hidden with Christ in God,” down to its most minute develope-
ments, and peculiar individual manifestations. In them we learn
(to use the language of Gregory Nazianzene) “what is told of
Paul by Paul himself.”? Their most sacred contents indeed rise
above all that is peculiar to the individual writer; for they are
the communications of God to man concerning the faith and life
of Christians; which St. Paul declared (as he often asserts) by
the immediate revelation of Christ himself. But his manner of
teaching these eternal truths is coloured by his human character,
and peculiar to himself. And such individual features are natu-
rally impressed much more upon epistles than upon any other
kind of composition. For here we have not treatises, or sermons,
which may dwell in the general and abstract, but real letters,
written to meet the actual wants of living men;. giving immedi-
ate answers to real questions, and warnings against pressing dan-
gers; full of the interests of the passing hour. And this, which
must be more or less the case with all epistles addressed to par-
ticular Churches, is especially so with those of St. Paul. In his
ease it is not too much to say that his letters are himself—a por-
trait painted by his own hand, of which every feature may be |
“known and read of all men.”
It is not merely that in them we see the proof of his powerful
1 De Sacerdotio, IV. 7. The whole passage is well worth quoting:
Πύθεν avd τὴν οἰκουμένην ἅπασαν πολὺς ἐν τοῖς ἁπάντων ἐπὶ ςόμασιν ; Πόξεν οὐ rao’
ἡμῖν μόνον, ἀλλά κὶὶ παρὰ Ἰουδαίοις, καὶ "Ἕλλησι μάλιςα πάντων ϑαυμάζεται ; οὔκ ἀπὸ
τῆς τὸν ᾿Επιςολῶν apetng; Av ἧς οὐ τοὺς τύτε μόνον πιςοὺς, αλλά καὶ τοὺς ἐξ ἐκείνων
uéxpt τῆς σήμερον γινομένους, καὶ τοὺς μέλλοντας δὲ ἔσεσθαι μέχρι τῆς ἐσχάτης τοῦ Xpicov
παρουσίας ὠφέλησέ τε καὶ ὠφελήσει" καὶ οὐ παύσεται τοῦτο ποιῶν, Ewe dv τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων
διαμένῃ γένος. "Ὥσπερ γὰρ τεῖχος ἐξ ἀδάμαντος κατασκευασϑὲν, οὕτω τὰς πανταχοῦ τῆς
οἰκουμένης Ἐκκλησίας τὰ τούτου τειχίζει γράμματα. Καὶ καθάπερ τὶς ἀριςεὺς γενναιό-
τατος ἔζηκε καὶ νῦν μέσος, αἰχμαλωτίζων πᾶν νόημα εἴς τὴν ὑπακοὴν τοῦ Χριςου, καὶ
καθα:υῶν λογισμοὺς καὶ πᾶν ὕψωμα ἐπαιρόμενον κατὰ τῆς γνώσεως τοῦ Θεοῦ. Ταῦτα
δὲ παντα ἐργάζεται, δι’ Ov ἡμῖν κατέλιπεν Ἐπιςολῶν τῶν ϑαυμασίων ἐκεινων, καὶ TIX
ϑείας πεπληρωμένων σοφίας.
3 πὶ Παῦλος ἀὐτὸς πεοὶ Ταύλου φησ. Greg. Naz. Oratio Apologetica.
INTRODUCTION. ΧΧῚ
intellect, his insight into the foundations of natural theclogy,! and of
moral philosophy ;* for in such points, though the philosophicay
expression might belong to himself, the truths expressed were taught
him of God. It is not only that we there find models of the sub-
limest eloquence, when he is kindled by the vision of the glories to
come, the perfect triumph of good over evil, the manifestation of the
sons of God, and their transformation into God’s likeness, when they
shallsee Him no longer® “ina glass darkly, but face to face,”—for
in such strains as these it was not so much he that spake, as the Spirit
of God speaking in him ; +—but in his letters, besides all this which
is divine, we trace every shade, even to the faintest, of his human
character also. Here we see that fearless independence with
which he “withstood Peter to the face, because he was to. be
blamed ;” ‘—that impetuosity which breaks out in his apostrophe
to the “foolish Galatians ;” *—that earnest indignation which bids
his converts “beware of dogs, beware of the concision,”7 and
pours itself forth in the emphatic “God forbid,’* which meets
every Antinomian suggestion ;—that fervid patriotism which
makes him “wish that he were himself accursed from Christ for
his brethren, his kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israel-
ites ;” —that generosity which looked for no other reward than
“to preach the glad tidings of Christ without charge,” ” and made
him feel that he would rather “die, than that any man should
make this glorying void ;’—that dread of officious interference
which led him to shrink from “building on another man’s found-
ation ;” "—that delicacy which shows itself in his appeal to Phil-
emon, whom he might have commanded, “yet for love’s sake
rather beseeching him, being such an one as Paul the aged, and
now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ,” * and which is even more
striking in some of his farewell greetings, as (for instance) when he
bids the Romans “salute Rufus, and her who is both his mother and
mine ;” “—that scrupulous fear of evil appearance which “ would
not eat any man’s bread for nought, but wrought with labour and
travail night and day, that he might not be chargeable to any
3 Rom. i. 20. 3 Rom. ii. 14, 15.
3 1 Cor. xiii. 12. 4 Mat. x. 20. 5 Gal. ii. 11.
6 Gal. iii. 1. 7 Phil. iii. 2.
* Rom. vi. 2. 1 Cor. vi. 15, ἄρ. It is difficult to express the ferce of μὴ γένοιτο by
any other English phrase.
Rom. ix. 3. 10 1 Cor. ix. 18 and 15. a Rem. zy. 20.
Philem n 9. ® Rom, xvi. 13.
xxi INTRODUCTION.
them;7? that refined courtesy which cannot bring itself to blame
till it has first praised,* and which makes him deem it needful
almost to apologize for the freedom of giving advice to those who
were not personally known to him ;*—that self-denying love
which “will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest he make
his brother to offend ;” “—that impatience of exclusive formalism
with which he overwhelms the Judaizers of Galatia, joined with
a forbearance so gentle for the innocent weakness of scrupu.ons
consciences ;°—that grief for the sins of others, which moved him
to tears when he spoke of the enemies of the cross of Christ, “ of
whom [ tell you even weeping ;”*—that noble freedom fron.
jealousy with which he speaks of those who out of rivalry to
himself, preach Christ even of envy and strife, supposing to. add
affliction to his bonds, “ What then? notwithstanding every way,
whether in pretence or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein
do rejoice, yea and will rejoice ;” —that tender friendship which
watches over the health of Timothy, even with a mother’s care 55
—that intense sympathy in the joys and sorrows of his converts,
which could say, even to the rebellious Corinthians, “ye are in
our hearts, to die and live with you ; ” *—that longing desire for the
intercourse of affection, and that sense of loneliness when it was
withheld, which perhaps is the most touching feature of all, be-
cause it approaches most nearly to a weakness, “ When I came
to Troas to preach Christ’s gospel, and a door was opened to me
of the Lord, I had no rest in my spirit, because I found not Titus
my brother; but taking my leave of them, I went from thence
into Macedonia.” And “when I was come into Macedonia, my
flesh had no rest, but I was troubled on every side; without were
fightings, within were fears. Nevertheless God, who ecmforteth
those that are cast down, comforted me by the coming of Titus.” "
“Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me; for Demas hath
forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed
1 1 Thess. ii. 9.
2 Compare the laudatory expressions in 1 Cor. i. 5-7, and 2 Cor. i. 6-7, with the
heavy and unmingled censure conveyed in the whole subsequent part of these Epistles,
3 Rom. xv. 14, 15. “And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye
also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another
Nevertheless, brethren, I have written the more boldly unto you in some sort, as put
ting you in mind.”
4 1 Cor. viii. 13. 5.1 Cor. viii. 12, and Rom. xiv. 21. 6 Phil. iii. 38,
7 Phil. i. 15. 8 1 Tim. v. 23. 9.2 Cor. vii 8.
” 9 Cor. ii. 13, and vii. 5
INTRODUCTION. XX11)
anto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia;
only Luke is with me.” !
Nor is it only in the substance, but even in the style of these
writings that we recognize the man Paul of Tarsus. In the pa
renthetical constructions and broken sentences, we see the rapidity
with which the thoughts crowded upon him, almost too fast for
atterance; we see him animated rather than weighed down by
“that which cometh upon him daily, the care of all the
2 as he pours forth his warnings or his arguments in a
ehurches,
stream of eager and impetuous dictation, with which the pen of
the faithful Tertius can hardly keep pace. And above all, we
trace his presence in the postscript to every letter, which he adds
as an authentication in his own characteristic handwriting,
“which is the token in every epistle; so I write.”> Sometimes
as he takes up the pen he is moved with indignation when he
thinks of the false brethren among those whom he addresses;
“the salutation of me Paul with my own hand,—if any man love
not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema.”® Sometimes,
as he raises his hand to write, he feels it cramped by the fetters
which bind him to the soldier who guards him,’ “I Paul salute
you with my own hand,—remember my chains.” Yet he always
ends with the same blessing, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with you,” to which he sometimes adds still further a few last
words of affectionate remembrance, ‘‘ My love be with you all in
Christ Jesus.” §
But although the letters of St. Paul are so essential a part of
his personal biography, it is a difficult question to decide upon
the form in which they should be given in a work like this. The
object to be sought is, that they may really represent in English
what they were to their Greek readers when first written. Now
this object would not be attained if the authorized version were
adhered to, and yet a departure from that whereof so much is in-
terwoven with the memory and deepest feelings of every reli-
gious mind should be grounded on strong and sufficient cause.
t is hoped that the following reasons may be held such.
1 2 Tim. iv. 9. ? 2 Cor. xi, 28.
3 Rom. xvi. 22, “1, Tertius, who wrote this Epistle, salute you in the Lord.”
4 Gal. vi. 11. “Ye see the size of the characters (πηλίκοις γράμμασιν) in which |
write to you with my own hand.”
δ 2 Thess, iii. 17, 6 1 Cor. xvi. 22. 7 Coloss. iv. 18.
4 1 Cor. xvi, 24.
χχὶν - (INTRODUCTION.
1st. The authorized version was meant to be a standard of au.
thority and ultimate appeal in controversy ; hence it could not
venture to depart, as an ordinary translation would do, from the
exact words of the original, even where some amplification was
absolutely req 1ired to complete the sense. It was to be the ver-
sion unanimously accepted by all parties, and therefore must
simply represent the Greek text word for word. This it does
most faithfully so far as the critical knowledge of the sixteenth '
century permitted. But the result of this method is sometimes .
to produce a translation unintelligible to the English reader.’
Also if the text admit of two interpretations, our version endea-
vours, if possible, to preserve the same ambiguity, and effects
this often with admirable skill; but such indecision, although a
merit in an authoritative version, would be a fault in a transla
tion which had a different object.
2d. The imperfect knowledge existing at the time when our
Bible was translated, made it inevitable that the translators should
occasionally render the original incorrectly ; and the same cause
has made their version of many of the argumentative portions of
the Epistles perpiexed and obscure.
3d. Such passages as are affected by the above-mentioned
objections might, it is true, have been recast, and the authorized
translation retained in all cases where it is correct and clear;
hut if this had been done, a patchwork effect would have been
produced like that of new cloth upon old garments; moreover
the devotional associations of the reader would have been of-
fended, and it would have been a rash experiment to provoke
such a contrast between the matchless style of the authorized ver-
sion and that of the modern translator, thus placed side by side.
4th. The style adopted for the present purpose should not be
antiquated; for St. Paul was writing in the language used by his
Hellenistic readers in every day life.
5th. In order to give the true meaning of the original, some-
thing of paraphrase is often absolutely required. St. Paul’s style
is extremely elliptical, and the gaps must be filled up. And more-
over the great difficulty in understanding his argument is to trace
clearly the transitions* by which he passes from one step to an-
: Being executed at the very beginning of the seventeenth.
ἢ Yet had any other course been adopted, every sect wculd have had its own Bible,
as it is, this one translation has been all but unanimously received for three centuries,
3 In the translation of the Epistles given in the present work it has been the especial
INTRODUCTION. xXXYV
other. For this purpose something must be supplied beyond the
mere literal rendering of the words.
For these reasons the translation of the Epistles adoptéd in this
work is to a certain degree paraphrastic. At the same time no-
thing has been added by way of paraphrase which was not vir-
tally expressed in the original.
It has not been thought necessary to interrupt the reader by a
note, in every instance where the translation varies from the
Authorised Version. It has been assumed that the readers of
the notes will have sufficient knowledge to understand the reason
of such variations in the more obvious cases. But it 8 hoped
that no passage of real difiiculty has been passed over without
explanation.
The authorities consulted upon the chronology of St. Paul’s lite,
the reasons for the views taken of disputed points in it, and for
the dates of the Epistles, are stated (so far as seems needful) in
the body of the work or in the Appendix, and need not be fur-
ther referred to here.
In conclusion, the authors would express their hope that this
biography may, in its measure, be useful in strengthening the
hearts of some against the peculiar form of unbelief most cur-
rent at the present day. The more faithfully we can represent to
ourselves the life, outward and inward, of St. Paul, in all its ful-
ness, the more unreasonable must appear the theory that Chris-
tianity had a mythical origin; and the stronger must be our
ground for believing his testimony to the divine nature and mira-
culous history of our Redeemer. No reasonable man can learn
to know and love the Apostle of the Gentiles without asking
himself the question ** What was the principle by which through
such a life he was animated? What was the strength in which
he laboured with such immense results?” Nor can the most
sceptical inquirer doubt for one moment the full sincerity of St.
Paul’s belief that ‘the life which he lived in the flesh he lived
by the faith of the Son of God, who died and gave Himself for
him.”! “To believe in Christ crucified and risen, to serve Him
atm of the translator to represent these transitions correctly. They very often depend
apon a word, which suggests a new thought, and are quite lost by a want of attention
to the verbal coincidence. Thus, for instance, in Rom. x. 16,17. Τίς éxicevce τῇ
ἀκτῇ ἡμῶν, "Apa ἡ πίςις ἐξ ἀκοῆς. “ Who hath given faith to our telling? So then
faith cometh by telling ; how completely is the connection destroyed by such inatten-
tion in the authorized version: “ Who hath belicved our report? So then faith
cometh by hearing.” 1 Gal. ii. 20.
.
XXvi INTRODUCTION.
on earth, to be with Him hereafter ;—these, if we inay trust the .
account of his own motives by any human writer whatever,
were the chief if not the only thoughts which sustained Paul of
Tarsus tlirough all the troubles and sorrows of his twenty years’
conflict. His sagacity, his cheerfulness, his forethought, his im
partial and clear-judging reason, all the natural elements of his
strong character are not indeed to be overlooked: but the more
highly we exalt these in our estimate of his work, the larger share
we attribute to them in the performance of his mission, the more
are we compelled to believe that he spoke the words of truth and
soberness when he told the Corinthians that ‘last of all Christ
was seen of him also,’! that ‘by the grace of God he was what
he was,’ that ‘whilst he laboured more abundantly than all, it was
not he, but the grace of God that was in him?” ?
P. S—It may be well to add, that while Mr. Conybeare and
Mr. Howson have undertaken the joint revision of the whole
work, the translation of the Epistles and Speeches of St. Paul is
contributed by the former, end the Historical and Geographical
portion of the work principally by the latter ; Mr. Howson hav-
ing written Chapters I., I1., IIL, IV., V., VL, VIL, VILL, 1X.,
ee Mies, ΧΙ XLV ee VL, ΧΧΌΧΧΙ OXI. Qk X 1 ee ae
weth the exception of the Epistles and Speeches therein contained ;
and Mr. Conybeare having written the Introduction and Appen
diz, and Chapters ΧΙ, XV., XVIL, XVIII., XIX, XXV,,
AXVI., XXVIL, X XVII.
a 5 Cor, xv. 10. * Stanley’s Sermons, Ὁ. 186.
CONTENTS
OF
ΠΗ es VO LU ΜΡ:
LerRopucrion = = s ἐς & < 4 ὼ Ἧ 5
Prerace To ΤῊΣ AMERICAN EDITION - - - - - . e xxi
CHAPTER i.
Great Men of Great Periods——Period of Christ's Apostles—Jews, Greeks,
and Romans.—Religious Civilisation of the Jews.—Their History and its
Relation to that of the World—Heathen Preparation for the Gospel.—
Character and Language of the Greeks —Alexander.—Antioch and Alex-
andria.—Growth and Government of the Roman Empire.—Misery of Italy
and the Provinces.—Preparation in the Empire for Christianity.—Disper-
sion of the Jews, in Asia, Africa, and Europe.—Proselytes.— Provinces of
Cilicia and Judxa.—Their Geography and History.—Cilicia under the
Romans.—Tarsus.—Cicero.—Political Changes in Judea.—Herod and
his Family—The Roman Governors—Conclusion - += - -— =
CHAPTER II.
Jewish Origin of the Church.—Sects and Parties of the Jews.—Pharisees
and Sadducees.—St. Paul a Pharisee—Hellenists and Arameans.—St.
Paul’s Family Hellenistic but not Hellenising—His Infancy at Tarsus.—
The Tribe of Benjamin.—His Father’s Citizenship.—Scenery of the Place.
—His Childhood.—He is sent to Jerusalem.—State of Judea and Jerusa-
lem.—Rabbinical Schools—Gamaliel.—Mode of Teaching —Synagogues.
—Student-Life of St. Paul—His early Manhood.—First Aspect of the
Church.—St. Stephen—The Sanhedrin—St. Stephen the Forerunner of
St. Paul—His Martyrdom and Prayer - - - + 7 - °
Note on the Libertines and the Citizenship of St. Paul - - - - 2
XXVill CONTENTS.
4 CHAPTER ΠΙ.
PAGE
funeral of St. Stephen.—Saul’s continued Persecution—-Flight of the
Christians—Philip and the Samaritans.—Saul’s Journey to Damascts.—
Aretas, King of Petra.—Roads from Jerusalem to Damascus.—N eapolis.
—History and Description of Damascus—The Narratives of the Miracle.
—It was a real Vision of Jesus Christ—Three Days in Damascus.—Ana-
nias—Baptism and first Preaching of Saul.—He retires into Arabia.—
Meaning of the term Arabia.—Petra and the Desert——Conspiracy at Da-
mascus.—Escape to Jerusalem.—Barnabas.—Fortnight with St. Peter.
Conspiracy.—Vision in the Temple—Saul withdraws to Syria and
Cilicia} $y Heamamae Fae ie τ tee τος = ol: Ξ ΖΕ Ὸ
4
CHAPTER IV.
Wider Diffusion of Christianity —Antioch.— Chronology of the Acts.—Reign
of Caligula.—Claudius and Herod Agrippa I—The Year 44.—Conversion
of the Gentiles—St. Peter and Cornelius—Joppa and Cesarea.—St.
Peter’s Vision.—Baptism of Cornelius——Intelligence from Antioch.—Mis-
sion of Barnabas.—Saul with Barnabas at Antioch—The Name “ Chris-
tian.” —Description and History of Antioch.—Character of its Inhabitants.
—Earthquakes.—F'amine.—Barnabas and Saul at J erusalem.—Death of St.
James and of Herod Agrippa.—Return with Mark to Antioch.—Providen-
tial Preparation of St. Paul—Results of his Mission to Jerusalem - - 108
CHAPTER VY.
Second Part of the Acts of the Apostles—Revelation at Antioch.—Public
Devotions.—Departure of Barnabas and Saul—The Orontes.—History
and Description of Seleucia.—V oyage to Cyprus——Salemis.——Roman Pro-
vincial System.—Proconsuls and Proprators.—Sergius Paulus.—Oriental
Impostors at Rome and in the Provinces.—Elymas Barjesus.—History of
Jewish names.—Saul and Paul an) ee ἐπι ae nn
CHAPTER VI.
Bld and New Paphos—Departure from Cyprus.—Coast of Pamphylia.—
Perga.—Mark’s Return to Jerusalem.—Mountain-Scenery of Pisidia.—
Situation of Antioch —The Synagogue.—Address to the Jews——Preaching
to the Gentiles—Persecution by the Jews.—History and Description of
Iconium.—Lycaonia.—Derbe and Lystra.—Healing of the Cripple—lIdol-
atrous Worship offered to Paul and Barnabas——Address to the Gentiles.---
St. Paul stoned.—Timotheus.—The Apostles retrace their J ourney.—Perga
and Attaleia—Return toSyria - - = 24/5). es hae
CONTENTS. ΧΧΙΧ
ς VORA TER VEL
\ 4 PASH
Controversy in the Church.—Separation of Jews and Gentiles.—Obstacles to
Union, both social and religious.—Difficulty in the Narrative.—Scruples
connected with the Conversion of Cornelius— xingering Discontent.—
Feelings excited by the Conduct and Success of St. Paul.—Hspecially at
Jerusalem.—Intrigues of the Judaizers at Antioch.—Consequent Anxiety
and Perplexity——Mission of Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem.—Divine
Revelation to St. Paul.—Titus.—J ourney through Pheenice and Samaria.
—The Pharisees.—Private Conferences.—Public Meeting.—Speech of St.
Peter.—Narrative of Barnabas and Paul—Speech of St. James.—The
Decree.—Charitable Nature of its Provisions.—It involves the Abolition
of Judaism.—Publice Recognition of St. Paul’s Mission to the Heathen. —
St. John.—Return to Antioch with Judas, Silas, and Mark.—Reading of
the Letter——-Weak Conduct of St. Peter at Antioch—He is rebuked by
St. Paul.—Personal Appearance of the two Apostles.—Their Reconciliae
tion Sisal eens es Sie ἘΣ wim mie lL eee tr ah) | SRS
Note on the Chronology of Gal. ii. miei d yell. |) =) mel ian bat (0 22%
CHAPTER VILL.
Political Divisions of Asia Minor.—Difiiculties of the Subject.—Provinces
in the Reigns of Claudius and Nero.—I. Asia—II. Bithynia—1. Pem-
phylia—IV. Galatia —V. Pontus—VI. Cappadocia—VII. Cilicia—-
Visitation of the Churches proposed.—Quarrel and Separation of Paul
and Barnabas.——Paul and Silas in Cilicia—They cross the Taurus.—
Lystra.—Timothy.—His Circumcision.—J ourney through Phrygia.—Sick-
ness of St. Paul—His Reception in Galatia.—J AS to the Aigean.—
Alexandria Troas.—St. Paul’s Vision - - : - - - 234
CHAPTER IX.
Voyage by Samothrace to Neapolis.—PhilippiiConstitution of a Colony.—
Lydia.—The Demoniac Slave.—Paul and Silas arrested—The Prison and
the Jailor—The Magistrates—Depariure from Philippi—St. Luke.—
Macedonia described.—Its Condition as a Province—The Via Egnatia.—
St. Paul’s Journey through Amphipolis and Apollonia.—Thessalonica.—
The Synagogue.——Subjects of St. Paul’s Preaching.—Persecution Tumult,
and Flight.—-The Jews at Bercea.—St. Paul again persecuted.— Proceeds
to Athens - 9 : : 2 ὃ ὃ i - 235
ΧΧΧ CONTENTS.
CHAPTER X.
VAGB
Armival on the Coast 0? Attica.—Scenery round Athens—The Pireus and
the “ Long Wails.”—-The Agora.—The Acropolis——The “ Painted Porch”
and the “Garden.”—The Apostle alone in Athens.—Greek Religion.—
The Unknown God.—Greek Philosophy.—The Stoics and Epicureans.—
Later Period of the Schocls.—St. Pzul in the Agora.—The Areopagus.—
Speech of St. Paul—Departure from Athens - - - τ - - 344
CHAPTER. ΧΙ.
Letters to Thessalonica written from Corinth.—Expulsion of the Jews from
Rome.—Aquila and Prisciila—St. Paul’s Labours.—First Epistle to the
Thessalonians.—St. Paul is opposed by the Jews; and turns to the Gen-
tiles.—His Vision.—Second Epistle to the Thessalonians.—Continued Resi-
dencenn (Corinth ©... to. ye Sige ge) de eg = ee π2:Ὲ
Note on the Movements of Silasand Timotheus + - - τ τὸ «401
CHAPTER XII.
The Isthmus.—Early History of Corinth—Its Trade and Wealth—Corinth
under the Romans.—Province of Achaia.—Gallio the Governor.—Tumult
at Corinth.—Cenchrex.— V oyage by Ephesus to Cxsarea.— Visit to Jeru-
silem—Antioch - - - + - 2+ 2 ‘+ = + + 469
CHAPTER XIII.
The Spiritual Gifts, Constitution, Ordinances, Divisions and Heresies of the
Primitive Church in the Lifetime of St. Paul - - - - - 427
Notes an the Origin of the Heresies of the later Apostolic Age - - é - 456
LIST OF ENGRAVINGS IN THE FIRST VOLUME,
eel
Corn oF Herop tHE GREAT - Ξ Ξ
Corn or Herop Acrippa L - ὦ 5
DeENanivs oF TIBERIUS - Ξ Ξ Ξ
Corn oF AntTIOCHUS EPIPHANES, WITH Por-
THATS Reye: Peek πὸ πΠ | ee
Corn oF Tarsus.—HApDRIAN = 5 5
Corn or AnTIOCHUS EPIPHANES, WITH HEAD
OF JUPITER - - Ξ Ξ 6 2
REMAINS OF ANCIENT BRIDGE AT JERUSALEM
Toms with Hesrew, GREEK, AND RoMAN
INSCRIPTIONS - - Ξ Ξ 2
Corin or Tarsus - - Ξ = = -
TIBERIUS WITH TOGA - - - - -
ΟΟΙΝ OF CYRENE - - = = 5 s
VIEW OF JERUSALEM FROM THE N. E. - -
BripDGE OVER THE JorDAN S, ΟΕ Lake ΤΊΒΕ-
RIAS Reece ΚΛῪΥ eect wna at τ
Corin or Damascus - - « Ξ a
WALL oF Damascus - Ξ ᾿ A a
Corn OF ARETAS, Kine oF DAMASCUS - -
CALIGULA - - - - - - -
ALLEGORICAL STATUE OF ANTIOCH - -
EXCAVATION ATSELEUCIA - - - -
ΟΑΡΕ GREGO - = ue ΒΕ δ Ξ Ξ
ῬΕΟΟΟΝΒΟΌΙ, oF Cyprus(Corn) = of is
Coin oF ῬΆΡΗΟΒ - - - - . -
26
21
ΟΟΙΝ OF PERGA ap ts - - - - 160
Corin or ANTIOCH IN Pistpia - - -
Pacr
Corin oF ANTIOCH IN PISIDIA - - - 171
Corn oF IconiumM - - - - - 188
ANCIENT ΒΑΟΒΙΕΙΟΒ - - - - - 194
WALL ΟΕ PERGA - - - - - - 200
ToweER AT PeRGA - - - - - 202
ToMBS ATSELEUCIA - - - - - 204
Corn ΟΕ ANTIOCH - - - - - 226
Corns or BITHYNIA = - - - 240, 241
Kara-DaGu, NEAR LySTRA ° - = 262
Harsourk or Troas - - - - - 283
Coin or SAMOTHRACE - - - - 286
ΟΟΙΝ OF PHILIPPI - - ° - - 291
Corn oF Roman MAceEponIA - - - 315
Comnsor AMPHIPOLIS- - - - «818
AMPHIPOLIS - - - - - - 320
THESSALONICA FROM THE SEA - - .- 9925
Coin ΟΕ THESSALONICA = - = - 333
CoIn OF ATHENS - - - - - 352
Tue AREOPAGOUS = - - - - - 356
Tue ACROPOLIS RESTORED, AS SEEN FROM
THE AREOPAGUS - - - - - 376
ATHENIAN TETRADRACHM - - - - 382
Corn oF ΟΟΕΙΝΤΗ - - - - - 388
Bust or CLaupiuS + - - - - 387
Coin oF ΟΟΒΙΝΤΗ ° - - - - 408
Ditto - . - - - - 413
Ditto ° ° . .« - - 415
Ditto e . e .« . « 420
LIST OF ENGRAVINGS IN THE SECOND VOLUME.
Corin or EpHests - spinon aie 3 5
Ditto : - - - .- Ε Ξ
Ditto - .- - - 5 o =
View OF THE SitE oF EPHESUS FROM THE
ΝΌΚΒΤΗ - - - - - - 12
Corn oF EPHESUS - - - - - - 76
Ditto - - - - - - - 89
CoRIHTHIAN COIN REPRESENTING ΟΕΝΟΗΚΕ 195
Ruins aT THESSALONICA - 2 - - 202
GatTEway or Assos - - . - - 209
Corn oF MITYLENE - - - - - 210
ΟΟΙΝ ΟΕ MILETUS - - - - - - 214
Corn or Cos - - - - - - - 220
Coin oF RHopES = - - - - 2 223
ΟΟΙΝ oF PATARA =< - - - - - 226
View or Tyre ἘΝ eGR ate cag 208
Corn oF Hprop Acrippa II. - - - - 2738
Pact
Coin oF C&SAREA - - coe - 279
Ὁ ΒΑ ΕΑΝ τὸ sien gre d) ee OR
Compass af" ets epee) Y= - 304
Corn oF Commopts (Corn-SHIP) - - - 308
Coin oF SIDON - - - = - = 211.
ΟΟΙΝ ΟΕ MyrA - - = τὸ = «-81ὅ
Warr HAVENS - = - το ο΄ = 826
ANCIENT SHIP (ANCHORED BY THE STERN) 336
Sr. Pauy’s Bay - - - = 5 - 844
Corn oF SYRACUSE - - - - - 348
Coin OF RHEGIUM - - - - - 849
Coin oF MELITA - - - - - 800
Tur PaLackorTHE Cmsars - - τ-418
Corn or Nexo (wiTH Harsour oF ΟΒΤΙΑ) 442
Wainy) 6 Oo POUMNOmEaOne Oe)
LIST OF MAPS IN THE FIRST VOLUME.
Sh
Map oF THE COUNTRIES ADJACENT TO THE MEDITERRANEAN, ILLUSTRATING THE ρος
TRAVELS OF ST. PAUL... -τονν νος ἐννος «το νυ κυ ππετοτοτοστ τευ τ τοςοοο . Frontispiece,
Map OF JERUSALEM.---... Shasdaccaotoanasede τυ δ, ον τι ξ οι Coe nebe oddode sesnndtaosesanecodscse 74
ἌΤΑΡ ΒΑ ΤΙΕΗΠΠΙΝ penene 6 sea coor se SOS EREOIOO Got 5 oO 55550 Se bSoSreore apenas Ξ ἘΞ 124
MAP OF ANCIENT ἈΝΤΙΟΘΗ:- - τος -τὺς περ en eens τος ne scen Sonomecbosseeetcusceasseoesac 125
Map oF Lystra DERBE, &0...... 222-01 - eee een eee enn enn ene een e ene en mecca eee n ee τον 189
ΕΟ MON P RUS ists iein ioe aia misissciain am το ainietaln ateinioteie asian stelolel= wimialenietere ate ialereiet a sie mi cielatnl omelet ate 234
Map oF THE SECOND JOURNEY.....--....--.0--------. MOOMBCaS a edo ssn as Sess Soodeationtese 235
Map oF THE NortH SHORE OF THE AUGEAN.....-. cece ence ene ce sewn en concen aleve ἐπα 5 ΞΕ ele 218
πεν ΟΣ ΤῊ -CHIRD ΘΟΕ τὸ ἘΠ ccseces seems ennai ππσσ τσ στ ΞΘ πἰσθσῦξοθο 219
PHAN ΟΣ ATHENS τ «oe ssa iaiseeles = ie eeisaise a πηππα A QA AS nSROonoCS Soobosacssacpseqsc00 Sonone ci?)
LIST OF MAPS IN THE SECOND VOLUME.
—:0:——
Paca
PAROS ROME c\c,c10 cieit'ccclsonnie ge sisieiss sic cisticcicisciacieciceeentienticciseecceresiscspiet TONCISDUCCEs
POBIDONIUM AT THE TSTRMUS..cccccccedccccbuscortcccccecsavccccsceccvscs seeeescss covecsevea 00
SOUNDINGS, ETC., OF LUTRO.ccccccccovecccccwccsccessess Dinlaisieels'sinieialdotele's/slalnin\sialatelalerelv/ole στ τον Τρ,
GHARTIOF SCOASTOR CRETE cure νος τ 52]. τ εῖνιοιο κα οἷς κἰοιο ὁπ προ cinieiolsisjnis|vielu 0s Ρἰαδ,δι» 5.5. 55.5618 5 ἘΠ Στ γι Ses
CART OM ANIA MUA πὶ cio, 0 ee εἰν αν eraser τον, ΚΝ ΚΣ ᾽ν δἰ oieule levels μοι οἶν ΡΣ ΣΡ δὶς κίας στο δἴν ε(οὶς Α,ν sloisiewale(sl mca
CHART OF THE VOYAGE FROM CESAREA TO PUTEOLI .esecoccecessss:secccecccscsteesesccseeee 904
Map oF THE JOURNEY FROM PUTEOLY TO RoME..-.....-----eeeee Ἐπ ας πἰπι5 απ τ ν΄ Ξ ΠΡ ΣΟῚ 855
THE
LIFE AND EPISTLES
OF
Seah ae:
CHAPTER 1.
“ And the title was written in Hebrew, and Greek and Lat oh. xix. 20.
GREAT MEN OF GREAT PERIODS.—PERIOD OF CHRIST’S APOSTLES.—JEWS,
GREEKS, AND ROMANS.—RELIGIOUS CIVILISATION OF THE JEWS.—THEIR HIS
TORY AND ITS RELATION TO THAT OF THE WORLD.—HEATHEN PREPARATION
FOR THE GOSPEL.—CHARACTER AND LANGUAGE OF THE GREEKS.—ALEXANDRIA
—ANTIOCH AND ALEXANDRIA.—GROWTH AND GOVERNMENT OF THE ROMAN
EMPIRE.—MISERY OF ITALY AND THE PROVINCES.—PREPARATION IN THE
EMPIRE FOR CHRISTIANITY.—DISPERSION OF THE JEWS IN ASIA, AFRICA, AND
EUROPE.—PROSELYTES.—PROVINCES OF CILICIA AND JUD#A.—THEIR GEOGRA-
PHY AND HISTORY.—CILICIA UNDER THE ROMANS.—TARSUS.—CICERO.—
POLITICAL CHANGES IN JUD#A.—HEROD AND HIS FAMILY.—THE ROMAN
GOVERNORS.—CONCLUSION.
Tue life of a great man, in a great period of the world’s history, is a
subject to command the attention of every thoughtful mind. Alexander
on his Hastern expedition, spreading the civilisation of Greece over the
Asiatic and African shores of the Mediterranean Sea,—Julius Caesar
contending against the Gauls, and subduing the barbarism of Western
Europe to the order and discipline of Roman Government,—Charlemagne
compressing the separating atoms of the feudal world, and reviving for a
time the image of imperial unity,—Columbus sailing westward over the
Atlantic to discover a new world whicn might receive the arts and religion
of the old,—Napoleon on his rapid campaigns, shattering the ancient
system of Huropean states, and leaving a chasm between our present and
VoL. 1.---ἰ
2 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF §8T. PAUL.
the past :—these are the colossal figures of history, which stamp with tha
impress of their personal greatness the centuries in which they lived.
The interest with which we look upon such men is natural and inevi-
table, even when we are deeply conscious that, in their character and
their work, evil was mixed up in large proportions with the good, and
when we find it difficult to discover the providential design which drew
the features of their respective epochs. But this natural feeling rises inte
something higter, if we can be assured that the period we contemplate was
designedly prepared for great results, that the work we admire was a work
of unmixed good, and the man whose actions we follow was an instrument
specially prepared by the hands of Gop. Such a period was that in which
the civilised world was united under the first Roman emperors: such
a work was the first preaching of the Gospel: and such a man wag Paul
of Tarsus.
Before we enter upon the particulars of his life and the history of his
_ work, it is desirable to say something, in this introductory chapter, con-
cerning the general features of the age waich was prepared for him. We
shall not attempt any minute delineation of the institutions and social
habits of the period. Many of these wili be prought before us in detail
in the course of the present work. We shall only notice here those cir-
cumstances in the state of the world, whicn seem to bear the traces of 4
providential pre-arrangement.
Casting this general view on the age of the first Roman emperors,
which was also the age of Jesus Curist and His Apostles, we find our
attention arrested by three great varieties of national life. The Jew, the
Greek, and the Roman appear to divide the world between them. The
outward condition of Jerusalem itself, at this epoch, might be taken as a
type of the civilised world. Herod the Great, who rebuilt the Temple,
had erected, for Greek and Roman entertainments, a theatre within the
same walls, and an amphitheatre in the neighbouring plain.' His coins,
and those of his grandson Agrippa, bore Greek inscriptions :* that piece
of money, which was brought to our Saviour (Matt. xxii. Mark xii. Luke
COLT ΟΣ HEROD ERE @BEAT.
‘ Josepy. Ant. xv. 8 1. B.J.i. 21, 8.
* These two coins of Herod the Great and his grandson Agrippa I., with the Dene
rius of Tiberius, are taken, by Mr. Akerman’s kind permission, from his excellent little
work, “ Numismatic Illustrations of the New Testament.”
PERIOD GF CHRIST S APOSTLES. 3
COIN OF HEROD AGRIPPA I. DENARIUS (@ TIPERITS.
ΚΧ.), was the silver Denarius, the “image” was that of the emperor, the
“superseziption” was in Latin: and at the same time when the common
currency consisted of such pieces as these,—since coins with the images
of men or with heathen symbols would have been a profanation to the
‘“Treasury,”—there might be found on the tables of the money-
changers in the Temple, shekels and half-shekels with Samaritan letters,
minted under the Maccabees. Greek and Roman names were borne by
multitudes of those Jews who came up to worship at the festivals. Greek
and Latin words were current in the popular “ Hebrew” of the day : and
while this Syro-Chaldaic dialect was spoken by the mass of the people
with the tenacious affection of old custom, Greek had long been well-
known among the upper classes in the larger towns, and Latin was used
in the courts of law, and in the official correspondence of magistrates.'
On a critical occasion of St. Paul’s life,? when he was standing on the
stair between the Temple and the fortress, he first spoke to the commander
of the garrison in Greek, and then turned round and addressed his coun-
trymen in Hebrew ; while the letter? of Claudius Lysias was written, and
the oration‘ of Tertullus spoken, in Latin. We are told by the historian
Josephus,’ that on a parapet of stone in the Temple area, where a flight of
fourteen steps led up from the outer to the inner court, pillars were placed
at equal distances, with notices, some in Greek and some in Latin, that no
alien should enter the sacred enclosure of the Hebrews. And we are told
! Val. Max. ii. 2, Magistratus vero prisci quantopere suam populique Romani ma-
Jestatem retinentes se gesserint, hinc cognosci potest, quod inter cactera obtinend2 gra-
vitatis indicia, illud quoque magna cum perseverantia custodiebant, ne Grecis unquam,
nisi Latiné responsa darent. Quinetiam ipsa linguee volubilitate, qua plurimum valent,
excussa, per interpretem loqui cogebant; non in urbe tantum nostra, sed etiam in
Grecia et Asia: quo scilicet Latinee vocis honos per omnes gentes venerabilior diffun-
deretur. Nec illis deerant studia doctrine, sed nulla non in re pallium toge subjici
debere arbitrabantur: indignum esse existimantes, illecebris et suavitate literarum
Inperii pondus et auctoritatem domari.
2 Acts xxi. xxii.
3. Acts xxiii. The letter was what was technically called an E/ogium, or certificate,
and there is hardly any doubt that it was in Latin. See De Wette and Olshausen,
in loc.
4 Acts xxiv. Mr. Milman (Bampton Lectures, p. 185) has remarked on the peculi-
arly Latin character of Tertullus’s address: and the preceding quotation from Valerius
Maximus seems to imply that its language was Latin.
* B,J. ν᾿ 5,2. Compare vi. 2, 4.
4 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
by two of the Hvangelists,' that when our blessed Saviour was crucified,
“the superscription of His accusation” was written above His cross “ir
letters of Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin.”
The condition of the world in general at that period wears a similat
appearance to a Christian’s eye. He sees the Greek and Roman elements
prought into remarkable union with the older and more sacred elements οἱ
Judaism. He sees in the Hebrew nation a divinely-laid foundation for
the superstructure of the Church, and in the dispersion of the Jews a soil
made ready in fitting places for the seed of the Gospel. He sees in the
spread of the language and commerce of the Greeks, and in the high
perfection of their poetry and philosophy, appropriate means for the rapid
communication of Christian ideas, and for bringing them into close con-
nection with the best thoughts of unassisted humanity. And he sees in
the union of so many incoherent provinces under the law and government
of Rome, a strong framework which might keep together for a sufficient
period those masses of social life which the Gospel was intended to per-
vade. The City of God is built at the confluence of three civilisations.
We recognise with gratitude the hand of God in the history of His world :
and we turn with devout feelings to trace the course of these three streams
of civilised life, from their early source to the time of their meeting in the
Apostolic age.
We need not linger about the fountains of the national life of the Jews.
We know that they gushed forth at first, and flowed in their appointed
channels, at the command of God. The call of Abraham, when one
family was chosen to keep and hand down the deposit of divine truth,—
the series of providences which brought the ancestors of the Jews into
Egypt,—the long captivity on the banks of the Nile,—the work of Moses,
whereby the bondsmen were made into a nation,—all these things are
represented in the Old Testament as occurring under the immediate
direction of Almighty power. The people of Israel were taxen out of
the midst of an idolatrous world, to become the depositaries of a purer
knowledge of the one true God than was given to any other people. At
a time when (humanly speaking) the world could hardly have preserved a
spiritual religion in its highest purity, they received a divine revelatien
enshrined in symbols and ceremonies, whereby it might be safely kept till
the time of its development in a purer and more heavenly form.
The peculiarity ot tne nebrew civilisation did not consist in the culture
of the imagination and intellect, like that of the Greeks, nor in the organi-
sation of government, like that of Rome,—but its distinguishing feature
was Religion. To say nothing of the Scriptures, the prophets, the
miracles of the Jevrs,—their frequent festivals, their constant sacrifices,—
» Luke xxiii. 28. John xix. 20.
RELIGIOUS CIVILISATION OF THE JEWS. 4
everything in their collective and private life was connected with a revealed
religion : their wars, their heroes, their poetry, had a sacred character,—
their national code was full of the details of public worship,—their
ordinary employments were touched at every point by divinely-appointed
and significant ceremonies. Nor was this religion, as were the religions
of the heathen world, a creed which could not be the common property of
the instructed and the ignorant. It was neither a recondite philosophy .
which might not be communicated to the masses of the people, nor a weak
superstition, controlling the conduct of the lower classes, and ridiculed by
the higher. ‘The religion of Moses was for the use of all and the benefit
of all. The poorest peasant of Galilee had the same part in it as the
wisest Rabbi of Jerusalem. The children of all families were taught to
claim their share in the privileges of the chosen people.
And how different was the nature of this religion from that of the con-
temporary Gentiles! The pious feelings of the Jew were not dissipated
and distracted by a fantastic mythology, where a thousand different
objects of worship, with contradictory attributes, might claim the atten-
tion of the devout mind. ‘One God,” the Creator and Judge of the
world, and the Author of all good, was the only object of adoration
And there was nothing of that wide separation between religion and
morality, which among other nations was the road to all impurity. The
will and approbation of Jehovah was the motive and support of all holi-
ness: faith in His word was the power which raised men above their
natural weakness: while even the divinities of Greece and Rome were
often the personifications of human passions, and the example and sanction
of vice. And still farther :—the devotional scriptures of the Jews express
that heartfelt sense of infirmity and sin, that peculiar spirit of prayer, that
real communion with God, with which the Christian, in his best moments,
has the truest sympathy.? So that, while the best aymns of Greece® are
ouly mythological pictures, and the literature of heathen Rome hardly
produces anything which can be called a prayer, the Hebrew psalms
1 ὅπερἐκ φιλοσοφίας τῆς δοκιμωτάτης περιγίνεται τοῖς ὁμιληταῖς ἀυτῆς,
τοῦτο διὰ νόμων καὶ ἐθῶν ᾿ἸΙουδαίοις, ἐπιστήμη τοῦ ἀνωτάτου καὶ πρεσθυτάτου
πάντων, τὸν ἐπὶ τοῖς γενητοῖς ϑεοῖς πλάνον ἀπωσαμένοις. Quoted with other passages
from Philo by Neander, General Church History, vol. i. pp. 70, 71. (Torrey’s transla-
tion, Edinburgh, 1847.)
* Neander observes that it has been justly remarked that the distinctive pecul rity
(die auszeichnende Eigenthumlichkeit) of the Hebrew nation from the very first, was,
that conscience was more alive among them than any other people. Pflanzung und
Leitung, p. 91, ed. 1847. See also the Eng. Trans. of the former edition, vol. i. p. 61.
3 There are some exceptions, as in the hymn of the Stoic Cleanthes. who was born
at, Assos 350 years before St. Panl wag there; yet it breathes the sentiment rather ol
ncauigscence in the determinations of Fate, than of resignation to the goodness of Pro-
vidence. _ See Mr. Cotton’s notice of Cleanthes in Smith’s Dictionary of Biography and
. Mythology.
6 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
nave passed into the devotions of the Christian church. There is a light
on all the mountains of Judea which never shone on Olympus or Parnas.
sus : and the “ Hill of Zion,” in which ‘it pleased God to dwell,” is the
type of ‘the joy of the whole earth,”! while the seven hills of Rome are
the symbol of tyranny and idolatry. ‘‘ He showed His word unto Jacob,
His statutes and ordinances unto Israel. He dealt not so with any
nation ; neither had the heathen knowledge of His laws.” ἢ
But not only was a holy religion the characteristic of the civilisation
of the Jews, but their religious feelings were directed to something in the
future, and all the circumstances of their national life tended to fix their
thoughts on One that was to come. By types and by promises, their eyes
were continually turned towards a Messiah. Their history was a con-
tinued prophecy. All the great stages of their national existence were
accompanied by effusions of prophetic light? Abraham was called from
his father’s house, and it was revealed that in him “all families of the
earth should be blessed.” Moses formed Abraham’s descendants into a
people, by giving them a law and national institutions; but while se
doing he spake before of Him who was hereafter to be raised up “a
Prophet like unto himself.” David reigned, and during that reign, which
made so deep and lasting an impression on the Jewish mind, psalms were
written which spoke of the future King. And with the approach of that
captivity, the pathetic recollection of which became perpetual, the prophe-
cies took a bolder range, and embraced within their widening circle the
redemption both of Jews and Gentiles. Thus the pious Hebrew was
always, as it were, in the attitude of expectation. And it has been well
remarked that, while the golden age of the Greeks and Romans was the
past, that of the Jews was the future. While other nations were growing
weary of their gods,—without anything in their mythology or philosophy
to satisfy the deep cravings of their nature,—with religion operating
rather as a barrier than a link between the educated and the ignorant,—
with morality divorced from theology,—the whole Jewish people were
united in a feeling of attachment to their sacred institutions, and found ip
the facts of their past history a sure pledge of the fulfilment of their
national hopes.
It is true that the Jewish nation, again and again, during several cen:
turies, fell into idolatry. It is true that their superiority to other nations
consisted in the light which they possessed, and not in the use which
they made of it; and that a carnal life continually dragged them down
from the spiritual eminence on which they might have stood. But the
divine purp3ses were not frustrated. The chosen people was subjected to
1 Ps, xlviii. 2. xviii. 16. 2 Ps. exlvii. 19, 20.
5. Davison, Warburtonian Lectures on Prophecy, pp. 98, 107, 147, 201, ἄο.
RELATION OF JEWISH CIVILISATION TO THAT OF THE WORLD. 4%
‘he chastisement and discipline of severe sufferings: and they were fitted
py a long training for the accomplishment of that work, to the conscious
performance of which they did not willingly rise. ‘They were hard pressed
in their own country by the incursions of their idolatrous neighbours, anc
in the end they were carried into a distant captivity. From the time of
their return from Babylon they were no longer idolaters. ‘They presented
to the world the example of a pure Monotheism. And in the active times
which preceded and followed the birth of Christ, those Greeks or Romans
who visited the Jews in their own land where they still lingered at the
portals of the Hast, and those vast numbers of proselytes whom the dis-
persed Jews had gathered round them in various countries, were made
familiar with the worship of one God and Father of all.
The influence of the Jews upon the heathen world was exercised mainly
through their dispersion: but this subject must be deferred for a few
pages, till we have examined some of the developments of the Greek
and Roman nationalities. A few words, however, may be allowed in
passing, upon the consequences of the geographical position of Judea.
The situation of this little but eventful country is such, that its inhab-
itants were brought into contact successively with all the civilized nations
of antiquity. Not to dwell upon its proximity to Egypt on the one hand,
and to Assyria on the other, and the influences which those ancient king-
doms may thereby have exercised or received, Palestine lay in the road οἱ
Alexander’s Eastern expedition. The Greek conqueror was there before
he founded his mercantile metropolis in Egypt, and then went to India, to
return and die at Babylon. And again, when his empire was divided, and
Greek kingdoms were erected in Europe, Asia, and Africa, Palestine lay
between tne rival monarchies of the Ptolemies at Alexandria and ths
Seleucide at Antioch,—too xear to both to be safe from the invasion of
their arms or the influence of their customs and their language. And
finally, when the time came for the Romans to embrace the whole of the
Mediterranean within the circle of their power, the coast-line of Judes
was the last remote portion which was needed to complete the fated cir-
eumference.
The full effect of this geographical position of Judaea can only be seen
py following the course of Greek and Roman life, till they were brought
so remarkably into contact with each other, and with that of the Jews:
and we turn to those other two nations of antiquity, the steps of whose
progress were successive stages in what is called in the Epistle to the
Ephesians (i 10) ‘the dispensation of the fulness of time.”
1 Humboldt has remarked, in the chapter on Poctie Descriptions of Nature (Kosmos,
Sabine’s Eng, Trans., vol. ii. p. 44), that the descriptive poctry of the Hebrews is 3
reflex of Monctheism, and pourtrays nature, not as self-subsisting, but ever in relation
to a Higher Power
3 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
If we think of the civilisation of the Grecks, we have nc difficulty in
fixing on its chief characteristics. High perfection of the intellect and
imagination, displaying itself in all the various forms of art, poetry, litera.
ture, and philosophy—restless activity of mind and body, finding its exer-
cise in athletic games or in subtle disputations—love of the beautiful—
quick perception—indefatigable inquiry—all these enter into the very
idea of the Greek race. This is not the place to inquire how far these
qualities were due to an innate peculiarity, or how far they grew up, by
gradual development, amidst the natural influences of their native country,
—the variety of their hills and plains, the clear lights and warm shadows
of their climate, the mingled land and water of their coasts. We have
only to do with this national character so far as, under divine Providenee,
it was made subservient to the spread of the Gospel.
We shall see how remarkably it subserved this purpose, if we consider
the tendency of the Greeks to trade and colonisation. Their mental
activity was accompanied with great physical restlessness. This clever
people always exhibited a disposition to spread themselves. Without
aiming at universal conquest, they displayed (if we may use the word) a
remarkable catholicity of character, and a singular power of adaptation to
those whom they called Barbarians. In this respect they were strongly
contrasted with the Egyptians, whose immemorial civilisation was con- —
fined to the long valley which extends from the cataracts to the mouths of
the Nile. The Hellenic tribes, on the other hand, though they despised
foreigners, were never unwilling to visit them and to cultivate their
acquaintance. At the earliest period at which history enables us to
discover them, we see them moving about in their ships on the shores and
among the islands of their native seas ; and, three or four centuries before
the Christian era, Asia Minor, beyond which the Persians had not been
permitted to advance, was bordered by a fringe of Greek colonies ; and
Lower Italy, when the Roman republic was just beginning to be conscious
of its strength, had received the name of Greece itself. ΤῸ all these:
places they carried their arts and literature, their philosophy, their my-
thology, and their amusements. They carried also their arms and their
trade. The heroic age had passed away, and fabulous voyages had given
place to real expeditions against Sicily and constant traffic with the Black
Sea. They were gradually taking the place of the Pheenicians in the
empire of the Mediterranean. They were, indeed, less exclusively mercan-
tile than those old discoverers. Their voyages were not so long. But
their influence on general civilisation was greater and more permanent,
The earliest ideas of scientific navigation and geceraphy are due to the
Greeks. The later Greek travellers, Pausarias and Strabo, will be our
best sources of information on the topography of St. Paul’s journeys.
CHARACTER AND LANGUAGE OF THE GREEKS. | 9
With this view of the Hellenic character before us, we are prepared te
appreciate the vast results of Alexander’s conquests.! He took up the
meshes of the net of Greek civilisation, which were lying in disorder on the
edges of the Asiatic shore, and spread them over all the countries which
ne traversed in his wonderful campaigns. The East and the West were
suddenly brought together. Separated tribes were united under a common
government. New cities were built, as the centres of political life. New
lines of communication were opened, as the channels of commercial
activity. The new culture penetrated the mountain ranges of Pisidia and
Lycaonia. Ihe Tigris and Euphrates became Greek rivers. The lan-
guage of Athens was heard among the Jewish colonies of Babylonia ; and
a Grecian Babylon was built by the conqueror in Egypt, and called by his
name.
The empire of Alexander was divided, but the effects of his campaigns
and policy did not cease. The influence of the fresh elements of social life
was rather increased by being brought into independent action within the
spheres of distinct kingdoms. Our attention is particularly called to two
of the monarchical lines, which descended from Alexander’s generals,—
COIN OF ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES, WITH PORTRAIT.
the Ptolemics, or the Greek kings of Egypt,—and the Seleucide, or tne
Greek kings of Syria.? Their respective capitals, Alexandria and Antioch,
became the metropolitan centres of commercial and civilised life in the Hast
They rose suddenly ; and their very appearance marked them as the cities
of a new epoch. Like Berlin and St. Petersburg, they were modern cities
built by great kings at a definite time and for a definite purpose? Their
1 Plutarch, paraphrasing Alexander’s saying to Diogenes, remarks that his mission
was—rd βαρθαρικὰ τοῖς Ἑλληνικοῖς κεράσαι, καὶ τὴν Ελλάδα σπεῖραι: Orat. 1.. de
Alex. Virtute 5. fortuna, ὃ 11.
3. This coin, with the portrait of Antiochus (IV.) Epiphanes, is from the British
Museum (whence much other assistance has been obtained for this work, chiefly through
the kindness of C. Newton, Esq., student of Ch. Ch.). Portraits on coins began with
Alexander. For their historical importance, see K. O. Miller’s Handbuch der Archa-
ologie der Alten Kunst, ὃ 162, p. 169, Welcker’s edition, 1848. Tor the series of tha
Seleucida, see Vaillant, “ Seleucidarum Imperium, sive Historia Regum Syrie ad filer
Numismatum accommodata :” Paris, 1681. (2nd Ed. Hag. 1732.)
3 An account of the building of Antioch will be given hereatter. For that rf Aiex
LO THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
histories are no unimportant chapters in the history of the world. Bota
of them were connected with St. Paul: one indirectly, as the birthplace of
Apollos ; the other directly, as the scene of some the most important
passages of the Apostle’s own life. Both abounied in Jews from their
first foundation. Both became the residences of Roman governors, and
both were patriarchates of the primitive Church. But before they had
received either the Roman discipline or the Christian doctrine, they had
served their appointed purpose of spreading the Greek language and
habits, of creating new lines of commercial intercourse by land and sea,
and of centralising in themselves the mercantile life of the Levant. Even
the Acts of the Apostles remind us of the traffic of Antioch with Cyprus
and the neighbouring coasts, and of the sailing of Alexandrian corn-ships te
the more distant harbours of Malta and Puteoli.
Of all the Greek elements which the cities of Antioch and Alexandria
were the means of circulating, the spread of the language is the most
important. Its connection with the whole system of Christian doctrine—
with many of the controversies and divisions of the Church—is very
momentous. That language, which is the richest and most delicate that
the world has seen, became the language of theology. The Greek tongue
became to the Christian more than it had been to the Roman or the Jew.
The mother-tongue of Ignatius at Antioch, was that in which Philo com-
posed his treatises at Alexandria, and which Cicero spoke at Athens. It
is difficult to state in a few words the important relation which Alexandria
more especially was destined to bear to the whole Christian Church. In
that city, the representative of the Greeks of the East, where the most
remarkable fusion took place of the peculiarities of Greek, Jewish, and
Oriental life, and at the time when all these had been brought in contact
with the mind of educated Romans,—a theological language was formed,
rich in the phrases of various schools, and suited to convey Christian ideas
to all the world. It was not an accident that the New Testament was
written in Greek, the language which can best express the highest thoughts
and worthiest feelings of the intellect and heart, and which is adapted to
be the instrument of education for all nations : nor was it an accident that
the composition of these books and the promulgation of the Gospel were
delayed, till the instruction of our Lord, and the writings of His Apostles,
could be expressed in the dialect of Alexandria. This, also, must be
ascribed to the foreknowledge of Him, who “winked at the times of
ignorance,” but who “made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell
on all the face of the earth, and determined the times before appointed
and the bounds of their habitation.” !
andria, see Miller, ὃ 149, pp. 153, 154. Ammianus calls it vertex omnium crvitattentn
The architect was Dinocrates, who renewed the temple at Ephesus (Acts xix.).
1 Acts xvii. 30, 26.
ANTIOCH AND ALEXANDKIA. Li
We do not forget that the social condition of the Greeks had beer
falling, during this period, into the lowest corruption. ‘The disastrous
quarrels of Alexander’s generals had been continued among their succes-
sors. Political integrity was lost. The Greeks spent their life in worth-
less and frivolous amusements. Their religion, though beautiful, beyond
expression as giving subjects for art and poetry, was utterly powerless,
and worse than powerless, in checking their bad propensities. Their
philosophers were sophists ; their women might be briefly divided into two
classes,—those who were highly educated and openly profligate on the one
side, and those who lived in domestic and ignorant seclusion on the other.
And it cannot be denied that all these causes of degradation spread with
the diffusion of the race and the language ; like Sybaris and Syracuse,
Antioch and Alexandria became almost worse than Athens and Corinth.
But the very diffusion and development of this corruption was preparing
the way, because it showed the necessity, for the interposition of a Gospel.
The disease itself seemed to call for a Healer. And if the prevailing evils
of the Greek population presented obstacles, on a large scale, to the
progress of Christianity,—yet they showed to all future time the weakness
of man’s highest powers, if unassisted from above ; and there must have
been many who groaned under the burden of a corruption which they
could not shake off, and who were ready to welcome the voice of Him,
who ‘took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.” The ‘ Greeks,”!
who are mentioned by St. John as coming to see Jesus at the feast, were,
we trust, the types of a large class ; and we may conceive His answer to
Andrew and Philip as expressing the fulfilment of the appointed times
in the widest sense—‘‘ The hour is come, that the Son of Man should be
glorified.”
Such was the civilisation and corruption connected with the spread of
the Greek language when the Roman power approached to the eastern
parts of the Mediterranean Sea. For some centuries this irresistible force
had been gathering strength on the western side of the Apennines.
Gradually, but surely, and with ever-increasing rapidity, it made to itself
a wider space—northward into Etruria, southward into Campania. It
passed beyond its Italian boundaries. And six hundred years after the
building of the city, the Roman eagle had seized on Afriva at the point of
Carthage, and Greece at the Isthmus of Corinth, and had tw eu its eye
t "EAAnvec, xii. 20. It ought to be observed here, that the word “ Grecian ” in the
Erglish translation of the New Testament is used for a Hellenist, or Grecising Jew
(EAAnviori¢)—as Acts vi. 1. ix. 29—while the word “ Greek” is used for one who
was by birth a Gentile (Ἔλλην), and who might, or might not, be a proselyte to Juda
ism, or a convert to Christianity. It is agreed by the modern critics (Grieskach,
Scholz, Lachmann, De Wette) that in Acts xi. 20, the true 1eadirg is "EAAqvac not
&A2noTd¢, “ Greeks 7) not “ Grecians.”’
τ THE LIFE AND EPISTLKS OF £T. PAUL.
towards he Hast. The defenceless prey was made secure, by craft or by
war ; and before the birth of our Saviour, all those coasts, from Ephesus te
Tarsus and Antioch, and round by the Holy Land to Alexandria and
Cyrene, were tributary to the city of the Tiber, We have to describe
in a few words the characteristics of this new dominion, and to point
out its providential connection with the spread and consolidation of the
Church.
In the first place, this dominion was not a pervading influence exerted
by a restless and intellectual people, but it was the grasping power of an
external government. The idea of law had grown up with the growth of
the Romans ; and wherever they went they carried it with them. Wher-
ever their armies were marching or encamping, there always attended
them, like a mysterious presence, the spirit of the City of Rome. Uni-
versal conquest and permanent occupation were the ends at which they
aimed Strength and organisation were the characteristics of their sway.
We have seen how the Greek science and commerce were wafted, by
irregular winds, from coast to coast: and now we follow the advance of
legions, governors, and judges along the Roman Roads, which pursued
their undeviating course over plains and mountains, and bound the City te
the furthest extremities of the provinces.
There is no better way of obtaining a clear view of the features and a
correct idea of the spirit of the Roman age, than by considering the
material works which still remain as its imperishable monuments, Whether
undertaken by the hands of the government, or for the ostentation of
private iuxury, they were marked by vast extent and accomplished at an
enormous expenditure. The gigantic roads of the empire have been
unrivalled till the present century. Solid structures of all kinds, for
utility, amusement and worship, were erected in Italy and the provinces,—
amphitheatres of stone, magnificent harbours, bridges sepulchres, and tem-
ples. The decoration of wealthy houses was celebrated by the poets of
the day. The pomp of buildings in the cities was rivalled by astonishing
villas in the country. The enormous baths, by which travellers are sur-
prised, belong to a period somewhat later than that of St. Paul; but the
aqueducts, which still remain in the Campagna, were some of them new,
when he visited Rome. Of the metropolis itself it may be enough to say,
that his life is exactly embraced between its two great times of renovation,
that of Augustus on the one hand, who (to use his own expression) having
found it a city of brick left it a city of marble, and that of Nero on the
other, when the great conflagration afforded an opportunity for a new
arrangement of its streets and buildings.
These great works may be safely taken as emblems of the magnitude,
strength, grandeur, and solidity of the empire ; but they are emblems, ne
§OCI2z1 CONDNION OF xxx KOMAN EMPIRE. 18
tes, of the tyranny «nd cruelty which had presided over its formation, and
of the general suffering which pervaded it. ‘The statues, with which the
metropolis and the Roman houses were profusely decorated, had been
brought from plundered provinces, and many of them had swelled the
triumphs of conquerors on the Capitol. The amphitheatres were built
for shows of gladiators, and were the scenes of a bloody cruelty, which
had been quite unknown in the licentious exhibitions of the Greek theatre
The roads, baths, harbours, aqueducts, had been constructed by slave-
labour. And the country-villas, which the Italian traveller lingered te
admire, were themselves vast establishments of slaves.
It is easy to see how much misery followed in the train of Rome’s
advancing greatness Cruel suffering was a characteristic feature of the
close of the republic. Slave wars, civil wars, wars of conquest, had left
their disastrous results behind them. No country recovers rapidly from the
effects of a war which has been conducted within its frontier ; and there
was no district of the empire which had not been the scene of some recen-
campaign. None had suffered more than Italy itself. Its old stock of
freemen, who had cultivated its fair plains and terraced vineyards, was
utterly worn out. The general depopulation was badly compensated by
the establishment of military colonies. Inordinate wealth and slave
factories were the prominent features of the desolate prospect. ‘The words
of the great historian may fill up the picture. “ As regards the manners
and mode of life of the Romans, their great object at this time was the
acquisition and possession of money. Their moral conduct, which had
been corrupt enough before the social war, became still more so by their
systematic plunder and rapine. Immense riches were accumulated and
squandered upon brutal pleasures. The simplicity of the old manners and
mode of living had been abandoned for Greek luxuries and frivolities, anc
the whole household arrangements had become altered. The Roman
houses had formerly been quite simple, and were built either of brick or
peperino, but in most cases of the former material ; now, on the other
hand, every one would live in a splendid house and be surrounded by
luxuries. The condition of Italy after the Social and Civil wars was
indescribably wretched. Samnium had become almost a desert; and as
1 Plena domus tunc omnis, et ingens stabat acervus
Numorum, Spartana chlamys, conchylia Coa,
Wt cum Parrhasii tabulis signisque Myronis
Phidiacum vivebat ebur, nec non Polycleti
Multus ubique labor: rare sine Mentore mens.
Inde Dolabelle atque hine Antonius, inde
Sacrilegus Verres referebant navibus altis
Oceulta spolia et plures de pace triumphes.—Ivv. viii. 100.
For a multitude of details, see the 164th and 165th sections of K. O. Miller’s Hand
tach Jer Archaologie.
!
14 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
late as the time of Strabo (vi. p. 253), there was scarcely any town in
that country which was not in ruins. But worse things were yet to
come.” }
This disastrous condition was not confined to Italy. In some respects
the provinces had their own peculiar sufferings. ΤῸ take the case of Asia
Minor. It had been plundered and ravaged by successive generals,—by
Scipio in the war against Antiochus of Syria,—by Manlius in his Galatian
campaign,—by Pompey in the struggle with Mithridates.*. The rapacity
of governors and their officials followed that of generals and their armies.
We know what Cilicia suffered under Dolabella and his agent Verres ;
and Cicero reveals to us the oppression of his predecessor Appius in the
same province, contrasted with his own boasted clemency. Some portions
of this beautiful and inexhaustible country revived under the emperors.*
But it was only an outward prosperity. Whatever may have been the
improvement in the external details of provincial government, we cannot
believe that governors were gentle and forbearing, when Caligula was on
the throne, and when Nero was seeking statues for his golden house. The
tontempt in which the Greek provincials themselyes were held by the
Romans may be learnt from the later correspondence of the Emperor
Trajan with Pliny the governor of Bithynia. We need not hesitate to
take it for granted, that those who were sent from Rome to dispense
justice at Ephesus or Tarsus, were more frequently like Appius and Ver-
more like Pilate and Felix, than Gallio
res, than Cicero* and Flaccus,
or Sergius Paulus.
It would be a delusion to imagine, that when the world was reduced
under one sceptre, any real principle of unity held its different parts
together. The emperor was deified, because men were enslaved. There
was no true peace when Augustus closed the Temple of Janus. The
empire was ouly the order of external government, with a chaos both of
opinions and morals within. The writings of Tacitus and Juvena! remain
to attest the corruption which festered in all ranks, alike in the senate and
the family. he old severity of manners, and the old faith in the better
part of the Roman religion, were gone. The licentious creeds and prac-
1 Niebuhr’s Lectures on the History of Rome, vol. i. pp. 421, 422.
* Pliny points out the connection of these conquests with the development of Roman
luxury: “ Victoria illa Pompeii primum ad margaritas gemmasque mores inclinavit.”
Η. N. xxxvii. 6. See what he says on the spoils of Scipio Asiaticus and Cn. Manlius,
XXxxlil. 53. xxxiv. 8. cf. Liv. xxxix. 6.
3 See Niebuhr’s Lectures, vol. i. p. 406, and the note.
4 Much of our best information concerning the state of the provinces is derived from
Ciccro’s celebrated “ Speeches against Verres,” and his own “ Cilician Correspondence,”
to which we shall again have occasion to refer. His “ Speech in Defence of Flaccus”
throws much light on the condition of the Jews under the Romans. We must nof
place too much confidence in the picture there given of this Ephesian governor.
MISERY OF ITALY AND THE FROVINCES. 18
vices of Greece and the East had inundated Italy and the West: and the
Pantheon was only the monument of a compromise among a multitude of
effete superstitions. It is true that a remarkable religious toleration was
produced by this state of things: and it is probable that for some short
time Christianity itself shared the advantage of it. But still the temper
of the times was essentially both cruel and profane ; and the Apostles
were soon exposed to its bitter persecution. The Roman empire was
destitute of that unity which the Gospel gives to mankind. It was a
kingdom of this world ; and the human race were groaning for the better
peace of ‘a kingdom not of this world.”
Thus, in the very condition of the Roman empire, and the miserable
state of its mixed population, we can recognise a negative preparation for
the Gospel of Christ. This tyranny and oppression called for a Conseler,
as much as the moral sickness of the Greeks called for a Healer ; a Mes.
siah was needed by the whole empire as much as by the Jews, though not
looked for with the same conscious expectation. But we have no difficulty
in going much further than this, and we cannot hesitate to discover in the
circumstances of the world at this period, significant traces of a positive
preparation for the Gospel. |
It should be remembered, in the first place, that the Romans had
already become Greek to some considerable extent, before they were the
political masters of those eastern countries, where the language, mythology,
and literature of Greece had become more or less familiar. How early,
how widely, and how permanently this Greek influence prevailed, and how
deeply it entered into the mind of educated Romans, we know from their
surviving writings, and from the biography of eminent men. Cicero, who
was governor of Cilicia about half a century before the birth of St. Paul,
speaks in strong terms of the universal spread of the’ Greek tongue among
the instructed classes ;! and about the time of the Apostle’s martyrdom,
Agricola, the conquerer of Britain, was receiving a Greek education at
Marscilles.’ Is it too much to say, that the general Latin conquest was
providentially delayed till the Romans had been sufficiently imbued with
the language and ideas of their predecessors, and had incorporated many
parts of that civilisation with their own ?
And if the mysterious wisdom of the divine pre-arrangements is
illustrated by the period of the spread of the Greek language, it is illus
Cicero, in his speech for Archias (who was born at Antioch, “celebri urbe et
copiosa, atque eruditissimis hominibus liberalissimisque studiis affluente’’), says, in
reference to this spread of the Greek literature and language,—“ Erat Italia tune
plena Grecarum artium ac disciplinarum :” and again, “Graca leguntur in omnibus
fere gentibus: Latina suis finibus, exiguis sane, continentur.”’
* Tac. Agr.: “Sedem ac magistram studiorum Massiliam habuit, locum Graeca comi
tate et provinciali parsimonia mistum ac bene compositum ”
16 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 51. PAUL.
trated no Jess by that of the completion and maturity of the Roman
rovernment. When all parts of the civilised world were bound together
in one empire,—when cne common organisation pervaded the whole,—
when channels of communication were everywhere opened—when new
facilities of travelling were provided,—then was “ the fulness of times”
(Gal. iv. 4), then the Messiah came. The Greek language had already
Leen prepared as a medium for preserving and transmitting the doctrine :
the Roman government was now prepared to help the progress even of
that religion which it persecuted. The manner in which it spread through
the -provinces is well exemplified in the life of St. Paul: his right of
sitizenship rescued him in Judea and in Macedonia; he converted one
governor in Cyprus, was protected by another in Achaia, and was sent
from Jerusalem to Rome by a third. The time was indeed approaching,
when all the complicated weight of the central tyranny, and of the pro-
vincial governments, was to fall on the new and irresistible religion, But
before this took place, it had begun to grow up in close connection with
all departments of the empire. When tlie supreme government itself
became Christian, the ecclesiastical polity was permanently regulated in
conformity with the actual constitution of the state. Nor was the empire
broken up, till the separate fragments, which have become the nations of
modern Europe, were themselves portions of the Catholic Church.
But in all that we have said of the condition of the Roman world, one
important and widely diffused element of its population has not been men-
tioned. We have lost sight for some time of the Jews, and we must
return to the subject of their dispersion, which was purposely deferred till
we had shown how the intellectual civilisation of the Greeks, and the
organising civilisation of the Romans, had, through a long series of
remarkable events, been brought in contact with the religious civilisation
of the Hebrews ; it remains that we point out that one peculiarity of the
Jewish people, which made this contact almost universal in every part of
the empire.
Their dispersion began early ; though, early and late, their attachment
to Judea has always been the same. Like the Highlanders of Switzer-
land and Scotland, they seem to have combined a tendency to foreign
settlements with the most passionate love of their native land. The first
seattering of the Jews was compulsory, and began with the Assyrian
exile, when, about the time of the building of Rome, natives of Galilee
and Samaria were carried away by the Eastern monarchs; and this was
followed by the Babylonian exile, when the tribes of Judah and Benjamin
were removed at different epochs,—when Daniel was brought to Babylon, .
and Ezekiel to the river Chebar. That, this earliest dispersion was not
without influential results may be inferred from these facts :-—that, about
DISPERSION OF THE JEWS. 17
uhe time of the battles of Salamis and Marathon, a Jew was the
miuister, another Jew the cupbearer, and a Jewess the consort, of a
Persian monarch. That they enjoyed many privileges in this foreign
country, and that their condition was not always oppressive, may be
gathered from this,—that when Cyrus gave them permission to return, the
majority remained in their new home, in preference to their native land,
Thus that great Jewish colony began in Babylonia, the existence of which
may be traced in Apostolic times,' and which retained its influence long
after in the Talmudical schools. These Hebrew settlements may be
followed through various parts of the continental Hast, to the borders of
the Caspian, and even to China.2 We however are more concerned with
the coasts and islands of Western Asia. Jews had settled in Syria and
Pheenicia before the time of Alexander the Great. But in treating of
this subject, the great stress is to be Jaid on the policy of Seleucus, who,
in founding Antioch, raised them to the same political position with the
other citizens. One of his successors on the throne, Antiochus the Great,
established two thousand Jewish families in Lydia and Phrygia. From
hence they would spread into Pamphylia and Galatia, and along the western
coasts from Ephesus to Troas. And the ordinary channels of communi-
cation, in conjunction with that tendency to trade which already began to
characterise this wonderful people, would easily bring them to the islands,
such as Cyprus? and Rhodes.
Their oldest settlement in Africa was that which took place after the
murder of the Babylonian governor of Judzea, and which is connected with
the name of the prophet Jeremiah. But, as in the case of Antioch, our
chief attention is called to the great metropolis of the period of the Greek
kings. The Jewish quarter of Alexandria is well known in history ; and
the colony of Hellenistic Jews in Lower Egypt is of greater importance
than that of their Aramaic brethren in Babylonia. Alexander himself
brought Jews and Samaritans to his famous city ; Ptolemy Lagus brought
many more; and many betook themselves hither of their free will, that
they might escape from the incessant troubles which disturbed the peace
of their fatherland. Nor was their influence confined to Egypt, but they
became known on one side in Ethiopia, the country of Queen Candace,’
and spread on the other in great numbers to the ‘parts of Libya about
Cyrene.” §
1 566 1 Pet. v. 15.
2. See “ Ritter’s Erdkunde,” ΤῊ]. 4 (Asien.) 598.
3 The farming of the copper mines in Cyprus by Herod (Jos. A. xvi. 4,5) may have
attracted many Jews. M. Salvador, in his last work (Histoire de la Domination Ro
maine en Judée, &c., 1847), says it actually did; but this is not proved. There is a
Cyprian inscription in “ Béckh ” (No. 2628), which seems to refer to one of the Hergds.
4 See 2 Kings xxv. 22-26. Jer. xliii. xliv. 5 Acts viii. 27.
6 Acts ii. 10. The second book of Maccabees is the abridgmeat of a work writter
vaL. 1.-—2
18 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 8ST. PAUL.
Under what circumstances the Jews made their first appearance in
Europe is unknown ; but it is natural to suppose that those islands of the
Archipelago which, as Humboldt! has said, were like a bridge for the
passage of civilisation, became the means of the advance of Judaism. 'The
journey of the proselyte Lydia from Thyatira to Philippi (A. xvi. 14),
and the voyage of Aquila and Priscilla from Corinth to Ephesus (A. xviii.
18), are only specimexs of mercantile excursions which must have begun
at a far earlier period. Philo mentions Jews in Thessaly, Beeotia, Mace-
donia, Atolia, and Attica, in Argos and Corinth, in the other parts of
Peloponnesus, and in the islands of Eubca and Crete: and St. Luke, in
she Acts of the Apostles, speaks of them in Philippi, Thessalonica, and
Bercea, in Athens, in Corinth, and in Rome. The first Jews came to
Rome to decorate a triumph ; but they were soon set free from captivity,
and gave the name to the “Synagogue of the Libertines”? in Jerusalem.
They owed to Julius Cesar those privileges in the Western Capital which
they had obtained from Alexander in the Eastern. They became influ-
ential, and made proselytes. ‘They spread into other towns of Italy ; and
in the time of St, Paul’s boyhood we find them in large numbers in the
island of Sardinia, just as we have previously seen them established in that
of Cyprus.2 With regard to Gaul, we know at least that two sons of
Hered were banished, about this same period, to the banks of the Rhone ;
-and if St. Paul ever accomplished that journey to Spain, of which he
speaks in his letters, it is probable that he found there some of the scat-
tered children of his own people. We do not scek to pursue them further ;
but, after a few words on the proselytes, we must return to the earliest
scenes of the Apostle’s career.‘
The subject of the proselytes is sufficiently important to demand a
separate notice. Under this term we include at present all those who were
attracted in various degrees of intensity towards Judaism,—from those
who by circumcision had obtained full access to all the privileges of the
temple-worship, to those who only professed a general respect for the
Mosaic religion, and attended as hearers in the synagogues. Many pros-
by a Hellenistic Jew of Cyrene. A Jew or proselyte of Cyrene bore our Saviour’s
cross. And the mention of this city occurs more than once in the Acts of the Apostles,
1 Kosmos, Sabine’s English Translation, vol. ii. p. 120.
2 This body doubtless consisted of manumitted Jewish slaves. See Wolf and the
dater commentators on Acts vi. 9.
3 In this case, however, they were forcibly sent to the island, to die of the bad cli-
mate. See Tac. Ann. ii. 85. Suet. Tib. 36. Jos. An. xviii. 3, 5.
4 The history of the Jewish dispersions will be found in an excellent little essay de-
voted to the subject, Joh. Remond’s “ Versuch einer Geschichte der Ausbreitung des
Fudenthums von Cyrus bis auf den ganzlichen Untergang des Judischen Staats :”
ipzig, 1789; in the introductory chapter of “ Wiltsch’s Handbuch der Kirchlichen
teographie,”’ Gotha, 1843, which has been principally used here ; and in a chapter im
fhe second volume of Jost’s larger work, --the “Geschichte der Israeliten,” 1820-28.
PROVINCES OF CILICIA AND JUDASA. 19
elytes were attached to the Jewish communities wherever they were dis-
persed.!. Even in their own country and its vicinity, the number, both in
early and later times, was not inconsiderable. The Queen of Sheba, in the
Old Testament ; Candace, Queen of Ethiopia, in the New; and King
Izates, with his mother Helena, mentioned by Josephus, are only royai
representatives of a large class. During the time of the Maccabees, some
alien tribes were forcibly incorporated with the Jews. This was the case
with the Itursans, and probably with the Moabites, and, above all, with
the Edomites, with whose name that of the Herodian family is historically
connected.2 How far Judaism extended among the vague collection of
tribes called Arabians, we can only conjecture from the curious history of
the Homerites,? and from the actions of such chieftains as Aretas (2 Cor.
xi, 82). But as we travel towards the West and North, into countries
better known, we find no lack of evidence of the moral effect of the syna-
eogues, with their worship of Jenovan, and their prophecies of the Mes-
siah. ‘Nicolas of Antioch” (Acts vi. 5) is only one of that “ vast
multitude of Greeks” who were attracted in that city to the Jewish
doctrine and ritual. In Damascus, we are even told by the same author-
ity that the great majority of the women were proselytes ; a fact which
receives a remarkable illustration from what happened to Paul at Iconium
(Acts xiii. 50). But all further details may be postponed till we follow
him into the synagogues, where he so often addressed a mingled audience
of “Jews of the dispersion” and “devout” strangers.
This chapter may be suitably concluded by some notice of the provin.
ces of Cilicia and Judea. This will serve as an illustration of what has
been said above, concerning the state of the Roman provinces generally ,
it will exemplify the mixture of Jews, Greeks, and Romans in the east of
the Mediterranean, and it will be a fit introduction to what must immedi-
ately succeed. For these are the two provinces which require our atten-
tion in the early life of the Apostle Paul.
Both these provinces were once under the sceptre of the line of the
seleucide, or Greek kings of Syria ; and both of them, though originally
1 The following are the testimonies of prejudiced Heathens :
‘H χώρα Ἰουδαία καὶ αὐτοὶ Ἰουδαῖοι ὠνομάδαται, . . ἡ δὲ ἐπίκλησις αὕτη ... φέρει
. καὶ éxt τοὺς ἄλλους ἀνθρώπους, ὅσοι τὰ νόμιμα ἀυτῶν, καίπερ ἀλλοεθνεῖς ὄντες,
ζηλοῦσι.---- Π)ῖο. Cas. xxxvii. 16, 17.
Transgressi in morem eorum (Judzeorum) idem usurpant. Nec quicquam prius im
buunter quam contemnere Deos, exuere patriam, parentes, liberos, fratres vilia haber@
-Tec. H. Τ΄. ὃ \
Romanas autem soliti contemnere leges,
Judaicum ediscunt et servant ac metuunt jus,
Tradidit arcano quodcunque volumine Moses.—Juv. xiv. 100.
5 See Wiltsch as above, and the passages quoted from Josephus
3 See it in Basnage, Histoire des Juifs, book vi. ch. 20.
* Joseph. B. J. vii. 3. 3.
90 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
inhabited by a ‘‘barbarous” population, received more or less of the
influence of Greek civilisation. Jf the map is consulted, it will be seen
that Antioch, the capital of the Greco-Syrian kings, is situated nearly in
the angle where the coast-line of Cilicia, running eastwards, and that of
Judea, extended northwards, are brought to an abrupt meeting. It will
be seen also, that, more or less parallel to each of these coasts, there is a
‘ine of mountains, not far from the sea, which are brought into contact
with each other in heavy and confused forms, near the same angle ; the
principal break in the continuity of either of them being the vailey of the
Orontes, which passes by Antioch. One of these mountain lines is the
range of Mount Taurus, which is so often mentioned as a great geographi-
cal boundary by the writers of Greece and Rome; and Cvlica extends
partly over Taurus itself, and partly between it and the sea. The other
range is that of Lebanon—a name made sacred by the scriptures and
poetry of the Jews ; and where its towering eminences subside towards the
south into a land of hills and vallies and level plains, there is Jud@a, once
the country of promise and possession to the chosen people, but a Roman
province in the time of the Apostles.
Cilicia, in the sense in which the word was used under the early Roman
emperors, comprehended two districts, of nearly equal extent,! but of very
different character. The Western portion, or Rough Cilicia, as it was
called, was a collection of the branches of Mount Taurus, which come
down in large masses to the sea, and form that projection of the coast
which divides the Bay of Issus from that of Pamphylia. The inhabitants
of the whole of this district were notorious for their robberies :* the north-
ern portion, under the name of Isauria, providing innumerable strongholds
for marauders by land; and the southern, with its excellent timber, its
cliffs, and small harbours, being a natural home for pirates. The Isaurians
maintained their independence with such determined obstinacy, that in a
later period of the Empire, the Romans were willing to resign all appear-
ance of subduing them, and were content to surround them with a cordon
of forts. The natives of the coast of Rough Cilicia began to extend their
piracies as the strength of the kings of Syria and Egypt declined. They
found in the progress of the Roman power, for some time, an encourage-
ment rather than a hindrance; for they were actively engaged in an
extensive and abominable slave trade, of which the island of Delos was the
ercat market ; and the opulent families of Rome were in need of slaves,
and were not more scrupulous than some Christian nations of modern times
about the means of obtaining them. But the expeditions of these bue-
1 Mannert says (Geographie der Griechen und Romer, “ Kleinasien,’”’ 1801) that the
eastern division is about 15 German geographical miles in breadth by 20 in length,
the western 10 by 30. Cilicia, p. 33.
2 See a very descriptive passage in Ammian. Marc. xiv. 2
PROVINCE OF CILICIA. 21
zancers o the Mediterranean became at last quite intolerable ; their fleets
seemed innumerable ; their connexions were extended far beyond their own
coasts ; all commerce was paralysed ; and they began to arouse that
attention at Rome which the more distant pirates of the Eastern Archi:
pelago are beginning to excite in England. A vast expedition was fitted
cut under the command of Pompey the Great ; thousands of piratie vessels
were burnt on the coast of Cilicia, and the inhabitants dispersed. A per-
petual service was thus done to the cause of civilisation, and the Mediter-
ranean was made safe for the voyages of merchants and Apostles. The
town of Soli, on the borders of the two divisions of Cilicia, received the
.ame of Pompeiopolis,' in honour of the great conqueror, and the splendid
remains of a colonnade which led from the harbour to the city may be
eonsidered a monument of this signal destruction of the enemies of order
and peace,
The Eastern, or Flat Cilicia, was a rich and extensive plain. Its
prolific vegetation is praised both by the earlier and later classical writers,’
and even under the neglectful government of the Turks, is still noticed by
modern travellers. From this circumstance, and still more from its pecu-
liar physical configuration, it was a possession of great political import-
ance. Walled off from the neighbouring countries by a high barrier of
mountains,t which sweep irregularly round it from Pompeiopolis and
Rough Cilicia to the Syrian coast on the North of Antioch,—with one
pass leading up into the interior of Asia Minor, and another giving access
to the valley of the Orontes,—it was naturally the high road both of trad-
ing caravans and of military expeditions. Through this country Cyrus
marched, to depose his brother from the Persian throne. It was here
that the decisive victory was obtained by Alexander over Darius. This
1 A similar case, on a small scale, is that of Philippeville in Algeria; and the pro-
gress of the French power, since the accession of Louis Philippe, in Northern Africa,
is perhaps the nearest parallel in modern times to the history of a Roman province.
As far as regards the pirates, Lord Exmouth, in 1816, really did the work of Pompey
the Great. It may be doubted whether Marshal Bugeaud was more lenient to the
Arabs, than Cicero to the Eleuthero-Cilicians.
Chrysippus the Stoic, whose father was a native of Tarsus, and Aratus, whom St
Paul quotes, lived at Soli. Cf. Mannert, p. 69.
? For instance, Xen. Anab. i. 2. Ammian. Mare. xiv. 7.
3 Laborde’s illustrated work on Syria and Asia Minor contains some luxuriant spe-
cimens of the modern vegetation of Tarsus; but the banana and the prickly pear were
introduced into the Mediterranean long after St. Paul’s day.
4 This mountain-wall is described by no one more accurately and vividly than oy
Quintus Curtius :—“ Perpetuo jugo montis asperi et prarupti Cilicia includitur: quod
quum a mari surgat, velut sinu quodam flexuque curvatum, rursus altero cornu in
diversum litus excurrit. Per hoc dorsum, qua maximé introrsum mari cedit, asperi
tres aditus, et perangusti sunt, quorum uno Cilicia intranda est, Campestris eadem, qua
vergit ad mare, planitiem cjus czebris distinguentibus rivis. Pyramus et Cydous ἴω"
ΕἸΣ ΤΙ amnes fluunt.”? De Rebus Gestis Alex. iii. 4.
29 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
plain has since seen the hosts of Western Crusaders ; and, in our own
day, has been the field of operations of hostile Mahommedan armies, Turk
ish and Egyptian. The Greek kings of Egypt endeavoured, long ago, te
tear it from the Greek kings of Syria. The Romans left it at first in the
possession of Antiochus: but the line of Mount Taurus could not perma
nently arrest them: and the letters of Cicero are among the earliest and
most interesting monuments of Roman Cilicia.
Situated near the western border of the Cilician plain, where the river
Cydnus flows in a cold and rapid stream! from the snows of Taurus to the
sea, was the city of Tarsus, the capital of the wuole province, and “ no
mean city” (A. xxi. 39) in the history of the ancient world. Its coins
COIN OF TARSUS. HADRIAN.
reveal to us its greatness through a long series of years :—alike in the
period which intervened between Xerxes and Alexander,—and under the
Roman sway, when it exulted in the name of Metropolis,—and long after
Hadrian had rebuilt it, and issued his new coinage with the old mythologi-
eal types.? In the intermediate period, which is that of St. Paul, we have
the testimony of a native of this part of Asia Minor, from which we may
infer that Tarsus was in the Eastern basin of the Mediterranean, almost
what Marseilles was in the Western. Strabo says? that, in all that
relates to philosophy and general education, it was even more illustrious
than Athens and Alexandria. From his description it is evident that its
main character was that of a Greek city, where the Greek language was
spoken, and Greek literature studiously cultivated. But we should be
wrong in supposing that the general population of the province was of
Greek origin, or spoke the Greek tongue. When Cyrus came with his
1 Avappet ἀνυτὴν μέσην ὁ Kidvog..... ψυχρόν τε kal ταχὺ τὸ ῥεῦμά ἐστιν, Strabo,
xiv. 5.
* This coin was struck under Hadrian, and is preserved in the British Museum.
Anazarbus on the Pyramus was a rival city, and from the time of Caracalla is found
assuming the title of Metropolis; but it was only an empty honour. Eckhel says of
it (p. 42): “Hoe titulo constanter deinceps gloriabatur, etsi is preter honorem illi
nihil addidit ; nam quod ad juris contentionem attinebat, id omne ad Tarsum veram
Cilicie metropolim pertinuit, ut existimat Belleyus.’”? The same figures of the Lion
and the Bull appear in a fine series of silver coins assigned by the Duc de Luyunes
(Numismatique des Satrapies) to the period between Xerxes and Alexander. ε
3 Bk. xiv. ch. 5. The passage will be quoted at length hereafter.
TARSUS. 93
arrcy from the Western Coast, and still later, when Alexander penetrated
into Cilicia, they found the inhabitants ‘‘ Barbarians.” Nor is it likely
that the old race would be destroyed, or the old language obliterated,
especially in the mountain districts, during the reign of the Seleucid kings.
We must rather conceive of Tarsus as like Brest in Brittany, or like Tou:
lon, in Provence,—a city where the language of refinement is spoken and
written, in the midst of a ruder population, who use a different language,
and possess no literature of their own.
If we turn now to consider the position of this province and city under
the Romans, we are led to notice two different systems of policy which
they adopted in their subject dominions. The purpose of Rome was to
make the world subservient to herself: but this might be accomplished
directly or indirectly. A governor might be sent from Rome to take the
absolute command of a province: or some native chief might have a king-
dom, an ethnarchy, or a tetrarchy assigned to him, in which he was nom-
inally independent, but really subservient, and often tributary. Some
provinces were rich and productive, or essentially important in the military
sense, and these were committed to Romans under the Senate or the Em-
peror. Others might be worthless or troublesome, and fit only to reward
the services of an useful instrument, or to occupy the energies of a danger-
ous ally. Both these systems were adopted in the East and in the West.
We have examples of both—in Spain and in Gaul—in Cilicia and in
Judea. In Asia Minor they were so irregularly combined, and the terri-
tories of the independent sovereigns were so capriciously granted or re
moved, extended or curtailed, that it is often difficult to ascertain what
the actual boundaries of the provinces were at a given epoch. Not to
enter into any minute history in the case of Cilicia, it will be enough to
say, that its rich and level plain in the East was made a Roman province
by Pompey, and so remained, while certain districts in the Western por-
tion were assigned, at different periads, to various native chieftains.’
Thus the territories of Amyntas, King of Galatia, were extended in this
direction by Antony, when he was preparing for his great struggle with
Augustus :*—just as ἃ modern Rajah may be strengthened on the banks
1 To Ariobarzanes of Cappadocia by the influence of Pompey; to Tarkondimotus,
whose sons espoused the cause of Antony; and finally to Archelaus by Augustus,
Some part of the coast also was at one time assigned to Cleopatra, for the sake of the
timber for shipbuilding. See Mannert’s Geographie, “Kleinasien,” pp. 45, 46.
* The territories of Amyntas were brought down to the coast of Pamphylia, sc as ta
include the important harbour of Side. There is no better way of studying the history
oi Asia Minor than by means of coins, with the assistance of Eckhel, Mionnet, Sestini,
&e. The writer of this is desirous to acknowledge his obligations to many conversa.
tions with the gentlemen who are occupied in the Medal Room of the British Museum,
Mr. Burgon, Mr. Newton, ἄρ.
24 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
of the Indus, in connection with our wars against Scinde and the Sikks.
For some time the whole of Cilicia was a consolidated province under the
first emperors: but again, in the reign of Claudius, we find a portion ef
the same Western district assigned to a king called Polemo II. It is
needless to pursue the history further. In St. Paul’s early life the politi-
cai state of the inhabitants of Cilicia would be that of subjects of a Roman
governor : and Roman officials, if not Roman soldiers, would be a familiar
sight to the Jews who were settled in Tarsus.’
We shall have many opportunities of describing the condition of prov-
inces under the dominion of Rome; but it may be interesting here to
allude to the information which may be gathered from the writings of that
distinguished man, who was governor of Cilicia a few years after its first
reduction by Pompey. He was entrusted with the civil and military
superintendence of a large district in this corner of the Mediterranean,
comprehending not only Cilicia, but Pamphylia, Pisidia, Lycaonia, and the
island of Cyprus; and he has left a record of all the details of his policy
in a long series of letters, which are a curious monument of the Roman
procedure in the management of conquered provinces, and which pussess
a double interest to us, from their frequent allusions to the same places
which St. Paul refers to in his Epistles. This correspondence represents
to us the governor as surrounded by the adulation of obsequious Asiatic
Grecks. He travels with an interpreter, for Latin is the official language ;
he puts down banditti, and is saluted by the titie of Imperator ; letters
are written on various, subjects, to the governors of neighbouring proy-
inces,——for instance, Syria, Asia, and Bithynia ; ceremonious communica-
tions take place with the independent chieftains. The friendly relations
of Cicero with Deiotarus, King of Galatia, and his son, remind us of the
interview of Pilate and Herod in the Gospel, or of Festus and Agrippa
in the Acts. Cicero’s letters are rather too full of a boastful commenda-
tion of his own integrity ; but from what he says that he did, we may
infer by contrast what was done by others who were less scrupulous in the
discharge of the same responsibilities. He allowed free access to his per-
son: he refused expensive monuments in his honour; he declined the
proffered present of the pauper King of Cappadocia ;* he abstained from
exacting the customary expenses from the states which he traversed on
his march ; he remitted to the treasury the monies which were not ex:
pended on his province ; he would not place in official situations those whe
2 This has been the case with the Rajah of Bahawalpoor. See the articles on Indian
news in the newspapers of 1848.
* Tarsus, as an Urbs Libera, would have the privilege of being garrisoned by its ows
voldiers. See next Chapter.
3 See Hor. 1. Ep. vi. 39:
Mancipiis locuples eget zris Cappadocum Rez.
PROVINCE OF JUD#A. 95
were engaged in trade; he treated the local Greek magistrates with due
consideration, and contrived at the same time to give satisfaction to the
Publicans. From all this it may be easily inferred with how much cor.
ruption, cruelty, and pride, the Romans usually governed ; and how mis
erable must have been the condition of a province under a Verres or an
Appius, a Pilate or a Felix. So far as we remember, the Jews are not
mentioned in any of Cicero's Cilician letters: but if we may draw conclu-
sions from a speech which he made at Rome in defence of a contemporary
governor of Asia,' he regarded them with much contempt, and would be
likely to treat them with harshness and injustice.’
That Polemo 11., who has lately been mentioned as a king in Cilicia,
was one of those curious links which the history of those times exhibits
between Heathenism, Judaism, and Christianity. He became a Jew to
marry Berenice, who afterwards forsook him, and whose name, after once
appearing in Sacred History (Acts xxv. xxvi.), is lastly associated with
that of Titus, the destroyer of Jerusalem. ‘The name of Berenice will at
once suggest the family of the Herods, and transport our thoughts to Judea.
The same general features may be traced in this province as in that
which we have been attempting to describe. In some respects, indeed,
the details of its history are different. When Cilicia was a province, it
formed a separate jurisdiction, with a governor of its own, immediately
responsible to Rome: but Judea, in its provincial period, was only an
appendage to Syria. It has been said‘ that the position of the ruler resi-
dent at Casarea in connection with the supreme authority at Antioch may
be best understood by comparing it with that of the governor of Madras
or Bombay under the governor-general who resides at Calcutta, The
comparison is very just: and British India might supply a further parallel.
We might say that when Juda was not strictly a province, but a mon-
archy under the protectorate of Rome, it bore the same relation to the
contiguous province of Syria, which the territories of the king of Oude
bear to the presidency of Bengal. Juda was twice a monarchy: and
thus its history furnishes illustrations of the two systems pursued by the
Romans, of direct and indirect government.
1 This was L. Valerius Flace1s, who had served in Cilicia, and was afterwards made
Governor of Asia,—that district with which, and its capital Ephesus, we are so familiar
in the Acts of the Apostles.
* See especially Cic. Flac. 28, and for the opinion which educated Romans had of the
Jews, see Hor. 1 Sat. iv. 143. v. 100. ix. 69.
3 “Ut erat vir stolidi ingenii, &c.”’ says Eckhel. He was the last King of Pontus.
By Caligula ne was made King of Bosphorus; but Claudius gave him part of Cilicia
instead of it. See Joseph. A. xx. 7,3. Dio. Cass. 1x. 8. Suet. Nero. 18.
4 See the introduction to Dr. Traill’s Josephus, a work which has been unfortunately
‘nterrupted by the death of the translator during the Irish famine.
6 Another coincidence is, that we made the Nabob of Oude a king. Ste had previ
dusly been hereditary Vizier of the Mogul.
!
46 THE LIFE AND EPILTLES OF ST. PAUL.
Another important contrast must be noticed in the histories of these
two provinces. In the Greek period of Judea, there was a time of noble
and vigerous independence. Antiochus Epiphanes, the eighth of the line
of the Seleucide, in pursuance of a genetal system of policy, by which he
sought to unite all his different territories through the Greek religion,
endeavoured to introduce the worship of Jupiter into Jerusalem. Such
an attempt might have been very successful in Syria or Cilicia: but in
Judea it kindled a flame of religious indignation, which did not cease to.
burn till the yoke of the Seleucidz was entirely thrown off: the name of
Antiochus Epiphanes was ever-afterwards held in abhorrence by the Jews,
and a special fast was kept up in memory of the time when the “ abom-
ination of desolation” stood in the holy place. The champions of the
independence of the Jewish nation and the purity of the Jewish religion
were the family of the Maccabees or Asmoneans: and a hundred years
before the birth of Christ the first Hyrcanus was reigning over a prosper-
ous and independent kingdom. But in the time of the second Hyrcanus
and his brother, the family of the Maccabees was not what it had been,
and Juda was ripening for the dominion of Rome. Pompey the Great,
the same conqueror who had already subjected Cilicia, appeared in Damas-
eus, and there judged the cause of the two brothers. All the country
was full of his fame.!. In the spring of the year 63 he came down by the
valley of the Jordan, his Roman soldiers occupied the ford where Joshua
had crossed over, and from the Mount of Olives he looked down upon
Jerusalem. From that day Judsea was virtually under the government
\
ON Werins
‘
Θὰ
COIN OF ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES, WITH HEAD OF JUPITER.?
See Jost’s “Allgemeine Geschichte des Israelitischen Volks,” vol. ii, p. 18-21
where a good and rapid sketch of the events is given.
2 This beautiful coin, preserved in the British Museum, is given here, in consequences
of the head of Jupiter which appears on the obverse, in place of the portrait usual in the
Alexandrian, Seleucid, and Macedonian series. Since such emblems on ancient coing
have always sacred meanings, it is very probable that this arose from the religious
movement alluded to in the text. For the religious symbolism of Greek and Roman
coins, see Mr. Burgon’s “Inquiry into the Motive which influenced the Ancients in the
Choice of the Various Representations which we find stamped on their Money,” in the
Numismatic Journal for Sept. 1836
WATVSOUde LY ΠΟΙ 8 LNAIONV 0 ΞΝΙΨΙΠῈ
Sy
ae
POLITICAL CHANGES IN JUDA. 27
‘of Rome.’ It is true, that, after a brief support given to the reigning
family, a new native dynasty was raised to the throne. Antipater, a man
of Idumean birth, had been minister of the Maccabean kings: but thes
were the Rois Fainéants of Palestine, and he was the Maire du Palais.
In the midst of the confusion of the great civil wars, the Herodian family
suceceded to the Asmonean, as the Carlovingian line in France succeeded
that of Clovis. As Pepin was followed by Charlemagne, so Antipaier
prepared a crown for his son Herod.
At first Herod the Great espoused the cause of Antony ; but he con-
trived to remedy his mistake by paying a prompt visit after the battle of
Actium, to Augustus in the island of Rhodes. This sirgular interview of
the Jewish prince with the Roman conquercr in a Greek island was the
beginning of an important period for the Hebrew nation. An exotic
civilisation was systematically introduced and extended. Those Greek
influences, which had been begun under the Seleucide, and not discontinued
under the Asmonzans, were now more widely diffused: and the Roman
customs,” which had hitherto been comparatively unknown, were now
made familiar. Herod was indeed too wise, and knew the Jews too well,
to attempt, like Antiochus, to introduce foreign institutions, without any
regard to their religious feelings. He endeavoured to ingratiate himself
with them by rebuilding and decorating their national temple ; and a part
of that magnificent bridge which was connected with the great southern
colonnade is still believed to exist,—remaining, in its vast proportions and
Roman form, an appropriate monument of the Herodian period of Judea.
The period when Herod was reigning at Jerusalem under the protectorate
of Augustus was chiefly remarkable for great architectural works, for the
promotion of commerce, the influx of strangers, and the increased diffusion
of the two great languages of the heathen world. The names of places
are themselves a monument of the spirit of the times. As Tarsus was
called Juliopolis from Julius Caesar, and Soli Pompeiopolis from his great
rival, so Samaria was called Sebaste after the Greek name of Augustus,
and the new metropelis, which was built by Herod on the sea-shore, was
eallea Cesarea in honour of the same Latin emperor: while Antipatris,
1 Pompey heard of the death of Mithridates at Jericho. His army crossed at Scy-
thopolis, by the ford immediately below the lake of Tiberias. (See Herod. i. 105.)
* Antiochus Epiphanes (who was called Epimanes from his mad conduct) is said to
have made himself ridiculous by adopting Roman fashions, and walking about the
ttreets of Antioch in a toga.
3 It is right to say that there is much controversy about the real origin of these re-
mains. Dr. Robinson believes that they were part of a bridge connected with the Tem-
ple, but strangely refers them to the time of Solomon: Mr. Williams holds them to be
fragment of the great Christian works constructed in this southern part of the Tem
ple-area in the age of Justinian: Mr. Fergusson conceives them to be part of the bridge
waich joined Mount Zion to the Temple, but assigns them to Herod.
28 ‘THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 51. PAUL.
on the road (A. xxiii. 31) between the old capital and the new, still com
memorated the name of the king’s Idumean father. We must not suppase
vhat the internal change in the minds of the people was proporticnal ts
the magnitude of these outward improvements. ‘They suffered much, aud
their hatred grew towards Rome and towards the Herods. Jer. xx. 15,
6
«Ὁ THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
feelings. When the infant at Tarsus received coe name of Saul, it migh:
be “after the name of his father ;” and it was a name of traditional celeb
tity in the tribe of Benjamin, for it was that of the first king anointed by
Samuel.'! Or, when his father said ‘his name is Saul,” it may have been
intended to denote (in conformity with the Hebrew derivation of the word)
that he was a son who had long been desired, the first born of his parents,
the child of prayer, who was thenceforth, like Samnei, to be consecrated
to God.? “ For this child I prayed,” said the wife of Elkanah ; ‘and the
Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of Him: therefore also I
have lent him to the Lord ; as long as he liveth he shall be lent unto the
Lord.” ®
Admitted into covenant with God by circumcision, the Jewish child
had thenceforward a full claim to all the privileges of the chosen people.
His was the benediction of the 128th Psalm :—‘ The Lord shall bless
thee out of Zion : thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy
life.” From that time, whoever it might be who watched over Saul’s
infancy, whether, like king Lemuel,* he learnt “the prophecy that his
mother taught him,” or whether he was under the care of others, like those
who were with the sons of king David and king Ahab,’—we are at no loss
to learn what the first ideas were, with which his early thought was
made familiar. The rules respecting the diligent education of children,
which were laid down by Moses in the 6th and 11th chapters of Deuter-
onomy, were doubtless carefully observed: and he was trained in that
peculiarly Azstorical instruction, spoken of in the 78th Psalm, which implies
the continuance of a chosen people, with glorious recollections of the past,
and great anticipations for the future: ‘The Lord made a covenant with
Jacob, and gave Israel a law, which He commanded our forefathers to
teach their children ; that their posterity might know it, and the children
which were yet unborn ; to the intent that when they came up, they might
shew their children the same : that they might put their trust in God, and
not to forget the works of the Lord, but to keep His commandments.”
(ver. 5-7.) The histories of Abraham and Isaac, of Jacob and his twelve
sons, of Moses among the bulrushes, of Joshua and Samuel, Elijah, Daniel,
and the Maccabees, were the stories of his childhood. The destruction of
Pharaoh in the Red Sea, the thunders of Mount Sinai, the dreary journeys
in the wilderness, the land that flowed with milk and honey,—this was the
1 “ A name frequent and common in the tribe of Benjamin ever since the first King
of Israel, who was of that name, was chosen out of that tribe ; in memory whereof they
were wont to give their children this name at their circumcision.” Cave, i. 3; but he
gives no proof.
2 This is suggested by Neander, Pfl. und Leit. 138.
3 1 Sam. i. 27, 28.
4 Prov. xxxi. 1. Cf. Susanna, 3. 2 Tim. iii. 15, with 1 Tim. i. 5.
51 Chron xxvii. 32. 2 Kingsx.1.5. Cf. Joseph. vit. 76. Ant. xvi. 8, 3.
THE TRIBE OF BENJAMIN. 43
earliest imagery presented to his opening mind. The triumphant songs οἱ
Zion, the lamentations by the waters of Babylon, the prophetic praises of
the Messiah, were the songs around his cradle.
Above all, he would be familiar with the destinies of his own illustrious
tribe.' The life of the timid Patriarcn, the father of the twelve ; the sad
death of Rachel near the city where the Messiah was to be born; the
loneliness of Jacob, who sought to comfort himself in Benoni “the son of
her sorrow,” by calling him Benjamin* “the son of his right hand ;” and
ihen the youthful days of this youngest of the twelve brethren, the famine,
and the journeys into Hgypt, the severity of Joseph, and the wonderful κα
story of the silver cup in the mouth of the sack ;—these are the narratives
to which he listened with intense and eager interest. How little was it
imagined that, as Benjamin was the youngest and most honoured of the
Patriarchs, so this listening child of Benjamin should be associated with
the twelve servants of the Messiah of God, the last and most illustrious of
the Apostles! But many years of ignorance were yet to pass away,
before that mysterious Providence, whieh brought Benjamin to Joseph in
Egypt, should bring his descendant to the knowledge and love of Jesus,
the Son of Mary. Some of the early Christian writers see in the dying
benediction of Jacob, when he said that ‘ Benjamin should ravin as a wolf,
in the morning devour the prey, and at night divide the spoil,” * a pro-
phetic intimation of him who, in the morning of his life, should tear the
sheep of God, and in its evening feed them, as the teacher of the nations.‘
When St. Paul was a child and learnt the words of this saying, no Chris-
tian thoughts were associated with it, or with that other more peaceful
prophecy of Moses, when he said of Benjamin, ‘‘ The beloved of the Lord
shall dwell in safety by Him: and the Lord shall cover him all the day
1 Τὸ may be thought that here, and below, p.53, too much prominence has been given
to the attachment of a Jew in the Apostolic age to his own particular tribe. It is
difficult to ascertain how far the tribe-feeling of early times lingered on in combination
with the national feeling, which grew up after the Captivity. But when we consider
the care with which the genealogies were kept, and when we find the tribe of Barnabas
specified (Acts iv. 36), and of Anna the prophetess (Luke ii. 36), and when we find St.
Paul alluding in a pointed manner to his tribe (see Rom. xi. 1, Phil. i#. 5, and compare
Acts xiii. 21), it does not seem unnatural to believe that pious families of so famous a
stock as that of Benjamin should retain the hereditary enthusiasm of their sacred clan-
ship. See, moreover, Matt. xix. 28. Rey. v.5. vii. 4-8.
* Gen. xxxv. 18. 3 Gen. xlix. 27.
‘Nam mihi Paulum etiam Genesis olim repromisit. Inter illas enim figuras et
propheticas super filios suos benedictiones Jacob, cum ad Benjamin dixisset : Benjamin,
inquit, lupus rapax ad matutinum comedet adhuc, et ad vesperam dabit escam. Hx
tribu enim Benjamin oriturum Paulum providebat, lupum rapacem ad matutinum com
edentem, id est, prima etate vastaturum pecora Domini ut persecutorem, ecclesiarum,
dehine ad vesperam eseam daturum, id est, devergente jam «tate oves Christi educa
tarom ut doctorem nationum.—Tertull. ady. Marcionem, v. 1.
44. THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
ong, and he shall dwell setween His shoulders.”! But he was familiar
with the prophetical words, and could follow in imagination the fortunes
of the sons of Benjamin, and knew how they went through the wilderness
with Rachel’s other children, the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, forming
with them the third of the four companics on the march, and reposing with
them at night on the west of the encampment.’ He heard how their
lands were assigned to them in the promised country along the borders of
Judah :5 and how Saul, whose name he bore, was chosen from the tribe
which was the smallest,4 when “little Benjamin” 5 became the “ruler” of
@ Israel. He knew that when the ten tribes revolted, Benjamin was faith-
[Ὁ] : ὁ and he learnt to follow its honourable history even in the dismal
years of the Babylonian Captivity, when Mordecai, “a Benjamite who
had been carried away,”? saved the nation: and when, instead of destrue-
tion, ‘The Jews,” through him, “had light, and gladness, and joy, and
honour ; and in every province, and in every city, whithersoever the king’s
commandment and his decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast
and a good day. And many of the people of the land became Jews ; for
the fear of the Jews fell upon them.”s
Such were the influences which cradled the infancy of St. Paul; and
such was the early teaching under which his mind gradually rose to the
realisation of his position as a Hebrew child in a city of Gentiles. Of the
exact period of his birth we possess no authentic information. From a
passage in a sermon attributed to St. Chrysostom, it has been inferred ®
that he was born in the year 2 of our era. The date is not improbable ;
but the genuineness of the sermon is suspected; and if it was the un-
doubted work of the eloquent Father, we have no reason to believe that
he possessed any certain means of ascertaining the fact. Nor need we be
anxious to possess the information. We have a better chronology than
that which reckons by years and months. We know that he was a young
man at the time of St. Stephen’s martyrdom,’ and therefore we know what
were the features of the period, and what the circumstances of the world,
at the beginning of his eventful life. He must have been born in the
later years of Herod, or the earlier of his son Archelaus. It was the
strongest and most flourishing time of the reign of Augustus. The world
was at peace: the pirates of the Levant were dispersed ; and Cilicia was
1 Deut. xxxiii. 12. ? Numb. ii. 18-24. x. 22-24.
5. Joshua xviii. 11. 4 1 Sam. ix. 21. 5 Ps, Ixviii. 27.
6 2 Chron. xi. See 1 Kings xii. 7 Esther ii. 5, 6. 8 Esther viii. 16, 17.
® This is on the supposition that he died A. p. 66, at the age of 68. The sermon is
ene on SS. Peter and Paul, printed by Savile at the end of the fifth volume of his
edition, but considered by him not genuine. See Tillemont. Schrader endeavours to
prove that he was born about 14 a. p. See his arguments in vol. i. sect. 2, of his work,
“Der Apostel Paulus,” 1830.
10 Acts vii. 58.
HIS FATHER’S ΟἸΤΙΖΕΝΒΠΙΡ. 45
lying at rest, or in stupor, with other provinces, under the wide shadow of
the Roman power. Many governors had ruled there since the days of
Cicero. Athenodorus, the emperor’s tutor, had been one of them. It
was about the time when Horace and Mecenas died, with others whose
names will never be forgotten ; and it was about the time when Caligula
was born, with others who were destined to make the world miserable.
Thus is the epoch fixed in the manner in which the imagination most
easily apprehends it. During this pause in the world’s history St. Paul
was born.
It was a pause, too, in the history of the sufferings of the Jews. That
lenient treatment which had been begun by Julius Cxesar was continued
by Augustus ;! and the days of severity were not yet come, when Tiberius
and Claudius? drove them into banishment, and Caligula oppressed them
with every mark of contumely and scorn, We have good reason to believe
that at the period of the Apostle’s birth the Jews were unmolested at
Tarsus, where his father lived and enjoyed the rights of a Roman citizen.
It is a mistake to suppose that this citizenship was a privilege which be-
longed to the members of the family, as being natives of this city? Tarsus
was not a municipium, nor was it a colonia, like Philippi in Macedonia,‘
or Antioch in Pisidia: but it was a “free city”*® (wrbs hbera), like the
Syrian Antioch and its neighbour-city, Seleucia on the sea. Such a city
had the privilege of being governed by its own magistrates, and was ex-
empted from the occupation of a Roman garrison, but its citizens did not
necessarily possess the civitas of Rome. Tarsus had received great bene-
fits both from Julius Cesar and Augustus, but the father of St, Paul was
not on that account a Roman citizen. This privilege had been granted to
him, or had descended to him, as an individual right ; he might have pur-
1 Cxsar, like Alexander, treated the Jews with much consideration. Suetonius
speaks in strong terms of their grief at his death, Cas. 84. Augustus permitted the
largess, when it fell on a Sabbath, to be put off till the next day. Mangey’s Philo. ii.
568, 569: compare Hor. Sat. 1. 9, 69.
? Vor some notices of the condition of the Jews under the Romans at this time, see
Ganz. Vermischte Schriften, i.13. “ Die Gesetzgebung wher die Juden in Rom, und
die kirchliche Wurde derselben in Romischen Reich.” Berlin, 1834.
3 Some of the older biographers of St. Paul assume this without any hesitation.
Thus Tillemont says that Augustus gave to Tarsus, among other privileges, “le droit
de colonie libre et de bourgeoisie Romaine :” and Cave says that this city was a muni-
cipium, and that therefore Paul was a Roman citizen. The Tribune (Acts xxi. 39,
xxii. 24), as Dr. Bloomfield remarks (on xvi. 37), knew that St. Paul was a Tarsian,
without being aware that he was a citizen.
4 Acts xvi. 12.
5 See Plin. N. H. v. 22. Appian, B. C. v. 7. Compare iv. 64. From Appian it
appears that Antony gave Tarsus the privileges of an Urbs libera, though it had pre
viously taken the side of Augustus, and been named Juliopolis. Sce Dio Chrys. Tarsic.
post. ii. 36 ed. Reiske
46 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
chased it for a ‘large sum” of money ;! but it is more probable that it came
to him as the reward of services rendered, during the civil wars, to some
influential Roman. That Jews were not unfrequently Roman citizens, we
learn from Josephus, who mentions in the ‘“ Antiquities”? some even of
the equestrian order who were illegally scourged and crucified by Florus
at Jerusalem; and (what is more to our present point) enumerates certain
of his countrymen who possessed the Roman franchise at Ephesus, in that
important series of decrees relating to the Jews, which were issued in the
time of Julius Ceesar, and are preserved in the second book of the “‘ Jewish
War.”* The family of St. Paul were in the same position at Tarsus as
those who were Jews of Asia Minor and yet citizens of Rome at Ephesus ;
and thus it came to pass, that, while many of his contemporaries were
willing to expend “ἃ large sum” in the purchase of “this freedom,” the
Apostle himself was ‘ free-born.”
The question of the double name of “Saul” and “ Paul” will require
our attention hereafter, when we come in the course of our narrative to
that interview with Sergius Paulus in Cyprus, coincidently with which,
the appellation in the Acts of the Apostles is suddenly changed. Many
opinions have been held on this subject, both by ancient and modern theo-
logians.¢ At present it will be enough to say, that though we cannot
overlook the coincidence, or believe it accidental, yet it is most probable
that both names were borne by him in his childhood, that “Saul” was the
name of his Hebrew home, and “ Paul” that by which he was known
among the Gentiles. It will be observed that “Paulus,” the name by
which he is always mentioned after his departure from Cyprus, and by
which he always designates himself in his Epistles, is a Roman, not a
Greek, word. And it will be remembered, that, among those whom he
calls his ‘‘kinsmen” in the Epistle to the Romans, two of the number,
Junia and Lucius, have Roman names, while the others are Greek.’ All
this may point to a strong Roman connection. These names may have
something to do with that honourable citizenship which was an heirloom in
the household ; and the appellation ‘‘ Paulus” may be due to some such
feelings as those which induced the historian Josephus to call himself
“ Flavius,” in honour of Vespasian and the Flavian family.
If we turn now to consider the social position of the Apostle’s father
1 See Acts xxii. 28. ? xiv. 10, 3. 3 ii. 14, 9.
4 Some of the opinions of the ancient writers may be seen in Tillemont. Ovigen
gays that he had both names from the first; that he used one among the Jews, and the
other afterwards. Augustine, that he took the name when he began to preach. Chry-
sostom, that he received a new title, like Peter, at his ordination in Antioch. Bede,
that he did not receive it till the Proconsul was converted ; and Jerome, that it waa
meant to commemorate that victory. Tillemont, note 3 on St. Paul
8. Rom. xvi. 7, 11, 21.
HIS STATION IN LIFE. 4%
and iumily, we cannot on the one hand confidently argue, from the posses
sion of the citizenship, that they were in the enjoyment of affluence and
outward distinction. The civitas of Rome, though at that time it could
not be purchased without heavy expense, did not depend upon any con-
ditions of wealth, where it was bestowed by authority. On the other
hand, it is certain that the manual trade, which we know that St. Paul
exercised, cannot be adduced as an argument to prove that his circum-
stances were narrow and mean ; still less, as some have imagined, that he
lived in absolute poverty. It was a custom among the Jews that all boys
should learn a trade. ‘“ What is commanded of a father towards his
son?” asks a Talmudic writer. ‘To circumcise him, to teach him the
law, to teach him a trade.” Rabbi Judah saith, ‘‘ He that teacheth not
nis son a trade, does the same_as if he taught him to be a thief ;” and
Rabban Gamaliel saith, ‘‘ He that hath a trade in his hand, to what is he
like? he is like a vineyard that is fenced.” And if in compliance ~vitn
this good and useful custom of the Jews, the father of the young Ciliciax
sought to make choice of a trade, which might fortify his son against idle-
ness or against adversity, none would occur to him more naturally than the
profitable occupation of the making of tents, the material of which was hair-
cloth, supplied by the goats of his native province, and sold in the markets
of the Levant by the well-known name of cilictwm.! The most reasonable
conjecture is that his father’s business was concerned with these markets,
and that, like many of his dispersed countrymen, he was actively cceupied
in the traffic of the Mediterranean coasts: and the remote dispersion ef
those relations, whom he mentions in his letter from Corinth te Reme, is
favourable to this opinion. But whatever might be the station and em-
ployment of his father or his kinsmen, whether they were elevated by
wealth above, or depressed by poverty below, the average of the Jews of
Asia Minor and Italy, we are disposed to believe that this family were
possessed of that highest respectability which is worthy of deliberate
esteem. The words of Scripture seem to claim for them the tradition of a
good and religious reputation. The strict piety of St. Paul’s ancestors
1 Tondentur capree quod magnis villis sunt in magna parte Phrygie ; unde cilicia et
extera ejus generis ferri solent. Sed quod primum ea tonsura in Cilicia sit instituta,
nomen id Cilicas adjecisse dicunt. Varro, de Re Rustica, lib. ii. ch. xi.: compare Virgs
Georg. iii. 311-313. See the extract in Ducange: Κιλίκια " τράγοι ἀπὸ Κιλικίας οἱ
δασεῖς " πάνυ yap ἐκεῖσε ὑπερέχουσι οἱ τοιοῦτοι τράγοι, ὅθεν καὶ τὰ ἐκ τριχῶν συντιθέμενα
Κιλίκια λέγονται. It is still manufactured in Asia Minor. Hair-cloth of this kind is
often mentioned as used for penitential discipline, in the Lives of the Saiuts. The
word is still retained in French, Spanish, and Italian (“Di vil cilicio mi parean co
perti.” Dante, Purg. xiii. 58). See the Dictionnaire de l’Académie, the Diccionaris
de la Academia, and the Vocabulario degli Academici della Crusca ; and further refez-
ences under the word “Cilicium” in Smith’s Dictionary of Antiquities, and Rich’s
Mlustrated Companion to the Dictionary.
48 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
has already been remarked ; some of his kinsmen embraced Christianity
before the Apostle himself,! and the excellent discretion of his nephew will
be the subject of our admiration, when we come to consider the danger
ous circumstances which’ led to the nocturnal journey from Jerusalem to
Ceesarea.”
- But though a cloud rests on the actual year of St. Paul’s birth, and
the circumstances of his father’s household must be left to imagination,
we have the great satisfaction of knowing the exact features of the scenery
in the midst of which his childhood was spent. The plain, the mountain,
the river, and the sea still remain to us. The rich harvests of corn still
grow luxuriantly after the rains in spring. The same tents of goat’s hair
are still seen covering the plains in the busy harvest.3 There is the same
solitude and silence in the intolerable heat and dust of the summer. Then,
as now, the mothers and children of Tarsus went out in the cool evenings,
and looked from the gardens round the city, or from their terraced roofs
upon the heights of Taurus. The same sunset lingered on the pointed
summits. The same shadows gathered in the deep ravines. The river
Cydnus has suffered some changes in the course of 1800 years. Instead
of rushing, as in the time of Xenophon, like the Rhone at Geneva, in a
stream of two hundred feet broad through the city, it now flows idly past
it on the east. The Channel, which floated the ships of Antony and
Cleopatra, is now filled up ; and wide unhealthy lagoons occupy the place
of the ancient docks.«| But its upper waters still flow, as formerly, cold
and clear from the snows of Taurus: and its waterfalls still break over
1 “Salute Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen, and my fellow-prisoners, who are of
note among the Apostles, who also were in Christ before me.’ Rom. xvi. 7, Τὺ is
proper to remark that the word συγγενεῖς in this chapter (verses 7, 11, 21) has bven
thought by some to mean only that the persons alluded to were of Jewish extraction.
See Lardner’s Works, vol. v. p. 473, and the Appendix to the English translation of
Tholuck’s tract on the carly life of St. Paul. Origen thinks that the Apostle speaks
spiritually of the baptized ; Estius supposes he means that they were members of the
tribe of Benjamin. See Tillemont, note 2.
2 Acts xxiii.
3 “The plain presented the appearance of an immense sheet of corn-stubble, dotted
with small camps of tents: these tents are made of hair-cloth, and the peasantry reside
in them at this season, while the harvest is reaping and the corn treading out.”--
Beaufort’s Karamania, p. 273.
4 This is the Pyyya, or “bar,” at the mouth of the river (ai τοῦ Κύδνου éxborau
κατὰ τὸ Ῥηγμα καλούμενον), of which Strabo speaks thus: Ἔστι δὲ λιμνάζων τόπος,
ἔχων καὶ παλαιὼ νεώρια, εἰς ὃν ἐμπίπτει ὁ Κύδνος, ὁ διαῤῥέων τὴν Ταρσὸν, τὰς ἀρχὰς
ἔχων ἀπὸ τοῦ ὑπερκειμένου τῆς πόλεως 'Γαύρου " καὶ ἔστιν ἐπίνειον. 7 λίμνη τῆς Ταρσοῦ,
xiv. ὅ. The land at the mouth of the Cydnus (as in the case of the Pyramus and other
rivers on that coast) has since that time encroached on the sea. The unhealthiness of
the sea-coast near the Gulf of Scanderoon is notorious, as can be testified by two of
those who have contributed drawings to this book. To one of them, the Rey. C. P.
Wilbraham, Vicar of Audley, Staffordshire, the editors and publishers take this eppor-
‘tunity of expressing their tnanks,
SCENERY OF TARSUS. 49
the same rocks, when the snows are melting, like the Rhine at Schaffhausen,
We find a pleasure in thinking that the footsteps of the young Apostle
often wandered by the side of this stream, and that his eyes often looked
en these falls. We can hardly believe that he who spoke to the Lystrians
of the “rain from heaven,” and the “ fruitful seasons,” and of the “Jiving
God who made heaven and earth and the sea,”! could have looked with
indifference on beautiful and impressive scenery. Gamaliel was celebrated
for his love of nature: and the young Jew, who was destined to be his
most famous pupil, spent his early days in the close neighbourhood of mueh
that was well adapted to foster such a taste. Or if it be thought that in
attributing such feelings to him we are writing in the spirit of modern
times ; and if it be contended that he would be more influenced by the
realities of human life than by the impressions of nature,—then let the
youthful Saul be imagined on the banks of the Cydnus, where it flowed
through the city in a stream less clear and fresh, where the wharves were
covered with merchandize, in the midst of groups of men in various cos-
tumes, speaking various dialects. St. Basil says, that in his day Tarsus
was a point of union for Syrians, Cilicians, Isaurians, and Cappadocians.?
To these we must add the Greek merchant, and the agent of Roman lux-
ury. And one more must be added—the Jew,—even then the pilgrim of
Commerce, trading with every nation, and blending with none. In this
mixed company Saul, at an early age, might become familiar with: the
activities of life and the diversities of human character, and even in his
childhood make some acquaintance with these various races, which in his
manhood he was destined to influence.
We have seen what his infancy was: we must now glance at his boy:
hood. It is usually the case that the features of a strong character display
themselves early. His impetuous fiery disposition would sometimes need
control. Flashes of indignation would reveal his impatience and his hon-
esty.? The affectionate tenderness of his nature would not be without an
object of attachment, if that sister, who was afterwards married,‘ was his
piaymate at Tarsus. The work of tent-making, rather an amusement than
a trade, might sometimes occupy those young hands, which were marked
with the toil of years when he held them to the view of the Elders at
Miletus. His education was conducted at home rathez than at school:
ANOS πῖν. 17. Ay :
Πόλιν τοσαύτην ἔχουσαν ebxAnpiac, ὥστε ᾿Ισαύρους καὶ Κίλικας, Καπποδόκας τε καὶ
Σύρους δι’ ἑαυτῆς συνάπτειν.---Ἰὰρ. v., Eusebio Samosatorum Episcopo.
3 See Acts ix. 1, 2, xxiii. 1-5 ; and compare Acts xiii. 13, xv. 38, with 2 Tim. iv. 11,
4 Acts xxiii. 16. ᾿
5 Acts xx. 34. “Ye yourselves know that these hands have ministered to my Necese *
sities, and to them that were with me.” Compare xviii. 3. 1 Cor. iv. 12. 1 Thess
ii 9. ? Thess. iii. 8.
VOL 1.—4
δ0 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
for, though Tarsus was celebrated for ils learning, the Hebrew boy would
not lightly be exposed to the influence of Gentile teaching. Or, if he
went to a school, it was not a Greek school, but rather to some room con-
nected with the synagogue, where a noisy class of Jewish children received
the rudiments of instruction, seated on the ground with their teacher, after
the manner of Mahomedan children in the Hast, who may be seen or heard
at their lessons near the mosque.!' At such a school, it may be, he learnt
to read and to write, going and returning under the care of some attend-
ant, according to that custom, which he afterwards used as an illustration
in the Epistle to the Galatians (and perhaps he remembered his own
early days while he wrote the passage) when he spoke of the Law as the
Slave who conducts us to the School of Christ. His religious knowledge, ἡ
us his years advanced, was obtained from hearing the law read in the
synagogue, from listening to the arguments and discussions of learned doc-
tors, and from that habit of questioning and answering, which was permit-
ted even to the children among the Jews. Familiar with the pathetic
history of the Jewish sufferings, he would feel his heart filled with that
love to his own people which breaks out in the Epistle to the Romans (ix.
4, 6)—to that people “whose were the adoption and the glory and the
covenants, and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ was to come,”—a
love net then, a3 it was afterwards, blended with love towards all man-
kind,.“‘ to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile,”—but rather united with
s bitter hatred to the Gentile children whom he saw around him. His
idea of the Messiah, so far as it was distinct, would be the carnal notion
-of a temporal prince—a “‘ Christ known after the flesh,”*—and he looked
forward with the hope of a Hebrew to the restoration of “the kingdom
to Israel.”* He would be known at Tarsus as a child of promise, and as
1 This is written from the recollection of 2 Mahomedan school at Blidah in Algeria,
where the mosques can now be entered with impunity. The children, with the teacher,
were on a kind of upper story like a shelf, within the mosque. All were seated on this
floor, in the way described by Maimonides below. The children wrote on poards, and
recited what they wrote ; the master addressed them in rapid succession ; and the con-
fused sound of voices was unceasing. For pictures of an Egyptian and a Turkish
school, see the Bible Cyclopedia, 1841 ; and the Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature, 1847.
3. Ὁ νόμος παιδαγωγὸς ἡμῶν γέγονεν εἰς Χριστόν. Gal. iii, 24, incorrectly rendered ia
the English translation. As a Jewish illustration of a custom well known among the
Greeks and Romans, see the quotation in Buxtorf’s Synagoga Judaica, ch. vii. “ Quando
quis filium suum studio Legis consecrat, pingebant ipsi swper pergameno vel tabella
aliqua elementa literarum, quibus etiam mel illinebant, deinde eum bene jotum,\mun-
dis vestibus indutum, placentis ex melle et lacte confectis, ut et fructibus ac tragematis
instructum, tradebant alicui Rabbino, qui eum deducat in scholam: hie eum ora pallii
sui opertum ad Preeceptorem ducebat, a quo literas cognoscere discebat, illectus suavi-
tate deliciarum illarum, et sic reducebatur ad matrem suam.’? The Rabbi’s cloak was
spread over the child to teach him modesty. The honey and honey-cakes symbolized
such passages a8 Deut. xxxii. 13. Cant. iv. 11. Ps. xix. 10.
8 2 Cor. v. 16. 4 Acts i. 6.
sT. ῬΑ ΙΒ ΒΟΥΠΟΟΠ. 51
one likely to uphold the honour of the iaw against the half-infidel tcaching
of the day. But the time was drawing near, when his training was tc
become more exact and systematic. He was destined for the school of
Jerusalem. The educational maxim of the Jews, at a later period, was as
follows :—‘‘ At five years of age, let children begin the Scripture ; at ten,
the Mischna ; at thirteen, let them be subjects of the law.”! There is na
~cason to suppose that the general practice was very different before the
floating maxims of the great doctors were brought together in the Mischna,
It may therefore be concluded, witha strong degree of probability, that
Saul was sent to the Holy City? between the ages of ten and thirteen
Had it been later than the age of thirteen, he could hardly have said that
he had been “ brought up”? in Jerusalem.
The first time any one leaves the land of his birth to visit a foreign and
distant country, is an important epoch in his life. In the case of one who
has taken this first journey at an early age, and whose character is enthu-
siastic and susceptible of lively impressions from without, this epoch is
‘usually remembered with peculiar distinctness. But when the country
which is thus visited has furnished the imagery for the dreams of child-
hood, and is felt to be more truly the young traveller’s home than the land
he is leaving, then the journey assumes the sacred character of a pilerim-
age. The nearest parallel which can be found to the visits of the scat-
tered Jews to Jerusalem, is in the periodical expedition of the Mahomedan
pilgrims to the sanctuary αὖ Mecca. Nor is there anything which ought
to shock the mind in such a comparison ; for that localising spirit was the
same thing to the Jews under the highest sanction, which it is to the Ma-
homedans through the memory of a prophet who was the enemy and not
1 Quoted by Tholuck from the Mischna, Pirke Avoth, ch. v. ὃ 21. We learn from
Buxtorf that at 13 there was a ceremony something like Christian confirmation. The
boy was then called 44x14 45—‘ Filius Preeepti:’ and the father declared in the
presence of the Jews that his son fully understood the Law, and was fully responsible
for his sins. Syn. Jud. ibid.
? See Tholuck’s excellent remarks on the early life of the Apostle, in the Studien
und Kritiken, vol. viii. pp. 364-393, or in the English translation in Clark’s Biblical
Cabinet, No. 28 ; and separately in his series of Tracts, No. 38. As Olshausen remarks,
Acts xxvi. 4.—“ My manner of life from my youth, which was at the Sirst (ἀπ᾽ ἀρχῆς)
among mine own nation at Jerusalem, know all the Jews, which knew me from the
beginning (dvafev,”—implies that he came from Tarsus at an early age.
8 ᾿Ανατεθραμμένος. Acts xxii. 3. Cave assumes that “in his youth he was brought
up in the schools of Tarsus, fully instructed in all the liberal arts and sciences, whereby
he became admirably acquainted with foreign and external authors” (i. 4); and that
it was after having “run through the whole circle of the sciences, and laid the sure
- foundations of human learning at Tarsus” (i. 5), that he was sent to study the Law
ander Gamaliel. So Lardner seems to think. Hist. of the Ap. and Ey. ch. xi. Hem-
sen is of opinion that, though as a Jew and a Pharisee he would not be educated in the
heathen schools of Tarsus, he did not go to Jerusalem to be trained under Gamaliel till
ubout the age of thirty, and after the ascension of Christ. Der Apostel Paulus, p 4-8.
52 THE LIFE AWD EPISTLES OF 8T. PAUL.
the forerunner of Christ. As the disciples of Islam may be seen, at stated
seasons, flocking towards Cairo or Damascus, the meeting-places of the
African and Asiatic caravans,—so Saul had often seen the Hebrew pil-
grims from the interior of Asia Minor come down through the passes of
the mountains, and join others at Tarsus who were bound for Jerusalem.
They returned when the festivals were over; and he heard them talk of
the Holy City, of Herod and the New Temple, and of the great teachers
and doctors of the law. And at length Saul himself was to go,—to see
the land. of promise and the city of David, and grow up a learned Rabbi
“at the feet of Gamaliel.”
COIN oF TaRsvs,!
With his father, or under the care of some other friend oder than
himself, he left Tazsus and went to Jerusalem. It is not probable that
they travelled by the long and laborious Jand-journey which leads from
the Cilician plain through the defiles of Mount Amanus to Antioch, and
thence along the rugged Pheenician shore through Tyre and Sidon to
Judea. The Jews, when they went to the festivals, or to carry contribu-
tions, like the Mahomedans of modern days, would follow the lines of nat-
ural traffic:* and now that the Eastern Sea had been cleared of its
pirates, the obvious course would be to travel by water. The Jews,
though merchants, were not seamen. We may imagine Saul, therefore,
setting sail from the Cydnus on his first voyage, in some Pheenician trader,
under the patronage of the gods of Tyre; or in company with Greek mar-
iners, in a vessel adorned with some mythological emblem, like that Alex-
andrian corn-ship which subsequently brought him to Italy, “ whose sign
was Castor and Pollux.”* Gradually they lost sight of Taurus, and the
heights of Lebanon came into view. The one had sheltered his early
home, but the other had been a familiar form to his Jewish forefathers.
1 From the British Museum. It may be observed that this coin illustrates the mode
of strengthening sails by rope-bands, mentioned in Mr. Smith’s important work on the
“Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul. 1848.” p. 163.
3 In 1820, Abd-el-Kader went with his father on board a French brig to Alexandria,
on their way to Mecca. See M. Bareste’s Memoir of the ex-Emir ; Paris, 1848,
3 Acts xxviii. 11. $
HE IS SENT TO JERUSALEM. 53
How histories would crowd into his mind as the vessel moved on over thx
waves, and he gazed upon the furrowed flanks of the great Hebrew mour
tain! Had the voyage been taken fifty years earlier, the vessel would
probably have been bound for Ptolemais, which still bore the name of the
ureek kings of Egypt ;! but in the reign of Augustus or Tiberius, it is
more likely that she sailed round the headland of Carmel, and came te
anchor in the new harbour of Czesarea,—the handsome city which Herod
had rebuilt, and named in honour of the Emperor.
To imagine incidents when none are recorded, and confidently lay dewn
a route without any authority, would be inexcusable in writing on this
subject. But to imagine the feelings of a Hebrew boy on his first visit to
the Holy Land, is neither difficult nor blamable. During this journey
Saul had around him a different scenery and different cultivation from
what he had been accustomed to,—not a river, and a wide plain covered
with harvests of corn, but a succession of hills and vallies, with terraced
vineyards watered by artificial irrigation, If it was the time of a festival,
many pilgrims were moving in the same direction, with music and songs of
Zion. The ordinary road would probably be that mentioned in the Acts,
which led from Cxsarea through the town of Antipatris (xxiii. 31), But
neither of these places would possess much interest for a “ Hebrew of the
Hebrews.” ‘The one was associated with the thoughts of the Romans and
of modern times ; the other had been built by Herod in memory of Aunti-
pater, his Idumean father. But objects were not wanting of the deepest
interest to a child of Benjamin. Those far hilltops on the left were close
upon Mount Gilboa, even if the very place could not be seen where “ the
Philistines fought against Israel... and the battle went sore against
Saul... and he fell on his sword ... and died, and his three sons, and his
armour-bearer, and all his men, that same day together.”? After passing
through the lots of the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim, the traveller from
Cesarea came to the borders of Benjamin. The children of Rachel were
together in Canaan as they had been in the desert. The lot of Benjamin
was entered near Bethel, memorable for the piety of Jacob, the songs of
Deborah, the sin of Jeroboam, and the zeal of Josiah. Onward a short
distance was Gibeah, the home of Saul when he was anointed King,‘ and
the scene of the crime and desolation of the tribe, which made it the
emailest of the tribes of Israel.* Might it not be too truly said concerning
the Israelites even of that period: “They have deeply corrupted them-
selves, as in the days of Gibeah: therefore the Lord will remember their
iniquity, He will visit their sins”?° At a later stage of his life, such
thoughts of the unbelief and iniquity of Israel accompanied St. Paul
1 See, for instance, 1 Mae. v.15. x. 1. 31 Sam. xxxi. 1-6.
3 Gen. xxviii. Judg.iv.5. 1 Kings xii. 29. 2 Kings xviii. 15.
¢1Sam.x.26 xv. 34, > Judges xx. 43, &e. 6 Hosea ix. 9
ok THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
wherever he went. At the early age of twelve years, all his entlusiasn
could find an adequate object in the earthly Jerusalem ; the first view of
which would be descried about this part of the journey. From the time
when the line of the city wall was seen, all else was forgotten. The furthei
border of Benjamin was almost reached. The Rabbis said that the bound
ary line of Benjamin and Judah, the two faithful tribes, passed througl
the Temple.!| And this City and Temple was the common sanctuary of
all Israelites. ‘‘Thither the tribes go up, even the tribes of the Lord: to
testify unto Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord. There is
little Benjamin their ruler, and the princes of Judah their council, the
princes of Zebulon and the princes of Nephthali: for there is the seat of
judgment, even the seat of the house of David.” And now the Temple’s
glittering roof was seen, with the buildings of Zion crowning the eminence
above it, and the ridge of the Mount of Olives rising high over all. And
now the city gate was passed, with that thrill of the heart which none but
a Jew could know. ‘ Our feet stand within thy gates, Ὁ Jerusalem. Ὁ
pray for the peace of Jerusalem : they shall prosper that love thee. Peace
be within thy walls: and plenteousness within thy palaces. O God, won-
derful art thou in thy holy places: even the God of Israel. He will give
strength and power unto His people. Blessed be God.” ?
And now that this young enthusiastic Jew is come into the land of his
forefathers, and is about to receive his education in the schools of the Holy
City, we may pause to give some description of the state of Judza and
Jerusalem. We have seen that it is impossible to fix the exact date of his
arrival, but we know the general features of the period ; and we can easily
form to ourselves some idea of the political and religious condition of Pal-
estine.
Herod was now dead. The tyrant had been called to his last account .
and that eventful reign, which had destroyed the nationality of the Jews,
while it maintained their apparent independence, was over. It is most
likely that Archelaus also had ceased to govern, and was already in exile.
His accession to power had been attended with dreadful fighting in the
streets, with bloodshed at sacred festivals, and with wholesale crucifixions :
his reign of ten years was one continued season of disorder and discontent ;
and, at last, he was banished to Vienna on the Rhone, that Judsa might
be formally constituted into a Roman province. We suppose Saul to
i “Sanedrin (ad plagam templi australem) in parte seu portione Jude, et divina
presentia (seu occidentalis templi pars) in portione Benjamin.”—Gemara Babylonia
ad tit. Zebachim, cap. 5. fol. 54. b. See Selden de Synedriis Hebraorum, πὶ. xv. 4
(Seldeni Opera, 1726, vol. i. f. 1545).
3 See Ps. Ixviii. and cxxii. ᾿
3 While the question of succession was pending, the Roman soldiers under Sabinus
had a desperate conflict with the Jews; fighting and sacrificing went on together.
Varus, the governor of Syria, marched from Antioch to Jerusalem, and 2000 Jews were
STATE OF JUDZA AND JERUSALEM. 5E,
nave come from Tarsus to Jerusalem when one of the four governors, whe
preceded Pontius Pilate, was in power,—either Coponius, or Marcus Am
bivius, or Annius Rufus, or Valerius Gratus. The governor resided in the
town of Cesarea. Soldiers were quartered there and at Jerusalem, and
throughout Judea, wherever the turbulence of the people made garrisons
necessary. Centurions were in the country towns ;' soldiers on the banks
of the Jordan.* There was no longer the semblance of independence. The
revolution, of which Herod had sown the seeds, now came to maturity.
The only change since his death in the appearance of the country was that
everything became more Roman than before. Roman money was current
in the markets. Roman words were incorporated in the popular language.
Roman buildings were conspicuous in all the towns. Even those two inde-
pendent principalities which two sons of Herod governed, between the
provinces of Judwa and Syria, exhibited all the general character of the
epoch, Philip the tetrarch of Gaulo-
nitis, called Bethsaida, on the north
of the lake of Gennesareth, by the
name of Julias, in honour of the family
who reigned at Rome. Antipas, the
tetrarch of Galilee, built Tiberias on
the south of the same lake, in honour
of the emperor who about this time
(a. p. 14) succeeded his illustrious
step-father.
These political changes had been
attended with a gradual alteration in
the national feelings of the Jews with
regard to their religion. That the
sentiment of political nationality was
not extinguished was proved too well
by all the horrors of Vespasian’s and
Hadrian’s reigns ; but there was a
growing tendency to cling rather to
their law and religion as the centre
of their unity. The great conquests
are OR ame Poe of the heathen powers may have been
crécified. The Herodian family, after their father’s death, had gone to Rome, where
Augustus received them in the Temple of Apollo. Archelaus had never the title of
king, though his father had desired it.
1 Luke vii. 1-10. 2 Luke iii. 14.
3 Statue of Tiberius, from the “ Musée des Antiques,” vol. ii. (Bouillon, Paris.) The
statue is in the Louvre. We cannot look upon the portrait of Tiberius without deep
interest, when we remember how it must have been engraven on the mind of St. Paul,
who would see it before him wherever he went, till it was replaced by those of Caligula
56 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
intended by Divine Providence to prepare this change in the Jewish
mind. Even under the Maccabees, the tlea of the state began to give
place, in some degree, to the idea of religious life. Under Herod, the old
unity was utterly broken to pieces. The high priests were set up and put
down at his caprice ; and the jurisdiction of the Sanhedrin was. still
more abridged ; and high priests were raised and deposed, as the Chris-
tian patriarchs of Constantinople have for some ages been raised and
deposed by the Sultan: so that it is often a matter of great difficulty to
ascertain who was high priest at Jerusalem in any given year at this
period? Thus the hearts of the Jews turned more and more towards the
fulfilment of Prophecy,—to the practice of Religion,—to the interpreta-
tion of the Law. All else was now hopeless. The Pharisees, the Scribes,
and the Lawyers were growing into a more important body even than the
Priests and the Levites ;* and that system of “ Rabbinism” was beginning,
“which, supplanting the original religion of the Jews, became, after the
ruin of the Temple and the extinction of the public worship, a new bond of
national union, the great distinctive feature in the character of modern
Judaism.” 4
The Apostolic age was remarkable for the growth of learned Rabbin
ical schools ; but of these the most eminent were the rival schools of Hillel
and Schammai. These sages of the law were spoken of by the Jews, and
their proverbs quoted, as the seven wise men were quoted by the Greeks.
Their traditional systems run through all the Talmudical writings, as the
doctrines of the Scotists and Thomists run through the Middle Ages.
Both were Pharisaic schools: but the former upheld the honour of tradi-
tion as even superior to the law ; the latter despised the traditionists when
they clashed with Moses. The antagonism between them was so great,
that it was said that “ Elijah the Tishbite would never be able to recon-
cile the disciples of Hillel and Schammai.”
Of these two schools, that of Hillel was by far the most influential in
and Claudius. The image of the emperor was at that time the object of religious rey-
erence: the emperor was a deity on earth (Dis equa potestas. Juv. iv. 71); and the
worship paid to him was a real worship (see Merivale’s Life of Augustus, p. 159). It
is a striking thought, that in those times (setting aside effete forms of religion), the
only two genuine worships in the civilised world were the worship of a Tiberius or a
Claudius on the one hand, and the worship of Christ on the other.
1 The Jewish writer, Jost, seems to speak too strongly of this change See the early
part of the second volume of his Allg. Gesch. des Isr. Volks,
2 See Acts xxiii. 5.
3 In earlier periods of Jewish history, the prophets seem often to have been a more
influential body than the priests. It is remarkable that we do not read of “ Schools of
the Prophets” in any of the Levitical cities. In these schools, some were Levites, as
Samuel ; some belonged to the other tribes, as Saul and David.
4 Milman’s History of the Jews, vol. iii. p. 100.
5. See Pridcaux’s Connection, part I. pref. p. 12, and the beginning of book viii.
GAMALIEL. 57
‘ts own day, and its decisions have been held authoritative by the gieater
number of later Rabbis. The most eminent ornament of this school was
Gamaliel,! whose fame is celebrated in the Talmud. * Hillel was the father
of Simeon, and Simeon the father of Gamaliel. It has been imagined by
some that Simeon was the same old man who took the infant Saviour in
his arms, and pronounced the Nune Dimittis.? It is difficult to give a con-
elusive proof of this; but there is no doubt that this Gamaliel was the
same who wisely pleaded the cause of St. Peter and the other Apostles,’
and who had previously educated the future Apostle, St. Paul. His
learning was so eminent, and his character so revered, that he is one of the
seven who alone among Jewish doctors have been honoured with the title
of “ Rabban.”> As Aguinas, among the schoolmen, was called Doctor
Angelicus, and Bonaventura Dactor Seraphicus, so Gamaliel was called the
“ Beauty of the Law ;” and it isa saying of the Talmud, that “since
Rabban Gamaliel died, the glory of the law has ceased.” He was a
Pharisee ; but anecdotes® are told of him, which show that he was not
trammelled by the narrow bigotry of the sect. He had no antipathy to
the Greek learning. He rose above the prejudices of his party. Our im-
pulse is to class him with the best of the Pharisees, like Nicodemus and
Joseph of Arimathea. Candour and wisdom seem to have been the
features of his character; and this agrees with what we read of him in the
Acts of the Apostles,? that he was “had in reputation of all the people,”
and with his honest and intelligent argument when Peter was brought
before the Council. It has been imagined by some that he became a
Christian :§ and why he did not become so is known only to Him who
understands the secrets of the human heart. But he lived and died a
Jew; and a well-known prayer against Christian heretics was composed or
1 For Gamaliel, see Lightfoot on Acts vy. 34 (both in the Commentary and the
Hebrew and Talmudical Exercitations); also on Matt. xiii. 2.
3 Luke ii. 25-35. 3 Acts v. 34-40. 4 Acts xxii. 3. ι
5 This title is the same as “ Rabboni” addressed to our Lord by Mary Magdalene.
6 He bathed once at Ptolemais in an apartment where a statue was erected to a
keathen goddess ; and being asked how he could reconcile this with the Jewish law, he
replied, that the bath was there before the statue; that the bath was not made for the
goddess, but the statue for the bath. Tholuck, Eng. Transl. p. 17.
7 Acts vy. 34. Yet Nicodemus and Joseph declared themselves the friends of Christ,
which Gamaliel never did. And we should hardly expect to find a violent persecutor
zmong the pupils of a really candid and unprejudiced man. Schrader has an indignant
chapter against Gamaliel, and especially against the “urchristian”’ sentiment that the
truth of a religion is to be tested by its success. Der Apostel Paulus, vol. ii. ch. 5.
8 In the Clementine Recognitions (i. 65), Clement is made to say,—‘ Latenter frater
uoster erat in fide, sed consilio nostro inter eos erat :’’ and the plan is more fully stated
in the next section (66). Cotelerius says in a note: “ Vulpinum hoc consilium Apos-
tolis indignum est. Decepit tamen Bedam Pseudo-Clemens Rufini. At non ega
eredulus illis.” See Bede on Acts v. 34, and Retract. ibid.; and compare Lightfoot’s
Comm. The story is adopted by Baronius: see the notes to next (Chapter.
As THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
sanctioned by him.! He died eighteen years before the destruction of
Jerusalem,’ about the time of St. Paul’s shipwreck at Malta, and was bur
ied with great honour. Another of his pupils, Onkelos, the author of the
celebrated Targum, raised to him such a funeral-pile of rich materials as
had never been known, except at the burial of a king,
If we were briefly to specify the three effects which the teaching and
example of Gamaliel may be supposed to have produced on the mind of
St. Paul, they would be as follows :—candour and honesty of judgment,—-
a willingness to study and make use of Greek authors,—and a keen and
watchful enthusiasm for the Jewish law. We shall see these traits of
character soon exemplified in his life. But it is time that we should
inquire into the manner of communicating instruction, and iearn something
concerning the places where instruction was communicated, in the schools
of Jerusalem,
Until the formation of the later Rabbinical colleges, which flourished
after the Jews were driven from Jerusalem, the instruction in the divinity
schools seems to have been chiefly oral. There was a prejudice against
the use of any book except the Sacred Writings. The system was one of
Scriptural Exegesis.? Josephus remarks, at the close of his Antiquities,
that the one.thing most prized by his countrymen was power in the expo-
sition of Scripture. “They give to that man,” he says, ‘“ the testimony of
being a wise man, who is fully acquainted with our laws, and is able to
interpret their meaning.” So far as we are able to learn from our sources
of information, the method of instruction was something of this kind.’ At
the meetings of learned men, some passage of the Old Testament was taken
as a text, or some topic for discussion propounded in Hebrew, translated
into the vernacular tongue by means of a Chaldee paraphrase, and made
the subject of commentary : various interpretations were given : aphorisms
were propounded : allegories suggested : and‘ the opinions of ancient doc-
1 Lightfoot’s Exercitations on Acts ν. 34. Otho’s Lexicon Rabbinicum, sub voc
Gamaliel. The prayer is given in Mr. Horne’s Introduction to the Scriptures, 8th ed
vol. iii. p. 261, as follows: “ Let there be no hope to them who apostatise from the true
religion; and let heretics, how many soever they be, all perish asin a moment. And
let the kingdom of pride be speedily rooted out and broken in our days. Blessed art
thou, O Lord our God, who destroyest the wicked, and bringest down the proud.”
This prayer is attributed by some to “Samuel the Little,” who lived in the time of
Gamaliel. There is a story that this Samuel the Little was the Apostle Paul himself,
“Paulus” meaning “little,” and “Samuel” being contracted into “Saul.” See
Basnage, bk. iii. ch. i. δὲ 12, 13.
3. His son Simeon, who succeeded him as president of the Council, perished in the
ruins of the city. Lightf. Exerc. as above.
3 See the remarks on this subject in the early part of the second volume of Jost’s
Allg. Gesch. des Isr. Volks.
ἘΠ ΤῈ
5 See Jost as above ; and Dr. Kitto’s Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature, art. ‘Schools’
and “ Synagogues.”
MODE OF TEACHING. 59
wrs quoted and discussed. At these discussions the younger students
were present, to listen or to enquire,—or, in the sacred words of St. Luke,
“both hearing them and asking them questions :” for it was a peculiarity
of the Jewish schools, that the pupil was encouraged to catechize the
teacher. Contradictory opinions were expressed with the utmost freedom.
This is evident from a cursory examination of the Talmud, which gives us
the best notions of the scholastic disputes of the Jews. This remarkable
body of Rabbinical jurisprudence has been compared to the Roman body
of civil law: but in one respect it might suggest a better comparison with
our own English common law, in that it is a vast accumulation of various
and often inconsistent precedents: the arguments and opinions which it
contains, shew very plainly that the Jewish doctors must often have
been occupied with the most frivolous questions ; that the ‘mint, anise,
and cummin” were eagerly discussed, while the “‘ weightier matters of the
law” were neglected :—but we should not be justified in passing a hasty
judgment on ancient volumes, which are full of acknowledged difficulties
What we read of the system of the Cabbala has often the appearance of
unintelligible jargon : but in all ages it has been true that ‘ the words of the
wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies.” !
If we could look back on the assemblies of the Rabbis of Jerusalem, with
Gamaliel in the midst, and Saul among the younger speakers, it is possible
that the scene would be as strange and as different from a place of modern
education, as the schools now seen by travellers in the Hast differ from
contemporary schools in England. But the same might be said of the
walks of Plato in the Academy, or the lectures of Aristotle in the Lyceum.
It is certain that these free and public discussions of the Jews tended to
create a high degree of general intelligence among the people ; that the
students were trained there in a system of excellent dialectics ; that they
learnt to express themselves in a rapid and sententious style, often with
much poetical feeling ; and acquired an admirable acquaintance with the
words of the ancient Scriptures.’
These “ Assemblies of the Wise” were possibly a continuation of the
“Schools of the Prophets,” which are mentioned in the historical books of
the Old Testament. Wherever the earlier meetings were held, whether at
the gate of the city, or in some more secluded place, we read of no build-
iags for purposes of worship or instruction before the Captivity. During
thes melancholy period, when they mourned over their separation from the
Eecles. xii. 11.
* Many details are brought together by Meuchen, De Scholis Hebrxorum, in bia
‘ Novum Testamentum ex Talmude illustratum.” It seems that half-yearly examinations
* ore held on four sabbaths of the months Adar and Elul (February and August), when
.xe scholars made recitations and were promoted : the punishments were, confinemenk
Anagipg and excommunication.
60 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
COIN OF CYRENE.!
Teraple, the necessity of assemblies must have been deeply felt, for united
prayer and mutual exhortation, for the singing of the ‘‘Songs of Zion,”
and for remembering the ‘Word of the Lord.” When they returned,
the public reading of the law became a practice of universal interest:
and from this period we must date the erection of Synagogues’ in
the different towns of Palestine. So that St. James could say, in the
council at Jerusalem: ‘ Moses of old time hath in every city them that
preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath day.”* ΤῸ this
later period the 74th Psalm may be referred,‘ which laments over “the burn-
ing of all the synagogues of God in the land.”* These buildings are not men-
tioned by Josephus in any of the earlier passages of his history. But in
the time of the Apostles we have the fullest evidence that they existed in
all the small towns in Juda, and in all the principal cities where the Jews
were dispersed abroad. It seems that the synagogues often consisted of
two apartments, one for prayer, preaching, and the offices of public wor-
ship ; the other for the meetings of learned men, for discussion concerning
questions of religion and discipline, and for purposes of education.’ Thus
the Synagogues and the Schools cannot be considered as two separate sub-
jects. No douht a distinction must be drawn between the smaller schools
of the country villages, and the great divinity schools of Jerusalem. The
synagogue which was built by the Centurion at Capernaum? was no doubt
a far less important place than those synagogues in the Holy City, where
“the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, with those of Asia and
1 From the British Museum. The beautiful coins of Cyrene shew how entirely it
was a Greek city, and therefore imply that its Jews were Hellenistic, like those of
Alexandria. See above, p. 18, note.
2. See Vitringa de Synagoga Vetere, especially bk. i. pt. 2, ch. 12. Basnage assigna
the erection of synagogues to the time of the Maccabees. Meuschen says that schools
were established by Ezra; but he gives no proof. Itis probable that they were nearly
contemporaneous.
3 Acts xv, 21,
4 See Ewald’s Poetische Biicher des Alten Bundes, aud Tholuck’s Psalmen fur
Geistliche und Laien, Mr. Phillips considers this psalm to be simply prophetic of the
dcstruction in the Roman war: Psalms in Heb. and Comm. 1846.
5 Pg. Ixxiv. 8.
6 The place where the Jews met for worship was called pp 555 p44, as opposed to
the 55% nn, where lectures were given. The term Beth-Midrash is still said to be
used in Poland and Germany for the place where Jewish lectures are given on the law,
7 Luke vii. 5
STUDENT-LIFE. Gi
Cilicia,” sose up as one man, and disputed against St. Stephen.' We have
here five groups of foreign Jews,—two from Africa, two from Western
Asia, and one from Europe : and there is no doubt that the Israelites of
Syria, Babylonia, and the East were similarly represented. The Rabbini-
cal writers say that there were 480 synagogues in Jerusalem ; and though
this must be an exaggeration, yet no doubt all shades of Hellenistic
and Aramaic opinions found a home in the common metropolis. It is easy
to see that an eager and enthusiastic student could have had no lack
of excitements to stimulate his religious and intellectual activity, if ke
spent the years of kis youth in that city “αὖ the feet of Gamaliel.”
It has been contended, that when St. Paul said he was “breught up”
in Jerusalem, “at the feet of Gamaliel,” he meant that he had lived at the
Rabban’s house, and eaten at his table. But the words evidently point
to the customary posture of Jewish students at a school. There is a curi-
ous passage in the Talmud, where it is said, that ‘from the days of Moses
to Rabban Gamaliel, they stood up to learn the Law; but when Rabban
Gamaliel died, sickness came into the world, and they sat down to learn
the Law.”* We need not stop to criticise this sentence, and it is not eas;
to reconcile it with other authorities on the same subject. “ΤῸ sit at the
feet of a teacher” was a proverbial expression ; as wnen Mary is said to
_ have “sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word.”4 But the proverbial expres-
sion must have arisen from a well-known custom. The teacher was seated
on an elevated platform, or on the ground, and the pupils around him ea
low seats or on the floor. Maimonides says :—‘‘ How do the masters
teach? The doctor sits at the head, and the disciples around hin like a
crown, that they may all see the doctor and hear his words. Nor is the
doctor seated on a seat, and the disciples on the ground ; but all are on
seats, or all on the floor.”> St. Ambrose says, in his Commentary on the
Ist Hpistle to the Corinthians (xiv.), that “it is the tradition of the syna-
1 Acts vi. 9. It is difficult to classify the synagogues mentioned in this passage.
An “ Alexandrian Synagogue,” built by Alexandrian artisans who were employed
about the Temple, is mentioned in the Talmud. See Otho’s Lexicon Rabbinicum, sub
voc, Synagoga.” We have ventured below to use the phrase “Cilician Synagogue,”
wich cannot involve any serious inaccuracy.
? Petitus, as quoted by Vitringa, p. 168.
+ Tradunt magistri nostri; a diebus Mosis usque ad Rabban Gamaliclem non didice-
r.nt Legem, nisi stantes ; verum a quo mortuus est Rabban Gamaliel, descendit morbus
in mundum, et didicerunt Legem sedentes; atque hoe illud est, quod aiunt: a quo
tempore Rabban Gamaliel mortvus est, cessavit Gloria Legis. Quoted by Vitringa. Ὁ.
167. See Lightfoot on Luke ii. 46; and on Matt. xiii. 2.
‘4 Luke x. 39. See viii. 35.
5 Quomodo docere solent Magistri? Doctor sedet ad summum, et discipuli iltum
circumcingunt instar corone, ut omnes Doctorem intueri et ipsius verba audire possint,
Neque sedet Doctor in sedili et discipuli ejus in solo, sed vel omnes sedent in terr’ vel
amines in sedilibus. Quoted by Vitringa, p 156
͵
7
02 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
gece that they sit while they dispute ; the elders in dignity on hich
chairs, those beneath them on low seats, and the last of all on mats upor
the pavement.” And again Philo says, that the children of the Essenea
sat at the feet of the masters, who interpreted the law, and- explained ita
figurative sense.” And the same thing is expressed in that maxim of the
Jews—“ Place thyself in the dust at the fe.t of the wise.”
In this posture the Apostle of the Gentiles spent his schoolboy days, an
exer and indefatigable student. “ He that giveth his mind to the law of
the Most High, and is occupied in the meditation thereof, will seek out
the wisdom of all the ancient, and be occupied in prophecies. He will
keep the sayings of the renowned men ; and where subtle parables are, he
will be there also. He will seek out the secrets of grave sentences, and
be conversant in dark parables. He shall serve among great men, and\
appear among princes: he will travel through strange countries ; for he
hath tried the good and the evil among men.”4 Such was the pattern
proposed to himself by an ardent follower of the Rabbis ; and we cannot
wender that Saul, with such a standard before him, and with so ardent a
temperament, “made progress in the Jews’ religion above many of his con-
tempcrarics in his own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the tra-
Gitions of his Fathers.”* Intellectually, his mind was trained to logical
acuteness, his memory became well stored with “hard sentences of old,”
and he acquired the facility of quick and apt quotation of Scripture
Morally, he was a strict observer of the requirements of the Law ; and,
while he led a careful conscientious life, after the example of his ancestors °
ke gradaally imbibed the spirit of a fervent persecuting zeal. Among his
fellow students, who flocked to Jerusalem from Egypt and Babylonia, from
the coasts of Greece and his native Cilicia, he was known and held in high
estimation as a rising light in Israel. And if we may draw a natural in-
ference from another sentence of the letter which has just been quoted, he
was far from indifferent to the praise of men.?7 Students of the law were
called “the holy people ;” and we know one occasion when it was said,
“This people who knoweth not the Law are cursed.”* And we can im
1 Tee traditio synagoge est, ut sedentes disputent, seniores dignitatt in cathedris
sequentes in subselliis, novissimi in pavimento super mattas. Amb. Com. in 1 Cor. x: -.
(Basle. 1567, p. 284.) ἦν
5. Ἱερὰ ἢ ἑὐδόμη νενόμισται, καθ᾽ ἣν τῶν ἄλλων ἀνέχοντες ἔργων, καὶ εἰς ἱερὸυς ἀφικ-
ν»ούμενοι τόπους, οἱ καλοῦνται συναγωγαὶ, καθ᾽ ἡλικίας ἐν τάξεσιν ὑπὸ πρεσθυτέροις véer
καθέζονται, μετὰ κόσμου τοῦ προσήκοντος ἔχοντες ἀκροατικῶς. Mangey’s Philo. ii. p. 458,
3 Sit domus tua conventus sapientum et pulveriza te in pulvere pedum corum, τὰ
bibe cum siti verba eorum. Pirke Avoth. cap. 1, ὃ 4, quoted by Vitringa, p. 168.
4 Eecles. xxxix. 1-4. 5 Gal.i. 14. 6 2 Tim. i. 3.
7 Gal. i. 10. "Apre γὰρ ἀνθρώπους πείθω... εἰ γὰρ ἔτι ἀνθρώποις ἤρεσκον, Χριστοὺ
ἰοῦλος οὐκ ὧν ἤμην. “Am I now seeking to conciliate men? ... Nay, if IT still
girove (as once I did) to please men, I should not be the servant of Christ.”
* John vii. 49.
STUDENT-LIFE. 63
agine him saying to himself, with all the rising pride of a successful Pharé
see, in the language of the Book of Wisdom: ‘I shall have estimation
among the multitude, and honour with the elders, though I be young, I
shall be found of a quick conceit in judgment, and shall be admired in the
sight of great men. When I hold my tongue, they shall bide my leisure ;
and when 1 speak, they shall give good ear unto me.” !
While thus he was passing through the busy years of his studentelife,
nursing his religious enthusiasm and growing in self-rightcousness, others
were advancing towards their manhood, not far from Jerusalem, of whom
then he knew nothing, but for whose cause he was destined to count that
loss which now was his highest gain.* There was one at Hebron, the son
of a priest ‘of the course of Abia,” who was soon to make his voice heard
throughout Israel as the preacher of repentance ; there were boys by the
Lake of Galilee, mending their fathers’ nets, who were hereafter to be the
teachers of the World ; and there was onr, at Nazareth, for the sake of
whose love—they, and Saul himself, and thousands of faithful hearts
throughout all future ages, should unite in saying :—‘‘ He must increase,
but I must decrease.” It is possible that Gamaliel may have been one of
those doctors with whom Jesus was found conversing in the Temple. it
is probable that Saul may have been within the precincts of the Temple
at some festival, when Mary and Joseph came up from Galilee. It is cer-
tain that the eyes ef the Saviour anid of His future disciple must often
have rested on the same objects,—the same crowd of pilgrims and wor-
shippers,—the same walls of the Holy City,—the same olives on the other
side of the valley of Jehoshaphat. But at present they were strangers.
The mysterious human life of Jesus was silently advancing towards its
great consummation. Saul was growing more and more familiar with the
outward. observances of the Law, and gaining that experience of the
“spirit of bondage” which should enable him to understand himself, and
to teach to others, the blessings of the “spirit of adoption.” He was
feeling the pressure of that yoke, which in the words of St. Peter, “neither
his fathers nor he were able to bear.” He was learning (in proportion as
his conscientiousness increased) to tremble at the slightest deviation from
the Law as jeopardising salvation : “ whence arose that tormenting scrupu-
losity which invented a number of limitations, in order (by such self-imposed
restraint) to guard against every possible transgression of the Law.”
The struggies of this period of his life he has himself described in the
seventh chapter of Romans. Meanwhile, year after year passed away.
John the Baptist appeared by the waters of the Jordan. The greatest
event of the world’s history was finished on Calvary. ‘The sacrifice for
sin was Offered at a time when sin appeared to be most triumphant. At
1 Wisdom viii. 10-12. ? See Phil. iii, 5-7.
3 Neander Pf. und L. (Eng Trans. p. 137.)
θ4 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
the period of the Crucifixion, three of the principal persons who demand
the historian’s attention are—the Emperor Tiberius, spending his life of
sliameless lust on the island of Capreee,—his vile minister, Sejanus, revelling
in cruelty at Rome,—and Pontius Pilate at Jerusalem, mingling with the
sacrifices the blood of the Galileans.! How refreshing is it to turn from
these characters to sueh scenes as that where St. John receives his Lord’s
dying words from the cross, or where St. Thomas meets Him after the
resurrection, to have his doubts turned into faith, or where St. Stephen
sheds the first blood of martyrdom, praying for his murderers |
This first martyrdom has the deepest interest for us; since it is the
first occasion when Saul comes before us in his early manhood. Where
had he been during these years which we have rapidly passed over in a
few lines,—the years in which the foundations of Christianity were laid ?
We cannot assume that he had remained continuously in Jerusalem.
Many years had elapsed since he came, a boy, from his home at Tarsus.
He must have attained the age of twenty-five or thirty years when our
Lerd’s public ministry began. His education was completed ; and we may
conjecture, with much probability, that he returned to Tarsus. When he
says, in the first letter to the Corinthians (ix. 1),—‘‘ Have I not seen the
Lord?” and when he speaks in the second (vy. 16) of having ‘‘ known
Christ after the flesh,” he seems only to allude, in the first case, to his
vision on the road to Damascus ; and, in the second, to his carnal opinions
concerning the Messiah. Jt is hardly conceivable, that if he had been at Je
rusalem during our Lord’s public ministration there, he should never allude
to the fact.2. In this case, he would surely have been among the persecu-
tors of Jesus, and have referred to this as the ground of his remorse,
instead of expressing his repentance for his opposition merely to the Sa-_
viour’s followers.*
If he returned to the banks of the Cydnus, he would find that many
changes had taken place among his friends in the interval which had
brought him from boyhood to manhood. But the only change in himselt
was that he brought back with him, to gratify the pride of his parents, if
they still were living, a mature knowledge of the Law, a stricter life, a
more fervent zeal. And here, in the schools of Tarsus, he had abundant
opportunity for becoming acquainted with that Greek literature, the taste
for which he had caught from Gamaliel, and for studying the writings of
1 Luke xiii. 1.
2 Τῇ the absense of more information, it is difficult to write with confidence concerning
this part of St. Paul’s life. Benson thinks he was a young student during our Lord’s
ministry, and places a considerable interval between the Ascension of Christ and the
persecution of Stephen. Lardner thinks that the restraint and retirement of a student
might have kept him in ignorance of what was going on in the world. Hemsen’a
opinion has been given above.
31 Cor. xv. 9. Acts xxii. 20.
FIRST PROCLAMATION OF THE GOSPEL. 65
Philo and the Tfellenistic Jews. Supposing him to be thus employed, we
will describe in a few words the first beginnings of the Apostolic Church,
and the appearance presented by it to that Judaism in the midst of which
it rose, and follow its short history to the point where the “ young man,
whose name was Saul,” reappears at Jerusalem, in connection with his
friends of the Cilician Synagogue, “ disputing with Stephen.”
Before our Saviour ascended into heaven, He said to His disciples 2
“Ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and
in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” And when
Matthias had been chosen, and the promised blessing had been received
on the day of Pentecost, this order was striciiy followed. First the Gos
pel was proclaimed in the City of Jerusalem, and the numbers of those
who believed gradually rose from 120 to 5000.* Until the disciples were
“scattered,”? “upoa the persecution that arose about Stephen,”+ Jerusa-
lem was the scene of all that took place in the Church of Christ. We
read as yet of no communication of the truth to the Gentiles, nor to the
Samaritans; no hint even of any Apostolic preaching in the country parts
of Judea. It providentially happened, indeed, that the first outburst of
the new doctrine, with all its miraculous evidence, was witnessed by “Jews
and prosclytes” from all parts of the world.® They had come up to the
Festival cf Pentecost from the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates, of the
Nile and of the Tiber, from the provinces of Asia Minor, from the desert
of Arabia, and from the islands of the Greek Sea; aad when they re-
turned to their homes, they carried with them news which prepared the
way for the Glad Tidings about to issue from Mount Zion to “ the utter-
most parts of the earth.” But as yet the Gospel lingered on the Holy
Hill. The first acts of the Apostles were “prayer and supplication” in
the “upper room ;” breaking of bread ‘from house to house ;”° sairacles
in the Temple ; gatherings of the people in Solomon’s cloister, and the
bearing of testimony in the council chamber of the Sanhedrin,
One of the elie characteristics of the Apostolic Church, con.idered in
itself, was the bountiful charity of its members one towards another,
ee “4 the Jews of Palestine, and therefore many of the earliest Chris-
tian converts, were extremely poor. The odium incurred by adopting the
new doctrine might undermine the livelihood cf some who depended on
their trade for support, and this would make alms-giving necessary. But
the Jews of Palestine were relatively poor, compared with these of the
dispersion, We sce this exemplified on later occasions, in the contributions
1 Acts i. 8. 2 Actas. ell aT. ἵν. 4.
3 Acts viii. 1. 4 Acts xi. 19. 5 Acts li. 9-11.
ὁ Or rather “at home” (κατ᾽ οἶκον. \ Acts ii. 46)—i.e. in their mectings at the
private houses of Christians, as opposed to the public devotions in the Temple.
Oy 5
96 THE LIYE AND EPISTLES OF §T. PAUL.
which St. Paul more than once anxiously promoted.’ And in the very first
days cf the Church, we find its wealthier members placing their entire pos-
sessions at the disposal of the Apostles. Not that there was any abolition
of the rights of property, as the words of St. Peter to Ananias very well
show.?. Kut those who were rick gave up what God had given them, ia
the spirit of generous self-sacrifice, and according to the true principle of
Christian communism, which regards property 2s entrusted to the passessor,
not for himself, but for the good of the whole community,—to be distrib-
ated according to such methods as his charitable feeling and conscientious
judgment may approve. The Apostolic Church was, in this respect, in a
healthier condition than the Church of modern days. But even then we
find ungenerous and suspicious sentiments growing up in the midst of the
general benevolence. That old jealousy between the Aramaic and Hellen-
istic Jews reappeared. Their party feeling was excited by some real or
apparent unfairness in the distribution of the fund set apart for the poor.
A murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews,” 5 or of the Hebrews
against the Grecians, had been a common occurrence for at least two cen-
turies; and, notwithstanding the power of the Divine Spirit, none will
wonder that it broke out again even among those who had become obedi-
ent to the doctrine of Christ. That the widows’ fund might be carefully
distributed, seven almoners or deacons were appointed, of whom the most
eminent was St. Stephen, described as a man “full of faith, and of the
Holy Ghost,” and as one who, “full of faith and power, did great wonders
and miracles among the people.” It will be observed that these seven
men have Greek names, and that one was a proselyte from the Greco-Syr-
ian city of Antioch. It was natural, from the peculiar character of the
quarrel, that Hellenistic Jews should have been appointed to this office.
And this circumstance must be looked on as divinely arranged. For the
introduction of that party, which was most free from local and national
prejudices, into the very ministry of the Church, must have had an import-
ant influence in preparing the way for the admission of the Gentiles,
Looking back, from our point of view, upon the community at Jerusa-
lem, we see in it the beginning of that great society, the Church, which
has continued to our own time, distinct both from Jews und Heathen, and
which will continue till it absorbs both the Heathen and the Jews. But
to the contemporary Jews themselves it wore a very different appearance.
From the Hebrew point of view, the disciples of Christ would be regarded
as a Jewish sect or synagogue. The synagogues, as we have seen, were
very numerous at Jerusalem. There were already the Cilician Synagogue,
the Alexandrian Synagogue, the Synagogue of the Libertines,—and te
1 Acts xi. 29, 30; and again nom. xv. 25, 26, compared with Acts xxiv. 1
& Cor. xvi. 1-4. 2 Cor. viii. 1-4.
* Acta v. 4 3 Acts vi. 1
OPPOSITION TO THE NEW FAITH. 67
these was now added (if we may use so bold an expression the Nazarene
Synagogue, or the Synagogue of the Galilaans. Not that any separate
ouilding was erected for the devotions of the Christians ; for they met
from house to house for prayer and the breaking of bread. But they were
by no means separated from the nation ;! they attended the festivals ;
they worshipped in the Temple. They were a new and singular party in
the nation, holding peculiar opinions, and interpreting the Scriptures in a
peculiar way. ‘This is the aspect under which the Church would first pre
sent itself to the Jews, and among others to Saul himself. Many different
opinions were expressed in the synagogues concerning the nature and office
of the Messiah. These Galileans would be distinguished as holding the
strange opinion that the true Messiah was that notorious “ malefactor,”
who had been crucified at the last Passover. All parties in the nation
united to oppose, and if possible to crush, the monstrous heresy.
The first attempts to put down the new faith came from the Saddu-
eees. The high priest and his immediate adherents’? belonged to this
party. They hated the doctrine of the resurrection ; and the resurrection
of Jesus Christ was the corner-stone of all St. Peter’s teaching. He and
the other Apostles were brought before the Sanhedrin, who in the first
instance were content to enjoin silence on them. The order was disobeyed,
and they were summoned again. The consequences might have been fatal :
but that the jealousy between the Sadducees and Pharisees was overruled,
and the instrumentality of one man’s wisdom was used, by Almighty God,
for the protection of His servants. Gamaliel, the eminent Pharisee,
argued, that if this cause were not of God, it would come to nothing, like
the work of other impostors ; but, if it were of God, they could not safely
resist what must certainly prevail: and the Apostles of Jesus Christ were
scoured, and allowed to “ depart from the presence of the council, rejoicing
that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.”3 But it was
impossible that those Pharisees, whom Christ had always rebuked, should
long continue to be protectors of the Christians. On this occasion we find
the teacher, Gamaliel, taking St. Peter’s part: at the next persecution,
Saul, the pupil, is actively concerned in the murder of St. Stephen. It
was the same alternation of the two prevailing parties, first opposing each
other, and then uniting to oppose the Gospel, of which Saul himself
had such intimate experience when he became St. Paul.‘
δ “The worship of the temple and the synagogue still went side by side with the
prayers, and the breaking of bread from house to house... . The Jewish family life
was the highest expression of Christian unity. ... The fulfilment of the ancient law
was the aspect of Christianity to which the attention of the Church was most directed.”
Mr. Stanley’s Sermon on St. Peter, p.92; see James ii. 2, where the word “syna
gzogue”’ is applied to Christian assemblies.
S Acts avarice 3 Acts v. 41. 4 See Acts xxiii. 6, 9, 14, 20.
68 Y'HE LIFK AND EPISTLES OF 8T. PAUL.
In many particulars St. Stephen was the forerunner of St. Paul. Up
to this time the conflict had been chiefly maintained with the Aramaic
Jews ; but Stephen carried the war of the Gospel into the territory of the
{fellenists. ‘The learned members of the foreign synagogues cndeavoured
to refute him by argument or by clamour. The Cilician Synagogue is
particularly mentioned (Acts vi. 9, 10) as having furnished some conspic-
uous opponents to Stephen, who ‘were not able to resist the wisdom aud
the spirit with which he spake.” We cannot doubt, from what follows,
that Saul of Tarsus, already distinguished by his zeal and talents among
the younger champions of Pharisaism, bore a leading part in the diseus-
sions which here took place. He was now, though still “a young man”
(Acts vii. 58), yet no longer in the first opening of youth. This is evi-
dent from the fact that he was appointed to an important ecclesiastical
and political office immediately afterwards. Such an appointment he could |
hardly have received from the Sanhedrin before the age of thirty, and
probably not so early ; for we must remember that a peculiar respect for
seniority distinguished the Rabbinical authorities. We can imagine Saul,
then, the foremost in the Cilician Synagogue, “ disputing” against the new
doctrines of the Hellenistic Deacon, in all the energy of vigorous manhood,
and with all the vehement logic of the Rabbis. How often must these
seenes have been recalled to his mind, when he himself took the place of
Stephen in many a Synagogue, and bore the brunt of the like furions assault 5 —
surrounded by “Jews filled with envy, who spake against those things
which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming.”! But this
clamour and these arguments were not sufficient to convince or intimidate
St. Stephen. False witnesses were then suborned to accuse him of blas-
phemy against Moses and against God,—who asserted, when he was drag: -
ged before the Sanhedrin, that they had heard him say that Jesus of Naz-
areth should destroy the temple, and change the Mosaic customs. It is
evident, from the nature of this accusation, how remarkably his doctrine
was an anticipation of St. Paul’s. As an Hellenistic Jew, he was less
entangled in the prejudices of Hebrew nationality than his Aramaic breth-
ren; and he seems to have a fuller understanding of the final intention of
the Gospel than St. Peter and the Apostles had yet attained to. Not
doubting the divinity of the Mosaic economy, and not faithless to the God
of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he yet saw that the time was coming, yea,
then was, when the “ true worshippers” should worship Him, not in the Tem-
ple only er in any one sacred spot, but everywhere throughout the earth,
“an spirit and in truth ;” and for this doctrine he was doomed to die.
When we speak of the Sanhedrin, we are brought into contact with an
important controversy. It is much disputed whether it had at this period
1 Acts xiii, 45.
ἂ
THE SANHEDRIN. 69
tne power cf inflicting death... On the one hand, we apparently find the
existeuce of this power denied by the Jews themselves at the trial of our
Lord ;* and, on the other, we apparently find it assumed and acted on in
the case of St. Stephen. The Sanhedrin at Jerusalem, like the Areopa
gus at Athens, was the highest and most awful court of judicature, espe:
cially in matters that pertained to religion ; but like that Athenian tri-
bunal, its real power gradually shrunk, though the reverence attached to
ils decisions remained. It probably assumed its systematic form under the
second liyrcanus ; and it became a fixed institution in the Commonwealtk
under his sons, who would be glad to have their authority nominally
limited, but really supported, by such a Council. Under the Herods, and
under the Romans, its jurisdiction was curtailed ;* and we are informed,
on Talmudical authority,® that, forty years before the destruction of Jeru-
salem, it was formally deprived of the power of inflicting death. If this is
true, we must consider the proceedings at the death of St. Stephen as tumult-
uous and irregular. And nothing is more probable than that Pontius Pilate
(if indeed he was not absent at the time) would willingly connive, in the
spirit of Gallio at Corinth, at an act of unauthorised cruelty in “a ques:
tion of words and names and of the Jewish law,” ὁ and that the Jews would
willingly assume as much power as they dared, when the honour of Moses
and the Temple was in jeopardy.
The council assembled in solemn and formal state to try the blasphemer.
There was great and general excitement in Jerusalem. “The people, the
scribes, and the elders” had been “stirred up” by the members of the
Hellenistic Synagogue.’ It is evident, from that vivid expression which is
1 Most of the modern German crities (Neander, De Wette, Olshausen, &c.) are of
opinion that they had not at this time the power of life and death. A very careful
and elaborate argument for the opposite view will be found in Biscoe’s History of the
Acts confirmed, ch. vi. See also Krebs, Obs. in N. T.e Flavio Josepho, pp. 64 and
155. Mr. Milman says that in his “opinion, formed upon the study of the cotemporary
Jewish history, the power of the Sanhedrin, at this period of political change and con-
fusion, on this, as well as on other points, was altogether undefined.’’—History of
Christianity, vol. i. p. 340. Compare the narrative of the death of St. James. Joseph.
A. xx. 9.
? John xviii. 31, xix. 6. See the Commentaries of Tittman and Liicke.
3 Jost’s Ally. Gesch., vol. ii. p. 6, ἄρ. The Greek term συνέδριον, from whick
‘Sanhedrin ” (5544430) is derived, makes it probable that its systematic organization
dates from the Greco-Macedonian period.
* We sce the beginning of this in the first passage where the council is mentioned by
Josephus, Antiq. xiv. 9. See Selden de Synedriis Hebreorum, 11. xv. 15. “ Principes
Synedrii . . . . summotos interdum fuisse perinde ac Pontifices, idque imprimis seculi
illis reeentioribus, quibus reipublice, imperii, jurisdictionis facies pro dominantium
victorumque arbitratu crebro mutabat. non est cur omnino dubitemus: etiam et con
stitutos subinde a Romanis, prout gubernandi ratio exigebat.” Opera 1. f. 1572,
5. Otho, Lexicon Rabbinicum, sub voc. Synedrium.
6 Acts xvii 15. _ 7 vi, 12.
TU YHE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 8T. PAUL.
quoted from the accusers’ mouths,—“‘ thas place”—“‘ this holy place,”.—that
the meeting of the Sanhedrin took place in the close neighbourhood of the
Temple. Their ancient and solemn room of assembly was the hall Gazith,’
ut the “‘ Stone-Chamber,” partly within the Temple Court and partly with-
out it. The president sat in the less sacred portion, and around him, in a
semi-circle, were the rest of the seventy judges.?
Before these judges Stephen was made to stand, confronted by his ac
cusers. The eyes of all were fixed upon his countenance, which grew
bright as they gazed on it, with a supernatural radiance and serenity. In
the beautiful Jewish expression of the Scripture, “They saw his face as il
had been that of an angel.” The judges, when they saw his glorifeo
countenance, might have remembered the shining on the face of Moses,?
and trembled lest Stephen’s voice should be about to speak the will of
Jehovah, like that of the great lawgiver. Instead of being occupied with
the faded glories of the Second Temple, they might have recognised in the
spectacle before them the Shechinah of the Christian soul, which is the
living Sanctuary of God. But the trial proceeded. The judicial question,
to which the accused was required to plead, was put by the president :
“ Are these things so?” And then Stephen answered, and his clear voice
was, heard in the silent council-hall, as he went through the history of the
chosen people, proving his own deep faith in the sacredness of the Jewish
economy, but suggesting, here and there, that spiritual interpretation of it
which had always been the true one, and the truth of which was now to
he made manifest to all‘ He began, with a wise discretion, from the call
of Abraham, and travelled historically in his argument through all the
great stages of their national existence,—from Abraham to Joseph,—from
Joseph to Moses,—from Moses to David and Solomon. And as he went
on he selected and glanced at those points which made for his own cause,
He showed that God’s blessing rested on the faith of Abraham, though he
had “not so much as to set his foot on” in the land of promise (v. 5), on
the piety of Joseph, though he was an exile in Egypt (vy. 9), and on the
holiness of the Burning Bush, though in the desert of Sinai (v. 30). He
1 Otho, Lexicon Rabbinicum, sub voc. Conclave ; and Selden de Synedriis Hcbreo-
rum, IJ. x. 2, 11. xv. 4. (ff. 1431 & 1544.) See above p.54,n.1. It appears that the
Talmudical authorities differ as to whether it was on the south or norih side of the
Temple. But they agree in placing it to the east of the Most Holy Place.
2 Selden describes the form in which the Sanhedrin sat, and gives a diagram with
the “ President of the Council” in the middle, the “Father of the Council” by his
side, and “ Scribes” at the extremities of the semicircle: Il. vi. 1. ff. 1818, 1319.
3 Exodus xxxiv. 29-35: see 2 Cor. iii. 7, 138. Chrysostom imagines (Hom xv.) that
the angelic brightness on Stephen’s face might be intended to alarm the juages; for
as he says, itis possible for a countenance full of spiritual grace to be awful and terrible
to those who are full of hate.
4 For an analyais of this speech, see Schottgen’s Hore Hebraice ;, Kuinoel’s Com
mentary ; and aiso Neanger in the Pf. und:Leit.
ST. STEPHEN THE FORERUNNER OF 51. PAUL. τὶ
dwelt in detail on the Lawgiver, in such a way as to show his own unques
tionable orthodoxy ; but he quoted the promise concerning ‘ the prophet
like unto Moses” (τ. 37), and reminded his hearers that the law, in which
they trusted, had not kept their forefathers from idolatry (v. 39, &c.).
And so he passed on to the Temple, which had so prominent a reference
to the charge against him: and while he spoke of it, he alluded to the
words of Solomon himself,! and of the prophet Isaiah,? who denied that
any temple ‘‘made with hands” could be the place of God’s highest wor
ship. And thus far they listened to him. It was the story of the chosen
people, to which every Jew listened with interest and pride.
It is remarkable, as we have said before, how completely St. Stephen
is the forerunner of St. Paul, both in the form and the matter of this de-
fence. His securing the attention of the Jews by adopting the historical
method, is exactly what the Apostle did in the synagogue at Antioch in
Pisidia.* His assertion of his attachment to the true principles of the
Mosaic religion is exactly what was said to Agrippa: “1 continue unto
this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than
those which the prophets and Moses did say should come.”‘ It is deeply
interesting to think of Saul as listening to the martyr’s voice, as he ante-
dated those very arguments which he himself was destined to reiterate in
synagogues and before kings. There is no reason to doubt that he was
present,® although he may not have been qualified to vote® in the Sanhe-
drin, And it is evident, from the thoughts which occurred to him in his
subsequent vision within the precincts of the Temple,’ how deep an impres-
sion St. Stephen’s’ death had left on his memory. And there are even
verbal coincidences which may be traced between this address and St.
1 1 Kings viii. 27. 2 Chron. ii. 6. vi. 18.
ἈΠ ΒΡ ἸΧΥ Σ 2: 3 Acts xiii. 16-22. 4 Acts xxvi. 22.
5 Mr. Humphry remarks (Comm. on Acts, 1847, p. 48), that it is not improbable we
awe to him the defence of St. Stephen as given in the Acts. Besides the resemblance
mentioned in the text, he points out the similarity between Acts vii. 44, and Heb. viii.
5, between Acts vii. 5-8, and Rom. iv. 10-19, and between Acts vii. 60, and 2 Tim. iv.
16. And if the Epistle to the Hebrews was written by St. Paul, may we not suppose
that this scene was present to his mind when he wrote, “Jesus suffered without the
gate: let us go forth therefore unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach’’?
(xiii. 12, 13.)
6 One of the necessary qualifications of mem#ers of the Sanhedrin was, that they
should be the fathers of children, because such were supposed more likely to lean
towards mercy. See Selden, quoting from Maimonides: “In nullo Synedriorum
cooptabant quempiam cui proles deesset, unde fieret misericors:’? and again from the
Jerusalem Gemara, “Is qui non vidit sibi liberos, judiciis pecuniariis idoneus est, at
vero non capitalibus,”’ II. ix. 4, f. 1422. If this was the rule when Stephen was tried,
and if Saul was one of the judges, he must have been married at the time.
7 He said in his trance, “ Lord, they know that I imprisoned ard beat in every
synarogue them that believed on thee ; and when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was
shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of
them that stew him.” Acts xxii. 19, 20.
72 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
Paul’s speeches or writings. The words used by Stephen of the Temple
eall to mind these which were used at Athens.’ When he speaks of the
law as received “by the disposition of angels,” he anticipates a phrase
in the Epistle to the Galatians (iii. 19). His exclamation at the end,
“Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart... who have received the
law. . . and have not kept it,” is only an indignant condensation of the
argument in the Epistle to the Romans: ‘ Behold thou art called a Jew,
and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God, and knowest His
will. . . Thou, therefore, that makest thy boast of the law, through
breaking the law dishonourest thou God?.. . He is not a Jew which is
one outwardly ; neither is that circumcision which is outward in the
flesh ; but he is a Jew which is one inwardly : and circumcision is that of
the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter ; whose praise is not of man,
but of God.” (ii. 17-29).
The rebuke which Stephen, full of the Divine Spirit, suddenly broke
away from the course of his narrative to pronounce, was the signal for a
general outburst of furious rage on the part of his judges. They “ gnashed
on him with their teeth” in the same spirit in which they had said, not long
before, to the blind man who was healed—‘ Thou wast altogether born in
sins, aud dost thou teach us?”? But, in contrast with the malignant
hatred which had blinded their eyes, Stephen’s serene faith was supernat-
urally exalted into a direct vision of the blessedness of the Redeemed.
He, whose face had been like that of an angel on earth, was made like
gne of those angels themselves, “who do always behold the face of our
Father which is in Heaven.”4 ‘ He being full of the Holy Ghost, looked
up steadfastly into Heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing
on the right hand of God.” The scene before his eyes was no longer the
council-hall at Jerusalem and the circle of his infuriated judges ; but he
gazed up into the endless courts of the celestial Jerusalem, with its “innu-
merable company of angels,” and saw Jesus, in whose righteous cause he
wag about to die. In other places, where our Saviour is spoken of in His
glorified state, He is said to be, not standing, but seated, at the right hand
of the Father.’ Here alone He is said to be standing, It is as if (accord-
ing to Chrysostom’s® beautiful thought) He had risen from His throne, te
1 Acts xvii. 24.
2 It is evident that the speech was interrupted. We may infer what the conclusion
would have been from the analogy of St. Paul’s speech at Antioch in Pisidia, Acts xiii,
3 John ix. 34. 4 Matt. xviii. 10.
8 Asin Eph.i. 20. Col. iii, 1. Heb. 1..5. viii. 1. x. 12. xii, 2: compare Rom. viii
34, and 1 Pet. iii. 22.
6 Τί οὖν ἑστῶτα καὶ οὐχὶ καθήμενον ; ἵνα δείξῃ τὴν ἀντίληψιν τὴν εἰς τὸν μάρτυρα" καὶ
yap περὶ τοῦ Πατρὸς λέγεται" “ ἀνάστα ὁ Θεός." καὶ πάλιν, “ νῦν ἀναστήσομαι, λέγει
Κύριος " ϑήσομαι ἐν σωτηρίῳ: ἵνα οὖν πολλὴν τῷ ἀθλητῇ τὴν προθυμίαν παράσχῃ, καὶ
πείσῃ τοὺς μαι" ομένους ἐκείνους καθυφεῖναι τῆς Ka?’ ἀυτοῖ; λύττης, TA TAY βοηθοῦντοι
VIEW OF JERUSALEM FROM THE NORTH-EAST.
MARTYRDOM OF ST. STEPHEN. te
succoar His persecuted servant, and to receive him to Himself. And when
Stephen saw his Lord—perhaps with the memories of what he had seen on
earth crowding into his mind,—he suddenly exclaimed, in the ecstacy of
his vision: “‘ Behcld! I see the Heavens opened and the Son of Max
standing on the right hand of God!”
This was too much for the Jews to bear. The blasphemy of Jesus had
been repeated. The follower of Jesus was hurried to destruction. “They
cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with
one accord.” It is evident that it was a savage and disorderly condemna-
tion’ They dragged him out of the council-hall, and, making a sudden
rush and tumult through the streets, hurried him to one of the gates of the
vity,—and somewhere about the rocky edges of the ravine of Jehoshaphat,
where the Mount of Olives looks down upon Gethsemane and Siloam, or
on the open ground to the north, which travellers cross when they go
towards Samaria or Damascus,—with stones that lay without the walls of
the Holy City, this heavenly-minded martyr was murdered. The exact
place of his death is not known. There are two traditions,?—an ancient
ἐπιδείκνυται σχῆμα. "EK τοῦ εἰς τὴν ἀνάληψ. Roy. ¢. The passage is given at length
in Cramer’s Catena on the Acts. Nor was Ste-
phen the only one who suffered death, as we may infer from the Apostle’s
own confession.© And, what was worse than scourging or than death
itself, he used every effort to make them ‘blaspheme” that Holy Name
whereby they were called.? His fame as an inquisitor was notorious far
1 Κατήνεγκα ψῆφον. (Acts xxvi. 10.) If this inference is well founded, and if the
gualification for a member of the Sanhedrin mentioned in the last chapter (page 71)
was a necessary qualification, Saul must have been a married man, and the father of a
family. If so, it is probable that his wife and children did not long survive ; for other-
wise, some notice of them would have occurred in the subsequent narrative, or some
allusion to them in the Epistles. And we know that, if ever he had a wife, she was
not living when he wrote his first letter to the Corinthians. (1 Cor. vii.) It was cas-
tomary among the Jews to marry at a very early age. See Buxt. Syn. Jud. ch. vi.
2 Acts viii. 3. See ix. 2. 3 xxvi. 9,10. See xxii. 3.
4 vill. 3. ix. 2. xxii. 4. 5 xxvi. 10.
6 “T persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prison bout
men and women”? (xxii. 4); “and when tkey were put to death, I gave my vote against
them.” (xxvi. 10.)
7 Ἠνάγκαζον βλασφημεῖν. (Acts xxvi. 11.) It is not said that he succeeded in
causing any to blaspheme. It may be necessary to explain to some readers that the
Gieek imperfect merely denotes that the attempt was made ; so in Gal. i. 23, alluded ta
at the end of this chanter.
FLIGHT OF THE DISCIE LES. 19
and wide. Even at Damascus Ananias had heard} “how much evil he
had done to Christ’s saints at Jerusalem.” He was known there? as “‘ he
that destroyed them which call on this Name in Jerusalem.” It was not
without reason that, in the deep repentance of his later years, he remem-
bered how he had “ persecuted the Church of God and wasted it,” °—how
he had been ‘fa blasphemer, a persecutor and injurious ;”*—and that he
felt he was “ποῦ meet to be called an Apostle,” because he “had perse-
cuted the Church of God.”
From such cruelty, and such efforts to make them deny that Name
which they honoured above all names, the disciples naturally fled. In
consequence of “the persecution against the Church at Jerusalem, they
were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria.”
The Apostles only remained.6 But this dispersion led to great results,
The moment of lowest depression was the very time of the Church’s first
missionary triumph. ‘They that were scattered abroad went everywhere
preaching the Word.”7 First the Samaritans, and then the Gentiles,
received that Gospel, which the Jews attempted to destroy. Thus did the
providence of God begin to accomplish, by unconscious instruments, the
prophecy and command which had been given :—‘ Ye shall be witnesses
unto Me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judia, and in Samaria, and unto
the uttermost part of the earth.”
The Jew looked upon the Samaritan as he looked upon the Gentile.
His hostility to the Samaritan was probably the greater, in proportion as
he was nearer. In conformity with the economy which was observed
before the resurrection, Jesus Christ had said to His disciples, ‘Go not
into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye
not: but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”9 Yet did
the Saviour give anticipative hints of His favour to Gentiles and Samari-
tans, in His mercy to the Syrophenician woman, and His interview with
the woman at the well of Sychar. And now the time was come for both
the “middle walls of partition” to be destroyed. The dispersion brought
Philip, the companion of Stephen, the second of the seven, to a city of
Samaria! He came with the power of miracles and with the news of sal-
vation. ‘The Samaritans were convinced by what they saw ; they listened
to what he said ; ‘and there was great joy in that city.” When the news
Wiscloe aimed
3 Gal. i. 13; see also Phil. iii. 6. 4 ΠΡ ΠῚ ππῚ 1: 115.
> 1Cor.xv.9. It should be observed that in all these passages from the Epistles tha
sam? word (διώκω, διώκτης) is used.
6 Acts viii. 1. 7 viii. 4. See xi. 19-21.
81. 8. 9 Matt. x. 5, 6.
Ἰς Πόλιν τῆς Σαμαρείας. (Acts viii. 5.) This was probably the ancient capital, at
that time called “Sebaste.” The city of Sychar (John iv. 5) had also received ἃ
Greek name. It was then “ Neapolis,” and is still ‘“‘ Nablous.”
δυ THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ΕἼ. PAUL.
came to Jerusalem, Peter and John were sent by the Apostles, and tne
same imiraculous testimony attended their presence, which had been given
on the day of Pentecost. The Divine Power in Peter rebuked the powers
of evil, which were working! among the Samaritans in the person of Simon
Magus, as Paul afterwards, on his first preaching to the Gentiles, rebuked
in Cyprus Elymas the sorcerer. The two Apostles returned to Jerusalem,
preaching as they went “in many villages of the Samaritans” the Gospel
which had been welcomed in the city.
Once more we are permitted to see Philip on his labour of love. We
obtain a glimpse of him on the road which leads down by Gaza’ to Egypt.
The chamberlain of Queen Candace?® is passing southwards on his return
from Jerusalem, and reading in his chariot the prophecies of Isaiah.
AAthiopia is “stretching out her hands unto God,”* and the suppliant is
not unheard. A teacher is provided at the moment of anxious inquiry.
The stranger goes “on his way rejoicing ;” a proselyte who had found the
Messiah ; a Christian baptized “with water and the Holy Ghost.” The
Evangelist, having finished the work for which he had been sent, is called
elsewhere by the Spirit of God. He proceeds to Cxsarea, and we hear of
him no more, till, after the lapse of more than twenty years, he received
under his roof in that city one who, like himself, had travelled in ohedience
to the Divine command “ preaching in all the cities.”®
Our attention is now called to that other traveller. We turn from the
“desert road” on the south of Palestine to the desert road on the north ;
from the border of Arabia near Gaza, to its border near Damascus.
“From Dan to Beersheba” the Gospel is rapidly spreading. The disper-
sior. of the Christians had not been confined to Judeea and Samaria. ‘On
the persecution that arose about Stephen” they had “travelled as far as
Pheenicia and Syria.”* ‘‘ Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slangh-
1 Προὔπῆρχεν. (Actsviii.9.) Simon was in Samaria before Philip came, as Elymag
was with Sergius Paulus before the arrival of St. Paul. Compare viii. 9-24, with xiii,
6-12. There is good reason for believing that Simon Magus is the same person men-
tioned by Josephus (Ant. xx. 7, 2), as connected with Felix and Drusilla. See Acts
xxiv. 24.
2 366 some remarks on the words αὕτη ἐστὶν ἔρημος in Greswell’s Dissertations, vol.
i. pp. 177-180.
3 Candace is the name, not of an individual, but of a dynasty,—like Aretas in
Arabia, or like Pharaoh and Ptolemy. By Aithiopia is meant Meroe on the Upper
Nile. Queens of Meroé with the title of Candace are mentioned by Dio Cass liv. 5
Btrabo, xviii. Plin. H. N. vi. 29, 35. See also Euseb. H. 15. ii. 1. Probably this
chambe-lain was a Jew. See Olshausen.
4 Ps. ΧΗ 31.
δ “But Philip was found at Azotus; and, passing through, he preached in all the
cities, till he came to Cesarea.” (Acts viii. 40.) ‘ And the next day we that were of
Paul’s coinpany departed, and came to Caesarea; and we entered into the house of
Philip the Evangelist, which was one of the seven, aud abode with him.” (xxi, 8.)
6 Acts xi. 19.
ARETAS, KING OF PERSIA. 81
ter against the disciples of the Lord,”! determined to follow them. “ Being
exceedingly mad against them, he persecuted them even to strange cities.”*
He went of his own accord to the high priest, and desired of him letters to
the synagogues in Damascus, where he had reason to believe that Chris-
tians were to be found. And armed with this ‘authority and commis-
sion,”® intending “if he found any of this way, whether they were men or
women,”4 to bring them bound unto Jerusalem to be punished,”* he jour
neyed to Diunascus.
The great Sanhedrin claimed over the Jews in foreign cities the same
power, in religious questions, which they exereised at Jerusalem, ‘The
Jows in Damascus were very numerous ; and there were peculiar circum-
stances in the political condition of Damascus at this time, which may have
given facilities to conspiracies or deeds of violence conducted by the Jews.
There was war between Arctas, who reigned at Petra, the desert-metrop-
olis of Stony Arabia,® and Herod Antipas, his son-in-law, the Tetrarch of
Galilee. A misunderstanding concerning the boundaries of the two prin-
cipalities had been aggravated into an inveterate quarrel hy Herod’s un-
faithfulness to the daughter of the Arabian king, and his shameful attach-
ment to “his brother Philip’s wife.’ The Jews generally sympathised
with the cause of Arctas, rejoiced when Herod’s army was cut off, and
declared that this disaster was a judgment for the murder of John the
Baptist. ILlerod wrote to Rome and obtained an order for assistance from
Vitellius, the Governor of Syria. But when Vitellius was on his march
throuch Judea, from Antioch towards Petra, he suddenly heard of the
doath of Tiberius (a.p.37); and the Roman army was withdrawn, before the
yar was brought toa conclusion. It is evident that the relations of the
neighbouring powers must have been for some years in a very unsettled
1 Acts ix. 1. a eagle JUL 3 xxvi. 12. ADK ere δ΄ xxi. δ.
6 In this mountainous district of Arabia, which had been the scene of the wanderings
of the Israelites, and whicly contained the graves both of Moses and Aaron, the Naba-
thean Arabs after the time of the Babylonian captivity (or, possibly, the Hdomites
before them. See Robinson, Bib. Res. vol. ii. pp. 557, 573) grew into a civilised
nation, built a great mercantile city at Petra, and were ruled by a line of kings, who
bore the title of “ Arctas.” The Aretas dynasty ceased in the second century, when
Arabia Petraea became a Roman province under Trajan. In the Roman period, a
great road united Ailah on the Red Sea with Petra, and thence diverged to the left
towards Jerusalem and the ports of the Mediterranean; and to the right towards
Damascus, in a direction not very different from that of the modern caravan-road
from Damascus to Mecca. ‘This state of things did not last very long. (Compare,
for instance, the Peutingerian Table with the Antonine Itinerary.) The Arabs of
this district fell back into their old nomadic state. Petra was long undiscovered.
Burckhardt was the first to see it, and Laborde the first to visit it. Now it is well
known to Oriental travellers. Its Rock-theatre and other remains still exist, to
show its ancient character of a city of the Roman Empire. See Mannert’s Geographie
der G. und R. ps. vi. vol. i. pp. 183-138, For notices of the different kings who bere
the name of “ Aretas,’’ see Winer’s Realworterbuch.
VAL. 1.—6
52 THE LIYE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
condition along the frontiers of Arabia, Judea, anid Syria; and the falling
of a rich border-town like Damascus from the hands of the Romans inte
those of Aretas would be a natural occurrence of the war. If it could be
proved that the city was placed in the power of the Arabian Ethnarch'
under these particular circumstances, and at the time of St. Paul’s journey,
good reason would be assigned for believing it probable that the ends for
which he went were assisted by the polivical relations of Damascus. And
it would indeed be a singular coincidence, if his zeal in persecuting the
Christians were promoted by the sympathy of the Jews for the fate of
John the Baptist.
But there are grave objections to this view of the occupation of Da-
mascus by Aretas. Such a liberty taken by a petty chicftain with the
Roman power would have been an act of great audacity ; and it is diffi-
cult to believe that Vitellius would have closed the campaign, if such a
city was in the hands of an enemy. It is more likely that Caligula,—who
in many ways contradicted the policy of his predecessor,—who banished
Herod Antipas and patronised Herod Agrippa,—assigned the city of Da-
mascus as a free gift to Aretas.? This supposition, as well as the former,
will perfectly explain the remarkable passage in St. Paul’s Ictters, where
he distinctly says that it was garrisoned by the Ethnarch of Aretas, at the
time of his escape. Many such changes of territorial occupation took
place under the Emperors,? which would have been lost’ to history, were it
not for the information derived from‘ a coin, an inscription, or the inciden-
tal remark of a writer who had different ends in view. Any attempt to
make this escape from Damascus a fixed point of absolute chronology will
be unsuccessful ; but, from what has been said, it may fairly be collected,
t 2 Cor. xi. 32.
3. This is argued with great force by Wieseler, who, so far as we know, is the first to
suggest this explanation. His argument is not quite conclusive; because it is seldom
easy to give a confident opinion on the details of a campaign, unless its history is
minutely recorded. The strength of Wieseler’s argument consists in this, that his
different lines of reasoning “converge to the same result. See his “Chronologie deg
Apostolischen Zeitalters,” pp. 161-175 ; and compare pp. 342-3, and the note.
3 See, for instance, what is said by Josephus (Ant. xviii. 5, 4) of various arrange-
ments in the East at this very crisis. Similar changes in Asia Minor have been alluded
to before, Ch. I. p. 23.
4 Wieseler justly lays some stress on the circumstance that there are coins of Augus-
tus and Tiberius, and, again, of Nero and his successors, but none of Caligula and
Claudius, which imply that Damascus was Roman. But we cannot acquiesce in the
conclusion which he draws from the coin of Mionnet, with the inscription BAZIAEQS -
APETOY* ΦΙΛΕΛΛΗΝΟΣ, It seems to be one of those coins with this inscription
{two of which are in the British Museum, and one is represented at the end of this
chapter), assigned by Eckhel to an earlier Aretas, who was contemporary with the last
of the Seleucid, and in whose power we know that: Damascus once was. (See
Joseph. Ant. xiii, 13, 3. B. J. i. 6, 2, and Wieseler, p. 169.) The general appearance
and character of these coins justifies Eckhel’s opinion, and it is difficult to explain the
word φιλέλληνος on the other supposition
ROADS FROM JERUSALEM TO DAMASCUS. 50
that Saul’s journey from Jerusalem to Damascus took place not far from
that year which saw the death of Tiberius and the accession of Caligula.
No journey was ever taken, on which so much interest is concentrated,
as this of St. Paul from Jerusalem to Damascus.! It is so critical a
passage in the history of God’s dealings with man, and we feel it to be so
closely bound up with all our best knowledge and best happiness in this
life, and with all our hopes for the world to come, that the mind is de
lizhied to divell upon it, and we are cager to learn or imagine all its details.
The conversion of Saul was like the call of a second Abraham. But we
know almost more of the Patriarch’s journey through this same district,
from the north to the south, than we do of the Apostle’s in an opposite
direction. It is easy to conceive of Abraham travelling with his flocks
and herds and camels. The primitive features of the Hast continue still
unaltered in the desert ; and the Arabian Sheikh still remains to us a
living picture of the Patr ΠΕΡ of Genesis. But before the first century of
the i μη era, the patriarchal life of Palestine had been modified, not
only by the invasions and settlements of Babylonia and Persia, but by
large influxes of Greek and Roman civilisation. It is difficult to guess
what was the appearance of Saul’s company on that memorable occasion.’
We neither know how he travelled, nor who his associates were, nor where
he rested on his way, nor what road he followed from the Judean to the
Syrian capital.
His journey must have brought him somewhere into the vicinity of the
Seca of Tiberias. But where he approached the nearest to the shores of
this sacred lake,—whether he crossed the Jordan where, in its lower
course, it flows southwards to the Dead Sea, or where its upper windings
enrich the valley at the base of Mount Hermon,—we do not know. And
there is one thought which makes us glad that it should be so. It is re-
markable that Galilee, where Jesus worked so many of His miracles, is
the scene of none of those transactions which are related in the Acts. The
blue waters of. Tiberias, with their fishing-boats and towns on the brink of
the shore, are consecrated to the Gospels. A greater than Paul was here,
When we come to the travels of the Apostles, the scenery is no longer
limited and Jewish, but Catholic and widely-extended, like the Gospel
1 For descriptions of Damascus, see Lamartine’s Voyage en Orient; Addison’s
Damascus and Palmyra; Fisher’s Syria ; The Modern Traveller ; The Crescent and the
Cross; Lord Castlereagh’s Journey to Damascus; Eothen; and Miss Maertineau’s
Eastern Life. The two last, in other respects the most unsatisfactory, give the best
idea of ἃ journey from Jerusalem to Damascus.
? In pictures, St. Paul is represented as on horseback on this journey. Probably this
18 the reason why Lord Lyttelton, in his observations on St. Paul’s conversion, uses the
phrase—‘ Those in company with him fell down from their horses, together with
Saul.” Ὁ. 318. (Works, 1774.) There is no proof that this was the case, though it ig
very probable.
84 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ΒΤ. ΡΑΥ͂Τ.
which they preached : and tie Sea, which will be so often spread before
us in the life of St. Paul, will not be the little Lake of Galilee, but the
great Mediterranean, which washed the shores and carried the ships of the
historical nations of antiquity.
Two principal roads can be mentioned, one of which probably conducted
the travellers from Jerusalem to Damascus, The track of the caravans,
in ancient and modern times, from Egypt to the Syrian capital, has always
led through Gaza and Ramleh, and then turning eastwards about the bor-
ders of Galilee and Samaria, has descended near Mount Tabor towards
the Sea of Tiberias ; and so, crossing the Jordan a little to the north of
the Lake by Jacob’s Bridge, proceeds through the desert country which
stretches to the base of Antilibanus.? and the limit
of his warlike expedition in the rescue of Lot was ‘‘ Hobah, which is on
the left hand of Damascus.” * How important a place it was in the flour-
ishing period of the Jewish monarchy, we know from the garrisons which
David placed there,’ and from the opposition it presented to Solomon.
1 1 Kings xix. 15.
? The word IHTAI, “fountains,” on this coin should be particularly noticed. The
cast was obtained from Paris by the kindness of Mr. Akerman.
3 Josephus makes it even older than Abraham. (Ant. i. 6,3.) For the traditions
of the events in the infancy of the human race, which are supposed to have happened
In its vicinity, see Pocoke, ii. 115, 116. The story that the murder of Abel took place
here is alluded to by Shakspere, 1 K. Hen. VI. i. 3.
4 Tsai. vii. 8. 5 Gen. xy. 2. 6 Gen. xiv. 15.
7 2 Sam. viii. 6. 1 Chron. xviii. 8 5.1 Kings xi. 24
mrsTORY OF DAMASCUS. 87
The history of Naaman and the Hebrew captive, Elisha and Gehazi, ang
of the proud preference of its fresh rivers to the thirsty waters of Israel,
are familiar to every one. And how close its relations continued to be
with the Jews, we know from the chronicles of Jeroboam and Ahaz, and
the prophecies of Isaiah and Amos.! Its mercantile greatness is indicated
by Ezekiel in the remarkable words addressed to Tyre,>—‘‘Syria was thy
merchant by reason of the multitude of the wares of thy making: they
_ occupied in thy fairs with emeralds, purple, and broidered work, and fine
linen, and coral, and agate. Damascus was thy merchant in the multitude
of the wares of thy making, for the multitude of ail riches ; in the wine of
Helbon, and white wool.”’ Leaving the Jewish annals, we might follow
its history through continuous centuries, from the time when Alexander
sent Parmenio to take it, while the conqueror himself was marching from
Tarsus to Tyre,‘—to its occupation by Pompey,>—to the letters of Julian
the Apostate, who describes it as “the eye of the Hast,”°—and onward
through its golden days, when it was the residence of the Ommiad Caliphs,
and the metropolis of the Mahomedan world,—and through the period
when its fame was mingled with that of Saladin and Tamerlane,—to our
own days, when the praise of its beauty is celebrated by every traveller
from Europe. It is evident, to use the words of Lamartine, that, like
Constantinople, it was a “ predestinated capital.” Nor is it difficult to ex-
plain why its freshness has never faded through all this series of vicissi-
tudes and wars.
Among the rocks and brushwood at the base of Antilibanus are the
fountains of a copious and perennial stream, which, after running a course
of no great distance to the south-east, loses itself in a desert lake. But
before it reaches this dreary boundary, it has distributed its channels over
the intermediate space, and left a wide area behind it, rich with prolifie
vegetation. These are the “streams from Lebanon,” which are known to
us in the imagery of Scripture ;7—the “rivers of Damascus,” which
Naaman not unnaturally preferred to all the “waters of Isracl.”> By
1 See 2 Kings xiv. 28, xvi. 9,10. 2 Chr. xxiv. 23, xxviii. 5, 23. Isai. vii.8. Amos.
i. 3, 5.
? The port of Beyroot is now to Damascus what Tyre was of old.
5 Ezek. xxvii. 16, 18.
* Quintus Cartius, iii. 13, iv. 1. Arrian, ii. 11.
5 See above, Ch. I. p. 26. Its relative importance was not so great when it was
under a Western power like that of the Seleucid or the Romans: hence we find it less
frequently mentioned than we might expect in Greek and Roman writers. This arose
from the building of Antiozh and other cities in Northern Syria.
6 Julian, Ep. xxiv. Τὴν Δίος πόλιν ἀληθῶς, καὶ τὸν τῆς ἙΩΦώας ἁπάσης ὀφθαλμόν
τὴν ἱερὰν καὶ μεγίστην Δάμασκον λέγω. There is some reason to believe that this
letter is not genuine. See the 54th note in Gibbon’s Decline and Fall, ch. li.
7 Song of Sol. iv. 15. 8 2 Kings v. 12. 4 et:
88 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ΕἼ. PAUL.
Greck writers the stream is called Chrysorrhoas,! or “ the river of gold”
And this stream is the inestimable unexhausted treasure of Damascus.
The habitations of men must always have been gathered around it, as the
Nile has inevitably attracted an immemorial population to its banks. The
desert is a fortification round Damascus. The river is its life. It igs
drawn out into watercourses, and spread in all directions. Tor miles
around it is a wilderness of gardens,—gardens with roses among the
tangled shrubberies, and with fruit on the branches overhead. Every .
where among the trees the murmur of unseen rivulets is heard. Even in
the city, which is in the midst of the garden, the ciear rushing of the
current is a perpetual refreshment. Every dwelling has its fountain ; and
at night, when the sun has set behind Mount Lebanon, the lights of the
city are seen flashing on the waters.
It is not to be wondered at that the view of Damascus, when the dim
outline of the gardens has become distinct, and the city is seen gleaming
white in the midst of them, should be universally famous. All travellers
in all ages have paused to feast their eyes with the prospect ; and the
prospect has been always the same. It is true that in the Apostle’s day
there were no cupolas and no minarets: Justinian had not built St.
Sophia, and the caliphs had erected no mosques. But the white buildings
of the city gleamed then, as they do now, in the centre of a verdant inex-
haustible paradise. The Syrian gardens, with their low walls and water-
wheels, and careless mixture of fruits and flowers, were the same then as
they are now. The same ficures would be seen in the green approaches
to the town, camels and mules, horses and asses, with Syrian peasants, and
Arabs from beyond Palmyra. We know the very time of the day when
Saul was entering these shady avenues. It was at mid-day,’ the birds
were silcit in the trees. Tke hush of noon was in the city. The sun was
burning fiercely in the sky. The perseeutor’s companions were enjoying
the cool refreshment of the shade after their journey : and his eyes rested
with satisfaction on those walls which were the end of his mission, and con-
tained the victims of his righteous zeal.
We have been tempted into some prolixity in describing Damascus,
But, in describing the solemn and miraculous event which took place in its
seighbourhood, we hesitate to enlarge upon the words of Scripture. And
Scripture relates its circumstances in minute detail. If the importance we
are intended to attach to particular events in early Christianity is to be
1 Strabo, xvi. 2. Ptolem. v. 15,9. ee Plin. H. N. v. 16.
3 Acts xxii. 6, xxvi. 13. Notices of the traditionary place where the vision was seen
are to be found both in the older and later travellers. Irby and Mangles say it is
“ outside the eastern gate :”’ and in the Boat and Carayan it is described as “ahont a
mile from the town, and near the Christian burying-ground which belongs te the
Armenians.”
IMPORTANCE OF ST. PAUL’S CONVERSION. 89
measured by the prominence assigned to them in the Sacred Records, we
must confess that, next after the Passion of our blessed Lord, the event
to which our serious attention is especially called is the Conversion of St
Paul. Besides various allusions to it in his own epistles, three detailed naz
ratives of the occurrence are found in the Acts. Once it is related by St
Luke (ix.),—-twice by the Apostle himself,—in his address to his country:
men at Jerusalem (xxii.),—in his defence before Agrippa at Coesarea
(xxvi.). And as, when the same thing is told in more than one of the
Holy Gospels, the accounts do not verbally agree, so it is here. St. Luke
is more brief than St. Paul. And each of St. Paul’s statements supplies
something not found in the other. The peculiar difference of these two
statements, in their relation to the cireumstances under which they were
given, and as they illustrate the Apostle’s wisdom in pleading the cause
of the Gospel and reasoning with-his opponents, will be made the subject
of some remarks in the later chapters of this book. At present it is our
natural course simply to gather the facts from the Apostle’s own words,
with a careful reference to the shorter narrative given by St. Luke.
In the twenty-second and twenty-sixth chapters of the Acts we are
told that it was ‘‘ about noon ”—‘ at mid-day ”—when the “ great light ”
shone ‘‘ suddenly” from heaven (xxii. 6, xxvi. 18). And those who
have had experience of the glare of a mid-day sun in the Hast, will best
understand the description of that light, which is said to have been “a
light above the brightness of the sun, shining round about Paul and them
that journeyed with him.” All fell to the ground in terror (xxvi. 14), or
stood dumb with amazement (ix. 7). Suddenly surrounded by a light so
terrible and incomprehensible, ‘‘ they were afraid.” ‘ They heard not the
voice of Him that spake to Paul” (xxii. 9), or, if they heard a voice,
“they saw no man” (ix. 1). The whole scene was evidently one of the
utmost confusion : and the accounts are such as to express, in the most
striking manner, the bewilderment and alarm of the travellers.
But while the others were stunned, stupified and confused, a clear
light broke terribly on the soul of one of those who were prostrated on the
ground.? A voice spoke articulately to him, which to the rest was a
sound mysterious and indistinct. He heard what they did not hear. He
1 It has been thought both more prudent and more honest to leave these well-known
discrepancies exactly as they are found in the Bible. They will be differently explained
by different readers, according to their views of the inspiration of Scripture. Those
who do not receive the doctrine of Verbal Inspiration will find in these discrepancies a
confirmation of the general truth of the narrative. Those who lay stress on this
doctrine may fairly be permitted to suppose that the stupified companions of Saul fell
to the grcund and then rose, and that they heard the voice but did not understand if,
Much has been written on this subject by the various commentators.
1 It is evident from Acts ix. 6, 8, xxyi. 16, that Saul was prostrate on the ground
when Jesus Christ spoke to him.
θ0 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
saw what they did not see. To them the awful sound was without a
meaning : he heard the voice of the Son of God. To them it was a bright
light which suddenly surrounded them : he saw Jesus, whom he was per:
secuting. The awful dialogue can only be given in the language of Scrip-
ture Yet we may reverentially observe that the words which Jesus
spoke were ‘“‘in the Hebrew tongue.” The same language,’ in which,
during His earthly life, He spoke to Peter and John, to the blind man by
the walls of Jericho, to the woman who washed His feet with her tears—
the same sacred language was used when He spoke from heaven to Hix
persecutor on earth. And as on earth He had always spoken in parables,
ΒΟ it was now. That voice which had drawn lessons from the lilies that
grew in Galilee, and from the birds that flew over the mountain slopes
near the sea of Tiberias, was now pleased to call His last Apostle with a
figure of the like significance: ‘Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
It is hard for thee to kick against the goad.” As the ox rebels in vain
against the goad’ of its master, and as all its struggles do nought but
increase its distress—so is thy rebellion vain against the power of my
grace. IT have admonished thee by the word of my truth, by the death
of my saints, by the voice of thy conscience.? Struggle no more against
conviction, “‘ lest a worse thing come unto thee.”
It is evident that this revelation was not merely an inward impression
made on the mind of Saul during a trance or ecstacy. It was the direct
perception of the visible presence of Jesus Christ. This is asserted in vari-
ous passages, both positively and incidentally. In his first letter to the
Corinthians, when he contends for the validity of his own apostleship, his
argument is, ‘‘Am I not an Apostle? Have I not seen Jesus Christ, the
Lord?” And when he adduces the evidence for the truth of the Resur-
rection, his argument is again, ‘‘ He was seen.... by Cephas..,. by
James.... by all the Apostles.... last of all by me....as one born
out of due time ” (xv.8). By Cephas and by James at Jerusalem the reality
of Saul’s conversion was doubted ;° but “ Barnabas brought him to the
1 Tt is only said in one account (xxvi. 14) that Jesus Christ spoke in Hebrew. But
this appears incidentally in the other accounts from the Hebrew form Σαοὺλ being
used (ix. 4, xxii. 8). In ix. 1, 8, &c., it is the Greek Σαῦλος, a difference which is not
noticed in the English translation. So Ananias (whose name is Aramaic) seems to
have addressed Saul in Hebrew, not Greek. (ix. 17. xxii. 13.)
2 The κέντρον, or stimulus, is the goad or sharp-pointed pcle, which in southern
Europe and in the Levant is seen in the hands of those who are ploughing or driving
cattle. The words σκληρόν cot πρὸς κέντρα Δλακτίζειν, in ix. 5, are an interpolation
from xxvi. 14. They are in the Vulgate, but not in the Greek MSS. For instances of
this proverb, which is very frequent both in Greek and Latin writers, see Wetstein.
3 “ Pupugi te stimulis miraculorum, predicationis Stephani aliorumque, remorsibus
conscientiz et inspirationibus internis. Alios adhibebo stimulos sed acriores et majo=i
damno tuo.”’ Tirinus in Poole’s Synopsis.
4 1 Cor. ix. 1. / 3 Acts ix. 27.
VISION OF JESUS CHRIST. 91
Apostles, and related to them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and had
spoken with him.” And similarly Ananias had said to him at their first
meeting in Damascus ; “‘ The Lord hath sent me, even Jesus who appeared
to thee in the way as thou camest” (ix.17). ‘‘ The God of our fathers hath
chosen thee that thou shouldest see that just one, and shouldest hear the
voice ef his mouth” (xxii. 14). The very words which were spoken by
the Saviour, imply the same important truth. He does not say,! “1 am
the Son of God—the Eternal Word—the Lord of men and of angels :”—
but, “I am Jesus” (ix. 5, xxvi. 15), “Jesus of Nazareth” (xxii. 8). “1
am that man, whom not having seen thou hatest, the despised prophet of Na-
zareth, who was mocked and crucified at Jerusalem, who died and was buried.
But now 1 appear to thee, that thou mayest know the truth of my Resurrec-
tion, that I may convince thee of thy sin, and call thee to be my Apostle.”
The direct and immediate character of this call, without the interven-
tion of any human agency, is another point on which St. Paul himself, in
the course of his apostolic life, laid the utmost stress ; and one, therefore,
which it is incumbent on us to notice here. ‘A called Apostle,” “an
Apostle by the will of God,”* “an Apostle sent not from men, nor by
man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised Him from the
dead ;”* these are the phrases under which he describes himself, in the
cases where his authority was in danger of being questioned. No human
instrumentality intervened, to throw the slightest doubt upon the reality
of the communication between Christ Himself and the Apostle of the
Heathen. And, as he was directly and miraculously called, so was the work
1 Διατί μὴ εἶπεν, ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ Ὑἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ; ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ἐν ἀρχῇ Λόγος " ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ἐν
δεξιᾷ καθήμενος τοῦ Πατρός" ὁ ἐν μορφῇ Θεοῦ ὑπάρχων" ὁ τὸν οὐρανὸν τείνας " ὁ τὴν
γῆν ἐργασάμενος" ὁ τὴν ϑάλατταν ἁπλώσας" ὁ τοὺς ᾿Αγγέλους ποίησας " ὁ πανταχοῦ
παρὼν καὶ τὰ πάντα πληρῶν" ὁ προὼν καὶ γεννηθείς ; διατί μὴ εἶπε τὰ σεμνὰ ἐκεῖνα καὶ
uéyana καὶ ὑψηλά ;---ἀλλ᾽ “ ἐγώ εἰμι Ἰησοῦς ὁ Ναζωραῖος, ὃν σὺ διώκεις "" ἀπὸ τῆς κάτω
πόλεως, ἀπὸ τοῦ κάτω χωρίου καὶ τοῦ τόπου ; διότι ἠγνόει αὐτὸν ὁ διώκων " εἰ γὰρ ἤδει
αὐτὸν, οὐκ dv ἐδίωξεν " ἠγνόει ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ Ἰ]ατρὸς ἦν γεννηθείς " ὅτι δὲ ἀπὸ Ναζαρὲτ ἣν,
ἤδει" εἰ οὖν εἶπεν αὐτῷ, ᾿Εγώ εἰμι ὁ Ὑἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ" ὁ ἐν ἀρχῇ Λόγος" 6 τὸν οὐρανὸν
ποιήσας, εἶχεν εἰπεῖν, ἄλλος τε ἐκεῖνος, καὶ ἄλλον ἐγὼ διώκω" εἰ εἶπεν αὐτῷ ἐκεῖνα τὰ
μεγάλα καὶ λαμπρὰ καὶ ὑψηλὰ, εἶχεν εἰπεῖν, οὐκ ἔστιν οὗτος ὁ σταυρωθείς " ἀλλ᾽ ἵνα
udby ὅτι ἐκεῖνον διώκει τὸν σαρκωθέντα, τὸν μορφὴν δούλου λαβόντα, τὸν μετ’ αὐτοῦ
συναναστραφέντα, τὸν ἀποθανόντα, τὸν ταφέντα, ἀπὸ τοῦ κάτω χωρίου, λέγει " “ ἐγώ εἰμι
Ἰησοῦς ὁ Ναζωραῖος, ὃν σὺ διώκεις "" ὃν οἶδας, ὃν γνωρίζεις, τὸν μετὰ σοῦ ἀναστρε-
gouevov. Chrysostom in Cramer’s Catena, p. 152.
* Κλητὸς ἀπόστολος. Romi. 1. 1 Cor. 1. 1.) ᾿Απόστολος διὰ ϑελήματος Θεου.
(2 Cor.i. 1. Eph.i. 1. Col. i. 1.) These expressions are not used by St. Peter, St.
James, St. Jude, or St. John. And it is remarkable that they are not used by St. Paul
himself in the Epistles addressed to those who were most firmly attached to bim. They
are found in the letters to the Christians of Achaia, but not in those to the Christians
of Macedonia. (See 1 Thess. i. 1. 2 Thess. i. 1. Phil. i 1.) And though in the
letters to the Ephesians and Colossians, not in that to Philemon, which is believed te
have been sent at the same time. See Philemon, 1.
9 Οὐκ ἀπ’ ἀνθρώπων, οὐδὲ δι’ ἀνθρώπου. Gal. i. 1.
92 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
immediately indicated, to which he was set apart, and ia which in efter
years he always gloried,—the work of “ preaching among the Gentiles the
unsearchable riches of Christ.”! Unless indeed we are to consider the
words which he used before Agrippa? as a condensed statement 3 of all
that was revealed to him, both in his vision on the way, and afterwards by
Ananias in the city: “1 am Jesus, whom thou persecutest : but rise, and
stand upon thy feet ; for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, te
make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast
seen, and of those things in which I will appear unto thee, delivering thee
from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, to
open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the
power of Satan unto God, that they may reccive forgiveness of sins, aud
inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in Me.”
But the full intimation of all the labours and sufferings that were be
fore him was still reserved. He was told to arise and go into the city,
and there it should be told him what it had been ordained‘ that he should
do. He arose humbled and subdued, and ready to obey whatever might
be the will of Him who had spoken to him from heaven. But when he
opened his eyes, all was dark around him, The brilliancy of the vision
had made him blind. Those who were with him saw, as before, the trees
and the sky, and the road leading into Damascus. But he was in dark-
ness, and they led him by the hand into the city. Thus entered Saul into
Damascus ;—not, as he had expected, to triumph in an enterprize on
which his soul was set, to brave all difficulties and dangers, to enter into
1ouses and carry off prisoners to Jerusalem ;—but he passed himself like
a prisoner beneath the gateway and through the street called “ Straight,”
where he saw not the crowd of those who gazed on him, he was led by the
hands of others, trembling and helpless to the house of Judas,> his dark
and solitary lodging.
Three days the blindness continued. Only one other space of three
days’ duration can be mentioned of equal importance in the history of the
world. The conflict of Saul’s feelings was so great, and his remorse so
piercing and so deep, that during this time he neither ate nor drank. He
vould have no communion with the Christians, for they had been terrified
by the news of his approach. And the unconverted Jews could have no
true sympathy with his present state of mind. He fasted and prayed in
Δ Eph iit 8. See Rom. xi. 13. xv. 16. Gal. ii 8. 1 Tim. ii. 7. 2°Tim. L 11) &
® Acts xxvi, 15-18,
‘ It did not fall in with Paul’s plan in his speech before Agrippa (xxvi.) to mention,
Ananias, as, in his speech to the Jews at Jerusalem (xxii.) he avoided any explicit men-
tion of the Gentiles, while giving the narrative of his conversion.
4 Κἀκεῖ σοι λαληθήσεται περὶ πάντων ὧν τέτακταί σοι ποιῆσα! " is the expression
in his own speech. (xxii. 10.) See ix. 6, and compare xxvi. 16.
5 Acts ix. 11, ΘΌχ; Ὁ:
ΑΝΑΝΙΑΒ. 93
silence. ‘The recollections of his early years,—the passages of the ancient
Scriptures wiich he had never understood,—the thought of his own crus
elty and violence,—the memory of the last looks of Stephen,—all these
crowded into his mind, ard made the three days equal to long years of
repentance. And if we may imagine one feeling above all others te
have kept possession of his heart, it would be the feeling suggested by
Christ’s expostulation: ‘“ Why persecutest thou ΜῈ 731 This feeling
would be attended with thoughts of peace, with hope, and with faith.
He waited on God: and in his blindness a vision was granted to him.
He seemed to behold one who came in to him,—and he knew by reve-
lation that his name was Ananias,—and it appeared to him that the
stranger laid his hand on him, that he might receive his sight.’
The economy of visions, by which God revealed and accomplished His
will, is remarkably similar in the case of Ananias and Saul at Damascus,
and in that of Peter and Cornelius at Joppa and Crsarea. The simulta-
neous preparation of the hearts of Ananias and Saul, and the simultane:
ous preparation of those of Peter and Cornelius,—the questioning and
hesitation of Peter, and the questioning and hesitation of Ananias,—the
one doubting whether he might make friendship with the Gentiles, the
other doubting whether he might approach the enemy of the Church,—
the unhesitating obedience of each, when the Divine will was made clearly
known,—the state of mind in which both the Pharisee and the Centurion
were found,—each wa'ting to see what the Lord would say unto them,—
this close analogy wil not be forgotten by those who reverently read the
two consecutive chapters, in which the baptism of Saul and the baptism
of Cornelius are narrated in the Acts of the Apostles.
And in another respect there is a close parallelism between the two
histories. The same exact topography characterizes them both. In the
one case we have the lodging with “ Simon the Tanner,” and the house “ by
the sea-side” (x. 6),—in the other we have “ the house of Judas,” and
“the street called Straight” (ix. 11). And as the shore, where “ the
saint beside the ocean prayed,” is an unchanging feature of Joppa, which
will ever be dear to the Christian heart ;4 so are we allowed to bear in
mind that the thoroughfares of Kastern cities do not change,* and to be-
lieve that the “Straight Street,” which still extends through Damascus in
long perspective from the Eastern Gate, is the street where Ananias spoke
to Saul. More than this we do not venture to say. In the first days of
the Church, and for some time afterwards, the local knowledge of the
1 Sce Mat. xxv. 40, 45. ; 2 Acts:ix./ 12.
* Acts ix. and x. Compare also xi. 5-18, with xxii. 12-16.
4 See “ The Christian Year ;’’ Monday in Easter Weck.
§ See Lord Nugent’s remarks on the Jerusalem Bazaar, in his “ Sacred ani Clasaica!
Lands,” vol. ii pp. 40, 41.
64 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
Christians at Damascus might be cherished and vividly retained. But
now that through long ages Christianity in the East has been weak and
degraded, and Mahommedanism strong and tyrannical, we can only say
that the spots still shown to travellers as the sites of the house of Ananias,
and the house of Judas, and the place of baptism, may possibly be true.
We know nothing concerning Ananias, except what we learn from St,
Luke or from St. Paul. He was a Jew who had become a “disciple” of
Christ (ix. 10), and he was well reputed and held to be “devout accord-
ng to the law,” among “all the Jews who dwelt there” (xxii. 12). Heis
never mentioned by St. Paul in his Epistles ; and the later stories respect-
ing his history are unsupported by proof? Theugh he was not ignorant
of the new convert’s previous character, it seems evident that he had no
personal acquaintance with him ; or he would hardly have been described
as ‘one called Saul, cf Tarsus,” lodging in the house of Judas. He was
not an Apostle, nor one of the conspicuous members of the Church. And
it was not without a deep significance,’ that he, who was called to be an
Apostle, should be baptized by one of whom the Church knows nothing,
but that he was a Christian “ disciple,” and had been a “devout” Jew.
Ananias came into the house where Saul, faint and exhausted4 with
three days’ abstinence, still remained in darkness. When he laid his hands
on his head, as the vision had foretold, immediately he would be recog-
nised as the messenger of God, even before the words were spoken, ‘‘ Bre-
ther Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as
thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be
filled with the Holy Ghost.” These words were followed, as were the
werds of Jesus Himself when He spoke to the blind, with an instantaneous
1 See, for instance, some of the older travellers, as Thevenot, parts i.and ii. Maun-
drell (1714), p. 36. Pococke, ii. 119.
2 Tradition says that he was one of the seventy disciples, that he was afterwards
Bishop of Damascus, and stoned after many tortures under Licinius (or Lucianus) the
Governor. Augustine says he was a priest at the time of St. Paul’s baptism. Cicume-
nius calls him a deacon. His day is kept on Oct. 1, by the Greeks, on Jan. 25, by
the Latins. See the Acta Sanctorum under that day. Baronius (sub anno 35) says
that he had fied from Jerusalem in the persecution of Stephen, and formed a Christian
community at Damascus. The Acta ex MS. Greco in the Acta Sanctorum make him
go from Antioch to Damascus.
3 Ananias, as Chrysostom says, was not one τῶν κορυφαίων ἀποστόλων, because Paul
was not to be taught of men. On the other hand, this very circumstance shows the
importance attached by God to baptism. Olshausen remarks very justly :—‘ Hochst
wichtig ist hier der Umstand, dass der Apostel Paulus keineswegs bloss vermittelst
dieser wunderbaren Berufung durch den Herrn selbst Glied der Kirche wird, sondern
dass er sich noch taufen lassen muss.”? He adds that this baptism of Paul by Ananias
did not imply any inferiority or dependence, more than in the case of our Lerd and
John the Baptist.
« See Acis ix. 19
BAPTISM OF SAUL. 93
dissipation of darkness: ‘‘ There feil from his eyes as it had beeu scales :
and he received sight forthwith” (ix. 18): or, in his own more vivid ex:
pression, “ the same hour he looked up on the face of Ananias” (xxii. 13),
It was a face he had never seen before. But the expression of Christian
love assured him of reconciliation with God. He learnt that “the God
of his fathers” had chosen him “ to know His will,”—‘‘ to see that Just
One,”—“ to hear the voice of His mouth,”—to be ‘ His witness unto all
men.”* He was baptized, and “ the rivers of Damascus” became more to
him than ‘all the waters of Judah” had been. His body was strength-
ened with food ; and his soul was made strong to “suffer great things” for
the name of Jesus, and to bear that Name ‘before the Gentiles, and
kings, and the children of Israel.” 9
He began by proclaiming the honour of that Name to the children of
israel in Damascus. He was “not disobedient to the heavenly vision ”
(xxvi. 19), but “ straightway preached in the synagogues” that Jesus was
“the Son of God,” —and “showed unto them that they should repent and
turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.” His Rabbinical and
Pharisaic learning was now used to uphold the cause which he came to
destroy. The Jews were astounded. They knew what he had been at
Jerusalem. They knew why he had come to Damascus. And now they
saw him-contradicting the whole previous course of his life, and utterly
discarding that ‘‘ commission of the high-priests,” which had been the au-
thority of his journey. Yet it was evident that his conduct was not the
result of a wayward and irregular impulse. His convictions never hesi-
tated ; his energy grew continually stronger,’ as he strove in the syna-
gogues, maintaining the truth against the Jews, and “arguing and prov-
ing that Jesus was indeed the Messiah.” 7
The period of his first teaching at Damascus does not seem to have ©
lasted long. Indeed it is evident that his life could not have been safe,
had he remained. The fury of the Jews when they had recovered from
their first surprise must have been excited to the utmost pitch ; and they
would scon have received a new commissioner from Jerusalem armed with
full powers to supersede and punish one whom they must have regarded as
the most faithless of apostates. Saul left the city, but not to return to
1 It is difficult to see why the words ἀπέπεσον ἀπὸ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν αὐτοῦ dost λεπίδες
should be considered merely descriptive by Olshausen and others. One of the argu-
ments for taking them literally is the peculiar exactness of St. Luke in speaking on
such subjects. See a paper on the medical style of St. Luke in the Gertleman’s Mag-
azine for June 1841.
2 sedi, 3 See 2 Kings vy. 12. 4 See Acts ix. 15, 16.
5. ix, 20. Where Ἰησοῦν, and not Χριστὸν, is the true reading. Verse 22 (dre of τὲς
ἐστιν ὁ Χριστὸς) would make this probable, if the authority of the MSS. were not
decisive.
ὁ Σαῦλος δὲ μᾶλλον ἐυεδυναμοῦτο. (ix. 22.)
υμδιθάζων ὅτι οὗτός ἐστιν 6 Χοιστός. (Ibid.)
͵
90 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
Jerusalem. Conscious of his divine mission, he never felt that it was ne
cessary to consult ‘‘ those who were Apostles before him, but he went inte
Arabia, and returned again into Damascus.” }
Many questions have been raised concerning this journey into Arabia
The first question relates to the meaning of the word. From the time when
the word ‘ Arabia” was first used by any of the writers of Greece or
Rome,’ it has always been a term of vague and uncertain import. Some
times it includes Damascus ;3 sometimes it ranges over the Lebanon itself,
and extends even to the borders of Cilicia The native geographers usu-
ally reckon that stony district, of which Petra was the capital, as belong-
ing to Egypt,—and that wide desert towards the Euphrates, where the
Bedouins of all ages have lived in tents, as belonging to Syria,—and have
limited the name to the Peninsula between the Red Sea and the Persian
Gulf, where Jemen, or “ Araby the Blest,” is secluded on the south.? In
the three-fold division of Ptolemy, which remains in our popular language
when we speak of this still untravelled region, both the first and second
of these districts were included under the name of the third. And we
must suppose St. Paul to have gone into one of the former, either that
which touched Syria and Mesopotamia, or that which touched Palestine
and Egypt. If he went into the first, we need not suppose him to have
travelled far from Damascus. For though the strong powers of Syria
and Mesopotamia might check the Arabian tribes, and retrench the Ara-
bian name in this direction, yet the Gardens of Damascus were on the
verge of tle desert, and Damascus was almost as much an Arabian as a
Syrian town.
And if he went into Petrean Arabia, there still remains the questicn
of his motive for the journey, and his employment when there. Hither
retiring before the opposition at Damascus, he went to preach the Gospel,
and then, in the synagogues of that singular capital, which was built
amidst the rocks of Edom,* whence “ Arabians” came to the festivals at
1 Gal. i. 17:
5. Herodotus speaks of Syria as the coast of Arabia. Τῆς ᾿Αραθίας τὰ παρὰ ϑαλάσσαν
Σύριοι νέμονται. (ii. 12.) Xenophon, in the Anabasis (i. 5) calls a district in Mesopo-
tamia, to the north of Babylonia, by the name of Arabia; and Σκηνῖται “Apabeg are
placed by Strabo (xvi. 1, and xvi. 3) in the same district.
3 Ὅτι δὲ Δαμασκὸς τῆς ᾿Αραθικῆς γῆς ἣν καὶ ἔστιν, εἰ Kal νῦν προσνενέμηται TH Στηοο-
φοινίκῃ λεγομένῃ οὐδ᾽ ὑμῶν τινὲς ἀρνήσασθαι δύνανται. Justin Mart. ο. Tryph. Jebb’e
ed. 1719, p. 239. ‘Damascus ΑΥΤΆ: retro deputabatur, antequam transcripta erat ig
Syrophenicem ex distinctione Syriarum.” Tertull. adv. Mare. ili. 13, and adv. Jud. § 9
4“ Arabia... amplitudine longissima a monte Amano, a regione Cilicia Comma-
genesque descendit ... nec non in media Syria ad Libanum montem penctrantibus
Nubeis.” (Plin. H. N. vi. 32.) And so Plutarch, in the Life of Pompey (ὃ 56), speaks
of Arabs in Mount Amanus.
5 See Mannert’s Geographie der Griechen und Romer, and Winer’s Realworterbuch,
ὁ Strabo, ia his description of Petra, says that his friend Athenwlorus found great
RETIREMENT INTO ARABIA. 0%
Jerusalen:, he testified of Jesus ; or he went for the purpose of contem
plation and solitary communion with God, to deepen his repentance and
fortify his soul w.th prayer ; and then perhaps his steps were turned te
those meuntain heights by the Red Sea, which Moses and Elijah had trod-
den before him. We cannot attempt to decide the question. The views
waich different inquirers take of it will probably depend on their own ten-
dency to the practical or the ascetic life. On the one hand, it may be argued
that such zeal could not be restrained, that Saul could not be silent, but
that he would rejoice in carrying int) the metropolis of King Aretas the
Gospel which his Ethnarch could afterwards hinder at Damascus.* On
the other hand, it may be said that, with such convictions recently worked
in his mind, he would yearn for suutude,—that a time of austere medita-
tion before the beginning of a great work is in conformity with the econo-
my of God,—that we find it quite natural, if Paul followed the example
of the Great Lawgiver and the Great Prophet, and of ΟΝῈ greater than
Moses and Elijah, who, after His baptism and before His ministry, “ re-
turned from Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness.” *
While Saul is in Arabia, preaching the Gospel in obscurity, or pre-
paring for his varied work by the intuition of Sacred Truth,—it seems the
naturai place for some reflections on the reality and the momentous signifi-
cance of his conversion. It has already been remarked, in what we have
drawn from the statements of Scripture, that he was called directly by
Christ without the intervention of any other Apostle, and that the pur-
pose of his call was clearly indicated, when Ananias baptized him. He
was an Apostle “ not of men, neither by man,” 4 and the Divine will was
“to work among the Gentiles by his ministry.”*> But the unbeliever may
still say that there are other questions of primary importance. He may
suggest that this apparent change in the current of Saul’s thoughts, and
this actual revolution in the manner of his life, was either the contrivance
of deep and deliberate imposture, or the result of wild and extravagant
fanaticism. Both in ancient and modern times, some have been found who
have resolved this great occurrence in the promptings of self-interest, or
have ventured to call it the offspring of delusion. There is an old story
mentioned by Epiphanius, from which it appears that the Ebionites were
content to find a motive for the change, in an idle story that he first be
came a Jew that he might marry the High Priest’s daughter, and then be
care the antagonist of Judaism because the High Priest deceived him.*
numbers of strangers there. ᾿Αθηνόδωρος, ἀνὴρ φιλόσοφος καὶ ἡμῖν éraipoc....
εὑρεῖν ἐπιδημοῦντας ἔφη πολλοὺς μὲν Ῥωμαίων, πολλοὺς δὲ Kal τῶν ἄλλων ξένων.
(xvi 4.) In the same paragraph. after describing its cliffs and peculiar situation, he
ways that it was distant three or four days’ journey from Jericho. See above, p. 81, u. 6
WV Acts ie 11: ? See 2 Cor. xi. 32.
3 Luke iy. 1. 4 Gal. i. 1. 5 Acts xxi. 19.
* Too Παύλου κατηγοροῦντες οὐκ αἰσχύνονται ἐπιπλάστοις τισὶ Tole τῶν ψευδαποσ'
VOL, 1.—7
8 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
And there are modern Jews, who are satisfied with saying that be
changed rapidly from one passion to another, like these impetuous soule
who cannot hate or love by halves. Can we then say that St. Pani was
simply an enthuseast or an impostor? The question has been so well an-
swered in a celebrated English book,? that we are content to refer to it.
It will never be possible for any to believe St. Paul to have been a mere
enthusiast, who duly considers his calmness, his wisdom, his prudence, and,
above all, his humility, a virtue which is not less inconsistent with fanati-
cism than with imposture. And how can we suppose that he was an im-
postor who changed his religion for selfish purposes? Was he influenced
by the ostentation of learning ? He suddenly cast aside all that he had
been taught by Gamaliel, or acquired through long years of study, and
took up the opinions of the fishermen of Galilee, whom he had scarcely
ever seen, and who had never been educated in the schools. Was it the
love of power which prompted the change? He abdicated in a moment
the authority which he possessed, for power ‘‘ over a flock of sheep driven
to the slaughter, whose Shepherd himself had been murdered a little be-
fore ;” and ‘all he could hope from that power was to be marked out ina
particular manner for the same knife, which he had seen so bloodily drawn
against them.” Was it the love of wealth? Whatever mizht be his own
worldly possessions at the time, he joined himself to those who were cer-
tainly poor, and the prospect before him was that which was actually real-
ised, of ministering to his necessities with the labour of his hands.3 Was
it the love of fame? His prophetic power must have been miraculous, if
he could look beyond the shame and scorn which then rested on the ser-
vants of a crucified master, to that glory with which Christendom now
surrounds the memory of St. Paul.
And if the conversion of St. Paul was net the act of an euthusiast or
an impostor, then it ought to be considered how much this wonderful oc-
τόλων αὐτῶν κακούργοις καὶ πλάνης λόγο: πεποιημένοις. Tapota μὲν αὐτὸν, ὡς αὐτὸς
ὁμολογεῖ καὶ οὐκ ἀρνεῖται, λέγοντες. ἜΣ ᾿Βλλήνων δὲ αὐτὸν ὑποτίθενται, λαθόντες
τὴν πρόφασιν ἐκ τοῦ τύπου διὰ τὸ φιλάληθες ὑπ’ αὐτοῦ ῥηθὲν, ὅτι Ταρσεύς εἰμι, οὐκ
ἀσήμου πόλεως πολίτης" (Acts xxi.) εἶτα φάσκουσιν αὐτὸν εἶναι "EAAnva, καὶ ‘EAAnvisog
μητρὸς καὶ “Ἕλληνος πατρὸς παῖδα" ἀναθεθηκέναι δὲ εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα, καὶ χρύνον ἐκεὶ
“μεμενηκέναι, ἐπιτεθυμηκέναι δὲ ϑυγατέρα τοῦ ἱερέως πρὸς γάμον ἀγαγέσθαι, καὶ τούτου
ἕνεκα προσήλυτον γενέσθαι καὶ περιτμηθῆναι" εἶτα μὴ γαθόντα τὴν κόρην ὠργίσθαι
καὶ Kara περιτομῆς γεγραφέναι, καὶ κατὰ Labbdrov καὶ νομοθεσίας. Epiph. ad War. i.
2, ἃ 10. Below in § 25, he argues the impossibility of this story from its contradiction
‘¢o Phil. iii. and 2 Cor. xi. Barnabas, theugh a Cyprian, was a Levite, and why not
Paul a Jew, though a Tarsian? And are we to believe, he adds, what Ebion says of
Paul, or what Peter says of him. (2 Pet. ili.}?
1 Such is M. Salvador’s explanation. Jésus Christ et sa Doctrine, liv. iii. 5.2, Pau!
et l’Eglise.
* Lyttelton’s Observations on the Conversion and Apostleship of St. Paal
3 Acts xx. 33, 44. 1 Cor. xv. 8. 1 Thess. ii. 4, 5, 6, 9, ἄορ,
HIS RETURN TO DAMASCUS. SY
suiriace luvolyes. As Lord Lyttelton observes, “the conversion and
apostleship of St, Paul alone, duly considered, is cf itself a demonstration
sufficient to prove Christianity to be a divine revelation.” Saul wat
arrested at the height of his zeal, and in the midst of his fury. In the
words of Chrysostom, “ Christ, like a skilful physician, healed him when
his fever was at the worst :”! and he proceeds to remark, in the same
eloquent ser:aon, that the truth of Christ’s resurrection, and the present
power of Him who had been crucified, were shown far more forcibly, than
they could have been if Paul had been otherwise called. Nor ought we
to forget the great religious lessons we are taught to gather from this
event. We see the value set by God upon honesty and integrity, wher
ve find that he, “who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and in-
iurious, obtained mercy because he did it ignorantly in unbelief”? And
wé learn the encouragement given to all sinners who repent, when we are
told that ‘for this cause he obtained mercy that in him first Jesus Christ
mi¢ht shew forth all long suffering, for a pattern to them which should
hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting.”
We return to the narrative. Saul’s time of retirement in Arabia waz
uct of long continuance. He was not destined to be the Evangelist of the
last. In the Epistle to’ the Galatians,? the time, from his conversion to
his final departure from Damascus, is said to have been “three years,”
which, according to: the Jewish way of reckoning, may have been three
eatire years, or only one year with parts of two others. Meantime Saul
had ‘returned to Damascus, preaching boldly in. the name of Jesus.” (ix.
27.) The Jews, being no longer able to meet him in controversy, resorted
' Καθέπερ ἰατρὸς ἄριστος, ἀκμάζοντος ἔτι τοῦ πυρετοῦ, τὸ βοήθημα αὐτῷ ἐπήγαγεν ὁ
Χρίστος. (om. xix. in Act.) See the same homily below.
5. Tim.i.13. See Luke xii. 48. xxiii. 34. Acts iii, 17. 1 Cor. ii.8. On the
other hand, “unbelieving ignorance” is often mentioned in Scripture, as an aggrava-
tion of sin: e. g. Eph. iv. 18,19. 2 Thess. 1, 7, 8 We should bear in mind Aristotle’s
distinction (Eth, Nie. iii. 1.) of ἀγνοῶν and δύ dyvoiay,—thus stated by Aquinas on this
very passage,-—“ Alind est ignoranter agere, aliud par ignorantiam: zgnoranter facit
aliquid qui nescit quod facit, tamen si sciret etiam faceret illud : per ignorantiam facit
qui facit aliquid quod uon faceret si nosset.”” Div. Thom. Comm. in Paul. Ep. p. 391.
See the note of Estius, and especially the following remark: “‘Objectum seu materia
misericordiw, miseria est ; unde quando miseria major, tanto magis nata est misericor-
diam commovere.’’ A man is deeply wretched who sins through ignorance ; and, as
Augustine says, Paul in his uncenverted state was like a sick man who through madness
tries to kill his physician.
3 In Acts ix. 23, the time is said to have been “many days.” Dr. Paley has observ-
ed in a note on the Hore Pauling (p. 82) a similar instance in the Old Testament (1
Kin ss ii. 38, 39.), where “many days” is used to denote a space of “three years :”’—
“ And Siimet dwelt at Jerusalem many days ; aud it came to pass, at the end of three
years, that two of the servants of Shimei ran away.’ The edition of the Hore Pauii-
ne referred to in this work is that of Mr. Tate, entitled “The Continuous History of
St. Paul’’ 1840.
100 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
to that which is the last argument of a desperate cause :! they resolved ts
assassinate him. Saul became acquainted with the conspiracy ; and al
due precautions were taken to evade the danger. But the political cir-
cumstances of Damascus at the time made escape very difficult. Either
in the course of the hostilities which prevailed along the Syrian frontiers
between Herod Antipas and the Romans, on one side, and Aretas, King
of Petra, on the other,—and sossibly in consequence of that absence of
Vitellius,? which was caused by the emperor’s death,—the Arabian mon-
arch had made himself master of- Damascus, and the Jews, who sympa-
thised with Aretas, were high in the favour of his officer, the Ethnarch.
Or Tiberius had ceased to reign, and his successor had assigned Damascus
to the King of Petra, and the Jews had gained over his officer and his sol-
diers, as Pilate’s soldiers had once been gained over at Jerusalem. St.
Paul at least expressly informs us,‘ that ‘the Ethnarch kept watch over
the city, with a garrison, purposing to apprehend him.” St. Luke says,°
that the Jews “‘ watched the city-gates day and night, with the intention
of killing him.” The Jews furnished the motive, the Ethnarch the military
force, The anxiety of the ‘‘ disciples” was doubtless great, as when Peter
was imprisoned by Herod, “and prayer was made without ceasing of the
Church unto God for him.”*® Their anxiety became the instrument of his
safety. From an unguarded part of the wall, in the darkness of the night,
probably where some overhanging houses, as is usual, in Eastezn cities,
eopened upon the outer country, they let him down from a window? ina
basket. There was something of humiliation in this mode of escape ; and
this, perhaps, is the reason why, in a letter written ‘‘ fourteen years” after-
1’Enl τον ἰσχυρόν συλλογισμὸν ἔρχονται οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι. κ. τ. A. S. Chrys. Hom. xx.
2 See above, p. 81.
3 Some have supposed that this Ethnarch was merely an officer who regulated the
affairs of the Jews themselves, such as we know to have existed under this title in cities
with many Jewish residents. See Joseph. Ant. xiv. 7,2, and 8,5. B.J.ii.6,3. Anger
imagines that he was an officer of Aretas accidentally residing in Damascus, who in-
duced the Roman government to aid the conspiracy of the Jews. Neither hypothesis
seems very probable. Schrader suggests (p. 153) that the Ethnarch’s wife might,
perhaps, be a Jewish proselyte, as we know was the case with a vast number of the
women of Damascus.
4 2 Cor. xi. 32, ἐφρούρει. 5 Acts ix. 24. 6 Acts xii. 5.
7 Διὰ ϑυρίδος, (2 Cor, xi. 32.) So Rahab let down the spies; and so David escaped
from Saul. The word ϑυρίς is used in the LXX. in both instances. Καὶ κατεχάλασεν
αὐτοὺς διὰ τῆς ϑυρίδος. (Josh. ii. 15.) Kat κατάγει ἡ Μελχολ τὸν Aabld διὰ τῆς
ϑυρίδος, καὶ ἀπῆλθε καὶ ἔφυγε καὶ σώζεται. (1 Sam. xix. 12.)
8 The word in 2 Cor. xi. 32, is σαργάνη ; in Acts ix. 25, it is σπυρίς, the word used
In the Gospels, in the narrative of the miracle of feeding the “four thousand,” as
opposed to that of feeding the “ five thousand,”’ when κόφινος is used. Compare Mat.
xiv. 20. Mark vi. 43. Luke ix.17. John vi. 13, with Mat. xv. 37. Mark viii. 8, and
both with Mat. xvi. 9,10. See Prof. Blunt’s Scriptural Coincidences, pt iv. § xi. 1847
In Rich’s Companion to the Dictionary, contrast the illustration under Sporta (σπυρίς)
with that under Cophinus (κόφινος.
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ESCAPE TO JERUSALEM. 101
wards, he specifies the details, “glorying in his infirmities,” when he is
wiout to speak of “ his visions and revelations of the Lord.”?
Thus already the Apostle had experience of “perils by his own coun
trymen, and perils in the city.” Already “in journeyings often, in weari-
ness and painfulness”? he began to learn “how great things he was to
suffer” for the name of Christ. Preserved from destruction at Damascus,
he turned his steps towards Jerusalem. His motive for the journey, as he
tells us in the Epistle to the Galatians, was a desire to become acquainted
with Peter. Not that he was ignorant of the true principles of the Gos-
pel. He expressly tells us that he neither needed nor received any instruc-
tion in Christianity from those who were “apostles before him.” But he
must have heard much from the Christians at Damascus of the Galilean
fisherman. Can we wonder that he should desire to see the Chief of the
Twelve,—the brother with whom now he was consciously united in the
bonds of a common apostleship,
constant companion of his Lorn ?
How changed was everything since he had last travelled this roaa
between Damascus and Jerusalem. If, when the day broke, he looked
back upon that city from which he had escaped under the shelter of night,
as his eye ranged over the fresh gardens and the wide desert, how the
remembrance of that first terrible vision would call forth a deep thanks-
giving to Him, who had called him to be a “ partaker of His sufferings.”
And what feelings must have attended his approach to Jerusalem. ‘“ He
was returning to it from a spiritual, as Ezra had from a bodily, captivity,
and to his renewed mind all things appeared new. What an emotion
smote his heart at the first distant view of the Temple, that house of sacri-
fice, that edifice of prophecy. Its sacrifices had been realised, the Lamb
of God had been offered: its prophecies had been fulfilled, the Lord had
1 2 Cor. xi. 30. xii. 1-5. Both Schrader and Wieseler are of opinion that the vision
mentioncd tere is that which he saw at Jerusalem, on his return from Damascus (Acts
xxii. 17. Sve below, p. 103), and which was naturally associated in his mind with the
recollection of his escape. Schrader’s remarks on the train of ideas are worth quoting.
“Wie genau er hier die Flucht von Damaskus und die Entzuckung mit einander ver-
bindet, zcigt sein ganzer Gedankengang. Er hat vorher eine Menge seiuer Leiden als
Christ aufyezahlt. Nun nimmt sein Geist plotzlich einen hohern Aufschwung; ein
Theil der Vergangeneit schwebt ihm auf einmal lebendig vor der Seele ; seine Rede wird
abgehrochener, wie ein gehemmter Strom, der auf einmal wieder anenoreht : Gott
Weiss dass ich nicht luge—ich floh von Damaskus—doch nein, es ist nicht gut, dass
ich mich ruhme—fch kenne einen Christen—er kam in Entzuickung, Gott weiss es wie
—er wurde in das Paradies versetzt, Gott weiss, wie es zuging—ja ich konnte mich
wohl ruhmen, ohne zu lugen, aber ich will es nicht. Wer fuhlt es nicht, dass hier
vom Anfang bis zu Ende alles Eins ist und nicht auseinander gerissen werden darf?”
pp. 157, 158.
2 2 Cor. xi. 26, 27. 3 Acts ix. 16.
4 ᾿Ιστορῆῇσαι ἸΠέτρον. i. 18. See the remarks ef Jerome and Chrysostom on thi
passage. 5 1 Pet. iv. 5.
102 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 81. PAUL.
come unto it. As he approached the gates, he might have trodden the
very spot where he had so exultingly assisted in the death of Stephen, aud
ne entered them perfectly content, were it God’s will, to be dragged cut
through them to the same fate. He would feel a peculiar tie of brother-
hood to that martyr, for he could not be now ignorant that the same
Jesus who in such glory had called him, had but a little while before ap-
peared in the same glory to assure the expiring Stephen. The ecstatic
look and words of the dying saint now came fresh upon his memory with
their real meaning. When he entered into the city, what deep thoughts
were suggested by the haunts of his youth, and by the sight of the spots
where he had so eagerly sought that knowledge which he had now so
eagerly abandoned. What an intolerable burden had he cast off. He
felt as a glorified spirit may be supposed to feel on revisiting the scenes of
its fleshly sojourn.” !
Yet not without grief and awe could he look upon that city of his fore
fathers, over which he now knew that the judgment of God was impend-
ing. And not without sad emotions could one of so tender ἃ nature think
of the alienation of those who had once been his warmest associates. The
grief of Gamaliel, the indignation of the Pharisees, the fury of the Hellen.
istic Synagogues, all this, he knew, was before him. The sanguine hopes,
however, springing from his own honest convictions, and his fervent zeal to
_ communicate the truth to others, predominated in his mind. He thought
that they would believe as he had believed. He argued thus with himself,
—that they well knew that he had “imprisoned and beaten in every syna-
gogue them that believed in Jesus Christ,”—and that “‘ when the blood of
His martyr Stephen was shed, he also was standing by and consenting
unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him,” *—and that
_when they saw the change which had been produced in him, and heard
the miraculous history he could tell them, they would not refuse to “ receive
his testimony.”
Thus, with fervent zeal, and sanguine expectations, “he attempted to
join himself to the disciples” of Christ. But, as the Jews hated him, so
the Christians suspected him. His escape had been too hurried to allow
of his bringing “letters of commendation.” Whatever distant rumour
might have reached them of an apparition on his journey, of his conduct
at Damascus, of his retirement in Arabia, they could not believe that he
was really a disciple. And then it was that Barnabas, already known to
us as a generous contributor of his wealth to the poor,‘ came forward
again as the “ Son of Consolation,”—“ took him by the hand,” and brought
1 Scripture Biography, by Rev. R. WW. Evans, second series, Ὁ. 337
* The argument used in his ecstacy in the Temple (Acts xxii. 17-21), when it was
rt vealed to him that those in Jerusalem would not receive his testimony.
3 Acts ix. 26. 4 See Acts iv. 36
BARNABAS. 108
bim to the Apostles. It is probable that Barnabas and Saul were ao
quaimted with each other before. Cyprus is within a few hours’ sail from
Cilicia. The schools of Tarsus may naturally have attracted one, who,
though a Levite, was a Hellenist: and there the friendship may have
begun, which lasted through many vicissitudes, till it was rudely interrupt-
ed in the dispute at Antioch.?, When Barnabas related how “ the Lord”
Jesus Christ had personally appeared to Saul, and had even spoken to
him, and how he had boldly maintained the Christian cause in the syna-
gogues of Damascus, then the Apostles laid aside their hesitation. Peter’s
argument must have been what it was on another occasion: ‘‘ Forasmuch
as God hath given unte him the like gift as He did unto me, who am I
that I should withstand God?”? He and James, the Lord’s brother, the
only other Apostle‘ who was in Jerusalem at the time, gave to him “the
right hands of fellowship.” And he was with them, ‘coming in and going
out,” more than forgiven for Christ’s sake, welcomed and beloved as a
friend and a brother.
This first meeting of the fisherman of Galilee and the tentmaker of
Tarsus, the chosen companion of Jesus on earth, and the chosen Pha-
risee who saw Jesus in the heavens, the Apostle of the circumcision
and the Apostle of the Gentiles, is passed over in Scripture in a few
words. ‘The Divine record does not linger in dramatic description on
those passages which a mere human writing would labour to embellish.
What took place in the intercourse of these two Saints,—what was said
of Jesus of Nazareth who suffered, died, and was buried,—and of Jesus,
the glorified Lord, who had risen and ascended, and become “ head over
all things to the Church,”—what was felt of Christian love and devotion,—
what was learnt, under the Spirit’s teaching, of Christian truth, has noé
been revealed, and cannot be known. The intercourse was full of present
comfort, and full of great consequences. But it did not last long. Fif-
teen days passed away, and the Apostles were compelled to part. The
same zeal which had caused his yoice to be heard in the Hellenistic syna-
gogues in the persecution against Stephen, now led Saui in the same syna-
gogues to declare fearlessly his adherence to Stephen’s cause. The same
fury which had caused the murder of Stephen, now brought the murderer
of Stephen to the verge of assassination. Once more, as at Damascus, the
Jews made a conspiracy to put Saul to death ; and once more he was res-
sucd by the anxiety of the brethren.*
» Acts ix. 27 2 Acts xv. 39. 3 See Acts xi, 17.
4 “When Saui was come to Jerusalem .. . Barnabas took him and brought him te
the Apostles . . . and he was with them coming in and going out at Jerusalem.” (Acts
ix. 26-26.) “After three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with
him fifteen days. But other of the Apostles saw I none, save James the Lord’s
brother” (Gal. i. 18, 19.) ὅ Acts ix. 29, 30.
104 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF §T. PAUL.
Reluctantly, and not without a direct intimation from on high, he
retired from the work of preaching the Gospel in Jerusalem As he
was praying one day in the Temple, it came to pass that he fell into a
trance,' and in his ecstacy he saw Jesus, who spoke to him and said,
“Make haste and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem : for they will noi
receive thy testimony concerning me.” He hesitated to obey the com-
mand, his desire to do God’s will leading him to struggle against the hin-
drances of God’s providence—and the memory of Stephen, which haunted
him even in his trance, furnishing him with an argument.? But the com-
mand was more peremptory than before: ‘Depart ; for I will send thee
far hence unto the Gentiles.” The scene of his apostolic victories was not
to be Jerusalem. For the third time it was declared to him that the field
of his labours was among the Gentiles. ‘This secret revelation to his soul
conspired with the outward difficulties of his situation. The care of God
gave the highest sanction to the anxiety of the brethren. And he suffered
himself to be withdrawn from the Holy City.
They brought him down to Cwsarea by the sea,? and from Cwsarea
they sent him to Tarsus.‘ Tlis own expression in the Epistle to the Gala-
tians (i. 21) is that he went ‘into the regions of Syria and Cilicia.”
From this it has been inferred that he went first from Ceesarea to Antioch,
and then from Antioeh to Tarsus. And such a course would have been
perfectly natural: for the communication of the city of Cxsar and the
Herods with the metropolis of Syria, either by sea and the harbour of Se-
leucia, or by the great coast-road through Tyre and Sidon, was easy and
frequent. But the supposition is unnecessary. In consequence of the
range of Mount Taurus, Cilicia has a greater geographical affinity with
Syria than with Asia Minor. Hence it has existed in frequent political
combination with it from the time of the old Persian satrapies to the mod-
1 See Acts xxii. 17-21. Though Schrader is sometimes laboriously unsuccessful in
explaining the miraculous, yet we need not entirely disregard what he says (p. 160)
concerning the oppression of spirit, under the sense of being mistrusted and opposed,
with which Saul came to pray in the Temple. And we may compare the preparation
for St. Peter’s vision, before the conversion of Cornelius.
2 Compare the similar expostulations of Ananias, ix. 13, and of Peter, x. 14.
3 Olshausen is certainly mistaken in supposing that Casarea Philippi is meant:
Whenever “ Cxsarea”’ is spoken of absolutely, it always means Ceesarea Stratonis. And
even if it is assumed that Saul travelled by land through Syria to Tarsus, this would
not have been the natural course. His words are “Um zu Lande nach Tarsus von
Jerusalem auszugehen, wurde Paulus nicht den weitern Weg uber Caesarea Stratonis
gewahlt haben.” But though it may be true that this Caesarea is nearer the Syrian
frontier than the other, the physical character of the country is such that he would
naturally go by the other Czsarea, unless indeed he travelled by Namascus tu Antioch,
which 15 highly improbable. See also a gocd note by Mr. Tate in the “Continuous
History,” &c., p. 106.
4 Acts ix. 20.
PAUL WITHDRAWS TO SYRIA AND CILICIA. 108
erz pachalies of tho Sultan: and ὁ Syria and Cilteia” appears in history
aimost as a weneiie geographical tern, the more important district being
mentioned first.! Within the limits of this region Saul’s activitics were
now exercised in studying and in teaching a$ Tarsus,—or in founding those
Churches? which were afterwards greeted in the Apostolic letter from
Jerusalern, as the brethren “in An‘ioch, and Syria, and Cilicia,” and
which Paul himself confirmed after his separation from Barnabas, travel-
Lug through “Syria and Cilicia.”
Whatever might be the extent of his journeys within these limits, we
know at least that he was at Tarsus. Once more we find him in the home
cf his childhood. It is the last time we are distinctly told that he was
there. Now at least, if not before, we may be sure that he would come
into active intercourse with the heathen philosophers of the place? Τὴ
his last residence at Tarsus, a few years before, he was a Jew, and not
only a Jew but a Pharisee, and he looked on the Gentiles around him as
outcasts from the favour of God. ‘Now he was ἃ Christian, and not only
a Christian, but conscious of his mission as the Apostle of the Gentiles.
Therefore, he would surely meet the philosophers, and prepare to argue
with them on their own ground, as afterwards in the “market” at Athens
with “the Epicureans and the Stoics.”4 Many Stoics of Tarsus were men
of celebrity in the Roman Empire. Athenodorus, the tutor of Augustus,
has becn already mentioned.2 He was probably by this time deceased,
and receiving those divine honours, which, as Lucian informs us, were paid
to him after his death. The tutor of Tiberius also was a Tarsian and a
Stoic. His name was Nestor. He was probably at this time alive: for he
lingered to the age of ninety-two,® and, in all likelihood, survived his
1 This is well illustrated by the hopeless fecling of the Greek soldiers in the Ana-
basis, when Cyrus had drawn them into Cilicia; by various passages in the history of
the Seleucid: ; by the arrangements of the Romans with Antiochus ; by the division
of provinces in the Notitia; and by the course of the Mahommedan conquests.
7 Acts xv. 23, 41. When we find the existence of Cilician Churches mentioned, the
obvious inference is that St. Paul founded them during this period.
3 The passage in Strabo, referred to above, Ch. I. p. 22, is so important that we give
a free translation of it here. “The men of this place are so zealous in the study of
philosophy and the whole circle of education, that they surpass both Athens and
Alexandria, and every place that could be mentioned, where schools of philoscphers
are found. And the difference amounts to this. Here, those who are fond of learning
are all natives, and strangers do not willingly reside here: and they themselves do not
remain, but finish their education abroad, and gladly take up their residence elsewhere,
and few return. Whereas, in the other cities which I have just mentioned, except
Alexandria, the contrary takes place : for many come to them and live there willingly ;
but you will see few of the natives either going abroad for the sake of philosophy, or
caring to study it at home. The Alexandrians have both characters; for they receive
many strangers, and send out of their own people not a few.”
4 Acts xvii. 17, 18. 5 See p. 45.
6 See the Treatise called “Macrobii,” ascribed to Lucian, where Athenodorns anv
LG6 THE LIFE AND EPISTLE3 OF ST. PAUL.
wicked pupil, whose death we have recently noticed. Now amony th: se
eminent sages and instructors of heathen emperors was One whose teach
ing was destined to survive, when the Stoic philosophy should fave per:
ished, and whose words still instruct the rulers of every civilised nation
How far Saul’s arguments had any success in this quarter we cannot even
guess ; and we must not anticipate the conversion of Cornelius. At least,
he was preparing for the future. In the synagogue we cannot believe that
he was silent or unsuccessful.
SS ἈΝ ΝΟΣ,
CALIGULA.®
personal presence. In Syria his caprices were felt more remotely but not
less keenly. The changes of administration were rapid and various. In
the year 36, the two great actors in the crime of the crucifixion had dis-
appeared from the public places of Judea. Pontius Pilate® had been ais-
1 Where St. Paul afterwards landed, Acts xxviii. 13.
5 Herod was with Caligula in this progress. This emperor’s triumph had no more
meaning than Napoleon’s column at Boulogne; but in the next reign Lritain wus
really conquered. See below.
3 The reader is here requested to refer to pp. 29, 44, 45, 55, 64, 69, and the notes.
4 It ix much to be regretted that the books of Tacitus, which contained the life of
Valigula, are lost. Our information must be derived from Dio Cassius, Suetonius, aud
Tosephus.
5 From the Musée Royal (Laurent, Paris), vol. ii.
6 He did not arrive at Rome till after the death of Tiberius. Like his predecesser
CLAUDIUS AND HEROD AGRIPPA. 611}
missed by Vitcllius to Rome, and Marcellus sent te govera in his stead.
Caiaphas had beau deposed by the same secular authority, and succeeded
by Jonathan. Now, in the year 37, Vitellius was recalled from Syria,
and Petronius came to occupy the governor’s residence at Antioch. Mar-
cellus at Cxsarea made way for Marullus: and Theophilus was made
high-priest at Jerusalem in the place of his brother Jonathan. Agrippa,
the grandson of Herod the Great, was brought out of the prison where
Tiberius had confined him, and Caligula gave a royal crown,! with the
tetrarchies of two of his uncles, to the frivolous friend of his youth. And
as this reion began with restless change, so it ended in cruelty and impicty.
The emperor, in the career of his blasphemous arrogance, attempted to
force the Jews to worship him as God.’ One universal fecling of horror
pervaded the scattered Israelites, who, though they had scorned the Mes-
siah promised to their fathers, were unable to degrade themselves by a
return to idolatry. Petronius, who foresaw what the struggle must be,
wrote letters of expostulation to his master: Agrippa, who was then in
Italy, implored his patron to pause in what he did: an embassy was sent
from Alexandria, and the venerable and learned Philo? was himself com-
missioned to state the inexorable requirements of the Jewish religion.
Everything appeared to be hopeless, when the murder οὔ" Caligula, on the
24th of January, in the year 41, gave a sudden relief to the persecuted
people.
With the accession cf Claudius (a.p. 41) the Holy Land had a king
once more. Juda was added to the tetrarchies of Philip and Antipas,
and Herod Agrippa I. ruled over the wide territory which had been gov-
erned by his grandfather. With the alleviation of the distress of the
Jews, proportionate suffering came upon the Christians. The “rest”
which, in the distractions of Caligula’s reign, the churches had enjoyed
“throughout all Judeea, and Galilee, and Samaria,” was now at an end.
“ About this time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain
of the church.” He slew one Apostle, and ‘because he saw it pleased
the Jews,” he proceeded to imprison another. But he was not long spared
to seek popularity among the Jews, or to murder and oppress the Chris-
he had governed Judiea during ten or eleven years, the emperor having a great dislike
to frequent changes in the provinces.
1 Tiberius had imprisoned him ,because of a conversation overheard by a slave, when
Catigula and Herod Agrippa were together in a carriage. Agrippa was much at Rome
both at the beginning and end of Caligula’s reign. See Ὁ. 29, n. 1.
* It appears from Dio Cassius and Suetonius that this was part of a gencral system
{or extending the worship of himself through the empire.
3 See above, pp. 36, 37, and 65. The “Legatio ad Caium”’ in Philo is, next after
Josephus, the most important writing of the period for throwing light on the condition
of ihe Jews in OCaligula’s reign. The Jewish envoys had their interview with the cm-
peror at Puteoli, in the autumn of the same year (40 a. p.) in which he had made his
progress through Gaul to the shore of the ocean.
112 THE LizE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
tiangs. Inthe year 44 he perished by that sudden and dreadful death
which is recorded in detail by Josephus and St. Luke.‘ In close coinci-
cence with this event we have the mention of a certain journey of ΒΓ.
Paul to Jerusalem. Here then we have one of those lines of intersection
between the sacred history and the general history of the world, on which
the attention of intelligent Christians ought to be fixed. This year, 44
4.D., and another year, the year 60 a.p. (in which Felix ceased to be gov-
ernor of Judea, and, leaving St. Paul bound at Ceesarea, was succeeded by
Festus), are the two chronological pivots of the apostolic history.2 By
help of them we find its exact place in the general history of the world.
Between these two limits the greater part of what we are told of St. Pau
is situated and included.
Using the year 44 as a starting-point for the future, we gain a new
light for tracing the Apostle’s steps. It is evident that we have only te
ascertain the successive intervals of his life, in order to see him at every
point, in his connection with the transactions of the empire. We shall
observe this often as we proceed. At present it is more important to re-
mark that the same date throws some light on that earlier part of the
Apostle’s path which is confessedly obscure. Reckoning backwards, we
remember that ‘three years” intervened between his conversion and re
turn to Jerusalem.? Those who assign the former event to 39 or 40, and
those who fix on 87 or some earlier year, differ as to the length of time
he spent at Tarsus, or in “ Syria and Cilicia.”* All that we can say with
certainty is, that St. Paul was converted more than three years before the
year 44."
1 Ant. xix. 8. Acts xii. The proof that his death took place in 44 may be seen in
Anger and Wieseler ; and, indeed, it is hardly doubted by any. A coincident and cor-
roborative proof of the time of St. Paul’s journey to Jerusalem, is afforded by the
mention of the Famine, which is doubtless that recorded by Josephus (sce below, p.
126, note). Anger has shown (pp. 41-45) tnat this famine must be assigned to the
interval between 44 and 47 ; and Wieseler (pp. 157-161) has fixed it more closely te
the year 45.
2 It ought to be stated, that the latter date cannot be established by the same exact
proof as the former ; but, as a political fact, it must always be a cardinal point of ref-
erence in any system of Scripture chronology. Anger and Wieseler, by a careful
induction of particulars, have made it highly probable that Festus sacceeded Felix in
the year 60. Burton places this event in the year 55, and there are many other opinicus,
More will be said on this subject when we come to Acts xxiv. 27.
3 Gal. i. 18.
4 Acts ix. 30. Gal. i. 21. Wieseler (pp. 147, 148), with Schrader (p. 59), thinks that
he stayed at Tarsus only half a year or a year; Anger (pp. 171, 172), that he was there
two years, between 41 and 43; Hemsen (p. 40), that he spent there the years 40, 41,
and 42. Among the English writers, Bp. Pearson (p. 359) imagines that great part of
the interval after 39 was passed in Syria; Burton (pp. 18, and 48), who places ta:
conversion very early, is forced to aliow nine or ten years for the time spent in γυῖα
᾿ and Cilicia.
Ὁ Wieseler places the Conversion in the year 39 or 40. As we have said before the
THE YEAR 44. 113
‘The date thus important for all students of Bible chronology is worthy
of special regard by the Christians of Britain. Fer in that year the Em
peror Claudius returned from the shores of this island to the metropolis of
his empire. He came here in command of a military expedition, to com-
plete the work which the landing of Cesar a century before, had begun,
or at least predicted! Wher Claudius came to Britain, its inhabitants
were not Christian. They could hardly in any sense be said to have been
civilised. He came, as he thought, to add a barbarous province to his
already gigantic empire: but he really came to prepare the way for the
silent progress of the Christian Church. His troops were the instruments
of bringing among our barbarous ancestors those charities which were just
then beginning to display themselves? in Antioch and Jerusalem. A
“new name” was faintly rising on the Syrian shore, which was destined to
spread like the cloud seen by the Prophet’s servant from the brow of
Mount Carmel. believed that Jesus of Nazareth was the Saviour of the
world, ‘‘ were first called Christians.”
1 Chrysostom says that Barnabas brought Saul from Tarsus to Antioch :—drz ἐνταῦθα
καὶ ἐλπίδες χρησταὶ, καὶ μείζων ἡ πόλις, Kal πόλυ τὸ πλῆθος. Of Antioch he says :—
σκόπει, πῶς κάθαπερ γῆ λιπαρὰ τὸν λόγον ἐδέξατο ἡ πόλις αὕτη, καὶ πόλυν τὸν καρπὸν
ἀπεδείξατο. Hom. xxv.
7 See Acts xi. 26. 3 See above, pp. 31 ard ΟἿ,
4 See above, pp. 34, 35.
5 Ob μικρὸν τῆς πόλεως ἐγκώμιον, Is the remark of Chrysostom. He govs so far vs te
gay: Ὄντως διὰ τοῦτο ἐνταῦθα ἐχρηματίσθησαν καλεῖσθαι Χριστιανοὶ, 371 ‘LuiAo
«ἐνταῦθα τοσοῦτον ἐποίησε χρόνον. See Hom. xxv.. and Cramer’s Catena.
THE NAME * CHRISTIAN.” 119
It is not likely that they received this name from the Jews. The
* Children of Abraham”! employed a term much more expressive of hatred
ard contempt. They called them ‘‘the sect of the Nazarenes.”? These
disciples of Jesus traced their origiu to Nazareth in Galilee ; and it wasa pro-
verb, that nothing good could come from Nazareth. Besides this, there was
a further reason why the Jews would not have called the disciples of Jesus
by the name of “ Christians.” The word “ Christ” has the same meaning
with “ Messiah.” And the Jews, however blinded and prejudiced on this
subject, would never have used so sacred a word to point an expression of
mockery and derision ; and they could not have used it in grave and seri
ous earnest, to designate those whom they held to be the followers of a
false Messiah, a fictitious Christ. Nor is it likely that the ‘ Christians”
gave this name to themselves. In the Acts of the Apostles, and in their
own letters, we find them designating themselves as “ brethren,” “ disci-
ples,” “believers,” “saints.’4 Only in two places® do we find the term
“Christians ;” and in both instances it is implied to be a term used by
those who are without. There is little doubt that the name originated
with the Gentiles,* who began to see now that this new sect was so far
fistinct from the Jews, that they might naturally receive a new designa-
tion. And the form of the word implies that it came from the Romans,’
not from the Greeks. The word “ Christ” was often in the conversation
of the believers, as we know it to have been constantly in their letters.
“ Christ ” was the title of Him, whom fhey avowed as their leader and their
chief. They confessed that this Christ had been crucified, but they assert-
ed that He was risen from the dead, and that He guided them by His
invisible power. Thus “Christian” was the name which naturally found
its place in the reproachful language of their enemies.* In the first
1 Mat. iii. 9. Luke iii. 8. John viii. 39. 3 Acts xxiv. 5.
3 John i. 46. See John vii. 41,52. Luke xiii. 2, &c.
4 Acts xv. 23. ix. 26. v.14. ix. 32. Rom. xv. 25. Col. i. 2, &c.
5 Acts xxvi. 28, and 1 Pet. iv. 16.
6 All this is well argued by Hemsen, pp. 45-47, and note.
7 So we read in the Civil Wars of “ Marians” and “ Pompeians,” for the partizans oa
Marius and Pompey ; and, under the Enipire, of “Othonians” and “ Vitellians,” for
the partizans of Otho and Vitellius. The word “Herodians” (Mat. xxii. 16. Mark iii.
6. xii. 13. See p. 34) is formed exactly in the same way.
S It isa Latin derivative from the Greek term for the Messiah of the Jews. It is
connected with the office, not the name, of our Saviour; which harmonises with the
important fact, that in the Epistles He is usually called not “Jesus”? but “ Christ.”
(See a good paper in the North British Review on the Antiquity of the Gospels.) The
word “Jesuit” (which, by the way, is rather Greek than Latin) did not come into the
vocwbulary of the Church till after the lapse of 1500 years. It is not a little remark-
able that the word “Jesuit” isa proverbial term of reproach, even in Roman Catholia
countries ; while the werd “Christian ”’ is used so proverbially for all that is good, that
it has been applied to benevolent actions, in which Jews have participated. (See
Bishop Wilberforce’s speech in the House of Lords on the Jews in 1848.) This remindy
120 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUI.
instance, we have every reason to believe that it was a term of ridicule and
derision. And it is remarkable that the people of Antioch were notorious
for inventing names of derision, and for turning their wit into the channels
of ridicule? And in every way there is something very significant in the
place where we first received the name we bear. Not in Jerusalem, the
city of the Old Covenant, the city of the people who were chosen to the
exclusion of all others, but in a Heathen city, the Eastern centre of Greck
fashion and Roman luxury ; and not till it was shown that the New Cov:
enant was inclusive of all others, then and there we were first called
Christians, and the Church received from the World its true and honour-
able name.°
us of the old play on the words Χριστὸς and Χρηστὸς, which was not unfrequent in the
early Church.
3 See Tac. Ann. xy. 44. It isneedless to remark that it soon became a title of glory,
Julian tried to substitute the term “ Galilean” for “ Christian.” Mr. Humphry quotes
the following remarkable words from the Liturgy of St. Clement :--εὐγχαριστοῦμέν σοι,
ὅτ) τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Χριστοῦ cov ἐπικέκληται ἐφ᾽ Huac, καὶ σοι προσῳκειώμεθα.
2 Apollonius of Tyana was driven out of the city by their insults, and sailed away
(like St. Paul) from Seleucia to Cyprus, where he visited Paphos. Philost. Vit. iii. 16.
See Julian’s Misopogen, and what Zosimus says of this empcror’s visit to Antioch (1119
11, p. 140 of the Bonn ed.). See also Chrysostom’s first homily on Dives and Lazarus,
and the account which Zosimus gives of the breaking of the statues in the reten of
Theodosius (iv. 41, p. 223). One of the most remarkable is mentioned in the Persian
War under Justinian, where Procopius says, ᾿Αντιοχέων ὁ δῆμος (εἰσὶ γὰρ οὐ κατεσπου-
δασμένοι, ἀλλὰ γελοίοις τε καὶ ἀταξίᾳ ἱκαβς ἔχονται) πολλὰ εἰς τὸν Χοσρόην ὑδριζόν
τε ἀπὸ τῶν ἐπάλ' εων καὶ ξὺν γέλωτι ἀκόσμῳ ἐτώθαζον (Bell. Pers. ii. 8) ; the consequence
of which was the destruction both of themselves and their city.
3 Malalas says (Chronog. x.) that the name is given by Evodius, “who succeeded St.
Peter as bishop of Antioch.” ’Eml αὐτοῦ Χριστιανοὶ ὠνομάσθησαν, Tod αὐτοῦ ἐπισκοποῦ
Etodov προσομιλήσαντος αὐτοῖς καὶ ἐπιθήσάντος αὐτοῖς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦτο. pany γὰρ
Ναζωραῖοι καὶ Ταλιλαῖοι ἐκαλοῦντο οἱ Χριστιανοί, p. 247 of the Bonn Edition. There
is another tradition that a council was held for the specific purpose of giving a name to
the body of believers. The following passage from William of Tyre exhibits, in a short
compass, several of the medieval ideas concerning this passage of the Sacred History.
It will be observed, that St. Peter is made bishop of Antioch, that the great work of
building up the Church there is assigned to him and not to St. Paul, and the relation
ef St. Luke and Theophilus is absolutely determined :—
“Tn hac Apostolorum Princeps cathedram obtinuit sacerdotalem, et pontifical: pri-
mum functus est dignitate: viro venerabili Theophilo, qui erat in eadem civitate
potentissimus, in proprio dogmate basilicam dedicante. Cui Lucas, ex eadem urbe
trahens originem, tam Evangelium suum, quam Actus Apostolorum scripsit: qui οἱ
beato Petro, septimus in ordine Pontificum, in eadem Ecclesia successit. In hac etiam
primus fidclium habitus est conventus, in qua et Christianorum nomen dedicatum est.
Prius enim qui Christi sequebantur doctrinam, Nazareni dicebantur : postmodum veré
a Christo deducto nomine, auctoritate illius Synodi, Christiani sunt dicti fideles universi.
Unde etiam, quia gens sine difficultate pradicantem suscepit Apostolum, ad Christi
Hdem unanimiter conversa, et nomen, qucd sicut unguentum effusum longé latéque
redolet, prima invenit et docuit, nomen ejcs designatum est novum, et Theopolis est
appellata: ut que prius hominis nequam et impii [7 6. Antiochi] nomen pertuleras
DESCRIPTION AND HISTORY OF ANTIOCH. 125
In narrating the journeys of St. Paul, it will now be our daty to speak
of Antioch, not Jerusalem, as his point of departure and return. Let us
look, more closely than has hitherto bezn necessary, at its character, ite
history, and its appearance. The positio:. which it occupied near the abrupt
angle formed by the coasts of Syria and Asia Minor, and in the opening
where the Orontes passes between the ranges of Lebanon and Taurus, has
already been noticed.’ And we have mentioned the numerous colony of
Jews which Scleucus introduced into his capital, and raised to an equality
of civil rights with the Greeks.? There was everything in the situation
and circumstances of this city, to make it a place of concourse for all classes
and kinds of people. By its harbour of Seleucia it was in communication
with all the trade of the Mediterranean ; and, through the open country
behind the Lebanon, it was conveniently approached by the caravans from
Mesopotamia and Arabia. It united the inland advantages of Aleppo
with the maritime opportunities of Smyrna, It was almost an oriental
Rome, in which all the forms of the civilised life cf the empire found some
representative. Through the first two centuries of the Christian era, it
was what Constantinople became afterwards, “the Gate of the East.”
And, indeed, the glory of the city of Ignatius was only gradually eclipsed
by that of the city of Chrysostom. That great preacher and commentator
himself, who knew them both by familiar residence, always speaks of An-
tioch with peculiar reverence,? as the patriarchal city of the Christian
name.
There is something curiously prophetic in the stories which are told of
the first founding of this city. Like Romulus on the Palatine, Seleucus
is said to have watched the flight of birds from the summit of Mount
Casius. An eagle took a fragment of the flesh of his sacrifice, and carried
ejus qui cam ad fidem voeaverat, domicilium et civitas deinceps appellaretur, super hoc
condignam recipiens a Domino retributionem.’’—Gul. Tyr. iy. 9.
When the Crusaders were besieged in turn, Peter the Hermit went to the Mahome
Yan commander and appealed as follows (vi. 15) :—
“ Flane urbem Apostoloram princeps Petrus, nostre fidei fidelis et prudens dispensa-
tor, verbi sui virtute, et exhortationis qua preemincbat gratia, sed et sigaorum magni-
tudine ab idololotria revocans, ad fidem Christi convertit, nobis eam reddens
peculiarem.”
ΤΡ 20). LES Hig
3 See especially Hom vii. on St. Matthew (p. 98, Field’s Ed.) where he tells the
people of Antioch, that though they boasted of their city’s preeminence in having first
enjoyed the Christian name, they were willing enough to be surpassed in Christian vir-
tue by more homely cities. The writers of the Middle Ages use the strongest language
concerning Antioch, Thus, Leo Diaconus, in the tenth century ;—Tpity τῶν περὶ τὴν
οἰκουμένην πύλεων, TO τε κάλλει Kal τῷ μεγέθει τῶν περιθόλων, ἔτι δὲ πλήθει τοῦ δήμον,
καὶ τῶν οἰκιῶν ἀμηχάνοις κατασκευαῖς (iy. 11, p.73 of the Bonn Edition) : and William
of Tyre in the twelfth ;—Civitas gloriosa et nobilis, tertium vel potius secundum (nam
de hoc maxima questio est) post urbem Roman dignitatis gradum sortita; omnium
provinciarum quas tractus orientalis continet, princeps et moderatrix, iv. 9.
122 THE LIFE ANI EPISTLES OF §8T. PAUL.
it to a point on the sea-shore, a little to the north of the moutt: of the
Orontes. There he founded a city, and called it Selewcta? arter his own
name. This was on the 23d of April. Again, on the Ist of May, he
sacrificed on the hill Silphius; and then repeated the ceremony and
watched the auguries at the city of Antigonia, which his vanquished rival,
Antigonus, had begun and left unfinished. An eagle again decided that
this was not to be his own metropolis, and carried the flesh to the hill
Silphius, which is on the south side of the river, about the place where it
turns from the north to the west. Five or six thousand Athenians and
Macedonians were ordered to convey the stones and timber of Antigonia |
down the river; and Antioch was founded by Seleucus, and cailed after
his father’s name.’
This fable, invented perhaps to give a mythological sanction to what
was really an act of sagacious prudence and princely ambition, is well
worth remembering. Seleucus was not slow to recognise the wisdom οὖ
Antigonus in choosing a site for his capital, which should place it in ready
communication both with the shores of Greece and with his eastern terri-
tories on the Tigris and Euphrates ; and he followed the example promptly,
and completed his work with sumptuous magnificence. Few princes
have ever lived with so great a passion for the building of cities ;3 and
this is a feature of his character which ought not’ to be unnoticed in this
narrative. Two at least of his cities in Asia Minor have a close connexion
with the life of St. Paul. These are the Pisidian Antioch‘ and the Phry-
gian Laodicea,® one called by the name of his father, the other of his
mother. He is said to have built in all nine Seleucias, sixteen Antiochs,
and six Laodiceas.6 This love of commemorating the members of his
family was conspicuous in his works by the Orontes. Besides Seleucia
and Antioch, he built in the immediate neighbourhood, a Laodicea in
honour of his mother, and an Apamea? in honour of his wife. But by far
the most famous of these four cities was the Syrian Antioch.
We must allude to its edifices and ornaments only so far as they are
due to the Greek kings of Syria and the first five Caesars of Rome.’ If
1 See Acts xiii. 4.
The story is told by Malalas at the beginning of the eighth book. See it also in
Vaillant’s Scleucidarum Imperium. Some say that Seleucus called the city after his
father, some after his son.
3 Mannert, p. 363. A Acts xi, 14. xiv. Δ΄. 2) Taman 17"
5 Coloss. iv. 13, 15,16. See Rev. i. 11. iii. 14. 6 See Vaillant, as above.
7 There was another Apamea, riuch mentioned by Cicero, in Asia Minor, not far
froin the Phrygian Laodicea and Pizidian Antioch.
8 The authorities principally referred to for the history and topography of Antioch
have been the Chronographia of John Malalas (Ed. Bonn), and the History of William
of Tyre. Other sources of information are Libanius and Julian’s Misopogon. To these cor-
rupters of the people of Romulus we must add one more Asiatic nation,—-
the nation of the Israelites ;—and it is an instructive employment to ob-
serve that, while some members of the Jewish people were rising, by the
Divine power, to the highest position ever occupied by men on earth,
others were sinking themselves, and others along with them, to the lowest
and most contemptible degradation. The treatment and influence of the
Jews at Rome were often too similar to those of other Orientals. One
year we find them banished ;° another year we see them quietly re-estab-
lished? The Jewish beggar-woman was the gipsy of the first century,
~
Ambubaiarum collegia, pharmacopole,
Mendici, mimee, balatrones, hoc genus omne.—Hor. τ. Sat. ii. 1.
Non possum ferre, Quirites,
Grecam Urbem: quamvis quota portio feecis Achaxi?
Jam pridem Syrus in Tiberim defluxit Orontes,
Et linguam, et mores, et cum tibicine chordas
Obliquas, nec non gentilia tympana secum
Vexit, et ad Circum, &c.—Juy. Sat. iii, 60.
3 Lucan, viii, 830. 3 Ant. xviii. 3, 4.
4 Alexander of Abonoteichus, whose life was written by Lucian, and Apollonius of
Tyana, whose adventures are recorded by Philostratus, might be adduced as specimena
of the “Phryx augur” (Juy. vi. 584) and the ‘“‘ Commagenus haruspex 5) (ib. 549),
5 Babylonii Numeri, Hor. 1. Od. xi. 2. Chaldaice rationes, Cic. Div. ii. 47. See the
whole passage 42-47. The Chaldean astrologers were called “ Mathematici”’ (Juv:
vi. 562. xiv. 248). See the definition in Aulus Gellius, i. 9: “ Vulgus, quos gentili:
tio vocabulo Chaldzos dicere oportet, mathematicos dicit.”” There is some account of
their proceedings at the beginning of the fourteenth book of the Noctes Attica.
6 Acts xviii. 2. 7 Acts xxviii. 17.
ORIENTAL IMPOSTORS. 147
shivering and crouching in the outskirts of the city, and telling fortunes,
as Hzekiel said of old, “for handfuls of barley, and for pieces of bread”
All this catalogue of Oriental impostors, whose influx into Rome was a
characteristic of the period, we can gather from that revolting satire of
Juvenal, in which he scourges the follies and vices of the Roman women.
But not only were the women of Rome drawn aside into this varied and
multiplied fanaticism ; but the eminent men of the declining republic, and
the absolute severeigns of the early empire, were tainted and enslaved by
the same superstitions. The great Marius had in his camp a Syrian,
probably a Jewish? prophetess, by whose divinations he regulated the pro-
eress of his campaigns. As Brutus, at the beginning of the republic, had
visited the oracle of Delphi, so Pompey, Crassus, and Ceesar, at the close
of the republic, when the oracles were silent,‘ sought information from
Oriental astrology. No picture in the great Latin satirist is more power-
fully drawn than that in which he shows us the Emperor Tiberius “ sitting
on the rock of Capri, with his flock of Chaldzeans round him.”* No sen-
tence in the great Latin historian is more bitterly emphatic than that in
which he says that the astrologers and sorcerers are a class of men who
“will always be discarded and always cherished.” 6
What we know, from the literature of the period, to have been the case
in Rome and in the empire at large, we see exemplified in a province in
the case of Sergius Paulus. He had attached himself to “a certain sor-
cerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Barjesus,” and who had
1 Arcanam Judea tremens mendicat in aurem,
Interpres legum Solymarum, et magna Sacerdos
Arboris, ac summi fida internuncia ceeli.
Implet et illa manum sed parcius: zre minuto
Qualiacunque voles Judzi somnia vendunt.
Juv. vi. 542-546.
Nune sacri fontis nemus, et delubra locantur
Judeis ; quorum cophinus, foenumque supellex.
Omnis enim populo mercedem pendere jussa est
Arvor, et ejectis mendicat silva Cameenis.—iii. 13-16.
5 Ezek. xiii. 19.
3 Niebuhr (Lect. vol. i. p. 363) thinks she was a Jewess. Her name was Martha
See Long’s Plutarch, § 17.
Cic. Div. ii. 47. Compare Juvenal (vi. 553).
Chaldeis sed major erit fiducia : quicquid
Dixerit astrologus, credent a fonte relatum
Hammonis; quoniam Delphis oracula cessant,
Et genus humanum damnat caligo futuri.
* Principis angusta Caprearum in rupe sedentis
Cum grege Chaldxo.—Juv. x. 93.
See Gifford’s note. Suetonius and Dio Cassius give us similar information concerning
the euperstition of Tiberius. ἢ
6 Genus hominum potentibus infidum, sperantibus fallax, quod in civitate nostra et
ritabitur semper et retinebitur.—Tac. Hist.
148 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
given himself the Arabic name of “ Elymas,” or ‘The Wise.” But the
Proconsul was not so deluded by the false prophet! as to be unable, or
unwilling, to listen to the true. ‘‘He sent for Barnabas and Saul,” of
whose arrival he was informed, and whose free and public declaration of
the “Word of God” attracted his inquiring mind. Elymas used every
exertion to resist them, and to hinder the Proconsul’s 1aind from falling
ander the influence of their divine doctrine. Truth ana falsehood were
prought into visible conflict with each other. It is evident, from the
graphic character of the narrative,—the description of Paul “ setting his
eyes,” * on the sorcerer,—“ the mist and darkness” which fell on Barjesus,
—the “groping about for some one to lead him,”’*—that the oppesing
wexder-workers stood face to face in the presence of the Proconsul,—as
Moses and Aaron withstood the magicians at the Egyptian court,—Ser-
gius Paulus being in this respect different from Pharaoh, that he did not
“harden his heart.”
The miracles of the New Testament are generally distinguished from
those of the Old, by being for the most part works of mercy and restora-
tion, not of punishment and destruction, Two only of our Lord’s miracles
were inflictions of severity, and these were attended with no harm to the
bodies of men. The same law of mercy pervades most of those interrup-
tions of the course of nature, which He gave His servants, the Avposttes,
power to effect. One miracle of wrath is mentioned as worked in His
name by each of the great Apostles, Peter and Paul ; and we can see suf-
ficient reasons why liars and hypocrites, like Ananias and Sapphira, and
powerful impostors, like Hlymas Barjesus, should be publicly punished in
the face of the Jewish and Gentile worlds, and made the examples and
warnings of every subsequent age of the Church. A different passage in
1 For the good and bad senses in which the word Μάγος was used, see Professor
Trench’s recent book on the Second Chapter of St. Matthew. It is worth observing,
that Simon Magus was a Cyprian, if he is the person mentioned by Josephus. A, xx. 5, 2.
3 *Arepifew, “to look intently.” Acts xiii 10. The same word which is used in
xxiii. 1. Our first impression is, that there was something searching and commanding
in St. Paul’s eye. Butif the opinion is correct, that he suffered from an affection of
the eyes, this word may express a peculiarity connected with his defective vision.
See the Bishop of Winchester’s note (Ministerial Character of Christ, p. 555), who
compares the Lxx, in Numb. xxvxiii. 55, Josh. xxiii. 13, and applies this view to the ex-
planation of the difficulty in Acts xxiii. 1-5, And it is remarkable that, in both the
traditional accounts of Paul’s personal appearance which we possess, he is said to have
had contracted eye-brows. Malalas (x. p. 257, Ed. Bonn.) calls him σύνοφρυς ; and
Nicephorus (H. E. ii. 37) says κάτω τὰς ὀφρῦς εἶχε vevotoac. Many have thought that
“the thorn in his flesh,’’ 2 Cor. xii. 7, was an affection of the eyes. Hence, perhaps,
the statement in Gal. iv. 14-16, and the πήλικα γράμματα, Gal. vi. 11. (See our Pre-
face, p. xvii. note.)
3 It may be added that these phrases seem to imply that the person from whenee
they came was an eye-witness, Some have inferred that Luke himself was present.
4 It is not necessary to infer from these passages, or from 1 Cor. y. 3-5. 1 Tim. i
ELYMAS BARJESUS. 145
the life of St. Peter presents a parallel which is closer in some respects with
this interview of St. Paul with the sorcerer in Cyprus, As Simon Magus,
—who had “long time bewitched the people of Samaria with his soree
ries,”—was denounced by St. Peter “as still in the gall of bitterness and
bond of iniquity,” and solemnly told that “his heart was not right in
the sight of God ;”'—so St. Paul, conscious of his apostolic power, and
onder the impulse of immediate inspiration, rebuked Barjesus, as a child
of that Devil who is the father of lies,? as a worker of deceit and mischief,’
and as one who sought to pervert and distort that which Godt saw and
approved as right. He proceeded to denounce an instantaneous judg-
ment ; and, according to his prophetic word, the “hand of the Lord”
struck the sorcerer as it had once struck the Apostle himself on the way
to Damascus ;—the sight of Elymas began to waver,® and presently a
darkness settled on it so thick, that he ceased to behold the sun’s light.
This blinding of the false prophet opened the eyes of Sergius Paulus.¢
That which had been intended as an opposition to the Gospel, proved the
means of its extension. We are ignorant of the degree of this extension
in the island of Cyprus. But we cannot doubt that when the Proconsul
was converted, his influence would make Christianity reputable ; and that
from this moment the Gentiles of the island, as well as the Jews, had the
news of salvation brought home to them.
And now, from this point of the Apostolical History, Pau appears as
the great figure in every picture. Barnabas, henceforward, is always in
the background. The great Apostle now enters on his work as the
preacher to the Gentiles ; and simultaneously with his active occupation
of the field in which he was called to labour, his name is suddenly changed.
As “ Abram” was changed into “ Abraham,” when God promised that
he should be the “father of many nations a as “Simon” was change
into “ Peter,” when it was said, “ On this rock I will build my church ;”—-
so ‘‘ Saul” is changed into “ Paul,” at the moment of his first great vie
tory among the Heathen. “at “the plains of Mamre by Hebron”
20, that Peter and Paul had power to inflict these judgments at their will. Though,
even if they had this power, they had also the spirit of Jove and supernatural knowl-
edge to guide them in the use of it.
1 Acts viii. 21-23, * John viii. 44.
3 Ῥαδιουργία (xiii. 10), expresses the cleverness of a successful imposture.
4 Notice εὐθείας, xiii. 10, and εὐθεῖα, viii. 21.
δ ’AyAdve καὶ σκότος, xiii. 11. This may be used, in Luke’s medical manner, to e>
press the stages of the blindness. Compare ἔστη καὶ περιέπατει in the account of the
recovery, iii. ἃ,
6 “Durch das Erblinden des Magiers dem Proconsul die Augen geoffnet werden.”
These are the words of Schrader, who yet exercises his utmost ingenuity to explain
away everything supernatural in the occurrence. See Schrader’s Paulus, ii. p. 170-175,
Baur’s notion of course is, that the whole story was invented or embellished. Baur’s
Peulus, Pt. 1. ch. iv.
150 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
were to the patriarch,—what ‘“ Cesarea Philippi,”! by the fountains of
the Jordan, was to the fisherman of Galilee,—that was the city of Paphos,
on the coast of Cyprus, to the tent-maker of Tarsus. Are we to suppose
that the name was now really given him for the first time,—that he
adopted it himself as significant of his own feelings,—or that Sergius
Paulus conferred it on him in grateful commemoration of the benefits he
had received,—or that “ Paul,” having been a Gentile form of the Apos
tle’s name in early life conjointly with the Hebrew “ Saul,” was now used
to the exclusion of the other, to indicate that he had receded from his
position as a Jewish Christian, to become the friend und teacher of the
Gentiles? All these opinions have found their supporters both in ancient
and modern times.? The question has been alluded to before in this work
(p. 46). It will be well to devote some further space to it now, once
for all. |
It cannot be denied that the words in Acts xiii. 9—‘ Saul, who is
also Paul”—are the line of separation between two very distinct portions
of St. Luke’s biography of the Apostle, in the former of which he is uni-
formly called “Saul,” while iv the latter he receives, with equal consis-
tency, the name of “ Panl” It must also be observed that the Apostle
always speaks of himself under the latter designation in every one of his
Epistles, without any exception ; and not only so, but the Apostle St.
Peter, in the only passage where he has occasion to allude to him,’ speaks
of him as “our beloved brother Paul.” We are, however, inclined to
adopt the opinion that the Cilician Apostle had this Roman name, as
well as his other Hebrew name, in his earlier days, and even before he
was a Christian. This adoption of a Gentile name is so far from being
alien to the spirit of a Jewish family, that a similar practice may be
traced through all the periods of Hebrew History. Beginning with the
Persian epoch (Β. 6. 550-350) we find such names as ‘“ Nehemiah,”
“ Schammai,” “ Belteshazzar,” which betray an oriental origin,’ and show
that Jewish appellatives followed the growth of the living language. In
the Greek period we encounter the names of “ Philip,’*® and his son
Alexander,”? and of Alexander’s successors, ‘‘ Antiochus,” ‘ Lysima.
1 See Gen. xiii. 18. xvii. 5. Mat. xvi. 18-18, and Mr. Stanley’s Sermon on St. Peter
? Olshausen, among the moderns, follows the opinion of Jerome.
2 2 Pet. iii. 15.
4 The following remarks are taken from Zunz, ‘Namen der Juden,” Leipsig, 1837
-—8 work which arose out of political circumstances in Germany.
& See what Zunz says of the terminations ja, ai, and the article Ha, as in Pedaja
Sakkai, Hakatan, Hakoz, &c.
6 Mat. x. 3. Acts vi.5. xxi. 8. Joseph. Ant. xiv. 10, 22.
7 Acts xix. 33, 34. See 2 Tim. iv. 14. Alexander was a common name among the
Asmonzxans. It is saidthat when the great conqueror passed through Juda, a promise
was made to him that all the Jewish children born that year should be called “ Alex
ander.”
HISTORY OF JEWISH NAMES. 151
chus,” “‘ Ptolemy,” “ Antipater ;”! the names of Greek philoscphers, such
as “Zeno” and ‘“ Epicurus ;”? even Greek mytho.ogical names, as
“ Jason” and “ Menelaus.”* Some of these words will have been recog:
aised as occurring in the New Testament itself. When we mention Re
raan names adopted by the Jews, the coincidence is still more striking
“ Crispus,” 4 ‘ Justus,” * “ Niger,” ® are found in Josephus? as well as in
the Acts. ‘ Drusilla” and “ Priscilla” might have been Roman matrons,
The “ Aquila” of St. Paul is the counterpart of the “ Apella” of Horace.*
Nor need we end our survey of Jewish names with the early Roman
empire ; for, passing by the destruction of Jerusalem, we see Jews, in the
earlier part of the Middle Ages, calling themselves “ Basil,” “ Leo,”
“ Theodosius,” “ Sophia ;” and, in the latter part, “ Albert,” “ Benedict,”
“ Crispin,” ‘“ Denys.”® We might pursue our inquiry into the nations of
modern Europe ; but enough has been said to show, that as the Jews
have successively learnt to speak Chaldee, Greek, Latin, or German, so
they have adopted into their families the appellations of those Gentile
families among whom they have lived. It is indeed remarkable that the
Separated Nation should bear, in the very names recorded in its annals,
the trace of every nation with whom it has come in contact and never
united.
It is important to our present purpose to remark that double names
often occur in combination, the one national, the other foreign. The
earliest instances are ‘“ Belteshazzar-Daniel,” and ‘‘ Esther-Hadasa.” 1
Frequently there was no resemblance or natural connection between thie
two words, as in “‘ Herod-Agrippa,” ‘‘ Salome-Alexandra,” “ Juda-Aristo-
bulus,” ‘‘ Simon-Peter.” Sometimes the meaning was reproduced, as in
“ Malich-Kleodemus.” At other times an alliterating resemblance of
sound" seems to have dictated the choice, as in ‘ Jose-Jason,” “ Hillel-
Jalus,” “ Saul-Pauius,’—“ Saul, who ts also Paul.”
11 Mac, xii. 16. xvi. 11. 2 Mac.iv. 29. Joseph. Ant. xiv. 10.
* Zunz adduces these names from the Mischna and the Berenice Inscription.
3 Jason, Joseph. Ant. xii. 10, 6, perhaps Acts xvii. 5-9. Rom. xvi. 21. Menelaus,
Joseph. Ant. xii. 5,1. See 2 Mac. iv. 5.
4 Acts xviii. 8. 5 Acts i. 23. 6 Acts xiii. 1.
7 Joseph Vit. 68,65. B.J.iv.6,1. Compare 1Cor.i.14. Acts xviii. 7. Col iv.1L
8 Hor. 1. Sat. v. 100. Priscilla appears under the abbreviated form “ Prisca,” 2 Tim.
iv. 19.
® See further details in Zunz.
10 Δανιὴλ ob τὸ ὄνομα ἐπεκλήθη Βαλτάσαρ. Dan. x. 1. LXX. Sce the Hebrew in
Esther ii. 7, ἼΣΟΝ x54 Soom. So Zerubbabel was called Sheshbazzar. Compare
Ezra v. 16 with Zech. iv. 9. The Oriental practice of adopting names which were sig-
nificant must not be left out of view. See Parkhurst, and his quotation from the
Targum on p55.
11 Perhaps the best note among the commentators is that of Grotius. ‘“ Saulus qua
rt Paulus ; id est, qui, ex quo cum Romanis conversari ccepit, hoc nomine a suo non
sbludente, cepit a Romanis appellari. Sic qui Jesus Judwis, Grecis Jason: Hillel,
[52 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
Thus it seems to us that satisfactory reasons can be adduced for the
double name borne by the Apostle,—without having recourse to the hy-
pothesis of Jerome, who suggests that, as Scipio was called Africanus
from the conqnest of Africa, and Metellus Creticus from the conquest of
Crete, so Saul carried away his new name as a trophy of his victory over
the heathenism of the Proconsul Paulus'—or to that notion, which Au-
gustine applies with much rhetorical effect in various parts of his writ-
ings,? where he alludes to the literal meaning of the word ““Pazlus,” and
Poliio: Onias, Menelaus: Jakin, Alcimus. Apud Romanos Silas, S.uvanus, ut nota-
vit Hieronymus: Pasides, Pansa, ut Suetonius in Crassitio; Diocles, Diocletianus ;
Biglinitza, soror Justiniani, Romane Vigilantia.” See Joseph. Ant. xii. 5,1. Com-
pare Jesus Justus, Col. iv. 11. -
1 Diligenter attende, quod hic primum Pauli nomen inceperit. Ut enim Scipio, sub-
jecta Africa, Africani sibi nomen assumpsit, et Metellus, Creta insula subjugata, insigne
Cretici sux familia reportavit ; et imperatores nunc usque Romani ex subjectis genti-
bus Adiabenici, Parthici, Sarmatici, nuncupantur: ita et Saulus ad predicationem
gentium missus, a primo ecclesiz spolio Proconsule Sergio Paulo victoriz sus trophea
retulit, erexitque vexillum, ut Paulus diceretur e Saulo.”” — Hieron. in Ep. Philem.
Augustine, in one passage, takes the same view. “Ipse minimus Apostolorum tuorum
(1 Cor. xv. 9) cum Paulus Proconsul, per ejus militiam debellata superbia, sub lene
jugum Christi tui missus est, regis magni provincialis effectus (Acts xiii. 7, 12), ipse
quoque ex priore Saulo Paulus vocari amavit, ob tam magne insigne victoria.’’—Conf.
viii. 4. It is impossible not to feel that this theory is very inconsistent with the humil-
ity of St. Paul. Baronius, who sees this objection, gives a conjecture which is more
probable: “Saulo cognomen suum, quod etiam Admiliorum familic fuit, quo sibi magis
arctiusque co vinculo Apostolum vinciret, Sergius Paulus indidit.” And again below
“A Sergio Paulo, amicitie gratia, familize suee cognomine nobilitatus est Apostolus.”’
3 “Vox illa de ccelo prostravit persecutorem, et erexit pradicatorem ; occidit Sau-
tum, et vivificavit Paulum (Acts ix). Saul enim persecutor erat sancti viri (1 Sam.
xix.) ; inde nomen habebat iste quando persequebatur Christianos: postea de Saulo
factus est Paulus (Acts xiii). Quid est Paulus? Modicus. Ergo quando Saulus, su-
perbus, elatus: quando Paulus, humilis, modicus. Ideo βίο loquimur, Paulo post
videbo te, id est, post modicum. Audi quia modicus factus est: go enim sum mini-
mus Apostolorum (1 Cor. xv. 9) 3 et) Mihi, minimoe omnium Sanctorum, dicit alio loco
(Ephes. iii. 8). Sic erat inter Apostolos tanquam fimbria vestimenti; sed tetigit He-
clesia gentium tanquam fluxum patiens, et sanata est. (Matt. ix. 20-22.) Tract. viii.
in Ep. Jo. The same train of thought is found, often in the same words, in the follow-
ing places: Enarr. in Ps. Ixxii. 4. Serm. ci. on Luke x. 2-6. Serm. clxviii. on Eph.
vi. 23. Serm. eelxxix. de Paulo Apostolo. In one passage he gives point to the con-
trast by alluding to the tall stature of the first king of the Jews. “Saulus a Saule
nomen derivatur. Qui fuerit Saul, notis. Ipsius electa est statura proceris [procera],
Sie enim describit Scriptura, quod supereminens esset omnibus, quando electus est ut
ungeretur in regem (1 Sam. ix. 2). Non fuit sic Paulus [Saulus], sed factus Paulus,
Paulus enim parvus.’’—Serm. clxix. in Philip. iii, 3-16. In these passages the notion
may be used only rhetorically. In another place he gives it as an opinion. ‘Non oh
aliud, quantum mihi videtur, hoc nomen elegit, nisi ut se ostenderet tanquam minis
roum Apostolorum.’’—De Sp. et Lit. xii. At one time he finds in Stephen the counter-
part of David: “Talis fuerat Saul in David, qualis Saulus in Stephanum.’’-—Serm-
ecexy. in Sol. Steph. Mart. At another, David prefigures our Lord himself: “Saul
erat ille persecutor David. In David Christus erat, in David Christus preefigurayatur
tanquam David Sauli de Ceelo, Saule, Saule, quid me perseaueris#”’ Serm. clxxv
in 1 Tim. i. 15. ἱ
SAUL AND PAUL. 15a
‘vontrasts Saul, the unbridled king, the proud self-confident persecutor of
David, with Paul, the lowly, the penitent,—who deliberately wished te
indicate, by his very name, that he was “the least of the Apostles,”? and
“ Tess than the least of all Saints.”? Yet we must not neglect the coinc
dent occurrence of these two names in this narrative of the events which
happened in Cyprus. We need not hesitate to dwell on the associations
which are connected with the name of “ Paulus,” or on the thoughts
which are naturally called up, when we notice the critical passage in the
sacred history, where it is first given to Saul of Tarsus. It is surely not
unworthy of notice that, as Peter’s first Gentile convert was a member of
the Cornelian House (p. 116), so the surname of the noblest family of the
Amilian Howse? was the link between the Apostle of the Gentiles and
his convert at Paphos. Nor can we find a nobler Christian version of any
line of a Heathen poet, than by comparing what Horace says of him who
fell αὖ Cannee,—“ anime magne prodigum Paulwm,”—with the words of
him who said at Miletus, ‘“ L cownt not my life dear wnto myself, so that I
might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received
of the Lord Jesus.” 4
And though we imagine, as we have said above, that Saul had the
name of Paul at an earlier period of his life, and should be inclined to con-
jecture that the appellation came from some connection of his ancestors
(perhaps as manumitted slaves) with some member of the Roman family
of the A®milian Pauli ;*—yet we cannot believe it accidental that the
words,® which have led to this discussion, occur at this particular point of
the inspired narrative. The Heathen name rises to the surface at the
moment when St. Paul visibly enters on his office as the Apostle of the
Heathen. The Roman name is stereotyped at the moment when he con-
verts the Roman governor. And the place where this occurs is Paphos,
the favourite sanctuary of a shameful idolatry. At the very spot which
was notorious throughout the world for that which the Gospel forbids and
destroys,—there, before he sailed for Perga, having achieved his victory,
the Apostle erected his trophy,7—as Moses, when Amalek was discom-
11 Cor. xv. 9: 3 Eph. iii. 8.
3 Paulus was the cognomen of a family of the Gens Aimilia, The stemma is given
in Smith’s Dictionary of Classical Biography, under Paulus Aumilius. The name must
of course have been given to the first individual who bore it from the sma’lness of his
stature: it isa contraction of Pauxillus: see Donaldson’s Varronianus. It should be
observed, that both Malalas and Nicephorus (quoted above) speak of St. Paul as short
of stature.
4 Hor. τ. Od. xii. 37. Acts xx. 24. Compare Phil. iii. 8.
5 Compare the case of Josephus, alluded to above, p. 46.
6. Acts xiii. 9.
7 See the words of Jerome quotel above, p, 151, ἢ, 3. “ Victoria sux tran@a retu
lit, erexitque vexillum.,”’
154 ΤῊ LIFE AND EPISTLIB OF ST. PAUL.
fited, “ built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah-Nissi,—the Lord
my Banner.” !
KAAYAIQI KAIZAPI ZEBAZSTQI
TEPMANIKQI APXIEPEI METIZTQI
AHMAPXIXHS ἘΞΟΥΣΙΑΣ AYTOKPATOPI
ΠΑΤΡῚ TiATPIAOZ KOYPIEGN H ΠΟΛΙΣ
ATIO TQN IIPOKEK[P]JIMENQ[IN ΥἹΠῸ IOYAIOY
KOPAOY ANOYIIATOY AOYKICS ANNIOS ΒΑΣΙΣΟΣ ANOIY
TIATOS KAOIEPQZSEN: IB,
INSCRIPTION FOUND AT CURIUM, IN Ci °RUS.2
1 Exod. xvii, 15.
2 Boeckh. Corpus Inscriptionum (No. 2632). This inscription has been selected
because of its allusion to the Emperor Claudius. The year is 52 4. v. c. 805. Of the
two proconsuls here mentioned, Julius Cordus and L. Annius Bassus, the former ia
mentioned in another inscription (No. 2631, found at Citium). See the inscriptions
and other evidence collected by Engel in his work on Cyprus. Kypros. Berlin, 1843.
i pp. 459-463.
OLD AND NEW PAPHOS. 158
CHAPTER VI.
“ Paulus preeeo Dei, qui fera gentium
Primus corda sacro perdomuit stilo,
Christum per populos ritibus asperis
Immanes placido dogmate seminat.”’
PrupEnNT1us, Con: Symm. Pref.
ΟΣ, AND NEW PAPHOS.—DEPARTURE FROM CYPRUS.-—COAST OF PAMPHYLIA.—
PERGIA.—MARK’S RETURN TO JERUSALEM.—MOUNTAIN-SCENERY OF PISIDIA.—
SITUATION OF ANTIOCH.—THE SYNAGOGUE.—ADDRESS TO THE JEWS.—
PREACHING TO THE GENTILES.—PERSECUTION BY THE JEWS.—HISTORY ANE
DESCRIPTION OF ICONIUM.—LYCAONIA.—DERBE AND LYSTRA.—HEALING OF
THE CRIPPLE.—IDOLATROUS WORSHIP OFFERED TO PaUL AND BARNABAS.—
ADDRESS TO THE GENTILES.—ST. PAUL STONED.—TIMOTHEUS.—THE APOS
TLES RETRACE THEIR JOURNEY.—PERGA AND ATTALEIA.—RETURN TO SYRIA.
Tue banner of the Gospel was now displayed on the coasts of the heatken
The glad tidings had “‘ passed over to the isles of Chittim,”! and had found
a willing audience in that island, which, in the vocabulary of the Jewish
Prophets, is the representative of the trade and civilisation of the Mediter-
ranean Sea. Cyprus was the early meeting-place of the Orieztal and
Greek forms of social life. Originally colonised from Pheenicin, it was
successively subject to Eeypt, to Assyria, and to
Persia ; the settlements of the Greeks on its
shores had begun in a remote period, and their
influence gradually advanced, till the older links
of connection were entirely broken by Alexan-
der and his successors. But not only in politi-
cal and social relations, by the progress of con-
quest and commerce, was Cyprus the meetine-
place of Greece and the East. Here also their
forms of idolatrous worship met and became
COIN OF PAPHOS.”
1 The general notion intended by the phrases “isles”? and “coasts” of “Chittim,”
ecems to have been “ the isiands and coasts of the Mediterranean to the west and north-
west of Judea.” Numb. xxiv. 24. Jer. ii. 10. Ezek. xxvii. 6. See Gen.x.4,5. Isai
xxiii. 1. Dan. xi. 30. But primarily the name is believed to have been connected
with Citium (see note 2, p. 154), which was a Phoenician colony. See Gesenius, under
ans. Epiphanius (himself a Cyprian bishop) says, Κίτιον 7 Kuzpiws νῆσος καλεῖται
Κίτιοι γὰρ Κύπριοι. Heer. xxx. 25.
From the British Museum : see below, p. 156, n. 7.
156 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ΒΤ. PAUL.
blended together. Paphos was, indeed, a sanctuary of Greek religion ; on
this shore the fabled goddess first landed, When she rose from the sea τ: this
was the scene of a worship celebrated in the classical poets, from the age of
Homer,’ down to the time when Titus, the son of Vespasian, visited the spot
with the spirit of a heathen pilgrim, on his way to subjugate Judea But
the polluted worship was originally introduced from Assyria or Pheenicia : 4
the Oriental form under which the goddess was worshipped, is represented
on Greek coins :* the Temple bore a curious resemblance to those of As-
tarte at Carthage or Tyre : ὁ and Tacitus pauses to describe the singular-
ity of the altar and the ceremonies, before he proceeds to narrate the cam-
paign of Titus.7 And here it was that we have seen Christianity firmly
established by St. Paul,—in the very spot where the superstition of Syria
had perverted man’s natural vencration and love of mystery, and where
the beautiful creations of Greek thought had administered to what Atha-
nasius, when speaking of Paphos, well describes as the “ deification of lust.”
The Paphos of the poets, or Old Paphos, as it was afterwards called,
was situated on an eminence at a distance of nearly two miles from the
sea. Vew Paphos was on the sea-shore, about ten miles to the north.
But the old town still remained as the sanctuary which was visited by
1 Deam ipsam conceptam mari huc appulsam. ‘Tac. Hist. ii. 3. See P. Mela, ii. 7.
2 Odyss. villi. 362. See Kurip. Bacch. 400. Virg. Ain. i. 415. Hor. Od. 1. xxx
Luean. Phars. viii. 456. ,
3 Tac. Hist. ii. 2-4. Compare Suet. Tit. ὅ. Tacitus speaks of magniucent offering:
presented by kings and others to the temple at Old Paphos.
4 Pausanias traces the steps of the worship from Assyria to Paphos and Phenicia,
aad ultimately to Cythera. Attic. xiv. 6. Tacitus connects Cilicia with scme of the
religious observances.
5 See below, n. 7. 6 See Muller’s Archaologie, § 239 (p. 298).
7 Sanguinem are obfundere vetitum: precibus et igne puro altaria adolentur, nec
ullis imbribus, quanquam in aperto, madescunt. Simulacrum Des non effigie humana,
continuus orbis latiore i nitio tenuem in ambitum mete modo exsurgens: et ratio in
obscuro. Tac. H. ii. 3. See Max. Tyr. Παφίοις ἡ μὲν ᾿Αφροδίτη τὰς τιμὰς ἔχει" τὰ
δὲ ἄγαλμα ovx dv εἰκάσαις ἄλλῳ τῳ ἢ πυραμίδι λευκῇ, ἡ δὲ ὕλη ἀγνοεῖται. Diss. vill. 8.
Also Clem. Alex. Coh. ad Gentes. m1. iv. *
8 Je is alluding to the worship of Venus at Paphos, and says: τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν ϑεο-
ποιήσαντες προσκυνοῦσιν. Athan. Cont. Gracos, p. 10, ed. Col. 1686. Compare
Arnob. v. 19.
9. Or rather the north-west. See the Chart, which is due to the kindness of Captair,
Graves. R. N. The words of Strabo are: Ei’ ἡ Ilddoc .... λιμένα tyouca....
διέχει δὲ mel σταδιους ἑξήκοντα τῆς ἸΙαλαιπάφου" καὶ πανηγυρίζουσι διὰ τῆς ὁδοῦ
ταύτης κατ’ ἔτος ἐπὶ τὴν ἸΠαλαίπαφον, ἄνδρες ὁμοῦ γυναιξὶν ἐκ τῶν ἀλλῶν πόλεων
συνιόντες. xiv. 6. The following is an extract from some MSS. notes by Captain
Graves: * Kouklia (Old Paphos) is three hours’ ride from Ktema (near New Paphos)
slong a bridle-path, with corn-fields on either side. The ruins are extensive, particu-
larly a Cyclopean wall .. . with inscriptions of an early date. There are also very
extensive catacombs.’”? The Peut. Table makes the distance eleven miles, Forbiger
(Alte Geographie, iii. 1049) says incorrectly, that Old Paphos was according to Strabq
rixty stadia “ weiter landeinwarts ” from New Paphos,
PAPHOS. 151
heathen pilgrims ; profligate processions, at stated seasons, crowded the
road between the two towns, as they crowded the road between Antioch
and Dapiine (p. 125) ; and small models of the mysterious image! were
sought as eagerly by strangers as the little ‘silver shrines” of Diana at
Ephesus.’ Dowbtiess the position of the old town was an illustration of
the early custom, mentioned by Thucydides, of building at a safe distanea
from the shore, at a time when the sea was infested by pirates ; and the
new town had been established in a place convenient for commerce, when
navigation had become more secure. It was situated on the verge of a
plain, smaller than that of Salamis, and watered by a scantier stream
than the Pedizus (see p. 139). Not long before the visit of Paul and
Barnabas it had been destroyed by an earthquake. Augustus had rebuilt
it, and from him it had received the name of Augusta, or Sebaste But
the old name still retained its place in popular usage, and has descended to
modern times. The “ Paphos” of Strabo, Ptolemy, and St. Luke,‘ be-
came the ‘‘Papho” of the Venetians and the “Baffa” of the Turks. A
second series of Latin* architecture has crumbled into decay. Mixed up
with the ruins of palaces and churches are the poor dwellings of the Greek
and Mahomedan inhabitants, partly on the beach, but chiefly on a low
ridge of sandstone rock, about two miles® from the ancient port, for the
1 See the story in Athenzus, xv.18. Ὁ Ἡρόστρατος, ἐμπορίᾳ χρώμενος καὶ χώραν
πολλὴν περιπλέων, προσσχών ποτε καὶ ἸΙάφῳ τῆς Κύπρου, ἀγαλμάτιον ’Adpoditas
σπιθαμιαῖον, ἀρχαῖον τῇ τέχνῃ, ὠνησάμενος, ἤει φέρων εἰς Νάυκρατιν, κ. τ. Δ. The
narrative goes on to say that the merchant was saved by the miraculous image from
shipwreck.
? Acts xix, 24.
3 We learn this from Dio Cassius. Παφίοις σείσμῳ sovycact καὶ χρήματα ἐχαρίσατυ,
καὶ τὴν πόλιν Adyovotay καλεῖν, κατὰ δόγμα ἐπέτρεψε, liv. 23. See also Senee. Ep. 9}.
N. Q. vi. 206. The Greek form Sebaste, instead of Augusta, occurs in an inscription
found on the spot, which 15. further interesting as containing the name of another
Paulus. Mapkia Φιλίππου ϑυγατρί, ἀνεψιᾷ Καίσαρος ϑεοῦ Σεθαστοῦ, γυναικὶ ἸΤαύλον
Φαῤίου Μαξίμου, Σεθαστῆς Πάφου ἡ βουλὴ καὶ 6 duoc. Boeckh. No. 2029. So Antioch
in Pisidia was called Cesarea. See below, p. 170.
4 Strab. xiv. 6. Pitol v.14, 1:
5 The following passage from a traveller about the time of the Reformation, is a
surious instance of the changes of meaning which the same words may undergo.
‘Paphos ruinis plena videtur, templis tamen frequens, inter ques Latina sunt prestan-
tiora, in quibus ritu Romano divina peraguntur. et Gallorum legibus vivitur.” Itin.
Hieros. Bartai. de Salignaco, 1587.
6 This is the distance between the Ktema and the Marina given by Captain Graves
in Purdy’s Sailing Directions (p. 251), it is stated to be only half a mile. Captain
Graves says: “In the vicinity are numerous ruins and ancient remains; but when so
many towns have existed, and so many have severally been destroyed, all must be left
to conjecture. A number of columns broken and much mutilated are lying about, and
some substantial and well-built vaults, or rather subterraneous communications, under
a hill of slight elevation, are pointed out by the guides as the remains of a temple dedi-
sated to Venus. Then there are numerous excavations in the sandstone hills, which
arobably served at various periods the double purpose of habitations and tombs, Sev-
158 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
marsh, which once formed the limit of the port, makes the shore unlicalthy
during the heats of summer by its noxious exhalations. One of the most
singular features of the neighbourhood consists of the curious caverns ex
cavated in the rocks, which have been used both for tombs and for dwell-
ings. The port is now almost blocked up, and affords only shelter for
boats. “The Venetian stronghold, at the extremity of the Western mole,
is now fast crnmbling into ruins. The mole itself is broken up, and every
year the massive stones of which it was constructed are rolled over
from their original position into the port.”! The approaches to the har-
bour can never have been very safe, in consequence of the ledge of rocks?
which extends some distance into the sea. At present, the eastern en-
trance to the anchorage is said to be the safer of the two. The western,
under ordinary circumstances, would be more convenient for a vessel cicar
ing out of the port, and about to sail for the Gulf of Pamphylia.
We have remarked in the last chapter, that it is not difficult to imag-
ine the reasons which induced Paul and Barnabas, on their departure from
Seleucia, to visit first the island of Cyprus. It is not quite so easy to give
an opinion upon the motives which directed their course to the coast of
Pamphylia, when they had passed through the native island of Barnabas,
from Salamis to Paphos. It might be one of those circumstances which we
call accidents, and which, as they never influence the actions of ordinary men
without the predetermining direction of Divine Providence, so were doubt-
less used by the same Providence to determine the course even of Apos-
tles. As St. Paul, many years afterwards, joined at Myra that vessel
in which he was shipwrecked,? and then was conveyed to Puteoli in a
ship which had accidentally wintered at Malta —so on this occasion there
might be some small craft in the harbour at Paphos, bound for the oppo-
site gulf of Attaleia, when Paul and Barnabas were thinking of their
future progress. The distance is not great, and frequent communication,
both political and commercial, must have taken place between the towns of
Pamphylia and those of Cyprus.> It is possible that St. Paul, having
eral monasteries and churches now in ruins, of a low Gothic architecture, are more
casily identified ; but the crumbling fragments of the sandstone with which they are
constructed, only add to the incongruous heap around, that now covers the palace of
the Paphian Venus.’’—MS. note by Captain Graves, R. N. .
1 Captain Graves. MS.
2 “A creat ledge of rocks lies in the entrance to Papho, extending about a league ;
you may sail in either to the eastward or westward of it, but the eastern passage is the
widest and best.” Purdy, p. 251. The soundings may be seen in our copy of Captain
Graves’ Chart.
3 Acts xxvil. 5, 6. 4 Acts xxviii. 11-13.
5 And perhaps Paphos more especially, as the seat of government. At present
Khalandri (Gulnar), to the south-east of Attaleia and Perga, is the port from whieh
the Tatars from Constantinople, conveying government despatches, usually cross te
Cyprus. See Purdy, p. 245, and the reference to Irby and Mangles.
PAMPHYLIA. 159
already preached the Gospel in Cilicia,’ might wish now to extend it
among those districts which lay more immediately contiguous, and the pop.
ulation of which was, in some respects, similar to that of his native pro-
vince.? He might also reflect that the natives of a comparatively unso
phisticated district might be more likely to receive the message of salvas
tion, than the inhabitants of those provinces which were more completely
penetrated with the corrupt civilisation of Greece and Rome. Or hs
thoughts might be turning to, those numerors families of Jews, whom he
well knew to be settled in the great towns beyond Mount Taurus, such as
Antioch in Pisidia, and Iconium in Lycaonia, with the hope that his Mas-
ter’s cause would be most successfully advanced among those Gentiles, whe
flocked there, as everywhere, to the worship of the synagogue. ‘Or,
finally, he may have had a direct revelation from on high, and a vision,
like that which had already appeared to him in the Temple,’ or like that
which he afterwards saw on the confines of Europe and Asia,‘ may have
directed the course of his voyage. Whatever may have been the calcula-
tions of his own wisdom and prudence, or whatever supernatural intima-
tions may have reached him, he sailed, with his companions Barnabas and
John, in some vessel, of which the size, the cargo, and the crew, are un-
known to us, past the promontories of Drepanum and Acamas, and then.
across the waters of the Pamphylian Sea, leaving on the right the cliffs 5
which are the western boundary of Cilicia, to the innermost bend of the
bay of Attaleia.
This bay is a remarkable feature in the shore of Asia Minor, and it is
not without some important relations with the history of this part of the
world. It forms a deep indentation in the general coast-line, and is bor-
dered by a plain, which retreats itself like a bay into the mountains.
From the shore to the mountains, across the widest part of the plain, the
distance is a journey of eight or nine hours. Three principal rivers inter-
sect this level space: the Catarrhactes, which falls over the sea-cliffs near
Attaleia, in the waterfalls which suggested its name ; and farther to the
east the Cestrus and Hurymedon, which flow by Perga and Aspendus to a
low and sandy shore. About the banks of these rivers, and on the open
waters of the bay, whence the eye ranges freely over the ragged mountain
summits which inclose the scene, armies and fleets had engaged in some of
those battles of which the results were still felt in the day of St. Paul.
From the base of that steep shore on the west, where a rugged knot of
mountains is piled up into snowy heights above the rocks of Phaselis, the
1 See pp. 104-106 and 117.
ἢ Strabo’s expression is, Οἱ Πάμφυλοι, πολὺ τοῦ Ἱζιλικίον φύλου μετέχοντες, xii. 7.
3. Acts xxii. 17-21. See p. 104. 4 Acts xvi. 9.
5 About C. Anamour (Anemurium, the southernmost point of Asia Minor), and
Alaya (the ancient Coracesium), there are cliffs of 500 and 600 feet high. See Purdy,
p. 244. Compare our Map of the N. E. corner of the Mediterranean. ;
160 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
united squadron of the Romans and Rhodians sailed across the bay in the
year 190 8.6. ; and it was in rounding that promontory near Side on the
east, that they caught sight of the fleet of Antiochus, as they came on by
the shore with the dreadful Hannibal on board.!' And close to the same
spot where the Latin power had defeated the Greek king of Syria, an-
other battle had been fought at an earlier period, in which the Greeks
gave one of their last blows to the retreating force of Persia, and the
Athenian Cimon gained a victory both by land and sea; thus winning,
according to the boast of Plutarch, in one day the laurels of Platea and
Salamis.* On that occasion a large navy sailed up the river Eurymedon
as far as Aspendus. Now, the bar at the mouth of the river would make
this impossible? The same is the case with the river Cestrus, which,
Strabo says, was navigable in his day for sixty stadia, or seven miles, to
the city of Perga.* Ptolemy calls this city an inland town of Pamphylia ;
but so he speaks of Tarsus in Cilicia.* And we have seen that Tarsus,
though truly called an inland town, as being some distance from the coast,
was nevertheless a mercantile harbour. Its relation with the Cydnus was
similar to that of Perga with the Cestrus ; and the vessel which brought
St. Paul to win more glorious victories than those of the Greek and Ro-
man battles of the Eurymedon,—came up the course of the Cestrus to her
moorings near the Temple of Diana.
All that Strabo tells us of this city is that the Temple of Diana was
on an eminence at some short distance, and that an annual festival was
held in honour of the goddess.* The chief associations of Perga are with
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1 The description in Livy is as vivid as if it proceeded from an eye-witness: “ tn
confinio Lycie et Pamphylie Phaselis est: prominet penitus in altum, conspiciturque
prima terrarum Rhodum a Cilicia petentibus, et procul navium preebet prospectum
.... Postquam superavere Rhodii promontorium, quod ab Sida prominet in altum,
extemplo et conspecti ab hostibus sunt, et ipsi eos viderunt.’”’ xxxvii. 23. Compare the
English Sailing Directions.
3 Plut. Cim. 3 See Beaufort’s Karamania, p. 135.
4 Elf ὁ Κέστρος ποταμὸς, ὃν ἀναπλεύσαντι σταδίους ἑξήκοντα Ilépyn πόλις. xiv. 4.
6 Perga is reckoned among the Παμφυλίας μεσόγειοι. Ptol. v. 5, 7. So Tarsus
vamiong the Κιλικίας pecoy. v. 8, 7.
6 sfAnotov ἐπὶ μετεώρου τόπου τὸ τῆς Περγαίας ’Aprépuidog ἱερὸν, ἐν ᾧ πανήγυριι
sear ἔτος συντελεῖται. Xiv. 4 7 From the British Museum.
PERGA. ᾿ 103
the Greck rather than the Roman period: aad its existing remains are
described as being “ purely Greek, there being no trace of any sater in-
habitants.” Its prosperity was probably arrested by the building of At
taleia? after the death of Alexander, in a more favourable situation on
the shore of the bay. Attaleia has never ceased to be an important town
since the day of its foundation by Attalus Philadelphus. But when the
traveller pitches his tent at Perga, he finds only the encampments of
shepherds, who pasture their cattle amidst the ruins. These ruins are
walls and towers, columns and cornices, a theatre and a stadium, a broken
aqueduct encrusted with the calcareous deposit of the Pamphylian streams,
and tombs scattered on both sides of the site of the town. Nothing else
remains of Perga, but the beauty of its natural situation, “between and
upon the sides of two hills, with an extensive valley in front, watered by
the river Cestrus, and backed by the mountains of the Taurus.” *
The coins of Perga are a lively illustration of its character as a.city of
the Greeks. We have no memorial of its condition as a city of the Ro-
mans ; nor does our narrative require us to delay any longer in describing
it. The Apostles made no long stay in Perga. This seems evident, not
only from the words used at this point of the history,‘ but from the marked
manner in which we are told that they did stay,® on their return from the
interior. One event, however, is mentioned as occurring at Perga, which,
though noticed incidentally and in a few words, was attended with painful
feelings at the time, and involved the most serious consequences, It must
have occasioned deep sorrow to Paul and Barnabas, and possibly even
then some mutual estrangement : and afterwards it became the cause of
their quarrel and separation.? Mark ‘departed from them from Pam-
phylia, and went not with them to the work.” He came with them up
the Cestrus as far as Perga, but there he forsook them, and, taking ad-
vantage of some vessel which was sailing towards Palestine, he “ returned
to Jerusalem,” 7 which had been his home in earlier years. We are not
to suppose that this implied an absolute rejection of Christianity. A
soldier who has wavered in one battle may live to obtain a glorious vic-
1 Fellows. See Note 3. [Ina letter received from E. Falkener, Esq., Architect, it
is stated that though the theatre is disposed after the Greek manner, its architectural
details (as well as those of the stadium) are all Roman.]
? Acts xiv. 25.
3 This description is quoted or borrowed from Sir C. Fellow’s “ Asia Minor, 1839,”
pp. 190--193. Gen. Kohler appears to have seen these ruins in 1800, on “a large and
rapid stream” between Stavros and Adalia, but without identifying them with Perga,
Leake’s Asia Minor, p. 132. See Cramer, ii. 220.
4 Διελθόντες ἀπὸ τῆς Πέργης, xiii. 14. On their return it is said, διελθόντες τὴ»
meee? xiv. 24. Similarly, a rapid journey is implied in διοδεύσαντες τὴν A. kal A,
5 Λαλήσαντες ἐν Ilépyy τὸν λόγον, κατέδησαν, κ. τ. A. xiv 25.
6 Acts xv. 37-39. 7 Acts xiii, 19. 8 Acts xii. 12, 25.
vot. 1.—I11
162 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 8T. PAUL.
tory. Mark was afterwards not unwilling to accompany the Apostles on
a second missionary journey ;- and actually did accompany Barnabas
again to Cyprus.? Nor did St. Paul always retain his unfavourable judg-
ment of him (Acts xv. 38), but long afterwards, in his Roman imprison-
ment, commended him to the Colossians, as one who was “a fellow-
worker unto the kingdom of God,” and “a comfort” to himself :* and in
his latest letter, just before his death, he speaks of him again as one
“profitable to him for the ministry.” Yet if we consider all the circum-
stances of his life, we shall not find it difficult to blame his conduct in
Pamphylia, and to see good reasons why Paul should afterwards, at An-
tioch, distrust the steadiness of his character. The child of a religious
mother, who had sheltered in her house the Christian disciples in a fierce
persecution, he had joined himself to Barnabas and Saul, when they trav-
elled from Jerusalem to Antioch, on their return from a mission of charity.
He had been a close spectator of the wonderful power of the religion of
Christ,—he had seen the strength of faith under trial in his mother’s
home,—he had attended his kinsman Barnabas in his labours of zeal and
love,—he had seen the word of Paul sanctioned and fulfilled by miracles,—
he had even been the “ minister” of Apostles in their successful enter-
prize :* aud now he forsook them, when they were about to proceed
through greater difficulties to more glorious success. We are not left in
doubt as to the real character of his departure. He was drawn from the
work of God by the attraction of an earthly home.‘ As he looked up
from Perga to the Gentile mountains, his heart failed him, and turned
back with desire towards Jerusalem. He could not resolve to continue
persevering, “in journeyings often, in perils of rivers, in perils of
robbers.” 7
“Perils of rivers” and “ perils of robbers”—these words express the
very dangers which St. Paul would be most likely to encounter on his
journey from Perga in Pamphylia to Antioch in Pisidia. The lawless and
maurauding habits of the population of those mountains which separate
the table-land in the interior of Asia Minor from the plains on the south
coast, were notorious in all parts of ancient history. Strabo uses tbe
same strong language both of the Isaurians* who separated Cappadocia
from Cilicia, and of their neighbours the Pisidians, whose native fortress
es were the barrier between Phrygia and Pamphylia.2 We have the
' Acts, xv. 37. 3. Acts xv. 39. 3 Col. iv. 10.
1 2 Tim. iv. 11. 5 See Acts xiii. 5.
¢ Matthew Henry pithily remarks: “ Either he did not like the work, or he wanted
to go and see his mother.”
7 2 Cor. xi. 26.
8 See p. 20.
® Of Isauria he says, ληστῶν ἅπασαι κατοικίαι. xii. 6. Of the Pisidians he says that
εαθάτεο of Κίλικες, λήστρικῶς ἤσκηνται. Ib. 7. He adds that even the Pamphyliang
PERILS OF THE JOURNEY. 163
same character of the latter of these robber tribes in Xenophon, who is
the first to mention them ;! and in Zosimus, who relieves the history of
the later empire by telling us of the adventures of a robber chief, whe
defied the Romans and died a desperate death in these mountains.?- Alex
ander the Great, when he heard that Memnon’s fleet was in the Hgean,
and marched from Perga to rejoin Parmenio in Phrygia, found some of
the worst difficulties of his whole campaign in penetrating through this
district.s The scene of one of the roughest campaigns connected with the
wars of Antiochus the Great was among the hill-forts near the upper
waters of the Cestrus and Eurymedon.t No population through the midst
of which St. Paul ever travelled, abounded more in those “ perils of rob-
bers,” of which he himself speaks, than the wild and lawless clans of the
Pisidian Highlanders.
And if on this journey he was exposed to dangers from the attacks of
men, there might be other dangers, not less imminent, arising from the
natural character of the country itself. ΤῸ travellers in the East there is
a reality in ‘‘ perils of rivers,” which we in England are hardly able to
understand. Unfamiliar with the sudden flooding of thirsty water-courses,
we seldom comprehend the full force of some of the most striking images
in the Old and New Testaments.* The rivers of Asia Minor, like all the
rivers in the Levant, are liable to violent and sudden changes. And no
district in Asia Minor is more singularly characterised by its ‘“ water
floods ” than the mountainous tract of Pisidia, where rivers burst out at
the bases of huge cliffs, or dash down wildly through narrow ravines.
The very notice of the bridges in Strabo, when he tells us how the Cestrus
“though living on the south side of Taurus, had not quite given up their robber habits
and did not always allow their neigkbours to live in peace.”
1 Xen. Anab.1.i. 11. ix. 9. τῆ, ii. 14.
5. His name was Lydius—ro γένος Ἴσαυρος, ἐντεθραμμένος τῇ συνήθει Anoreia. Zos.
pp. 59-61, in the Bonn Ed. The scene is at Cremna. See the Map. Compare what
Zosimus says of the robbers near Selge, 265. The beautiful story of St. John and the
robber (Euseb, Eccl. Hist. iii. 23) will naturally occur to the reader. See also the
frequent mention of Isaurian robbers in the latter part of the life of Chrysostom, pre-
fixed to the Benedictine edition of his works.
3 See the account of Arrian, I. 27, 28, and especially the notices of Selge and Saga
lassus ; and compare the accounts of these cities by modern travellers, P. Lucas, Ασα τς
del, and Fellows.
4 See especially the siege of Selge by Achzeus in Polybius, v. 72-77. Compare the
account of Sagalassus in the narrative of the Campaign of Manlius. Liv. xxxviii. 15,
and see Cramer’s Asia Minor. -
5 Thus the true meaning of 2 Cor. xi. 26 is lost in the English translation. Similarly,
in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. vii, 25, 27), ποταμὸι is translated “ floods,’’ and the
mage confused. See Ps, xxxii. 6.
6 The crossing of the Halys by Creesus (Herod. i. 75) is an illustration of the difficul-
tics presented by the larger rivers of Asia Minor. Wonones, when attempting to escape
from Cilicia (Tac. Ann. ii. 68), lost his life in consequence of not being able to crosg
*he Pyramus.
164 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAvL.
and Eurymedon tumble down from the heights and precipices of Selge te
che Pamphylian Sea, is more expressive than any elaborate description.’
We cannot determine the position of any bridges which the Apostle may
have crossed, but his course was never far from the channels of these two
rivers : and it is an interesting fact, that his name is still traditionally
connected with one of them, as we learn from the information recently
given to an English traveller by the Archbishop of Pisidia.”
Such considerations respecting the physical peculiarities of the country
now traversed by St. Paul, naturally lead us into various trains of thought
concerning the scenery, the climate, and the seasons. And there are cer-
tain probabilities in relation to the time of the year when the Apostle may
be supposed to have journeyed this way, which may well excuse some re-
marks on these subjects. And this is ali the more allowable, because we
are absolutely without any data for determining the year in which this
first missionary expedition was undertaken. All that we can assert with
confidence is that it must have taken place somewhere in the interval be-
tween the years 45 and 50.4 But this makes us all the more desirous to
determine, by any reasonable conjectures, the movements of the Apostle
in reference to a better chronology than that which reckons by successive
years,—the chronology which furnishes us with the real imagery round
his path,—the chronology of the seasons.
Now we may well suppose that he might sail from Scleucia to Salamis
at the beginning of spring. In that age and in those waters, the com
mencement of a voyage was usually determined by the advance of the sea-
son, The sea was technically said to be “open” in the month of March.
1 Τὴν χώραν τὴν Le ὍΣΣ ὀρεινὴν " κρηηῶν καὶ ee οὖσαν πλήρη, ἃς ποιοῦσιν
ἄλλοι τε ποταμοὶ, καὶ ὁ Ἑὐρυμέδων, καὶ ὁ Κέστρος, ἀπὸ τῶν Σελγικῶν ὀρῶν εἰς τὴν
Παμφυλίαν ἐκπίπτοντες ϑάλατταν " γέφυραι δ᾽ ἐπίκεινται ταῖς ὀδοῖς. Strabo, xii. 7.
2 “ About two hours and a half from Isbarta, towards the south-east, is the village
of Say, where is the source of a river called the Sav-Sou. Five hours and a half be-
yond, and still towards the south-east, is the village of Paoli (St. Paw), and here the
river, which had continued its course so far, is lost in the mountains, &c.”’ Arundell’s
Asia Minor, vol.ii.p.31. Isbarta is near Sagalassus. The river is probably the Eury-
medon. See Arundell’s Map in the first volume.
3 The descriptive passages which follow are chiefly borrowed from “ Asia Minor,
1839,” and “Lycia, 1841,” by Sir O. Fellows, and “Travels in Lycia, 1847,” by
Lieutenant Spratt, R. N., and Professor Εἰ. Forbes. The writer desires also to ἄπ
edge his obligations to various travellers, especially Professor Forbes, Mr. Falkener,
and Dr. Wolff.
4 See Wieseler, pp. 222-226. Anger, pp. 188, 189. The extent of the interval is
much the same on Mr. Greswell’s system (Diss. vol. iv. p. 138); on that of Mr
Browne (Ordo Seclorum, p. 120) somewhat less.
5 Ex die tertio iduum Novembris, usque in diem sextum iduum Mar’ tiarum, maria
clauduntur. Nam lux minima noxque prolixa, nubium densitas, aeris obscuritas, vens
torum imbrium, vel nivium geminata sievitia. WVegetius, quoted in Smith’s “Ship
wreck. &c.,” p. 45. See Hor. Od. 1. iv. τη. vii.
MOUNTAIN-SCENERY OF PISIDIA. 165
If St. Paul began his journey in that month, the lapse of two months
might easily bring him to Perga, and allow sufficient time for all that we
are told of his proceedings at Salamis and Paphos. If we suppose him te
have been at Perga in May, this would have been exactly the most nas
tural time for a journey to the mountains. Earlier in the spring, the
passes would have been filled with snow.!| In the heat of summer ‘he
weather would have been less favourable for the journey. In the autumn
the disadvantages would have been still greater, from the approaching dif
ficulties of winter. But again, if St. Paul was at Perga in May, a further
reason may be given why he did not stay there, but seized all the advan-
tages of the season for prosecuting his journey to the interior. The habits
of a people are always determined or modified by the physical peculiarities
of their country ; and a custom prevails among the inhabitants of this part
of Asia Minor, which there is every reason to believe has been unbroken
for centuries. At the beginning of the hot season they move up from the
the plains to the cool basin-like hollows on the mountains. These yazdlahs
or summer retreats are always spoken of with pride and satisfaction, and
the time of the journey anticipated with eager delight. When the time
arrives, the people may be seen ascending to the upper grounds, men,
women, and children, with flocks and herds, camels and asses, like the
patriarchs of old? If then St. Paul was at Perga in May, he would find
the inhabitants deserting its hot and silent streets. They would be mov-
ing in the direction of his own intended journey. He would be under no
temptation to stay. And if we imagine him as joining* some such compar
1 “ March 4.—The passes to the Yailahs from the upper part of the valley being still
ghut up by snow, we have no alternative but to prosecute our researches amongst the
low country and valleys which border the coast.’”—Sp. and F. i. p. 48. The valley
referred to is that of the Xanthus, in Lycia.
2“ April 30.—We passed many families en rowte from Adalia to the mountain
plains for the summer.” Sp. and F. i. p. 242. Again, p. 248. (May 3.) See p. 57.
During a halt in the valley of the Xanthus (May 10), Sir C. Fellows says that an
almost uninterrupted train of cattle and people (nearly twenty families) passed by.
“What a picture would Landseer make of such a pilgrimage. The snowy tops of the
mountains were seen through the lofty and dark-green fir-trees, terminating in abrupt
cliffs..... From clefts in these gushed out cascades... and the waters were carried
away by the wind in spray over the green woods....In a zigzag course up the wood
lay the track leading to the cool places. In advance of the pastoral groups were the
straggling goats, browsing on the fresh blossoms of the wild almond as they passed.
ἴῃ more steady courses followed the small black cattle... then came the fiocks of
sheep, and the camels... bearing piled loads of ploughs, tent-poles, kettles... and
amidst this rustic load was always seen the rich Turkey carpet and damask cushions
the pride even of the tented Turk.’ Lycia, pp. 238, 239.
3 It has always been customary for travellers in Asia Minor, as in the patriarchal,
®ast, to join caravans if possible. So P. Lucas, on his second journey, waited δὲ
Broussa (ch. 13); and on another occasion at Smyrna (ch. 32), for the caravan going
to Satalia (Attaleia) ; and on a later journey could not leave the caravan to visit some
ruins between Broussa and Smyrna (i. 134).
106 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 51. PAUL. |
ny of Pamphylian families on his way to the Pisidian mountains, it givea
much interest and animation to the thought of this part of his progress,
Perhaps it was in such company that the Apostle entered the first
passes of the mountainous district, along some road formed partly by arti-
ficial pavement, and partly by the native marble, with high cliffs frowning
on either hand, with tombs and inscriptions, even then ancient, on the pro-
jecting rocks around, and with copious fountains bursting out “ among
thickets of pomegranates and oleanders.”! The oleander, ‘‘ the favourite
flower of the Levantine midsummer,” abounds in the lower watercourses,
and in the month of May it borders all the banks with a line of brilliant
crimson.’ As the path ascends, the rocks begin to assume the wilder
grandeur of mountains, the richer fruit-trees begin to disappear, and the
pine and walnut succeed; though the plane-tree still stretches its wide
leaves over the stream which dashes wildly down the ravine, crossing and
recrossing the dangerous road. The alteration of climate which attends
on the traveller’s progress, is soon perceptible. .A few hours will make the
difference of weeks or even months. When the corn is in the ear on the
lowlands, ploughing and sowing are hardly well begun upon the highlands,
1 Tn ascending from Limyra, a small plain on the coast not far from Phaselis, Spratt
and Forbes mention “a rock-tablet with a long Greek inscription ... by the side of an
ancient paved road, at a’spot where numerous and copious springs gush out among
thickets of pomegranates and oleanders.” (i. p. 160.) Fellows, in coming to Attaleia
from the north, ‘“‘ suddenly entered a pass between the mountains, which diminished in
width until cliffs almost perpendicular inclosed us on either side. The descent became
80 abrupt that we were compelled to dismount and walk for two hours, during whick
time we continued rapidly descending an ancient paved road, formed principally of the
native marble rock, but which had been perfected with large stones at a very remote
age ; the deep ruts of chariot-wheels were apparent in many places. The road is much
worn by time; and the people of a later age, diverging from the track, have formed a
road with stones very inferior both in size and arrangement. About half an hour
before I reached the plain...a view burst upon me through the cliffs... I looked
down from the rocky steps of the throne of winter upon the rich and verdant plain of
summer, with the blue sea in the distance.... Nor was the foreground without its in-
terest ; on each projecting rock stood an ancient sarcophagus, and the trees half con-
cealed the lids and broken sculptures of innumerable tombs.” A.M. pp. 174, 175.
This may very probably have been the pass and road by which St. Paul ascended. P.
Lucas, on his second voyage (1705), met with a paved road between Buldur and
Adalia. “Nous commengames a remonter, mais par un chemin magnifique et pavé de
longues pierres de marbre blanc.”—Ch. xxxiii. p. 310. See Gen. Koehler’s Itinerary,
in Leake’s Asia Minor. “March 20 (16 hours from Adalia).—The two great ranges
on the west and north of the plains now approach each other, and at length are only
divided by the passes through which the river finds its way. The road, however, leavea
this gorge to the right, and ascends the mourtain by a paved winding causeway, a
work of great labour and ingenuity. At the foot of it are ruins... cornices, capitals,
and fluted columns... sarcophagi, with their covers beside them... many with in
scriptions.” p. 134.
3 See the excellent Chapter on the οἰ δὴν, of Lycia in Spratt and Torbes, vol. 1
ch, xiii.
4 See the animated description of the ascent from Myra in Fellows’ Lycia, p, 221.
MOUNTAIN-SCENERY OF PISIDA. 167
Spring flowers may be seen in the mountains by the very edge of the snow,
when the anemone is withered in the plain, and the pink veius in the white
asphodel flower are shrivelled by the heat. When the cottages are closed
and the grass is parched, and everything is silent below in the purple haza
and stillness cf midsummer, clouds are seen drifting among the Pisidian
precipices, and the cavern is often a welcome shelter from a cold and pens
etrating wind.? The upper part of this district is a wild region of cliffs,
often isolated and bare, and separated from each other by valleys of sand,
which the storm drives with blinding violence among the shivered points.?
The trees become fewer and smaller at every step. Three beits of vegeta
tion are successively passed through in ascending from the coast : first the
oak woods, then the forests of pine, and lastly the dark scattered patches
of the cedar-juniper :‘ and then we reach the treeless plains of the interior,
which stretch in dreary extension to the north and the east.
After such a journey as this, separating, we know not where, from the
companions they may have joined, and often thinking of that Christian
companion who had withdrawn himself from their society when tht y needed
him most, Paul and Barnabas emerged from the rugged mountain passes,
and came upon the central table-land of Asia Minor. The whole interior
region of the peninsula may be correctly described by this term ; for,
though intersected in various directions by mountain-ranges, it is, on
the whole, a vast plateau, elevated higher than the summit of Ben
Nevis above the level of the sea.* This is its general character, though a
long journey across the district brings the traveller through many varieties
of scenery. Sometimes he moves for hours along the dreary margin of an
1 “ May 7.—Close to the snow many beautiful plants were in flower, especially Ane
mone Appenina, and several species of violet, squill, and fritillary.” Sp. and F.i.p
201. This was near Cibyra, “ the Birmingham of Asia Minor.” “May 9.—Ascending
through a winterly climate, with snow by the side of our path, and only the crocus and
anemones in bloom... we beneld a new series of cultivated plains to the west, being
tn fact table-lands, nearly upon a level with the tops of the mountains which form the
eastern boundary of the valley of the Xanthus..... Descending to the plain, probably
1000 feet, we pitched our tent, after a ride of 772 hours..... Upon boiling the thermo-
meter, I found that we were more than 4000 feet above the sea, and cutting down some
dead trees, we provided against the coming cold of the evening by lighting three large
ures around our encampment.” Fell. Lycia, p. 234. This was in descending from
Almalee, in the great Lycian yailah, to the south-east of Cibyra.
* Kor further illustrations of the change of season caused by difference of elevation,
sce Sp. and F. 1. p. 242. Again, p. 293, “ Every step led us from spring into summer ;”
and the following pages. See also Fellows: “Two months since at Syra the corn wag
beginning to show the ear, whilst here they have only in a few places now begun ta
plough and sow.” A.M.158. “The corn, which we had the day before seen changing
colour for the harvest, was here not an inch above the ground, and the buds of the
bushes were not yet bursting.’ Lycia, p. 226.
3 See Sp. and I’. 1. pp. 195-202. Fell. A.M. pp. 165-174. Alse Sp. and F. 1. ch. ix.
« Sp. and Τὸ ii. ch. xiii.
* The yailah of Adalia s 3500 feet above the sca: Sp. and F.i. p. 244. The vast
168 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
inland sca of salt,'—sometimes he rests in a cheerful hospitable town by
the shore of a freshwater lake.? In some places the ground is burnt and
volcanic, in others green and fruitful. Sometimes it is depressed into
watery hollows, where wild swans visit the pools, and storks are seen fish-
ing and feeding among the weeds :* more frequently it is spread out into
the broad open downs, like Salisbury Plain, which afford an interminable
pasture for flocks of sheep. To the north of Pamphylia, the elevated
plain stretches through Phrygia for a hundred miles from Mount Olympus ©
to Mount Taurus.’ The southern portion of these bleak uplands was
crossed by St. Paul’s track, immediately before his arrival at Antioch, in
Pisidia. The features of human life which he had around him are pro-
bably almost as unaltered as the scenery of the country,—dreary villages
with flat-roofed huts and cattle-sheds in the day, and at night an encamp-
ment of tents of goats’ hair,—tents of cilzezwm (see p. 47),—a blazing fire
in the midst,—horses fastened around,—and in the distance the moon
shining on the snowy summits of Taurus.*
The Sultan Tareek, or Turkish Royal Road from Adalia to Kiutayah
and Constantinople, passes nearly due north by the beautiful lake of Bul-
dur.’ The direction of Antioch in Pisidia bears more to the east. After
passing somewhere near Selge and Sagalassus, St. Paul approached by
the margin of the much larger, though perhaps not less beautiful, lake of
Eyerdir.’ The position of the city is not far from the northern shore of
this lake, at the base of a mountain range which stretches through Phrygia
plain, ‘‘at least 50 miles long and 20 wide,” south of Kiutaya in Phrygia, is about
6000 feet above the sea. Fell. A. M. p. 155. This may be overstated, but the plain of
Erzeroum is quite as much,
1 We shall have occasion to mention the salt lakes hereafter.
3 The two lakes of Buldur and Eyerdir are mentioned below. Both are described as
very beautiful. The former is represented in the Map to the south of Lake Ascania,
the latter is the large lake to the south of Antioch. That of Buldur is slightly brakish,
Hamilton, τ. 494.
3“ March 27 (near Kiutaya).—I counted 180 storks fishing or feeding in one small
swampy place not an acre in extent. The land here is used principally for breeding
and grazing cattle, which are to be seen in herds of many hundreds.” Fell. Asia
Minor, p. 155. ‘“ May 8.—The shrubs are the rose, the barbary, and wild almond, but
all are at present fully six weeks later than those in the country we have lately passed.
I observed on the lake many stately wild swans, (near Almalee, 3000 feet above the
gea).”’—Fell. Lycia, p. 228.
4 We shall have occasion to return presently to this character of much of the inte
rior of Asia Minor when we come to the mention of Lycaonia (Acts xiv. 6),
5 Fellows’ Asia Minor, p. 155, &c.
6 See Fellows’ Asia Minor, p. 177, and especially the mention of the goats’ hair tents,
7 See above, n. 2.
8 See the descriptions in Arundell’s Asia Minor, ch. xiii., and especially ch. xv. It
is singular that this sheet of water is unnoticed by the classical writers. Mr. Arundel]
is of opinion that it is the lake Pusgusa mentioned by Nicetas in his account of the war
of John Commenus with the Turks of Iconium (Bonn. Ed. p. 50),
SITUATION OF ANTIOCH. 164
m a south-easterly direction. It is, however, not many years since the
statement could be confidently made. Strabo, indeed, describes its posi-
tion with remarkable clearness and precision. His words are as follows :—
“Tn the district of Phrygia called Paroreia, there is ἃ certain mountain.
ridge, stretching from east to west. On each side there is a large plain
below this ridge: and it has two cities in its neighbourhood ; Philome-
lium on the north, and on the other side Antioch, called Antioch near
Pisidia. The former lies entirely in the plain, the latter (which has a
Roman colony) is on a height.”! With this description before him, and
taking into account certain indications of distance furnished by ancient
authorities, Colonel Leake, who has perhaps done more for the elucidation
of Classical Topography than any other man, felt that Ak-Sher, the posi-
tion assigned to Antioch by D’Anville and other geographers, could not
be the true place: Ak-Sher is on the north of the ridge, and the position
could not be made to harmonise with the Tables.* But he was not in
possession of any information which could lead him to the true position ;
and the problem remained unsolved till Mr. Arundell started from Smyrna,
in 1833, with the deliberate purpose of discovering the scene of St. Paul’s
labours. He successfully proved that Ak-Sher is Philomelium, and that
Antioch is at Jalobatch, on the other side of the ridge. The narrative
of his successful journey is very interesting: and every Christian ought to
sympathise in the pleasure with which, knowing that Antioch was seventy
miles from Apamea, and forty-five miles from Apollonia, he first succeeded
in identifying Apollonia ; and then, exactly at the right distance, per
ceived, in the tombs near a fountain, and the vestiges of an ancient road,
sure indications of his approach to a ruined city ; and then saw, across
the plain, the remains of an aqueduct at the base of the mountain ; and,
finally, arrived at Jalobatch, ascended to the elevation described by
Strabo, and felt, as he looked on the superb ruins around, that he was
“really on the spot consecrated by the labours and persecution of the
Apostles Paul and Barnabas.” #
The position of the Pisidian Antioch being thus determined by the
convergence of ancient authority and modern investigation, we perceive
that it lay on an important line of communication, westward by Apamea
1‘H παρώρεια ὀρεινήν τινα ἔχει ῥάχιν, ἀπὸ τῆς ἀνατολῆς ἐκτεινομένην ἐπὶ δύσιν.
ταύτῃ δ᾽ ἑκατέρωθεν ὑποπέπτωκε τὶ πεδίον μέγα, καὶ πόλεις πλησίον αὐτῆς, πρὸς ἄρκτον
μὲν Φιλομήλιον, ἐκ ϑατέρου δὲ μέρους ’᾿Αντιόχεια, ἡ πρὸς Πισιδίᾳ καλουμένη " ἡ μὲν, ἐν
revi κειμένη πᾶσα, ἡ δ' ἐπὶ λόφου, ἔχουσα ἐποικίαν Ῥωμαίων. xii. 8.
Re Leake’s Asia Minor, p. 41. The same diffioulties were perceived by Mannert,
Ἷ 3 See Arundell’s Asia Minor, ch. xii. xiii. xiy. and the view. There is also a view
in Laborde. The opinion of Mr. Arundell is fully confirmed by Mr. Hamilton. Re
searches in Asia Minor, vol. τ. ch. xxvii. The aqueduct conveyed water to the town
from the Sultan Dagh (Strabo’s ὀρεινη ῥάχις)
170 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ΒΤ. PAUL.
with the valley of the Meander, and eastward by Iconium with the cyan
try behind the Taurus. In this general direction, between Smyrna and
Ephesus on the one hand, and the Cilician Gates which lead down te
Tarsus on the other, conquering armies and trading caravans, Persian
ratraps, Roman proconsuls, and Turkish pachas, have travelled for centu-
ries. The Pisidian Antioch was situated about half-way between these
2xtreme points. It was built (as we have seen in an earlier chapter, IV.
p: 122) by the founder of the Syrian Antioch ; and in the age of the
Greek kings of the line of Seleucus it was a town of considerable impor-
tance. But its appearance had been modified, since the campaigns of
Scipio and Manlius, and the defeat of Mithridates,’ by the introduction of
Roman usages, and the Roman style of building. This was true to a
certain extent, of all the larger towns of Asia Minor: but this change
had probably taken place in the Pisidian Antioch, more than in many cities
of greater importance ; for, like Philippi,? it was a Roman Colonia.‘
Without delaying, at present, to explain the full meaning of this term, we
may say that the character impressed on any town in the Empire which
had been made subject to military colonisation was particularly Roman,
and that all such towns were bound by a tie of peculiar closeness to the
Mother City. The insignia of Roman power were displayed more con-
spicuously than in other towns in the same province. In the provinces
where Greek was spoken, while other towns had Greek letters on their
coins, the money of the colonies was distinguished by Latin superscriptions.
Antioch must have had some eminence among the eastern colonies, for it
was founded by Augustus, and called Caesarea.’ Such coins as thase
COIN OF ANT. PIs.°
» millustration cf this we may refer to the caravan routes and Persian military
xueds 85 indicated in Kieppert’s Hellas, to Xenophon’s Anabasis, to Alexander’s cam-
pargn and Cicero’s progress, to the invasion of Tamerlane, and the movements of the
Turkish and Egyptian armies in 1832 and 1833.
3 See p. 14. 8. Acts xvi. 12.
4 "Ἔχουσα ἐποικίαν ‘Pouaiwy : Strabo xii. 8. Pisidarum colonia Caesarea, eadem
Antiochia: Plin. N. H. v. 24. In Pisidia juris Italici est colonia Antiochensium:
Paulus in Digest. Lib. 1. tit. xv. (de colonis et jure Italico).
5 We should learn this from the inscription on the coins, COL. CBS. ANTIOCHLA,
6 From the British Museum.
"HR SYNAGOGUE. 17}
com oF axt. rir.)
deseribed and represented on this page, were in circulation here, though
not at Perga or Iconium, when St. Paul visited these cities: and, more
than at any other city visited on this journey, he would hear Latin spoken
side by side with the Greek, and the ruder Pisidian dialect.’
Along with this population of Greeks, Romans, and native Pisidians,
a greater or smaller number of Jews was intermixed. They may not have
been a very numerous body, for only one synagogue? is mentioned in the
narrative. But it is evident, from the events recorded, that they were an
influential body, that they had made many proselytes, and that they had
obtained some considerable dominion (as in the parallel cases of Damascus
recorded by Josephus,‘ and Berea and Thessalonica in the Acts of the
Apostles*) over the minds of the Gentile women.
On the sabbath days the Jews and the proselytes met in the syna-
gogue, It is evident that at this time full liberty of public worship was
permitted to the Jewish people in ail parts of the Roman empire, what«
ever limitations might have been enacted by law or compelled by local
opposition, as relates to the form and situation of the synagogues. We
infer from Epiphanius that the Jewish places of worship were often erected
in open and conspicuous positions.© This natural wish may frequently
if we did not learn it from Pliny, quoted in the preceding note. Mr. Hamilton found an
inseription at Yalobatch, with the letters ANTIOCH EAE CAESARE. (p. 474.)
1 From the British Museum.
2 Strabo, speaking of Cibyra in Lycia, says, τέτταρσι γλώτταις ἐχρῶντο οἱ Κιθυράται,
τῇ Πισιδικῇ, τῇ Σολύμων, τῇ EAAnVisL, τῇ Λυδῶν. xiii. 4. Again, he mentions thirteen
“barbarous ” tribes as opposed to the Grecks, and among these the Pisidiars. xiv. 5.
. We shall have to return to this subject of language again, in speaking of the speech of
Lycaonia.” Acts xiv. 11.
3 See remarks on Salamis, p. 141.
« The people of Damascus were obliged to use caution in their scheme of assassins
sting the Jews ;—2dedoixecav γὰρ τὰς ἑαυτῶν γυναῖκας ἁπάσας πλὴν ὀλίγων imnypevesg
τῇ lovdaixg ϑρησκείᾳ. B. J. ii. 20, 2.
5 Acts xvii. 4. 12.
6 He is speaking of the synagogue at Nablous, and says: Προσευχῆς τύπος ἐν Lunt
pore, ἐν TH νυνὶ καλουμένῃ Νεαπόλει, ἐξω τῆς πόλεως ἐν τῇ πεδιάδι ὡς ἀπὸ σημείων δύο,
ϑεατροειδὴς, οὕτως ἐν ἀέρι καὶ αἰθρίῳ τόπῳ ἐστὶ κατασκιυασθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν Σαμαρειτῶν
172 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
have been checked by the influence of the heathen priests, who would rot
willingly see the votaries of an ancient idolatry forsaking the temple for
the synagogue : and feelings of the same kind may probably have hindered
the Jews, even if they had the ability or desire, from erecting religious
edifices of any remarkable grandeur and solidity. No ruins of the syna-
gogues of imperial times have remained to us, like those of the temples in
every pr¢evince, from which we are able to convince ourselves of the very
form and size of the sanctuaries of Jupiter, Apollo, and Diana. ‘There is
little doubt that the sacred edifices of the Jews have been modified by
the architecture of the remote countries through which they have been
dispersed, and the successive centuries through which they have coutinued
a separate people. Under the Roman Empire it is natural to suppose
that they must have varied, according to circumstances, through all grada-
tions of magnitude and decoration, from the simple prosewcha at Philippi?
to the magnificent prayer-houses at Alexandria.’ Yet there are certain
traditional peculiarities which have doubtless united together by a com-
mon resemblance the Jewish synagogues of all ages and countries.
The arrangement for the women’s places in a separate gallery, or behind
a partition of lattice-work,—the desk in the centre, where the Reader,
like Ezra in ancient days, from his “ pulpit of wood,” may “ open the
book in the sight of all the people... and read in the book the law of
God distinctly, and give the sense, and cause them to understand the
reading,” ‘—the carefully closed Ark on the one side of the building near-
est to Jerusalem, for the preservation of the rolls or manuscripts of the
Law,°—the seats all round the building, whence “the eyes of all them
that are in the synagogue” may be “ fastened” on him who speaks,’—
the “ chief seats,” which were appropriated to the ‘“‘ruler” or “rulers” of
the synagogue, according as its organisation might be more or less com-
plete, and which were so dear to the hearts of those who professed to be
πάντα τὰ τῶν Ἰουδαίων μιμουμένων. -- αν. Ιχχχ. 1. Frequently they were built by the
wuterside for the sake of ablution. Compare Acts xvi. 13 with Joseph. Ant. xiv. 10, 28,
1 Acts xvi. 13. The question of the identity or difference of the proseucha and
synagogue will be considered hereafter. Probably προσευχὴ is a general term. See
σαν. Sat. iii. 296. Joseph. Vit. § 54. We find in Philo the words προσευκτήριον (de
Vit. Mos. iii. 685) and συναγώγιον (Legat. p. 1035).
3 See Philo Legat. ad Cai. p. 1011.
3 Besides the works referred to in the notes to Ch. 11., Allen’s “ Modern Judaism”
and Bernard’s “ Synagogue and Church”? may be consulted with advantage on subjects
connected with the synagogue.
4 See Philo, as referred to by Winer. 5 Nehem. viii. 4-8.
6 This “ Armarium Judaicum” is mentioned by Tertullian. De Cultu Foem. i. 3.
7 See Luke iv. 20.
8 These πρωτοκαθέδριαι (Mat. xxiii. 6) seem to have faced the rest of the congrega--
tion. See Jam. ii. 3.
9 Apytovvaywyéc, Luke xiii. 14. Acts xviii. 8.17. πρεσθύτεροι, Tastee vii. ὃ. dpyes
συναγωγοί, Mark v.22. Acts xiii.15. Some are of opinion that the smaller syragogue
THE SYNAGOGUE. 173
peculiany learned or peculiarly devout,—these are some of the features
of a synagogue, which agree at once with the notices of Scripture, the
descriptions in the Talmud, and the practice of modern Judaism.
The meeting of the congregations in the ancient synagogues may be
easily realised, if due allowance be made for the change of costume, by
those who have seen the Jews at their worship in the large towns of
Modern Europe. On their entrance into the building, the four-cornered
Tallith ! was first placed like a veil over the head, or like a scarf over the
shoulders. The prayers were then recited by an officer called the ‘ An-
gel,” or “ Apostle,” of the Assembly.* These prayers were doubtless
many of them identically the same with those which are found in the pre-
sent service-books of the German and Spanish Jews, though their litur-
gies, in the course of ages, have undergone successive developments, the
steps of which are not easily ascertained. It seems that the prayers were
sometimes read in the vernacular language? of the country where the
synagogue was built; but the Law was always read in Hebrew. The
sacred roll‘ of manuscript was handed from the Ark to the Reader by the
Chazan, cr “Minister ;”* and then certain portions were read according
to a fixed cycle, first from the Law and then from the Prophets. It is
impossible to determine the period when the sections from these two
divisions of the Old Testament were arranged as in use at present ;° but
the same necessity for translation and explanation existed then as now
The Hebrew and English are now printed in parallel columns. Then, the
reading of the Hebrew was elucidated by the Targum or the Septuagint,
or followed by a paraphrase in the spoken language of the country.’
The Reader stood’ while thus employed, and all the congregation sat
around. The manuscript was rolled up and returned to the Chazan.°
had one “ruler,” the larger many. It is more probable that the “chief ruler’ with
the “ elders” formed a congregational council, like the kirk-session in Scotland.
1 The use of the Tallith is said to have arisen from the Mosaic commandment direct-
ing that fringes should be worn on the four corners of the garment.
2 “R. Gamaliel dicit : Legatus ecclesie fungitur officio pro omnibus, et officio hos
rite perfunctus omnes ab obligatione liberat.”” Vitringa, who compares Rev. ii. 1.
3 See Winer’s Realiworterbuch, art. Synagogen.
4 See the words ἀναπτύξας and πτύξας, Luke iv. 17, 20. In 1 Mac. iii. 48 the phrase
is ἐξεπέτασαν τὸ βίθλιον τοῦ νόμου.
5 Luke iv. 17, 20.
6 A full account both of the Paraschioth or Sections of the Law, and the Haphta-
roth or Sections of the Prophets, as used both by the Portuguese and German Jews,
may be seen in Horne’s Introductiun, vol. iii. pp. 254-258.
7 See pp. 35, 36. In Palestine the Syro-Chaldaic language would be used ; in the
Dispersion, usually the Greek. Lightfoot (Exerc. on Acts) seems to think that the
Pisidian language was used here. See the passage of Strabo quoted above.
8 ’Avactac, Acts xiii. 16. On the other hand, ἐκάθισε is said of Our Lord’s sclemr
teaching, Luke iv. 20.
® See Luke iv. 20.
174 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ΒΤ. PAUL.
Then followed a pause, during which strangers or learned men, who had
“any word of consolation” or exhortation, rose and addressed the meet
ing. And thus, after a pathetic enumeration of the sufferings of the
chosen people! or an allegorical exposition ? of some dark passage of Holy
Writ, the worship was closes. with a benediction and a solemn ‘‘ Amen.” 2
To such a worship in such a building a congregation came together at
Antioch in Pisidia, on the sabbath which immediately succeeded the arri-
val of Paul and Barnabas. Proselytes came and seated themselves with
the Jews : and among the Jewesses behind the lattice were “‘ honourable
women” 4 of the colony. The two strangers entered the synagogue, and,
wearing the Tallith, which was the badge of an Israelite,’ “ sat down” ®
with the rest. The prayers were recited, the extracts from ‘the Law
and the Prophets” were read ;7 the “ Book” returned to the ‘‘ Minis-
ter,”® and then we are told that “the rulers of the synagogue” sent to
the new comers, on whom many eyes had already been fixed, and invited
them to address the assembly, if they had words of comfort or instruction
‘to speak to their fellow Israelites.» The very attitude of St. Paul, as he
answered the invitation, is described to us. He “rose” from his seat, and
with the animated and emphatic gesture which he used on other occa-
sions,” ‘‘ beckoned with his hand.” #
After thus graphically bringing the scene before our eyes, St. Luke
gives us, if not the whole speech delivered by St. Paul, yet at least the
substance of what he said. For into however short a space he may hare
condensed the speeches which he reports, yet it is no mere outline, no dry
analysis of them which he gives. He has evidently preserved, if not ail
the words, yet the very words uttered by the Apostle ; nor can we fail to
recognise in all these speeches a tone of thought, and even of expression,
which stamps them with the individuality of the speaker.
On the present occasion we find St. Paul beginning his address by
connecting the Messiah whom he preached, with the preparatory dispen-
sation which ushered in His advent. He dwells upon the previous history
οἵ the Jewish people, for the same reasons which had led St. Stephen to
1 The sermon in the synagogue in “Helon’s pilgrimage” is conceived in the true
Jewish feeling. Compare the address of St. Stephen.
3. We see how an inspired Apostle uses allegory. Gal. iv. 21-31.
3: See Neh. viii. 6. 1 Cor. xiv. 16. 4 Acts xiii. 50.
5 “As Tentered the synagogue [at Blidah in Algeria], they offered me a Tallith,
saying in French, ‘ Etes-vous Israelite?’ I could not wear the Tallith, but I opened
my English Bible and sat down, thinking of Paul and Barnabas at Antioch in Pisidia.¥
—Hxtract from a private journal.
® Acts xiii. 14. 7 Acts xiii. 15. 8 Luke iv. 20.
9 Adyoc παρακλήσεως. Acts xiii. 15.
1 Ἐκτείνας τὴν χεῖρα. Acts xsvi. 1, Κατέσεισε τῇ χειρὶ τῷ λαῷ. xxi. 48. A
κεῖρες αὗται. xx. 34,
Acts xiii. 10.
ADDRESS TO THE JEWS. 175
dio the like in his defence before the Sanhedrin. He endeavours to con
ciliate the minds of his Jewish audience by proving to them that the Mes
siah whom he proclaimed, was the same whereto their own prophets bare
witness ; come, not to destroy the law, but to fulfil ; and that His advent
had been duly heralded by His predicted messenger. He then proceeds
to remove the prejudice which the rejection of Jesus by the authorities
at Jerusalem (the metropolis of their faith) would naturally raise in the
minds of the Pisidian Jews against His divine mission. He shows that
Christ’s death and resurrection had accomplished the ancient prophecies,
and declares this to be the “glad tiding” which the Apostles were
charged to proclaim. ‘Thus far the speech contains nothing which could
offend the exclusive spirit of Jewish nationality. On the contrary, St.
Paul has endeavoured +o carry his hearers with him by the topics on
which he has dwelt ; the Saviour whom he declares is “a Saviour untae
Israel ;” the Messiah whom he announces is the fulfiller of the Law
and the Prophets. But having thus conciliated their feelings, and
won their favourable attention, he proceeds in a bolder tone, to declare
the Catholicity of Christ’s salvation, and the antithesis between the Gos
pel and the Law. His concluding words, as St. Luke relates them,
might stand as a summary representing in outline the early chapters of
the Epistle to the Romans . and therefore, conversely, those chapters will
enable us to realise the manner in which St. Paul would have expanded
the heads of argument which his disciple here records. The speech ends
with a warning against the bigoted rejection of Christ’s doctrine, which
this latter portion of the address was so likely to call forth.
The following were the words (so far as they have been preserved to
us) spoken by St. Paul on this memorable occasion :—
‘“‘ Men of Israel, and ye, proselytes of the Gentiles, Sa Pee
wao worship the God of Abraham, give audience.
“The God of this people israel chose our fathers, 01’s choice of
Israel to be His
ad raised th int ighty i 7 + people, and of
and raised them up into a mighty nation, when they people, and of
τὸ Deere ey Sa eee 5 = rogenitor of
dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt; and with an Prognitor
high arm brought He them out therefrom. And
about the time of forty years, even as a nurse beareth her child,
so bare He them! through the wilderness. And He destroyed
1 The beauty of this metaphor has been lost to the authorized version on account of
she reading (ἐτροποφόρησεν instead of ἐτροφοφόρησεν) adopted in the Textus Receptus.
Griesbach, Scholz, and Lachman restored the latter reading, on the authority of the
Uncial MSS., A.C. E. We regret to see that Tischendorf has reinstated the former
reading (because it has a somewhat greater weight of MSS. of the Greek Testament in
its favour), without taking into account the evident allusion to Deut. i. 31, where
roogopopyoat is acknowl 2dged to be the correct reading.
176 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUu.
geven nations in the land of Canaan, and gave their land as a
portion unto His people. And after that He gave unto them
Judges about the space! of four hundred and fifty years, until
Samuel the Prophet; then desired they a king, and He gave
unto them Saul, the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin,
to rule them forty years. And when He had removed Saul, He
raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also He
gave testimony, and said: 7 have found David, the son of Jesse,
a man after my own heart, which shall fulfil all my will Of
this man’s seed hath God, according to His promise, raised unte
Israel a Saviour Jesus.
John the Bap- “ And John was the messenger who went before His
predicted fore- 706 3 to prepare His way before Him, and he preach-
ἡγῇ ἢ ed the baptism of repentance to all the people of Is-
rael. And as John fulfilled his course his‘ saying was, ‘ Whom
think ye that I am? I am not He. But behold there
cometh one after me whose shoes’ latchet I am not worthy to
loose.’
The rulers of “Men and Brethren, whether ye be children of
Jerusalem ful-
filled the Pro-' the stock of Abraham, or proselytes of the Gentiles, to
phets by caus- ie . . .
ing the death you hath been sent the tiding of this salvation, which
"αν Ὁ Jerusalem hath cast out: for the inhabitants thereof,
and their rulers, because they knew Him not, nor yef the voices
of the prophets which are read in their synagogues every Sab-
bath day, have fulfilled the Scriptures in condemning Him.
And though they found in Him no cause of death, yet desired
they Pilate that He should be slain. And when they had ful-
filled all which was written of Him, they took Him down from
the tree, and laid Him in a sepulchre.
Ee ΒΕΙΡΕΣΕΟ: “ But God raised Him from the dead.
TION,
Attested by “ And He was seen for many days: by them wno
1 We need not trouble our readers with the difficulties which have been raised con-
cerning the chronology of this passage. Supposing it could be proved that St. Paul’s
knowledge of ancient chronology was imperfect, this need not surprise us; for there
seems no reason to suppose (and we have certainly no right to assume ἃ prior?) that
tlivine inspiration would instruct the Apostles in truth discoverable by uninspired
research, and non-essential to their religious mission.
3 Compare Ps. Ixxxix. 20, with 1 Sam. xiii. 14.
3 Mal. iii. 1, as quoted Mat. xi. 10, not exactly after the LXX., but with πρὰ pu
sdov introduced, as here, according to the literal translation of the Hebrew 4955.
4 Observe ἔλεγε not ἔλεξε, and ἐπλήρου not ἐπλήρωσε.
ADDRESS TO THE JEWS. Kit
οὐ ap with [im from Galilee to Jerusalem, who many witness
- Ἢ es.
are now! His witnesses to the people of Israel.’
“ And while they? proclaim it in Jerusalem, we The Glad Tid
? ing of the Apos
declare unto you the same Glad Tiding concerning [165 is the an.
nouncement
the promise which was made to our fathers; even that Christ's
resurrection
that God hath fulfilled the same unto us their chil- μὰ Sie,
dren, in that He hath raised up Jesus from the dead ;+ ***
as it is also written in the second psalm, Zhou art my Son, this
day have I begotten thee» And whereas He hath raised Him
from the grave, no more to return unto corruption, He hath said
on this wise, Zhe blessings of David will I give you, even the
blessings which stand fast in holiness. Wherefore it is writ-
ten also in another psalm, Zhou shalt not suffer thine Holy One
to see corruption.’ Now David, after he had ministered in hig
own generation to the will of God, fell asleep, and was laid unto
his fathers, and saw corruption ; but He whom God raised from
the dead saw no corruption.
“ Be it known unto you, therefore, men and breth- cathoticity οἱ
ren, that through this Jesus is declared unto you the fons Antitho:
forgiveness of sins. And in Him all who have faith Gospel and the
are justified from all transgressions, wherefrom in the a
Law of Moses ye could not be justified.’
“ Beware, therefore, lest that come upon you which yinal warming,
is spoken in the Prophets, Behold, ye despisers, and
wonder, and perish ; for I work a work in your days, ὦ work
which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto
you.”
This address made a deep and thrilling impression on the audience.
While the congregation were pouring out of the synagogue, many of
1 This viv, which is here very important, is erroneously omitted by the Textus Re
ceptus.
3. Ὁ λαύς always means the Jewish people.
3 Observe ἡμεῖς μας, emphatically contrasted with the preceding οἵτινες... πρὸς
Tov λαῶν (Humphry).
4 ᾿Αναστήσας scilicet ἐκ νεκρῶν (De Wette). We cannot agree with Mr. Humphry
that i: can here (consistently with the context) have the same meaning as in vii. 37.
SPs 1177:
6 Tsaiah lv. 3; observe τὰ ὅσια, and compare with τὸν ὅσιον, which follows.
7 Ps. xvi. 10.
8 We are here reminded of the arguments of St. Peter on the day of Pentecost, jusf
as the beginning of the speech recals that of St. Stephen before the Sanhedrin. Pog
sibly, St. Paui himself had been an auditor of the first, as he certainly was of the last
© Habak. i. 5.
von. 1-12
178 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
them! crowded τοῦ] the speaker, begging that ‘these words,” which
had moved their deepest feelings, might be repeated to them on their next
occasion of assembling together.” And when at length the mass of the
people had dispersed, singly or in groups, to their homes, many of the
Jews and proselytes still clung to Paul and Barnabas, who earnestly ex:
horted them (in the form of expression which we could almost recognise
as St. Paul’s, from its resemblance to the phraseology of his Epistles,) “ to
abide in the grace of God.”
“With what pleasure can we fancy the Apostles to have observed
these hearers of the Word, who seemed to have heard it in such earnest.
How gladly must they have talked with them,—entered into various points
more fully than was possible in any public address,—appealed to them in
various ways which no one can touch upon who is speaking +o a mixed
multitude. Yet with all their pleasure and their hope, their knowledge
of man’s heart must have taught them not to be over confident; and
therefore they would earnestly urge them to continue in the grace of God ;
to keep up the impression which had already outlasted their stay within
the synagogue ;—to feed it, and keep it alive, and make it deeper and
leeper, that it should remain with them for ever. What the issue was
ve know not,—nor does that concern us,—only we may be sure that here,
as in other instances, there were some in whom their hopes and endeavours
were disappointed ; there were some in whom they were to their fullest
extent realised.” 4
The intervening week between this Sabbath and the next had not only
its days of meeting in the synagogue,® but would give many opportunities
for exhortation and instruction in private houses ; the doctrine would be
noised abroad, and, through the proselytes, would come to the hearing of
the Gentiles. So that “on the following Sabbath almost the whole city
came together to hear the Word of God.” The synagogue was crowded.°
Multitudes of Gentiles were there in addition to the proselytes. This was
1 The words τὰ ἔθνη (“‘ Gentiles,’ Eng. Trans.) in the Textus Receptus have caused
a great confusion in this passage. They are omitted in the best MSS. The authori-
ties may be seen in Tischendorf. See below, p. 183, note.
* ΤΆ is not quite certain whether we are to understand εἰς τὸ μεταξὺ σάθθεττον (xiii.
42) to mean “the next Sabbath” (like τῷ ἐρχομένῳ σαθθάτῳ, v. 44), or some inter-
mediate days of meeting during the week. The Jews were accustomed to meet in the
synagogues on Monday and Thursday as well as on Saturday. Rabbinical authoritica
attribute this arrangement to Ezra. These intermediate days (Zwischentage) were
called puspssay prjas- Hence the Greek μεταξύ, used by the Hellenistic Jews, which
Hesychius explains by μετ’ ὀλίγον, ἀνὰ μέσον. See Schottgen, Hore Hebraice, and
Nork’s Rabbinische Quellen u. Parallelen, Leips. 1839.
3 Ἔπειθον αὐτοὺς ἐπιμένειν TH χάριτι Tod Θεοῦ. xiii. 48, Compare Acts πὰ 2A
Cor. xv. 10. 2Cor.vi.1. Gal. ii. 21.
4 Dr. Arnold’s Twenty-fourth Sermon on the Interpretation of Scrivture.
5 See above, note 2. ς Acta xiii. 44.
PREACHING TO THE GENTILES. 119
more than the Jews could bear. Their spiritual pride and exclusive
bigotry was immediately roused. They could not endure the notion of
others being freely admitted to the same religious privileges with them
selves. This was always the sin of the Jewish people. Instead of realis:
ing their position in the world as the prophetic nation for the good of the
whole earth, they indulged the self-exalting opinion, that God’s highest
blessings were only for themselves. Their oppressions and their disper:
sions had not destroyed this deeply-rooted prejudice ; but they rather
found comfort under the yoke, in brooding over their religious isolation .
and even in their remote and scattered settlements, they clung with the
utmost tenacity to the feeling of their exclusive nationality. Thus, in the
Pisidian Antioch, they who on one Sabbath had listened with breathless
interest to the teachers who spoke to them of the promised Messiah, were
on the next Sabbath filled with the most excited indignation, when they
found that this Messiah was ‘‘a light to lighten the Gentiles,” as well as
“the glory of His people Israel.” They made an uproar, and opposed
the words of Paul? with all manner of calumnious expressions, ‘“ contra-
dicting and blaspheming.”
And then the Apostles, promptly recognising in the willingness of the
Gentiles and the unbelief of the Jews the clear indications of the path of
duty, followed that bold? course which was alien to all the prejudices of a
Jewish education. They turned at once and without reserve to the Gen-
tiles. St. Paul was not unprepared for the events which called for this
decision. The prophetic intimations at his first conversion, his vision in
the Temple at Jerusalem, his experience at the Syrian Antioch, his recent
success in the island of Cyprus, must have led him to expect the Gentiles
to listen to that message which the Jews were too ready to scorn. The
words with which he turned from his unbelieving countrymen were these :
“Tt was needful that the Word of God should first be spoken unto you:
but inasmuch as ye reject it, and deem yourselves unworthy of eternal
life, lo! we turn to the Gentiles.” And then he quotes a prophetical
passage from their own Sacred Writings. “ For thus hath the Lord com-
manded us, saying, I have set thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou
shouldest be for saivation to the ends of the earth.”* This is the first re
corded instance of a scene which was often reenacted. It is the course
which St. Paul himself defines in his Epistle to the Romans, when he de
scribes the Gospel as coming first to the Jew and then to the Gentile 5°
1 Τοῖς ὑπὸ τοῦ Παύλου λεγομένοις, xiii. 45. This implies indirectly that Paul wad
the “chief speaker,” as we are told, xiv. 12.
. * Παῤῥησιασάμενοι. Compare ἐπαῤῥησιασάμεθα, 1 Thess. ii. 2, where the circum
stances appear to have been very similar.
3 Isai. xlix. 6, quoted with a slight variation from the LXX. See Isai ΣΝ @
uuke ii. 32.
4 Rom. i.16. ii. 9. Compare xi. 12, 25.
180 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
and it is the course which he followed himself on various cecasions of hia
life. at Corinth,' at Hphesus,? and at Rome.’
That which was often obscurely foretold in the Old Testament,—that
chose should “seek after God who knew Him not,” and that He should
ve honoured hy ‘‘ those who were not a people ;” 4—that which had al-
ready seen its first fulfilment in isolated cases during Our Lord’s life, as in
the centurion and the Syrophenican woman, whose faith had no parallel
in all the people of “ Israel :”®—that which had received an express ac-
complishment through the agency of two of the chiefest of the Apostles, in
Cornelius, the Roman officer at Ceesarea, and in Sergius Paulus, the Roman
governor at Paphos,—began now to be realised on a large scale in a whole
community. While the Jews blasphemed and rejected Christ, the Gen-
tiles ‘‘rejoiced and glorified the Word of God” The counsels of God
were not frustrated by the unbelief of His chosen peopie. A new “ Is
vael,” a new “‘ election,” succeeded to the former. A church was formed
of united Jews and Gentiles ; and all who were destined to enter the path
of eternal life? were gathered into the Catholic® brotherhood of the
hitherto separated races. The synagogue had rejected the inspired mis-
sionaries, but the apostolic instruction went on in some private house or
public building belonging to the heathen. And gradually the knowledge
of Christianity began to be disseminated through the whole vicinity.®
The enmity of the Jews, however, was not satisfied by the expulsion
of the Apostles from the synagogue. What they could not accomplish
hy violence and calumny, they succeeded in effeeting by a pious intrigue.
‘That influence of women in religious questions, to which our attention will
be repeatedly called hereafter, is here for the first time brought before our
notice in the sacred narrative of St. Paul’s life. Strabo, who was inti-
mately acquainted with the social position of the female sex in the towns
of Western Asia, speaks in strong terms of the power which they possessed
and exercised in controlling and modifying the religious opinions cf the
men.’? This general fact received one of its most striking illustrations in
1 Acts xviii. 6. 2 Acta xix. 9.
3 Acts xxviii. 28, 4 See Hosea i. 10. ii. 23, as quoted in Rom. ix. 25, 26.
5 Mat. viii. 5-10. xv. 21-28. 6 See Rom. xi. 7, and Gal. vi. 16.
7 Exiorevoav ὅσοι ἧσαν τεταγμένοι. εἰς Conv αἰώνιον. xiii. 48. It is well known that
this passage has been made the subject of much controversy with reference to the doe-
trine of predestination. Its bearing on the question is very doubtful. See how
διατεταγμένος is used, Acts xx. 13. On the other hand, see τὸ διαδεταγμένον, Luka
fii. 13, and tevayuéva:, Rom. xiii. 1. For Markland’s translation, “ fidem professi sunt,
guotquot (tempus, diem) constituerant, in yitam eeternam,” see Winer’s Grammatik,
p. 304. .
8 Mr. Tate (Cont. Hist. p. 19) says, that this was “ the first Christian church, gathered ,
in part from among the idolatrous Gentiles.” This is on the supposition that tha
"EAAnvec (Acts xi. 20, 21) were all “ Greek prosely tes.” 9 Acts xiii. 49.
Ἰολλπαντες τῆς δεισιδαιμονίας ἀρχηγοὺς οἴονται τῶς γυναῖκας" αὗται δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἄνδρα
JOURNEY TOWARD LYCAONIA. 181
υἷι case of Judaism. We have already more than once alluded to the ine
fluence of the female proselytes at Damascus:! and the good services
which women contributed towards the early progress of Christianity is
abundantly known both from the Acts and the Epistles.2 Here they ap-
pear in a position less honourable, but not less influential. The Jews con-
trived, through the female proselytes at Antioch, to win over to their
cause some ladies of high respectability, and through them to gain the ear
of men who occupied a position of eminence in the city. Thus a system
atic persecution was excited against Paul and Barnabas. Whether the
supreme magistrates of the colony were induced by this unfair agitation te
pass a sentence of formal banishment, we are not informed ;* but for the
present the Apostles were compelled to retire from the colonial limits:
In cases such as these, instructions had been given by our Lord Him-
self how His Apostles were to act. During His life on earth, He had
said to the Twelve, ‘‘ Whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when
ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony
against them. Verily, I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for
Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city.”* And
while Paul and Barnabas thus fulfilled Our Lord’s words, shaking off
from their feet the dust of the dry and sunburnt road,’ in token of God’s
judgment on wilful unbelievers, and turning their steps eastwards in the
direction of Lycaonia, another of the sayings of Christ was fulfilled, in
the midst of those who had been obedient to the faith: “ Blessed are ye,
when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say all manner of
evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad:
for great is your reward in heaven; for so persecuted they the prophets
which were before you.”€ Even while their faithful teachers were re-
moved from them, and travelling across the bare uplands’? which separate
προκαλοῦνται, πρὸς τὰς ἐπὶ πλέον ϑεραπείας τῶν ϑεῶν, καὶ ἑορτὰς καὶ ποτνιασμοὺς.
vii. 3. ᾿
1 See above, p. 19, and p. 171, n. 4.
7 See Acts xvi. 14. xvii. 2. Philipp. iv. 3. 1 Cor. vii. 16.
3 We should rather infer the contrary, since they revisited the place on their return
from Derbe (xiv. 21).
4 Mark vi. 11. Matt. x. 14,15. Luke ix. 5. For other symbolical acts expressing
the same thing, see Nehem. vy. 13. Acts xviii. 6. It was taught in the schools of the
Scribes that the dust of a heathen land defiled by the touch. Lightf. on Mact. x. 14,
and Harm. of N.T., Acts xiv. Hence the shaking of the dust off the feet implied
that the city was regarded as profane.
5 “Literally may they have shaken off the dust of their feet, for even now (Nov. 9)
the roads abound with it, and in the summer months it must be a plain of dust.”
Arundell’s Asia Minor, vol. i. p. 319.
6 Matt. v. 11, 12.
7 Leake approached Iconium from the northern side of the mountains which separate
Antioch from Philomelium (see p. 169). He says: “(On the descent from a ridga
hranching eastward from these mountains, we came in sight of the vast plain around
182 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ΕἸ. PAUL.
Antioch from {he plain of Iconium, the disciples of the former city re
ceived such manifest tokens of the love of God, and the power of the
“ Holy Ghost,” that they were “ filled with joy” in the midst of perse
cution.
Tconium has obtained a place in history far more distinguished than that
of the Pisidian Antioch. It is famous as the cradle of the rising power of
‘he conquering Turks.'. And the remains of its Mahomedan architecture
still bear a conspicuous testimony to the victories and strong government
of a tribe of Tartar invaders. But there are other features in the view of
modern Aonich which to us are far more interesting. ΤῸ the traveller in
the footsteps of St. Paul, it is not the armorial bearings of the Knights of
St. John, carved over the gateways in the streets of Rhodes, which arrest
the attention, but the ancient harbour and the view across the sea to the
opposite coast. And at Konieh his interest is awakened, not by minarets
and palaces and Saracenic gateways, but by the vast plain and the distant
mountains.’
These features remain what they were in the first century, while the
town has been repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt, and its architectural
character entirely altered. Little, if anything, remains of Greek or Ro-
man Iconium, if we except the ancient inscriptions and the fragments of
sculptures which are built into the Turkish walls? At a late period of the
Empire it was made a Colonia, like its neighbour, Antioch: but it was
not so in the time of St. Paul.t There is no reason to suppose that its
Konieh, and of the lake which occupies the middle of it ; and we saw the city with ita
mosqiies and ancient walls, still at the distance of twelve or fourteen miles from us.”
p. 45. Ainsworth travelled in the same direction, and says: “We travelled three
hours along the plain of Konieh, always in sight of the city of the Sultans of Roum,
before we reached it.” Tray. in Asia Minor, u. p. 58. P. Lucas, who approached
from Eregli, beyond Lystra and Derbe (see below), speaks of Iconium as “ presque au
bout de la plaine.”” Second Voyage, ch. xx.
1 Tconium was the capital of the Seljukian Sultans, and ‘had a great part in the
growth of the Ottoman empire.
3. “Konieh extends to the east and south over the plain far beyond the walls, which
are about two miles in circumference. .... Mountains covered with snow rise on
every side, excepting towards the east, where a plain, as flat as the desert of Arabia,
extends far beyond the reach of the eye.” Capt. Kinneir.
3 “The city wall is said to have been erected by the Seljukian Sultans: it seems to
have been built from the ruins of more ancient buildings, as broken columns, capitals,
pedestals, bas-reliefs, and other pieces of sculpture, contribute towards its construction.
It has eighty gates, of a square form, each known by a separate name, and, as well as
most of the towers, embellished with Arabic inscriptions. . . . I observed a few Greek
characters on the walls, but they were in so elevated a situation that I could nct de.
cypher them.” Capt. Kinneir. See Col. Leake’s description; and also the recently
published work of Col. Chesney (1850) on the Euphrates Expedition, vol. i. p. 348, 349,
4 Hence we have placed this coin of Iconium in the note, lest the Latin letters and
the word COL. should lead the reader to suppose its political condition in the time of
St. Paul resembled that of Antioch in Pisidia. (See p. 170, note.) These coins were
ICONIUM. 183
character was different from that of the other important towns on the
principal lines of communication through Asia Minor. ‘The clements of its
population would be as follows :—a large number of trifling and frivolous
Greeks, whose principal places of resort would be the theatre and the
market-place ; some remains of a still older population, coming in eccasicn:
ally from the country, or residing in a separate quarter of the town : some
few Roman officials, civil or military, holding themselves proudly aloof
from the inhabitants of the subjugated province ; and an old established
colony of Jews, who exercised their trade during the weck, and met on the
Sabbath to read the law in the Synagogue.
The same kind of events took place here as in Antioch, and almost in
the same order.! The Apostles went first to the Synagogue, and the
effect of their discourses there was such, that great numbers both of the
Jews and Greeks (7. 6. proselytes or heathens, or both’) believed the Gos-
pel. The unbelieving Jews raised up an indirect persecution by exciting
the minds of the Gentile population against those who received the Chris-
tian doctrine. But the Apostles persevered and lingered in the city some
considerable time, having their confidence strengthened by the miracles?
which God worked through their instrumentality, in attestation of the
truth of His Word. There is an apocryphal narrative of certain events
assigned to this residence at Iconium :4 and we may innocently adopt so
COIN OF ICONIUM,
not found before the reign of Gallienus, and Iconium is not mentioned by any writer
88 ἃ Colonia; hence Mannert (p. 195) conjectures that it was made a garrison-town
and took the title as an empty honour. Mythological derivations were suggested by
the ancients for the name: thus it was said that after the deluge Prometheus and
Minerva made images of clay (εἰκόνια), and breathed life into them. Hence, says
Stephanus Byzantinus, it ought to be written Εἰκόνιον (ἔδει διὰ διφθόγγου), as % 14
sometimes on coins. Another story (Eustath. in Dionys. Perieg. v. 856) is connected
with an image of Medusa set up by Perseus. For the relation of the city to Lycaonia
in Phrygia, see below, p. 186, n. 3.
1 See Acis xiv. 1-5.
* Perhaps Ἑλλήνων (v. 1) may mean “ prosclytes,” as opposed to “ Gentiles,”
ἐθνῶν (ν. 2).
3 The distinct appeal to miracles (vy. 3) should be especially noticed.
‘ It would have been a mischievous confusion of history and legend tc have intro.
duced St. Thecla of Iconium into the text. But her story has so prominent a place in
nll Roman Catholic histories, that it cannot be altogether omitted. Sce Barouius (sul
anno 47), Fleury (τ. 28), and Rohrbacher (Hist. de VEgl. Cath., liv. xxv.), who write
184 ΤῊΝ LIFE AND EDPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
much of the legendary story, as to imagine St. Paul preaching long and
late to crowded congregations, as he did afterwards at Assos,! and his
enemies bringing him before the civil authorities, with the cry that he was
disturbing their households by his sorcery, or with complaints like those at
as if the “Acta Paulie} Thecle” rested on the same foundation with the inspired nar. .
tative of the “Acts of the Apostles.” These apocryphal Acts were edited by Grabe
(Spicil. vol. i.) in Greek and Latin from MSS. in the Bodleian Library. They are also
fn the Bibliotheca Patrum., vol 1., and they are noticed by Fabricius, Cod. Apoc. N. T
vol. ii. In Jones on the Canon (vol. ii. p. 353-403) they are given both in Greek and
Noglish.
The outline of the story is as follows. On the arrival of St. Paul at Iconium, Thecla
was betrothed to Thamyris. To his despair, and to the mother’s perplexity, she for-
gets her earthly attachments, and remains night and day at a window, riveted by the
preaching of St. Paul, which she hears in a neighbouring house (ἐπὶ τῆς ϑυρίδος τῆς
οἴκου αὐτῆς καθεσθεῖσα ἀπὸ τῆς σύνεγγυς ϑυρίδος ἤκουεν νυκτὸς καὶ ἡμέρας τὸ λεγόμενον
ὑπὸ tod IlatAov, Grabe, p. 97; and again, ὡς ἀράχνη ἐπὶ τῆς ϑυρίδος δεδεμένη, τοῖς
Παύλου λογοις κρατεῖται, p. 98). [Cf Acts, xx. 9.1] By the contrivance of the false
disciples, Demas and Hermogenes, (who say that they will Ῥτουθ the resurrection of
those who know God to consist in their offspring,—d:da$ με ὅτι ἣν λέγει οὗτος ἀνά-
στασιν γένεσθαι, ἤδη γέγονεν ἐφ᾽ οἷς ἔχομεν τέκνοις, καὶ ἀνέστημεν, ϑεὸν ἐπιγνόντες,
p. 101). [See 2 Tim.i, 1ὅ. iv. 10, also ii. 18.] St. Paul is brought before Castellius
the Proconsul, and by his orders, with cries of Μάγος ἐστίν " ἄπαγε τὸν payor cast into
prison. Thecla bribes the jailer with her ear-rings, visits the Apostle, and is instructed
by him. St. Paul is scourged and banished. Thecla is condemned to be burnt, be-
cause she refuses to marry Thamyris; but her life is saved by a miraculous earthquake
and storm of rain. Meanwhile St. Paul, with Onesiphorus [2 Tim. i. 16], who had
been his host at Iconium, is in a tomb on the road to Daphne. There he is rejoined
by Thecla, and they travel together to Antioch. In consequence of the admiration of
a certain citizen called Alexander, a scene similar to that on Abraham’s visit to Egypt
is enacted; and ultimately Thecla is condemned to the wild beasts. But the lioness
crouches at her feet, and the monsters in the water (al φῶκαι, p. 111), die when she
enters it, and float to the surface. Thecla is thus preserved. A lady called Tryphena
{Rom. xvi. 12], reccives her into her house and is instructed by her. Thecla rejoins
St. Paul at Myra, in Lycia. Thence she travels to Iconium, where she finds Thamyris
dead, and endeavours in vain to convert her mother. She goes by Daphne to Seleucia,
and Jeads an ascetic life in the neighbourhood of that city. Here miracles rouse the
jealousy of the physicians, but their conspiracy against her chastity is defeated
Finally, she dies at the age of ninety, having left Iconium at eighteen.
Though she was rescued from a violent death, Rohrbacher reckons her in the rank of
Stephen as the first of the female martyrs. Grabe seems to be of opinion that the story
has a basis of truth,—‘‘ argumentis nescio quomodo haud usquequaque sufficientibus
ad narrationes adeo parum verisimiles lectori cordato pervadendas,” as Fabricius says
Cod. Apoc. N. T. 11. p. 796. Jones criticises the whole document at great length, and
decides strongly against the veracity of the story. It may be worth while to notice one
etror in geography in the Greck narrative. St. Paul is said to have gone from Antioch
to Iconium (as in the Acts) and Onesiphorus (who had been informed by Titus of the
personal appearance of St. Paul) to have gone with his family to meet him on the royal
road, which leads to Lystra (Grabe, p. 95). Now Lystrais on the contrary side of
Teonium from Antioch. On tke whole, the mythical character of the narrative, what
ever basis of truth it may have, is very apparent.
Thecla is ofter alluded to by the Fathers, especially those of the fourth eentury,—
[1 Acta xx. 7--11,]
LYCAONIA. 183
Philippi and Ephesus, that he was “ exceedingly troubling their city,” and
“turning away much people.”! We learn from an inspired source? that
the whole population of Iconium was ultimately divided into two great fac-
tions (a common occurrence, on far less important occasions, in these cities
of Oriental Greeks), and that one party took the side of the Apostles, the
other of the Jews. But here, as at Antioch, the influential classes wera
on the side of the Jews. A determined attempt was at last made to crush
the Apostles, by loading them with insult and actually stoning them.
Learning this wicked conspiracy, in which the magistrates themselves were
involved,? they fled to some of the neighbouring districts of Lycaonia,
where they might be more secure, and have more liberty in preaching the
Gospel. ;
It would be a very natural course for the Apostles, after the cruel
treatment they had experienced in the great towns on a frequented route,
to retire into a wilder district and among a ruder population. In any
country, the political circumstances of which resemble those of Asia Minor
under the early emperors, there must be many districts, into which the civ-
ilisation of the conquering and governing people has hardly penetrated.
We have an obvious instance in our Eastern presidencies, in the Hindoo
villages which have retained their character without alteration, notwith-
standing the successive occupations by Mahomedans and English. Thus,
in the Eastern provinces of the Roman Empire there must have been many
towns and villages where local customs were untouched, and where Greek,
though certainly understood, was not commonly spoken. Such, perhaps,
were the places which now come before our notice in the Acts of the
Apostles,—small towns, with a rude dialect and primitive snperstition —
‘“ Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia.” >
The district of Lycaonia extends from the ridges of Mount Taurus and
the borders of Cilicia, on the south; to the Cappadocian hills, on the
north, It 15 ἃ bare and dreary region, unwatered by streams, though in
parts tiable to occasional inundations. Strabo mentions one place where
water was even sold for money. In this respect there must be a close re
remblance between this country and large tracts of Australia. Nor is this
the only particular in which the resemblance may be traced. Both regions
afford excellent pasture for flocks of sheep, and give opportunities for ob-
Jerome, Augustine, Ambrose, Eusebius, Epiphaniaus, Chrysostom, Gregory of Nysva,
and Gregory of Nazianzus. The references may be seen in Grabe and Jones, Tha
passages adduced from Cyprian appear to be spurious, and some doubt rests on Tertull.
de Bapt.c. 17. The life of Thecla was written in Greek verse by Basil of Seleucia -
(pub. 1622, with Gregory Thaumaturgus).
1 Acts xvi. 20. xix. 20. 2 Acts xiv. 4.
3 Jt is impossible to determine exactly the meaning of ἄρχουσι.
4 Acts xiv. 11, 12, &e. 5 Acts xiv. 6.
180 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
taining lurge Hea βεῖοηα by trade in wool.' It was here, on tiz downs of
Lycaonia, that Amyntas, while he yet led the life of a nomad cliief, before
the time of his political elevation,’ fed his three hundred flocks. Of the
whole district Iconium* was properly the capital: and the plain round
Iconium may be reckoned as its great central space, situated midway be-
tween Cilicia and Cappadocia. This plain is spoken of as the largest in
Asia Minor. It is almost like the steppes of Great Asia, of which the
Turkish invaders must often have been reminded,’ when they came to these
level spaces in the west ; and the camels which convey modern travellers
to and from Konieh, find by the side of their path tufts of salt and prickly
herbage, not very dissimilar to that which grows in their native deserts.®
Across some portion of this plain Paul and Barnabas travelled both
before and after their residence in Iconinm. After leaving the high land
to the north-west,’ during a journey of several hours before arriving at the
city, the eye ranges freely over a vast expanse of level ground to the south
and the east. The two most eminent objects in the view are the snowy
summits of Mount Argeeus, rising high above all the intervening hills in
the direction of Armenia,—and the singular mountain mass called the
“ Kara-Dagh,” or “ Black Mount,” south-eastwards in the direction of
Cilicia.s And still these features continue to be conspicuous, after Iconium
1 Καίπερ ἄνυδρος οὖσα ἡ χώρα mpdbata ἐκτρέφει ϑαυμαστῶς, τραχείας δὲ ἐρέας " Kai
τινες ἐξ αὐτῶν τούτων μεγίστον πλούτον ἐκτήσαντο. Strabo xii. 6. He speaks also of
“wild asses’? as roaming over the district. The rest of his description is as follows :
Τὰ τῶν Λυκαόνων ὀροπέδια ψυχρὰ καὶ ψελὰ Kal dvaypobora, ὑδάτων τε σπάνις πολλή"
ὅπου δὲ καὶ εὑρεῖν δυνατὸν, βαθύτατα φρέατα τῶν πάντων, κάθαπερ ἐν Σοάτροις, ὅπον
καὶ πιπράσκεται τὸ ὕδωρ... . ᾿λμύντας δ᾽ ὑπὲρ τριακοσίας ἔσχε ποίμνας ἐν τοῖς τόποις
τούτοις. ... ᾽᾿Ενταῦθα δὲ που καὶ τὸ 'Ικόνιόν ἐστι, πολίχνιον εὖ συνῳκισμένον καὶ
χώραν εὐτυχεστέραν ἔχον τῆς λεχθείσης ὀναγροφότου. ΤΠ λησιάζει δ᾽ ἤδη τούτοις τοῖς
τόποις ὁ Ταῦρος, ὁ τῆν Καππαδοκίαν ὁρίζων καὶ τὴν Λυκαονίαν πρὸς τοὺς ὑπερκειμένους
Κίλικας τοὺς Τραχείωτας.
2'See above, Ch. 1. p. 23.
3 See the Synecdemus of Hierocles. Steph. Byz. says it is—-xdnig Avxaoviag πρὸς
τοῖς ὄροις τοῦ Ταύρου. Basil of Seleucia, in his life of St. Thecla, says: πόλις αὕτη
Λυκαονίας, τῆς μὲν ᾿Εώας ob πολὺ ἀπέχουσα, τῇ δὲ ᾿Ασιανῶν μᾶλλόν τι προσορμίζουσα,
καὶ τῆς Πισιδῶν καὶ Φρυγῶν χώρας ἐν προοιμίᾳ κειμένη. Xenophon, who is the first to
mention Iconium, calls it “the last city of Phrygia” (τῆς Govyias πόλις ἐσχάτη, Anab
t. 2, 19) in the direction of ‘‘ Lyeaonia.”
4 See Leake, p. 93.
5 The remark is made by Texier in his “‘ Asie Mineure.”
6 Ainsworth (1. p. 68) describes the camels, as he crossed this plain, eagerly eating
the tufts of Mesembryanthemum and Salicornia, “ reminding them of plains with whigh
they were probably more familiar than those of Asia Minor.” The plain, however, is
naturally rich. See Strabo, and Coi. Leake.
7 See above, p. 169, n. 1.
* See Leake, p. 45. ‘(Between Ladik and Konieh). To the north-east nothing
appeared to interrupt the vast expanse but two very lofty summits covered with snow,
at a great distance. They can be no other than the summits of Mount Argeeus, above
Cesarea, [This is doubtful; see Ham. A. M. π΄. p. 305, and Trans. of Geog. Soe. viii.
LYSTRA AND DERBE. 184
fs left behind, and the traveller moves on over the plain towards Lys
wra and Derbe. Mount Argzeus still rises far to the north-east, at the diss
tance of one hundred and fifty miles. The Black Mountain is gradually
approached, and discovered to be an isolated mass, with reaches of the
plain extending round it like channels of the sea.1 The cities of Lystra
and Derbe were somewhere about the bases of the Black Mountain. We
have dwelt thus minutely on the physical characteristics of this part of
Lycaonia, because the positions of its ancient towns have not been deter
mined. We are only acquainted with the general features of the scene.
While the site of Iconium has never been forgotten, and that of Antioch
in Pisidia has now been clearly identified, those of Lystra and Derbe re
main unknown, or at best are extremely uncertain.” No conclusive coing
or inscriptions have been discovered ; nor has there been any such con.
145.] To the south-east the same plains extend as far as the mountains of Karaman
(Laranda). At the south-east extremity of the plains beyond Konieh, we are much
struck with the appearance of a remarkable insulated mountain called Kara-Dagh
(Black Mountain), rising to a great height, covered at the top with snow [Jan. 31,]
and appearing like a lofty island in the midst of the sea. It is about sixty miles dis-
tant.’? The lines marked on the Map are the Roman roads mentioned in the Itineraries,
1 See Leake, pp. 93-97, . “ (Feb. 1. From Konieh to Tshumra.)—Our road pur-
sues a perfect level for upwards of twenty miles. (Feb. 2. From Tshurnwra to Kassa-
ba.)—Nine hours over the same uninterrupted level of the finest soil, but quite uncul-
tivated, except in the immediate neighbourhood of a few widely dispersed villages. Τὸ
is painful to behold such desolation in the midst of a region so highly favoured by
nature. Another characteristic of these Asiatic plains is the exactness of the level,
and the peculiarity of their extending, without any previous slope, to the foot of the
mountains, which rise from them like lofty islands out of the surface of the ocean.
The Karamanian ridge seems to recede as we approach it, and the snowy summits of
Argus [?] are still to be seen to the north-east..... At three or four miles short of
Kassaba, we are abreast of the middle of the very lofty insulated mountain already
mentioned, called Kara-Dagh. It is said to be chiefly inhabited by Greek Christians,
and to contain 1001 churches; but we afterwards learnt that these 1001 churches
(Binbir-Kilisseh) was a name given to the extensive ruins of an ancient city at the
foot of the mountain. (Feb. 3. From Kassaba to Karaman.)\—Four hours; the road
still passing over a plain, which towards the mountains begins to be a little intersected
with low ridges and ravines... . Between these mountains and the Kara-Dagh there is
a kind of strait, which forms the communication between the plain of Karaman and
the great levels lying eastward of Konieh.... Advancing towards Karaman, I perceive
a passage into the plains to the north-west, round the northern end of Kara-Dagh, sim-
ilar to that on the south, so that this mountain is completely insulated. We still see
to the north-east the great snowy summit of Argeus, [?] which is probably the highest
point of Asia Minor.’ See a similar description of the isolation of the Kara-dagh in
Hamilton (τι. 315, 320), who approached it from the East.
? Col. Leake wrote thus in 1824: “Nothing can more strongly show the little pro-
gress that has hitherto been made in a knowledge of the ancient geography of Asia
Minor, than that, of the cities which the journey of St. Paul has made so interesting to
us, the site of one only (Iconium) is yet certainly known. Perga, Antioch of Pisidia,
Lystra, and Derbe, remain to be discovered.’ p. 103. We have seen that two of these
four towns have been fully identified—Perga by Sir C. Fellows, and Antioch by Mv
Arundel. It is to be hoped that the other two will yet be clearly sscertained.
188 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ΕἸ. PAUL.
vergence of modern investigation and ancient authority as leads to an
infallible result. Of the different hypotheses which have been proposed,
we have been content in the accompanying map to indicate those! which
appear as mnost probable. ᾿
We rcsume the thread of our narrative with the arrival of Paul and
Barnabas at Lystra. One peculiar circumstance strikes us immediately
in what we read of the events in this town ; that no mention occurs of
any synagogue or of any Jews. It is naturai to infer that there were few
Israelites in the place, though (as we shall see hereafter) it would be. a
mistake to imagine that there were none. We are instantly brought in
contact with a totally new subject,—with Heathen superstition and my-
thology ; yet not the superstition of an educated mind, as that of Sergius
Paulus,—nor the mythology of a refined and cultivated taste, like that of
the Athenians,—but the mythology and superstition of a rude and unso-
phisticated people. Thus does the Gospel, in the person of St. Paul, sue-
cessively clash with opposing powers, with sorcerers and philosophers,
cruel magistrates and false divinities. Now it isthe rabbinical master of
the synagogue, now the listening proselyte from the Greeks, that is re
sisted or convinced,—now the honest inquiry of a Roman officer, now the
1 The gencral features of the map on the opposite page are copied from Kicpert’s
large map of Asia Minor, and his positions for Lystra and Derbe are adopted. Lystra
is marked near the place where Leake (p. 102) conjectured that it might be, some
twenty miles S. of Iconium. It does not appear, however, that he saw any ruins on
the spot. There are very remarkable Christian ruins on the N. side of the Kara-dagh,
at Bin-bir-Kilisseh (“The 1001 churches”), and Leake thinks that they may mark the
site of Derbe. We think Mr. Hamilton’s conjecture much more probable, that they
mark the site of Lystra, which has a more eminent ecclesiastical reputation than Derbe.
See Ham. A. M. τι 319, and Trans. of Georg. Soe. vol. viii. [While this was passing
through the press, the writer received an indirect communication from Mr. Hamilton,
which will be the best commentary on the map. The communication says, “there are
ruins (though slight) at the spot where Derbe is marked on Kiepert’s map, and as this
spot is certainly on a line of Roman road, it is not unlikely that it may represent
Derbe. He did not actually visit Divlé, but the coincidence of name led him to think
it might be Derbe. He does not know of any ruins at the place where Kiepert writes
Lystra, but was not on that spot. There may be ruins there, but he thinks they cannot
be of importance, as he did not hear of them, though in the neighbourhood ; and he pre-
fers Bin-bir-Kilisseh as the site of Lystra.’’] The following description of the Bin-bir-
JGlisseh is supplied by a letter from Mr. E. Falkner. “The principal group of the Bin-
bir-Kilisseh lies at the foot of Kara-Dagh ... Perceiving ruins on the slope of the moun
tain, I began to ascend, and on reaching these discovered they were churches; and,
fooking upwards, descried others yet above me, and climbing from one to the other I at
length gained the summit, where I found two churches. On looking down, I perceived
churches on all sides of the mountain, scattered about in various positions. The num-
ber ascribed to them by the Turks is of course metaphorical ; but including those in
the plain below, there are about two dozen in tolerable preservation, and the remaina
of perhaps forty may be traced altogether... The mountain must have been considered
sacred, all the ruins are of Christian epoch, and, with the exception of a huge palace,
every building is a church.”
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100 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
wild fanaticism of a rustic credulity, that is addressed with bold and per
suasive eloquence.
It was a common belief among the ancients that the gods occasionally
visited the earth in the form of men. Such a belief with regard to Jupi:
ter, “the father of gods and men,” would be natural in any rural district :
but nowhere should we be prepared to find the traces of it more than at
Lystra ; for Lystra,.as it appears from St. Luke’s narrative,’ was under
the tutelage of Jupiter, and the tutelary divinities were imagined to haunt
the cities under their protection, though elsewhere invisible? The temple
of Jupiter was a conspicuous object in front of the city-gates :3 what
wonder if the citizens should be prone to believe that their “Jupiter,
which was before the city,” would willingly visit his favourite people ?
Again, the expeditions of Jupiter were usually represented as attended by
Mercury.. He was the companion, the messenger, the servant of the
gods. Thus the notion of these two divinities appearing together in
Lycaonia is quite in conformity with what we know of the popular belief.
But their appearance in that particular district would be welcomed with
more than usual credulity. Those who are acquainted with the literature
of the Roman poets are familiar with a beautiful tradition of Jupiter and
Mercury visiting in human form these very regions® in the interior of
Asia Minor. And it is not without a singular interest that we find one
of Ovid’s stories reappearing in the sacred pages of the Acts of the
Apostles. In this instance, as in so many others, the Scripture, in its
incidental descriptions of the Heathen world, presents “ undesigned coinci-
dences” with the facts ascertained from Heathen memorials.
These introductory remarks prepare us for considering the miracle re-
corded in the Acts. We must suppose that Paul gathered groups of the
Lystrians about him, and addressed them in places of public resort, as a
1 Tod Διος τοῦ ὄντος πρὸ τῆς πόλεως αὐτῶν ; It is more likely that a temple than a
statue of Jupiter is alluded to. The temple of the tutelary divinity was outside the
walls at Perga (sce p. 161) and at Ephesus, as we learn from the story in Herodotus
(1. 26), who tells us that in a time of danger the citizens put themselves under the pro-
tection of Diana, by attaching her temple by a rope to the city-wall (ἀνέθεσαν τὴν πόλεν
τῇ ᾿Αρτέμιδι, ἐξάψαντες ἐκ τοῦ νηοῦ σχοίνιον ἐς τὸ τεῖχος). So Pailas is called, “Avaag’
‘Oyxa πρὸ πόλεως. Sept. ὁ. Theb. 164.
3 Kai φασι τοὺς οἰκιστὰς ἥρωας ἢ ϑεοὺς πολλάκις ἐπιστρέφεσθαι τὰς aviwy πόλεες
τοῖς αλλοις ὄντας ἀφανεῖς, ἔν τε ϑυσίας καὶ τίσιν ἐορταῖς δημοτελέσιν. Vic. Chrys,
Orat. xxxin. p. 408.
3 Acts xiv. 13.
4 See the references in Smith’s Dictionary of Classical Biography and Mythology
under * Hermes.’’
5 See the story of Baucis and Philemon, Ovid. Met. viii. 611, &c. Even if the Ly-
caonians were a Semitic tribe, it is not unnatural to suppose them familiar with Greek
mythology. An identification of classical and “barbarian ᾽) divinities had taken place
in innumerable instances, as in the case of the Tyrian Hercules and Papbian Venus.
PAUL AMONG THE LYSTRIANS. 191
modern missionary might address the natives of a Hindoo village. But it
would not be nevessary in his case, as in that of Schwartz or Martyn, te
have learnt the primitive language of those to whom he spoke. He
addressed them in Greek, for Greek was well understood in this border
country of the Lystrians, though their own dialect was either a barbarous
corruption of that noble language, or the surviving remainder of some
older tongue. He used the language of general civilisation, as English
may be used now in a Welch country-town like Dolgelly or Carmarthen.
The subjects he brought before these illiterate idolaters of Lycaonia were
doubtless such as would lead them, by the most natural steps, to the
knowledge of the true Ged, and the belief in His Son’s resurrection. ’ He
told them, as he told the educated Athenians,’ of Him whose worship they
had ignorantly corrupted, whose unity, power, and goodness they might
have discerned through the operations of nature; whose displeasure
against sin had been revealed to them by the admonitions of their natural
conscience. :
Ou one of these occasions? St. Paul observed a cripple, who was
earnestly listening to his discourse. He was seated on the ground, for he
had an infirmity in his feet, and had never walked from the hour of his
birth. St. Paul looked at him attentively, with that remarkable expres-
sion of the eye which we have already noticed (p. 148). The same Greek
word is used as when the Apostle is described as “ earnestly beholding the
council,” and as ‘setting his eyes on Elymas the sorcerer.”4 On this
occasion that penetrating glance saw, by the power of the Divine Spirit,
into the very secrets of the cripple’s soul. Paul perceived “ that he had
faith to be saved.” > These words, implying so much of moral preparation
in the heart of this poor Heathen, rise above all that is told us of the lame
Jew, whom Peter, “fastening his eyes upon him with John,” had once
healed at the temple gate in Jerusalem. In other respects the parallel
between the two cases is complete. As Peter said in the presence of the
Jews, ‘In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and waik,” 56
Paul said before his idolatrous audience at Lystra, “Stand upright on thy
feet.” And in this case, also, the word which had been suggested to the
speaker by a supernatural intuition was followed by a supernatural result.
The obedient alacrity in the spirit, and the new strength in the body,
rushed together simultaneously. The lame man sprang up in the joyful
1 See for instance Fox’s “ Chapters on Missions,” p. 153, &c.
? It is very important to compare together the speeches at Lystra and Athens, and
both with the first chapter of the Romans. See pp. 193, 194.
3 Kai τις ἀνὴρ ἐν Λύστροις ἀδύνατος τοῖς ποσὶν ἐκάθητο, kK. τ. A. Acts xiv. 8, &e.
4 Acts xxiii. 1, xiii. 9.
5 Σωθῆναι is the word in the original. xiv. 9.
6 Acts iii. Wetstein remarks on the greater faith manifested by the heathen et Lye
tra than the Jew at Jerusalem.
192 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
1
consciousness of a power he had never felt before, and walked like thosa
who had never had experience of infirmity.
And now arose a great tumult of voices from the crowd. Such ἃ cure
of a congenital disease, so sudden and so complete, would have confounded
the most skilful and skeptical physicians. An illiterate pedple would be
filled with astonishment, and rush immediately to the conclusion that
supernatural powers were present among them. ‘These Lycaonians
thought at once of their native traditions, and crying out vociferousiy in
their mother-tongue,'—and we all know how the strongest feelings of an
excited people find vent in the language of childhood,—they exclaimed
that the gods had again visited them in the likeness of men,—that Jupiter
and Mercury were again in Lycaonia,—that the persuasive speaker was
Mercury and his companion Jupiter. They identified Paul with Mercury,
because his eloquence corresponded with one of that divinity’s attributes.
Paul was the “chief speaker,” and Mercury was the god of eloquence."
And if it be asked why they identified Barnabas with Jupiter, it is evi-
dently a sufficient answer to say that these two divinities were always
represented as companions® in their terrestrial expeditions, though we
may well believe (with Chrysostom and others‘) that there was something
majestically benignant in his appearance, while the personal aspect of St.
Paul (and for this we can quote his own statements*®) was comparatively
insignificant.
How truthful and how vivid is the scene brought before us! and how
many thoughts it suggests to those who are at once conversant with Hea-
then mythology and disciples of Christian theology! Barnabas, identified
with the Father of Gods and Men, seems like a personification of mild
beneficence and provident care ;° while Paul appears invested with more
active attributes, flying over the world on the wings of faith and love,
with quick words of warning and persuasion, and ever carrying in his hand
the purse of the “ unsearchable riches.” 7
1 Some are of opinion that the “speech of Lycaonia” was a Semitic language ;
others that it was a corrupt dialect of Greek. Sce the Dissertations of Jablonski and
Guhling in Iken’s Thesaurus.
? Acts xiv. 12.. Hor. Od. 1.x. Ov. Fast. v. 668. Hence λόγου ϑνητοῖσι προφῆτα.
Orph. Hymn. 28, 4. So Lucian: 'Epyod λαλιστάτου καὶ λογιωτάτου ϑεῶν ἁπάντων.
Gallus 2, and Macrobius; “ Scimus Mercurium vocis et sermonis potentum.” Sat.1 ἃ
3 See, for instance, Ovid. Fast. v. 495 :—
“ Jupiter et lato qui regnat in equore frater
Carpebant socias Mercuriusque vias.”
4 Ἐμοὶ δοκεῖ καὶ ἁπὸ τῆς ὄψεως ἀξιοπρεπὴς εἷναι 6 Βαρνάθας. Chrys. Hom. xxx,
5 See 2. Cor. x. 1, 10, where we must remember that he is quoting the siatements of
his adversaries.
6 See Acts iv. 36, 37. ix. 27. xi. 22-25, 30. It is also very possible that Barnabss
was older, and therefore more venerable in appearance, than St. Paul.
? For one of the most beautiful representations of Mercury, with all his well-known
insignia, see the Museo Borbonico, vol. vi. No. 2.
WORSHIP OFFERED TO FAUL AND BARNABAS. 192
The news of a wonderful occurrence is never long in spreading througk
a small country-town, At Lystra the whole population was presently in
an uproar. ‘hey would lose no time in paying due honour to their heavy
enly visitants. The priest attached to that temple of Jupiter before the
city gates, to which we have before alluded,’ was summoned to do sacri-
fice to the god whom he served. Bulls aud garlands, and whatever else
was requisite to the performance of the ceremony, were duly prepared,
and the procession moved amidst crowds of people to the residence of the
Apostles. They, hearing the approach of the multitude, and learning
their idolatrous intention, were filled with the utmost horror. They “rent
their clothes,” and rushed out? of the house in which they lodged, and
met the idolaters approaching the vestibule? There, standing at the
doorway, they opposed the entrance of the crowd ; and Paul expressed his
abhorrence of their intention, and earnestly tried to prevent their fulfil-
ling it, ina speech of which only the following short outline is recorded
by St. Luke :—
“Ye men of Lystra, why do ye these things? We also are
men, of like passions with you; and we are come to preach to
you the Glad Tiding, that you may turn from these vain idols to
the living God, who made the heavens, and the earth, and the
sea, and all things that are therein. Jor in the generations that
are past, He suffered all the nations of the Gentiles to walk in
their own ways. Nevertheless He left not Himself without wit-
ness, in that He blessed you,‘ and,gave you rain from heaven,
and fruitful seasons, filing your® hearts with food and gladness.”
This address held them listening, but they listened impatiently. Even
with this energetic disavowal of his divinity, and this strong appeal to their
reason, St. Paul found it difficult to disturb the Lycaonians from offering
to him and Barnabas an idolatrous worship.* There is no doubt that St.
Ie 100):
2 -Ecexyonoar, not εἰσεπήδησαν, is the reading sanctioned by the later critivs on full
qanuscript authority. See Tischendorf.
3 Πυλῶνες does net mean the gate of the city (which would be πύλη), but the ves-
tibule or gate which gave admission from the public street into the court of the Atrium.
So the word is used, Matt. xxvi. 71, for the vestibule of the high-priest’s palace ; Luke
xvi. 20, for that of Dives: Acts x. 17, of the house where Peter lodged at Joppa; Acta
xii. 13, of the house of Mary the mother of John Mark. It is nowhere used for the
gate of a city except in tue Apocalypse. Moreover, it seems obvious that if the priest
had only brought the victims to sacrifice them at the city gates, it would have been no
offering to Paul and Barnabas.
4 Read ὑμῖν (with Griesbach, Lachman, &c.) instead of ἡμῖν : or else omit the word
ultogether (with Tischendorf), which gives the same sense.
5 μῶν, not ἡμῶν, is the right reading, 6 Acts xiv. 18,
vou. 1—13
MOOLAVO EM YOY TAVAdVe AM σΠῚΔΟΟ ΣΠΙΚΓΊΠΩΟΞ INSIONY AML NOW “Ul “AUVIOS Ὁ AN ὈΧΊΙΔΛΎΣΑ--- ΠΟΩΓΏΓΟΥΒΞ ἀνιῶν ν
ADDRESS TO THE GENTILES. 195
Paul was the speaker, and before we proceed further in the narrative, we
cannot help pausing to observe the essentially Pauline character whick
this speech manifests, even in so condensed a summary of its contents. It
is full of undesigned coincidences in argument, and even in the expressiong
employed, with St. Paul’s language m other parts of the Acts, and in his
awn Epistles. Thus, as here he declares the object of his preaching to be
that the idolatrous Lystrians should ‘“ turn from these vain idols to the liv-
ing God,” so he reminds the Thessalonians how they, at his preaching, had
“turned from idols to serve the living and true God.”! Again, as he tells
the Lystrians that ‘‘God had in the generations that were past, suffered
the nations of the Gentiles to walk in their own ways ;” so he tells the
Romans that ‘God in His forbearance had passed over the former sins of
men, in the times that were gone by ;”* and so he tells the Athenians,’
that “the past times of ignorance God had overlooked.” Lastly, how
striking is the similarity between the natural theology with which the
present speech concludes, and that in the Epistle to the Romans, where,
speaking of the heathen, he says that atheists were without excuse ; “ for
that whick can be known of God is manifested in their hearts, God Him-
self having shown it to them. For His being and His might, though they
be invisible, yet are seen ever since the world was made, being under-
stood by His works, which prove His eternal power and Godhead.” 4
The crowd reluctantly retired, and led the victims away without offer-
ing them in sacrifice to the Apostles. It might be supposed that at least
a command had been obtained over their gratitude and reverence, which
would not easily be destroyed ; but we have to record here one of those
sudden changes of feeling, which are humiliating proofs of the weakness of
human nature and of the superficial character of religious excitement. The
Lycaonians were proverbially fickle and faithless ;° but we may not too
11 Thess. i. 9. The coincidence is more striking in the Greek, because the very
same verb, ἐπιστρέφειν, is used in each passage, and is intransitive in both,
> Rom. iii. 25: Τὴν πάρεσιν τῶν προγεγονότων ἁμαρτημάτων ἐν τῇ ἀνοχῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ, -
the mis-translation of which in the authorised version entirely alters its meaning.
3 Acts xvii. 30.
4 Rom. i. 19,20. We ought not to leave this speech without noticing Mr. Hum-
phrey’s conjecture that the conclusion of it is a quotation from some lyric poet. We
cannot think this at all probable; the fact that the passage from οὐρανόθεν to
καρόιάς can be broken up into a system of irregular lines, consisting of dochmiac and
choriambic feet, proves nothing ; because there is scarcely any passage in Greek prose
which might not be resolved into lyrical poetry by a similar method ; just as, in Eng-
lish, the columns of a newspaper may be read off as hexameters (spondaic, or other-
wise), quite as good as most of the so-called English hexameters which are published.
It seems very unlikely that St. Paul, in addressing the simple and illiterate inhabitants
of Lystra (whose vernacular language was not even Greek), should quote a lyrical
poem. It would have been as improbable as that John Wesley, when trying to pacify
the Welsh mob at Brecon, should have quoted one of Gray’s odes.
5 The Schol. on II. tv. 88, 92 says: "λπιστο yan Avxdovec, ὡς καὶ ’Ἀριστοτέληι
UCAT NCE,
196 JHE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
nastily decide that they were worse than many others might have beex
under the same circumstances. It would not be difficult to find a parallel
to their conduct among the modern converts from idolatry to Christianity.
And certainly no later missionaries have had more assiduous enemies than
the Jews, whom the Apostles had everywhere to oppose. Certain Jews
from Iconium, and even from Antioch,! followed in the footsteps of Paul
and Barnabas, and endeavoured to excite the hostility of the Lystrians
against them. When they heard of the miracle worked on the lame map,
and found how great an effect it had produced on the people of Lystra,
they would be ready with a new interpretation of this occurrence. They
would say that it had been accomplished, not by Divine agency, but by
some diabolical magic ; as once they had said αὖ Jerusalem, that He
who came ‘“‘to destroy the works of the devil,” cast out devils “ by Beel-
zebub the prince of the devils.”? And this is probably the true explana-
tion of that sudden change of feeling among the Lystrians, which at first
sight is very surprising. Their own interpretation of what they had wit-
nessed having been disavowed by the authors of the miracle themselves,
they would readily adopt a new interpretation, suggested by those who
appeared to be well acquainted with the strangers, and who had followed
them from distant cities. Their feelings changed with a revulsion as vio-
lent as that which afterwards took place among the “‘ barbarous people”
of Malta,? who first thought St. Paul was a murderer, and then a god
The Jews, taking advantage of the credulity of a rude tribe, were.able to
accomplish at Lystra the design they had meditated at Iconium.t St. Pau.
was stoned,—not hurried out of the city to execution like St. Stephen,® the
memory of whose death must have come over St. Paul at this moment with
impressive force,—but stoned somewhere in the streets of Lystra, and then
drageed through the city gate, and cast outside the walls, under the belief that
he was dead. This is the occasion to which the Apostle afterwards alluded
in the words, “ once I was stoned,” ® in that long catalogue of sufferings, .
1 Acts xiv. 19. 5 Matt. xii. 24.
3 Acts xxviii. 4-6. 4 Acts xiv. 5.
5 See the end of Ch. τ΄. At Jerusalem the law required that these executions should
take place outside the city. It must be remembered that stoning was a Jewish punish-
ment, and that it was proposed by Jews at Iconium, and instigated and begun by Jews
at Lystra.
6 See Paley’s remark on the expression “ once I was stoned,” in reference to the
previous design of stoning St. Paul at Iconium. “ Had the assault been completed,
had the history related that a stone was thrown, as it relates that preparations were
made both by Jews and Gentiles to stone Paul and his companions, or even had the
account of this transaction stopped, without going on to inform us that Paul and his
companions were ‘aware of the danger and fled,’ a contradiction between the history
and the epistles would have ensued. Truth is necessarily consistent ; but it is scarcely
possible that independent accourts, not having truth to guide them, should thus advance
to the very brink of zontradiction without falling into it.”” Hore Pauline, p. 69
ST. PAUL'S SUFFERINGS. 197
to which we have already referred in this chapter.! Thus was he “ in
perils by his own countrymen, in perils by the heathen,” in deaths oft,*
—‘ always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesuy, that
the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in his body..... Alway de-
livered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be
made manifest in his mortal flesh”?
On the present occasion these last words were literally realised, for by
the power and goodness of God he rose from a state of apparent death as
if by a sudden resurrection.2 Though “persecuted,” he was not “ for-
saken,”—though “‘ cast down” he was “not destroyed.” ‘As the disci-
ples stood about him, he rose up, and came into the city.”* We see from
this expression that his labours in Lystra had not been in vain. He had
found some willing listeners to the truth, some “disciples” who did not
hesitate to show their attachment to their teacher by remaining near his
body, which the rest of their fellow-citizens had wounded and cast out.
These courageous disciples were left for the present in the midst of the
enemies of the truth. Jesus Christ had said,> ‘‘when they persecute you
in one city, flee to another,” and the very “next day”® Paul “ dcparted
with Barnabas to Derbe.”
But before we leave Lystra, we must say a few words on one specta-
tor of St. Paul’s sufferings, who is not yet mentioned by St. Luke, but
who was destined to be the constant companion of his after years, the
zealous follower of his doctrine, the faithful partner of his danger and dis-
tress. St. Paul came to Lystra again after the interval of one or two
years, and on that occasion we are told’ that he found a certain Christian
there, ‘‘ whose name was Timotheus, whose mother was a Jewess, while
his father was a Greek,” and whose excellent character was, highly es-
teemed by his fellow Christians of Lystra and Iconium. It is distinctly
stated that at the time of this second visit Timothy was already a Chris-
tian ; and since we know from St. Paul’s own expression,—“ my own son
in the faith,”*—that he was converted by St. Paul himself, we must sup-
pose this change to have taken place at the time of the first visit. And
the reader will remember that St. Paul in the second Epistle to Timothy
See pp. 163, 164.
Compare 2 Cor. iv. 8-12 and xi. 23-27.
3 The natural inference from the narrative is, that the recovery was miraculous; and
It is evident that such a recovery must have produced a strong effect on the minds of
the Christians who witnessed it.
4 Acts xiv. 20. 5 Matt. x. 23. 6 Acts xiv. 20. 7 Acts xvi. 1.
8 1 Tim.i. 2. Compare i. 18 and 2 Tim.ii.1. It is indeed possible that these ex-
pressions might be used, if Timothy became a Christian by his mother’s influence, and
through the recollection of St. Paul’s sufferings; but the common view is the most
fatural, See what is said 1 Cor. iv. 14, 15: “ As my beloved sons warn you; for
though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not ingny fathers; for
in Christ Jesus [ have bege*ten you through the gospel.”
198 ; THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST PAUL.
( 10, 11) reminds him of his own intimate and personal knowledge of
the sufferings he had endured, ‘ αὐ Antioch, at Iconiwm, at Lystra,’—the
places (it will be observed) being mentioned in the exact order in which
they were visited, and in which the successive persecutions took place,
We have thus the strongest reasons for believing that Timothy was a
witness of St. Paul’s injurious treatment: and this too at a time of life
when the mind receives its deepest impressions from the spectacle of inno
cent suffering and undaunted courage. And it is far from impossible that
the generous and warm-hearted youth was standing in that group of dis
ciples, who surrounded the apparently lifeless body of the Apostle at the
outside of the walls of Lystra.
We are called on to observe at this point, with a thankful acknowledg-
ment of God’s providence, that the flight from Iconium, and the cruel per-
secution at Lystra, where events which involved the most important and
beneficial consequences to universal Christianity. It was here, in the midst
of barbarous idolaters, that the Apostle of the Gentiles found an associ-
ate, who became to him and the Church far more than Barnabas, the com-
panion of his first mission. As we have observed above,' there appears to
have been at Lystra no synagogue, no community of Jews and proselytes,
among whom such an associate might naturally have been expected.
Perhaps Timotheus and his relations may have been almost the only
persons of Jewish origin in the town. And his “ grandmother Lois”
and ‘mother Eunice” * may have been brought there originally by some
accidental circumstance, as Lydia* was brought from Thyatira to Phi-
lippi.t And, though there was no synagogue at Lystra, this family may
have met with a few others in some proseucha, like that in which Lydia
and her fellow-worshippers met ‘‘ by the river side.”*> Whatever we may
vonjecture concerning the congregational life to which Timotheus may have
been accustomed, we are accurately informed of the nature of that do-
mestic life which nurtured him for his future labours. The good soil of
his heart was well prepared before Paul came, by the instructions δ of Licis
and Eunice, to receive the seed of Christian truth, sown at the Apostle’s
first visit, and to produce a rich harvest of faith and good works before
the time of his second visit.
Derbe, as we have seen, is somewhere’ not far from the ‘ Black
1 See p. 188. τὶ 54 ΜΠ ΠΝ fa 3 Acts xvi. 14.
4 See also the remarks on the Jews scttled in Asia Minor, ch. 1. pp. 17, 18 ; and on
the Hellenistic and Aramzan Jews, ch. 1. p. 37.
5 Acts xvi. 13. 6 2 Tim. i. 5.
7 See the note on Lystra. Strabo says of Derbe :—Tij¢ ᾿Ισαυρικῆς ἐστιν ἐν πλευραις,
μάλιστα τῇ Καππαδοκίᾳ ἐπιπεφυκός. x. τ. Δ. xii. 6. Stephanus Byzantinus says that
Derbe was φρούριον ᾿Ισαυρίας καὶ λίμήν [the last word is evidently a mistake ; perhaps,
as the French translators of Strabo suggest, it ought to be λίμνη] ; but he implies that
it was closely connected with Lycaonia, and at the same time that “the speech ol
΄
LYSTRA, ICCNIUM, AND ΑΝΤΙΟΟΗ. 199
Mountain,” which rises like an island in the south-eastern part of the plaix
of Lycaonia. A few hours would suffice for the journey between Lystra
and its neighbour-city. We may, perhaps, infer from the fact that Derbe
is not mentioned in the list of places which St. Paul! brings to the recok
lection of Timothy as scenes of past suffering and distress, that in this
town the Apostles were exposed to no persecution. It may have been a
quiet resting-place after a journey full of toil and danger. It does not
appear that they were hindered in “ evangelising”? the city: and the
fruit of their labours was the conversion of ‘‘ many disciples.”
And now we have reached the limit of St. Paul’s first missionary jour-
ney. About this part of the Lycaonian plain, where it approaches,
through gradual undulations,‘ to the northern bases of Mount Taurus, he
was not far from that well-known pass* which leads down from the cen-
tral table-land to Cilicia and Tarsus. But his thoughts did not centre in
an earthly home. He turned back upon his footsteps ; and revisited the
places, Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch,® where he himself had been reviled
and persecuted, but where he had left, as sheep in the desert, the disciples
whom his Master had enabled him to gather. They needed building up
and strengthening in the faith,? comforting in the midst of their inevitable
sufferings, and fencing round by permanent institutions. Therefore Paul
and Barnabas revisited the scenes of their iabours, undaunted by the dan-
gers which awaited them, and using words of encouragement, which none
but the founders of a true religion would have ventured to address to their
earliest converts, that ‘“ we can only enter the kingdom of God by pass-
ing through much tribulation.” But not only did they fortify their faith
by passing words of encouragement ; they ordained elders in every church
after the pattern of the first Christian communities in Palestine,* and with
that solemn observance which had attended their own censecration,® and
Lycaonia”’ was in some way peculiar, when he says that some called it AeAéeia, 6 ἐστι
τῇ τῶν Λυκαόνων φωνῇ ἄρκουθος. This variety in the form of the name, added to the
proximity of lake Ak Gol, induced Mr. Hamilton to think Divlé might be Derbe.—Re
searches, vol. 11. Ὁ. 313.
1 2 Tim. iii. 11.
® EvayyeAroduevor τὴν πόλ:ν ἐκείνην. xiv. 21.
3 Μαθητεύσαντες ἱκάνους. Ibid.
4 So Leake describes the neighbourkood of Karaman (Laranda), pp. 96,97. Hamil-
ton, speaking of the same district, mentions ‘low ridges of cretaceous limestone, ex-
tending into the plain from the mountains.” 1m. 324.
5 The “ Cilician Gates,” to which we shall return at the beginning of the second
missionary journey (Acts xv. 41). See the Map.
6 Mentioned (Acts xiy. 21) in the inverse order from that in which they had been
visited before (xiii. 14,51. xiv. 6).
7 ᾿Επιστηρίζοντες τὰς ψυχὰς τῶν μαθητῶν, παρακαλοῦντες ἐμμένειν τῇ πίστει. XiV. 22.
8. The first menticn of presbyters in the Christian, opposed to the Jewish sense, occurs
Acts xi. 30, in reference to the church at Jerusalem.
9 Ch. V pp. 133, 134.
200 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
which has been transmitted to later ages in connection with ordination,—
“ with fasting and prayer ”—they ‘‘ made choice of fit persons to serve in
the sacred ministry of the Church.” !
Thus, having consigned their disciples to Him ‘in whom they had be-
lieved,” and who was “8016 to keep that which was entrusted to Him,”*
Paul and Barnabas descended through the Pisidian mountains to the
plain of Pamphylia. If our conjecture is correct (see p. 165), that they
went up from Perga in spring, and returned at the close of autumn,? and
spent all the hotter months of the year in the elevated districts, they
would again pass in a few days through a great change of seasons, and
almost from summer to winter. The people of Pamphylia would have
returned from their cold residences to the warm shelter of the plain by
the sea-side ; and Perga would be full of its inhabitants. The Gospel
was preached within the walls of this city, through which the Apostles
had merely passed‘ on their journey to the interior. But from St. Luke’s
silence it appears that the preaching was attended with no marked re-
sults. We read neither of conversions nor persecutions. The Jews, if
any Jews resided there, were less inquisitive and less tyrannical than those
at Antioch and Iconium ; and the votaries of ‘‘ Diana before the city ἢ
at Perga (see p. 160) were less excitable than those who: worshipped
Jupiter before the city” at Lystra.s When the time .came for return-
ing to Syria, they did not sail down the Cestrus, up the channel of which
river they had come on their arrival from Cyprus,° but travelled across
the plain to Attaleia, which was situated on the edge of the Pamphylian
gulf.
Attaleia had something of the same relation to Perga, which Cadiz
has to Seville. In each case the latter city is approached by a river-
voyage, and the former is more conveniently placed on the open sea. At-
talus Philadelphus, king of Pergamus, whose dominions extended from the
north-western corner of Asia Minor to the Sea of Pamphylia, had built
this city in a convenient position for commanding the trade of Syria or
Egypt. When Alexander the Great passed this way, no such city was in
existence : but since the days of the kings of Pergamus, who inherited a
fragment of his vast empire, Attaleia has always existed and flourished,
retaining the name of the monarch who built it.7 Behind it is the plain,
1 First Collect for the Ember Weeks. 2 Acts xiv. 23. Compare 2 Tim. i. 12.
3 Wieseler (p. 224) thinks the events on this journey must have occupied more than
one year. It is evident that the case docs not admit of any thing more than conjecture.
4 See above, pp. 160, and notes. 5 Aets xiv. 13. 6 Pp. 160, 16}.
7 See Strab. xiv. 4 and Ptol. y.5,2. Strabo places Attaleia to the west of the Catarr
hactes, Ptolemy to the east. Admiral Beaufort (Karamania, ch. vi.) was of opinion
that the modern Satalia is the site of the ancient Olbia, and that Laara is the true
Attaleia. Mannert (Georg. der G. und R. vi. 130) conjectures that Olbia may have
been the ancient-name of the city which Attalus rebuilt and called after his own name:
Ἢ}: = ti
iii tes
| YY
ay
WALL OF PERGA.
, ATTALELA. 201
‘hrough which the calcareous waters of the Catarrhactes flow, perpetually
constructing and destroying and reconstructing their fantastic channels.
In front of it, and along the shore on each side, are long lines of cliffs,
over which the river finds its way in waterfalls to the sea, and which com
068] the plain from those who look toward the land from the inner watera
of the bay, and even encroach on the prospect of the mountains them
selves.
When this view is before us, the mind reverts to another band of Chris
tian warriors, who once sailed from the bay of Satalia to the Syrian Anti
och. Certain passages, in which the movements of the Crusaders and
Apostles may be compared with each other are among the striking con-
trasts of history. Conrad and Louis, each with an army consisting at first
of 70,000 men, marched through part of the same districts? which were
traversed by Paul and Barnabas alone and unprotected. The shattered
remains of the French host had come down to Attaleia through “the ab-
rupt mountain-passes and the deep vallies “which are so well described by
the contemporary historians They came to fight the battle of the Cross
ond Forbiger (Alte Geographie, ii. 268) inclines to think the opinion is very probable.
The perpetual changes in the river-bed of the Catarrhactes have necessarily caused
some difficulty in the identification of ancient sites in this part of the Pampbylian
plain. Spratt.and Forbes, however (‘ Lycia,” &c., ch. vi.), seems to have discovered
the true Olbia further to the west, and to have proved that Satalia is Attaleia. They
add that the style of its relics is invariably Roman, agreeing with the date of its foun-
dation.
1 See Spratt and Forbes for a full account of the irregular deposits and variations of
channel observable in this river.
3 There are also ancient sea-cliffs at some distance behind the present coast line.
See Fellows, and Spratt and Forbes.
3 See the Maps in Michaud’s Histoire des Croisades and Milman’s Gibbon.
4 Tandem vero Pamphyliam ingressi, per abrupta montium, per devexa vallium,
cum difficultate nomia ... . usque Attaleiam, ejusdem regionis metropolim pervene-
runt.”—William of Tyre, xvi. 26. The passage which follows is worth quoting, both
for the account of Satalia as it was in the twelfth century, and the description of the
voyage to Antioch on the Orontes. “Est autem Attaleia civitas in littore maris sita,
Imperatoris Constantinopolitani subjecta imperio, agrum habens opimum, et tamen
civibus suis inutilem. Nam angustiantibus eos undique hostibus, nec permittentibus
agrorum cultui vacare, jacet ager infructuosus, dum non est qui exercendo fcecundita-
tem possit procreare : alias tamen multa habens commoditates, gratum se solet prabere
hospitibus. Nam aquas emanans perspicuas et salutares, pomeriis est obsita fructiferis,
situ placens ameenissimo: trajectarum tamen frequens et per mare devectarum solent
habere copias, et transeuntibus sufficientem ciborum commoditatem ministrare, Quia
vero hostibus nimis est contermina, eorum non valens indesinenter sustinere molestias,
facta est eis tributarla, per hoc necessariorum cum hostibus commercium.
“ }Tanc nostri idiomatis Greci non habentes peritiam, corrupto vocabulo Sataliwn
appellant. Unde et totus ille maris sinus, a promontorio Lissidora, usque in insulam
Cyprum, Attalicus dicitur, qui vulgari appellatione Gu/phus Satalie nuncupatur.
“ Ad hane perveniens Rex Francorum cum suis, ob muttitudinem concurrentium
tantum passus est alimentorum penuriam quod pene residuum exercitus, et maxime
pauperes consumerentur inedia. Ipse vero cum suis principibus, relictis pedestribus
202 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
with a great multitude, and with the armour of human power ; their jour.
ney was encompassed with defeat and death ; their arrival at Attaleia was
disastrous and disgraceful ; and they sailed to Antioch a broken and dis-
pirited army. But the Crusaders of the first century, the Apostles of
Christ, though they too passed ‘through much tribulation,” advanced
from victory to victory. Their return to the place “ whence they had
been recommended to the grace of God for the work which they fulfilled,” ?
was triumphant and joyful, for the weapons of their warfare were “ not
earnal.”* The Lord Himself was their tower and their shield.
turmis maturat navigio, Isauriam Ciliciamque a leva deserens: a dextris autem Cypro
relicta, prosperis actus flatibus, fauces Orontis fluminis, quod Antiochiam prelabitur,
qui locus hodie dicitur Symeonis portus, juxta antiquam urbem Seleuciam, et ab An-
‘iochia decem plus minusve paulo distat miliaribus, ingreditur.”
Acts xiv. 206. ° 3. See 2 Cor. x. 4.
From Fellows’ Asia Minor, p. 191. This sculpturing of a shield upon a tower may
also be seen in a drawing of Isaura in Hamilton’s Researches, vol. ii. p. 33%.
᾽ CONTROVERSY ΙΝ THE CHURCH. 203
CHAPTER VU.
“ Inter hos scopulus ct sinus, inter hxc vada et freta... velificata Spiritu Dei fides
pavigat. ... Propterea Spiritus Sanctus consultantibus tunc Apostolis vinculum et
jugum nobis relaxavit, ut idololatrie devitande vacaremus.”’—Tertull. de Idoll. ὃ 24.
C )NTROVERSY IN THE CHURCH.—SEPARATION OF JEWS AND GENTILES.—OBSTA-
CLES TO UNION, BOTH SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS.—DIFFICULTY IN THE NARRA-
TIVE.—SCRUPLES CONNECTED WITH THE CONVERSION OF CORNELIUS.—LIN-
GERING DISCONTENT.—-FEELINGS EXCITED BY THE CONDUCT AND SUCCESS OF
ST. PAUL,—ESPECIALLY AT JERUSALEM.—INTRIGUES OF THE JUDAIZERS AT
ANTIOCH.—CONSEQUENT ANXIETY AND PERPLEXITY.—MISSION OF PAUL AND
BARNABAS TO JERUSALEM.—DIVINE REVELATION TO ST. PAUL.— TITUS.—
JOURNEY THROUGH PH@NICE AND SAMARIA.—THE PHARISEES.—PRIVATE CON-
SPEECH OF ST. PETER.—NARRATIVE OF BAR-
FERENCES.—PUBLIC MEETING.
NABAS AND PAUL.—SPEECH OF ST. JAMES.—THE DECREE.— CHARITABLE
NATURE OF ITS PROVISIONS.—IT INVOLVES THE ABOLITION OF JUDAISM.—
PUBLIC RECOGNITION OF ST PAUL’S MISSION TO THE HEATHEN.—ST. JOHN.—
RETURN TO ANTIOCH WITH JUDAS, SILAS, AND MARK.—READING OF THE LETTER.
—WEAK CONDUCT OF ST. PETER AT ANTIOCH.—HE IS REBUKED BY ST, PAUL.—
PERSONAL APPEARANCE OF THE TWO APOSTLES.—THEIR RECONCILIATION,
Ir, when we contrast the voyage of Paul and Barnabas across the bay of
Attaleia, with the voyage of those who sailed over the same waters in the
same direction, eleven centuries later, our minds are powerfully drawn to-
wards the pure age of early Christianity, when the power of faith made
human weakness irresistibly strong ;—the same thoughts are not less for-
cibly presented to us, when we contrast the reception of the Crusaders at
Antioch, with the reception of the Apostles in the same city. We are
told by the Chroniclers', that Raymond, “ Prince of Antioch,” waited
with much expectation for the arrival of the French King ; and that,
when he heard of his landing at Seleucia, he gathered together all the
nobles and chief men of the people, and went out to meet him, and
1 Raymond ... princeps Antiochenus ... adventum diebus multis ante expecta
verat, cum desidcrio sustinens, convocatis nobilibus totius regionis, et populi primori-
bus, cum electo comitatu ei occurrens, in urbem Antiochenam, omnem ei exhibens
reverentiam, occurrente ei universo clero et populo, magnificentissime introduxit
Will. of Tyr. xvi. 27.
206 « THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ΒΤ. PAUL, κα
brought him into Antioch with much pomp and magnificence, showing him
ali reverence and homage, in the nwdst of a great assemblage of the
clergy and people. All that St. Luke tells us of the reception of the
Apostles after their victorious campaign, is, that they entered into the
city and “gathered together the church, and told them how God had
worked with them and how He had opened a door of faith to the Gen
tiles.”! Thus the kingdom of God came at the first ‘‘ without obser-
vation,” -—with the humble acknowledgment that all power is given
from above,—and with a thankful recognitien of our Father’s mercifel
love to all mankind.
No age, however, of Christianity, not even the earliest, has been with-
out its difficulties, controversies, and corruptions. The presence uf Judas
among the anostles, and of Ananias and Sapphira among the first disci-
ples,’ were proofs of the power which moral evil possesses to combine it-
self with the holiest works. The misunderstanding of “the Grecians und
Hebrews” in the days of Stephen,’, the suspicion of the apostles, when
Paul came from Damascus to Jerusalem,’ the secession of Mark at the
beginning of the first missionary journey,® were symptoms of the preju-
dice, ignorance, and infirmity, in the midst of which the Gospel was
to win its way in the hearts of men, And the arrival of the apostles ut
Antioch at the,close of their journey was presently followed by a trou-
bled controversy, which involved the most momentous consequences to ali
future ages of the Church; and which led to that visit to Jerusalem
which, next after his conversion, is perhaps the most important passage in
St. Paul’s life.
We have scen (Ch. I.) that great numbers of Jews had long been dis-
persed beyond the limits of their own land, and were at this time dis-
tributed over every part of the Roman Empire. “ Moses had of old
time, in every city, them that preached him, being read in the Syna-
gogues every Sabbath-day.”?7 In every considerable city, both of the
East and West, were established some members of that mysterious peo-
ple,—who had a written law, which they read and re-read, in the midst of
the contempt of those who surrounded them, weck by week, and year by
year,—who were bound everywhere by a secret link of affection to one
city in the world, where alone their religious sacrifices could be offered,—
whose whole life was utterly abhorrent from the temples and images which
crowded the neighbourhood of their Synagogues, and from the gay and
licentious festivities of the Greek and Roman worship.
In the same way it might be said that Plato and Aristotle, Zeno and
Epicurus,’ “had in every city those that preached them.” Side by side
with the doctrines of Judaism, the speculations of Greek philosophers
1 Acts xiv. 27 2 Vloke xvii. 20. 3 Acts v. 4 Ῥ, 66. — P, 102.
6 Ῥ, 108. 7 Acts xy. 21. & See Acts xvii. 18.
[45]
and
10
UCIA.
νἹ
AT SELE
TOMB}
SEPARATION OF JEWS AND GENTILES. 205
were—-not indeed read in connection with religious worship--—but oralls
taught and publicly discussed in the schools. Hence the Jews, in their
foreign settlements, were surrounded, not only by an idolatry which
shocked all their deepest feelings, and by a shameless profligacy unforbid-
den by, and even associated with, that which the Gentiles called reli-
gion,—but also by a proud and contemptuous philosophy that alienated
the more educated classes of society to as great a distance as the unthink
ing multitude.
Thus a strong line of demarcation between the Jews and Gentiles ran
through the whole Roman empire. Though their dwellings were often
contiguous, they were separated from each other by deep-rooted feelings
of aversion and contempt. The ‘middle wall of partition”! was built
up by diligent hands on both sides. This mutual alienation existed, not-
withstanding the vast number of proselytes, who were attracted to the
Jewish doctrine and worship, and who, as we have already observed
(Ch. 1.}, were silently preparing the way for the ultimate union of the
two races. The breach was even widened, in many cases, in consequence
of this work of proselytism: for those who went over to the Jewish camp,
or hesitated on the neutral ground, were looked on with some suspicion
by the Jews themselves, and thoroughly hated and despised by the
Gentiles. .
It must be remembered that the separation of which we speak was
both religious and social. The Jews had a divine law, which sanctioned
the principle, and enforced the practice, of national isolation. They could
not easily believe that this law, with which all the glorious passages of
their history were associated, was meant only to endure for a limited
period : and we cannot but sympathise in the difficulty they felt in accept-
ing the notion of a cordial union with the uncircumcised, even after idola-
try was abandoned and morality observed. And again, the peculiar
character of the religion which isolated the Jews was such as to place
insuperable obstacles in the way of social union with other men. ‘Their
seremonial observances precluded the possibility of their eating with the
Gentiles. The nearest parallel we can find to this barrier between the
Jews and Gentiles, is the institution of caste among the ancient popula-
tions of India, which presents itself to our politicians as a perplexing fact
ix the government of the presidencies, and to our missionaries as the great
abstacle to the progress of Christianity in the East.? A Hindoo cannot
eat with a Parsee, or a Mahomedan,—and among the Hindoos themselves
1 Eph. ii. 14.
3. See for instance the memoir of the Rev. H. W. Fox (1850), pp. 123-125. A short
statement of the strict regulations of the modern Jews, in their present dispersed state.
concerning the slaughtering of animals for food and the sale ef the meat, is given im
Allen’s Modern Judaism, ch. xyii.
206 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
the meals of a Brahmin are polluted by the presence of a Pariah,—thougk
they mect and have free intercourse in the ordinary transaction of busi:
ness. And so it was in the patriarchal age. It was “an abomination for
the Egyptians to eat bread with the Hebrews.”! The same principle was
divinely sanctioned for a time in the Mosaic Institutions. The Israelites,
who lived among the Gentiles, met them freely in the places of public
resort, buying and selling, conversing and disputing: but their families were
separate : in the relations of domestic life, it was “ unlawful,” as St. Peter
said to Cornelius, ‘‘for a man that was a Jew to keep company or come
nnto one of another nation.”? When St. Peter returned from the centu-
tion at Czesarea to his brother-christians at Jerusalem, their great charge
against him was that he had “ gone in to men uncircumcised, and had eaten
with them : 73. and the weak compliance of which he was guilty, after the
true principle of social unity had been publicly recognised, and which
ealled forth the stern rebuke of his brother-apostles, was that, after eating
with the Gentiles, he “withdrew and separated himself, fearing them
which were of the circumcision.” 4
How these two difficulties, which seemed to forbid the formation of an
united Church on earth, were ever to be overcome,—how the Jews and
Gentiles were to be religiously united, without the enforced obligation of
the whole Mosaic Law,—how they were to be socially united as equal
brethren in the family of a common Father,—the solution of this problem
raust in that day have appeared inipossible. And without the direct in-
tervention of Divine grace it would have been impossible. We now pro-
ceed to consider how that grace gave to the minds of the Apostles, the
wisdom, discretion, forbearance, and firmness which were required ; and
how St. Paul was used as the great instrument in accomplishing a work
necessary to the very existence of the Christian Church.
We encounter here a difficulty, well known to all who have examined
this subject, in combining into one continuous narrative the statements in
the Epistle to the Galatians and in the Acts of the Apostles. In the
latter book we are informed of five distinct journeys made by the Apostle
to Jerusalem after the time of his conversion ;—first, when he escaped
from Damascus, and spent a fortnight with Peter ;° secondly, when he
took the collection from Antioch with Barnabas in the time of famine ; ¢
thirdly, on the occasion of the Council, which is now before us in the fif-
teenth chapter of the Acts ; fourthly, in the interval between his second
and third missionary journeys ;7 and, fifthly, when the uproar was made
in the Temple, and he was taken into the custody of the Roman garrison.
Tn the Hpistles to the Galatians, St. Paul speaks of two journeys to Jeru-
1 Gen. xiii. 32. ? Acts x. 28.
3 Acts xi. 3. 4 Gal. ii. 12. 5 P. 101 ssPMa2T
7 Acts xviii, 22. 8 Acts xxi. &.
DIFFICULTY IN THE NARRATIVE. 207
salem,—the first being “three years” after his conversion! the secone
“fourteen years” later,’ when his own apostleship was asserted and recog:
nised in a public meeting of the other apostles. Now, while we have no
difficulty in stating, as we have done,‘ that the first journey of one account
is the first journey of the other, theologians have been variously divided in
opinion, as to whether the second journey of the Epistle must be identified
with the second, third, or fourth of the Acts; or whether it is a separate
journey, distinct from any of them. It is agreed by all that the fifth can-
not possibly be intended.* The view we have adopted, that the second
journey of the Epistle is the third of the Acts, is that of a majority of the
best critics and commentators. For the arguments by which it is justi-
fied, and for a full discussion of the whole subject, we must refer the rea-
der to the note at the end of this Chapter. Some of the arguments will
be indirectly presented in the following narrative. So far as the circum-
stances combined together in the present Chapter appear natural, consecu-
tive and coherent, so far some reason will be given for believing that we
are not following an arbitrary assumption or a fanciful theory.
It is desirable to recur at the outset to the first instance of a Ger
tile’s conversion to Christianity. After the preceding remarks, we are
prepared to recognise the full sjgnificance of the emblematical? vision
which St. Peter saw at Joppa. The trance into which he fell at the mo-
ment of his hunger,—the vast shect descending from heaven,—the pro-
miscuous assemblage of clean and unclean animals *—the voice from hea-
ven which said, “ Arise, Peter, kill and eat,”—the whole of this imagery
is invested with the deepest meaning, when we recvllect all the details of
religious and social life, which separated, up to that moment, the Gentile
from the Jew The words heard by St. Peter in his trance came like a
shock on all the prejudices of his Jewish education.2 He had never so
1 Gal. i. 18.
3 We take the δεκατεσσάρων (Gal. ii. 1) to refer to the preceding journey, and not to
the conversion. This question, as well as that of the reading τεσσάρων, will be dis-
cussed in a future note.
3 Gal. ii. 1-10.
4P. 101.
5 Some writers, 6. g. Paley and Schrader, have contended that an entirely different
joarney, ποὺ mentioned in the Acts, is alluded to. This also will be discussed hereafter.
6 Acts x. xi.
7 The last emblematical visions (properly so called) were those seen by the prophet
aechariah.
5. See Levit. xi.
9 The feeling of the Jews in all ages is well illustrated by the following extract from
» modern Jewish work : “If we disregard this precept, and say, ‘ What difference can
it make to God if I eat the meat of an ox or swine,’ we offend against His will, we pok
lute ourselves by what goes into the mouth, and can consequently lay no longer a claim
tc holiness; for the term ‘holiness,’ applied to mortals, means only a framing of ougr
desires by the will of God. . .. . Have we not enough to eat without touching forbid
den things? Let me beseech my dear fellow-believers not to deceive themselver by.
208 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
broken the law of his forefathers as to eat any thing it condemned as um
clean. And though the same voice spoke to him “a second time,”! and
“answered him from heaven,”?—‘‘ What God has. made clean that call
not thou common,”—it required a wonderful combination of natural? and
supernatural evidence to convince him that God is “no respecter of per-
sons,” but “in every nation” accepts him that “‘feareth Him and worketh
righteousness,” ‘—that all such distinctions as depend on ‘meat and
drink,” on “ holydays, new moons, and sabbaths,” were to pass away,—
that these things were only “ἃ shadow of things to come,’”—that “ the
body is of Christ,”—and that ‘in Him we are complete . . . circumcised
with a circumcision not made with hands . . . buried with Him in bap-
tism,” and risen with Him through faith.*
The Christians “ of the circumcision,” ® who travelled with Peter from
Joppa to Cxsarea, were “ astonished” when they saw “the gift of the
Holy Ghost poured out” on the uncircumcised Gentiles: and much dis-
satisfaction was created in the Church, when intelligence of the whole
transaction came to Jerusalem. On Peter’s arrival, his having “gone in
to men uncircumcised, and eaten with them,” was arraigned as a serious
violation of religious duty. When St. Peter “rehearsed the matter from
the beginning, and expounded it by order,” appealing to the evidence of
the “six brethren” who had accompanied him,—his accusers were silent,
and so much conviction was produced at the time, that they expressea
their gratitude to God, for His mercy in “ granting to the Gentiles re-
pentance unto life.”7 But subsequent events too surely proved that the
discontent at Jerusalem was only partially allayed. Hesitation and per-
plexity began to arise in the minds of the Jewish Christians, with scrupa-
lous misgivings concerning the rectitude of St. Peter’s conduct, and an un-
comfortable jealousy of the new converts. And nothing could be more
natural than all this jealousy and perplexity. ΤῸ us, with our present
knowledge, it seems that the slightest relaxation of a ceremonial law
should have been willingly and eagerly welcomed. But the view from
the Jewish standing-point was very different. The religious difficulty in
the mind of a Jew was greater than we can easily imagine. We can well
believe that the minds of many may have been perplexed by the words and
the conduct of our Lord Himself: for He had not been sent “ save to the
lost sheep of the house of Israel,” and He said that it was ‘not mest to
saying, ‘ there is no sin in eating of aughé that lives ;’ on the contrary, there is sin and
contamination too.” Leeser’s Jews and the Mosaic Law ; ch. on “ The forbidden Meats.”
Philadelphia, 5594.
1 Acts x. 15. 2 Acts xi. 9.
3 The coineldence of outward events and inward admonitions was very similar to the
circumstances connected with St. Paul’s baptism by Ananias at Damascus,
4 Acts x. 34, 35. 5 See Col. ii. 8-23. 6 Acts x, 45, with xi, 12.
7 Aots xi. 1-18.
INTRIGUES OF THE JUDAIZERS AT ANTIOCH. 209
take the children’s bread and cast it to dogs.”! Until St. Paul appeared be
fore the Church in his true character as the Apostle of the uncireumcision,
few understood that ‘the law of the commandments contained in ordi
nances” had been abolished by the cross of Christ ;* and that the “ other
rheep,” not of the Jewish fold, should be freely admitted into the “ one
fold” by the ‘‘ One Shepherd.” ?
The smouldering feeling of discontent which had existed from the first
increased and became more evident as new Gentile converts were admitted
into the Church. ΤῸ pass over all the other events of the interval which
had elapsed since the baptism of Cornelius, the results of the recent jour-
ney of Paul and Barnabas through the cities of Asia Minor must have
excited a great commotion among the Jewish Christians. ‘A door of
faith” had been opened ‘‘ unto the Gentiles.”4 “ He that wrought effectu-
ally in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same had been
mighty in Paul toward the Gentiles.”® And we cannot well doubt that
both he and Barnabas had freely joined in social intercourse with the Gen-
tile Christians, at Antioch in Pisidia, at Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe, as
Peter “at the first”® “a good while ago”? had eaten with Cornelius at
Cxsarea, At Antioch in Syria, it seems evident that both parties lived
together in amicable intercourse and in much “ freedom.” 8 Nor, indeed,
is this the city where we should have expected the Jewish controversy to
have come to a crisis: for it was from Antioch that Paul and Barnabas
had first been sent as missionaries to the heathen :° and it was at Antioch
that Greek proselytes had first accepted the truth,’ and that the united
hody of believers had first béen called “ Christians.” 11
Jerusalem was the metropolis of the Jewish world. The exclusive
feelings which the Jews carried with them wherever they were diffused,
were concentrated in Jerusalem in their most intense degree. It was
there, in the sight of the Temple, and with all the recollections of their
ancestors surrounding their daily life, that the impatience of the Jewish
Christians kindled into burning indignation, They saw that Christianity,
instead of being the purest and holiest form of Judaism, was rapidly be-
coming a universal and indiscriminating religion, in which the Jewish ele-
ment would be absorbed and lost. This revolution could not appear to
them in any other light than as a rebellion against all that they had been
taught to hold inviolably sacred. And since there was no doubt that the
great instigator of this change of opinion was that Saul of Tarsus whom
they had once known as a young Pharisee at the “ feet of Gamalicl,” the
eontest took the form of an attack made by “certain of the sect of the
1 Matt. xv. 24, 26. ? Eph. ii. 15.
3 John x. 16. 4 Acts xiv. 27. 5 Gal. ii. 8.
6 Acts xv. 14. 7 Acts xv. 7. 8 See Gal. ii. 4.
® Acts xiii. 1, ἄς. 10 Acts xi. 19-21. 1 Acts xi. 26.
VoL. I.—14 ;
210 THE LIFE AND EFISTLES OF ST. PATL.
Pharisees” upon St. Paul. The battle which had been fought and lost
in the “ Cilician synagogue” was now to be renewed within the Church ᾿
itself. }
Some of the “ false breth.en” (for such is the name which St. Paul
gives to the Judaizers') went down “from Judea” to Antioch.? The
course they adopted, in the first instance, was not that of open antagonism
to St. Paul, but rather of clandestine intrigue. They came as “ spies”
into an enemy’s camp,’ creeping in ‘‘ unawares,”‘ that they might ascer-
tain how far the Jewish Law had been relaxed by the Christians ai Anti-
och ; their purpose being to bring the whole Church, if possib'e, under
the “ bondage ” of the Jewish yoke. It appears that they remained some
considerable time at Antioch,’ gradually insinuating, or openly inculcat-
ing, their opinion that the observance of the Jewish Law was xecessary ta
salvation. It is very important to observe the exact form which their
teaching assumed. They did not merely recommend or enjoin, for prv-
dential reasons, the continuance of certain ceremonies in themselves indi?
ferent : but they said, ‘‘ Except ye be circumcised after the manner of
Moses, ye cannot be saved.” Such a doctrine must have been instantly
opposed by St. Paul with his utmost energy. He was always ready to go
to the extreme verge of charitable concession when the question was one of
peace and mutual understanding : but when the very foundations cf Chris-
tianity were in danger of being undermined, when the very continuance
of “ the truth of the Gospel” * was in jeopardy, it was impossible that he
should ‘‘ give place by subjection,” even “ for an hour.”
The ‘dissension and disputation,”? which arose between Paul and
Barnabas and the false brethren from Judea, resulted in a general anxiety
and perplexity among the Syrian Christians. The minds of ‘‘ those whe
from among the Gentiles were turned unto God” were “ troubled” and
unsettled. Those “words” which “perverted the Gospel of Christ”
tended also to “ subvert the souls” of those who heard them. It was
determined, therefore, ‘‘that Paul and Barnabas, with certain others,
should go up to Jerusalem unto the Apostles and elders about this ques-.
tion.” It was well known that those who were disturbing the peace of
the Church had their head-quarters in Judea. Such a theological party
could only be successfully met in the stronghold of Jewish nationality.
Moreover, the residence of the principal Apostles was at Jerusalem, and
the community over which “‘ James” presided was still regarded as the
Mother-Church of Christendom.
1 Gal. ii, 4. 2 Acts xv. 1.
3 Κατασκοπῆσαι. “ Verbum Castrense.” Grotius. See Chrys on Gal. ii. 4.
4 See παρεισάκτους and παρεισῆλθον. Gal. ii. 4.
* This may be inferred from the imperfect ἐδίδασκον. Compare xiv. 28.
Gal. ii.5. τ Acts xv. 2. 8. Acts xv. 19. 9 Gal.ii7. Acts. xv. 24
JOURNEY TO JERUSALEM. 211
In addition to this mission with which St. Paul was entrusted by the
Church at Antioch, he received an intimation of the Divine Will commu
ricated by direct revelation. Such a revelation at so momentous ἃ crisig
must appear perfectly natural to all who believe that Christianity was in
xoduced into the world by the immediate power of God. If “a man of
Macedonia” appeared to Paul in the visions of the night, when he wa,
about to carry the Gospel from Asia into Europe:! if “the angel of
God” stood by him in the night when the ship that was huge him to
Rome was in danger of sinking ;7 we cannot wonder when he tells us
that, on this occasion, when he “went up to Jerusalem with Barnabas,”
he went “by revelation.” And we need not be surprised, ifywe find that
St. Paul’s path was determined by two different causes ; that he went to
Jerusalem partly because the Church deputed him, and partly because he
was divinely admonished. Such a combination and co-operation of the
natural and the supernatural we have observed above,‘ in the case of that
vision which induced St. Peter to go from Joppa to Cxsarea. Nor need
we feel any great difficulty in adopting this view of St. Paul’s journey
from Antioch to Jerusalem,—from this circumstance, that the two mo-
tives which conspired to direct him are separately mentioned in different
parts of Scripture. It is true that we are told in the Acts® simply that it
was “‘ determined” at Antioch that Paul should go to Jerusalem ; and
that in Galatians,® we are informed by himself that he went “ by revela-
tion.” But we have an exact parallel in an earlier journey, already re-
lated,’ from Jerusalem to Tarsus. In St. Luke’s narrative’ it is stated
that ‘the brethren,” knowing that the conspiracy against his life,
“brought him down to*Casarea and sent him forth ;” while in the speech
of St. Paul himself,? we are told that in a trance he saw Jesus Christ, and
received from Him a command to depart “ quickly out of Jerusalem.”
Similarly directed from without and from within, he travelled to
Jerusalem on the occasion before us. It would seem that his com-
panions were carefully chosen with reference to the question in dispute.
On the one hand was Barnabas,” a Jew and “a Levite” by birth," a
good representative of the church of the circumcision. On the other
hand was Titus,” now first mentioned" in the course of our narrative, a
1 Acts xvi. 9. 3. Acts xxvii. 23.
3. Gal. ii. 2. Schrader (who does not however identify this journey with that in
Acts xv.) translates κατὰ ἀποκάλυψιν---", to make a revelation,” which is a meaning the
words can scarcely bear. 4 Pp. 207, 208.
5 xv, 2, 6 ii. 2. 7 Ch. III. p. 104.
8 Acts ix. 30. 9 Acts xxii. 17, 18. 10 Acts xy. 2.
1 Acts iv. 36. 12 Gal. ii. 1-5.
8 Titus is not mentioned at all in the Acts of the Apostles, unless the reading Ti ow
Ἰούστου in xviii. 7 be correct, which is not probable (see below, p. 229, note). Besilea
the present Epistle and that to Titus Limself, he is only mentioned in 2 Cor. and 2 Tim
212 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
sonvert from hcathenism, an uncircumcised “Greek.” From the expres
sion used of the departure of this company it seems evident that the
majority of the Christians at Antioch were still faithful to the truth of
the Gospel. Had the Judaizers triumphed, it would hardly have been
said that Paul and his fellow-travellers were “brought on their way
by the Church.”! Their course was along the great Roman Road,
which followed the Pheenician coast-line, and traces of which are still
seen on the cliffs overhanging the sea,? and thence through the midland
districts of Samaria and Judea. When last we had occasion to men-
tion Pheenice,? we were alluding to those who were dispersed on the
death of Stephen, and preached the Gospel “to Jews only” on this
part of the Syrian coast. Now it seems evident that many of the
heathen Syro-Pheenicians had been converted to Christianity: for as
Paul and Barnabas passed through, “ declaring the conversion of the
Gentiles, they caused great joy unto all the brethren.” As regards
the Samaritans,‘ we cannot be surprised that they who, when Philip first
“preached Christ unto them,” had received the glad tidings with
“great joy,” should be ready to express their sympathy in the happiness
of those who, like themselves, had recently been “aliens from the com-
monwealth of Israel.”
Fifteen years® had now elapsed since that memorable journey, when
In a later part of this work he will be noticed more particularly as St. Paul’s συνεργός
(2 Cor. viii. 23).
1 ΤΙροπεμφθέντες ὑπὸ τῆς ἐκκλησίας. Actsxy.3. Sothe phrase παραδοθεὶς τῇ χάριτι
τοῦ Κυρίου ὑπὸ τῶν ἀδελφῶν (xy. 40), may be reasonably adduced as a proof that the
feeling of the majority was with Paul rather than Barnabas.
? Dr. Robinson passed two Roman milestones between Tyre and Sidon (iii. 415), and
observed traces of a Roman road between Sidon and Beyrout. See also Visher’s Syria
(i. 40) for a notice of the Via Antonina between Beyrout and Tripoli.
3 P.116. Acts xi. 19, 20. It may be interesting here to allude to the journey of a
Jew in the Middle Ages from Antioch to Jerusalem. It is probable that the stations,
the road, the rate of travelling were the same, and the distribution of the Jews not very
different. We find the following passage in the Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela, whe
travelled in 1163. ‘“ Two days bring us from Antioch to Lega, which is Latachia, and
contains about 200 Jews, the principal of whom are R. Chiia and R. Joseph. . . . One
Two days hence is Beyrut. The principal of its 50 Jewish inhabitants are R. Solomon,
R. Obadiah, and R. Joseph. It is hence one day’s journey to Saida, which is Sidon of
Scripture [Acts xxvii. 3], a large city, with about 20 Jewish families... .. One day’s
journey to New Sur [Tyre, Acts xxi. 3], a very beautiful city... .. The Jews of Sur
are ship-owners and manufacturers of the celebrated Tyrian glass... .. It is one day
henve to Acre [Ptolemais, Acts xxi. 7]. It is the frontier town of Palestine ; and, in
consequence of its situation on the shore of the Mediterranean, and of its large port, it
is the principal place of disembarcation of all pilgrims who visit Jerusalem by sea”
Early Travels to Palestine, pp. 78-81.
+ See pp. 79, 80
° Gal. ii. 1, where we ought probably to reckon inclusively. See note at the end οἱ
this Chapter.
CONFERENCES AT JERUSALEM. 218
St. Paul left Jerusalem, with all the zeal of a Pharisee, to persecute
znd destroy the Christians in Damascus.!. He had twice entered, as a
Christian, the Holy City again. Both visits had been short and hurried,
and surrounded with danger. The first was three years after his conver-
sion, when he spent a fortnight with Peter, and escaped assassination by
a precipitate flight to Tarsus.2 The second was in the year 44, when
Peter himself was in imminent danger, and when the messengers who
brought the charitable contribution from Antioch were probably com-
velled to return immediately. Now St. Paul came at a more peaceful
period of the Church’s history, to be received as the successful champion
of the Gospel, and as the leader of the greatest revolution which the
world has seen. It was now undeniable that Christianity had spread to
a wide extent in the Gentile world, and that he had been the great instru-
ment in advancing its progress. He came to defend his own principles
and practice against an increasing torrent of opposition, which had dis-
turbed him in his distant ministrations at Antioch, but the fountain-head
of which was among the Pharisees at Jerusalem.
The Pharisees had been the companions of St. Paul’s younger days.
Death had made many changes in the course of fifteen years ; but some
must have been there who had studied with him “ at the feet of Gamaliel.”
Their opposition was doubtless embittered by remembering what he had
been before his conversion. Nor do we allude here to those Pharisees
who opposed Christianity. These were not the enemies whom St. Paul
came to resist. The time was past when the Jews, unassisted by the
Roman power, could exercise a cruel tyranny over the Church. Its
safety was no longer dependent on the wisdom or caution of Gamaliel.
The great debates at Jerusalem are no longer between Jews and Christians
in the Hellenistic synagogues, but between the Judaising and spiritual
parties of the Christians themselves. Many of the Pharisees, after the
example of St. Paul, had believed that Jesus was Christ. But they had
not followed the example of their school-companion in the surrender οὗ
Jewish bigotry. The battle, therefore, which had once been fought with-
out, was now to be renewed within the Church. It seems that, at the
very first reception of Paul and Barnabas at Jerusalem, some of
these Pharisaic Christians “rose up,” and insisted that the observance of
Judaism was necessary to salvation. They said that it was absolutely
“needful to circumcise” the new conve ts, and to “command them to
keep the Law of Moses.” The whole course of St. Paul’s procedure
among the Gentiles was here openly attacked. Barnabas was involved
in the same suspicion and reproach ; and with regard to Titus, who was
1 See Ch. IIT. ? P. 101. Compare p. 206. 3 Pp, 127. Compare p. 206
« Acts xv, 5.
214 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF Si. PAUL.
with them as the representative of the Gentile Church, it was asserted
that, without circumcision, he could not hope to be partaker of the
blessings of the Gospel.
But far more was involved than any mere opposition, however factious,
to individual missionaries, or than the severity of any conditions imposed
on individual converts. The question of liberty or bondage for all future
ages was to be decided ; and a convention of the whole Church at Jeruste
lem was evidently called for. In the meantime, before ‘‘ the Apostles and
elders came together to consider of this matter,”! St, Paul had private
con ferences with the more influential members of the Christian community,”
and especially with James, Peter, and John,’ the great Apostles and “ Pil-
lars” of the Church. Great caution and management were required, in
consequence of the intrigues of the ‘‘false brethren,” both in Jerusalem
and Antioch. He was, moreover, himself the great object of suspicion,
and it was his duty to use every effort to remove the growing prejudice.
Thus, though conscious of his own inspiration and tenaciously holding the
truth which he knew to be essential, he yet acted with that prudence
which was characteristic of his whole life,* and which he honestly avowg
in the Hpistle to the Galatians,
If we may compare our own feeble imitations of Apostolic zeal and
prudence with the proceedings of the first founders of the Church of Christ,
we may say that these preliminary conferences were like the private
meetings which prepare the way for a great religious assembly in England.
Paul and Barnabas had been deputed from Antioch ; Titus was with them
as a sample of Gentile conversions, and a living proof of their reality ; and
the great end in view was to produce full conviction in the Church at
large. At length the great meeting was summoned® which was to settle
the principles of missionary action among the Gentiles. It was a scene
of earnest debate, and perhaps, in its earlier portion, of angry “ dis-
puting ; 5 but the passages which the Holy Spirit has caused to be
recorded for our instruction are those which relate to the Apostles them-
selves,—the address of St. Peter, the narrative of Barnabas and Paul,
and the concluding speech of St. James. These three passages must be
separately considered in the order of Scripture.
1 Acts xv. 6. aa Graders 2:
3 Gal. ii. 9. 4 See, for instance, the sixth and seventeenth verses of Acts xxii
5 This meeting is described (Acts xv. 6) as consisting of the “ Apostles and Elders ;’
out the decision afterwards given is said to be the decision of “the Apostles and Elders
with the whole Church” (v.22), and the decree was sent in the names of “ the Apostles,
and Elde-s, and Brethren” (v. 23). Hence we must suppose, either that the decision
was made by the synod of the Apostles and Elders, and afterwards ratified by another
larger meeting of the whole Church, or that there was only one meeting, in which the
whole Church took part, although only the “ Apostles and Elders” are mentioned.
6 Acts xv. 7
PUBLIC MEETING. 915
St. Peter was the first of the Apostles who rose to address the assem
vly.' He gave his decision against the Judaizers, and in favour of St
Paul. Te reminded his hearers of the part which he himself had taken
in admitting the Gentiles into the Christian Church. They were well
aware, he said, that these recent converts in Syria and Cilicia were not
the first heathens who had believed the Gospel, and that he himself had
been chosen by God to begin the work which St. Paul had only been
continuing. The communication of the Holy Ghost was the true test of
God’s acceptance ; and God had shown that He was no respecter of
persons, by shedding abroad the same miraculous gifts on Jew and Gen-
tile, and purifying by faith the hearts of both alike. And then St. Peter
went on to speak, in touching language, of the yoke of the Jewish law.
Its weight had pressed heavily on many generations of Jews, and was well
known to the Pharisees who were listening at that moment. They had
been relieved from legal bondage by the salvation offered through faith ;
and it would be tempting God to impose on others a burden which
neither they nor their fathers had ever been able to bear.
The next speakers were Paul and Barnabas. There was great silence
through all the multitude,? and every eye was turned on the missionaries
while they gave the narrative of their journeys. Though Barnabas is
mentioned here before Paul,? it is most likely that the latter was “ the
chief speaker.” But both of them appear to have addressed the audi-
ence. They had much to relate of what they had done and seen toge-
ther: and especially they made appeal to the miracles which God had
worked among the Gentiles by them. Such an appeal must have been
@ persuasive argument to the Jew, who was familiar, in his ancient Scrip-
tures, with many divine interruptions of the course of nature. These in-
terferences had signalised all the great passages of Jewish history. Jesus
Christ had proved His divine mission in the same manner. And the
events at Paphos,® at Iconium,* and Lystra,’ could not well be regarded
in any other light than as a proof that the same Power had been with
Paul and Barnabas, which accompanied the words of Peter and John in
Jerusalem and Judea.*
But the opinion of another speaker still remained to be given. This
was James, the brother of the Lord,® who, from the austere sanctity of his
1 Acts x9. 7-11.
® Eotynze πᾶν τὸ πλῆθος κι τ. Acts xv.12. The imperfect ἤκουον ‘mplies atten
tion to a continued narrative.
3 This order of the names in the narrative, xv. 12, and in the Jetter below, v. 25 (20
in v. 22), isa remarkable exception to the phrase “Paul and Barnabas,” which has
heen usual since Acts xiii. See below, p. 221, note 5.
4. See v. 13, μετὰ τὸ σιγῆσαι αὐτούς. 5 Acts xiii. 11.
6 Acts xiv. 3. ’ Acts xiv. 8. 8 Acts ii. v. ix.
® See Acts xv. 13-32. It is well known that there is much perplexity connected
216 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
character, was commonly called, both by Jews and Christians, ‘“ Jamea
the Just.” No judgment could have such weight with the Judaising
party as his. Not only in the vehement language in which he denounced
the sins of the age, but even in garb and appearance, he resembled John
the Baptist, or one of the older prophets, rather than the other apostles
of the new dispensation. ‘ Like the ancient saints, even in outward as-
pect, with the austere features, the linen ephod, the bare feet, the long
locks and unshorn beard of the Nazarite,” —such, according to tradition,
was the man who now came forward, and solemnly pronounced the Mosaic
rites were not of eternal obligation. After alluding to the argument of
Peter (whose name we find him characteristically quoting in its Jewish
form’), he turns to the ancient prophets, and adduces a passage from
Amos * to prove that Christianity is the fulfilment of Judaism. And then
he passes to the historical aspect of the subject, contending that this ful-
filment was predetermined by God himself, and that the Jewish dispensa-
tion was in truth the preparation for the Christian. Such a decision,
pronounced by one who stood emphatically on the confines of the two dis-
pensations, came with great force on all who heard it, and carried with it
the general opinion of the assembly to the conclusion that those “ who
from among the Gentiles had turned unto God” should not be “ troubled”
with any Jewish obligations, except such as were necessary for peace and
the mutual good understanding of the two parties. |
The spirit of charity and mutual forbearance is very evident in the
decree which was finally enacted. Its spirit was that expressed by St.
Paul in his Epistles to the Romans and Corinthians. He knew, and was
persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean of itself: but to him
that esteemeth anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. He knew that an
idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one: but
all men have not this knowledge : some could not eat that which had been
offered in sacrifice to an idol without defiling their conscience. It is good ~
to abstain from everything whereby a weaker brother may be led to
with those apostles who bore the name of James. Neander (Pfl. u. L. p. 554).says the
question is one of the most difficult in the New Testament. Wieseler has written an
essay on the subject in the St.u. K. We are not required here to enter into the inves-
tigation, and are content to adopt the opinion which is most probable.
1 Stanley’s Sermons and Essays, &c., p. 295. We must refer here to the whole of
the “Sermon on the Epistle of St. James,’”’ and of the “ Essay on the Traditions of
James the Just,” especially pp. 292, 302, 327. .
ἢ Συμεὼν ἐξηγήσατο. Actsxv.14. So St. Peter names himself at the beginning of
his Second Epistle, Συμεὼν Πέτρος δοῦλος, k. τ. A.
3 Amos ix. 11,12. We are not required to express any opinion on the application
of prophecy to the future destiny of the Jews ; but we must observe, that the Apostlea
themselves apply such prophecies as this to the Christian Dispensation. See Actsii. 17
4 Τνωρτὰ ἀπ’ αἰῶνος, κ. τ. Δ. v.18. Compare Acts xvii. 26. Rom.i.2. Eph. i. 10
bi. 9,10. Col. i. 26.
THE DECREE. “11
‘stumble. To sin thus aguinst our brethren is to sin against ΟΠ τὶδυ.! In
accordance with these principles it was enacted that the Gentile converts
should be required to abstain from that which had been polluted by being
cffered in sacrifice to idols, from the flesh of animals which had been
strangled, and generally from the eating of blood. The reason for these
conditions is stated in the verse to which particular allusion has been made
at the beginning of the present chapter.?/ The Law of Moses was read
every Sabbath in all the cities, where the Jews were dispersed.2 A due
consideration for the prejudices of the Jews made it reasonable for the
Gentile converts to comply with some of the restrictions which the Mosaic
Law and ancient custom had imposed on every Jewish meal. In no other
way could social intercourse be built up and cemented between the two
parties. Jf some forbearance were requisite on the part of the Gentiles
in complying with such conditions, not less forbearance was required from
the Jews in exacting no more. And to the Gentiles themselves the
restrictions were a merciful condition : for it helped them to disentangle
themselves more easily from the pollutions connected with their idolatrous
life. We are not merely concerned here with the question of social sepa-
ration, the food which was a delicacy* to the Gentile being abominated
by the Jew,—nor with the difficulties of weak and scrupulous consciences,
who might fear too close a contact between ‘‘ the table of the Lord” and
“the table of Demons,” *—but, this controversy had an intimate connec-
tion with the principles of universal morality. The most shameless vio-
lations of purity took place in connection with the sacrifices and feasts
celebrated in honour of heathen divinities. Everything, therefore, which
tended to keep the Gentile converts even from accidental or apparent
association with these scenes of vice, made their own recovery from pollu-
tion more easy, and enabled the Jewish converts to look on their new
Christian brethren with less suspicion and antipathy. This seems to be
the reason why we find an acknowledged sin mentioned in the decree
1 Rom. xiv. 1 Cor. viii.
? Above, p. 204. There is some difference of opinion as to the connection of this
verse with the context. Some consider it to imply that while it was necessary to urge
these conditions on the Gentiles, it was needless to say any thing to the Jews on the
subject, since they had the Law of Moses, and knew its requirements. Dean Milman
infers that the regulations were made because the Christians in general met in the same
places of religious worship with the Jews. ‘These provisions were necessary, because
the Mosaic Law was universally read, and from immemorial usage in the synagogue.
The direct violation of its most vital principles by any of those who joined in the com
mon worship would be incongruous, and of course highly offensive to the more zealous
Mosaists.” Hist. of Christianity, vol. i. p. 426, n.
7 Acts xy. 21.
4 We learn from Athenseus that τὸ πνικτὸν was regarded as a delicacy among the
, Greeks. 5 1 Cor. x. 21,
© See Tholuck in his “ Nature and Moral Influence of Heathenism,”’ part iii
218 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 51. PAUL.
along with ceremonial observances which were meant to be only tempo
rary! and perhaps local.? We must look on the whole subject from ‘the
Jewish point of view, and consider how violations of morality and contra-
dictions of the ceremonial law were associated together in the Gentile
world. It is hardly necessary to remark that much additional emphasis
is given to the moral part of the decree, when we remember that 1t was
addréssed: to those who lived in close proximity to the profligate sanctua-
ries of Antioch and Paphos.
We have said that the ceremonial part of the decree was intended for
a temporary and perhaps only a local observance. It is not for a moment
implied that any Jewish ceremony is necessary to salvation. On the con-
trary, the great principle was asserted, once for all, that man is justified,
not by the law, but by faith: one immediate result was that Titus, the
companion of Paul and Barnabas, ‘‘ was not compelled to be circumcised.” ¢
His case was not like that of Timothy at a later period,’ whose circumcision
was a prudential accommodation to circumstances, without endangering
the truth of the Gospel. To have circumcised Titus at the time of the
meeting in Jerusalem, would have been to have asserted that he was
“bound to keep the whole law.”® And when the alternative was between
“the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free,” and the reimposition of
“the yoke of bondage,” Paul’s language always was,’ that if Gentile con
verts were circumcised, Christ could “ prefit them nothing.” By secking
1 We cannot, however be surprised that one great branch of the Christian Church
takes a different view. The doctrine of the Greek Church, both Ancient and Modern,
may be seen in the Πηδάλιον, or Greek Book of Canon Law (Athens, 1841). In the
Apostolic Constitutions we find the following :—LEiri¢ ᾿Επίσκοπος ἢ Πρεσθύτερος ἢ Διά-
wovoc φάγῃ κρέα ἐν αἵματι ψυχῆς αὐτοῦ, ἢ ϑηριάλωτον ἢ ϑνησιμαῖον, καθαιρείσθω. τοῦτο
γὰρ ὁ Νόμος ἀπεῖπεν. Ei δὲ Λαϊκὸς εἴη, ἀφοριζέσθω. The modern comment, after ad-
ducing Gen. ix. and Levit. xvii., proceeds: ᾿Αλλὰ γὰρ καὶ εἰς τὸν νέον Νόμον τοῦ Evay-
γελίου τὰ τοιαῦτα ἐμποδίζονται νὰ μὴν τρώγωνται. Συναχθέντες γὰρ οἱ ἴδιοι οὗτο:
᾿Απόστολοι ἔγραψαν, κ. τ. 4. (Αοἰβχν. 18,19.) Ἡ αἰτία δὲ διὰ τὴν ὁποίαν ἐμποδίζονται
τὰ ϑηριάλωτα ἢ ὀρνεοπάτακτα ζῶα ἢ ϑνησιμαῖα, ἢ πνικτὰ, εἷναι, διὰ τι δὲν χύνεται ὅλο;
τὸ αἷμα αὐτῶν ἀλλὰ ηένει μέσα εἰς αὐτὰ, διασκορπιζόμενον εἰς τὰ φλεύΐδια ὅλα τοῦ κρέα-
τος, ἀπὸ τὰ ὁποῖα νὰ εὐγῇ δὲν εἶναι τρύπος. (pp. 45, 40.) Again, in one of the Canons
of the Trullian Council, we find: 'H Θεΐα ἡμῖν γραφὴ ἐνετείλατο, ἀπέχεσθαι, κ. τ. ἃ
Τοῖς οὖν διὰ τὴν λίχνον γαστέρα, αἷμα οἱουδήποτε ζώου τέχνῃ τινὲ κατασκευάζουσιν
ἐδώδιμον καὶ οὕτω τοῦτο ἐσθίουσι, προσφορῶς ἐπιτιμῶμεν. (p. 160.) And in the Coun-
cil of Gaggra, in a decree alluding to 1 Tim. iv. 3, the same condition is introduced :
Ei τις ἐσθιόντα κρέα (χωρὶς αἵματος καὶ εἰδωλοθύτον καὶ πνικτοῦ) μετ’ εὐλαθείας καὶ
πιστέως, κατακρίνοι... ἀνάθεμα ἔστω. (p. 230.) The practice of the modern Greeks
is strictly in accordance with these decisions.
? At least the decree (Acts xv. 23) is addressed only to the churches of “Syria ang
Cilicia,” and we do not see the subject alluded to again after xvi. 4.
ὁ See above, pp. 135 and 168, and Lucian’s Treatise de Dea Syria.”
4 Gal. ii. 3. 5 Acts xvi. 3. 6 Gal. v. 3.
7 Ἴδε ἐγὼ Παῦλος λέγω ὑμῖν, ὅτι ἐὰν περιτέμνησθε, Χριστὸς ὑμᾶς οὐδὲν ὠφελώδει
Gal. v. 2.
PUBLIC RECOGNITION OF ST. PAUL’S MISSION YO THE HEATHEN. 219
to be justified in the law they fell from grace! In this firm refusal te
comply with the demand of the Judaizers, the case of all future com
yerts from heathenism was virtually involved. It was asserted once for ali
that in the Christian Church there is ‘‘ neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision
nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond, nor free ; but that Christ is
all and inall.”? And St. Paul obtained the victory for that principle which,
we cannot doubt, will hereafter destroy the distinctions that are connected
with the institution of slavery in America and of caste in India.
Certain other points decided in this meeting had a more direct personal
reference to St. Paul himself. His own independent mission had been
called in question. Some, perhaps, said that he was antagonistic to the:
Apostles at Jerusalem, others that he was entirely dependent on them.
All the Judaizers agreed in blaming his course of procedure among the
Gentiles. This course was now entirely approved by the other Apos
tles. His independence was fully recognised. Those who were univer-
sally regarded as “‘pillars of the truth,” James, Peter, and John,‘ gave to
him and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, and agreed that they
should be to the heathen what themselves were to the Jews. Thus was
St. Paul publicly acknowledged as the Apostle of the Gentiles, and openly
placed in that position from which ‘he shall never more go out,” as a pil-
lar of the temple of the ‘New Jerusalem,” inscribed with the ‘ New
Name” waich proclaims the union of all mankind in one Saviour.’
One of those who gave the right hand of fellowship to St. Paul, was
the ‘‘ beloved disciple” of that Saviour.* This is the only meeting of St.
Paul and St. John recorded in Scripture. It is, moreover, the last notice
which we find there of the life of St. John, until the time of the apecalyp-
tic vision in the island of Patmos. For both these reasons the mind
eagerly seizes on the incident, though it is only casually mentioned in the
Kpistle to the Galatians. Like other incidental notices contained in Scrip-
ture, it is very suggestive of religious thoughts. St. John had been silent
during the discussion in the public assembly ; but at the close of it he οχ-
1 Gal. vy. 4. 2 Col. iii. 11.
3 The charges brought against St. Paul by the Judaizers were g very ¥ arious at differ-
ent times.
4 It should be carefully observed here that James is mentioned first of these Sdulena-
posteln (to quote a phrase from the German commentators), and that Peter is men-
tioned by the name of Cephas, as in 1 Cor. i. 12.
5 See Rey. iii. 12, The same metaphor is found in 1 Tim. iii. 15, where Timothy ig
called (for this seems the natural interpretation), “a pillar and support of the truth.” in
these passages it is important to bear in mind the peculiarity of ancient architecture,
which was characterised by vertical columns, supporting horizontal entablatures, In
scriptions were often engraved on these columns. Hence the words in the passage
guoted from Revelations : γράψω ἐπ’ αὑτὸν... τὸ ὄνομά μου τὸ καινύν.
8 (14]. ii. 9. .
ϑ
220 THE Lik, AND EPISTI.ES OF ST. PAUL.
pressed his cordial union with St. Paul in “the truth of the Gospel.”
That union has been made visible to all ages by the juxtaposition of theit
Epistles in the same Sacred Volume. They stand together among the
pillars of the Holy Temple ; and the Church of God is thankful to learn
how Contemplation may be united with Action, and Faith with Love, in
the spiritual life.
To the decree with which Paul and Barnabas were charged, one condi-
tion was annexed, with which they gladly promised to comply. We have
already had occasion to observe (p. 66) that the Hebrews of Juda were
relatively poor, compared with those of the dispersion, and that the Jew-
ish Christians in Jerusalem were exposed to peculiar suffering from poy-
erty ; and we have seen Paul and Barnabas once before the bearers of a
contribution from a foreign city for their relief. They were exhorted now
to continue the same charitable work, and in their journeys among the
Gentiles and the dispersed Jews, ‘‘ to remember the poor” at Jerusalem.’
In proof of St. Paul’s faithful discharge of this promise, we need only
allude to his zeal in making “ the contribution for the poor saints at Jeru-
salem,” in Galatia, Macedonia and Achaia ;‘ and to that last journey to
-the Holy Land, when he went, “after many years,” to take ‘alms to his
nation.”*> It is more important here to consider (what indeed we have
mentioned before) the effect which this charitable exertion would have in
binding together the divided parties in the Church. There cannot be a
doubt that the Apostles had this result in view. Their anxiety on this
subject is the best commentary on the spirit in which they had met on this
great occasion ; and we may rest assured that the union of the Gentile
and Jewish Christians was largely promoted by the benevolent efforts
which attended the diffusion of the Apostolic Decree.
Thus the controversy being settled, Paul’s mission to the Gentiles being
fully recognised, and his method of communicating the Gospel approved of
by the other Apostles, and the promise being given, that in their journeys
among the heathen, they would remember the necessities of the Hebrew
Christians in Judea, the two missionaries returned from Jerusalem to An-
tioch. ‘They carried with them the decree which was to give peace to the
consciences that had been troubled by the Judaising agitators ; and the
two companions, Judas and Silas,° who travelled with them, were empow-
ered to accredit their commission and character. It seems also that Mark
1 Gal. ii. 5. 3. See pp. 127, 128.
3 Μόνον τῶν πτωχῶν iva μνημονεύωμεν, ὁ καὶ ἐσπούδασα αὐτὸ τοῦτο ποιῆσαι. Gal.
ii. 10. Where the change from the plural to the singular should be noticed. Is this
because Barnabas was soon afterwards separated from St. Paul (Acts xv. 39), wht had
thenceforth to, prosecute the charitable work alone ?
4 “ As I have given order to the Churches of Galatia, &c.,”’ 1 Cor.xy.1-4. “It hath
pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia, &c.’’ Rom. xv. 25, 26. See 2 Cor. viii. ix.
5 Acts xxiv. 17 6 Acts xv. 22, 27, 32.
READING OF THE LETTER AT ANTIOCH. 99%
was another companion of Paul and Barnabas on this journey ; for the
last time we had occasion to mention his name was when he withdrew
from Pamphylia to Jerusalem (p. 162), and presently we see him once
more with his kinsman at Antioch.!
The reception of the travellers at Antioch was full of joy and satis
faction.?, The whole body of the Church was summoned together to hear
the reading of the letter; and we can well imagine the eagerness with
which they crowded to listen, and the thankfulness and “ consolation ἢ
with which such a communication was received, after so much anxiety
and perplexity. The letter indeed is almost as interesting to us as to
them, net only because of the principle asserted and the results secured,
but also because it is the first document preserved to us from the acts
of the Primitive Church. The words of the original document, literally
translated, are as follows :—
Tue AprostLES AND THE ELpERS, AND THE DRETHREN, TO THE
Gentite Breruren in ANTIOCH, AND Syrra, AND Crmictra,
GREETING.’
“Whereas we have heard that certain men who went out
from us have troubled you with words, and unsettled your
souls + by telling you to circumcise yourselves and keep the
Law, although we gave them no such commission:
“Tt has been determined by us, being assembled with
one accord, to choose some from amongst ourselves and send
them to you with our beloved*® Barnabas and Saul, men
that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ. We have sent therefore Judas and Silas,
who themselves also*® will tell you by word the same which
we tell, you by letter.
“Tor it has been determined by the Holy Ghost and
by us, to lay upon you no greater burden: than these neces-
sary things: that ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and
1 Acts xv. 37. ? Acts xv. 31.
3 Xaipecv. The only other place where this salutation occurs is James i. 1; an unde
signed coincidence tending to prove the genuineness of this document.
4 Although the best MSS. omit the words from λέγοντες to νόμον, yet we cannot but
agree with De Wette that they cannot possibly be an interpolation.
5 It is another undesigned coincidence that the names of these two Apostles are here
in the reverse order to that which, in St. Luke’s narrative (except when he speaks of
Jerusalem), they have assumed since chap. xiii. In the view of the Church at Jerusae
lem, Paul’s name would naturally come after that of Barnabas. See above, p. 215, n. 3,
ὁ ’AnayyéAdovtac. The present participle may be explained by the ancient idion
of letter writing, by which the writer transferred himself into the time of the reader
This seems a more natural explanation than that given by Winer, Gramk. sect. 46, δὲ
229 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornicaticn
Wherefrom if ye keep yourselves it shall be well with you,
FarrweEL.”
The encouragement inspired by this letter would be increased by the
aight of Judas and Silas, who were ready to confirm its contents by word
of mouth. These two disciples remained some short time at Antioch,
They were possessed of that power of “ prophecy,” which was one of
the forms in which the Holy Spirit made His presence known: and the
Syrian Christians were ‘“ exhorted and confirmed” by the exercise of
this miraculous gift.!. The minds of all were in great tranquillity when
the time came for the return of these messengers ‘‘to the Apostles” at
Jerusalem, Silas, however, either remained at Antioch, or soon came
back.? He was destined, as we shall see, to become the companion of
St. Paul, and to be at the beginning of the second missionary journey
what Barnabas had been at the beginning of the first.
Two painful scenes were witnessed at Antioch before the Apostle
started on that second journey. We are informed? that Paul and Bar-
nabas protracted their stay in this city, and were diligently occupied, with
many others, in making the glad tidings of the Gospel known, and in
the general work of Christian instruction. It is in this interval of time
that we must place that visit of St. Peter to Antioch,‘ which St. Paul
mentions in the Epistle to the Galatians ,° immediately after his notice
of the affairs of the Council. It appears that Peter, having come to
Antioch for some reason which is unknown to us,® lived at first in free
and unrestrained intercourse with the Gentile converts, meeting them in
1 Ἰούδας τε καὶ Σίλας, καὶ αὐτοὶ προφῆται ὄντες. x. τ. A. Acts xv. 32. Compare
xiii. 1.
2 Acts xv. 34. The reading is doubtful. Some MSS. add the words μόνος δὲ Ἰούδας
ἐπορεύθη ", but the best omit the verse altogether. The question is immaterial. If the
verse is genuine, it modifies the word ἀπελύθησαν in the preceding verse ; if not, we
have merely to suppose that Silas went to Jerusalem and then returned.
3 Acts xv. 35. ;
4 Neander (Pfl. und L.) places this meeting of Peter and Paul later, but his reasons
are far from satisfactory. From the order of narration in the Epistle to the Galatians,
it is most natural to infer that the meeting at Antioch took place soon after the Council
at Jerusalem. Some writers wish to make it anterior to the Council, from an unwill-
ingness to believe that St. Peter would have acted in this manner after the Decree.
But it is a sufficient answer to this objection to say that his conduct was equally in-
consistent with his own previous conduct in the case of Cornelius.
δὶ}, 11, ἄο. ἶ
¢ The tradition which represents Peter as having held the Sce of Antioch before that
of Rome has been mentioned before, p. 128, note. Tillemont (S. Pierre xxvii. xxviii.
and notes) places the period of this Episcopate about 36-42. He says it is “ une chose
assez embarrassée,” and it is certainly difficult to reconcile it with Scripture. For
the Festivals of the Chair of Veter at Antioch and Rome, see the Bollandists unde
Feb, 22, and Jan. 18.
WEAK CONDUCT OF 8T. PETER AT ANTIOCH. 223
social friendship, and eating with them, in full consistency with the spirit
of the recent Decree, and with his own conduct in the case of Corneliug
At this time certain Jewish brethren came “from James,” who presided
over the Church at Jerusalem. Whether they were really sent on some
mission by the Apostle James, or we are merely to understand that they
came from Jerusalem, they brought with them their old Hebrew repug-
nance against social intercourse with the uncircumcised, and Peter in
their society began to vacillate. In weak compliance with their preju-
dices, he “‘ withdrew and separated himself” from those whom he had
lately treated as brethren and equals in Christ. Just as in an earlier
part of his life he had first asserted his readiness to follow his Master to
death, and then denied him through fear of a maid-servant; so now,
after publicly protesting against the notion of making any difference
between the Jew and the Gentile, and against laying on the neck of the
latter a yoke which the former had never been able to bear,! we find
him contradicting his own principles, and “through fear of those who
were of the circumcision,”? giving all the sanction of his example to the
introduction of caste into the Church of Christ.
Such conduct could not fail to excite in St. Paul the utmost indigna-
tion. St. Peter was not simply yielding a non-essential point, through a
tender consideration for the consciences of others. This would have been
quite in accordance with the principle so often asserted by his brother-
Apostle, that “it is good neither to eat flesh nor drink wine, nor any thing
whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is made weak.” Nor was this pro-
ceeding a prudent and innocent accommodation to circumstances for the
sake of furthering the Gospel, like St. Paul’s conduct in circumcising
Timothy at Iconium ;* or, indeed, like the Apostolic Decree itself. St.
Peter was acting under the influence of a contemptible and sinful motive,
—the fear of man: and his behaviour was giving a strong sanction to
the very heresy which was threatening the existence of the Church ;
namely, the opinion that the observance of Jewish ceremonies was neces-
sary to salvation. Nor was this all. Other Jewish Christians, as was
naturally to be expected, were led away by his example: and even Bar-
nabas, the chosen companion of the Apostle of the Gentiles, who had
been a witness and an actor in all the great transactions in Cyprus, in
Pisidia, and J.ycaonia,—even Barnabas, the missionary, was “ carricd
away” with the dissimulation of the rest. When St. Paul was a
spectator of such inconsistency, and perceived both the motive in which
it originated and the results to which it was leading, he would have been
a traitor® to his Master’s cause, if he had hesitated (to use his own
1 Acts xv. 9, 10, ® Gal. ii. 12. 3 Acts xvi. 3.
« Gal. ii. 13.
5 We can only allude to the opinion of some early writers, that the whole scene was
9294 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
emphatic words) to rebuke Peter “ before all,” and to “ withstand him
to the face.” !
It is evident from St. Paul’s expression that it was on some public
occasion that this open rebuke took place. The scene, though slightly
mentioned, is one of the most remarkable in Sacred History: and the
mind naturally labors to picture to itself the appearance of the two men,
It is, therefore, at least allowable to mention here that general notion of
the forms and features of the two Apostles, which has been handed down
in tradition, and was represented by the early artists.? St. Paul? is set
before us as having the strongly marked and prominent features of a Jew,
yet not without some of the finer lines indicative of Greek thought, His
stature was diminutive, and his body disfigured by some lameness or dis-
tortion, which may have provoked the contemptuous expressions of his
enemies.‘ His beard was long and thin. His head was bald. The
characteristics of his face were, a transparent complexion, which visibly
pre-arranged between Peter and Paul, and that there was no real misunderstanding.
Even Chrysostom advocates this unchristian view.
1 Gal. ii. 14, 11.
2 For the representations of St. Peter and St. Paul in early pictures and mosaics,
gee the first volume of Mrs. Jameson’s “Sacred and Legendary Art,’’ especially pp.
145, 159, 161, 162, 201. They correspond with the traditionary descriptions quoted
in the next note. “St. Peter isa robust old man, with a broad forehead, and rather
cvarse features, an open undaunted countenance, short grey hair, and short thick
beard, curled, and of a silvery white. Paul was aman of small and meagre stature,
with an aquiline nose, and sparkling eyes: in the Greek type the face is long and oval,
the forebead high and bald; the hair brown, the beard long, flowing, and pointed. ...
These traditional characteristic types of the features and persons of the two greatest
apostles were long adhered to. We find them most strictly followed in the old Greek
mosaics, in the early Christian sculpture, and the early pictures; in all which the
sturdy dignity and broad rustic features of St. Peter, and the elegant contemplative
head of St. Paul, who looks like a Greek philosopher, form a most interesting and
suggestive contrast.” The dispute at Antioch is the subject of a picture by Guido.
See p. 199.
3 The descriptions of St. Paul’s appearance by Malalas and Nicephorus have been
alluded to before, p. 148. Quoted at length they are as follows:—T9 ἡλικίᾳ κονδοει-
δής" φαλακρὸς, μιξοπόλιος τὴν κάραν καὶ τὸ γένειον, EvpLvoc, ὑπόγλαυκος, σύνοφρυς,
λευκόχρους, ἀνθηροπρόσωπος, εὐπώγων, ὑπογελῶντα ἔχων τὸν χαρακτῆρα, φρόνιμιος,
θικὸς, εὐόμιλος, γλυκύς. Mal. Chronog. x. p. 257, ed. Bonn. Παῦλος μικρὸς ἣν καὶ
συνεσταλμένος τὸ τοῦ σώματος μέγεθος καὶ ὥσπερ ἀγκύλον αὐτὸ κεκτημένος " σμικρὸν
καὶ κεκυφὼς, τὴν ὄψιν λευκὸς καὶ τὸ πρόσωπον προφερής " ψίλὸς τὴν κεφαλήν " χαροποὶ
δὲ αὐ τῷ ἦσαν οἱ ὀφθαλμοί" κάτω δὲ καὶ τὰς ὀφρῦς εἶχε νευούσας " εὐκαμπῆ καὶ ῥέπουσαν
ὕλῳ τῷ προσώπῳ περιφέρων τὴν ῥῖνα, τὴν ὑπήνην δασεῖαν καὶ καθειμένην ἀρκούντως
ἔχων, ῥαινομένην δὲ ταύτην καὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν ὑπὸ πολιαῖς ταῖς ϑριξίν, Niceph. H. E. ii
87. In accordance with these notices, St. Paul is described in the Acte Pauli et
Theelee, as μικρὸς τῷ μεγέθει, ψιλὸς τῆν κεφαλὴν, ἀγκύλος ταῖς κνήμαις, εὔκνημος, συνύ.
φρυς ἐπίῤῥινος, χάριτος πλήρης (Grabe, p. 95) ; and so the Ταλιλαῖος ἐς τρίτον οὐρανὸν
ἀεροθατήσας in Lucian’s Philopatris is said to have been ὠναφαλαντίας and ἐπίῤῥινος.
Ed. Tauch. iv. 318.
4 See above, p. 192.
PERSONAL APPEARANCE OF THE TWO APOSTLES. 995
betrayed the quick changes of his feelings, a bright grey eye under thickly
overhanging united eyebrows,' a cheerful and winning expression of coun-
tenance, which invited the approach and inspired the confidence of stran-
gers. It would be natural to infer,? from his continual journeys ana
manual labour, that he was possessed of great strength of constitution.
But men of delicate health have often gone through the greatest exer-
tions :? and his own words on more than one occasion show that he
suffered much from bodily infirmity. St. Peter® is represented to us ss
a man of larger and stronger form, as his character was harsher and more
abrupt. The quick impulses of his soul revealed themselves in the flashes
of a dark eye. The complexion of his face was pale and sallow: and
the short hair, which is described as entirely grey at the time of his death,
curled black and thick round his temples and his chin, when the two
Apostles stood togeth2r at Antioch, twenty years before their martyrdom.
Believing, as we do, that these traditionary pictures have probably
some foundation in truth, we gladly take them as helps to the imagina-
tion. And they certainly assist us in realizing a remarkable scene, where
Judaism and Christianity, in the persons of two Apostles, are for a mo
ment brought before us in strong antagonism. The words addressed by
St. Paul to St. Peter before the assembled Christians at Antioch, contain
the full statement of the Gospel as opposed to the Law. ‘If thou, being
born a Jew, art wont to live according to the customs of the Centiles,
and not of the Jews, why wouldst thou now constrain the Gentiles to
keep the ordinances of the Jews? We arc by birth the seed of Abraham,
and not unhallowed Gentiles ; yet, knowing that a man is not counted
righteous by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, we
ourselves also have put our faith in Christ Jesus, that we might be counted
righteous by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law. For
by the works of the law shall no man living be cownted righteous.” 5
1 See above, p. 148, n. 2.
? So Winer says: “Eine feste Constitution durfen wir dem Manne zutrauen, welcher
80 viel und unter zum Theil so ungunstigen Umstanden reiste (2 Cor. xi. 23, ff.) auch
1eben geistiger Anstrengung (vgl. Act. xx. 7. 2 Cor. xi. 28) noch korperliche Arbeit
verrichten konnte (1 Thess. ii. 9. 2 Thess. iii, 8).”’ Realworterbuch, π. 222. See
Tholuck’s Essay on St. Paul’s early Life for some speculations on the Apostle’s tem-
erament.
3 The instance of Alfred the Great may be rightly alluded to. His biographer,
Asser, says that from his youth to his death he was always either suffering pain or
expecting it.
4 See 2 Cor. xii. 7. Gal. iv. 13, 14.
5 The picture in Malalas (Chronog. p. 256) relates to the time of his martyrdom.
Γέρων ὑπῆρχε τῇ ἡλικίᾳ, διμοιριαῖος, ἀναφάλας, κονδόθριξ, ὁλοπόλιος τὴν κάραν καὶ
γένειον, λευκὸς, ὑπόχλωρος, οἰνοπαὴς τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς, εὐπώγων, μακρόρινος, σύ: doug
ἰνακαθήμενος, φρόνιμος, ὀξύχολος, εὐμετάθλητος, δειλός. See also Niceph. H. E. ii. 91.
5. The quotation is from Psalm exliii. 2, which is also quoted in the same connection,
Som. iii. 20. There is much difference of opinion among commentators on Gal. ii. as
var. 1,- ΤΆ
226 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES ΟΕ 8T. PAUL.
These sentences contain in a condensed form the whole argument of the
Epistles to the Galatians and Romans.
Though the sternest indignation is expressed in this ae we have
ao reason to suppose that any actual quarrel took place between the two
Apostles. It is not improbable that St. Peter was immediately con-
vinced of his fault, and melted at once into repentance. His mind was
easily susceptible of quick and sudden changes ; his disposition was loving
and generous: and we should expect his contrition, as well as his weak-
ness, at Antioch to be what it was in the high-priest’s house at Jerusalem.
Yet, when we read the narrative of this rebuke in St. Paul’s epistle, it is
a relief to turn to that passage at the conclusion of one of St. Peter’s
letters, where, in speaking of the “long-suffering of our Lord” and of
the prospect of sinless happiness in the world to come, he alludes, in
touching words, to the Epistles of “ our beloved brother Paul.” We
see how entirely all past differences are forgotten,— how all earthly mis-
understandings are absorbed and lost in the contemplation of Christ and
eternal life. Not only did the Holy Spirit overrule all contrarieties, so
that the writings of both Apostles teach the Church the same doctrine :
but the Apostle who was rebuked “is not ashamed to call the attention
of the Church to epistles in one page of which his own censure is re-
corded.” ? It is an eminent triumph of Christian humility and love. We
shall not again have occasion to mention St. Peter and St. Paul
together until we come to the last scene of all But, thongh they
might seldom meet while laboring in their Master’s cause, their lives were
united, “ and in their deaths they were not divided.”
COIN oF aNniocn.4
to the point where Paul’s address to Peter terminates. Many writers (see especially
Usteri) think it continues to the end of the chapter. We are inclined to believe that
it ends at v. 16; and that the words ei δὲ ζητοῦντες, x. τ. A. are intended tc meet doc-
trinal objections (similar to those in Rom. iii. 3,5. vi. 1, 15. vii. 7, 13) which tha
Galatians might naturally be supposed to make.
1 2 Pet. iii. 15, 16.
2 See Sermons by Dr. Vaughan of Harrow (1846), p. 410.
3 The martyrdom at Rome. See Mrs. Jameson’s Work, especially pp. 180-183,
193-195.
4 From the British Musuem. See Mr. Scharf’s drawing above, p. 125, and what is
said there of the emblematical representation of Anticch. On this coin the seated
figure bears a palm branch, as the emblem of victory.
NOTE ON THE CHRONOLOGY OF GAL: ἢ. 29%
NOTE.
On the Tome of the Visit to Jerusalem mentioned in Galatians (Chap. ii.)
To avoid circumlocution we shall call the visit mentioned in Galatians ii. 1
the Galatian Visit, and we shall designate the visit mentioned in Acts ix.
as visit (1), that in Acts xi. and xii. as vast (2), that in Acts xv. as vasf
(8), that in Acts xviii. as visit (4), that in Acts xxi. as visit (5).
I. The Galatian Visit was not the same with visit (1), because it is
mentioned as subsequent by St. Paul.?
11. Was the Galatian Visit the same with vise¢ (2) 3 The first im-
pression from reading the end of Gal. i. and beginning of Gal. ii. would be
that it was ; for St. Paul seems to imply that there had been no interme-
diate visit between the one mentioned in Gal. i. 18, which was wszt (1),
and that in Gal. ii. 1, which we have called the Galatian Visit. On the
other side, however, we must observe that St. Paul’s object in this pas-
sage is not to enumerate ail his visits to Jerusalem. His opponents had
told his converts that Paul was no true Apostle, that he was only a Chris
tian teacher authorised by the Judean Apostles, that he derived his au-
thority and his knowledge of the Gospel from Peter, James, and the rest
of ‘‘the twelve.” St. Paul’s object is to refute this statement. This he
does by declaring firstly that his commission was not from men but from
God ; secondly, that he had taught Christianity for three years without
secing any of “ the twelve” at all; thirdly, that at the end of that time
he had only spent one fortnight at Jerusalem with Peter and James, and
1 This question is one of the most important, both chronologically and historically,
in the life of St. Paul. Perhaps its discussion more properly belongs to the Epistle to
the Galatians than to this place; but it has been given here as a justification of the
view taken in the preceding chapter. It is treated of by Paley (Hore Pauline),
Winer (Ep. ad Galatas, Lips. 1829, Exe. IL), Anger (De Temporum in Actis ratione,
Lips. 1833, ch. [V.), Hemsen (Leben des Ap. Paulus, pp. 52-69), Neander (Pflanz.
und Leit. τ. pp. 183-189), Bottger (Beitrige, &c., Gottingen, 1837, p. 14 et seq.),
Wieseler (Chronologie, pp. 176-208), Schrader (Der Apost. Paulus); also by Burton,
Browne, and Greswell. Of these, all except Paley, Bottger, Wiescler, Browne, and
Schrader, adopt our view. The Opinions of the latter five writers are referred to below.
? Gal. ii. 1.
3 This is Béttger’s view; but he is obliged to alter δεκατεσσάρων into τεσσάρων in
Gal. ii. 1 to support his opinion. See note on p. 233. It is also the view of Mr. Browne
(Ordo Seclorum); but he places the conversion much earlier than we think probable.
4 We must certainly acknowledge that St. Paul appears to say this; and some com-
mentators have avoided the difficulty by supposing that, although Paul and Barnabas
were commissioned to convey the alms from Antioch to Jerusalem, yet that St. Paul
was prevented (by some circumstances not mentioned) from going the whole way to
Jeruss‘em. For example, it might be too hazardous for him to appear within the walls
of tke city at such a time of persecution. For further explanation, see Neandor PA
und Lett. p. 188.
ὧν
ad
298 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF §T. PAUL.
~ then had gone to Cilicia and remained personally unknown to the Judean
Christians ; fourthly, that fourteen years afterwards he had undertaken a
journey to Jerusalem, and that he then obtained an acknowledgment of
his independent mission from the chief apostles. Thus we see that his
object is not to enumerate every occasion where he might possibly have
been instructed by “the twelve,” but to assert (an assertion which he con-
firms by oath, Gal. i. 20) that his knowledge of Christianity was not de
rived from their instruction. A short visit to Jerusalem which produced
no important results he might naturally pass over, and especially if he
saw none of “the twelve” at Jerusalem when he visited it. Now this
was probably the case at vzsit (2), because it was just at the time of
Herod Agrippa’s persecution, which would naturally disperse the Apostles
from Jerusalem, as the persecution at Stephen’s death did ; with regard
to St. Peter it is expressly said that, after his miraculous escape from
prison, he quitted Jerusalem.1 This supposition is confirmed by finding
that Barnabas and Saul were sent to the Elders (πρεσβυτέρους) of the
church at Jerusalem, and not to the Apostles.
A further objection to supposing the Galatian Visit identical with visé
(2) is that, at the time of the Galatian Visit, Paul and Barnabas are de-
scribed as having been already extensively useful as missionaries to the
Heathen ; but this they had not been in the time of visié (2).
Again, St. Paul could not have been, at so early a period, considered
on a footing of equality with St. Peter. Yet this he was at the time of
the Galatian Visit?
Again, vist (2) could not have been so long as fourteen years* after
visit (1). For viset (2) was certainly not later than 45 a. p., and if it was
the same as the Galatian Visit, visit (1) must have been not later than
from 31 to 33 a. p. (allowing the inclusive Jewish mode of reckoning to
be possibly employed). But Aretas (as we have seen, p. 81) was not in
possession of Damascus till about 37.
Again, if vist (2) were fourteen years after vzsi¢ (1), we must suppose
nearly all this time spent by St. Panl at Tarsus, and yet that all his long
residence there is unrecorded by St. Luke, who merely says that he went
to Tarsus and from thence to Antioch.
Ill. The Galatian Visit not being identical with (1) or (2), was it
identical with (3), (4), or (5)? We may put (5) at once out of the
question, because St. Paul did not return to Antioch after (5), whereas
he dil return after the Galatian Visit. There remain therefore (3) ond
(4) to be considered. We shall take (4) first.
IV. Wieseler has lately argued very ingeniously that the Galatia
1 Acts xii. 17. 2 See Gal. ii. 9.
£.On this fourteen years, see note in p. 233.
“ Acts ix. 30 and xi. 26. See what Prof. Burton says on this interval.
NOTE ON THE CHRONOLOGY OF GAUL II. 229
Visit was the same with (4). His reasons are, firstly, that at the Galatia
Visit the Apostles allowed unlimited freedom to the Gentile converts, ὁ. 6.
imposed no conditions upon them, such as those in the decrees of the
Council passed at visit (3). This, however, is an inference not warranted
by St. Paul’s statement, which speaks of the acknowledgment of his per
sonal independence, but does not touch the question of the converts.
Secondly, Wieseler urges that, till the time of visz¢ (4), St. Paul’s position
could not have been so faf on a level with St. Peter’s as it was at the
Galatian Visit. Thirdly, he thinks that the condition of making a collec-
tion for the poor Christians in Jerusalem, which St. Paul says: he had
been forward to fulfil, must have been fulfilled in that great collection
which we know that St. Paul set on foot immediately after visit (4),
because we read of no other collection made by St. Paul for this purpose.”
Fourthly, Wieseler argues that St. Paul would not have been likely to
take an uncircumcised Gentile, like Titus, with him to Jerusalem at a
period earlier than vzsi# (4). And moreover, he conceives Titus to be
the same with the Corinthian Justus, who is not mentioned as one of St.
Paul’s companions till Acts xviii. 7, that is, not till after visit (3).
It is evident that these arguments are not conclusive in favor of viszt
(4), even if there were nothing on the other side ; but there are, more-
over, the following objections against supposing the Galatian Visit identi-
eal with (4). Firstly, Barnabas was St. Paul’s companion in the Galatian
Visit ; he is not mentioned as being with him at visit (4). Secondly, had
so important a conference between St. Paul and the other Apostles taken
place at visié (4), it would not have been altogether passed over by St. .
Luke, who dwells so fully upon the Council held at the time of visit (3),
the decrees of which (on Wieseler’s view) were inferior in importance to
the concordat between St. Paul and the other Apostles which he supposes
to have been. made at viset (4). Thirdly, the whole tone of the second
chapter of Galatians is against Wieseler’s hypothesis ; for in that chapter
St. Paul plainly seems to speak of the first conference which he had held
after his success among the heathen, with the chief apostles at Jerusalem,
and he had certainly seen and conferred with them during visit (3).
V. We have seen, therefore, that if the Galatian Visit be mentioned at ali
in the Acts, it must be identical with visit (3), at which the (so called)
Council of Jerusalem took place. We will now consider the objections
1 Gal. ii. 9.
3 The collection carried up to Jerusalem at visit (2) might, however, be cited as an
exception to this remark ; for (although not expressly stated) it is most probable that
§t. Paul was active in forwarding it, since he ~ras selected to carry it to Jerusalem.
3 Many of the most ancient MSS. and versions read Titus Justus (Τίτου Ἰούστου) in
Acts xviii. 7. Tischendorf, however, prefers Ἰούστου. Sce above, p. 211, n. 13,
280
THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
against tho identity of these two visits urged by Paley and others, and
then the arguments in favour of the identity.
Objections to the Identity of the Gata-
TIAN VISIT with VISIT (3).
1, St. Paul in Gal. (ii. 1) mentions this
Journey as if it had been the next visit to
Jerusalem after the time which he spent
there on his returr from Damascus; he
does not say anythiag of any intermediate
visit. This looks as if he were speaking of
the journey which Jie took with Barnabas
to Jerusalem (Acts xi. 30), to convey alms
to the Jewish Christians in the famine.
2. In the Galatians, the journey is said
to have taken place xar’ ἀποκάλυψι» (Gal.
ii. 2); but in Acts xv. 2-4, 6-12, a public
mission is mentioned.
3. In the Galatians Barnabas and Titus
are spoken of as St. Paul’s companions; in
the Acts, Barnabas and others (τινὲς
ἄλλοι), Acts xy. 2; but Titus is not men-
tioned.
4, The object of the visit in Acts xv. is
different from that of the Galatian Visit.
The object in Acts xv. was to seek relief
from the imposition of the Mosaic Law,
that of the Galatian Visit was to obtain
the recognition of St. Paul’s independent
apostleship.
Answers to the Objections.
1. This objection is answered above, pp
227, 228,
2. The journey may have taken place in
consequence of a revelation, and yet may
also have been agreed to by a vote of the
church at Antioch. Thus in St. Paul’s
departure from Jerusalem (Acts ix. 29,
30), he is said to have been sent by the
brethren in consequence of danger feared ;
and yet (Acts xxii. 17-21) he says that
he had taken his departure in consequence
of a vision on the very same occasion (se¢
pp. 211, 12).
3. This argument is merely ex silentzo,
and therefore inconclusive. In the Acts,
Paul and Barnabas are naturally men-
tioned, as being prominent characters in
the history. Whereas in the Epistle, Titus
would naturally be mentioned by St. Paul
as a personal friend of his own, and also
because of his refusal to circumcise him.
4, Both these objects are implied in eact:
narrative. The recognition of St. Paul’s
apostleship is implied in Acts xv. 25: σὺν
τοῖς ἀγαπητοῖς ἡμῶν Bapvdba καὶ Mavag
ἀνθρώποις παραδεδωκόσι τὰς ψυχὰς αὑτῶν
ὑπὲρ τοῦ ὀνόματος τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν ᾿Ιησοῦ
Χριστοῦ. And the relief from the imposi-
tion of the Mosaic Law is implied, Gal. ii.
7, ἰδόντες ὅτι πεπίστευμαι τὸ εὐαγγέλιον
τῆς dxpobvoriac, where the word ἀκρούυσ.
τίας shows that the Apostles at the time ol
St. Paul’s visit to Jerusalem, mentioned in
the Epistle, acknowledged that the uncir-
cumcised might partake of τὸ εὐαγγέλιον.
The same thing is shown by the fact that
the circumcision of Titus was not insisted
on. We must remember also that the
NOTE ON THE CHRONOLOGY OF GAL.
δ. In Acts xv. a public assembly of the
Church in Jerusalem is described, while
ia the Galatians only private interviews
with the leading Apostles are spoken of.
6. The narrative in the Epistle says
nothing of the decision of the Council of
Jerusalem, as it is commonly called, men-
tioned Acts xv. Now this decision was
conclusive of the very point disputed by
the Judaising teachers in Galatia, and
surely therefore would not have been
omitted by St. Paut in an argument in-
volving the question, had he been relating
the circumstances which happened at Jeru-
salem when that. decision was made,
Π. 231
transactions recorded are looked upon
from different points of view, in the Acis,
and in the Epistle; for Acts xv. containa
a nearrative of a great transaction in the
history of the Church, while St. Paul, in
the Epistle, alludes to this transaction
with the object of proving the recognition
of his independent authority.
5. The private interviews spoken of in
the Epistle do not exclude the supposition
of public meetings having also taken place;
and a communication to the whole Church
(αὐτοῖς, Gal. ii. 2) is expressly mentioned.
6. The narrative in Galatians gives a
statement intended to prove the recogni-
tion of St. Paul’s independent authority,
which is sufficient to account for this
omission. Moreover if St. Paul’s omission
of reference to the decision of the Council
proved that the journey he speaks of was
prior to the Council, it must equally prove
that the whole Epistle was written before
the Council of Jerusalem; yet it is gene
rally acknowledged to have been written
long after the Council. The probable
reason why St. Paul does not refer to the
decision of the Council is this:—that the
Judaising teachers did not absolutely dis-
pute that decision; they probably did not
declare the absolute necessity of circum-
cision, but spoke of it as admitting to
greater privileges, and a fuller covenant
with God. The Council had only decided
that Gentile Christians need not observe
the law. The Judaising party might still
contend that Jewish Christians ought to
observe it (as we know they did observe it
till long afterwards). And also the de-
crees of the council left Gentile Christians
subject to the same restrictions with the
Proselytes of the Gate. Therefore the
Judaising party would naturally argue
that they were still not more fully within
the pale of the Christian Church than the
Proselytes of the Gate were within that of
the Jewish Church. Hence they would urge
them to submit to circumcision, by way
of placing themselves in full membership
with the Church ; just as they would have
urged a Proselyte of the Gate to become a
Proselyte of Righteousness. Also St. Paul
might assume that the decision of the
232
7. It is inconsistent to suppose that after
th2 decision of the Council of Jerusalem,
St. Peter could have behaved as he is de-
ecribed doing (Gal. ii. 12); for how could
he refuse to eat with the uncircumcised
Christians, after having advocated in the
Council their right of admission to Chris-
tian fellowship?
8 The Epistle mentions St. Paul as
conferring with James, Peter, and John,
whereas in Acts xv. John is not mentioned
at all, and it seems strange that £0 distin-
guished a person, if present at the Council,
should not have been mentioned.
9. Since in the Galatians St. Paul men-
tions James, Peter, and John, it seems most
natural to suppose that he speaks of the
well-known apostolic triumvirate so often
classed together in the Gospels. But if so,
the James mentioned must be James the
Greater, and hence the journey mentioned
in the Galatians must have been before
the death of James the Greater, and there-
fore before the Council of Jerusalem.
THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
Council was well known to the churches
of Galatia, for Paul and Silas had carried
it with them there.
7. This objection is founded on a mix
understanding of St. Peter’s conduct. His
withdrawal from eating at the same table
with the uncircumcised Christians did not
amount to a denial of the decision of the
Council. His conduct showed a weak fear
of offending the Judaising Christians who
came from Jerusalem; and the practical
effect of such conduct would have been, if
persisted in, to separate the Church into
two divisions. Peter’s conduct was still
more inconsistent (see Winer, p. 157) with
the consent which he had certainly given
previously (Gal. ii. 7-9) to the εὐαγγέλιον
of Paul ; and with his previous conduct in
the case of Cornelius (see pp. 223, 224).
We may add that whatever difficulty may
be felt in St. Paul’s not alluding to the
decrees of the Council in his Epistle to the
Galatians, must also be felt in his total]
silence concerning them when he treats of
the question of εἰδωλόθυτα in the Epistles
to Corinth and Rome, for that question
had been explicitly decided by the Coun-
cil. The fact is, that the Decrees of the
Council were not designed as of permanent
authority, but only as a temporary and
provisional measure ; and their authority
was superseded as the Church gradually
advanced towards true Christian freedom.
8. This argument is only ea silentio,
and obviously inconclusive.
9. This objection proceeds on the mere
assumption that because James is men-
tioned first he must be James the Greater,
whereas James the Less became even a
more conspicuous leader of the Church at
Jerusalem than James the Greater had pre-
viously been, as we see from Acts xv.;
hence he might be very well mentioned
with Peter and John, and the fact of hig
name coming first in St. Paul’s narrative
agrees better with this supposition, for
James the Greater is never mentioned tha
NOTE ON THE CHRONOLOGY OF GAL. II. 233
first in the Apostolic triuntyirate, the order
of which is Peter, James, and John; but
James the Less would naturally be mens
tioned first, if the Council at Jerusalem waa
mentioned, since we find from Acts xv.
that he took the part of president in that
Council.
10. St. Paul’s refusal to circumcise Titus 10. Timothy’s mother ,was a Jewess,
(Gal. ii.), and voluntary circumcising of and he had been brought up a Jew;!
Timothy (Acts xviii. 21), so soon after- whereas Titus was a Gentile. The cir-
wards. cumstances of Timothy’s circumcision will
be more fully discussed hereafter.
Thus we see that the objections against the identity of the Galatian
visit with visit (3), are inconclusive. Consequently we might at once
conclude (from the obvious circumstances of identity between the two
visits), that they were actually identical. But this conclusion is further
strengthened by the following arguments.
1” The Galatian visit could not have happened before visit (3); be-
cause, if so, the Apostles at Jerusalem had already granted to Paul and
Barnabas 3 the liberty which was sought for the εὐαγγέλιον τῆς ἀκροβυστίας ;
therefore there would have been no need for the Church to send them
again to Jerusalem upon the same cause. And again, the Galatian visit
could not have happened after visit (3); because, almost immediately after
that period, Paul and Barnabas ceased to work together as missionaries
to the Gentiles ; whereas, up to the time of the Galatian visit, they had
been working together.‘
2. The Chronology of St. Paul’s life (so far as it can be ascertained)
agrees better with the supposition that the Galatean visit was visit (3),
than with any other supposition.
Reckoning backwards from the ascertained epoch of 60 a.p., wheu St.
Paul was sent to Rome, we find that he must have begun his second mis
sionary journey in 51, and that, therefore, the Council (i. e. viszt (3))
must have been either in 50 or 51. This calculation is based upon the
history in the Acts. Now, turning to the Epistle to the Galatians we
find the following epochs—
A.—Conversion.
B.—3 years’ interval (probably Judaically reckoned—2 years).
C.—Flight from Damascus, and visit (1).
D.— 14 years’ interval (probably Judaically reckoned—=13 years}.
1 See 2 Tim. iii. 15. We may remark that this difficulty (which is urged by Wiese
ler) is quite as great on his own hypothesis; for, according to him, the refusal hap-
pened only about two years after the consent.
2 See Winer’s Galatians, pp. 141 & 144. 3 Gal. ii. 3-6. 4 Gal. ii. 1, 9.
’ The reading δεκατεσσάρων (Gal. ii. 1) is undoubtedly to be retained. It is the
reading of all the ancient MSS. which contain the passage. Neander (Pfl. und Lent.
i. p. 187), by mistake asserts that the Chronicon Paschale reads τεσσάρων; but the
934 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 8T: PAUL.
4
Thi.—-Galatian visit.
And since Aretas was supreme at Damascus! at the time of the
flight, and his supremacy there probably began about 37 (see pages 81
and 100), we could not put the flight at a more probable date than 88,
If we assume this to have been the case, then the Galatian visit was
88-+ 1351, which agrees with the time of the Council (i. e. visit (3))
as above.
VI. Hence we need not farther consider the views of those writers
who (like Paley and Schrader) have resorted to the hypothesis that the
Galatian visit is some supposed journey not recorded in the Acts at all;
for we have proved that the supposition of its identity with the third visit
there recorded satisfies every necessary condition. Schrader’s notion is,
that the Galatian visit was between visit (4) and visit (5). Paley
places it between vast (3) and visit (4). A third view is ably advocated
in a discussion of the subject (not published) which has been kindly com-
municated to us. The principal points in this hypothesis are, that the
Galatians were converted in the first missionary journey, that the Gala-
tian visit took place between visit (2) and risit (3), and that the Epistle
to the Galatians was written after the Galatian visit and before visit
(3). This hypothesis certainly obviates some difficulties,” and it is quite
possible (see next Chapter) that the Galatian churches might have beén
formed at the time supposed: but we *uink the “fourteen years” incon-
sistent with this view, and we are strongly of opinion that a much later
date must be assigned to the Epistle.
reverse is the fact. The words of the Chronicon are: Τῷ εἰπεῖν αὐτὸν διὰ δεκατεσσάρων
ἐτῶν δοκεῖ μοι τοὺς χρόνους τῶν ἀποστόλων τοὺς ἀπὸ τῆς ἀναλήψεως ἀριθμεῖν αὐτόν.
(Chronic. ed. Bonn. 1. p. 436.) The mistake has probably arisen from the words ἔτη
τέσσαρα, Which relate to a different subject, in the sentence below (see Wieseler, p. 207).
Διά, of time, means “after an interval of.’ (See Winer’s Grammatik, p. 363, and
Winer’s Galat. p. 102. Also Anger, pp. 159, 160.) But it may be used, according
to the Jewish way of reckoning time, inclusively; thus Jesus is said to have risen
from the dead διὰ τρίων ἡμερῶν (Ignat. ad Trall.c. 9). So in the Gospels μετά is
used (Mark viii. 31). The fourteen years must be reckoned from the epoch last men-
tioned, which is the visit (1) to Jerusalem, and not the Conversion ; at least this is the
most natural way, although the other interpretation might be justified, if required by
the other circumstances of the case.
1 2 Cor. xi. 32.
? Especially the difficulties which relate to the apparent discrepancies between the
ealatian visit and visit (3), and to the circumstance that the Apostle docs not allude
to the Council in his argument with the Galatians on the subject of circumcision. The
MS. to which we allude is by T. F. Ellis, Esq., formerly Fellow of Trinity College,
Cambridge.
3 Since these pages were printed, we have seen, in Dr. Davidson’s Introduction tc
the N. T. (vol. ti.), a good statement of the principal arguments for the view we have
advocated. We may add also the authority of Dr. H. Thiersch, in favour of our view
of this Council. See the recently published English translation of his History of the
Christian Church, p. 120.
Sage pea ὡς =
CYPRUS
Scale of miles
10 15 25
C.Cormakitis
(CrommyonProim).< ¥
ia é :
Pantplis PAA LT Ud 7 3
Cormakiti. OSE Belape
Diorost sae Py ΩΝ
ἢ “Ὁ ager
: ὁ ASs ο
o\F., *i(Satemis)
RAT KOSIA ast. Sale neds
ONLEFEOSIA 4 warned ONh magousta
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ΣΕ σὴ rUbuaoutos ὦ Sa ET enn κα =>
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& Kouta
Poles Fapbs?
Ps C. Gattie
“ Acts xiv. 23. See p. 199.
6 Acts xv. See Ch. VI.
7 See the remarks on this subject in Menken’s Blicke in das Leben des Apestels
Paulus (Bremen, 1828), p. 96.
8 Acts xiv. 15. 9 Acts xv. 38, with xiii. 13. See pp. 161, 162.
Ὁ Pp. 222-224,
252 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ΕἸ. PAUL.
weakness when he yielded to the influence of Peter and the Judaizers,'
The remembrance of the indirect censure he then received may have been
perpetually irritated by the consciousness that his position was becoming
daily more and more subordinate to that of the friend who rebuked him,
Once he was spoken of as chief of those “ prophets at Antioch,’* among*
whom Saul was the last: now his name was scarcely heard, except when
he was mentioned as the companion of Paul.’ In short, this is one of
those quarrels in which, by placing ourselves in imagination on the one
side and the other, we can alternately justify both, and easily see that the
purest Christian zeal, when combined with human weakness and partiality,
may have led to the misunderstanding. How could Paul consent to take
with him a companion who would really prove an embarrassment and a
hindrance? Such a task as that of spreading the Gospel of God ina hos-
tile world needs a resolute will and an undaunted courage. And the work
is too sacred to be put in jeopardy by any experiments Mark had
been tried once and found wanting. ‘‘ No man, having put his hand to
the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”* And Bar-
nabas would not be without strong arguments to defend the justice of k*
claims. It was hard to expect him to resign his interest in one who had
cost him much anxiety and many prayers. His dearest wish was to see
his young kinsman approving himself as a missionary of Christ. Now,
too, he had been won back to a willing obedience,—he had come from
his home at. Jerusalem,—he was ready now to face all the difficulties and
dangers of the enterprise. ΤῸ repel him in the moment of his repentance
was surely “to break a bruised reed” and to “ quench the smoking
flax.” Ὁ
It is not difficult to understand the obstinacy with which each of the
disputants, when his feelings were once excited, clung to his opinion as to
a sacred truth.? The only course which now remained was to choose two
different paths and to labour independently ; and the Church saw the
humiliating spectacle of the separation of its two great missionaries to the
Henithen. We cannot, however, suppose that Paul and Barnabas parted,
Gal. ii, 135, P. 224.
2 Acts xiii. Pp. 131, 132. Moreover, as a friend suggests at the moment of these
‘pages going to press, St. Paul was under personal obligations to Barnabas for intro-
ducing him to the Apostles (Acts ix. 27), and the feelings of Barnabas would be deeply
burt if he thought his friendship slighted.
3 See p. 149,
4 A timid companion in the hour of danger is one of the greatest evils) Matthew
Henry quotes Proy. xxv. 19: “Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble, is
like a broken tooth and like a feot out of joint.”
5. Luke ix. 62. 6 Matt. xii. 20.
7 Jerome says: “Paulus severior, Barnabas clementior ; uterque in suo sensu abun:
dat, et tamen dissensio habet aliquid humane fragilitatis.”” Contra Pelag. ii. 522
And Chrysostom says: ) Παῦλος ἐζήτει τὸ δίκαιον, ὁ Βαρνάβας τὸ φιλάνθρωπον.
DEPARTURE OF BARNABAS. 254
like enemies, in anger and hatred. It is very iikely that they made a
deliberate and amicable arrangement to divide the region of their first
missicn between them, Paul taking the continental, and Barnabas the in
sular, part of the proposed visitation.! Of this at least we are certain
that the quarrel was overruled by Divine Providence to a good resuit,
One stream of missionary labour: had been divided, and the regions blessed
by the waters of life were proportionally multiplied. St. Paul speaks of
Barnabas afterwards’ as of an Apostle actively engaged in his Master’s
service. We know nothing of the details of his life beyond the moment of
his sailing for Cyprus ; but we may reasonably attribute to him not only
the confirming of the first converts,’ but the full establishment of the
Church in his native island. At Paphos the impure idolatry gradually
retreated before the presence of Christianity ; and Salamis, where the
tomb of the Christian Levite+ is shown,? has earned an eminent place in
Christian history, through the writings of its bishop, Epiphanius.6 Mark,
too, who began his career as a “ minister” of the Gospel in this island,’
justified the good opinion of his kinsman. Yet, the severity of Paul may
have been of eventual service to his character, in leading him to feel more
deeply the serious importance of the work he had undertaken. And the
time came when Paul himself acknowledged, with affectionate tenderness,
not only that he had again become his “ fellow-labourer,” ® but that he was
“profitable to the ministry,”® and one of the causes of his own “ com-
fort.” 10
It seems that Barnabas was the first to take his departure. The feel-
ing of the majority of the Church was evidently with St. Paul, for when
he had chosen Silas for his companion and was ready to begin his journey,
he was specially ‘‘commended by the brethren to the grace of God.”™
The visitation of Cyprus having now been undertaken by others, his obvi-
ous course was not to go by sea in the direction of Perga or Attaleia,” ”
1 If Barnabas visited Salamis and Paphos, and if Paul, after passing through Derbe,
Lystra, and Iconium, went as far as Antioch in Pisidia (see below), the whole circuit
of the proposed visitation was actually accomplished, for it does not appear that any
converts had been made at Perga and Attaleia.
2 1 Cor. ix. 6: whence also it appears that Barnabas, like St. Paul, supported him-
self by the labour of bis hands.
3 Paul took the copy of the Apostolic Decree into Cilicia. If the Judaizing tendency
had shown itself in Cyprus, Barnabas would still be able to refer to the decision of the
council, and Mark would stand in the same relation to him as a witness in which Silas
did to Paul.
4 Acts iv. 36, 5 MS. note from Capt. Graves, R. N.
6 The name of this celebrated father has been given to one of the promontories of
the island, the ancient Acamas.
7 Acts xiii. 5. 8 Philemon, 24. 9 2 Tim. iv. 11.
10 Col. iv. 10, 11. 11 Acts xv. 40.
‘* Tf no other causes had occurred to determine the direction of his journey, thera
254 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
but 10 travel by the Eastern passes directly to the neighbourhood of
{conium. It appears, moreover, that he had an important work to accom:
plish in Cilicia. The early fortunes of Christianity in that province were
closely bound up with the city of Antioch and the personal labours of St.
Paul. When he withdrew from Jerusalem, “three years” after his con-
version, his residence for some time was in “the regions of Syria and
Cilicia.”! He was at Tarsus in the course of that residence, when Bar-
nabas first brought him to Antioch.* The churches founded by the
Apostle in his native province must often have been visited by him ; for it
is far easier to travel from Antioch to Tarsus, than from Antioch to
Jerusalem, or even from Tarsus to Iconium. ‘Thus the religious move-
ments in the Syrian metropolis penetrated into Cilicia. The same great
“prophet” had been given to both, and the Christians in both were
bound together by the same feelings and the same doctrines. When the
Judaizing agitators came to Antioch, the result was anxiety and per-
plexity, not only in Syria, but also in Cilicia. This is nowhere literally
stated ; but it can be legitimately inferred. We are, indeed, only told
that certain men came down with false teaching from Judea to Antioch.?
But the Apostolic Decree is addressed to “the Gentiles of Cilicia” as
well as those of Antioch, thus implying that the Judaizing spirit, with its
mischievous consequences, had been at work beyond the frontier of Syria.
And, doubtless, the attacks on St. Paul’s apostolic character had accom-
panied the attack on apostolic truth,’ anda new fulfilment of the proverb
was nearly realised, that a prophet in his own country is without honour,
He haa, therefore, no ordinary work to accomplish as he went ‘“ through
Syria and Cilicia confirming the churches ;”° and it must have been with
much comfort and. joy that he was able to carry with him a document,
emanating from the Apostles at Jerusalem, which justified the doctrine he
had taught, and accredited his personal character. Nor was he alone as
the bearer of this letter, but Silas was with him also, ready “‘to tell the
same things by mouth.”7 It is a cause for thankfulness that God put it
into the heart of Silas to “abide still at Antioch” 8. when Judas returned
to Jerusalem, and to accompany St. Paul® on his northward journey.
For when the Cilician Christians saw their countryman arrive without
might be no vessel at Antioch or Seleucia bound for Pamphylia; a circumstance no
always sufficiently taken into account by those who have written on St. Paul’s voyages.
1 Gal. i. 21. Acts ix. 30. See pp. 104-106. 5 Acts xi. 25. Seep. 118.
3 Acts xy. 1. 4 Acts xv. 23. > Pp. 210, 219.
6 Acts xv. 41. The work of allaying the Judaizing spirit in Cilicia would require
some time. Much might be accomplished during the residence at Antioch (xy. 36)
which might very well include journeys to Tarsus. But we are distinctly told that the
churches of Cilicia were “confirmed” by St. Paul, when he was on his way to these
bf Lycaonia. 7 Acts xv. 27.
» See p. 222. ἢ. 3 9 Acts xv. 40.
PAUL AND SILAS IN CILICIA. ΩΣ
his companion Barnabas, whose name was coupled with his own in the
anostolic letter,’ their confidence might have been shaken, occasion might
have been given to the enemies of the truth to slander St. Paul, had not
Silas been present, as one of those who were authorised to testify that
both Paul and Barnabas were “men who had hazarded their lives for the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” ?
Where “the churches” were, which he “ confirmed” on his journey,-—
in what particular cities of “Syria and Cilicia,’—we are not informed.
After leaving Antioch by the bridge over the Orontes,’ he would cross
Mount Amanus by the gorge which was anciently called the “Syrian
Gates,” and is now known as the Beilan Pass. Then he would come te
Alexandria and Issus, two cities that were monuments of the Macedonian
conqueror ; one as retaining his name, the other as the scene of his
victory. After entering the Cilician plain, he may have visited Adana,
στ, or Mopsuetia, three of the conspicuous cities on the old Roman
roads. With all these places St. Paul must have been more or less
familiar : probably there were Christians in all of them, anxiously waiting
_ for the decree, and ready to receive the consolation it was intended to
bring. And one other city must certainly have been visited. If there
were churches anywhere in Cilicia, there must have been one at Tarsus.
It was the metropolis of the province ; Paul had resided there, perhaps
for some years, since the time of his conversion ; and if he loved his native
place well enough to speak of it with something like pride to the Roman
officer at Jerusalem,® he could not be indifferent to its religious welfare
Among the “Gentiles of Cilicia,” to whom the letter which he carried
* Acts xv. 25. 2 Acts xv. 26.
3 See the description of ancient Antioch above, Ch. [V. p. 123; also p. 136.
4 The “ Syrian Gates’ are the entrance into Cilicia from Syria, as the “Cilcian
Gates” are from Cappadocia. The latter pass, however, is by far the grander and
more important of the two. Intermediate between these two, in the angle where
Taurus and Amanus meet, is the pass into Syria by which Darius fled after the battle
of Issus. Both entrances from Syria into Cilicia are alluded to by Cicero (Fam. xv. 4),
as well as the great entrance from Cappadocia (Att. v. 20, quoted below).
For a complete account of the geography of this district, see Mr. Ainsworth’s paper
in the eighth volume of the Geographical Society’s Transactions. The Beilan Pass is
a long valley, by which Amanus is crossed ata height of near 3000 feet above the
level of the Mediterranean. To the N. of this is a minor pass, marked by an ancient
ruin called the “Pillars of Jonas,’? which Alexander had to retrace when he turned
back to meet Darius at Issus. Beyond Issus, on the Cilician shore, is another minor
pass, where an ancient gate-way remains.
5. If the itineraries are examined and compared together, the Roman roads will be
observed to diffuse themselves among these different towns in the Cilician plain, and
then to come together again at the bend of the bay, befure they enter the Syrian
Gates. Mopsuetia and Adana were in the direct road from Issus to Tarsus; ρα
was on the coast-road to Soli. Baiz also was an important ton, situated to tho 5. οἱ
Tssus.
6 Acts xxi. 39.
256 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
was addressed, the Gentiles of Tarsus had no mean place in his affections,
And his heart must have overflowed with thankfulness, if, as he passed
through the streets which had been familiar to him since his childhood, he
knew that many households were around him where the Gospel had come
“not in word only but in power,” and the relations between husband and
wife, parent and child, master and slave, had been purified and sanctified
by Christian love. No doubt the city still retained all the aspect of the
cities of that day, where art and amusement were consecrated to a false
religion. ‘The symbols of idolatry remained in the public places,—statues,
temples, and altars,—and the various “‘ objects of devotion,” which in all
Greek towns, as well as in Athens (Acts xvii. 23), were conspicuous on
every side. But the silent revolution was begun. Some families had
already turned ‘from idols to serve the living and true God.”! The
“dumb idols” to which, as Gentiles, they had been “ carried away even
as they were led,” ἡ had been recognised as “nothing in the world,” and
been ‘‘ cast to the moles and to the bats.”4 The homes which had once
been decorated with the emblems of a vain mythology, were now bright
with the better ornaments of faith, hope, and love. And the Apostle of
the Gentiles rejoiced in looking forward to the time when the grace which ©
had been triumphant in the household should prevail against principalities
and powers,—when “every knee should bow at the name of Jesus, and
every tongue confess that He is Lord, to the giory of God the Father.”
But it has pleased God that we should know more of the details of
1 1 Thess. i. 9. 3 1 Cor. xii. 2. 3 1 Cor. viii. 4.
4 Tsai. ii. 20. These remarks have been suggested by a recent discovery of much
interest at Tarsus. In a mound which had formerly rested against a portion of the
city wall, since removed, was discovered a large collection of terracotta figures and
lamps. At first these were thought to be a sherd-wreck, or the refuse of some Cera-
micus or pottery-work. But on observing that the lamps had been used and that the
earthenware gods (Di fictiles) bore no trace of having been rejected because of defec-
tive workmanship, but on the contrary, had evidently been used, it has been imagined
that these terracottas must have been thrown away, as connected with idolatry, on the
occasion of some conversion to Christianity. The figures are such as these,—a head
of Pan, still showing the mortar by which it was sct up in some garden or vineyard ;
the boy Mercury ; Cybele, Jupiter, Ceres crowned with corn, Apollo with rays, a lion
devouring a bull (precisely similar to that engraved, p. 22), with other symbols of gen
eral or local mythology. There are, moreover, some ears, legs, &c., which seem te
have been votive offerings, and which, therefore, it would have been sacrilege io re-
move ; and a great number of lamps or incense burners, with a carbonaceous stain on
them. The date when these things were thrown to the “moles and bats” seems to be
ascertained by the dressing of the hair in one of the female figures, which is that of the
period of the early emperors, as shown in busts of Domitia, or Julia, the wife of Titus,
the same that is censured by the Roman satirist and by the Christian Apostle. Some
of them are undoubtedly of an earlier period. We owe the opportunity of seeing these
remains, and the foregoing criticisms on them (by Mr. Abington, of Hanley, in Staf-
fordshire), to the kindness of W. B. Barker, Esq., who was for many years a resident aa
Tarsus, and who is preparing a work on the history of Cilicia.
5. Phil. ii. 10, 11
THEY CROSS THE TAURUS. 257
early Christianity in the wilder and remoter regions of Asia Minor
To these regions the footsteps of St. Paul were turned, after he had
accomplished the work of confirming the churches in Syria and Cilicia,
The task now before him was the visitation of the churches he had formed
in conjunction with Barnabas. We proceed to follow him in his second
journey across Mount Taurus.
The vast mountain-barrier which separates the sunny plains of Cilicia
and Pamphylia from the central table-land, has frequently been mentioned.’
On the former journey? St. Paul travelled from the Pamphylian plain to
Antioch in Pisidia, and thence by Iconium to Lystra and Derbe. His
present course across the mountains was more to the eastward; and
the last-mentioned cities were visited first. More passes than one lead
down from Lycaonia and Cappadocia through the chain of Taurus into
Cilicia.s And it has been supposed‘ that the Apostle travelled through
one of the minor passes, which quits the lower plain af Pompeiopolis,’
and enters the upland plain of Iconium, not far from the conjectural site
of Derbe. But there is no sufficient reason to suppose that he went by
any other than the ordinary road. A traveller wishing to reach the
Valais conveniently from the banks of the Lago Maggiore would rather
go by the Simplon, than by the difficult path across the Monte Moro;
aud there is one great pass in Asia Minor which may be called the
Simplon® of Mount Taurus, described as a rent or fissure in the moun-
tain-chain, extending from north to south through a distance of eighty
miles,? and known in ancient days by the name of the “ Cilician Gates,” 5
—which has been, in all ages, the easiest and most convenient entrance
1 Especially pp. 20, 48, 105, 162-170, 186, 199, 200.
? Acts xili. 14. Pp. 163-169.
3 The principal passes are enumerated in the ‘ Modern Travelier.’? For ancient
nctices of them see Forbiger.
4 By Wieseler in his Chronologie. He refers to Hamilton’s notice of the pass, and
infers that this would be the route adopted, because it leads most directly to Derbe
(Divle). But, in the first place, the site of Derbe suggested by Hamilton is (as we
have seen, pp. 190, 198) very doubtful; and, secondly, the shortest road across a moun-
tain-chain is not necessarily the best. The road by tke Cilician Gates was carefully
made and kept up, and enters the Lycaonian plain near where Derbe must have been
situated. A recent traveller, the Rev. G. F. Weston, vicar of Crosby Ravensworth,
went by a pass from Lycaonia into Cilicia, which seems to be the same as that alluded
to by Hamilton and Wieseler, and, from the account in his journal, to be very rough
and difficult. It seems likely that this was the pass by which Cyrus sent Syennesis.
Anab, I. ii. See Ainsworth’s Travels in the Track of the Ten Thousan) Greeks (1844).
5 For Pompeiopolis or Soli, sce p. 21 and the note.
® Mr. Ainsworth points out some interesting particulars of resemblance an1 contrast
petween the Alps and this part of the Taurus. Travels and Researches in Asia Minos,
tie. (1842), π. 80.
7 Col. Chesney in the Euphrates Expedition, i. 353.
8 Besides the passages quoted below, see Polyb. xii. Diod. xiv. p. 406,
VOL. 1—17
258 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
from the northern and central parts of the peninsula to the level by the
sea-shore, where the traveller pauses before he enters Syria. The secur
ing of this pass was the greatest cause of anxiety to Cyrus, when he
marched into Babylonia to dethrone his brother.’ Through this gorge
Alexander deseended to that Cilician plain,? which has been finely de-
acribed by a Greek historian as a theatre made by Nature’s hand for
the drama of great battles. Cicero followed in the steps of Alexander,
as be tells his friend Atticus in a letter written with characteristic
vanity. And to turn to the centuries which have elapsed since the
time of the Apostles and the first Roman emperors : twice, at least, this
pass has been the pivot on which the struggle for the throne of the Hast
seemed to turn,—once, in the war described by obscure historians,> when
a pretender at Antioch made the Taurus his defence against the Emperor
of Rome ; and once, in a war which we remember, when a pretender at
Alexandria fortified it and advanced beyond it in his attempt to dethrone
the Sultan. In the wars between the Crescent and the Cross, which have
filled up much of the intervening period, this defile has decided the fate
of many anarmy. ‘The Greek historians of the first Saracen invasions
describe it by a word, unknown to classical Greek, which denotes that
when this passage (between Cappadocia and Cilicia) was sccure, the
1 Xen. Anab. i. 4. Mannert and Forbiger both think that he went by a pass more to
the east; but the arguments of Mr. Ainsworth for the identity of Dana with Tyana,
and the coincidence of the route of Cyrus with the “ Cilician Gates,” appear to be con-
clusive. Travels in the Track, &c., p. 40.
3. See Arrian, ii. 7 and Quintus Curtius, iii. 4.
3 Πεδίον πλατύτατόν τε καὶ ἐπιμηκέστατον" ᾧ περίκειται piv λόφος ele ϑεάτρου
σχῆμα, αἰγιαλὸς δὲ ἐπὶ ϑαλάσσης μέγιστος ἐκτείνεται " ὥσπερ τῆς φύσεως ἐργασαμένης
στάδιον μάχης. Herodian. iii. 4.
4 Iter in Ciliciam feci per Tauri pylas. Tarsum veni a, , iii. non. Octob. “Inde ad
Amanam contendi, qui Syriam a Cilicia aquarum divortio dividit. .. . . Castra paucus
dies habuimus, ca ipsa. que contra Darium habuerat apud Issum Alexander, in:perat.:
haud paulo melior, guam aut tu aut ego. Ep. ad Att. v. 20.
5 The war between Severus and Pescennius Niger. Herodian, iii. 1-4. He says of
Niger, on the appzoach of Severus :—’ExéAeve τοῦ Ταύρου ὄρους τὰ στενὰ καὶ κρημνώδη
διαφράττεσθα:. .. . πρόβλημα ὀχυρὸν νομίζων τῶν ἐν TR ἀνατολῇ ὁδῶν, TO δύσβατον
τοῦ ὄρους" ὁ γὰρ 'Ταῦρος μεταξὺ ὧν Καππαδοκίας καὶ Κιλικίας, διακρίνει τά te τῇ
ἄρκτῳ καὶ τὰ τῇ ἀνατολῇ ἔθνη προσκείμενα, iii. 1. When his advanced troops were de-
feated near the Busphorus, some of them fled περὶ τὴν ὑπωρείαν ἐπί Tadatiacg τε καὶ
᾿Ασίας, φθάσαι ϑέλοντες τὸν Ταῦρον ὑπερβῆναι, καὶ ἔντος τοῦ ἐρύματος γένεσθαι. Ib. 2.
6 This was emphatically the case in the first war between Mahomet Ali πα the Sul-
fan, when ibrahim Pasha crossed the Taurus and fought the battle of Konieh, in De-
cember, 1852. In the second war, the decisive battle was fought at Nizib, in June,
1839, farther to the East: but even then, while the negociations were pending, this
pass was the military boundary between the opposing powers. See Mr. Ainsworth’s
Yravels and Researches, quoted below. Te was arrested in his journey by the battle
of Nizib. For a slight notice of the two campaigns, sce Yates’ Egypt, 1.x~ [ἢ the
second volume (ch. v.) is a curious account of an interview with Ibrahim Pasha at
Tarsus. ip 1833, with notices of the surrounding country.
YHEY CROSS THE TAURUS. Y59
frontier was closed.!. The Crusaders, shrinking from the remenmibrauce of
its precipices and dangers, called it by the more awful name of the
“Gaetes of Judas.” ?
Through this pass we conceive St. Paul to have travelled on his way
trom Cilicia to Lycaonia. And if we say that the journey was made in the
spring of the year 51, we shall not deviate very far from the actual date.
By those who have never followed the Apostle’s footsteps, the successive
features of the scenery through which he passed may be compiled from
the accounts of recent travellers, and arranged in the following order.
After leaving Tarsus, the road. ascends the vailey of the Cydnus, which, for
some distance, is nothing more than an ordinary mountain valley, with wooded
eminences and tributary streams. Beyond the point where the road from
Adanah comes in from the right,® the hills suddenly draw together and
form a narrow pass, which has always been guarded by precipitous cliffs,
and is now crowned by the ruins of /a medieval castle.7_ In some places
the ravine contracts to a width of ten or twelve paces,* leaving room for
only one chariot to pass.? It is an anxious place to any one in command
1 The word κλεισούρα (clausura). Scylitzes Curopalates, published in the Bonn
edition of Cedrenus, vol. ii. pp. 677, 703. For the history of the word, see the glossary
to Cedrenus; where we find also the word κλεισουριάρχης. “ Gregorius Cappadox,
qui et clusuriarches.” In both passages, Scylitzes alludes to the difference of climate
between Cilicia and the interior. See, especially, p. 677: Tov Tatpov τὸ ὄρος ὑπερβὰς
πανστρατίᾳ εἰσβάλλει τῇ Ῥωμαίων" ἐντυχόντες δ᾽ ἄθροοι τόποις ψυχροῖς ἐξ ἄγαν
ἀλεεινῶν καὶ ϑερμῶν πολλῆς μεταβολῆς ἤσθοντι." διὸ καὶ ἄνθρωποι πολλοὶ ἀπέθανον
καὶ ζῷα πολλὰ ἐναπέψυσαν. Compare the Claustra Caspiarum of Tacitus, Hist. i. 6
and the Claustra Montium, Ib. iii. 2.
2 See Michaud’s Histoire des Croisades, i. p.141. Correspondence d’Orient, viii. p. 6.
3 We have no means of exactly determining either the year or the season. He left
Corinth in the spring (Acts xviii. 21) after staying there a year and a half (Acts xviii.
11). He arrived, therefore, at Corinth in the autumn; and probably, as we shall see,
in the autumn of the year 52. Wieseler (pp. 36, 44) calculates that a year might be
occupied in the whole journey from Antioch through Asia Minor and Macedonia to
Corinth. Perhaps it is better to allow a year and a half; and the spring is the more
likely season to have been chosen for the commencement of the journey. See p. 165.
4 Very full descriptions may be seen in Ainsworth and in Capt. Kinneir’s Travels.
* See Colonel Chesney’s description of the valley.
6 Mr. Ainsworth says the road which he followed to Adanah turns off from that to
Tarsus, about five miles from the rocky gap mentioned. There i3 another mountain
track from Adanah, mentioned by Captain Kinngir, which cemes into the pass ata
higher point.
7 “On the right hand, or south side, of this pass are two bold rocky summits, tower-
ing, bare and preciviteus, over the surrounding forest : the more western of these bears
the ruins of a castle, with crumbling walls and round towers, said to be Genoese.”
Ainsworth’s Travels and Researches u. 77.
8 This gorge is called the Golek Boghaz. It is, as Capt. Kinneir says, “the part of
the pass most capable of defence, and where a handful of determined men, advanta:
geously posted, might bid defiance to the most numerous armies.”
9 The general phrase of Xenophon concerning the Cilician Gates is, ὁδὸς duakirdy
sofia ἰσχυρῶς καὶ ἀμήχανος εἰσελθεῖν στρατεύματι, εἴ tic éxwAvev, Anab.1ii. Mr
960 THE LIKE ΑΝῸ EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
of a military expedition. To one who is unburdened by such respocsi
bility, the scene around is striking and impressive. A canopy of fir-tree
is high overhead. Bare limestone cliffs rise above on either hand to an
elevation of many hundred feet. The streams which descend towards the
Cydnus are closed by the road, aud here and there undermine it or wash
over it.! When the higher and more distant of these streams are left
behind, the road emerges upon an open and elevated region, 4000 feet
above the level of the sea.” This space of high land may be considered
as dividing the whole mountain journey into two parts. For when it is
passed, the streams are seen to flow in a new direction. Not that we
have attained the point where the highest land of Asia Minor? turns the
waters north and south. ‘The torrents which are seen descending to the
right, are merely the tributaries of the Sarus, another river of Cilicia.’
The road is conducted northwards through this new ravine ; and again
the rocks close in upen it, with steep naked cliffs, among cedars and
pines, forming “an intricate defile, which a handful of men might con-
vert into another Thermopyle.”* When the highest peaks of Taurus
are left hehind, the road to Tyana is continued in the same northerly
Ainsworth regards this as applying to the Golek Boghaz ; but it may be referred with
equal propriety to the other narrow defile in the higher part of the pass, and this refer-
ence is more agreeable to the context.
1 See the descriptions in Ainsworth and Kinneir.
7 “The plain, if it may be so called, which occupies the level summit between the
waters of the Seihun and the river of Tarsus is about an English mile in width, the
approach to it being uphill and through a broken and woody country.” Ainsw. Trav.
and Res. p. 75. He then proceeds to describe the Egyptian batteries (this was soon
after the battle of Nizib), and adds that the height of this east according to hig
observations. was 3812 feet.
3 This is the Anti-Taurus, which, though far less striking in appearance ‘than the
Taurus, is really higher, as is proved by the course of the Sarus and other streams.
4 See this veryciearly described by Ainsworth in each of his works. “ The road is car-
ried at first over low undulating ground, the waters of which flow towards the moun-
tains. It enters them with the rivulets tributary to the Sarus, which have an easterly
flow, and follows the waters for some distance, amid precipitous cliffs and wooded
abutments, till they sever the main chain. . . . Beyond this, the road turns cdf to the
south, up the course of a tributary. .. . An expansive upland here presents itself [see
n. 2]... .. Beyond this the waters flow no longer to the Sarus, but to the Cydnus.”*
ravels in the Track, &c., pp. 44, 45. ‘Sixteen miles from Eregli [Cybistra] the
waters begin to flow eastward, and soon collect in a small rivulet. which finds its way
through Taurus to the bed of the Seihun [Sarus]. This is a peculiarity in the hydro-
graphical features of this part of Taurus not hitherto pointed out.” Trav. and Res.
p. 71. The fact, however, is implied by Captain Kinneir, who says that, after travelling
some miles from Tyana, he found “ the Sihoun flowing through the valley parallel with
the road.”’
5. These are Ainsworth’s words of the Golek Boghaz (Trav. and Res. Ὁ. 77), but they
must be true also of this portion of the pass; though he says in his other work that
three chariots might pass abreast (Trav. in the Track, p. 45). In this part the chief
Turkish defences were erected (Trav. and Res. p. 72.)
LYSTRA. 261
direction ;! while that to Iconium takes a turn to the left, and passes
among wooded slopes with rocky projections, and over ground compara
tively level, to the great Lycaonian plain.’
The whole journey from Tarsus to Konieh is enough, in modern times,
to occupy four laborious days ;* and, from the nature of the ground, the
time required can never have been much less. The road, however, was
doubtless more carefully maintained in the time of St. Paul than at the
present day, when it is only needed by Tartar couriers and occasional
traders. Antioch and Ephesus had a more systematic civilisation than
Aleppo or Smyrna; and the governors of Cilicia, Cappadocia, and
Galatia, were more concerned than a modern pacha in keeping up the
lines of internal communication. At various parts of the journey from
Tarsus to Iconium traces of the old military way are visible, marks of
ancient chiseling, substructions, and pavement ; stones that have fallen
over into the rugged river-bed, and sepulchres hewn out in the cliffs, or
erected on the level ground.® Some such traces still follow the ancient
line of road where it enters the plain of Lycaonia, beyond Cybistra,° near
the spot where we conceive the town of Derbe to have been formerly
situated.’
1 The roads towards Syria and Czesarea in Cappadocia, and Angora in Galatia, both
mect at Tyana. See the Map. p. 189. The place is worthy of notice as the native city
of Apollonius, the notorious philosopher and traveller. This is carefully remarked by
the author of the Jerusalem Itinerary.
? See Colonel Chesney’s description, and above, p. 199, for the remarks of Leake
and Hamilton on the neighbourhocd of Karaman (Laranda). Neither of those travel-
lers passed through the Cilician Gates. For further topographical details, see Kiepert’s
large Map of Asia Minor. Colonel Chesney’s general map is also useful ; and another
of his maps, in which a delineation of the southern part of the pass is given.
3 Mr. Ainsworth, in the month of November, was six days in travelling from Ieconium
to Adanah. Major Rennell, who enters very fully into all questions relating to dis-
tances and rates of travelling. says that more than forty hours are taken in crossing
the Taurus from Eregli to Adanah, though the distance is only 78 miles; and he adds,
that fourteen more would be done on common ground in the same time. Geog. of
Western Asia.
4 Inscriptions in Asia Minor, relating to the repairing of roads by the governors Οἱ
provinces and other officials, are not infrequent. See those on public works in Gruter,
p. 149, &c. ; also Boeckh and Texier.
5 See Ainsworth and Kinneir.
6 See the Map with the line of Roman road, p. 189. Cybistra (Hregli) was one of
Cicero’s military stations. Its relation to the Taurus is very clearly pointed out in his
letters. “Cum exercitu per Cappadocie partem eam, que cum Cilicia continens est,
iter feci, contraque ad Cybistr:. «ced oppidum est ad montem Taurum, locavi.’’ Ad
Fam. xv. 2. “In Cappadocia ===2a non longe a Tauro apud eppidum Cybistra
castra feci, ui et Ciliciam tuerer et Cappadociam tenens,” &c. Ib. 4. At this point
he was very near Derbe. He had come from Iconium, and afterwards went through
the pass to Tarsus ; so that his route must have nearly coincided with that of St. Paul.
The bandit-chief Antipater of Derbe, is one of the personages who plays a considerable
part in this passage of Cicero’s life.
τ See above, p. 188, n. 1, and p.198,n.7 Mr. Hamilton (A. M. vol. ii.) gives a de-
0 a ΤῊΝ LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
As St.Paul emerged from the mountain-passes, and came along the
lower heights through which the Taurus recedes to the Lycaonian levels,
the heat, which had been full of affection and anxiety all through the
journey, would beat more quickly at the sight of the well-known objects
before him. The thought of his disciples would come with new force
upon his mind, with a warm thanksgiving that he was at length allowed
to revisit them, and to ‘“‘see how they fared.”! The recollection of
friends, from whom we have parted with emotion, is often strongly asso-
ciated with natural scenery, especially when the scenery is remarkable.
And here the tender-hearted Apostle was approaching the home of his
Lycaonian converts. On his first visit, when he came as a stranger, he
had travelled in the opposite direction ;:? but the same objects were again
before his eyes, the same wide-spreading plain, the same black summit of
the Kara-Dagh. In the further reach of the plain, beyond the “ Black
Mount,” was the city of Iconium ; nearer to its base was Lystra; and
nearer still to the traveller himself was Derbe,? the last point of his pre-
vious journey. Here was his first meeting now with the disciples he had
then been enabled to gather. The incidents of such a meeting,—the
inquiries after Barnabas,—the welcome given to Silas,—the exhortations,
instructions, encouragements, warnings, of St. Paul,—may be left to the
imagination of those who have pleasure in picturing\to themselves the
features of the Apostolic age, when Christianity was new.
This is all we can say of Derbe, for we know no details either of the
former or present visit to the place. But when we come to Lystra, we
are at once in the midst of all the interest of St. Paul’s public ministry
and private relations. Here it was that Paul and Barnabas were re-
garded as heathen divinities;4 that the Jews, who had first cried
“ Hosarna” and then crucified the Saviour, turned the barbarians from
homage to insult ;° and that the little church of Christ had been forti-
fied by the assurance that the kingdom of heaven can only be entered
through ‘much tribulation.”* Here too it was that the child of Lois
{{
tailed account of his journey in this direction, and of the spots where he saw ruins,
inscriptions, or tombs. He heard of Divle when he was in a yailah on the mountains,
but did not visit it in consequence of the want of water. There was none within
eight hours. See Trans. of Geog. Soc. viii. 154, and compare what is said of the
drought of Lycaonia by Strabo, as quoted above, p. 180,
Texier is of opinion that the true site of Derbe is Divle, which he describes as a vil
lage in a wild valley among the mountains, with Byzantine remains. Asie Mineure,
ji, 129, 130. The same view seems to be taken by Dr. Bailie, who adduces an inscrip
tion from “ Devlé or Devré ” in his second Fasciculus of Inscriptions (1847), p. 264 g
1 See above, p. 250.
2 Compare Acts xiv. with 2 Tim iii. 10, 11.
3 See the account of the topography of this district, Ch. VI. pp. 182, ἄς.
4 Acts xiv. 12-18. pp. 192, &e. 5 Acts xiv. 19, pp. 195, 196
6 Acts xiv. 22, p. 199.
KARA-DAGH, NEAR LYSTRA.
LYSTRA. 263
and Eunice, taught the Holy Scriptures from his earliest years, had been
trained to a religious life, and prepared, through the Providence of God,
by the sight of the Apostle’s sufferings, to be his comfort, support, and
companion. !
Spring and summer had passed over Lystra, since the Apostles had
preached there. God had continued to “ bless” them, and given them
“rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling their hearts with food and
gladness.”* But still “ the living God, who made the heavens, and the
earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein,” was only recognised
by afew. The temple of the Lystrian Jupiter still stood before the gate,
and the priest still offered the people’s sacrifices to the imaginary pro
tector of the city. Heathenism was invaded, but not yet destroyed.
Some votaries had been withdrawn from that polytheistic religion, which
wrote and sculptured in stone its dim ideas of ‘“ present deities ;”+ crowd:
ing its thoroughfares with statues and altars, ascribing tu the King of
the Gods the attributes of beneficent protection and the government of
atmospheric changes,’ and vaguely recognizing Mercury as the dispenser
of fruitful seasons and the patron of public happiness.7_ But many years
of difficulty and persecution were yet to elapse before Greeks and
barbarians fully learnt, that the God whom St. Panl preached was a
Father everywhere present to his children, and the One Author of every
“good and periect gift.”
1 See pp. 197, 198.
? See the words used in St. Paul's address to the Lystrians, Acts xiv. and the re-
marks made pp. 193, 195. New emphasis is given to the Apostle’s words, if we re-
member what Strabo says of the absence of water in the pastures of Lycaonia. Mr.
Weston found that water was dearer than milk at Bin-bir-Kilisseh, and that there was
only one spring, high up the Kara-Dagh.
3 P.190,n.1. LE. 1. Walch, in his Spicilegium Antiquitatum Lystrensium (Diss.
in Acta Apostolorum, Jena, 1766, vol. iii.), thinks that a statwe of Jupiter, and nota
temple, is meant. He adduces many inscriptions in illustration of the subject, such ag
the following: “Jupiter Custos colonize Mutinensis,” “ Serapi conservatori,” ‘ Deo in
cujus tutela domus est :)) and especially one from Gruter, with JUPITER CUSTOS,
and the attributes of .Wercury above. The equivalent Greek terms are πολιεοῦχος and
TPOTVAa °F.
4 Inscriptions with “ Dis prasentibus,” or the Greek word ETI@ANEIA, were very
zommon. Caligula wished statues to be erected in his honour, with AlOS ELIbA-
NOY inscribed ou them. See Walch. Compare the “Prasens Divus” of Mourace,
Od. mr. v. 2, and see the idea expanded in the fifth ode of the fourth book.
» See the remarks on Tarsus above, p. 256, and the note.
6 Jupiter was called ἐπικάρπιος and ὄμβριος ; and such inscriptions as the following
were frequent,—Jovi O. M. Tempestatum Divinarum potenti. Compare them with
50. Paul’s words, Acts xiv. 17. See also Walch’s references to Callimachus, Luciaa,
and Atheneus.
‘ Mercury 1s sometimes represented with a cornucopie, ears of corn, &c., and the
words “‘saculo frugifero.” There are also coins with “ ‘elicitas publica ” and the sym
bols of Mercury. Walch.
804 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF sT. PAUL.
Lystra, however, contributed one of the principal agents in the ao
complishment of this result. We have seen how the seeds of Gospei
truth were sown in the heart of Timotheus.!. The instruction received in
childhood,—the sight of St. Paul’s sufferings,—the hearing of his words,—
the example of the “ unfeigned faith, which first dwelt in his grandmother
Lois and his mother Eunice,” “—and whatever other influences the Holy
Spirit had used for his soul’s good,—had resulted in the full conviction
that Jesus was the Messiah. And if we may draw an obvious inferenee
from the various passages of Scripture, which describe the subsequent re-
lation of Paul and Timothy, we may assert that natural qualities of an
engaging character were combined with the Christian faith of this young
disciple. The Apostle’s heart seems to have been drawn towards him
with peculiar tenderness. He singled him out from the other disciples.
“Him would Paul have to go forth with him.”* This feeling is in harmony
with all we read, in the Acts and the Epistles, of St. Paul’s affectionate
and confiding disposition. He had no relative ties which were of service
in his apostolic work ; his companions were few and changing ; and
though Silas may well be supposed to have supplied the place of Barna
bas, it was no weakness to yearn for the society of one who might hecome
what Mark had once appeared to be, a son in the Gospel Yet how
could he consistently take an untried youth on so difficult an enterprize ?
‘How could he receive Timothy into “the glorious company of Apostles”
when he had rejected Mark ? Such questions might be raised, if we were
not distinctly told that the highest testimony was given to Timothy's
1 Pp. 197,198. It is well known that commentators are not agreed whether Lystra
or Derbe was the birthplace of Timothy. But the former opinion is by far the most
probable. The latter rests on the view which some critics take of Acts xx. 4. The
whole aspect of Acts xvi. 1, 2 is in favour of Lystra. St. Luke mentions Lystra after
Derbe, and then says ἐκεῖ; and again, when referring to the town where Timothy was
well spoken of, he does not mention Derbe at all, but Lystra first and Iconium next.
It is quite unnatural, in the other passage, to place the comma after Τώξος with Ols-
hansen, or to read Τιμόθεύς te Δερβαῖος with Kuinoel, or καὶ A. T. with Heinrichs,
The only motives for the change appear to be the notion that Timothy’s birthplace
ought to be specified, as in the case of the others, and the wish to identify Caius with
the disciple mentioned xix. 29. But to these arguments Meyer and De Wette very
justly reply, that it was useless to mention Timothy’s birthplace, when it was known
already ; and that the name Caius was far too common to cause us any difficulty.
Wieseler (pp. 25, 26) ingeniously suggests that Timothy might be a native of Derbe,
and yet met with by St. Paul at Lystra. He is unwilling to think that a new Caius can
be mentioned so soon in company with Aristarchus. But surely we may answer that
the very word Δερβαῖος may be intended to show that a different person is intended
from the Caius of xix. 29.
3.2 imino.
3 Ἤθεέελησεν, Acts xvi. 3. The wish was spontaneous, not suggested by others.
4 This is literally what he afterwards said of Timothy: “Ye know that, as a son
with the father, he has served with me in the Gospel.” Philip. ii 22. Compare alse
the phrases, “ my sen,” “my own son in the faith”? 1 Tim. i. 2,18, and 2 Tim. ui. 1.
TIMOTHY. “ὁ
Christian character, not only αὖ Lystra, but Icomam also. We ‘nfer
from this, that diligent inquiry was made concerning his fitness for the
work to which he was willing to devote himself. ‘To omit, at present, all
notice of the prophetic intimations which sanctioned the appointment of
Timothy,’ we have the best proof that he united in himself those outward
and inward qualifications which a careful prudence would require. One
other point must be alluded to, which was of the utmost moment at that
particular crisis of the Church.. The meeting of the Council at Jerusalem
had lately taken place. And, though it had been decided that the Gen-
tiles were not to be forced into Judaism on embracing Christianity, and
though St. Paul carried with him? the decree, to be delivered ‘to all the
churches,”—yet still he was in a delicate and difficult position, The
Jewish Christians had naturally a great jealousy on the subject of their
ancient divine law ; and in dealing with the two parties the Apostle had
need of the utmost caution and discretion. We see, then, that in chovs-
ing a fellow-worker for his future labours, there was a peculiar fitness
in selecting one, “ whose mother was a Jewess, while his father was a
Greek.” 4
We may be permitted here to take a short retrospect of the clild-
hood and education of St. Paul’s new associate. The hand of the Apostle
himself has drawn for us the picture of his early years.2 That picture
represents to us a mother and a grandmother, full of tenderness and faith,
piously instructing the young Timotheus in the ancient Scriptures, making
his memory familiar with that ‘“ cloud of witnesses” which encompassed
all the history of the chosen people, and training his hopes to expect the
Messiah of Israel.° It is not allowed to us to trace the previous history
of these godly women of the dispersion. It is highly probable that they
may have been connected with those Babylonian Jews whom Antiochus
settled in Phrygia three centuries before :7 or they may have been con-
ducted into Lycaonia by some of those mercantile and other cherges
which affected the movements of so many families at the epoch we are
writing of ; such, for instance, as those which brought the household of
the Corinthian Chloe into relations with Ephesus,’ and caused the prose-
τ Acts xvi. 2.
3 Τὰς προαγούσας ἐπὶ σὲ προφητείας. 1 Tim.i.18. Seeiv. 14. We ought to add,
that “the brethren’ who gave testimony in praise of Timothy were the very converts
of St. Paul himself, and, therefore, witnesses in whom he had good reason to place the
utmost confidence.
3 Acts xvi. 4. 4 Acts xvi. 1. δ Ὁ Timi on ellie 10; eee
6 If it is allowable to allude to an actual picture of a scene of this kind, we may
mention the drawing of “Jewish Women reading the Scriptures,” in Wilkie’s Oriental
Sketches.
7 See Ch. IL p. 38, also Ch. 1, pp.17,18. The authority for tha statement made
there is Joseph. Ant. xii. 3 4.
: Cor. i. 11.
θῦ THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
tyte Lydia to remove from Thyatira to Philippi.1 There is
Iconium appears to have been the place where Timothy was circum-
cised. ‘Ike opinion of the Christians at Iconium, as well as these at
1 Acts xvi. 1-3. 3 See vv. 3, 4.
3 Gal. v.6. vi.15. St. Paul’s own conduct on the confines of Galatia is a commen
tary on the words he uses to the Galatians.
¢ Rom. xiv. 5, 5 1 Cor. ix. 20-22,
͵
TIMOTHY. 269
Lystra, had been obtained before the Apostle took him as his companivun,
These towns were separated only by the distance of a few miles ;! and
eonstant communication must have been going on Between the residents in
the two places, whether Gentile, Jewish, or Christian. Iconium was by
far the most populous and important city of the two,—and it was the
point of intersection of all the great roads in the neighbourhood.’ For
these reasons we conceive that St. Paul’s stay in Iconium was of greater
moment than his visits to the smaller towns, such as Lystra. Whether
the ordination of 'Timothy, as well as his circumcision, took place at this
particular place and time, is a point not easy to determine. But this view
is at least as probable as any other that can be suggested : and it gives a
new and solemn emphasis to this occasion if we consider it as that to
which reference is made in the tender allusions of the pastoral letters,—
where St. Paul reminds Timothy of his good confession before ‘“ many
witnesses,” of the “prophecies” which sanctioned his dedication to
God’s service,‘ and of the “gifts” received by the laying on of “ the
hands of the presbyters”*® and the Apostle’s “own hands.” ° Such refer-
ences to the day of ordination, with all its well-remembered details, not
only were full of serious admonition to Timothy, but possess the deevest
interest for us.7 And this interest becomes still greater if we bear im
mind that the “ witnesses” who stood by were St. Paul’s own converts,
and the very “ brethren” who gave testimony to Timothy’s high character
at Lystra and Iconium ;*—that the “ prophecy” which designated him tw
his office was the same spiritual gift which had attested the commission of
Barnabas and Saul at Antioch,® and that the College of Presbyters,'!° who,
1 To what has been said before (pp. 182, 186, &c.), add the following note from a
MS. journal already quoted. ‘“ Oct. 6.—Left Konieh at 12. Traversed the enormous
plains for 5% hours, when we reached a small Turcoman village. . . Oct. 7.—At 11.30
we approached the Kara-Dagh, and in about an hour began to ascend its slopes. We
were thus about 11 hours crossing the plain from Konich. This, with 2 on the other
side, made in all 13 hours. We were heartily tired of the plain.”
* Roads from Iconium to Tarsus in Cilicia, Side in Pamphylia, Ephesus in Asia,
Angora in Galatia, Cxsarea in Cappadocia, &c., are all mentioned in the ancient
authorities. :
2 1 Lim: vi. 12. 41 Tim. i. 18 5 1 Tim. iv. 14. 6 2 Tim. i. 6.
7 This is equally true, if the ordination is to be considered coincident with the
“laying on of hands,” by which the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost were iirst
communicated, as in the case of Cornelius (Acts x. 44), the Samaritans (viii. 17), the
disciples at Ephesus (xix. 6), and St. Paul himself (ix. 17). See the Essay on the
Apostolical Office in Stanley’s Sermons and Essays, especially p. 71. These gifts
doubtless pointed out the offices to which individuals were specially called. Com:
pare together the three important passages: Rom. xii. 6-8. 1 Cor. xii, 28-30. Eph iv.
11, 12 5 also 1 Pet. iv. 10, 11.
8 Compare Acts xvi. 2 with Acts xiii. 51—xiy. 22.
9. Compare 1 Tim. i. 18 with Acts xiii. 1-3.
‘* Τὸ πρεσβυτέριον. 1 Tim. iv. 14. See 2 Tim. i. 6.
910 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
in conjunction with the Apostle, ordaincd the new minister of the Gospel,
consisted of those who had been “ ordained in every church”! at the close
of that same journey.
On quitting Iconium St. Paul left the route of his previous journey ;
unless indeed he went in the first place to Antioch in Pisidia,—a journey
to which city was necessary in order to complete a full visitation of the
churches founded on the continent in conjunction with Barnabas. It is
certainly most in harmony with our first impressions, to believe that this
city was not unvisited. No mention, however, is made of the place, and
it is enough to remark that a residence of a few weeks at Iconium as his
head-quarters would enable the Apostle to see more than once all the
Christians at Antioch, Lystra, and Derbe.? It is highly probable that he
did so: for the whole aspect of the departure from Iconium, as it is
related to us in the Bible, is that of a new missionary enterprise, under-
taken after the work of visitation was concluded. St. Paul leaves Ico-
nium, as formerly he left the Syrian Antioch, to evangelize the heathen in
new countries. Silas is his companion in place of Barnabas, and Timothy
is with him “ for his minister,” as Mark was with him then. Many roads
were before him. By travelling westward he would soon cross the frontier
of the province of Asia,*? and he might descend by the valley of the
Meander to Ephesus, its metropolis :4 or the roads to the south® might
have conducted him to Perga and Attaleia, and the other cities on the
coast of Pamphylia. But neither of these routes was chosen. Guided by
the ordinary indications of Providence, or consciously taught by the Spirit
of God, he advanced in a northerly direction, through what is called, in
the general language of Scripture, ‘‘ Phrygia and the region of Galatia.”
We have seen® that the term “ Phrygia” had no political significance
1 Acts xiv. 23. ;
* It would also be very easy for St. Paul to visit Antioch on his route from Iconium
through Phrygia and Galatia. See below, p. 271. The fact that Pisidia is not men-
tioned cannot be used as an argument against a visit to that place. Bottger (§ 18)
very forcibly says it is highly improbable that St. Paul should pass by his converts
there, and not communicate to them the letter of the Council. But, again, this docs
not prove that he is right in including Antioch in Galatia.
3 It is impossible, as we have seen (pp. 239, 240) to determine the exact frontier.
4 The great road from Ephesus to the Euphrates ascended the valley of the Mseander
to the neighbourhoed of Laodicea, Hierapolis, and Colosse [Col. iv. 13-16], and thence
passed by Apamea te Iconium. See the references to Strabo and Cicero in the next
note but two.
5 The Peutinger Table has a direct road from Iconium to Side, on the coast of Pam-
phylia. Thence another road follows the coast to-Perga, and goes thence across West-
cern Pisidia to the valley of the Meander. None of the Itineraries mention any direct
road from Antioch in Pisidia to Perga and Attaleia, corresponding to the journeys of
Paul and Barnabas. For an allusion to the importance of Side, see p. 23. n. 2. Com
pare p. 160.
8 Pp. 236, 239, 240, 243, 250, &e., and the notes.
JOURNEY THROUGH PHRYGIA. 971
2
ii the time of St. Paul. It was merely a geographical expression, de
noting a debatable country of doubtful extent, diffused over the frontiera
of the provinces of Asia and Galatia, but mainly belonging to the former
We believe that this part of the Apostle’s journey might be described
under various forms of expression, according as the narrator might speak
politically or popularly. A traveller proceeding from Cologne to Han-
over might be described as going through Westphalia or through Prussia,
The course of the railroad would be the best indication of his real path.
So we imagine that our best guide in conjecturing St. Paul’s path through
this part of Asia Minor is obtained by examining the direction of the
ancient and modern roads. We have marked his route in our map along
the general course of the Roman military way, and the track of Turkish
caravans, which leads by Laodicea, Philomelium, and Synnada,'— or, to
use the existing terms, by Ladik, Ak-Sher, and Eski-Karahisser.2 This
road follows the northern side of that ridge which Strabo describes as
separating Philomelium‘'and Antioch in Pisidia, and which, as we have
seen,’ materially assisted Mr. Arundel in discovering the latter city. If
St. Paul revisited Antioch on his way 4— and we cannot be sure that he
did not,—he would follow the course of his former journey,’ and then
regain the road to Synnada by crossing the ridge to Philomelium. We
1 These are the stages in the great road from Ephesus to Mazaca in the Peutinger
Table. At Synnada it meets a road from the north. See them laid down approx-
imately in Colonel Leake’s Map of Asia Minor, and compare Major Rennell’s work on
Western Asia. This was the route of Cicero, when he travelled from Ephesus to
Cilicia. Ep. ad Att.v.20. Fam.u1.8. xv.4. Synnada was a place of considerable
importance as the capital of a Conventus Juridicus. (Plin. v. 29.) Compare Cic. Att.
y. 21. Livy. xxxviii. 15. xlv. 34. Strabo expressly says, that Laodicea Combusta
was on the great road from Ephesus to the Euphrates. Phi/omelium is mentioned as
an intermediate stage both by Cicero and Strabo (1. ¢.). For the modern names of
these places, and their relation to modern routes, see the next note.
? For the modern roads, Murray’s Handbook for the East may be consulted: Route
93 (Scutari, by Nicsea and Konieh, to Tarsus and Baias), and Route 94. (Constanti-
nople, by the Rhyndacus and Konieh, to Cxsarea and Cappadocia.) Both these routes
coincide between Ak-Sher and Konieh. This line of road was also traversed by Otter,
Browne, and Leake (see Leake’s map), and by Hamilton Ainsworth, and the author
of the MS. journal we have quoted. See, again, the Modern Traveller, p. 311. (Route
from Konieh to Kiutaya and Broussa.) Ladik is Laodicwa Combusta, situated just
beyond the hills which bound the plain of Konieh (see ἢ. 182, and especiallly p. 186),
A%-Sher used to be identified with Antioch in Pisidia, but is now believed to be Philo
melium (see the next note). Eshki-Karahissar is now identified with Synnada. {ee
Franz, Funf Inschriften u. Funf Stadten in Kleinasien, Berlin, 1840. It is near {pos
sibly identical with ?] dfium-Karahissar (so called from its opium plantations), am
important town half-way between Angora and Smyrna. It is almost certain that 8&
Paul must have passed more than once_near this place. Mr. Hamilton was there oa
two journeys, from Angorah to Antioch in Pisidia, and from the valley of the Hermus
to Iconium. See his Descriptions, 1. xxvi. τι. xii.
3 See pp. 169, 170.
4 See above, p. 270, n. 2. 5 Acts xiv
?
272 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES QF ΒΤ. PAUL.
ΕΣ
must. again repeat that the path marked down here is conjectural We
have nothing either in St. Luke’s narrative or in St. Paul’s own letters
to lead us to any place in Phrygia, as certainly visited by him on this
occasion, and as the home of the converts he then made. One city indeed,
which is commonly reckoned among the Phrygian cities, has a great place
in St. Paul’s biography, and it lay on the line of an important Roman
road.' But it was situated far within the province of Asia, and for
3everal reasons we think it highly improbable that he visited Colosse
on this journey, if indeed he ever visited it at all. The most probable
route is that which lies more to the northwards in the direction of the
true Galatia.
The remarks which have keen made on Phrygia must be repeated, with
some modification, concerning Galatia. It is true that Galatia was a
province: but we can plainly see that the term is used here in its
popular sense,—not as denoting the whole territory which was governed
by the Galatian proconsul, but rather the primitive region of the
tetrarchs and kings, without including those districts of Phrygia or
Lycaonia, which wee now politically united with it. There is abso-
lutely no city in true Galatia which is mentioned by the Sacred Writers
in connection with the first spread of Christianity. From the peculiar
form of expression? with which the Christians of this part of Asia
Minor are addressed by St. Paul in the Epistle which he wrote to them,‘
and alluded to in another of his Epistles,;5—we infer that “the churches
‘of Galatia” were not confined to any one city, but distributed through
various parts of the country. If we were to mention two cities, which,
both from their intrinsic importance, and from their connection with the
leading roads,° are likely to have been visited and revisited by the
1 Xenophon reckons Colosse in Phrygia. Anab. ii. 1. So Strabo, xii. 8. It was on
the great road mentioned above, from Iconium to Ephesus. Bottger, who holds “the
churches of Galatia” to have been merely the churches at Derbe, Lystra, and Iconium,
supposes St. Paul never to have been in northern Galatia, but to have travelled te
Colosse, and thence by Sardis to the frontier of Bithynia. Sce the map attached to
his First Essay. We come here upon a question which we need not anticipate ; viz.
whether St. Paul was ever at Colosse. For Bottger’s view of Col. ii. 1, see his Third
Essay.
* See pp. 246, 247, and the notes.
3 Taig ἐκκλησίαις τῆς Ταλατίας, in the plural. The occurrence of this term in the
salutation gives the Epistle to the Galatians the form ofa circular letter. The same
phrase, in the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, conveys the impression that there was
no great central church in Galatia, like that of Corinth in Achaia, or that of Ephesus
in Asia.
4 Gal. i. 2. 5 1 Cor. xvi. 1.
ὃ The route is conjecturally laid down in the map from Synnada to Pessinus anG@
Ancyra. Mr. Hamilton travelled exactly along this line, and describes the bare and
dreary country at length (1. xxiv.xxvii.). Near Pessinus he found an inscription (No.
439) relating to the repairing of the Roman road, on a column whieh had probably
GALATIA. 273
Apostle, we should be inclined to select Pessinus and Ancyra. The first
of these cities retained some importance as the former capital of one of
the Galatian tribes,! and its trade was considerable under the early em
perors.? Moreover, it had an ancient and wide-spread renown, as the
seat of the primitive worship of Cybele, the Great Mother.’ ‘Though
her oldest and most sacred image (which, like that of Diana at Ephesus,'
had “ fallen down from heaven”) had been removed to Rome,—her wor
ship continued to thrive in Galatia, under the superintendence of her
effeminate and fanatical priests or Galli,” and Pessinus was the object of
one of Julian’s pilgrimages, when heathenism was on the decline. Ancyre
was a place of still greater moment: for it was the capital of the pro-
vince.’ The time of its highest eminence was not under the Gaulish but
the Roman government. Augustus built there a magnificent temple of
marble,® and inscribed there a history of his deeds, almost in the style of
an Asiatic sovereign.® This city was the meeting-place of all the great
roads in the north of the peninsula..° And, when we add that Jews had
been established there from the time of Augustus," and probably earlier,
we can hardly avoid the conclusion that the Temple and Inscription at
Angora, which successive travellers have described and copied during the
last three hundred years, were once seen by the Apostle of the Gentiles.
However this may have been, we have some information from his own
pen, concerning his first journey through “the region of Galatia.” We
been a milestone. Both the Antonine and Jerusalem Itineraries give the road be
tween Pessinus and Ancyra, with the intermediate stages.
1 The Tolistoboii, or Western Galatians. See Strabo and Livy.
3 Πεσσινοῦς ἐστὶν ἐμπορεῖον τῶν ταύτῃ μεγίστων. Strabo xiii. 5. Its position has
been established by Texier and Hamilton. See Franz.
3 See above, p. 246.
4 Compare Herodian’s expression of the image of Cybele (i. 11), Αὐτὸ τὸ ἄγαλμα
διοπετὲς, ὡς λέγουσιν, with that in the Acts (xix. 35), πόλιν vewxdpov τοῦ διοπετοῦς.
The ancients had a notion that Pessinus derived its name ἀπὸ τοῦ πεσεῖν. Forbi-
Ber, p. 366.
5 Jerome connects this term with the name of the Galatians. See, however; Smith’s
Dictionary of Antiquities, under the word. See alse under “ Megalesia.”’
6 Ammian. Mare. xxii. 9.
7 The words ATKYPA MHTPOTIOAIZ appear on its coins at this period. It was
also called “ Sebaste,”’ from the favour of Augustus. The words ZEBAZTHNQN TEK-
TOZALOQN appear both on coins and inscriptions.
8 This temple has been described by a long series of travellers, from Lucas and Tour
nefort to Hamilton and Texier.
9 Full comments on this inscription will be found in Boeckh, Texier, and Hamilton,
and in the Archaologische Zeitung for Feb. 1843. We may compare it with the re-
eently deciphered record of the victories of Darius Hystaspes on the rok at Behistoun.
See Vaux’s Nineveh and Persepolis.
10 Colonel Leake’s map shows at one glance what we learn from the Itineraries:
We see there the roads radiating from it in every direction.
"1 See the reference to Josephus, p. 247, n. 4.
VOL. 1.—18
914 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
know that he was delayed there by sickness, and we know in what spirit
the Galatians received him.
St. Paul affectionately reminds the Galatians’ that it was ‘ bodily
sickness Which caused him to preach the Glad-tidings to them at the first.”
The allusion is to his first visit: and the obvious inference is, that he was
passing through Galatia to some other distnct (possibly Pontus,* where
we know that many Jews were established), when the state of his bodily
health arrested his progress. Thus he became, as it were, the Evange-
list of Galatia against his will. But his zeal to discharge the duty that
was laid on him, did not allow him to be silent. He was instant “‘in sew
son and out of season.” ‘‘Woe” was on him if he did not preach the
Gospel. The same Providence detained him among the Gauls, whick
would not allow him to enter Asia or Bithynia:* and in the midst of his
weakness he made the glad-tidings known to all who would listen to him.
We cannot say what this sickness was, or even confidently identify it with
that “ thorn in the flesh”> to which he feelingly alludes in his Kpistles,
as a discipline which God had laid on him. But the remembrance of what
he suffered in Galatia seems so much to colour all the phrases in this part
of the Hpistle, that a deep personal interest is connected with the circum-
stance. Sickness in a foreign country has a peculiarly depressing effeet
on a sensitive mind. And though doubtless Timotheus watched over the
Apostle’s weakness with the most affectionate solicitude,— yet those who
have experienced what fever is in a land of strangers will know how to
sympathise, even with St. Paul, in this human trial. The climate and the
prevailing maladies of Asia Minor may have been modified with the lapse
of centuries: and we are without the guidance of St. Luke’s medical lan-
guage, which sometimes throws a light on diseases alluded to in Scrip-
ture: but two Christian sufferers, in widely different ages of the
Church, occur to the memory as we look on the map of Galatia. We
could hardly mention any two men more thoroughly imbued with the
spirit of St. Paul, than John Chrysostom and Henry Martyn.7 And
1 Gal. iv. 13. 3. See above, pp. 248, 249.
3 There can be no doubt that the /iteral translation of dv’ ἀσθένειαν τῆς σαρκὸς is,
“on account of bodily weakness.” See Winer’s Grammatik, ὃ 53. And there seems
uo good reason why we should translate it differently, though most of the English
commentators take a different view. See Meyer and De Wette. Bottger, in harmony
wits his hypothesis that St. Luke’s Galatia means the neighbourhood of Lystra and
Derbe, thinks that the bodily weakness here alluded to was the result of the stoning at
Lystra, Acts xiv.
4 Acts xvi. 6, 7. 5 2 Cor, xii. 7-10.
6 See the paper alluded to p. 95, n. 1.
7 There was a great similarity in the last sufferings of these apostolic men;
the same intolerable pain in the head, the same inclement weather, and she same
cruelty on the part of those who urged on the journey. We quote the Benedictine life
of Chrysost¢m. “ Unus 6 militibus illud unum satagens ut mala morte Joannem neca
8{. PAUL’S RECEPTION IN GALATIA. 275
when we read how these two saints suffered in their last hours from
fatigue, pain, rudeness, and cruelty, among the mountains of Asia Minor
which surround the place! where they rest,—we can well enter into
the meaning of St. Paul’s expressions of gratitude to those who received
him kindly in the hour of his weakness,
The Apostle’s reception among the frank and warm-hearted Gauls was
peculiarly kind and disinterested. No Church is reminded by the Apos-
tle so tenderly of the time of their first meeting. The recollection is used
by him to strengthen his reproaches of their mutability, and to enforce the
pleading with which he urges them to return to the trae Gospel. That
Gospel had been received in the first place with the same affection which
they extended to the Apostle himself. And the subject, the manner,
and the results of his preaching are not obscurely indicated in the Epistle
itself. The great topic there, as at Corinth and everywhere, was “ the
Cross of Christ”—“ Chrost crucified” set forth among them.* The Di-
vine evidence of the Spirit followed the word, spoken by the mouth of the
Apostle, and received by “the hearing of the ear.”* Many were con-
verted, both Greeks and Jews, men and women, free men and slaves.®
The worship of false divinities, whether connected with the old supersti-
tion at Pessinus, or the Roman idolatry at Ancyra, was forsaken for that
of the true and living God. And before St. Paul left the “region of
Galatia” on his onward progress, various Christian communities? were
added to those of Cilicia, Lycaonia, and Phrygia.
In following St. Paul on his departure from Galatia, we come to a
ret. . . . Cum pluvia vehemens decideret, id nihil curans proficiscebatur 1116 ; ita ut in
dorso et in pectore aquarum rivi decurrerent. Ingentem rursus solis zstum pro deliciis
habebat, cum nosset B. Joannis caput, Eliswi instar calvum, estu vexari. ... Unde
discesserant redire coacti sunt, quod ille «grotaret; capitis enim dolore laborabat,
quod solis radios ferre non posset. Sic igitur reversus ... appositus est ad patres
suos et ad Christum transiit.”’ Compare this with the account of H. Martyn’s last hours.
“ Oct. 2.—In the night Hassan sent to summon me away, but I was quite unable to move.
. We travelled ail the rest of the day and all night; it rained most of the time.
Soon after sunset the ague came on again... . My fever increased toa violent degree ;
the heat in my eyes and forehead was so great that the fire almost made me frantic.
.. . Oct. 5.—The sleep had refreshed me, but I was feeble and shaken; yet the mer-
eiless Hassin hurried me off.” ‘The last words in his journal were written the next
day. He died on the 16th.
1 It is remarkable that Chrysostom and Martyn are buried in the same place. They
Soth died on a journey, at Tocat or Comana in Pontks.
3 The references have been given above in the account of Galatia, p. 243.
3 Compare Gal. iii. 1, with 1 Cor. i. 13, 17. ii. 2, &e.
4 Τὸ πνεῦμα ἐλάβετε ἐξ ἀκοῆς πίστεως. Gal. iii. 2. See v.5. So at Thessalonica
2 Thee. ii. 13.
5. Gal. iii. 27, 28.
4 See the remarks above (p. 256) in reference to Tasus.
7 The plural éxAgevae (Gal, i. 2, and 1 Cor. xvi. 1) implies this. See p. 272.
276 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OP ST. PAUL.
passage of acknowledged difficulty in the Acts of the Apostles! Not
that the words themselves are obscure. The difficulty relates, not to
grammatical construction, but to geographical details. The statement
contained in St. Luke’s words is as follows :—After preaching the Gospel
in Phrygia and Galatia, they were hindered from preaching it in Asia ;
accordingly, when in Mysia or its neighbourhood, they attempted to pene-
trate into Bithynia ; and this also being forbidden by the Divine Spirit,
they passed by Mysia and came down to Troas.* Now everything de
eends here on the sense we assign to the geographical terms. What is
meant by the words “ Mysia,” “ Asia,” and “ Bithynia Ὁ) It will be re-
membered that all these words had a wider and a more restricted sense.3
They might be used popularly and vaguely ; or they might be taken in
their exacter political meaning. It seems to us that the whole difficulty
disappears by understanding them in the former sense, and by believing
(what is much the more probable, ἃ prior) that St. Luke wrote in the
usual popular language, without any precise reference to the provincial
boundaries. We need hardly mention Bithynia ; for, whether we speak
of it traditionally or politically, it was exclusive both of Asia and Mysia.¢
In this place it is evident that DZysza is excluded also from Asia, just as
Phrygia, is above ;° not because these two districts were not parts of it in
its political character of a province,® but because they had ἃ history and a
traditional character of their own, sufficiently independent to give them a
name in popular usage. As regards Asia, it is simply viewed as the
western portion of Asia Minor. Its relation to the peninsula has been
very well described by saying that it occupied the same relative position
1 Acts xvi. 6, 7. For a similar accumulation of participles, see Acts xxv. 6-8.
* See Wieseler’s remarks on this passage, p. 31, &c.
3 See above, p. 237.
4 Mysia was at one time an apple of discord between the kings of Pergamus and
Bithynia ; and at one time the latter were masters of a considerable tract on the shore
of the Propontis. But this was at an end when the Romans began to interfere in the
affairs of the east. See Livy’s words of the kingdom of Asia: "" Mysiam, quam Prn-
sias rex ademerat, Eumeni restituerunt ;” and Cicero’s on the province of Asia: “Asia
vestra constat ex Phrygia, Mysia,” &c., pp. 239, 240, It may be well to add a few
words on the history of Mysia, which was purposely deferred to this place. See p. 239,
n. ὃ. Under the Persians this corner of Asia Minor formed the satrapy of Little
Phrygia: under the Christian emperors it was the province of The Hellespont. In
the intermediate period we find it called “ Mysia,’”’ and often divided into two parts:
viz. Little Mysia on the north, called also Mysia on the Hellespont, or Mysia Olym-
pene, because it lay to the north of Mount Olympus; and Great Mysia, or Mysio
Pergamene, to the south and east, containing the three districts of Troas, olis, and
Teuthrania. See Forbiger, p. 110.
5 Acts xvi. 6.
6 Bottger,in his First Essay (ὃ 16) says that Little Mysia is meant, and that this
uistrict was in the province of Bithynia ; and de Wette seems to take the same view.
But this is rather like cutting the knot; and, after all, there is no knot to be cut
There appears to be no good proof that Little Mysia was iu Bithynia.
JOURNEY TO THE ΖΘ ΕΑΝ. 277
which Portugal ocenpies with regard to Spain.t The comparison woux
we peculiarly just in the passage before us, For the Mysia of St. Luke is
to Asia what Gallicia is to Portugal ; and the journey from Galatia and
Phrygia to the city of Troas has its European parallel in a journey from
Castile to Vigo. —
We are evidently destitute of materials for laying down the route of
St. Paul and his companions. All that relates to Phrygia and Galatia
must be left vague and blank, like an unexplored country in a map (as in
fact this region itself is in the maps of Asia Minor),? where we are at 110»
erty to imagine mountains and plains, rivers and cities, but are unable to
furnish any proofs. As the path of the Apostle, however, approaches the
Aigean, it comes out into comparative light: the names of places are
again mentioned, and the country and the coast have been explored and
described. The early part of the route then must be left indistinct. Thus
much, however, we may venture to say,—that since the Apostle usually
turned his steps towards the large towns, where many Jews were estab-
lished, it is most likely that Ephesus, Smyrna, or Pergamus was the point
at which he aimed, when he sought “‘ to preach the word in Asia.” There
is nothing else to guide our conjectures, except the boundaries of the pro-
vinces and the direction of the principal roads. If he moved from An-
gora ‘ in the general direction above pointed out, he would cross the river
Sangarius near Kiutaya,® which is a great modern thoroughfare, and has
been mentioned before (Ch. VI. p. 168) in connection with the route
from Adalia to Constantinople ; and a little further to the west, near Ai-
zani, he would be about the place where the boundaries of Asia, Bithynia,
and Mysia meet together, and on the watershed which separates the wa-
ters flowing northwards to the Propontis, and those which feed the rivers
of the Aigean.
Here then we may imagine the Apostle and his three companions to
pause,—uncertain of their future progress,—on the chalk downs which lie
1 Paley’s Hore Pauline.
* See Kiepert’s map. Hardly any region im the peninsula has been less explored
than Galatia and Northern Phrygia.
3 The roads in this part of Asia Minor are most effectively laid down in the map
accompanying Franz’s Funf Stadten, &c. But the bowndaries of Galatia, Phrygia,
Mysia, &c., there given, are not provincial.
4 Mr. Ainsworth mentions a hill near Angora in this direction, the Baulos-Dagh,
which is named after the Apostle.
5 Kiutaya (the ancient Cotyzeum) is now one of the most important towns in the
peninsula. See Routes 99 and 100 in Murray’s Handbook. It lies too on the ordinary
road between Broussa and Konieh. Doryleum (Eski-Sher) seems to have had the same
relation to the aneient roads. One of those in the Peut. Table strikes off at this point
into Bithynia, meeting that from Ancyra at Nica. Mr. Ainsworth (τ. 46-62) trav-
elled from Niczea by Doryleum, Mr. Weston by Broussa and Kiutaya. The twe route
bicet near Synnada, and coincide as far as Konieh. See p. 271.
978 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
between the fountains of the Rhyndacus and those of the Hermas,-—ir
the midst of scenery not very unlike what is familiar to us in England,-
The long range of the Mysian Olympus to the north is the boundary of
Bithynia. The summits of the Phrygian Dindymus on the south are on
the fronticr of Galatia and Asia. The Hermus flows through the pre
vince of Asia to the islands of the Agean. The Rhyndacus flows to the
Propontis, and separates Mysia from Bithynia. By following the road
near the former river they would easily arrive at Smyrna or Pergamus
By descending the valley of the latter and then crossing Olympus,’ they
would be in the richest and most prosperous part of Bithynia. In which
direction shall their footsteps be turned? Some divine intimation, into
the nature of which we do not presume to inquire, told the Apostles that
the Gospel was not yet to be preached in the populous cities of Asia.?
The time was not yet come for Christ to be made known to the Greeks
and Jews of Ephesus,—and for the churches of Sardis, Pergamus, Phila-
delphia, Smyrna, Thyatira, and Laodicea, to be admitted to their period
of privilege and trial, for the warning of future generations. Shall they
turn, then, in the direction of Bithynia?4 This also is forbidden. St.
Paul (so far as we know) never crossed the Mysian Olympus, or entered
the cities of Niczea and Chalcedon, illustrious places in the Christian his-
tory of a later age. By revelations, which were anticipative of the fuller
and clearer communication at Troas, the destined path of the Apostolic
1 See Mr. Hamilton’s account of the course of the Rhyndacus (I. v. vi. viii.) ; his
comparison of the district of Azanitis to the chalk scenery of England (p. 100) ; and
his notice of Dindymus (p. 105), which seems to be part of the watershed that crosses
the country from the Taurus towards Ida, and separates the waters of the Mediterra-
nean and Aigean from those’ of the Euxine and Propontis. In the course of his pro-
gress up the Rhydancus he frequently mentions the aspect of Olympus, the summit of
which could not be reached at the end of March in consequence of the snow.
3 The ordinary road from Broussa to Kiutayah crosses a part of the range of Olym-
pus. The Peut. Table has a road joining Broussa with Pergamus.
3 It will be observed that they were merely forbidden to preach the Gospel (λαλῆσαι
τὸν λόγον) in Asia. We are not told that they did not enter Asia. Their road lay
entirely through Asia (politically speaking) from the moment of leaving Galatia till
their arrival at Troas. On the other hand, they were not allowed to enter Bithynia
at all (εἰς τὴν B. πορευθῆναι). Meyer’s view of the word “ Asia” in this passage 18
surprising. He holds it to mean the eastern continent as opposed to “Europe.”
[See p. 237, &e.] He says that the travellers, being uncertain whether Asia in the
more limited sense were not intended, made a vain attempt to enter Bithynia, and
finalty learned at Troas that Europe was their destination.
4 The route is drawn in the map past Aizani into the valley of the Hermus, and
then northwards towards Hadriani on the Rhyndacus. This is mereiy an imaginary
line, to express to the eye the changes of plan which occurred successively to St. Paul,
The scenery of the Rhyndacus, which is interesting as the frontier river, has been
fully explorzd and described by Mr. Hamilton, who ascended the river to its source,
and then crossed over to the fountains of the Hermus and Meander, near which he saw
en ancient road (p. 104), probably connecting Smyrna and Philadelphia with Angora.
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JOURNEY TO THE ΦΘΕΛΝ. 979
Company was pointed out through the intermediate country, directly te
the West. Leaving the greater part of what was popularly called Mysie
to the right,' they came to the shores of the Aigean, about the place
where the deep gulf of Adramyttium, over against the island of Lesbos,
washes the very base of Mount Ida.’
At Adramyttium, if not before, St. Paul is on the line of a great Ro
man road.? We recognise the place as one which is mentioned again in
the description of the voyage to Rome. (Acts xxvii. 2.) It was a mer-
cantile town, with important relations both with foreign harbours, and the
towns of the interior of Asia Minor. From this point the road follows
the northern shore of the gulf,—crossing a succession of the streams which
flow from Ida,'—--and alternately descending to the pebbly beach and
rising among the rocks and evergreen brushwood,—while Lesbos appears
and reappears through the branches of the rich forest trees,“—till the
sea is left behind at the city of Assos. This also is a city of St. Paul.
The nineteen miles of road? which lie between it and Troas is the distance
which he travelled by land before he rejoined the ship which had brought
him from Philippi (Acts xx. 13): and the town across the strait, on the
shore of Lesbos, is Mitylene,* whither the vessel proceeded when the
Apostle and his companions met on board.
1 Hence παρελθόντες τὴς Μυσίαν, which need not be pressed too closely. They
passed along the frontier of Mysia, as it was popularly understood, and they passed by
the whole district, without staying to evangelise it. One MS. (D.) has διελθόντες. It
is not necessary to suppose, with Bottger and De Wette, that Little Mysia is meant.
(Above, p. 276, n. 6.) Wieseler’s remark is more just: that they hurried through
Mysia, because they knew that they were not to preach the Gospel in Asia.
? Hence it was scmetimes called the Gulf of Ida. Καλοῦσι δ᾽ οἱ μὲν ᾿Ιδαῖον κόλπον,
οἱ δ᾽ ᾿Αδοαμύττηνον. Strabo xiii. 1.
3 The characteristics of this bay, as seen from the water, will be mentioned hereafter
when we come to the voyage from Assos to Mitylene, (Acts xx. 14). At present we
allude only to the roads along the coast. Two roads converge at Adramyttium: one
which follows the shore from the south, mentioned in the Peutingerian Table; the
other from Pergamus and the interior, mentioned also in the Antonine Itinerary.
The united route then proceeds by Assos to Alexandria Troas, and so to the Helles-
pont. They are marked in our map of the northern part of the Agean.
4 Plin. H.N. v. 30. xiii. 1. Fellows says that there are no traces of antiquities to
be found there now, except a few coins. He travelled in the direction just mentioned,
from Pergamus by Adramyttium and Assos to Alexandria Troas.
5 Poets of all ages—Homer, Ovid, Tennyson,—have celebrated the streams which
flew from the “ many-fountained”’ cliffs of Ida. Strabo says: Πολυπίδακον τὴν Ἴδην
ἰδίως οἴονται λέγεσθαι, διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἐξ αὐτῆς ῥεόντων ποταμῶν. xiii. 1.
6. See the description in Fellows. He was two days in travelling from Adramit te
Assos. He says that the hills are clothed with evergreens to the top, and therefore
vary little with the season ; and he particularly mentions the flat stones of the shingle,
and the woods of large trees, especially planes.
7 This is the distance given in the Antonine Itinerary.
8 The strait between Assos and Methymna is narrow. Strabo calls it 60 stadia;
Pliny 7 miles. Mitylene is further to the south.
280 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
But to return to the present journey. Troas is the namie cither of a
district or a town. Asa district it had a history of its own. ‘Though
geographically a part of Mysia, and politically a part of the province of
Asia, it was yet usually spoken of as distinguished from both.! This
region,” extending from Mount Ida to the plain watered by the Simois and
Scamander, was the scene of the Trojan war ;, and it was due to the poe-
try of Homer that ‘the ancient name of Priam’s kingdom should be re
tained. ‘This shore has been visited on many memorable occasions by the
great men of this world. Xerxes passed this way when he undertook to
conquer Greece. Julius Cesar was here after the battle of Pharsalia.?
But, above all, we associate the spot with a European conqueror of Asia,
and an Asiatic conqueror of Europe ; with Alexander of Macedon and Paul
of Tarsus. For here it was that the enthusiasm of Alexander was kindled
at the tomb of Achilles, by the memory of his heroic ancestors ; here he
girded on their armour ; and from this goal he started to overthrow the
august dynasties of the Kast. And now the great Apostle rests in his
triumphal progress upon the same poetic shore: here he is armed by
heavenly visitants with the weapons of a warfare that is not carnal ; and
hence he is sent forth to subdue all the powers of the West, and bring the
civilization of the world into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
Turning now from the district to the city of Troas, we must remember
that its full and correct name was Alexandria Troas. Sometimes, as in
the New Testament, it is simply called Troas : 4 sometimes, as by Pliny
and ‘Strabo, simply Alexandria. It was not, however, one of those cities
(amounting in number to nearly twenty®) which were built and named
by the conqueror of Darius. This Alexandria received its population
and its name under the successors of Alexander. It was an instance of
that centralisation of small scattered towns into one great mercantile city,
which was characteristic of the period. Its history was as follows :7—
Antigonus, who wished to leave a monument of his name on this classical
ground, brought together the inhabitants of the neighbouring towns to one
point on the coast, where he erected a city, and called it Antigonia Troas,
Lysimachus, who succeeded to his power on the Dardanelles, increased
1 Thus Ptolemy treats it as distinct from Great Mysia and Little Mysia. He calls
it also by the name of Little Phrygia. See above, p. 239, n.3. For the retreat of the
Phrygians from the Dardanelles, see Mannert, p. 406, and Scylax as quoted by him.
5. If we are not needlessly multiplying topographical illustrations, we may compare
the three principal disizicts of the province of Asia, viz. Phrygia, Lydia, and Mysia,
to the three Ridings of Yorkshire. Troas will then be in Mysia what Craven is in the
West Riding, a district which has retained a distinctive name, and has found its owm
historian.
3 Lucan. Pharsal. ix. 960. See the notes on Julius Cesar below.
4 Acts xvi. 8, 11: xx.5. 2 Corii 12. 2'Tim. iv. 13.
6 Strabo xiii. Plin. H. N. v. 6 Steph. Byz. art. ᾿Αλεξάνδρεια,
7 It is given at length by Mannert, in. 471-475,
ALEXANDRIA TROAS. 281
end adorned the cily, but altered its name, calling it in honour of “ the
man of Macedonia”! (if we may make this application of a phrase which
Holy Writ? has associated with the place), Alexandria Troas, This
name was retained ever afterwards. When the Romans began their east
ern wars, the Greeks of Troas espoused their cause, and were thence
forward regarded with favour at Rome. But this willingness to recom:
pense useful service was combined with other feelings, half-poetical, half-
political, which about this time took possession of the mind of the Romans
They fancied they saw a primeval Rome on the Asiatic shore. The story
of Aieas in Virgil, who relates in twelve books how the glory of Troy
was transferred to Italy,=—the warning of Horace, who admonishes his
fellow-citizens that their greatness was gone if they rebuilt the ancient
walls,—reveal to us the fancies of the past and the future, which were
popular at Rome. Alexandria 'Troas was a recollection of the city of
Priam, and a prophecy of the city of Constantine. The Romans regarded
it in its best days as a “ New Troy:”® and the Turks even now call its
ruins “ Old Constantinople.”* It is said that Julius Cesar, in his dreams
of a monarchy which should embrace the East and the West, turned his
eyes to this city as his intended capital ;7 and there is no doubt that Con-
stantine, “ before he gave a just preference to the situation of Byzantium,
had conceived the design of erecting the seat of empire on this celebrated
spot, from whence the Romans derived their fabulous origin.”* Augus-
tus brought the town into close and honourable connection with Rome by
1 Not the Vir Macedo of Horace (Od. 1m. xvi. 14), the ᾿Ανὴρ Μακεδὼν of Demosthenes
(τί γένοιτ᾽ dv νεώτερον, κ. τ. A. Phil. 1. and Orat. ad Ep. Phil.), but his more eminent
Bon.
* See Acts xvi. 9. 2 See especially Book vi.
4 “Ne nimium pii
Tecta velint reparare Trojx.’’—Od. m1. iii.
5 This name applies more strictly to Wew Ilium, which, after many vicissitudes,
was made a place of some importance by the Romans, and exempted from all imposts.
The strong feeling cf Julius Cxsar for the people of Ilium, his sympathy with Alexan-
der, and the influence of the tradition which traced the origin of his nation, and espe-
cially of his own family, to Troy, are described by Strabo (xiii. 1): Kal’ ἡμᾶς Καῖσαρ
ὁ θεὸς πολὺ πλέον αὐτῶν προὐνύησε, ζηλώσας, dua καὶ ᾿Αλέξανδρον. . .. φιλαλέξανδρος
ὧν, καὶ τῆς πρὸς τοὺς ᾿Ιλιὰς συγγενείας γνωριμώτατα ἔχων τεκμήρια, ἐπεῤῥώσθη πρὸς τὴ»
ἐνεργεσίαν νεανικῶς. κ. τ. A. New Ilium, however, gradually sank into insignificance,
and Alexandria Troas remained as the representative of the Roman partiality for the
Troad.
6 Eski-Stamboul.
7 “Quin etiam varia fama percrebrnit, migraturum Alexandriam vel Iliam, transla-
tis simul opibus imperii, exhaustaque Italia delectibus, et procuratione Urbis amicis
permissa.”” Suet. (85. 79.
8 Gibbon, ch. xvi. He adds that, “though the undertaking was soon relinquished,
the stately remains of unfinished walls and towers attracted the notice of all who sailed
through the Hellespont.’’ The authorities are Zosimus, Sozomen, Theophanes, Nice
phorus Callistus, and Zonaras. The references are in Gibbon’s note.
282 ‘HE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL
making it a colonia, and assimilated its land to that of Italy by giving it
the jus Italicum.2 When St. Paul was there, it had not attained its
utmost growth as a city of the Romans. The great aqueduct was not
yet built, by which Herodes Atticus brought water from the fountains of
Ida, and the piers of which are still standing? The enclosure of the
‘ walls, extending above ἃ mile from east to west, and near a mile from
north to south, may represent the limits of the city in the age of Claudius.‘
The ancient harbour,’ even yet distinctly traceable, and not without a
certain desolate beauty, when it is the foreground of a picture with the
hills of Imbres and the higher peak of Samothrace in the distance,’ is
an object of greater interest than the aqueduct and the walls. All fur-
ther allusions to the topography of the place may be deferred till we
describe the Apostle’s subsequent and repeated visits.’ At present he is
hastening towards Europe. Everything in this part of our narrative
turns our eyes to the West.
1 Νῶν δὲ καὶ Ῥωμαίων ἀποικίαν δέδεκται. Strabo. Troas Antigonia dicta, nun¢
Alexandria, colonia Romana. Plin v. 30. The full name on coins of the Antonines is,
“Col. Alexandria Augusta Troas.”
2 Deferring the consideration of colonial privileges to its proper place, in connection
with Philippi (Acts xvi. 12), we may state here the general notion of the Jus Italicum.
It was a privilege entirely relating to the and. The maxim of the Roman law was:
“Ager Italicus immunis est: ager provincialis vectigalis est.” The Jus Italicum
raised provincial land to the same state of immunity from taxation which belonged to
land in Italy. But this privilege could only be enjoyed by those who were citizens
Therefore it would have been an idle gift to any community not possessing the civitas ;
and we never find it given except to a colonia. Conversely, however, all colonies did
not possess the Jus Italicum. Carthage was a colony for two centuries before it re-
seived it. See Hoeck’s Romische Geschichte, 1. ii. pp. 238-242. This reference cannot
pe made without an acknowledgement of the writer’s personal obligations to Professor
Hoeck, and of the advantages derived from the University Libraty at Gottingen, of
which he is director.
3 See Cramer and Clarke. 4 See Pococke, m. 110.
5 We shall hereafter recur to the descriptions in Pococke’s and Chandler’s Travels,
in Walpole’s Memoirs, Fellews, &e. At present we quote the following from the Sail-
ing Directory. “The ancient port is a basin, about 400 feet long and 200 broad, now
entirely shut out from the sea by a narrow strip of the land. Many vestiges of the
ancient town remain on and about the shore. Ona hill near it are the ruins of the
theatre, once a magnificent building, 180 feet from one end of the semicircle to the
other ; and being on the side of the hill, the highest seats command an extensive view
cf the sea, Tenedos, Lemnos, and, in clear weather, Mount Athos, 28 leagues distant.”
ΡΟ 7.
6 The author of Eothen was much struck by the appearance of Samothrace seen
aloft over Imbros, when he -recollected how Jupiter is described in the Iliad as
watching from thence the scene of action before Troy. “Now I knew,” he says, “ that
Homer had passed along here,—that this vision of Samothrace overtowering the nearer
island was common to him and to me.” P.64. The same train of thought may be
extended to our present subject, and we may find a sacred pleasure in looking at any
view which has been common to St. Paul and to us,
~ Acts xvi. xx. 2 Cor. ii. 2 Tim. iv.
ALEXANDKIA TROAS. 283
HAREOUR OF TROAS.!
When St. Paul’s eyes were turned towards the West, he saw the view
which is here delineated. And what were the thoughts in his mind wher
he looked towards Europe across the Aigean? Though ignorant of the
precise nature of the supernatural intimations which had guided his recent
journey, we are led irresistibly to think that he associated his future work
with the distant prospect of the Macedonian hills. We are reminded of
another journey, when the Prophetic Spirit gave him partial revelations
on his departure from Corinth, and on his way to Jerusalem. ‘“ After I
have been there I must also see Rome’—I have no more place in these
parts*—J know not what shall befall me, save that the Holy Ghost wit-
nesseth that bonds and afflictions abide me.” 4
Such thoughts, it may be, had been in the Apostle’s mind at Troas,
when the sun set behind Athos and Samothrace,® and the shadows fell on
Ida and settled dark on Tenedos and the deep. With the view of the
distant land of Macedonia imprinted on his memory, and the thought of
Kurope’s miserable heathenism deep in his heart, he was prepared, like
Peter at Joppa,® to receive the full meaning of the voice which spoke ta
him ina dream. In the visions of the night, a form appeared to come
and stand by him;7 and he recognized in the supernatural visitant “a
1 Engraved froma drawing by the Rev. G. Weston. The view is towards the N.W.,
and includes Tenedos and Imbros, and possibly Samothrace.
7 Acts xim 21.
3 Rom. xv. 23. It will be remembered that the Epistle to the Romans was written
just before this departure from Corinth.
UAC XX. 22, Zoe
5 Athos and Samothrace are the highest points in this part of the AAgean. They
are the conspicuous points from the summit of Ida, along with Imbros, which is nearer,
(Walpole’s Memoirs, p. 122.) See the notes at the beginning of the next Chapter.
“Mount Athos is plainly visible from the Asiatic coast at sunset, but not at other
times. Its distance hence is about 80 miles. Reflecting the red rays of the sun, it
appears from that coast like a huge mass of burnished gold. ... Mr. Turner. being
off the N. W. end of Mytilen (Lesbos) 22d June, 1814, says, ‘The evening being clear,
we plainly saw the immense Mount Athos, which appeared in the form of an equi
lateral triangle.’’’ Sailing Directory, p. 150. In the same page a sketch is given of
Mount Athos, N. by W. 14 W., 45 miles.
¢ See the remarks on St. Peter’s vision, p. 92. See also p. 104, n. 1; and p. 207.
T’Arjo Μακεδών τις. Acts xvi. 9,
284 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 8ST. PAUL
man of Macedonia,” ! who came to plead the spiritual wants of his coum
try. It was the voice of the sick inquiring for a physician,—of the ignor:
ant seeking for wisdom,—the voice which ever since has been calling on.
the Church to extend the Gospel to Heathendom,—‘ Come over and
help us.”
Virgil has described an evening’® and a sunrise* on this coast, before
and after an eventful night. That night was indeed eventful in which St.
Paul received his commission to proceed to Macedonia. The commission
was promptly executed.‘ The morning-star appeared over the cliffs of
Ida. The sun rose and spread the day over the sea and the islands as far as
Athos and Samothrace. The men of Troas awoke to their trade and
their labour. Among those who were busy about the shipping in the
harbour were the newly arrived Christian travellers, seeking for a passage
to Europe,— Paul, and Silas, and Timotheus,—and that new companion,
“Tuke® the beloved Physician,” who, whether by prearrangement, or by
a providential meeting, or (it may be) even in consequence of the Apos-
tle’s delicate health,* now joined the mission, of which he afterwards wrote
the history. God provided a ship for the messengers He had chosen»:
and (to use the language of a more sacred poetry than that which has
made these coasts illustrious) 7 ‘‘ He brought the wind out of his trea-
suries, and by His power He brought in the south wind,” and prospered
the voyage of His servants.
1 St. Paul may have known, by his dress, or by his words, or by an immediate intui-
tion, that he was “a man of Macedonia.” Grotius suggests the notion of a representa-
tive or guardian angel of Macedonia—angelus Macedoniam curans ; as the “ prince
of Persia,” &c., in Dan. x.
? Vertitur interea ccelum, et ruit Oceano nox,
Inyolvens umbra magna terramque polumque,
Et jam Argiva phalanx instructis navibus ibat
A Tenedo, tacitee per amica silentia luna.
En, 1. 250.
3 Jamque jugis summez surgebat Lucifer Ide,
Ducebatque diem.— Ain. τι. 801.
4 Εὐθέως ἐζητήσαμεν Acts xvi. 10.
5 We should notice here not only the change of person from the third to the first,
but the simultaneous transition (asit has been well expressed) from the historical to the
autoptical style, as shown by the fuller enumeration of details. We shall return te
this subject again, when we come to the point where St. Luke parts from St. Paul at
Philippi: meantime we may remark thai it is highly probable that they had already
met and laboured together at Antioch.
6 This suggestion is made by Wieseler.
7 The classical reader will remember that the throne of Neptune in Homer, whence
‘he looks over Ida and the scene of the Trojan war, is on the peak of Samothrace (II.
“sam. 10-14), and his cave deep under the water between Imbros and Tenedos (Il. ΧΠῚ
32-35).
8 Ps. cxxxv. 7. Ixxviii. 26. For arguments to prove that the wind was literally a
seuth wind in this case, see the beginning of the next Chapter.
VOYAGE bY SBAMOTHRACE TO ΝΕΔΡΟΙΒ. 285
CHAPTER IX.
Ποόσεσχε τῇ Tpoddi—elre ἐκεῖθεν καταχθεὶς ἐπὶ τὴν Νεάπολιν, διὰ Φιλίππων rapo
Sevev Maxedoviav.—Martyrium S. Ignatii.
‘“‘La religion du Christ ne pouvait demeurer plus long temps circonscrite dant
VOrient ; bien qu’elle y eit pris naissance, son avenir était ailleurs. Déja 1’Occident
exercait sur les destinées du monde cette influence qui des-lors a toujours grandi, en
sorte que le Christianisme devait se faire Européen, pour devenir universel.””—Rilliet
on the Philippians.
VOYAGE BY SAMOTHRACE TO NEAPOLIS.—PHILIPPI.—CONSTITUTION OF A COLONY.
——LYDIA.—THE DEMONIAC SLAVE.—PAUL AND SILAS ARRESTED.—\THE PRISON
AND THE JAILOR.—THE MAGISTRATES.—DEPARTURE FROM PHILIPPI.—ST
LUKE.—MACEDONIA DESCRIBED.—iTS CONDITION AS A PROVINCE.—THE VIA
EGNATIA.—ST. PAUL’S JOURNEY THROUGH AMPHIPOLIS AND APOLLONIA.—
THESSALONICA.— THE SYNAGOGUE.—SUBJECTS OF ST PAUL’S PREACHING.——
PERSECUTION, TUMULT, AND FLIGHT.-—THE JEWS 47 BER@A.—ST. PAUL AGAIN
PERSECUTED.—PROCEEDS TO ATHENS.
Ts weather itself was propitious to the voyage from Asia to Europe. It
is evident that Paul and his companions sailed from Troas with a fair
wind. On a later occasion we are told that five days were spent on the
passage from Philippi to Troas.'. On the present occasion the same voyage,
in the opposite direction, was made in two. If we attend to St. Luke’s
technical expression,’ which literally means that they ‘sailed before the
wind,” and take into account that the passage to the west, between Tene-
dos and Lemnos, is attended with some risk,? we may infer that the wind
1 Compare Acts xvi. 11, 12, with xx. 6. For the expression, “sailed from Philippi”
(xx. 6), and the relation of Philippi with its harbour, Neapolis, see below, p. 286, n. 10.
* Εὐθυδρομέω. It occurs again in Acts xxi. 1, evidently in the same sense.
3 “ All ships should pass to the eastward of Tenedos..... Ships that go to the
westward in calms may drift on the shoals of Lemnos, and tte S. E. end of that island
being very low is not seen above nine miles off. . . . . It is also to be recollected, that
very dangerous shoals extend from the N. W. and W. ends of Tenedos.” Purdy’s
Sailing Directory, pp. 158, 189. See again under Tenedos, p. 157, and under Lemnos,
p. 153; also p. 160. Captain Stewart says (p. 63): “To work up to the Dardanelles,
I prefer going inside of Tenedos . . . . youcan go by your lead, and during light
winds, you may anchor any where.. If you go outside of Tenedos, and it falls calm,
the current sets you towards the shoal off Lemnos.” [The writer has heard this and
what follows confirmed by those who have had practical experience in the merchant
service in the Levant.]
286 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
blew from the southward,’ The southerly winds in this part of tha
Archipelago do not usually last long, but they often blow with consider:
able force. Sometimes they are sufficiently strong to counteract the
current which sets to the southward from the mouth of the Dardanelles.
τ However this might be on the day when St. Paul passed over these
waters, the vessel in which he sailed would soon cleave her way turough
the strait between Tenedos and the main, past the Dardanelles, and
near the eastern shore of Imbros. On rounding the northern end of this
island, they would open Samothrace, which had hitherto appeared as a
higher and more distant summit over the lower mountains of Imbros.3
The distance between the two islands is about twelve miles. Leaving
Tmbros, and bearing now a little to the west, and having the wind still
(as our sailors say) two or three points abaft the beam, the helmsman
steered for Samothrace ; and, under the shelter of its high shore, they
anchored for the night.*
Samothrace is the highest land in the north of the Archipelago, with
the exception of Mount seem to leave little doubt that the small Turk-
ish village of Cavallo is the Naples* of Macedonia, the ‘‘ Neapolis” at
which St. Panl landed, and the sea-port of Philippi, the “first city "1
which the traveller reached on entering this ‘ part of Macedonia,” and a
city of no little importance as a Roman military ‘‘ colony.” ὃ
A ridge of elevated land, which connects the range of Pangzeus with
the higher mountains in the interior of Thrace, is crossed between Neapolis
and Philippi? 'The whole distance is about ten miles.!° The ascent of
! “Tnside of Thasso, and past Samothraki, the current sets to the eastward.’ Purdy,
p. 62. “The current at times turns by Monte Santo (Athos), from the S.W., strong
toward the eastward, by Thasso.”’ p. 152.
2 See Purdy, p. 152, and the accurate delineation of the coast in the Admiralty charts.
3 Clarke’s Travels, ch. xii. and xiii. For amore exact description of the place as a
harbour, in its present condition, see Purdy, p. 152.
4 Cousinéry, in his Voyage dans la Macédoine, identifies Neapolis with Eski-Cavalle,
a harbour more to the west (perhaps the ancient Galepsus, or isyme), of which he
gives an interesting description; but his arguments are not satisfactory. Coloncl
Leake whose opinion is of great weight, though he did not personally visit Philippi
and Neapolis, agrees with Dr. Clarke, vol. iii. p. 180.
5 All these remains are mentioned at length in Dr. Clarke’s Travels, at the end of
ch. xii. and the beginning of ch. xiii. For the mention of the two paved roads (which
are, in fact, parts of the Via Egnatia), see the extracts quoted below, p. 289, n. 1.
6 A singular mistake is made by Hoog (De Coetus Christianorum Philippensis Con-
ditione primeva. Lug. Bat. 1825), who says that this Neapolis was called Parthenopa,
and erroneously quotes Cellarius.
~ Acts xvi. 12.
8 For the meaning of πρώτη πόλις and of κολωνίπ, see p. 290, το.
9 This is the Mount Symbolum mentioned by Dio Cassius in his account of the battle
See Leake, pp. 214-225.
10 Hence it was unnecessary for Meyer to deride Olshausen’s remark, that Philippi
was the “first city” in Macedonia visited by the Apostle, because Neapolis was its
parbour. Olshausen was quite right. The distance of Neapolis from Philippi is only
PHILIPPI. 288
the ridge is begun immediately from the town, through a defile formed
by some precipices almost close upon the sea. When the higher ground
Is attained, an extensive and magnificent sea-view is opened towards the
south. Samothrace is seen to the east ; Thasos to the south-east ; and,
more distant and farther to the right, the towering summit of Athos.’
When the descent on the opposite side begins and the sea is lost to view,
another prospect succeeds, less extensive, but not less worthy of our no
tice. We look down on a plain, which is level as an inland sea, and
which, if the eye could range over its remoter spaces, would be seen wind-
ing far within its mountain-enclosure, to the west and the north.’ Its ap-
pearance is either exuberantly green,—for its fertility has been always
famous,’—or cold and dreary,—for the streams which water it are often
diffused into marshes,{—according to the season when we visit this corner
of Macedonia ; whether it be when the snows are white and chill on the
summits of the Thracian Hemus,® or when the roses, of which Theophras-
tus and Pliny speak, are displaying their bloom on the warmer slopes of
the Pangzean hills.°
This plain, between Heemus and Pangsus, is the plain of Philippi,
where the last battle was lost by the republicans of Rome. The whole re
twice as great as that from the Pireus to Athens, not much greater than that from
Cenchrezx to Corinth, and less than that from Seleucia to Antioch, or from Ostia te
Rome.
1 We may quote here two passages from Dr. Clarke, one describing this approach to
Neapolis from the neighbourhood, the other his departure in the direction of Constan-
tinople. ‘“ Ascending the mountainous boundary of the plain on its north-eastern side by
a broad ancient paved way, we had not daylight enough to enjoy the fine prospect of
the sea and the town of Cavallo upon a promontory. At some distance lies the isle of
Thasos, now called Tasso. It was indistinctly discerned by us; but every other object,
excepting the town, began to disappear as we descended toward Cavallo.”’ Ch. xii.
“Upon quitting the town, we ascended a part of Mount Pangzeus by a paved road, and
had a fine view of the bay of Neapolis. The top of the hill, towards the left, was cov-
ered with ruined walls, and with the ancient aqueduct, which here crosses the road.
From hence we descended by a paved road as before . . . the isle of Thasos being in
view towards the S. E. Looking to the E., we saw the high top of Samothrace, whick
makes such a conspicuous figure from the plains of Troy. To the S., towering above
a region of clouds, appeared the loftier summit of Mount Athos.” Ch. xiii.
2 See the very full descriptions of the plain of Serrés, in the various parts of its ex
tension, given by Leake (ch. xxv.) and Cousinéry.
3 For its present productiveness, see Leake and Cousinéry as before.
4 See Leake and Cousinéry.
> Lucan's view is very winterly :—
“ Video Pangzea nivosis
Cana jugis, latosque Hemi sub rupe Philippos.’’—Phars, i. 680.
6 The “ Rosa centifolia,” which he mentions as cultivated in Campania [compare
Virgil’s “‘Biferi rosaria Pisti’’] and in Greece, near Philippi. “Pangwus mons in
vicino fert,’’ he continues, “ numerosis toliis ac parvis ; unde accol transferentes con-
serunt, ipsaque plantatione proficiunt.” Plin. H. N. xxi. 10. See Theoph. Hist. vi 6.
Athen. xv. 29.
vol 1—-19
200 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
gion around is eloquent of the history of this battle. Among the mountains
on the right was the difficult path by which the republican army pene
trated into Macedonia ;' on some part of the very ridge on which we
stand were the camps of Brutus and Cassius ;? the stream before us is
the rivcr which passed in front of them ;* below us, “upon the left hard
of the even ficld,”* is the marsh® by which Antony crossed as he ap-
proached his antagonist ; directly opposite is the hill of Philippi, where
Cassius diced ; behind us is the narrow strait of the sea, acress which
Brutus sent his body to the island of Thasos, lest the army should be dis-
heartened before the final struggle.® The city of Philippi was itseif a
monument of the termination of that struggle. It had been founded by
the father of Alexander, in a place called, from its numerous streams,
“The Place of Fountains,” to commemorate the addition of a new pro-
vince to his kingdom, end to protect the frontier against the Thracian
mountaineers.’ For similar reasons the city of Philip was gifted by Au-
gustus with the privileges of a coéonia, It thus became at once a border-
garrison of the province of Macedonia, and a pernetual memorial of his
victory over Brutus. And now a Jewish Apostle came to the same
place, to win a greater victory than that of Philippi, and to found a more
durable empire than that of Augustus. It is a fact of deep significance,
that the “first city ” at which St. Paul arrived,® on his entrance into Eu-
rope, should be that “colony,” which was more fit than any other in the
empire to be considered the representative of Imperiai Rome.
The characteristic of a colonia was, that it was a miniature resem-
blance of Rome. Philippi is not the first city of this kind to which we
have traced the footsteps of St. Paul; Antioch in Pisidia,! and Alexan-
ria Troas," both possessed the same character : but this is the first place
where Scripture calls our attention to the distinction; and the events
which befell the Apostle at Philippi were directly connected with the
1 See Plutarch’s Life of Brutus, with Mr. Long’s notes, and Leake, p. 215.
* This is the Mount Symbolum of Dio Cassius. The republicans were so placed as
to be in communication with the sea. The triremes were at Neapolis.
3 The Gangas or Gangites. Leake, p. 217.
¢ Julius Cxsar, Act v. sc. i. The topography of Shakspere is perfectly accurate. In
this passage Octavius and Antony are looking at the ficld from the opposite side.
6 The battle took place in autumn, when the plain would probably be inundated,
85. Plutarch’s Life of Brutus. 7 Diod. Sic. xvi. pp. 511-514,
8 The full and proper Roman name was Colonia dugusta Julia Philippensis.
See the coin here engraved, and the inscriptions in Orelli.
9 Πρώτη τῆς μερίδος τῆς Μακεδονίας πόλις (Acts xvi. 12), which must certainly mean
the first city in its geographical relation to St. Paul’s journey ; not the first politically
(“chief city,” Eng. Vers.), either of Macedonia or a part of it. The chief city of the
province was Thessalonica; and, even if we suppose the subdivisions of Macedonia
Prima, Secunda, &c., to have subsisted at this time, the chief city of Macedonia Prime
was not Philippi, but Amphipolis. See Wieseler’s discussion of the subject.
” See above, p. 171. 1 See pp. 281, 2.
“ GREEKS” AND BARBARIANS.” 291
1
COIN OF PHILIPPI.
privileges of the place as a Roman colony, ard with his own privileges ag
a Roman citizen. It will be convenient to consider these two subjects to-
gether. A glance at some of the differences which subsisted among indi-
viduals and communities in the provincial system will cnable us to see
very clearly the position of the czéizen and of the colony.
We have had occasion (Ch. I. p. 26) to speak of the combination of
uctual provinces and nominally independent states through which the
power of the Roman emperor was variously diffused ; and, again (Ch. V.
p. 142), we have described the division of the provinces by Augustus into
those of the Senate, and those of the Emperor. Descending now to ex-
arsine the component population of any one province, and to inquire into
the political condition of individuals and communities, we find here again
ἂν complicated system of rules and exceptions. As regards individuals, the
broad distinction we must notice is that between those who were citizens
and those who were not citizens. When the Grecks spoke of the inhabi-
tants of the world, they divided them into ‘‘ Greeks” and ‘ Barbarians,” *
according as the language in which poets and philosophers had written
was native to them or foreign. Among the Romans the phrase was dif-
ferent, The classes into which they divided mankind consisted of those
who were politically “‘ Romans,”’ and those who had no link (except that
of subjection) with the city of Rome. The technical words were Caves and
Peregrini,/— citizens” and “ strangers.’ 'The inhabitants of Italy were
“ citizens ;” the inhabitants of all other parts of the empire (until Cara-
calla extended to the provinces* the same privileges which Julius Caesar
? From the British Museum. -
? Thus St. Paal, in writing his Greek epistles, uses this distinction. Rom. i. 14.
Col. iii. 11. Hence also, Acts xxviii. 2,4. 1 Cor. xiy. 11.
3 The word “ Roman” is always used politically in the New Testament. John xi
48. Acts xvi. xxii. xxiii. xxviii.
* “Die EKinwobner der Provinzen waren entweder Romische Burger oder Latinen
oder Peregriner. Erstere bestanden theils aus den Burgern der Municipien τι. Colonien,
theils aus den Provinzialen, die einzeln die Civitat erhalten hatten. Sie hatten mit
aen Italikern die gewohnlichen Burgerrechte gemein, das Connubium, Commercium,
den Schutz gegen Leibestrafen yor formlichen Urtheils-spruch, und die Provocation
un den Kaiser wider Strafsentenzen des Magistrats.’’ Walther’s Geschichte des Rom,
Rechts, Die Provinzen unter den Kaisern, p. 329 (ed. 1840). See Joseph, A. xiv. 10
11-19.
® See Milman’s Gibbon. i p. 281 and the note.
292 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 8T. PAUL.
had granted to the peninsula’) were naturally and essentially “stran
gers.” Italy was the Holy Land of the kingdom of this world. We may
carry the parallel further, in order to illustrate the difference which ex:
isted among the citizens themselves. Those true-born Italians, who were
diffused in vast numbers through the provinces, might be called Citizens of
the Dispersion ; while those Strangers who, at various times, and for vari
ous reasons, had received the gift of citizenship, were in the condition of
political Proselytes. Such were Paul and Silas,’ in their relation to the
empire, among their fellow-Romans in the colony of Philippi. Both these
classes of citizens, however, were in full possession of the same privileges ;
the most important of which were exemption from scourging, and freedom
from arrest, except in extreme cases ; and in all cases the right of appeal
from the magistrate to the emperor.’
The remarks which have been made concerning individuals may be
extended, in some.degree, to communities in the provinces. The city of
Rome might be transplanted, as it were, into various parts of the empire,
and reproduced as a colonia ; or an alien city might be adopted, under the
title of a muwniciprwm,f into a close political communion with Rome.
Leaving out of view all cities of the latter kind (and indeed they were
limited entirely to the western provinces), we will confine ourselves to
what was called a colonma. A Roman colony was very different from any-
thing which we usually intend by the term. It was no mere mercantile
1 By the Julia Lex de Civitate (B. c. 90), supplemented by other laws.
2 We can hardly help inferring, from the narrative of what happened at Philippi,
tbat Silas was a Roman citizen as well as St. Paul. As to the mode in which he ob-
tained the citizenship, we are more ignorant than in the case of St. Paul himself,
whose father was a citizen (Acts xxii. 28). All that we are able to say on this subject
has been given before, pp. 45, 46.
3 Two of these privileges will come more particularly before us, when we reach
the narrative of St. Paul’s arrest at Jerusalem. To the extract given above from
Walther, add the following :—“Korperliche Zuchtigungen waren unter der Republik
nicht gegen Burger, und auch spater nur an geringen Leuten erlaubt. Gegen Freie
wurde dazu der Stock, gegen Knechte die schimpflichere Geissel gebraucht.” P. 848,
Thus it appears that Paul and Silas were treated with a cruelty which was only justi-
fiable in the case of a slave, and was not usually allowed in the case of any freeman.
From pp. 883-885, it would seem, that an accused citizen could only be imprisoned
before trial for a very heinous offence, or when evidently guilty. Bail was gencrally
allowed, or retertion in a magistrate’s house was held sufficient. \
4 The privilege of a colonia was transplanted citizenship, that of a municipium waa
engrafted citizenship. The distinction is stated very precisely by Aulus Gellius.
“Municipia extrinsecus in civitatem (Romanam) veniunt, coloniw ex civitate Romana
propagate sunt.” N. A. xvi. 13. We have nothing to do, however, with municipia in
the history of St. Paul. We are more concerned with libere civitates, and we shah
presently come to one of them in the case of Thessalonica. Probably the best view, in
« small compass, of the status of the different kinds of cities in the provinces, is that
given in the 7th chapter of the 5th book of Hoeck’s Romische Geschichte. Free ust
has been made of the help this chapter aifords.
CONSTITUTION OF A COLONY. 294
factory, such as those which the Pheenicians established in Spain,’ or ot
those very shores of Macedonia with which we are now engaged ; or such
as modern nations have founded in the Hudson’s Bay territory or on
the coast of India. Still less was it like those incoherent aggregates of
human beings which we have thrown, without care or system, on distant
islands and continents. It did not even go forth, as a young Greek republic
left its parent state, carrying with it, indeed, the respect of a daughter
for a mother, bnt entering upon a new and independent existence. The
Roman colonies were primarily intended as military safeguards of the
frontiers, and as checks upon insurgent provincials.? Like the military
roads, they were part of the great system of fortification by which the
empire was made safe. They served also as convenient possessions for
rewarding veterans who had served in the wars, and for establishing
freedmen and other Italians whom it was desirable to remove to a distance
The colonists went out with all the pride of Roman citizens, to represent
and reproduce the city in the midst of an alien population. They pro-
ceeded to their destination like an army with its standards ;? and the
limits of the new city were marked out by the plough. Their names were
still enrolled in one of the Roman tribes. Every traveller who passed
through a colonza saw there the insignia of Rome. He heard the Latin
language, and was amenable, in the strictest sense, to the Roman law.
The coinage of the city, even if it were in a Greek province, had Latin
inscriptions. Cyprian tells us that in his own episcopal city, which once
had been Rome’s greatest enemy, the Laws of the XII Tables were in-
scribed on brazen tablets in the market-place.» Though the colonists, in
additicn to the pell-tax, which they paid as citizens, were compelled to
pay a ground-tax (for the land on which their city stood was provincial
land, and therefere tributary, unless it were assimilated to Italy by a spe-
cial exemption) ;° yet they were entirely free from any intrusion by the
Kepevially in the mountains on the coast between Cartagena and Almeria.
a Colonus,
Missus ad hoc, pulsis (vetus est ut fama) Sabellis,
Quo ne per vacuum Romano incurreret hostis.”’
Horace, Sat. ii. 1.
3 See the standards on one of the coins of Antioch in Pisidia, p. 170. The wolf,
with Romulus and Remus, which will be observed on the other coin, was common on
colonial money. Philippi was in the strictest sense a military colony, formed by the
establishment of a cohors pretoria emerita. Plin. H. N. iv. 18 ; Eckhel, τι. 75.
« This has been noticed before, p. 170. Compare the coin of Philippi with that of
Thessalonica engraved below.
5 Speaking of the prevalent sins of Carthage, he says: “ Incise sint licet leges duo
decim tabulis, et publice wre prafixo jura prascripta sint, inter leges ipsas delinquitur,
inter jura peccatur.” De Grat, Dei. 10.
6 Philippi had the Jus Italicum, like Alexandria Troas. This is explained above
p. 282.
294 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
governor of the province. Their affairs were regulated by their own magis
trates. These officers were named Duumviri; and they took a pride in calling
themselves by the Roman title of Praetors (στρατηγοί).; The primary settlers
in the colony were, as we have seen, real Italians; but a state of things
seems to have taken place, in many instances, very similar to what hap-
pened in the early history of Rome itself. A number of the native pro-.
vincials grew up in the same city with the governing body ; and thus two
(or sometimes three)? co-ordinate communities were formed, which ulti-
mately coalesced into one, like the Patricians and Plebeians. Instances of
this state of things might be given from Corinth and Carthage, and from
the colonies of Spain and Gaul; and we have no reason to suppese that
Philippi was different from the rest. 2
Whatever the relative proportion of Greeks and Romans at Philippi
may have been, the number of Jews was small. This is sufficiently
accounted for, when we remember that it was a military, and not a mer-
cantile, city. There was no synagogue in Philippi, but only one of those
buildings called Proseuche, which were ‘distinguished from the regular
places of worship by being of a more slight and temporary structure, and
frequently open to the sky. For the sake of greater quietness, and free-
1 An instance of this is mentioned by Cicero in the case of Capua: “ Cum in ceteris
coloniis Duwmviri appellentur, hi se Pretores appellari volebant.” Agr. ii. 34.
2 This was the case at Emporie in Spain. See Hoeck, pp. 227, 228.
3 See the passage quoted from Epiphanius, p. 184, and another extract from
the same writer given by Hemsen (note, p. 114): τινὰς δὲ οἴκους ἑαυτοῖς κατ-
ἀσκευάσαντες, ἢ τύπους πλατεῖς, φόρων δίκην, προσευχὰς ταύτας ἐκάλουν" καὶ ἧσαν
μὲν τὸ παλαιὸν προσευχῶν τόποι ἔν τε τοῖς ᾿Ιουδαίοις ἔξω πολέως, καὶ ἐν τοῖς
Σαμαρείταις. A Proseucha may be considered as ἃ place of prayer, as opposed toa
synagogue, or a house of prayer. It appears, however. that the words were more or
less convertible, and Grotius and Vitringa consider them nearly equivalent. Josephus
(Vit. § 54) describes a Proseucha as μέγιςτον οἴκημα πολὺν ὄχλον ἐψιδέξασθαι duva-
μενον : and Philo (Leg. ad Cai. p. 1011) mentions, under the same denomination,
buildings at Alexandria, which were so strong that it was difficult to destroy them.
Probably, as Winer says, it was the usual name of the meeting-place of Jewish congre-
gations in Greek cities,
Other passages in ancient writers, which hear upon the subject, are alluded to in the
following extract from Biscoe: “The seashore was esteemed by the Jews a place most
pure, and therefore proper to offer up their prayers and thanksgivings to Almighty
God. Philo tells us that the Jews of Alexandria, when Flaccus the governor of Egypt,
who had been their great enemy, was arrested by order of the Emperor Caius, not
being able to assemble at their synagogues, which had been taken from them, crowded
out at the gates of the city early in the morning, went to the neighboaring shores,
and standing in a most pure place, with one accord lifted up their voices in praising
God. (In Flac. p. 982, p.) Tertullian says, that the Jews in his time, when they kept
their great fast, left their synagogues, and on every shore sent forth their prayers to
heaven (De Jejun, c. 16): and in another place, among the ceremonies used by the
Jews, mentions orationes littorales the prayers they made upen the shores (Adv. Nat.
i. 13). And long %efore Tertullian’s time there was a decree made at Halicarnassus
in favour of the Jews, which, among other privileges, allows them to say their prayers
near the shore, according to the exstom of their country. (Jos. A. xiv. 10-23.) It ie
LYDIA. 903
dom tron interruption, this place of prayer was “outside the gate ;”
and, in consequence of the ablutions! which were connected with tha
worship, it was “by the river side,” on the bank of the Gaggitas,’ the
fuuntains of which gave the name to the city before the time of Philip of
Macedon,’ and which, in the great battle of the Romans, had been pok
luted by the footsteps and blood of the contending armies.‘
The congregation which met here for worship on the Sabbath consisted
chiefly, if not entirely, of a few women ;* and these were not all of Jew:
ish birth, and not all residents of Philippi. Lydia, who is mentioned by
name, was a proselyte ;® and Thyatira, her native place, was a city of
the province of Asia.7 The business which brought her to Philippi was
connected with the dyeing trade, which had flourished from a very early
period, as we learn from Homer,’ in the neighbourhood of Thyatira, and is
permanently commemorated in inscriptions which relate to the “ guild of
dyers” in that city, and incidentally give a singular confirmation of the
veracity of St. Luke in his casual allusions.°
Tn this unpretending place, and to this congregation of pious women,
the Gospel was first preached within the limits of Europe.” St. Paul
and his companions seem to have arrived in the early part of the week,
for “some days” elapsed before “the Sabbath.” On that day the stran-
hence abundantly evident, that it was common with the Jews to choose the shore as a
place highly fitting to offer up their prayers.’”? P. 251. He adds that the words in
Acts xvi. 13 “may signify nothing more than that the Jews of Philippi were wont to
go and offer up their prayers at a certain place by the river side, as other Jews, who
lived near the sea, were accustomed to do upon the sea-shore.” See Acts xxi. 5.
1 Τὰς προσευχὰς ποιεῖσθαι πρὸς τῇ ϑαλάσσῃ, κατὰ τὸ πάτριον ἔθος. Joseph. Ant.
xiv. 10, 23.
? Both Meyer and De Wette made a mistake here in saying that the river was the
Strymon. The nearest point on the Strymon was many miles distant. This mistake
is the more marked when we find that πύλης, and not πόλεως, is probably the right
reading. No one would describe the Strymon as a stream outside the gate of Philippi.
We may add that the mention of the gate is an instance of St. Luke’s autoptical style
in this part of the narrative. It is possible that the Jews worshipped outside the gate
at Philippi, because the people would not allow them to worship within. Compare
what Jnvenal says of the Jews by the fountain outside the Porta Capena at Rome
(iii. 11).
3 Crenides was the ancient name. 4 See Plutarch’s Brutus, and Appian.
9. Ταῖς συνελθούσαις γυναιξίν. Acts xvi. 13. 6 Σεβομένη τὸν Θεόν. Acts xvi. 14
7 See Rev. i. 11. 8 1], iv. 141.
® Several of the inscriptions will be found in Roeckh. Some were first published by
Spon and Wheler. We may observe that the communication at this period between
Thyatira and Philippi was very easy, cither directly from the harbour of Pergamus, ΟΣ
by the road mentioned in the last chapter, which led through Adramyttium to Troas.
10 At least this is the first historical account of the preaching of an apostle ix
Europe. The traditions concerning St. Peter rest on no real proof. We do not bere
inquire into the knowledge of Christianity which may have spread, even to Rome,
through those who returned from Pentecost (Acts ii.), or those who were dispersed
'y Stephen’s persecution (Acts viii.), or other travellers from Syria to the West.
296 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUs.
gers went and joined the little company of worshippers at their
prayer by the river side. Assuming at once the attitude of teachers, they
“sat down,”! and spoke to the women who were assembled together
The Lord, who had summoned his servants from Troas to preach the
Gospel in Macedonia,’ now vouchsafed to them the signs of His presence,
by giving divine energy to the words which they spoke in His name.
Lydia ‘was one of the listeners,” * and the Lord ‘“ opened her heart, that
she took heed to the things that were spoken of Paul.” 4
Lydia, being convinced that Jesus was the Messiah, and having made
a profession of her faith, was forthwith baptized. The place of her bap-
tism was doubtless the stream which flowed by the proseucha. The
waters of Europe were “sanctified to the mystical washing away of sin.”
With the baptism of Lydia that of her ‘‘household” was associated.
Whether we are to understand by this term her children, her slaves, or
the workpeople engaged in the manual employment connected with her
trade, or all these collectively, cannot easily be decided. But we may
observe that it is the first passage in the life of St. Paul where we have
an example of that family religion to which he often alludes in his
Epistles. The ‘‘connexions of Chloe”® the ‘‘ household of Stephanas,”’
the “Church in the house” of Aquila and Priscilla,® are parallel cases, te
which we shall come in the course of the narrative. It may also be
rightly added, that we have here the first example of that Christias
hospitality which was so emphatically enjoined,? and so lovingly practised,
in the Apostolic Church. The frequent mention of the “ hosts,” who gave
shelter to the Apostles,’ reminds us that they led a life of hardship and
poverty, and were the followers of Him “for whom there was no room in
the inn.’ The Lord had said to His Apostles, that, when they entered
1 Καθίσαντες. Acts xvi. 18. Compare ἐκάθισαν, Acts xiii. 14; and ἐκάθισε, Luke
iy. 20.
Biv. 10.
3 Ἤκουεν. Acts xvi. 14. From the words ἐλαλοῦμεν and τοῖς λαλουμένοις we infer
that Lydia was listening to conversation rather than preaching. The whole narrative
gives us the impression of the utmost modesty and simplicity in Lydia’s character.
Another point should be noticed, which exemplifies St. Luke’s abnegtion of self, and
harmonizes with the rest of the Acts; viz. that, after saying “we spake” (vy. 13),
he sinks his own person, and says that Lydia took heed “to what was spoken by
Paul” (vy. 14). Paul was the chief speaker. The phrase and the inference are the
same at Antioch in Pisidia (Acts xiii. 45), when Barnabas was with St. Paul. See p.
L795.) 1.
4ν. 14.
5. Meyer thinks they were female assistants in the business connected with her trade.
It is well known that this is one of the passages often adduced in the controversy con
cerning infant baptism. We need not urge this view of it: for belief that infant bap-
tism is “ most agreeable with the institution of Christ” does not rest on this text.
6 1 Cor. i. 11. TAKCorede 10. xvi 15. 8. Rom. xvi. 5. Compare Philem 2
9 Heb. xiii. 2. 1 Tim. v. 10, &e. 10 Rom. xvi. 23, &e.
MACEDONIA. 297
into a vity, they were to seck out “those who were worthy,” and with
them to abide. The search at Philippi was not difficult. Lydia voiunta
rily presented herself to her spiritual benefactors, and said to them,
earnestly and humbly,' that, ‘since they had regarded her as a believer
on the Lord,” her house should be their home. She admitted of no refusal
to her request, and “ their peace was on that house.” ?
Thus the Gospel had obtained a home in Europe. It is true that the
family with whom the Apostles lodged was Asiatic rather than European ;
and the direct influence of Lydia may be supposed to have contributed
more to the establishment of the church of Thyatira, addressed by St.
John,’ than to that of Philippi, which received the letter of St. Paul.
But still the doctrine and practice of Christianity were established in
Europe ; and nothing could be more calm and tranquil than its first begin
nings on the shore of that continent, which it has long overspread. The
scenes by the river-side, and in the house of Lydia, are beautiful prophe-
cies of the holy influence which women,‘ elevated by Christianity to their
true position, and enabled by divine grace to wear ‘“‘the ornament of a
meek and quiet spirit,” have now for centuries exerted over domestic hap-
piness and the growth of piety and peace. If we wish to see this in a
forcible light, we may contrast the picture which is drawn for us by St.
Luke—with another representation of women in the same neighbourhood
given by the heathen poets, who tell us of the frantic excitement of the
Edonian matrons, wandering, under the name of religion, with dishevelled
hair and violent cries, on the banks of the Strymon.*
Thus far all was peaceful and hopeful in the work of preaching the
Gospel to Macedonia: the congregation met in the house or by the river-
side ; souls were converted and instructed ; and a Church, consisting both
of men and women,® was gradually built up. This continued for “ many
days.” It was difficult to foresee the storm which was to overcast so fair
a prospect. A bitter persecution, however, was unexpectedly provoked :
and the Apostles were brought into collision with heathen superstition in
one of its worst forms, and with the rough violence of the colonial
authorities. As if to show that the work of divine grace is advanced by
difficulties and discouragements, rather than by ease and prosperity, the
1 See above, p. 296, n. 3. * Matt. x. 13; 3 Rev. ii.
* Observe the frequent mention of women in the salutations in St. Paul’s epistles,
and more particularly in that to the Philippians. Rilliet, in his Commentary, makes a
iust remark on the peculiar importance of female agency in the then state of society :—
“organisation de la société civile faisait des femmes un intermédiaire nécessaire pout
que la prédication de l’Evangile parvint jusqu’aux personnes de leur sexe.”
6 Hor. Od. π΄. vii. 27, &c.
* This is almost necessarily implied in “the brethren” (τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς, v. 40) whom
Paul and Silas visited and exhorted in the house of Lydia, after their release from
prison.
298 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 51. PAUz.
Apostles, who had been supernaturally summoned to a new field of labour
and who were patiently cultivating it with good success, were suddenly
called away from it, silenced, and imprisoned,
In tracing the life of St. Paul we have not as yet seen Christianity
directly brought into conflict witn heathenism. The sorcerer who had
obtained influence over Sergius Paulus in Cyprus was a Jew, like the
Apostle himself.!. The first impulse of the idolaters of Lystra was to worship
Paul and Barnabas ; and it was only after the Jews had perverted their
minds, that they began to persecute them.? Butas we travel further from
the East, and especially through countries where the Israelites were thinly
scattered, we must expect to find Pagan creeds in immediate antagonism
with the Gospel ; and not merely Pagan creeds, but the evil powers
themselves which give Paganism its supremacy over the minds of men,
The questions which relate to evil spirits, false divinities, and demoniacal
possessions, are far too difficult and extensive to be entered on here. We
are content to express our belief, that in the demoniacs of the New Testa-
ment allusion is really made to personal spirits who exercised power for
evil purposes on the human will. The unregenerate world is representc
to us in Scripture as a realm of darkness, in which the invisible agents of
wickedness are permitted to hold sway under conditions and limitations
which we are not able to define. The degrees and modes in which their
presence is made visibly apparent may vary widely in different countries
and in different ages.‘ In the time of Jesus Curisr and His Apostles,
we are justified in saying that their workings in one particular mode were
made peculiarly manifest. As it was in the life of our Great Master, so
2 Ch. V. p. 147. 2 Ch. VI. pp. 192, &c.
3 The arguments on the two sides of this question—one party contending’ that the
demoniacs of Scripture were men afflicted with insanity, melancholy, and epilepsy, and
that the language used of them is merely an accommodation to popular belief; the
other, that these unhappy sufferers were really possessed by evil spirits—may be seen
in a series of pamphlets (partly anonymous) published in London in 1737 and 1738.
For a candid statement of both views, see the article on “ Demoniacs” in Dr. Kitto’s
Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature, Compare that on the word “ Besessene,” in Winer’s
Real-Worterbuch ; and, above all, Professor Trench’s profound remarks in his work on
the Miracles, pp. 150, &c.
4 For some suggestions as to the probable reasons why demoniacal possession is sel-
dom witnessed now, see Trench, p. 162.
5 Trench says, that “if there was any thing that marked the period of the Lord’s
coming in the flesh, and that immediately succeeding, it was the wreck and confusion
of men’s spiritual life...... the sense of utter disharmony. ..... . The whole
period was the hour and power of darkness; of a darkness which then, immediately
before the dawn of a new day, was the thickest. It was exactly the crisis for such
soul-maladies as these, in which the spiritual and bodily should be thus strangely inter-
linked ; and it is nothing wonderful that they should have abounded at that time.”
P.162. Neander and Trench, however, both refer to modern missionary accounts ΟἹ
something like the same possession among heathen nations, and of their cessation on
conversion to Christianity.
DZMONS. 29S
it was in that of His immediate followers. The demons recognised Jesus
as “the Holy One of God ;” and they recognised His Apostles as the
“bondsmen of the Most High God, who preach the way of salvation.”
Jesus ‘‘ cast out demons ;” and, by virtue of the power which he gave,
the Apostles were able to do in His name what He did in His own,
If in any region of heathendom the evil spirits had pre-eminent sway,
it was in the mythological system of Greece, which, with all its beautiful
imagery and all its ministrations to poetry and art, left man powerless
against his passions, and only amused him while it helped him to be un-
holy. In the lively imagination of the Greeks, the whole visible and
invisible world was peopled with spiritual powers or demons.!. The same
terms were often used on this subject by Pagans and by Christians. But
in the language of the Pagan the demon might be either a beneficent or
malignant power ;7 in the language of the Christian it always denoted
what was evils When the Athenians said‘ that St. Paul was introducing
“ new demons” among them, they did not necessarily mean that he was
in league with evil spirits ; but when St. Paul told the Corinthians ὅ that
though “idols” in themselves were nothing, yet the sacrifices offered to
them were, in reality, offered to ‘‘ daemons,” he spoke of those false
divinities which were the enemies of the True.°
Again, the language concerning physical changes, especially in the
human frame, is very similar in the sacred and profane writers. Some
times it contents itself with stating merely the facts and symptoms of dis-
ease ; sometimes it refers the facts and symptoms to invisible personal
1 For the classical use of the word δαιμὼν, Trench refers to a chapter in Creuzer’s
Symbolik. See the note, p. 155.
3 Compare, for instance, δαίμονα δέξιον (Callim. Hymn. vi.) with δαίμονα κακὸν
(Hom. Od. xx. 64).
3 Thus Augustine says: “Nos autem, sicut S. Scriptura loquitur, secundum quam
Christiani sumus, 4rgelos quidem partim bonos, partim malos, nunquam vero bonos
Demones legimus. Sed ubicunque illarum literarum hoc nomen positum reperitur,
sive damones sive demonia dicantur, non nisi maligni significantur, spiritus.”’ De Civ.
Dei, ix. 19. So Origen: Τὸ τῶν δαιμόνων ὄνομα ob μέσον ἐστὶν, ὡς τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων,
ἐν οἷς τινες μὲν ἀστεῖοι, τινὲς δὲ φαῦλοι ciciv...... ἀεὶ δ᾽ ἐπὶ τῶν φαύλων ἔξω τοῦ
παχυτέρου δώματος δυνάμεως τάσσεται τὸ τῶυ δαιμόνων ὄνομα, πλανώντων καὶ περισ-
πώντων τοὺς ἀνθώπους καὶ καθελκόντων ἀπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ, kK. τ. Δ. For more examples
of the use in the Fathers, see Suicer’s Thesaurus. Josephus takes the same view: Τὰ
yap καλούμενα δαιμόνια, ταῦτα δὲ πονηρῶν ἐστιν ἀνθρώπων πνεύματα, τοῖς ζῶσιν εἰσδυό-
uzva καὶ κτείνοντα τοὺς βοηθείας μὴ τυγχάνοντας. B. J. vii. 0, 3, where he is speak-
ing of a plant alleged to cure those who are thus affected.
4 Acts xvii. 18.
8 1 Cor. x. 2U.
€ It is very important to distinguish the word Διάβολος (‘ Devil’’) from δαίμων or
δαιμόνιον (“demon”). The former word is used, for instance, in Matt. xxv.41. John
viii, 44. Acts xili. 10. 1 Pet. ν. 8, &c.; the latter in John vii. 20, Lukex.17. 1
Tim. iv. 1. Rev. ix. 20, also James iii. 15. For further remarks 2n this subject sea
pelow on Acts xvii. 18.
800 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ΒΥ. PAUL.
agency.! One class of phenomena, affecting the mind as well as the body,
was more particularly referred to preternatural agency. These were the
prophetic states of mind, showing themselves in stated oracles or in
more irregular manifestations, and accompanied with convulsions and vio-
lent excitement, which are described or alluded to by almost all heathen
authors. Here again we are brought to a subject which is surrounded
with difficulties. How far, in such cases, imposture was combined with
real possession ; how we may disentangle the one from the other ; how
far the supreme will of God made use of these prophetic powers and over-
ruled them to good ends; such questions inevitably suggest themselves,
but we are not concerned to answer them here. It is enough to say that
we see no reason to blame the opinion of those writers, who believe that a
wicked spiritual agency was really exerted in the prophetic sanctuaries
and prophetic personages of the heathen world. 'The heathens themselves
attributed these phenomena to the agency of Apollo,’ the deity of Pythonic
spirits ; and such phenomena were of very frequent occurrence, and dis-
played themselves under many varieties of place and circumstance. Some.
times those who were possessed were of the highest condition ; sometimes
they went about the streets like insane impostors of the lowest rank. It
was usual for the prophetic spirit to make itself known by an internal
muttering of ventriloquism.? We read of persons in this miserable condi-
tion used by others for the purpose of gain. Frequently they were
siaves ;¢ and there were cases of joint proprietorship in these unhappy
ministers of public superstition.
Τὴ the case before us it was a “female slave” ® who was possessed
' jhis will be observed in the Gospels, if we carefully compare the different accounts
of Our Lord’s miracles. Among heathen writers we may allude particularly to Hip-
pocrates, since he wrote against those who treated epilepsy as the result of supernatu-
ral possession. Some symptoms, he says, were popularly attributed to Apollo, some to
the Mother of the Gods, some to Neptune, ἄο. Alya μιμῶνται κἢν βρύχωνται κῆἢν τὰ
δεξιὰ σπῶνται, Μητῆρα ϑεῶν φασὶν αἰτίην εἷναι" ἢν δὲ ὀξύτερον Kal εὐτονώτερον
φθέγγηται, ἵππῳ εἰκάζουσι, καὶ φασὶ Ποσειδῶνα αἴτιον εἶναι... ἣν δὲ λεπτότερον καὶ
πυκνότερον οἷον ὄρνιθες, ᾿Απόλλων Νόμιος. Hippoc. de Morbo Sacro.
? Πύθων is the name of Apollo in his oracular character. Hence πυθωνικός and
πυθολήπτος.
3 They were the ἐγγαστρίμυθοι who spoke with the mouth closed, and who were
called Πύθωνες (the very word used here by St. Luke, Acts xvi. 16). Τοὺς ἐγγαστρι-
μύθους vuvt ΠΤύθωνας προσαγορευομένους. Plut. de Def. Orac. p. 414. See Galen and
the Scholiast on Aristoph. Vesp. 1014, as referred to by Wetstein. Augustine calls this
girl “ ventriloqua foemina” (De Civ. Dei, ii. 23) ; but Walch thinks from her articulate
exclamations, that this was not the case.
4 Walch refers to Arr. iy. 13.
5 Many details on these subjects are brought together by Walch, in his Essays “ De
Servis Fatidicis,” at the end of his Dissertationes in Acta Apostolorum, Jena, 1766
The book is very scarce, and we have not had ar opportunity of reading these essaya
with care.
© Παιόδίσκη. Acts xvi. 16, ag in xii. 13
THE DEMONIAC SLAVE. 30]
with ‘'a spirit of divination ;”! and she was the property of more than
gne master, who kept her for the purpose of practising on the credulity of
the Philippians, and realised ‘‘much profit” in this way. We all know
the kind of sacredness with which the ravings of common insanity are apt
to be invested by the ignorant ; and we can easily understand the ποίο-
riety which the gestures and words of this demoniac would obtain in Phi-
lippi.? It was far from a matter of indifference, when she met the mem
bers of the Christian congregation on the road to the proseucha, and _be-
wan to follow St. Paul, and to exclaim (either because the words she had
overheard mingled with her diseased imaginations, or because the evil
spirit in her was compelled? to speak the truth): ‘These men are the
bondsmen of the Most High God, who are come to announce unto you the
way of salvation.” This was continued for ‘ several days,” and the whole
city must soon have been familiar with her words. Paul was well aware
of this ; and he could not bear the thought that the credit even of the
Gospel should be enhanced by such unholy means. Possibly one reason
why our Blessed Lord Himself forbade the demoniacs to make Him
known, was, that His Holy cause would be polluted by resting on such
evidence. And another of our Saviour’s feelings must have found an
imitation in St. Paul’s breast,—that of deep compassion for the poor vic-
tim ef demoniac power. At length he could bear this Satanic interrup-
tion no longer, and, “‘ being grieved, he commanded the evil spirit to come
out of her.” It would be profaneness to suppose that the Apostle spoke
in mere irritation, as it would be ridiculous to imagine that divine help
would have been vouchsafed to gratify such a feeling. No doubt there
was grief and indignation, but the grief and indignation of an Apostle
may be the impulses of divine inspiration. He spoke, not in his own
name, but in that of Jesus Christ, and power from above attended his
words. ‘The prophecy and command of Jesus concerning his Apostles
1*Eyouca πνεῦμα πύθωνος (like “Pythia mente incitata.”’ Cic. de Div. ii. 87).
Some of the Uncial MSS. read πνεῦμα πύθωνα, which is adopted by Lachmann and
Tischendorf. The reading is immaterial to the meaning of the passage. Πύθων is not
exactly synonymous with Apollo, but rather, as it is explained in Suidas and Hesychius,
δαιμόνιον μαντικόν. See the quotation in De Wette: Τάς τε πνεύματι πύθωνος évOov-
σιώσας, καὶ φαντασίαν μυήσεως παρεχομένας τῇ τοῦ δαιμονίου περιφορᾷ ἠξίου τὸ
ἐσόμενον παραγορεῦσαι" οἱ δὲ τῶν δαιμόνων κάτοχοι ἔφασκον, τὴν νίκην Μήδοις παρέ-
σεσθαι. :
* See what Trench says on the demoniacs in the country of the Gadarenes. “ We
find in the demoniac the sense of a misery in which he does not acquiesce, the deep
feeling of inward discord, of the true life utterly shattered, of an alien power which
has mastered him wholly, and now is cruelly lording over him, and ever drawing fur-
ther away from him in whom only any created intelligence can find rest and peace.
His state is, in the truest sense, “a possession ;” another is ruling in the high places ΟἹ
iis soul, and has cast down the rightful lord from his seat; and he knows this: and
out of his consciousness of it there goes forth from him a ery for redemption, so soor
as ever a glimpse of hope is afforded, an unlooked-for Redeemer draws near” P. 159
802 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
were fulfilled: that ‘in His name they should cast out demons.” It waa
as it had been at Jericho and by the sea of Gennesareth. The demoniae
at Philippi was restored “to her right mind.” Her natural powers re
sumed their course ; and the gains of her masters were gone.
Violent rage on the part of these men was the immedia‘e result,
They saw that their influence with the people, and with it “all hope” ! of
any future gain, was at end. They proceeded therefore to take a sum:
mary revenge. Laying violent hold’ of Paul and Silas (for Timotheus
and Luke were not so evidently concerned in what had happened), they
dragged them into the forum? before the city authorities. The case was
brought before the Preetors (so we may venture to call them, since this
was the title which colonial Duumviri were fond of assuming) ;‘ but the
complainants must have felt some difficulty in stating their grievance.
The slave that had lately been a lucrative possession had suddenly become
valueless ; but the law had no remedy for property depreciated by exor-
cism. The true state of the case was therefore concealed, and an accusa-
tion was laid before the preetors in the following form. ‘‘ These men are
throwing the whole city into confusion ; moreover they are Jews ;* and
they are attempting to introduce new religious observances,® which we,
being Roman citizens, cannot legally receive and adopt.” The accusation
was partly true and partly false. It was quite false that Paul and Silas
were disturbing the colony, for nothi.¢g could have been more calm and
orderly than their worship and teaching at the house of Lydia, or in the
synagogue by the water side. In the other part of the indictment there
was a certain amount of truth. The letter ef the Roman law, even under
the republic,” was opposed to the introduction of foreign religions ; and
though exceptions were allowed, as in the case of the Jews themselves
yet the spirit of the law entirely condemned such changes in worship as
were likely to unsettle the minds of the citizens, or to produce any tumult-
uous uproar ;° and the advice given to Augustus, which both he and his
1 "Ἐ ξῆλθεν ἡ ἐλπὶς τῆς ἐργασίας αὐτῶν. ν. 19.
2 ᾿Επιλαβύόμενοι εἵλκυσαν. Compare “ obtorto collo rapere ad pretorem,” in Terence.
The Greek word ἐπιλάβεσθαι does not necessarily denote violence. It is used ina
friendly sense, ix. 27.
3 Wi¢ τὴν dyopav ἐπὶ τοὺς ἄρχοντας, ν. 19. The word ἄρχοντες is a general term.
4 See above, p. 294, n.1. The word στρατηγὸς is the usual Greek translation οἱ
praetor. It is, however, often used generally for the supreme magistrates of Greek
towns. Wetstein tells us that the mayor in Messina was in his time still called stradiga.
5 Ἰουδαῖοι ὑπάρχοντες (Υ. 20), “ being Jews to begin with,’ as Mr. Humphry very
well translates it. Compare Ιουδαῖος ὑπάρχων, “ being born a Jew,” in Gal. ii. 14, p
225.
6 Ἔθη. The word is similarly used Acts vi. 14. xxvi. 3. xxviii. 17.
7 “Quoties hoc patrum evorumque tate negotium est magistratibus datum, ut sacra
externa fieri vetarent, sacrificulos vatesque foro, circo, urbe prohiberent. . omnem dis-
ciplinam sacrificandi praeterquam more Romano, abolerent.”” Liv. xxxix. 16.
® “Qui novas et usu vel ratione incognitas religiones inducunt, ex quibus aniny
PAUL AND SILAS IN PRISON. 803
successors had studiously followed, was, to check religious innovations as
promptly as possible, lest in the end they should undermine the monarchy.'
Thus Paul and Silas had undoubtedly been doing what in some degree ex:
posed them to legal penalties ; and were beginning a change which tendea
to bring down, and which ultimately did bring down, the whole weight of
the Roman law on the martyrs of Christianity.2 The force of another
part of the accusation, which was adroitly introduced, namely, that the
men were “Jews to begin with,” will be fully apprehended, if we re-
member, not only that the Jews were generally hated, suspected, and
despised,? but that they had lately been driven out of Rome in conse-
quence of an uproar,‘ and that it was incumbent on Philippi, as a colony,
to copy the indignation of the mother city.
Thus we can enter into the feelings which caused the mob to rise
against Paul and Silas,’ and tempted the praetors to dispense with legal
formalities and consign the offenders to immediate punishment. The mere
loss of the slave’s prophetic powers, so far as it was generally known,
was enough to cause a violent agitation ; for mobs are always more fond
of excitement and wonder than of truth and holiness. The Philippians
had been willing to pay money for the demoniac’s revelations, and now
strangers had come and deprived them of that which gratified their
superstitious curiosity. And when they learned, moreover, that these
strangers were Jews, and were breaking the laws of Rome, their discon-
tent became fanatical. It seems that the preetors had no time to hesitate,
if they would retain their popularity. The rough words were spoken : ‘
hominum moyeantur, honestiores deportantur, humiliores capite puniuntur.’’ Paulus,
Sentent. v. 21, 2, quoted by Rosenmuller.
1 Dio Cassius tells us that Macenas gave the following advice to Augustus :—To
μὲν ϑεῖον πάντη πάντως αὐτός τε σέβου κατὰ τὰ πάτρια, Kal τοὺς ἅλλους τιμᾶν ἀνάγ-
kale* τοὺς δὲ ξενίζοντάς τι περὶ αὐτὸ καὶ μίσει καὶ κόλαζε ; and the reason is given, Viz.
that such innovations lead to secret associations, conspiracies, and cabals, ἅπερ ἥκιστα
μοναρχίᾳ συμφέρει.
? See the account of the martyrs of Gaul in Eusebius, ν. 1. The governor, learning
that Attalus was a Roman citizen, ordered him to be remanded to prison till he should
learn the emperor’s commands. Those who had the citizenship were beheaded. The
rest were sent to the wild beasts.
3 Cicero calls them “suspiciosa ac maledica civitas.” Flacc. 28. See the passages
quoted p. 19, n. 1.
4 Acts xviii. 2; which is probably the same occurrence as that which is alluded to
by Suetonius, Claud. 25 :—“Judos impulsore Christo assidue tumultuantes Rema
expulit.”
> Kal συνεπέστη ὁ ὄχλος Kar’ αὐτῶν. ν. 22.
6 The official order is given by Seneca :—“ Summove, lictor, despolia, ver bera, *
Bee again Livy: “Consules spoliari hominem et virgas expediri jussit 57) and Dion
Halic.: Τοῖς ῥαβδούχοις ἐκέλευσαν τὸν ἐσθῆτά τε περικαταῤῥῆξαι καὶ ταῖς ῥάβδοις τὸ
σῶμα ξαΐνειν, quoted by Grotius. Some commentators suppose that the duumviri tore
off the garments of Paul and Silas with their own hands; but this supposition is unne
804 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
“ Go, lictors: strip off their garments: let them be scourged.” 'The orde.
was promptly obeyed, and the heavy blows descended. It is happy for
us that few modern countries know, by the example of a similar punish
ment, what the severity of a Roman scourging was. The Apostles received
“many stripes ;” and when they were consigned to prison, bleeding and
faint from the rod, the jailor received a strict injunction “to keep them
safe.” Well might St. Paul, when at Corinth, look back to this day of
cruelty, and remind the Thessalonians how he and Silas had “ suffered
before, and were shamefully treated, at Philippi.”?
The jailor fulfilled the directions of the magistrates with rigorous and
ronscientious cruelty.2 Not content with placing the Apostles among the
other offenders against the law who were in custody at Philippi, he
‘‘ thrust them into the inner prison,”* and then forced their limbs, lacer-
ated as they were, and bleeding from the scourge, into a painfnl and con-
strained posture, by means of an instrument employed to confine and
torture the bodies of the worst malefactors.« Though we are ignorant of
the exact relation of the outer and inner prisons,’ and of the connexion
of the jailor’s “house” with both, we are not without very good notions
of the misery endured in the Roman places of captivity. We must pic-
ture to ourselves something very different from the austere comfort of an
English jail. It is only since that Christianity for which the Apostles
bled has had influence on the hearts of men, that the treatment of felons
has been a distinct subject of philanthropic inquiry, and that we have
learnt to pray “for all prisoners and captives.” The inner prisons of
which we read in the ancient world were like that “ dungeon in the court
of the prison” into which Jeremiah was let down with cords, and where
cessary. It is quite a mistake to imagine that they rent their own garments, like the
high-priest at Jerusalem,
1 1 Thess. ii. 2.
2 As in the Captivi of Plautus (iii. 70), quoted by Mr. Humphry. “A. Ne tu istunn
hominem perduis. B. Curabitur nam noctu nervo vinctus custodibitur.”
3 *EBadov αὐτοὺς εἰς τὴν ἐσωτέραν φυλακήν. ν. 24.
4 The ξύλον was what the Romans called nervus (Ησφαλίσατό, φησιν, εἰς τὸ ξύλον,
ὡς dy εἴποι τις, εἰς τὸ νέρβον. Chrys, in 100.). Isidore describes it (Orig. ix.) as
“vinculum ferreum, quo pedes vel cervices impediuntur.”’ Plautus calls it “ lignea
custodia ;” which, as Dr. Bloomfield justly says, is exactly the “ wooden Bastille” of
Hudibras. Ree. Synopt. See the note in the Pictorial Bible on Job xiii. 27, and the
woodcut of stocks used in India from Roberts’s Oriental Illustrations.
5 One of Walch’s dissertations is written De Vinculis Apostoli Pauli. He saya
that in a Roman prison there were usually three distinct parts: (1) the communiora,
where the prisoners had light and fresh air; (2) the interiora, shut off by iron gatea
with strong bars and locks; (3) the Tullianum, or dungeon. If this was the case at
Philippi, Paul and Silas were perhaps in the second, and the other prisoners in the
first part. The third was rather a place of execution than imprisonment. Walch saya
that in the provinces the prisons were not so systematically divided intc three parts
He adds that the jailor or commentariensis had usually optiones to assist him. In
Acts xvi. only one jailor is mentioned.
PAUL AND SILAS IN PRISON. 303
“he sank in the mire.”’ They were pestilential cells, damp and cold,
from which the light was excluded, and where the chains rusted on the
limbs of the prisoners. One such place may be seen to this day on
the slope of the Capitol at Rome.’ It is known to the readers of Cicero
and Sallust as the place where certain notorious conspirators were exe
cuted. The Twllanwm (for so it was called) is a type of the dungeons
in the provinces ; and we find the very name applied, in one instance, to
a dungeon in the province of Macedonia.? What kind of torture was
inflicted by the ‘ stocks,” in which the arms and legs, and even the necks,
of offenders were confined and stretched, we are sufficiently informed by
the allusions to the punishment of slaves in the Greek and Roman writers ;+
and to show how far the cruelty of heathen persecution, which may be
said to have begun at Philippi, was afterwards carried in this peculiar
kind of torture, we may refer to the sufferings “‘ which Origen endured
under an iron collar, and in the deepest recesses of the prison, when, for
many days, he was extended and stretched to the distance of fowr holes on
the rack.” ὃ
A few hours had made a serious change from the quiet scene by the
water side to the interior of a stifling aqungeon. But Paul and Silas had
learnt, “‘in whatever state they were, therewith to be content.”° They
were even able to “rejoice” that they were “counted worthy to suffer”
for the name of Christ.7_ And if some thoughts of discouragement came
over their minds, not for their own sufferings, but for the cause of their
Master ; and if it seemed “‘a strange thing” that a work to which they
had been beckoned by God should be arrested in its very beginning ; yet
they had faith to believe that His arm would be revealed at the appointed
time. Joseph’s feet, too, had been “ hurt in the stocks,”* and he became
a prince in Egypt. Daniel had been cast into the lions’ den, and he
1 “Then took they Jeremiah and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah, the son of
Hammelech, which was in the court of the prison ; and they let down Jeremiah with
cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire ; so Jeremiah sunk in the
mire.” Jer, xxxviii. 6. See the note in the Pictorial Bible.
* For an account of it, see Rich’s Companion to the Latin Dictionary.
3 “Statimque vinctos in Tullianum compingunt.” Apul. Met. ix. 183, where the
allusion is to Thessaly.
4 Especially in Plautus.
5 Euseb. Hist. Eccl. vi. 39. See also what he says of the martyrs in Gaul. Ta
κατὼ τὴν εἰρκὴν ἐν τῷ σκότει Kal TO χαλεπωτάτῳ γωρίῳ συγκλείσεις, Kai τὰς ἐν τῷ
ξύλῳ διατάσεις τῶν ποδῶν ἐπὶ πέμπτον διατεινομένων τρύπημα. ν. 1. Other extracts
from Christian writers are given in Suicer’s Thesaurus. Compare the word πεντε-
σύριγγος in the Schol. on Aristoph. Eq. 1046.
δ. Philsivep lle 7 Acts ν. 41.
8 Ps. cv. 18, Prayer-Book Version. Philo, writing on the history of Joseph (Gen.
xxxix. 21), has some striking remarks on the cruel character of jailors, who live among
thieves, robbers, and murderers, and never see anything that is good. They are
yuoted by Wetstein.
Ni τς 1.—20
806 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ΒΤ. PAUL.
was made ruler of Babylon. Thus Paul and Silas remembered witl. joy
the “Lord our Maker, who giveth songs in the night.”' Racked as, they
were with pain, sleepless and weary, they were heard “ about midnight,”
from the depth of their prison-house, “ praying and singing hymns te
God.”? What it was that they sang, we know not ; but the Psalms of
David have ever been dear to those who suffer ; they have instructed both
Jew and Christian in the language of-prayerand praise. And the psalms
abound in such sentences as these : — “ The Lord looketh down from His
sanctuary: out of heaven the Lord beholdeth the earth: that’ He might
hear the mournings of such as are in captivity, and deliver the childrer
appointed unto death.” — “ O let the sorrowful sighing of the prisoners
come before thee: according to the greatness of thy power, preserve thou
those that are appointed to die.” — “‘ The Lord helpeth them to right that
suffer wrong: the Lord looseth men out of prison: the Lord helpeth
them that are fallen: the Lord careth for the righteous.”* Such sounds
as these were new ina Roman dungeon. Whoever the other pisoners
might be, whether they were the victims of oppression, or were suffering the
punishment of guilt,——debtors, slaves, robbers, or murderers,—they listened
with surprise to the voices of those who filled the midnight of the prison
with sounds of cheerfulness and joy. Still the Apostles continued their
praises, and the prisoners listened. “They that sit in darkness, and in
the shadow of death: being fast bound in misery and iron; when they
eried unto the Lord in their trouble, He delivered them out of their
distress. For He brought them out of darkness, and out of the shadow
of death: and brake their bonds in sunder O that men would therefore
praise the Lord for ILis goodness, and declare the wonders that He doeth
for the children of men: for He hath broke the gates of brass, and
smitten the bars of iron in sunder.”® When suddenly, as if in direct
answer to the prayer of His servants, an earthquake shook the very foun-
dations of the prison,® the gates were broken, the bars smitten asunder,
and the bands of the prisoners loosed. Withoat striving to draw a line
between the natural and supernatural in this occurrence, and still less
endeavoring to resolve what was evidently miraculous into the results of
1 Job xxxv. 10.
3 Προσευχόμενοι ὕμνουν τὸν Θεον. Acts xvi. 25. For ὕμνειν, see Matt. xxvi. 30.
Mark xiv. 26. The psalms sung on that occasion are believed. to be Ps. exiii.-exviii.
The word ὕμνος is found Eph. v. 19. Col. iii. 16. Compare Heb. ii. 12.
3 Ps. cii. 19, 20. Ixxix. 12. cxlvi. 6-8. See also Ps. cxlii. 8,9. Ixix. 84. exvi
14, Ixviii. 6.
4 The imperfects ὕμνουν and ἐπηκροῶντο imply continuance. The Apostles were
singing, and the prisoners were listening, when the earthquake came.
5 Ps. cvii. 10-16.
® "Adu δὲ σειτωὸς ἐγένετο μέγας, ὥστε σαλευθῆναι τὰ ϑεμέλια τοὺ δεσμωτηριδε,
v. 26,
THE PRISON AND THE JAILOP. 3801
wrdina1y causes, we turn again to the thought suggested by that single
but expressive phrase of Scripture, ‘the prisoners were listening.” }
When we reflect on their knowledge of the Apostles’ sufferings (for they
were doubtless aware of the manner in which they had been brought ix
and thrust into the dungeon),? and on the wonder they must have expe
rienced on hearing sounds of joy from those who were in pain, and on the
awe which must have overpowered them when they felt the prison shaken
and the chains fall from their limbs; and when to all this we add the
effect produced on their minds by all that happened on the following day,
and especially the fact that the jailor himself became a Christian ; we
can hardly avoid the conclusion that the hearts of many of those unhappy
bondsmen were prepared that night to receive the Gospel, that the tidings
of spiritual liberty came to those whom, but for the captivity of the
Apostles, it would never have reached, and that the jailor himself was
their evangelist and teacher.
The effect produced by that night on the jailor’s own mind has been
fully related to us. Awakened in a moment by the earthquake, his first
thought was of his prisoners: * and in the shock of surprise and alarm,—
“seeing the doors of the prison open, and supposing that the prisoners
were fled,”—aware that inevitable death awaited him,‘ with the stern and
desperate resignation of a Roman official, he resolved that suicide was
better than disgrace, and “ drew his sword.”
Philippi is famous in the annals of suicide. Here Cassius, unable to
survive defeat, covered his face in the empty tent, and ordered his freed-
man to strike the blow.’ His messenger Titinius held it to be “ἃ Ro-
man’s part”® to follow the stern example. Here Brutus bade adieu to
his friends, exclaiming, “ Certainly we must fly, yet not with the feet, but
with the hands ;”7 and many, whose names have never reached us, ended
their last struggle for the republic by self-inflicted death.s Here, too, an-
other despairing man would have committed the same crime, had not his
band been arrested by an Apostle’s voice. Instead of a sudden and hope-
less death, the jailor received at the hands of his prisoner the gift both of
temporal and spiritual life.
The loud exclamation? of St. Paul, ‘ Do thyself no harm: for we are
1 See above, note on ἐπηκροῶντο.
? See above, on the form of ancient prisons.
3 "Esumvoc γενόμενος... καὶ ἰδών. kK. τ. A. V. 27.
4 By the Roman law, the jailor was to undergo the same punishment which the male-
factors who escaped by his negligence were to have suffered. Biscoe (p. 330), who
refers to the law, L. 4 De Custod. Reor.
8 Plut. Brutus, 43. 6 Julius Cexsar, Act v. Se. iii. 7 Plut. Brutus, 52.
8 “The majority of the proscribed who survived the battles of Philippi put an end
to their own lives, as they despaired of being pardoned.’’ Niebulir’s Lectures, ii, 118
9 ᾿φώνησε δὲ φωνῇ μεγάλῃ ὁ. 1]. ν. 28.
508 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. |
all here,” gave immediate reassurance to the terrified jailor. ile laia
aside his sword, and called for a light, and rushed 1 to the “ inner prison,”
where Paul and Silas were confined. But now a new fear of a higher
zind took possession of his soul. The recollection of all he had heard be-
fore concerning these prisoners and all that he had observed of their de
meanour when he brought them into the dungeon, the shuddering thought
οἵ the earthquake, the burst of his gratitude towards them as the pre
servers of his life, and the consciousness that even in the darkness of
midnight they had seen his intention of suicide,—all these mingling and
conflicting emotions made him feel that he was in the presence of a higher
power. He fell down before them, and brought them out, as men whom
he had deeply injured and insulted, to a place of greater freedom and
comfort ;? and then he asked them,,with earnest anxiety, what he must
do to he saved. We see the Apostle here self-possessed in the earth-
quake, as afterwards in the storm at sea,? able to overawe and control
those who were placed over him, and calmly turning the occasion to a
spiritual end. It is surely, however, a mistake to imagine that the jailor’s
inquiry had reference merely to temporal and immediate danger. The
awakening of his conscience, the presence of the unseen world, the miracu-
lous visitation, the nearness of death,—coupled perhaps with some confused
recollection of the ‘‘ way of salvation” which these strangers were said to
have been proclaiming,—were enough to suggest that inquiry which is the
most momentous that any human soul can make: “ What must I do to be
saved?” 4 Their answer was that of faithful Apostles. They preached
“not themselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord.”® ‘ Believe, not in us, but
iz the Lord Jesus, and thow shalt be saved; and not only thou, but the like
faith shall bring salvation to all thy house.” From this last expression,
and the words which follow, we infer that the members of the jailor’s
family had crowded round him and the Apostles. No time was lost in
making known to them ‘the word of the Lord.” All thought of bodily
1 The word is εἰσπηδήσας, which, as well as dvaydywy below, seems to imply that
the dungeon was subterraneous,
Wither the outer prison or the space about the entrance to the jailor’s dwelling, if
indeed they were not identical,
» Acts xxvii. 20-25.
© pe δεῖ ποιεῖν iva σωθῶ. v.30. The word σωθῶ should be.compared with ddd»
σωτηρίαι, v.17. These words must have been frequently in the mouth of St. Paul.
ft is probable that the demoniac, and possible that the jailor, might have heard them.
Ree p. 301. 5 2 Cor. iv. 5.
€ The preaching of the Gospel to the jailor and his family (row ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ αὐτοῦ),
seems to have taken place immediately on coming out of the prison (vy. 30-32); then
he baptism of the converts, and the washing of the Apostles’ stripes (v. 33) ; and
finally the going up into the house {εἰς τὸν οἶκον), and the hospitable refreshment there
afforded. It does not appear certain that they returned from the jailor’s house inte
the dungeon before they were taken out of custody ( ἐν τῆς φυλακῆς. v.40).
THE MAGISTRATES. 308
vomfort and repose was postponed to the work of ‘saving the soui. The
meaning of “faith in Jesus” was explained, and the Gospel was preachec
to the jailor’s family at midnight, while the prisoners were silent around,
and the light was thrown on anxious faces and the dungeon-wall.
And now we have an instance of that sympathetic care, that inter
change of temporal and spiritual service, which has ever attended the stepa
vf true Christianity. As it was in the miracles of our Lord and Saviour,
where the soul and the body were regarded together, so has it always
been in His Church. “In the same hour of the night”! the jailor took
the Apostles to the well or fountain of water which was within or
near the precincts of the prison, and there he washed their wounds, and
there also he and his household were baptized. He did what he could to
assuage the bodily pain of Paul and Silas, and they admitted him and his,
by the “ laver of regeneration,” * to the spiritual citizenship of the king-
dom of God. ‘The prisoners of the jailor were now become his guests.
His cruelty was changed into hospitality and love. ‘‘ He took them up?
into his house,” and, placing them in a posture of repose, set food before
them,‘ and refreshed their exhausted strength. It was a night of happi-
ness for all. They praised God that His power had been made effectual
in their weakness ; and the jailor’s family had their first expericnce of that
joy which is the fruit of believing in God.
At length morning broke on the eventful night. In the course of that
night the greatest of all changes had been wrought in the jailor’s relations
to this world and the next. From being the ignorant slave of a heathen
magistracy he had become the religious head of a Christian family. A
change, also, in the same interval of time, had come over the minds of the
magistrates themselves. Either from reflecting that they had acted more
harshly than the case had warranted, or from hearing a more accurate
statement of facts, or through alarm caused by the earthquake, or through
that vague misgiving which sometimes, as in the case of Pilate and his wife,*
haunts the minds of those who have no distinct religious convictions, they
sent new orders in the morning to the jailor. The message conveyed by
the lictors was expressed in a somewhat contemptuous form, “Let those men
go.”® But the jailor received it with the utmost joy. He felt his infinite
ee Παραλαβὼν αὐτοὺς ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ὥρᾳ τὴς νυκτός. ν 33. The word παραλαβὼν
implies a change of place, as again ἀναγαγὼν below.
3 Tit. ili. 5.
3 V.34. The word ἀναγαγὼν implies at least that the house was higher than tae
prison. See p. 308, n. 1.
4 Παρέθηκεν τραπέφαν. y. 34. The custom of Greek and Roman meals must be
borne in mind. Guests were placed on couches, and tables, with the different courses
of food, were brought and removed in succession.
5 Matt. xxvii. 19.
6 Or, as it might be translated, “Let those fellows go :"--᾿Απόλυσον τοὺς dvbpwn ove
ἐνείνους. V. 3d.
$10 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ΕἸ. PAUD.
debt Paul and Silas set forth on their journey.
Before we follow them to Thessalonica, we may pause to take a general
survey of the condition and extent of Macedonia, in the sense in which the
term was understood in the language of the day. It has been well said
that the Acts of the Apostles have made Macedonia a kind of Holy
Land ;° and it is satisfactory that the places there visited and revisited
by St. Paul and his companions are so well known, that we have no diffi-
culty in representing to the mind their position and their relation to the
surrounding country.
Macedonia, in its popular sense, may be described as a region bounded
by a great semicircle of mountains, beyond which the streams flow west-
ward to the Adriatic, or northward and eastward to the Danube and the
Euxine.? This mountain barrier sends down branches to the sea on the
! The conjecture that Lucius of Cyrene (Acts xiii. 1) was the Evangelist, has been
mentioned above, p. 132, n. 3.
* Compare the case of Democedes in Herodotus, who was established first in Adgina,
then in Athens, and finally in Samos. For an account of Greek physicians, see the
Appendix to Becker’s Charicles. Physicians at Rome were less highly esteemed, and
were frequently slaves. Ata period even later than St. Luke, Galen speaks of the
medical schools of Cos and Cnidus, of Rhodes and of Asia. The passage is quoted in
§ 38 of the Third Part of Hermann’s Lehrbuch der gr. Antiquitaten (1850).
31Tim.i.3,. 2 Tim.iv. 9,21. Tit.i.5. iii. 12. See above, p. 284.
42Tim.iv.11. See the Christian Year: St. Luke’s Day.
5 The Christian women at Philippi have been alluded to before. P 297. See espe-
' cially Phil. iv. 2, 3 and Rilliet’s note. We cannot well doubt that presbyters also wera
appointed, as at Thessalonica. See below. Compare Phil. i. 1.
ὁ “The whole of Macedonia, and in particular the route from Berea to Thessalonica
and Philippi, being so remarkably distinguished by St. Paul’s sufferings and adven-
tures, becomes as a portion of Holy Land.” Clarke’s Travels, ch. xi.
7 The mountains on the north, under the names of Scomi‘us, Scordus, &c., are con
nected with the Hemus or Balkan. Those on the west run in a southerly direction
nod are continuous witk the chain of Pindus.
814 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 51. PAUL.
eastern or Thracian frontier, over against Thasos and Samothrace;! and
on the south shuts out the plain of Thessaly, and rises near the shore te
the high summits of Pelion, Ossa, and the snowy Olympus.? The space
thus enclosed’ is intersected by two great rivers. One of these is Homer’s
“ wide-flowing Axius,”* which directs its course past Pella, the ancient
metropolis of the Macedonian kings, and the birthplace of Alexander, to
the low levels in the neighbourhood of Thessalonica, where other rivers4
flow near it into the Thermaic gulf. The other is the Strymon, which
brings the produce of the great inland level of Serres* by Lake Cercinus to
the sea at Amphipolis, and beyond which was Philippi, the military out-
post that commemorated the successful conquests of Alexander’s father.
Between the mouths of these two rivers a remarkable tract of country,
which is insular, rather than continental,® projects into the Archipelago,
and divides itself into three points, on the furthest point of which Mount
Athos rises nearly into the region of perpetual snow.? Part of St. Paul’s
path between Philippi and Berga lay across the neck of this peninsula
The whole of his route was over historical ground. At Philippi he was
close to the confines of Thracian barbarism, and on the spot where th
last battle was fought in defence of the republic. At Bercea he came
near the mountains, beyond which is the region of Classical Greece, and
close to the spot where the battle was fought which reduced Macedonia
to a province.’
If we wish to view Macedonia as a province, some modifications must
1 These are the mountains near the river Nestus, which, after the time of Philip,
was considered the boundary of Macedonia and Thrace.
2 The natural boundary between Macedonia and Thessaly is formed by the Cambu-
nian hills, running in an easterly direction from the central chain of Pindus. The
Cambunian range is vividly described in the following view from the “ giddy height”’
of Qlympus, which rises near the coast. “I seemed to stand perpendicularly over the
sea, at the height of 10,000 feet. Salonica was quite distinguishable, lying North-
East. Larissa [in Thessaly] appeared under my very feet. The whole horizon from
North to South-West was occupied by mountains, hanging on, as it were, to Clympus.
This is the range that runs Westward along the North of Thessaly, ending in Pindus.”
Urquhart’s Spirit of the East, vol. i. p. 429.
3 ’ASiod εὐρὺ ῥέοντος,
Αξιοῦ, οὗ κάλλιστον ὕδωρ ἐπικίδναται uin.—ll. ii. 849.
4 The Haliacmon, which flows near Bercea, is the most important of them.
3 This is the great inland plain at one extremity of which Philippi was situated, anu
which has heen mentioned above (p. 289). Its principal town at present is Serres, the
residence of the governor of the whole district, and a place of considerable importance,
often mentioned by Cousinéry, Leake, and other travellers.
6 The peninsula anciently called Chalcidice.
7 The elevation of Mount Athos is between 4000 and 5000 feet. The writer has
heard English sailors say that there is almost always snow on Athos and Olympus, and
that, though the land generally is high in this part of the Augean, these mountains are
by far the most conspicuous.
% Pydna is within a few miles of Bercea, on the other side of the Haiiacmon.
ROMAN MACEDONIA. 3815
COIN OF ROMAN MACEDONIA,
be introduced into the preceding description. It applies, indeed, with suffi
cient exactness to the country on its first conquest by the Romans.* The
rivers already alluded to, define the four districts into which it was divided.
Macedonia Prima was the region east of the Strymon, of which Amphi-
polis was the capital ;3 Macedonia Secunda lay between the Strymon and
the Axius, and Thessalonica was its metropolis; and the other two re-
gions were situated to the south towards Thessaly, and on the mountains
to the west.‘ This was the division adopted by Paulus Mmilius after the
battle of Pydna. But the arrangement was only temporary. The whole
of Macedonia, along with some adjacent territories, was made one pre
vince,® and centralised under the jurisdiction of a proconsu!,* who residec
at Thessalonica. This province included Thessaly,? and extended over
the mountain chain which had been the western boundary of ancient Ma-
cedonia, so as to embrace a sea-board of considerable length on the shore
of the Adriatic.s The provincial limits, in this part of the empire, are
far more easily discriminated than those with which we have been lately
occupied (Ch. VIII.). Three provinces divided the whole surface which
1 From the British Museum. This coin has been seleeted in consequence of the sin-
gular union of Greek and Roman letters. Probably it was struck just before the
subdivision, and the letters LEG commemorate the victory of some legion, which ig
further symbolised by a hand holding a palm-branch. The Diana and the club appeer
similarly on the coins of Macedonia Prima, which are found in great numbers in
Wallachia and Transylvania; a fact sufficiently accounted for by the mines which have
been mentioned. See Eckhel.
3. See Liv. xlv. 29. 3 See above.
4 Macedonia Tertia was between the Axius and Peneus, with Pella for its capital
Pelagonia was the capital of Macedonia Quarta. It is remarkable that no coins of the
third division have been found, but only of the first, second, and fourth.
5 By Metellus.
6 At first it was one of the emperor’s provinces, but afterwards it was placed under
the senate.
7 Thessaly was subject to Macedonia when the Roman wars began. At the close of
the first war, under Flaminius, it was declared free ; but ultimately it was incorporated
with the province. See Plin. H. N. and Ptol.
8 Sigonius refers to Dio, Pliny, and Ptolemy. We find Piso the proconsul of Mace-
fonia, who is made notorious by Cicero, having the command of Dyrrhachium on this
ceast. The same speech informs us that he he!d pars of Thrace also.
316 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
extends from the basin of the Danube to Cape Matapan. AI! of them
are familiar to us in the writings of St. Paul. The extent cf J/acedonia
has just been defined. Its relations with the other provinces were as
follows. On the north-west it was contiguous to Jilyricum,' which was
spread down the shore of the Adriatic nearly to the same point to which
the Austrian territory now extends, fringing the Mahometan empire with
a Christian border. A hundred miles to the southward, at the Acrocer-
aunian promontory, it touched Achaza, the boundary of which province
ran thence in an irregular line to the bay of Thermopyle and the north’
of Hubcea, including Epirus, and excluding Thessaly.* Achaia and Ma-
cedonia were traversed many times by the Apostle ;4 and he could say,
when he was hoping to travel to Rome, that he had preached the Gospel
“round about unto Illyricum.” ®
When we allude to Rome, and think of the relation of the City to the
provinces, we are inevitably reminded of the military roads ; and here,
across the breadth of Macedonia, was one of the greatest roads of tne
Empire. It is evident that, after Constantinople was founded, a line of
communication between the Eastern and Western capitals was of the
utmost moment ; but the Via Egnatia® was constructed long before this
period Strabo, in the reign of Augustus, informs us that it was regularly
made and marked out by milestones, from Dyrrhachium on the Adriatic,
to Cypselus on the Hebrus, in Thrace ;7 and even before the close of the
republie, we find Cicero speaking, in one of his speeches, of “ that military
way of ours, which connects us with the Hellespont.”* Certain districts
1 At first the wars of Rome with the people of this coast merely led to mercantile
treaties for the free navigation of the Adriatic. Julius Caesar and Augustus concluded
the series of wars which gradually reduced it to a province.
2 The border town was Lissus, the modern Alessio, not far from Scutari.
3 Except in the western portion, the boundary nearly coincided with that of the
modern kingdom of Greece. The provincial arrangements of Achaia will be alluded
to more particularly hereafter.
4 Observe how these provinces are mentioned together, Rom. xy. 26. 2 Cor. ix. 2
xi. 9. 10, also 1 Thess. i. 7, 8.
5 Rom. xv. 19. Dalmatia (2 Tim iv. 10) was a district in this province. Nicopolis
(Tit. iii, 12) was in Epirus, which, as we have seen, was a district in the province of
Achaia, but it was connected by a branch road with the Via Egnatia from Dyrrhachium,
which is mentioned below.
6 All the details of the Via Egnatia have been carefully elaborated by Tafel in nis
work on the subject, in two parts. Tubingen, 1841-4.
7 Polybius, in the viith book of Strabo.
8 “Via illa nostra, que per Macedoniam est usque ad Hellespontum, militaris.”
De Proy. Cons. ii. Compare the letters to Atticus, written on the journey from Rome
to his province : “ Nobis iter est in Asiam, maxime Cyzicum. Dat. xiv. Kal. Mai. de
Tarentino”? iii. 6. “Aut accedemus in Epirum aut tarde per Candaviam ibimua,
Dat. prid. Kal. Mai. Brundisii”” iii. 7. “ Quum Dyrrachii essemus, dud nuntii. . .
Pella mihi presto fuit Phaetho. . . . Thessalonicam a. ἃ. x. Kal. Jun. venimus. Dat
iiii. Kal. Quint. Thessalonice.” iii. 8.
THE VIA EGNATIA. 911
gn the European side of the Hellespont had been part of the legacy of
King Attalus,' and the simultaneous possession of Macedonia, Asia, and
Bithynia, with the prospect of further conquests in the Hast, made this
line of communication absolutely necessary. When St. Paul was on the
Roman road at Troas* or Philippi, he was on a road which led to the
gates of Rome. It was the same pavement which he afterwards trod at
Appii Forum and the Three Taverns. The nearest parallel which the
world has seen of the imperial roads is the present Huropean raiiway
system. The Hellespont and the Bosphorus, in the reign of Claudius,
were what the Straits of Dover and Holyhead are now; and even the
passage from Brundusium in Italy, to Dyrrhachium and Apollonia‘ in
Macedonia, was only a tempestuous ferry,—only one of those difficulties
of nature which the Romans would have overcome if they could, and
which the boldest of the Romans dared to defy. From Dyrrhachium and
Apollonia, the Via Egnatia, strictly so called, extended a distance of
five hundred miles, to the Hebrus, in Thrace.* Thessalonica was about
half way between these remote points,’ and Philippi was the last’ im-
portant town in the province of Macedonia. Our concern is only with
that part of the Via Egnatia which lay between the two last-mentioned
cities.
The intermediate stages mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles are
Amphipolis and Apollonia. The distances laid down in the Itineraries
are as follows :—Philippi to Amphipolis, thirty-three miles; Amphipolis to
1 See the preceding Chapter, under “ Asia.”
2 See what is said of the road between Troas and Pergamus, &ce., p. 278.
3 Acts xxviii. 15. For notices of the Via Appia, where it approaches the Adriatic,
in the neighbourhood of Egnatia (‘ Gnatia lymphis iratis extructa’’), whence the
Macedonian continuation received its name, see Horace’s journey, Sat. 1. v. Dean Mil-
man’s Horace contains an expressive representation of Brundusium, the harbour on the
Italian side of the water.
4 7. ce. Apollonia on the Adriatic, which must be carefully distinguished from the
other town of the same name, and on the same road, between Thessalonica and Amphi
polis (Acts xvii. 1).
& See the anecdotes of Cxsar’s bold proceedings between Brundusium and the oppo
site side of the sea in Plutarch, 37, 38. The same writer tells us that Cicero, when
departing on his exile, was driven back by a storm into Brundusium. See below, p.
322,n.9. The great landing place on the Macedonian side was Dyrrhachium, the
ancient Epidamnus, called by Catullus “ Adria Taberne.”’
6 The roads from Dyrrhachium and Apollonia met together at a place called Ch
diana, and thence the Via Egnatia passed over the mountains to Heraclea in Macedonia
It entered the plain at Edessa (see below), and thence passed by Pella to Thessalonica,
The stations, as given by the Antonine and Jerusalem Itineraries and the Peutinger
Table, will be found in Cramer’s Ancient Greece, v. i. pp. 81-84.
7 Tafel. Thus Cicero, in the passage above quoted (De Prov Cons.), speaks of the
Thessalonicenses as “ positi in gremio imperii nostri.”
δ. See above, p. 288, n. 10, and p. 290, n. 9
818 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
Apollonia, thrty miles; Apollonia to Thessalonica, thirty-seven mes.
These distances are evidently such as might have been traversed cach in
one day ; and since nothing is said of any delay on the road, but every
thing to imply that the journey was rapid, we conclude (unless, indeed,
their recent sufferings made rapid travelling impossible) that Paul and
Silas rested one night at each of the intermediate places, and thus our
notice of their journey is divided into three parts.
From Philippi to Amphipolis, the Roman way passed across the plain
co the north of Mount Pangzeus. the birth-place of Aristotle ; and in the pass,
where the mountains close on the road, is the tomb of Euripides.° Thus
the steps of our progress, as we leave the East and begin to draw near
_ «athens, are already among her historians, philosophers, and poets.
Apollonia is somewhere in the inland part of the journey, where the
Via Eegnatia crosses from the gulf of the Strymon to that of ‘thessalo-
nica ; but its exact position has not been ascertained. We will, there
fore, merely allude to the scenery through which the traveller moves, in
going from sea to sea. The pass of Arethusa is beautiful and pictur-
esque. A river flows through it in a sinuous course, and abundant oaks
1 See the passages in the speeches which relate to Philip’s encroachment on the
Athenian power in the North of the Aigean.
2 Livy’s words (xly. 30) show that the Romans fully appreciated the impertance of
the position. “Pars prima habet opportunitatem Amphipoleos ; que objecta claudit
omnes ab oriente sole in Macedoniam aditus.”
3 Dr. Clarke.
4 This is the place mentioned by Thucydides on the march of Brasidas. ᾿Αφικόμενος
περὶ δείλην ἐπὶ τὸν ᾿Αυλῶνα Kai Βρομίσκον, ἡ ἡ Βόλβη λίμνη ἐξίησιν ἐς ϑώλισσαν. iv.
103. Aulon is identified with Arethusa by comparing the following passage from
Ammianus Marcellinus: “‘ Bromiscus, cui proxima Arecthusa convallis et statio «st, in
qua visitur Euripidis sepulchrum.” xxvii. 4. Dr. Clarke, ch. xii, devotes several
vages to this tomb. The Jerusalem Itinerary, besides another intermediate station at
Pennana, mentions that at the tomb of Euripides. Colonel Leake passed this spot on
his way from Stavros to Orphano; and he says, “ The opening being in the great pest
road from Saloniki to Constantinople, and in a country which has often been infested
with robbers, there is a guard-house in the pass, kept by a few soldiers.” p. 170.
5 Leake identifies Stagirus with Stavros, a little to the south of Aulon, p. 167.
6 See the last note buf one.
“SITOdIHAIWV
APOLLONIA. 921]
and plane trees are on the rocks around.! Presently this stream is seen
co emerge from an inland lake, whose promontories and villages, with the
high mountains rising to the south-west, have reminded travellers of Swit
verland.” As we journey towards the west, we come to a second lake
Between the two is the modern post-station of Klisali, which may possi
bly be Apollonia,® though it is generally believed to be on the mountain
‘slope to the south of the easternmost lake. The whole region of these
two lakes is a long valley, or rather a succession of plains, where the
level spaces are richly wooded with forest trees, and the nearer hills are
covered to their summity with olives. Beyond the second lake, the road
passes over some rising ground, and presently, after passing through a
narrow glen, we obtain a sight of the sea once more, the eye ranges freely
over the plain of the Axius, and the city of Thessalonica is immediately
before us.
Once arrived in this city, St. Paul no longer follows the course of the
Via Egnatia. He may have done so at a later period, when he says that
he had preached the Gospel “ round about unto Ilyricum.”? But at pre
sent he had reached the point most favourable for the glad proclamation.
The direction of the Roman road was of course determined by important
geographical positions ; and along the whole line from Dyrrhachium to
the Hebrus, no city was so large and influential as Thessalonica.’
1 See Dr. Clarke. Cousinéry writes with great enthusiasm concerning this glen.
Ge is travelling eastwards towards Amphipolis, like Dr. Clarke, and writes thus:
“On se trouve bientot auprés du grand ruisseau, qui, en sortant du lac, va se jeter dans
Ja mer par une vallée étroite. Ses riants ombrages font oublier ’apreté de la route
yu’on vient de parcourir. Ce ruisseau, qui n’a que deux lieux d’étendue, serpente entre
la Chalcidique et la Bisaltique : ces deux previnces semblent se séparer au milieu d’une
épaisse forét, pour ouvrir aux voyageurs un chemin qui, de temps immémorial, a con-
duit de la Macédoine dans la Thrace, a travers des pelouses et des fleurs.”” p. 116.
7 See Dr. Clarke. Both he and Cousinéry make mention of the two villages, the
Little Bechik and Great Bechik, on its north bank, along which the modern road
passes.
3 This is Tafel’s opinion: but Leake and Cousinéry both agree in placing it to the
south of Lake Bolbe. Cousinéry, looking from the modern road, which passes on the
north side of the lake, says that Polina was one of the villages which he saw on the
opposite hills. 1115. [He makes a curious mistake in what follows : “Ou nous retrou-
vons les restes de l’ancienne ville d’Apollonie, que traversait la vote Appienne.’’]
Colonel Leake also says that the ruins are to be seen at the right distances from Thes-
salonica and Amphipolis, but he does not seem to have visited them. See the passage
where he points out the difference between the Mygdonian and the Chaleidic Apollonia
pp. 457, 458. We ought to add, that the Antonine and Jerusalem Itineraries appear
to give two distinct roads between Apollonia aud Thegssalonica. See Leake, p. 46.
4 See Clarke’s Travels.
5 See above, p. 316 and the notes. This expression, however, might be used if
nothing more were meant than a progress to the very frontier of Ilyricum.
6 The great work on Thessalonica is that by Tafel, the first part of which was pub
lished at Tubingen in 1835. This was afterwards reprinted as “ Prolegomena”’ to tha
Dissertatio de Thessalonica ejusque agro Geographica, Berlin, 1839.
VOL. 1.—21
3929 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ΕἾΤ. PAUL.
The Apostolic city at which we are now arrived was known in the
aarliest periods of its history under various names.'| Under that of Ther
ma’ it is assuciated with some interesting recollections. It was the
resting-place of Xerxes on his march ;* it is not unmentioned in the Pelo-
pounesian war ;4 and it was a frequent subject of debate in the last inde-
pendent assemblies of Athens.» When the Macedonian power began
to overshadow all th® countries where Greek was spoken, this city re-
ceived its new name, and began a new and more distinguished period of
its history. A sister of Alexander the Great was called Thessalonica,
and her name was given to the city of Therma when rebuilt and, embel-
lished by her husband, Cassander, the son of Antipater.¢ This name,
under a form slightly modified, has continued to the present day. The
Salneck of the early German poets has become the Saloniki of the modern
Levant.? Its history can be followed as continuously as its name. When
Macedonia was partitioned into four provincial divisions by Paulus Aumi-
lius, Thessalonica was the capital of that which lay between the Axius
and the Strymon.s When the four regions were united into one Roman
province, this city was chosen as the metropolis of the whole. Its name
appears more than ence in the annals of the civil wars. It was the scene
of the exile of Cicero ;% and one of the stages of his journey between
Rome and his province in the Hast..° Antony and Octavius were here.
after the battle of Philippi:!! and coins are still extant which allude to
the “ freedom” granted by the victorious leaders to the city of the Ther-
1 Emathia and Halia were two of its early names. A good outline of the history is
given by Koch in the Einleitung to his Commentar uber den ersten Brief des Ap. P. an
die Thess. Berlin, 1849.
2 Hence the gulf continued to be called the Thermaic Gulf. See two of the accentual
lines quoted by Tafel from a poem of the middle ages:
Καὶ μέχρι viv τὸ πέλαγος τὸ τῆς Θεσσαλονίκης,
Θερμαῖος κόλπος λέγεται, ἀπὸ τῆς Θέομης κώμης.
3 Herod. vii. 4 See Thue. i. 61.
5 Asch. Fals. Leg. p. 211. Reiske.
6 The first author in which the new name occurs is Polybius. Some say that
the name was given by Philip in honour of his daughter, and others that it directly
commemorated a victory over the Thessalians. “But the opinion stated above appears
the most probable. See Koch, p. 2. Philip’s daughter was called Thessalonica, in
commemoration of a victory obtained by her father on the day when he heard of her
birth. Cousinéry sees an allusion to this in the Victory on the coins of the city. See
below.
7 See the references to early German poems in Koch’s Ninleitung, p. 3.
8 See above, p. 315.
® Both in going out and returning he crossed the Adriatic, between Brundusium and
Dyrrhackicm. Sce p. 317, n.5. In travelling through Macedonia he would follow
the Via Egnatia. Dyrrachium was a “free city,” like Thessalonica, “ Dyrrachium
veni, quod et libera civitas est, et in me officiosa.” Ep. Pam. xiv. 1.
10 Several of his letters were written fram Thessalonica on this journey.
41 Cousinéry.
]
all i a
wil ".
THESSALONICA FROM THE SEA.
THESSALONICA. 8238
maic Gulf! Strabo, in the first century, speaks of Thessalonica as ths
most populous town in Macedonia.* Lucian, in the second century, uses
similar language. Before the founding of Constantinople, it was virtually
the capital of Greece and Ilyricum, as well as of Macedonia,‘ and shared
the trade of the Adgean with Ephesus and Corinth. Even after the east-
ern Rome was built and reigned over the Levant, we find both Pagan and
Christian writers speaking of Thessalonica as the met®opolis of Macedonia,’
und a place of great magnitude.© Through the Micdle Ages it never
ceased to be important ; and it is, at the present day, the second city in
Exropean Turkey.? The reason of this continued pre-eminence is to be
found in its geographical position. Situated on the inner bend of the
Thermaie Gulf,—hali-way between the Adriatic and the Hellespont,*—
on the sea-margin of a vast plain watered by several rivers,’—and at the
entrance of the pass" which commands the approach to the other vreat
Macedonian level,—it was evidently destined for a mercantile emporium
Its relation with the inland trade of Macedonia was as close as that of
Amphipolis ; and its maritime advantages were perhaps even greater.
Thus, while Amphipolis decayed under the Byzantine emperors, Thes-
salonica continued to prosper. There probably never was ἃ time,
from the day when it first received its name, that this city, as viewed
from the sea, has not had the aspect of a busy commercial town. We see
at once how appropriate a place it was for one of the starting points of
tae Gospel in Europe ; and we can appreciate the force of the expression
used by St. Paul within a few months of his departure from the Thessa-
lonians,'* when he says, that “from them the Word of the Lord had
1 Tafel and Cousinéry.
3. Θεσσαλονικείας, Διακεδονικῆς πόλξως, ἣ νῦν μάλιστα τῶν ἄλλων εὐανδρεῖ. Vii,
7, 4. Ile seems to be the only writer who uses this form of the name.
3 Πύλεως τῶν ἐν Μακεδονίᾳ τῆς μεγίστης Θεσσαλονίτης. Asinus Aureus, 46.
4 Tafel.
5 He calls it μητρόπολις Μακεδονίας. Sec Tafel.
ὃ Θεσσαλονίκη πόλις ἐστὶ μεγίστη. καὶ πολυάνθρωπος. Hist. Eccl. v. 17
7 For a very full account of its modern condition, see Dr. Holland’s Travels. -
8. Medio flexu litoris sinus Thermaici. Plin. H. N. iv. 10. Εἰς τὸν Θερμαῖον διήκων
μυχὸν. Strabo viii. 1, 3.
9 See above, p. 314.
* The chief of these are the Axius and Haliaemon. The whole region near the sea
consists of low, alluvial soil. See below, on the journey from Thessalonica to Bereea.
1 This is the pass mentioned above, through which the road to Amphipolis passed,
and in which Apollonia was situated.
1? Notices of its mercantile relations in the middle ages are given by Tafel. For an
recount of its modern trade, and the way in which it was affected by the last war, see
Holland’s Travels.
3 1 Thess. i. 8. The Mpistle was written from Corinth very soon after the depa) ture
from. Thessalonica. See Ch. XI.
324 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ΕΤ. PAUL.
sounded forth like a trumpet,’ not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but tt
every place.”
No city, which we have had occasion to describe, has had so distin
guished a Christian history, with the single exception of the Syrian An.
tioch ; and the Christian glory of the Patriarchal city gradually faded
befere that of the Macedonian metropolis. The heroic age of Thessa-
lonica was the third century.” It was the bulwark of Constantinople in
the shock of the barbarians ; and ἐν held up the torch of the truth to the
successive tribes who overspread the country between the Danube and the
#ivean,—the Goths and the Sclaves, the Bulgarians of the Greek Church,
aud the Wallachians,? whose language still seems to connect them with
Philippi and the Roman colonies. Thus, in the medieval chroniclers, it
has deserved the name of “the Orthodox City.”4 The remaius of its
Hippodrome, which is for ever associated with the history of Theodosius
and Ambrose,’ can yet be traced among the Turkish houses. Its bishops
have sat in great councils. The writings of its great preacher and scholar
Eustathius’ are still preserved to us. It is true that the Christianity of
Thessalonica, both medieval and modern, has been debased by huuiliating
1 ’Egjynra, as Chrysostom says, δηλῶν ὅτι ὥσπερ σάλπιγγος λαμπρον ἡχούσης ὁ
πλήσιον ἅπας πληροῦται τόπος, ὕυτω τῆς ὑμετέρας ἀνδρείας ἡ φήμη καθώπερ ἐκείνη σαλ-
πίζουσα ἱκανὴ τὴν οἰκου μένην ἐμπλῆσαι.
2 Tafel traces the history of Thessalonica, in great detail, through the middle ages ;
and shows how, after the invasion of the Goths, it was the means of converting the
Sclaves, and through them the Bulgarians, to the Christian faith. The peasant popu-
lation to the east of Thessalonica is Bulgarian, to the west it is Greek (Cousinéry, p.
52). Both belong to the Greek Church.
3 See what Cousinéry says (ch. i.) of the Wallachians, who are intermixea among
the other tribes of modern Macedonia. They speak a corrupt Latin, and he thinks
they are descended from the ancient colonies. They are a ‘icrce and bold race, living
chiefly in the mountains; and when trading caravans have to go through dangerous
places they are posted in the front.
4 See the work of Joh. Cameniata, “ De Excidio Thessalonicensi,”’ in the Boun Edi
tion of the Byzantine writers. The city is described in this account of its being tuken
by the Arabs in 904. The history of Cameniata is curious. He was crozier-bearer to
the archbishop, and was carried off by the Arabs, and landed at Tarsus, where he wrote
his book. The narrative of another storming of the city (by the Romans) is alluded
to below. There is a third narrative (of its sack by the Turks under Amurath IL., in
1430) by M. Anagnostes.
5 Some accounts say that 15,000 persons were involved in the massacre, for which
the archbishop of Milan exacted penance from the emperor. See Gibbon, ch. xxvii,
For some notice of the remains of the Hippodrome, which still retains its name. see
Cousinéry, ch. ii.
ὁ We find the Bishop of Thessalonica in the Council of Sardis, a. p. 347 ; and a
decree of the Council relates to the place.
7 Eustathius preached and wrote there in the twelfth century. He was highly
esteemed by the Comneni, and is held to have been “beyond all dispute the most
learned man of his age.” Tafel has recently published some of his minor works,
among which is an account of the taking of Thessalonica by the Normans in 1185
The sack by the Arabs in 904 is alluded to above, n. 4.
.
'THESSALONICA. 328
superstition. The glory of its patron saint, Demetrius,' has eclipsed that
of St. Paul, the founder of its Church. But the same Divine Provideuce
which causes us to be thankful for the past, commands us to be hopefui
for the future ; and we may look forward to the time when a new harvest
of the “work of faith and labour of love and patience of hope,” * shall
spring up from the seeds of Divine Truth, which were first sown on the
shore of the Thermaic Gulf by the Apostle of the Gentiles.
If Thessalonica can boast of a series of Christian annals, unbroken
since the day of St. Paul’s arrival, its relations with the Jewish people
have continued for a still longer period. In our own day it contains a
multitude of Jews? commanding an influential position, many of whom
are occupied (not very differently from St. Paul himself) in the manufac-
ture of cloth. A considerable number of them are refugees from Spain,
and speak the Spanish language. There are materials for tracing similar
settlements of the same scattered and persecuted people in this city, at
intervals, during the Middle Ages ;4 and even before the destruction of
Jerusalem we find them here, numerous and influential, as at Antioch and
Iconium. Here, doubtless, was the chief colony of those Jews of Mace-
donia of whom Philo speaks ;* for while there was only a proseucha at
Philippi, and while Amphipolis and Apollonia had no Israelite communi-
ties to detain the Apostles, “the synagogue” 8 of the neighbourhood was
at Thessalonica.
1 See many allusions to him in Tafel’s quotations. Cameniata enumerates Paul first
and Demetrius second among the glorious saints of Thessalonica. De Excidio, &e., 3.
ὙΠ ΠΡ 655: 1 Ὁ.
3 Paul Lueas, in his later journey, says :—“ Les Chrétiens y sont environ au nombre
de 10,000. On y compte 30,000 Juifs, qui y ont 22 synagogues, et ce sont eux qui y
font tout le commerce. Comme ils sont fort industrieux, deux grand vizirs se sont mis
successivement en téte de les faire travailler aux manufactures du draps de France,
pour mettre la Turquie en état de se passer des étrangers; mais ils n’ont jamais pa
réussir: cependant ils vendent assez bien leurs gros draps au grand seigneur, qui en
fait habiiler ses troupes.’ P.37. Hadji Chalfa’s Bosna and Rumeli (translated from
the Turkish by Von Hammer, and quoted by Tafel,) speaks of the Jews at Thessalo-
nica, in the 17th century, as carpet and cloth makers, of their liberality to the poor,
and of their schools, with more than 1000 children. Cousinéry reckons them at 20,000,
many of them from Spain. He adds: “ Chaque synagogue a Salonique porte le nom
de la province d’ou sont originaires les familles qui la composent.” P.19. In the
“ Jewish Intelligence ” for 1849 (vol. xv. pp. 374-377), the Jews at Salonica are reck-
oned at 35,000, being half the whole population, and having the chief trade in their
Lands. They are said to have thirty-six synagogues, “none of them remarkable for
their neatness or elegance of style.”
4 They are alluded to in the 7th century, and 19ain in considerable numbers in the
12th. See Tafel.
5 See Ch. 1. p. 18.
6 Ἢ συναγωγη,, with the article. “ Articulus additus significat Philippis, Amphipols
et Apollonix nullas fuisse synagogas, sed si qui ibi essent Judi, eos synagogain adiissa
Thessalonicensem.” Grotius. There was another synagogue at Berea. Acts xvii. 19,
820 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 51. PAUL.
The first scene to which we are introduced in this city is entirely Jew
ish. It is not a small meeting of prosclyte women by the river side, but
a crowded assembly of true born Jews, intent on their religious worship,
among whom Paul and Silas now make their appearance. If the traces
of their recent hardships were manifest in their very aspect, and if they
related to their Israelitish brethren how they had ‘suffered before and
been cruelly treated at Philippi” (1 Thess. ii. 2), their entrance in among
them must have created a strong impression of indignation and syinpathy,
which explains the allusion in St. Paul’s Epistle. He spoke, however, to
the Thessalonian Jews with the earnestness of a man who has no time to
lose and no thought to waste on his own sufferings. He preached not
himself but Christ crucified. The Jewish scriptures were the ground of his |
argument. He recurred to the same subject again and again. On
three successive Sabbaths! he argued with them : and the whole body of
Jews resident in Thessalonica were interested and excited with the new
doctrine, and were preparing either to adopt or oppose it.
The three points on which he insisted were these :—that He who was
foretold in prophecy was to be a suffering Messiah,—that after death He
was to rise again,—-and that the crucified Jesus of Nazareth was indeed
the Messiah who was to come. Such is the distinct and concise statement
in the Acts of the Apostles (xvii. 3): and the same topics of teaching
are implied in the first Epistle, where the Thessalonians are appealed to
as men who had been taught to ‘believe that Jesus had really died and
risen again” (iv. 14), and who had turned to serve the true God, and to
wait for His Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus”
(i. 10). Of the mode in which these subjects would be presented to
his hearers we can form some idea from what was said at Antioch is Pisi-
dia. The very aspect of the worshippers was the same ;* proselytes were
equally attached to the congregations in Pisidia and Macedonia,’ and the
“devout and honourable women” in one city found their parallel in the
“chief women” in the other. The impression, too, produced by the
address was not very different here from what it had been there. At first
Some MSS. omit the article (see Lachmann). If authority preponderated against it,
still the phrase would imply that there was no synagogue in the towns recently passed
through.
ι Ἐπὶ σάββατα ~pia διελέγετο (imperf.). Acts xvii. 2.
2 See the account of the synagogue-worship,—the desk, the ark, the manuscripts,
the prayers, the Scripture-reading, the Tallith, d&c..—given in pp. 172-174.
3 Compare οἱ φοβούμενοι τὸν Θεόν (Acts xiii. 16, 26) with τῶν σεβομένων Ἑλλήνων
(Acts xvii. 4). Some MSS. introduce καὶ between the two latter words. See Lach
mani ; aud Paley on 1 Thess.
4 Compare τὰς σεβομένας γυναῖκας καὶ τὰς εὐσχήμονας (Acts xiii. 50) with yur τίκων
τῶν πρώτων οὐκ ὀλίγαι (Acts xvii. 4). It will be remembered that the women’s placa
in the synagogues was in a separate gallery or behind a lattice. P. 172.
SUBJECTS OF ST. PAUL’S PREACHING. 825
it was Savourably received,’ the interest of novelty having more influcnes
than the seriousness of conviction. Even from the first some of the topies
must have contained matter for perplexity or cavilling. Many would be
indisposed to believe the fact of Christ’s resurrection: and many more
who, in their exile from Jerusalem, were looking intently for the restora.
tion of an earthly kingdom,? must have heard incredulously and unwil:
lingly of the humiliation of Messiah.
That St. Paul did speak of Messiah’s glorious kingdom, the kingdom
foretold in the Prophetic Scriptures themselves, may be gathered by com-
paring together the Acts and the Hpistles to the Thessalonians. The
accusation brought against him (Acts xvii. 7) was, that he was proclaiming
another A¢ng, and virtually rebelling against the emperor. And in strict
conformity to this the Thessalonians are reminded of the exhortations and
entreaties he gave them, when among them, that they would ‘“ walk
worthily of the God who had called them to His dangdom and glory” (1
Thess. ii. 12), and addressed as those who had “ suffered afiliction for the
sake of that dingdom” (2 Thess. i. 5). Indeed, the royal state of Christ’s
second advent was one chief topic which was urgently enforced, and deeply
impressed, on the minds of the Thessalonian converts. This subject tinges
the whole atmosphere through which the aspect of this church is presented
to us. It may be said that in each of the primitive churches, which are
depicted in the apostolic epistles, there is some peculiar feature wlich
gives it an individual character. In Corinth it is the spirit of party,? in
Galatia the rapid declension into Judaism,‘ in Philippi it is a steady and
self-denying generosity.» And if we were asked for the distinguishing
characteristic of the first Christians of Thessalonica, we should point tc
their overwhelming sense of the nearness of the second advent, accom-
panied with melancholy ὁ thoughts concerning those who might die before
it, and with gloomy and unpractical views of the shortness of life, and the
vanity of the world. Hach chapter in the first Epistle to the Thessalo-
nians ends with an allusion to this subject ; and it was evidently the topie
of frequent conversations, when the Apostle was in Macedonia. But St.
Paul never spoke or wrote of the future as though the present was to be
forgotten. When the Thessalonians were admonished of Christ’s advent,
1 Acts xvii. 4 compared with xiii. 42-44. 2? Acts i. 6.
3 1 Cor. i, 10, &e. 4 Gal. i. 6, &e, > Phil. iv. 10-16.
6 See Traatmann’s Apost. Kirche (Leips. 1848). “ Der Apostel hatte in Thessalonich,
wie es scheint, sein Lieblingsthema, die Herrlichkeit der letzten hevorstehenden
Erscheinung Jesu Christi (was damals vielleicht ihn selbst sehr beschaftigen mochte}
und was dieser vorhergehn werde, ausfubrlich und tiefer eingehend behandelt (vergl.
2 Thess. ii. 5). Diese geheimnissvolle und dunkle Parthie des christlichen Glaubens
und Hoffens hatten denn die Thessalonicher in einer Weise sufgefasst, welche dey
Giundcharakter dieser Gemeinde offenbar als sinnig und mel :cholisch Carstellt.”
[5 1.8.
328 THE LIFE AND EPISYLES OF ST. PAUL.
he told them also of other coming events, full of practical warning to all
ages, though to our eyes still they are shrouded in mystery,—of “ the
falling away,” and of “the man of sin.”! ‘These awful revelations,” he
said, “must precede the revelation of the Son of God. Do you not
remember,” he adds with emphasis in his letter, that when I was stul with
you 1 often® told you this. You know, therefore, the hindrance why he is
not revealed, as he will be in his own season.” He told them, in the
words of Christ himself, that “the times and the seasons” of the coming
revelations were known only to God :3 and he warned them, as the first
disciples had been warned in Judwa, that the great day would come sud-
denly on men unprepared, ‘‘as the pangs of travail on her whose time is
full,” and ‘‘as a thief in the night ;” and he showed them, both by pre-
cept and example, that, though it be true that life is short and the world
is vanity, yet God’s work must be done diligently and to the last.
The whole demeanour of St. Paul among the Thessalonians may be
traced by means of these Hpistles, with singular minuteness. We see,
there, not only what success he had on his first entrance among them,‘
not only how the Gospel came “ with power and full conviction of its
truth,”® but also “ what manner of man he was among them for their
sakes.”* We see him proclaiming the truth with unflinching courage,’
endeavouring to win no converts by flattering words,’ but warning his
hearers of all the danger of the sins and pollution to which they were
tempted ;° manifestly showing that his work was not intended to gratify
any desire of self-advancement,'® but scrupulously maintaining an honour-
1 2 Thess. ii. 2 Ἔλεγον (imperf.).
3 “But of the times and seasons, brethren, when these things shall be you need no
warning. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord will come asa
thief in the night ; and while men say, Peace and safety, destruction shall come upon
them in a moment, as the pangs of travail on her whose time is full.’ 1 Thess.
v. 1-3. See Actsi.7. Matt. xxiv. 43. Luke xii. 39. 2 Pet. iii. 10.
4“ You know yourselves, brethren, that my coming amongst you was not fruitless,”
1 Thess. ii. 1.
5 1 Thess. i. 5.
6 “ You know the manner in which I behaved myself among you,” &c. 1 Thess.
i.5. (“What manner of men we were.” Eng. Vers.) Though the words are in the
plural, the allusion is to himself only. See the notes on the Epistle itself.
7 “ After I had borne suffering and outrage, as you know, at Philippi, I boldly de-
clared (ἐπαῤῥησιασάμεθα λαλῆσαι) to you God's glad-tiding, though its adversaries
coutended mightily against me.” 1 Thess. ii. 2.
8 “ Never did J use flattering words, as you know.” 1 Thess. ii. 5.
+ “That you should be consecrated to Him in holiness, and should keep yourselves
from fornication . . . . not in lustful passion, like the heathen, who know not God.
.... All such the Lord will punish, as [have forwarned you by my solemn testi-
mony.” 1 Thess, iv. 4-6. It is needless to add that such temptations must have
abounded ina city like Thessalonica. We know from the Asinus of Lucian that the
place had a bad character.
10 1 Thess. ii. 5.
ST. PAUL AT THESSALONICA. 329
able and unblamable character.!. We see him rebuking and admonishing
his converts with all the faithfulness of a father to his children,* and cher-
ishing them with all the affection of a mother for the infant of her bosom.
We see in this Apostle at Thessalonica all the devotion of a friend who is
ready to devote his life for those whom he loves,‘ all the watchfulness of
the faithful pastor, to whom ‘each one” of his flock is the separate
object of individual care.°
And from these Epistles we obtain further some information concern-
ing what may be called the outward incidents of St. Paul’s residence in
this city. He might when there, consistently with the Lord’s institution ¢
and with the practice of the other Apostles,? have been ‘“‘ burdensome” to
those whom he taught, so as to receive from them the means of his tem
poral support. But that he might place his disinterestedness above all
suspicion, and that he might set an example to those who were too much
inclined to live by the labour of others, he declined to avail himself of that
which was an undoubted right. He was enabled to maintain this inde-
pendent position partly by the liberality of his friends at Philippi, who
once and again, on this first visit to Macedonia, sent relief to his necessi-
ties (Phil. iv. 15,16). And the journeys of those pious men who followed
the footsteps of the persecuted Apostles along the Via Hgnatia by Am-
phipolis and Apollonia, bringing the alms which had been collected at
Philippi, are among the most touching incidents of the Apostolic history.
And not less touching is that description which the Apostle himself gives
us of that other means of support—“ his own labour night and day, that
he might not be burdensome to any of them” (1 Thess. ii. 9). He did
not merely ‘‘rob other churches,” 8 that he might do the Thessalonians
service, but the trade he had learnt when a boy in Cilicia? justitied the
old Jewish maxim ;"° “he was like a vineyard that is fenced ;” and he
was able to show an example, not only to the “disorderly busybodies ” of
1“ You are yourselves witnesses how holy, and just, and unblamable, were my
dealings towards you.” 1 Thess, ii. 10.
* “ You know how earnestly, as a father his own children (ὡς πατὴρ τέκνα ἑαυτοῦ),
I exhorted, and intreated, and adjured,” &c. 1 Thess. ii. 11.
3.61 behaved myself among you with mildness and forbearance ; and as a nurse
cherishes her own children (τὰ ἑαυτῆς τέκνα) so,” &e, 1 Thess. ii. 7. The authorised
version is defective. St. Paul compares himself to a mother who is nursing her own
ebild.
4 “Tt was my joy to give you, not only the Gospel of Christ, but my own life 4159.
because ye were dear unto me.” 1 Thess. ii. 8.
5 “ You know how I exhorted each one (ἕνα ἕκαστον) among you to walk worthy ef
God.” 1 Thess. ii. 11.
6 Matt. x. 10. Lukex.7. See 1 Tim. v. 18.
7 1 Cor. ix. 4, &e. 8 2 Cor. xi. 8, 9 Ch. II. p. 47.
0 “ We that hath a trade in his hand, to what is he like? 2 is like a vineyard thai
% fenced.” IJhbid.
330 ‘THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 851. PAUL.
Thessalonica (1 Thess. iv. 11), but 40 all, in every age of the Church, whe
are apt to neglect their proper business (2 Thess. iii. 11), and ready te
eat other men’s bread for nought (2 Thess. iii. 8). Late at night, when
the sun had long set on the incessant spiritual labours of the day, the
Apostle might be seen by lamp-light labouring at the rough hair-cloth,!
“that he might be chargeable to none.” It was an emphatic enforee-
ment of the ‘‘ commands”? which he found it necessary to give when he
was among them, that they should ‘“‘ study to be quiet and to work with
their own hands” (1 Thess. iv. 11), and the stern principle he laid down,
that “if a man will not work, neither should he eat.” (2 Thess. iii. 10.)
In these same Epistles, St. Paul speaks of his work at Thessalonica as
having been encompassed with afflictions,? and of the Gospel as having ad-
vanced by a painful struggle. What these afflictions and struggles were,
we can gather from the slight notices of events which are contained in the
Acts. The Apostle’s success among the Gentiles roused the enmity of the
Jews. ven in the synagogue the proselytes attached themselves to him
more readily than the Jews.* But he did not merely obtain an influence
over the Gentile mind by the indirect means of his disputations on the
Sabbath in the synagogue, and through the medium of the proselytes ;
but on the intermediate days*® he was doubtless in frequent and dircet
communication with the heathen. We need not be surprised at the re,
sults, even if his stay was limited to the period corresponding to three Sab-
\baths. No one can say what effects might follow from three weeks of an
Apostle’s teaching. But we are by no means forced to adopt the suppo-
sition that the time was limited to three weeks. It is highly probable
that St. Paul remained at Thessalonica for a longer period.? At other
cities,* when he was repelled by the Jews, he became the evangelist of the
Gentiles, and remained till he was compelled to depart. The Thessalo-
nian Letters throw great light on the rupture which certainly took place
1 See Note, p. 47.
* Note the phrases,—“‘as I commanded you,” aud “even when I was with you 1
&2ve you this precept.”
3 1 Thess, i. 6. 4 Thess. ii. 2.
5 “ Some of them [the Jews] believed and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of
the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few.” Acts xvii. 4
6 Asat Athens. Acts xvii. 17.
7 The chief writers on the two sides of this question are enumerated by Anger in a
note, p. 69, n.z. Paley, among others, argues for a longer resideuce than three weeks.
Hore Pauline, on 1 Thess. No. vi. Koch, in his recently published commentary, con-
tends, against Schott, &c., that the tumult which caused St. Paul’s departure must have
taken place immediately after the third Sabbath. Jinleitung, pp. 8,9. Benson argues
that the coming of repeated contributions from Philippi implies a longer residence at
Thessalonica than three weeks. To this Anger replies, that they might have coma
within this time, if they were sent by different contributors
8 Acts xiii. xviii. xix., &e.
PERSECUTION. 591
with the Jews on this occasion, and which is implied in that one word 1
the Acts which speaks of their jealousy ' against the Geutiles. The whole
aspect of the Letter shows that the main body of the Thessalonian Church
was not Jewish, but Gentile. The Jews are spoken of as an extrancous
body, as the enemies of Christianity and of all men, not as the elements
out of which the Church was composed.* The ancient Jewish Scriptures
are not once quoted in either of these Epistles.» The converts are ad-
dressed as those who had turned, not from Hebrew fables and traditions,
but from the practices of heathen idolatry.«| How new and how comfort-
iug to them must have been the doctrine of the resurrection from the
dead. What a contrast must this revelation of “life and immortality ”
have been to the hopeless lamentations of their own pagan funerals, and
to the dismal teaching which we can still read in the sepulchral inscrip-
tions*® of heathen Thessalonica,—such as told the bystander that after
death there is no revival, after the grave no meeting of those who have
loved each other on earth. How ought the truth taught by the Apostle
to have comforted the new disciples at the thought of inevitable, though
only temporary, separation from their Christian brethren. And yet how
difficult was the truth to realise, when they saw those brethren sink into
lifeless forms, and after they had committed them to the earth which had
received all their heathen ancestors. How eagerly can we imagine them
to have read the new assurances of comfort which came in the letter from
Corinth, and which told them ‘not to sorrow as the rest that have no
hope.” §
But we are anticipating the events which occurred between the Apos-
tle’s departure from Thessalonica and the time when he wrote the letter
from Corinth. We must return to the persecution that led him to under-
take that journey, which brought him from the capital of Macedonia to
that of Achaia.
Vhen the Jews saw proselytes and Gentiles, and many of the lead.
ing women? of the city, convinced by St. Paul’s teaching, they must
have felt that his influence was silently undermining tueirs. In propor-
1 ZyAwcavrec. Acts xvii. 5.
3 “ You have suffered the like persecution from your own countrymen which they
{the Churches in Judea] endured from the Jews, who killed both our Lord Jesus and
their own prophets . . . a people displeasing to God, and enemies to all mankind ; whe
would hinder me from speaking to the Gentiles,” &c. 1 Thess. ii. Contrast Rom. ix.
3 The Epistles to Titus and Philemon, if we mistake not, are the only other instances,
4 1 Thess. i. 9.
6 Some of these inscriptions may be seen in Boeckh, e. g. No. 1973, where the de.
ceased is described as τέρμ’ ἐσιδὼν βιότου ἀλύτοις ὑπὸ νάμασι Μοιρῶν. See also 1933.
In 1988 there is a hint of immortality; but the general feeling of the Greek world
concerning the dead is expressed in that one line of Aischylus :—"Araf ϑανόντας obra
ἐστ’ ἀνάστασις.
® | Thess iv. 13. 7 Acts xvii. 4. See above.
832 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ΒΤ. PAUL.
tion to his suecess in spreading Christianity, their power of spreading Ju
daism declined. Their sensitiveness would be increased in consequence of
the peculiar dislike with which they were viewed at this time by the Ro
man power.! Thus they adopted the tactics which had been used with
some success before at Iconium and Lystra,* and turned against St. Paul
and his companions those weapons which are the readiest instruments of
vulgar bigotry. They excited the mob of Thessalonica, gathering to-
gether a multitude of those worthless idlers about the markets and landing-
places* which abound in every such city, and are always ready for any
evil work. With this multitude they assaulted the house of Jason (per-
haps some Hellenistic Jew,> whose name had been moulded into Gentile
form, and possibly one of St. Paul’s relations, who is menticned in the
Epistle to the Romans),* with whom Paul! and Silas seem to have been
lodging. Their wish was to bring Paul and Silas out to the demus, or as-
sembly of the people. But they were absent from the house ; and Jason and
some other Christians were dragged before the city magistrates. The ac-
cusation vociferously brought against them was to the following effect :
“These Christians, who are setting the whole world in confusion, are
come hither at last; and Jason has received them into his house ; and
they are all acting in the face of the emperor’s decrees, for they assert
that there is another king, whom they call Jesus.” We have seen? how
some of the parts of St. Paul’s teaching at Thessalonica may have given
occasion to the latter phrase in this indictment ; and we obtain a deeper
insight into the cause why the whole indictment was brought forward with
so much vehemence, and why it was so likely to produce an effect on
the magistrates, if we bear in mind the circumstance alluded to in refer-
ence to Philippi,* that the Jews were under the ban of the Roman autho-
rities about this time, for having raised a tumult in the metropolis, at the
instigation (as was alleged) of one Chrestus, or Christus ;° and that they
1 See above, p. 303.
* Acts xiv. See pp. 185, 195, &ec.; also pp. 180, 181.
8 ᾿Αγοραῖοι, like the Lazzaroni at Naples,—“innati triviis ac pane forenses."” Hor.
A. P. 245. Such men as are called by Cicero “subrostrani ’”’ (Ep. Fam. viii. 1), and
by Plautus “ subbasilicani” (Capt. 4, 2, 35). See Casaubon on Theophr. Char. 65
or the Archbishop of Thessalonica (p. 348) may explain to us how the word is used,
᾿Αγοραῖος ἀνὴρ ἢ ὄχλος ἐπὶ σκώμματος λέγεται. Eustath. ad Iliad. 11. 143.
4 Such men are often πονηροί. Compare Aristoph. Eq. 181, πονηρὸς κἀξ ἀγόρας;
and Senec. de Benef. 7,—‘ Huic homini ma/o, quem invenire in quolibet foro possum.”
5 Jason is the form which the name Joshua seems sometimes to have taken. See p.
151,n.11. It occurs 1 Mac. viii.17. 2 Mac. ii. 28 ; alsoin Josephus, referred to p. 151,
n. 5.
6 Rom, xvi.21. Tradition says that he became Bishop of Tarsus. For some remarka
on St. Paul’s kinsmen, see p. 46.
7 Above, p. 304. 8 P. 303.
® The words of Suetonius are quoted p. 363, n. 4. We shal} return to them again
CONSTITUTION OF A FREE CITY. 333
must have been glad, in the provincial cities, to be able to show their loy
alty and gratify their malice, by throwing the odium off themselves upon a
sect whose very name might be interpreted to imply a rebellion against
che emperor.
COIN OF THESSALONICA.
Such were the circumstances under which Jason and his companions
were brought before the politarchs. We use the Greek the term ad-
visedly ; for it illustrates the political constitution of Thessalonica, and its
contrast with that of Philippi, which has lately been noticed. Thessalo-
nica was not a colony, like Philippi, Troas, or the Pisidian Antioch, but a
free city? (Urbs lbera), like the Syrian Antioch, or like Tarsus * and
Athens. The privilege of what was technically called “freedom” was
given to certain cities of the empire for good service in the civil wars, or
as a tribute of respect to the old celebrity of the place, or for other
reasons of convenient policy. There were few such cities in the western
provinces,‘ as there were no municipia in the eastern. The free towns
were most numerous in those parts of the empire, where the Greek lan-,
guage had long prevailed ; and we are generally able to trace the reasons
why this privilege was bestowed upon them. At Athens, it was the fame
of its ancient eminence, and the evident policy of paying a compliment to
the Greeks. At Thessalonica it was the part which its inhabitants had
prudently taken in the great struggle of Augustus and Antony against
Brutus and Cassius.’ When the decisive battle had been fought, Philippi
was made a military colony, and Thessalonica became free.
when we come to Acts xviii. 2. At present we need only point out their probable
connection with the word “ Christian.” See pp. 119, 120, and the notes. We should
observe, that St. Paul had proclaimed at Thessalonica that Jesus was the Christ (ὁ
χριστύός). Acts xvii. 3.
1 From the British Museum. Fora long series of coins of this character, see Mionnet
and the Supplement.
® For an account of the privileges of bere civitates, see Hoeck’s Romische Gesch-
ichte, 1. ii. pp. 242-250.
3 See p. 45.
4 There were a few in Gaul and Spain, none in Sardinia. On the other hand, they
were very numerous in Greece, the Greek islands, and Asia Minor. Hoeck, p. 249.
Such complimentary privileges would have had little meaning if bestowed on a rude
people, which had no ancient traditions.
5 See the coins alluded to above, p. 322. Some have the word ἘΛΕΥΘΕΡΊΑΣ with
tbe head of Octavia. |
854 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 81. PAUL.
The privilege of such a city consisted in this,—that it was entircly self
governed in all its internal affairs, within the territory that might be
assigned to it. The governor of the province had no right, under ordinary
circumstances, to interfere with these affairs The local magistrates had
the power of life and death over the citizens of the place. No stationary
garrison of Roman soldiers was quartered within its territory.? No im
signia of Roman office were displayed in its streets. An instance of the
care with which this rule was observed is recorded by Tacitus, who tells
us, that Germanicus, whose progress was usually distinguished by the
presence of twelve lictors, declined to enter Athens attended with more
than ones There is no doubt that the magistracies of such cities would
be very careful to show their loyalty to the emperor on all suitable occa-
sions, and to avoid every disorder which might compromise their valued
dignity, and cause it to be withdrawn. And on the other hand, the
Roman State did wisely to rely on the Greek love of empty distinction ;
and it secured its dominion as effectually in the East by means of these
privileged towns, as by the stricter political annexation of the municipia
in the West. The form of government in the free cities was very various.‘
In some cases the old magistracies and customs were continued without
any material modification. In others, a senate, or an assembly, were
allowed to exist where none had existed before. Here, at Thessalonica,
we find an assembly of the people (Demus,? Acts xvii. 5) and supreme
magistrates, who are called politarchs (Acts xvii. 8). It becomes ap
1 He might, however, have his residence there, as at Antioch and Tarsus. We find,
under the republic, the governor of Asia directed to administer justice to free com-
munities (Cic. pro Font. 32); but usually he did not interfere with the local magis-
trates. Even his financial officers did not enter the territory to collect the taxes, but
the imposts were sent to Rome in some other way. We may add that a free city might
have libertas cum immwumnitate (Senec. de Benef. v. 16), 7. e. freedom from taxation,
as a Colonia might have the Jus Italicum. See these and other details in Hoeck.
3 Hence such cities were called ἀφρούρητοι. Plut. Flam. 10. App. Mac. 2. See
Liv. xlv. 26.
3 Tacitus says of Germanicus, that, after a bad voyage across the Adriatic, and after
visiting the scene of the battle of Actium, “ ventum Athenas, foederique socie et vetustz
urbis datum ut uno lictore uteretur.”” Ann. ii.53. And yet he was a member of the
imperial family. So it is said of Tiberius, during his residence among the Greeks at
Rhodes: “genus vite civile ad modum instituit, sine ictore aut viatore gymnasia
interdum obambulans, mutwaque cum Greculis officia usurpans, prope ex @quo.”
Suct. Tib. 11. Very severe language is used by Cicero of Piso, governor of Mace-
donia, for daring to exercise “jurisdictio in libera civitate contra leges senatusque con-
sulta.” De Prov. Cons. 3.
4 The degree of libertas was various also. It was settled by a distinct concordat
(fedus). Hoeck, p. 242. The granting and withdrawing of this privilege, as well as
its amount, was capricious and irregular under the republic, and especially during the
civil wars. See Cic. in Pison. 56. Under the emperors it became more regulated,
like all the other details of provincial administration.
5 Tafel seems to think it had also a senate (βουλή).
τη) MAGISTRACY OF THESSALONICA. 9
interesting inquiry, whether the existence of this title of the Thessalonian
magistracy can be traced in any other source of information. This ques
tion is immediately answered in the affirmative, by one of those passages
of monumental history which we have made it our business to cite as
cften as possible in the course of this biograply. An inscription which is
still legible on an archway in Thessalonica gives this title to the magis-
trates of the place, informs ‘us of their number, and mentions the very
names of some who bore the office not long before the day of St. Paul.
A long street intersects the city from east to west.! his is doubtless
the very direction which the ancient road took in its course from the
Adriatic to the Hellespont ; for though the houses of ancient cities are
destroyed and renewed, the lines of the great thoroughfares are usually
unchanged.” If there were any doubt of the fact at Thessalonica, the ques:
tion is set at rest by two triumphal arches which still, though disfigured by
time and injury, and partly concealed by Turkish houses, span the breadth
of this street, and define a space which must have been one of the public
parts of the city in the apostolic age. One of these arches is at the
western extremity, near the entrance from Rome, and is thought to have
been built by the grateful Thessalonians to commemorate the victory of
Augustus and Antony.? The other is further to the east, and records the
triumph of some later emperor (most probably Constantine) over enemies
subdued near the Danube or beyond. The second of these arches, with
its sculptured camels,‘ has altogether an Asiatic aspect, and belongs to a
period of the empire much later than that of St. Paul. The first has the
representation of consuls with the toga, and corresponds in appearance
with that condition of the arts which marks the passing’ of the republic
into the empire. If erected at that epoch, it was undoubtedly existing
when the Apostle was in Macedonia. The following inscription® in Greek
1 See Cousinéry, ch. ii., and Leake, ch. xxvi.
* See a traveller’s just remark, quoted in reference to Damascus, p. 93, n. 5.
3 A view of the arch is given in Cousinéry, p. 26. See his description. He believes
Octavius and Antony to have staid here some time after the victory. The arch is also
described by Dr. Holland and Dr. Clarke, who take the same view of its origin. ‘the
latter traveller says that its span is 12 feet, and its present height 18 feet, the lower
part being buried to the depth of 27 feet more, It is now part of the modern wails,
and is called the Vardar Gate, because it leads towards that river (the Axius).
4 There is also a view of this arch in Cousinéry, p. 29. He refers its origin to one
of Censtantine’s expeditions, mentioned by Zosimus. The whole structure formerly
consisted of three arches; it is built of brick, and seems to have been fuced with
marble.
5. From Boeckh, No. 1967. The inscription is given by Leake (p. 236), with a slight
difference in one of the names. It goes on to mention the ταμίας τῆς πόλεως and the
γυμνασιάρχων. The names being chiefly Roman, Leake argues for a later date than
that which is suggested by Cousinéry. In either case the confirmation of St. Luke’s
accuracy remains the same.
336 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
letters informs us of the magistracy which the Romans recognised and
allowed to subsist in the “ free city” of Thessalonica :—
TIOAEITAPXOYNTQN SQSITIATPOY TOY KAEO
TIATPAS KAI AOYKIOY IIONTIOY ΣΕΚΟΥΝΔΟΥ
ΠΟΥΒΛΙΟΥ ΦΛΑΟΥΙΟΥ ΣΑΒΕΙΝΟΥ AHMHTPIOY
TOY ΦΑΎΣΤΟΥ AHMHTPIOY TOY ΝΙΚΟΠΟΛΕΩΣ
ZQIAOY TOY TIAPMENIQNOZ TOY KAI MENIZKOY
CATO PATI ΗΠΟΥ MORE IRO Yee. sere
These words, engraved on the marble arch,' inform us that the magistrates
of Thessatonica were called politarchs, and that they were seven in number ;
and it is perhaps worth observing (though it is only a curious coincidence)
that three of the names are identical with those of St. Paul’s friends in
this region,— Sopater of Beraa,? Gaius the Macedonian,? and Secwndus of
Thessalonica.* .
It is at least well worth our while to notice, asa mere matter of
Christian evidence, how accurately St. Luke writes concerning the political
characteristics of the cities and provinces which he mentions. He takes
notice, in the most artless and incidental manner, of minute details which
a fraudulent composer would judiciously avoid, and which in the mythical
result of mere oral tradition would surely be loose and inexact. Cyprus is
a “proconsular” province.’ Philippi is a “colony.”® The magistrates
of Thessalonica have an unusual title, unmentioned in ancient literature ;
but it appears, from a monument of a different kind, that the title is per-
feetly correct. And the whole aspect of what happened at Thessalonica,
as compared with the events at Philippi, is in perfect harmony with the
ascertained difference in the political condition of the two places. There
is no mention of the rights and privileges of Roman citizenship ;7 but we
are presented with the spectacle of a mixed mob of Greeks and Jews,
1 The masonry consists of square blocks of marble, six feet thick (Dr. Clarke).
It may be well to mention here some of the other remains at Thessalonica. (1) There
are five columns, with an entablature, in the street between the triumphal arches.
This ruin is called by the Spanish Jews, Las Incantadas. (2) The Rotunda, now a
mosque, is an ancient temple, similar to the Pantheon at Rome. These two buildings
were probably in existence when St. Paul was at Thessalonica. The two following are
later. (3) The Church of St. Sephia, now a mosque, built under Justinian by the
architect of the great church at Constantinople. Here a stone rostrum is shown. from
which St. Paul is said to have preached. (4) Another mosque was formerly tne
Church of St. Demetrius {see p. 325], which tradition alleges to have been biilt near
the site of the ancient synagogue where the Apostle reasoned with the Jews.
2 Acts xx. 4. 3 Acts xix. 29. 4 Acts. xx. 4.
5 See Ch. V. p. 144. 6 See above, p. 290, de.
Compare Acts xvi. 21.
.“
DEPARTURE FROM THESSALONICA, 50%
who are anxious to show themselves to be ‘““Casar’s friends.”! No lictors,
with rods and fasces, appear upon the scene ; but we hear something dis
tinctly of a demus,? or free assembly of the people. Nothing is said of
religious ceremonies 4 which the citizens, “ being Romans,” may not lawfully
adopt ; all the anxiety, both of people and magistrates, is turned to the
one point of showing their loyalty to the emperor. And those magistrates
by whom the question at issue is ultimately decided, are not Roman
pretors® but Greek politarchs.
It is evident that the magistrates were excited and unsettled? as well
as the multitude. No doubt they were anxious to stand well with the
Roman government, and not to compromise themselves or the privileges
of their city by a wrong decision in this dispute between the Christians
and the Jews. The course they adopted was to “take security” from
Jason and his companions. By this expression® it is most probably
meant that a sum of mone” was deposited with the magistrates, and that
the Christian community of the place made themselves responsible that
no attempt should be made against the supremacy of Rome, and that
peace should be maintained in Thessalonica itself. By these means the
disturbance was allayed.
But though the magistrates had secured quiet in the city for the pre-
sent, the position of Paul and Silas was very precarious. The lower
classes were still excited. The Jews were in a state of fanatical displea-
sure. It is evident that the Apostles could not appear in public as before,
without endangering their own safety, and compromising their fellow-
Christians who were security for their good behaviour. The alternatives
before them were, either silence in Thessalonica, or departure to some
other place. The first was impossible to those who bore the divine com-
mission to preach the Gospel everywhere. They could not hesitate to
adopt the second course ; and under the watchful care of “the brethren,”
1 The conduct and language of the Jews in Acts xvii. 7 should, by all means. be
compared with what was said to Pilate at Jerusalem: “If thou let this man go. thon
art not Cesar’s friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Cesar.”
John xix. 12.
3 "PaBdoixor. Acts xvi. 35, 38.
3 Acts xvii, 5. 4 Acts xvi. 21. 5 Acts xvii. 7.
8 Στρατηγοί. Acts xvi. 20, 22, 35, &c. See p. 294, and p. 302. ἷ
7 The word ἐτάραξαν implies some disturbance of mind on the part of the magistratea
8 See above.
9 Λαβόντες τὸ ἱκανόν. It is very unlikely that this means, as Grotius supposes,
that Jason and his friends gave bail for the appearance of Paul and Silas before the
magistrates, for they sent them away the same night. See Meyer. Hemsen thinks
(p. 132, note) that Jason pledged himself not to receive them again into his house ;
and Kuinoel, that he gave a promise of their immediate departure. Neither of these
suppositions is improbable ; but it is clear that it was impossible for Paul and Silas te
stay, if the other Christians were security for the maintenance of the peace,
VOL. 1.--
μ
338 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 51. PAUL.
they departed the same evening from Thessalonica, their steps being
turned in the direction of those mountains which are the western boundary
of Macedonia.! We observe that nothing is said of the departure of
Timotheus. If he was at: Thessalonica at all, he stays there now, as Luke
had staid at Philippi.* We can trace in all these arrangements a delibers
ate care and policy for the weil-being of the new churches, even in the
midst of the sudden movements caused by the outbreak of persecution,
It is the same prudent and varied forethought which appears afterwards
in the pastoral epistles, where injunctions are given, according to circum-
stances,—to “abide” while the Apostle goes to some other region,’
“hoping that he may come shortly” again,s —to “set in order the things
that are wanting, and ordain elders,” ®—or “ to use all diligence” to fol-
low " and co-operate again in the same work at some new place.
Passing under the Arch of Augustus and out of the Western Gate,
the Via Egnatia crosses the plain and ascends the mountains which have
just been mentioned,—forming a communication over a very rugged coun-
try between the Adriatic and the Hellespont. Just where the road
strikes the mountains, at the head of a bay of level ground, the city of
Edessa is situated, described as commanding a glorious view of all the
country, that stretches in an almost unbroken surface to Thessalonica and
the sea.?_ This, however, was not the point to which St. Paul turned his
steps. He travelled by a less important road,’ to the town of Berea,
which was further to the south. The first part of the journey was under-
taken at night, but day must have dawned on the travellers long before
they reached their place of destination. If the journey was at all like
what it is now,? it may be simply described as follows. After leaving the
1 Pp, 313, 314 and the notes.
2 See p. 313. 3 1 Tim. i. 3. 4 1 Tim. iii. 14 δ ΠΗ} 1: Ὁ:
¢ 2 Tim. iv. 9, 21, and especially Tit. iii. 12. The first injunction we read of, after
this point, to Timotheus, in conjunction with Silas, is when St. Paul leaves Berma, and
they are told “to come to him with all speed.” Acts xvii, 15.
7 For a description of Edessa (Vodhena) see Cousinégry, p, 75, &e. It seems to be
on a plateau at the edge of the mountains, with waterfalls, like Tivoli. He speaks in
animated language of the view over fifteen leagues of plain, from the mountains to the
sea [what he calls in another place, “les deux vastes plaines cisaxiennes et trans-
axiennes”’], with woods and villages, and a lake in the centre. There is a view of one
of the waterfalls, p. 79. See Leake also for a full account of Vodhena, ch. =xvii. He
gays of this part of the Via Egnatia, that though Polybius states it to have sezn marked
out by milestones all the way, and though the stages are mentioned in all the Itinera-
ries, yet much examination is required before all the details can be determined. p. 279.
8 The Itineraries give two road: from Thessalonica to Bercea, one passing through
Pydna, the other more to the south. See our map of the north of the Mgean. It is
conceivable, but not likely, that St. Paul went by water from Thessalonica to the
neighbourhood of Pydna, Colonel Leake, after visiting this city, took a boat from
Eleftherokhori, and sailed across the gulf to Salonica. Vol. m1. pp. 436-438. So Dr.
Clarke.
% The description cf the journey is literally taken from Cousinéry, ch. iii. He waa
BERGA. 239
gardens which are in the immediate neighbourhood of Thessalonica, the
travellers crossed a wide tract of corn-fie!ds, and came to the shifting bed
of the “wide-flowing Axius.” About this part of the journey, if not
before, the day must have broken upon them. Between the Axius and
vhe Haliacmon' there intervenes another wide extent of the same contin
uous plain. The banks of this second river are confined by artificial dykes
to check its destructive inundations. All the country round is covered
with a vast forest, with intervals of cultivated land, and villages concealed
among the trees. The road extends for many miles through these woods,
and at length reaches the base of the Western Mountains, where a short
ascent leads up to the gate of Bercea.’
Bercea, like Edessa, is on the eastern slope of the Olympian range, and
commands an extensive view of the plain which is watered by the Hali-
acmon and Axius. It has many natural advantages, and is now considered
one of the most agreeable towns in Rumili2 Plane-trees spread a grate-
ful shade over its gardens. Streams of water are in every street. Its
ancient name is said to have been derived from the abundance of its
waters; and the name still survives in the modern Verria, or Kara-Vcr-
ria.° It is situated on the left of the Haliacmon, about five miles from
the point where that river breaks through an immense rocky ravine from
the mountains tc the plain. A few insignificant ruins of the Greek and
Roman periods may yet be noticed. The foundations of an ancient bridge
are passed on the ascent to the city-gate ; and parts of the Greek fortifi-
cations may be seen above the rocky bed of a mountain stream. The
traces of repairs in the walls, of Roman and Byzantine date,® are links
between the early fortunes of Bercea and its present condition. It still
boasts of eighteen or twenty thousand inhabitants, and is placed in the
second rank of the cities of Huropean Turkey.’
travelling from Salonica with a caravan to a place called Perlepe, on the mountains
to the north-west. The usual road is up the Axius to Gradisca. But one of the rivers
higher up was said to be flooded and impassable ; hence he went by Caraveria (Bercea),
which is fourteen leagues from Salonica. Leake travelled from Salonica to Pelia, cress
ing the Axius on his way. Ch. xxvii.
1 The Haliacmon itself would not be crossed before arriving at Bercea (see below).
But there are other large rivers which flow into it, and which are often flooded. Some
of the “perils of rivers” (pp. 163, 164) may very possibly have been in this districs.
See the preceding note. See Leake’s remarks on the changing channels of these
rivers, p. 437.
3. Compare Leake. 3 See Leake, p. 290, ἄο.
4 See Tafel (Thessalonica, &c.), who refers to lian, H. A. xv. 1, and Cantacuz. iv. 18,
5 Leake uses the former term: Cousinéry calls the town “Caraveria,” or * Verria
the Black.”’ In the eleventh century we find it called “ Verre.”” See Buchon’s French
Chronicles, iii. 250. Ξ
6 See Leake. It was ἃ fortified city in the eleventh century. Buchon, as above.
7 See Cousinéry (ch. iii.), who reckons the inhabitants at 15,000 or 20,000.
840 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
In the apostolic age Berea was sufiiciently populous to contain a
colony of Jews.!’ When St. Paul arrived, he went, accordiny to his cus
tom, immediately to the synagogue. The Jews here were of a “nobler” *
spirit than those of Thessalonica. Their minds were less narrowed by
prejudice, and they were more willing to receive “ the truth in the love
ot it.’ There was a contrast between the two neighbouring communities
apparently open to the same religious influences, like that between the
“village of the Samaritans,” which refused to receive Jesus Christ (Luke
ix.), and that other “ city” in the same country where ‘“ many believed ”
becanse of the word of one who witnessed of Him, and “ many more
because of His own word” (John iv.). In a spirit very different from the
ignoble violence of the Thessalonian Jews, the Berceans not only listened
to the Apostle’s arguments, but they examined the Scriptures themselves,
to see if those arguments were justified by prophecy. And, feeling the.
importance of the subject presented to them, they made this scrutiny of
their holy books their “daily” occupation. This was the surest way to
come to a strong conviction of the Gospel’s divine origin. ‘Truth sought
in this spirit cannot long remain undiscovered. The promise that “ they
who seek shall find” was fulfilled at Bercea; and the Apostle’s visit re-
sulted in the conversion of “many.” Nor was the blessing confined to the
Hebrew community. The same Lord who is “rich unto all that call
upon Him,”® called many “‘not of the Jews only, but also of the Gen:
tiles.” Both men and women,* and those of the highest respectability,
among the Greeks,*® were added to the church founded by St. Paul in that
provincial city of Macedonia, which was his temporary shelter from the
storm of persecution.
The length of St. Paul’s stay in the city is quite uncertain. From the
fact that the Berceans were occupied ‘“ dazly” in searching the Scriptures?
for arguments to establish or confute the Apostle’s doctrine, we conclude
that he remained there several days at least. From his own assertion in
his first letter to the Thessalonians,® that, at the time when he had been
recently taken away from them, he was very anxious, and used every effort
to revisit them, we cannot doubt that he lingered as long as possible in
the neighbourhood of Thessalonica.2 This desire would account for a resi-
1 Acts xvii. 10.
2 Hiyevéotepot τῶν ἐν Θεσσ.,ν 11. The Latin word “ingenuns,” and the English
word “ noble,” give both the primary and secondary senses. Plutarch says that virtue
has its root in εὐγένεια, and is developed to perfection by παίδεια.
3 Rom. x. 12. 4 Rom. ix. 24.
5 Acts xvii. 12,
6 "Ελληνίδων (v. 12) must be considered as belonging to ἀνῥρῶν as well as γυναίκων.
. 7 Acts xvil. 11. 8 1 Thess. ii. 17.
9 He says that he made more than one attempt to return: and in this expression he
may be referring to what took place at Bera, as probably as at Athens.
THE JEWS AT BERGA. 341
dence of some weeks ; and there are other passages! in the same Epistle
which might induce us to suppose the time extended even to months
But when we find, on the other hand, that the cause which led him to
‘eave Bercea was the hostility of the Jews of Thessalonica, and when we
remember that the two cities were only separated by a distance of sixty
miles,’—that the events which happened in the synagogue of one city would
soon be made known in the synagogue of the other,—and that Jewish
bigotry was never long in taking aztive measures to crush its opponents,—
we are led to the conclusion that the Apostle was forced to retreat from
Bercea after no long interval of time. The Jews came like hunters upon
their prey, as they had done before from Iconium to Lystra.* They could
not arrest the progress of the Gospel,‘ but they “stirred up the people”
there, as at Thessalonica before.» They made his friends feel that hig
continuance in the city was no longer safe. He was withdrawn from
Bercea and sent to Athens, as in the beginning of his ministry® he had
been withdrawn from Jerusalem and sent to Tarsus. And on this occa-
sion, as on that,’ the dearest wishes of his heart were thwarted. The
providence of God permitted “Satan” to hinder him from seeing his
dear Thessalonian converts, whom ‘ once and again” he had desired to re-
visit.2 The divine counsels were accomplished by means of the antagonism
of wicked men; and the path of the Apostle was urged on, in the midst
of trial and sorrow, in the direction pointed out in the vision at Jerusalem,!
“far hence unto the Gentiles.”
An immediate departure was urged upon the Apostle ; and the Church
of Bercea suddenly lost its teacher. But Silas and Timotheus remained
behind," to build it up in its holy faith, to be a comfort and support in its
trials and persecutions, and to give it such organisation as might be neces-
1 Those which relate to the widely extended rumour of the introduction of Chris-
tianity into Thessalonica. See below, on 1 Thess. The stay at Athens was short, and
the Epistle was written soon after St. Paul’s arrival at Corinth ; and, if a sufficient time
had elapsed for a general knowledge to be spread abroad of what had happened at
Thessalonica, Wwe should be inclined to believe that the delay at Bercea was consider
able.
3. Wicseler gives a different turn to this consideration, and argues that, because the
distance between Bercea and Thessalonica was so great, therefore a long time must
have elapsed before the news from the latter place could have summoned the Jews
from the former. But we must take into account, not merely the distance between the
two cities, but the peculiarly close communication which subsisted among the Jewish
synagogues. See, for instance, Acts xxvi. 11.
3 See pp. 195, 196. 4 See Hemsen’s Paulus, p. 156.
8 Ἥλθον κακεῖ σαλεΐοντες τοὺς ὄχλους. Acts xvii. 13. Compare v. 5.
© Acts ix. 30.
7 See the remarks on the vision at Jerusalem, p. 104.
8 See above, p. 340. 9 Acts xvii. 17-21. 10 See εὐθέως, V. 44,
1 Acts xvii. 14. The last mention of Timothy was at Philippi; but it is highly pro
‘able that he joined St. Paul at Thessalonica. See above, p. 338. Possibly he brought
349 ΠῚ LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
sary. Meanwhile some of the new converts accompanied St. Paul on his
flight :! thus adding a new instance to those we have already secn of the
love which grows up between those who have taught and those who have
learnt the way of the soul’s salvation.’
Without attempting to divine all the circumstances which may have
zoncurred in determining the direction of the flight, we can mention some
obvious reasons why it was the most natural course. To have returned in
the direction of Thessalonica was manifestly impossible. To have pushed
over the mountains, by the Via Egnatia, towards Illyricum and the west-
ern parts of Macedonia, would have taken the Apostle from those shores of
the Archipelago to which his energies were primarily to be devoted.
Mere concealment and inactivity were not to be thought of. ‘Thus the
Christian fugitives turned their steps towards the sea,? and from some
point on the coast where a vessel was found, they embarked for Athens.
In the ancient tables two roads‘ are marked which cross the Haliacmon
and intersect the plain from Bercea, one passing by Pydna,® and the other
leaving it to the left, and both coming to the coast at Dium near the base
of Mount Olympus. The Pierian level (as this portion of the plain was
called) extends about ten miles in breadth from the woody falls of the
mountain to the sea-shore, forming a narrow passage from Macedonia
into Greece.’ ‘Thus Dium was “ the great bulwark of Macedonia on the
some of the contributions from Philippi, p. 329. We shall consider hereafter the
movements of Silas and Timothy at this point of St. Paul’s journey. Meantime, we
may observe that Timotheus was very probably sent to Thessalonica (1 Thess. iii.)
from Berea, and not from Athens. See Hemsen, pp. 117, 127, 138, 162, and Wieseler,
42-45, 246-249.
1 Acts xvii. 14, 15.
See above, on the jailor’s conversion, pp. 308,309. Also p. 128,
3 Ὡς ἐπὶ τὴν Θάλασσαν (Acts xvii. 14), translated “as it were to the sca” in the
authorised version, This need not at all imply that there was any stratagem. Nor is
the word ὡς merely redundant. Viger anc Wiper have shown that it denotes the in-
tention. The phrase ὡς ἐπὲ is similarly used by Polybius. It seems very likely that
in the first instance they had no fixed intention of going to Athens, but merely to the
sea. Their further course was determined by providential circumstances: and, when
St. Paui was once arrived at Athens, he could send a message to Timothy and Silas to
follow him (v.15). Those are surely mistaken who suppose that St. Paul travelled
from Macedonia to Attica by land.
4 These roads are clearly laid down in the map of the Northern Aigean. The dis-
tance in the Antonine Itinerary is seventeen miles. See Wesseling, p. 328. Nicepho-
rus Gregoras says that Bercea is 160 stadia from the sea (xiii. 8,3). See also Cantacuz.
5. Mr. Tate (Continuous History, &c.) suggests that St. Paul may have sailed trom
Pydna. But Pydna was not a seaport, and, for other reasons, Dium was more conves
niently situated for the purpose.
6 Leake, p. 425. Above (p. 409) he describes the ruins of Dium, among which are
probably some remains of the temple of Jupiter Olympius, who was honoured here in
periodical games. See Liv. xliv. 6,7. For Mount Olympus, see pp. 413, 414. He
describes it as a conspicuous object for all the country round, as far as Saloniki, ana
ue deriving from its steepness an increase of grandeur and apparent height.
MOUNT OLYMPUS. 343
south ;” and it was a Roman colony, like that other city which we have
described on the eastern frontier.! No city is more likely than Dium to
have been the last, as Philippi was “the first,” through which St. Paul
passed in his journey through the province.
Here then,—where Olympus, dark with woods, rises from the plain by
the shore, to the broad summit, glittering with snow, which was the throne
of the Homeric gods,’-—at the natural termination of Macedonia,—and
where the first scene of classical and poetic Greece opens on our view,—
we take our leave, for the present, of the Apostle of the Gentiles. ‘The
shepherds from the heights? above the vale of Tempe may have watched
the sails of his ship that day, as it moved like a white speck over the
outer waters of the Thermaic Gulph. ‘The sailors, looking back from the
deck, saw the great Olympus rising close above them in snowy majesty.
The more distant mountains beyond Thessalonica are alzeady growing
faint and indistinct. As the vessel approaches the Thessalian archipe-
lago,> Mount Athos begins to detach itself from the isthmus that binds it
to the main, and, with a few other heights of Northern Macedonia, ap-
pears like an island floating in the horizon.°
1 See above, on Philippi.
3 The epithets given by Homer to this poetic mountain (μακρός, 1]. i. 398 ; πολυ-
δειράς, i. 443 ἀγάννιφος, Od. ix. 40 3 ἀγλήεις, 1]. i. 530; πολύπτυχος, viii. 410) are ag
fully justified by the accounts of modern travellers, as the descriptions of the scenery
alluded to at the close of the preceding Chapter, p. 282, n. 6.
3 See Mr. Urquhart’s description of the view over the sea and its coasts (mare voli-
volum terrasque jacentes), from a convent on the face of Mount Olympus. “I might
have doubted the reality of its hazy waters, but for the white sails dotted along the
frequented course between Salonica and the southern headland of Thessaly. Eeyond,
and far away to the east, might be guessed or distinguished the peak of Mount Athos,
and the distincter lines, between, of the peninsulas Pullene and Sithonia. This glimpse
of Mount Athos, at a distance of ninety miles, made me resolve on visiting its shrine
and ascending its peak.” Spirit of the East, vol. 1, p. 426. In the same,work (p. 418)
are some remarks on the isolation of the mountain. Scea passage in Dr. Wordsworth’s
Greece, p. 197.
4 Compare p. 314, notes 2 and 7. See also Purdy’s Sailing Directory, p. 148. “To
the N.W. of the Thessalian Isles the extensive Gulf of Salonica extends thirty leagues
to the north-westward, before it changes its direction to the north-eastward and forms
the port. The country on the west, part of the ancient Thessaly, and now the province
of Tricala, exhibitsa magnificent range of mountains, which include PeZion, now Patras,
Ossa, now Kissova, and Olympus, now Elymbo. The summit of the latter is 6000
feet above the. level of the sea.”
5. The group of islands off the north end of Eubcea, consisting of Sciathos, Scopelos,
Preparethos, &c. For an account of them, see Purdy, pp. 145-148.
6 Cousinéry somewhere gives this description of the appearance of heights near
Saloniki, as seen from the Thessalian islands. Fer an instance of a very unfavourable
voyage in these seas, in the month of December, thirteen days being spent at sea
hetween Salonica and Zeitun, the reader may consult Holland’s Travels ch. xvi.
344 HE IIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
CHAPTER X.
*tuc δὲ Tov Πειραῖα εἰσπλεύσας dviyst ἀπὸ τῆς νεὼς ἐς τὸ doit προϊὼν δέ, TOAAGK
Tw) φι:λοσοφούντων ἐνετύγχανε"... .. . τὴν μὲν δὴ πρώτην διάλεξιν, ἐπειδὴ φιλοθύτας
yTode ᾿Αθηναίους εἶδεν, ὑπὲρ ἱερῶν διελέξατο. .. καὶ ταῦτα ᾿Αθηνῇήσιν, οὗ καὶ ἀγνώστων
δαιμήνων βωμοὶ tdpyvtat.—Philost, Vit. Ap. Ty. iv. ὁ. vi. 2.
ARRIVAL ON THE COAST OF ATTICA.—SCENERY ROUND ATHENS.—THE PIRZUS
AND THE “LONG WALLS.”—THE AGORA.—THE ACROPOLIS.—THE ‘‘ PAINTED
PORCH” AND THE ‘‘GARDEN.” —-THE APOSTLE ALONE IN ATHENS. — GREEK
RELIGION.—THE UNKNOWN GOD.— GREEK PHILOSOPHY. THE STOICS AND
EPICUREANS.—LATER PERIOD OF THE SCHOOLS.—ST. PAULIN THE AGORA.—
THE AREOPAGUS.—SPEECH OF ST. PAUL.—DEPARTURE FROM ATHENS.
To draw a parallel between a holy Apostle like Paul of Tarsus, and an
itinerant magician line Apollonius of Tyana' would be unmeaning and
profane. But the extract from the biography of that singular man which
we have prefixed to this chapter is a suitable and comprehensive motto
to that passage in the Apostle’s biography on which we are now entering.
The sailing into the Pireeus,—the ertrance into the city of Athens,—the
interviews with philosophers,—the devotion of the Athenians to religious
ceremonies, the discourse concerning the worship of the Deity,—the
1 He has been alluded to before, p. 120, n. 2 and p. 146, n. 4. “His life by Philos-
tratus is a mass of incongruities and fables ;” but it is an important book, as reflecting
the opinions of the age in which it was written. Apollonius himself produced a great
excitement in the Apostolic age. See Neander’s Gencral Church History (Eng. Trans),
pp. 40-43 and pp. 236-238. It was the fashion among the Antichristian writers of the
third century to adduce him asa rival of our Blessed Lord; and the same profane
comparison has been renewed by some of our English freethinkers. Without alluding
to this any further, we may safely find some interest in putting his life by the side of
that of St. Paul. They lived at the same time, and travelled through the same coun
tries; and the life of the magician illustrates that peculiar state of philosophy and
superstition which the Gospel preached by St. Paul had to encounter. Apollonius
was partly educated at Tarsus; he travelled from city to city in Asia Minor; from
Greece he went to Rome, in the reign of Nero, about the time when the magicians had
lately been expelled; he visited Athens and Alexandria, where he had a singular
mecting with Vespasian: on a second visit’ to Italy he vanished miraculously from
Puteoli: the last scene of his life was Eshesus. or, possibly, Crete or Rhodes. Sce the
Life in Smith’s Dictionary cf Biography. Itis thought by many that St. Paul and
Apollonius actually met in Epbesus and Rome. Burton’s Lectures on Ecclesiastical
Uistory, pp. 157, 240.
ARRIVAL ON THE COAST OF ATTICA. 345
Ignorance implied by the altars to wxknown G'ods,!—these are exactly
the subjects which are now before us.. If a summary of the contents of
the seventeenth chapter of the Acts had been required, it could not have
been more conveniently expressed. The city visited by Apollonius was
the Athens which was visited by St. Paul: the topics of discussion—the
character of the people addressed—the aspect of everything around,—
were identically the same. The difference was this, that the Apostle
could give to his hearers what the philosopher could not give. The God
whom Paul “declared,” was worshipped by Apollonius himself as “ ignor-
aptly” as by the Athenians.
We left St. Paul on that voyage which his friends induced him to
undertake on the flight from Bercea. The vessel was last seen among the
Thessalian’ islands.2 About, that point the highest land in Northern
Macedonia began to be lost to view. Gradually the nearer heights of the
snowy Olympus? itself receded into the distance, as the vessel on her
progress approached more and more near to the centre of all the interest
of classical Greece. All the land and water in sight becomes more
eloquent as we advance: the lights and shadows, both of poetry and _his-
tory, are on every side; every rock is ἃ monument; every current is
animated with some memory of the past. For a distance of ninety miles,
from the confines of Thessaly to the middle part of the coast of Attica,
the shore is protected, as it were, by the long island of Hubcea. Deep
in the innermost gulf, where the waters of the Aigean retreat far within
the land, over against the northern parts of this island, is the pass οἱ
Thermopyle, where a handful of Greek warriors had defied all the hosts
of Asia. In the crescent-like bay on the shore of Attica, near the south-
ern extremity of the same island, is the maritime sanctuary of Marathon,
where the battle was fought which decided that Greece was never to be
a Persian Satrapy.4 When the island of Eubeea is left behind, we soon
reach the southern extremity of Attica—Cape Colonna,—Sanium’s high
promontory, still crowned with the white columns of that temple of Mi-
nerva, which was the landmark to Greek sailors, and which asserted the
presence of Athens at the very vestibule of her country.°
After passing this headland, our course turns to the westward across
the waters of the Saronic Gulf, with the mountains of the Morea on our
left, and the islands of Agina and Salamis in front. To one who travels
in classical lands no moment is more full of interest and excitement than
? This subject is fully entered into below. 2 Αὐθνο, p. 343.
2 See the preceding Chapter, p. 342, also 314. |
¥ See Quarterly Review, for Sept. 1846, and the first number of the Classical Museum,
» See Wordsworth’s Athens and Attica, ch. xxvii. A description of the promontory
and ruins, will be found in Mure’s Journal of a Tour in Greece. See Falconer’s Ship
wreck, lil 526.
840 THE ‘LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
when he has left the Cape of Sunium behind and eagerly looks for the
first glimpse of that city “built nobly on the A%gean shore,” which was
“the eye of Greece, mother of arts and eloquence.”! To the traveller
in classical times its position was often revealed by the flashing of the
light on the armour of Minerva’s colossal statne, which stood with shield and
spear on the summit of the citadel.* At the very first sight of Athens,
and even from the deck of the vessel, we obtain a vivid notion of the
characteristics of its position. And the place where it stands is so re
markable—its ancient inhabitants were so proud of its climate and its
scenery ®>—that we may pause on our approach to say a few words on
Attica and Athens, and their relation to the rest of Greece.
Attica is a triangular tract of country, the southern and eastern sides
of which meet in the point of Sunium ; its third side is defined by the
high mountain ranges of Citheron and Parnes, which separate it by a
strong barrier from Boeotia and Northern Greece. Hills of inferior ele-
vation connect‘ these ranges with the mountainous surface of the scuth-
east,®> which begins from Sunium itself, and rises on the south coast to the
round summits of Hymettus,.and the higher peak of Pentelicus near
Marathon on the east. The rest of Attica is a plain, one reach of which
comes down to the sea on the south, at the very base of Hymettus. Here,
about five miles from the shore, an abrupt rock rises from the level, like
the rock of Stirling Castle, bordered on the south by some lower emin-
ences, and commanded by a high craggy peak on the north. ‘This rock is
the Acropolis of Athens. These lower eminences are the Areopagus,
the Pnyx, and the Museum, which determined the rising and falling of
the ground in the ancient city. That craggy peak is the hill of Lycabet
tus,° from the summit of which the spectator sees all Athens at his feet,
1 Paradise Regained, iv. 240.
? The expression of Pausanias is,—Tairn¢e τῆς ᾿Αθηνᾶς ἡ τοῦ δόρατος αἰχμὴ καὶ ὁ
λόφος τοῦ κράνους ἀπὸ Σουνίου προσπλέουσιν ἔστιν ἤδη σύνοπτα, xxviii. 2. This does
not mean that it can be seen from Suuium itself, as any one must be aware who is
acquainted with the position and height of Hymettus. Colonel Leake says that the
view of the Acropolis is open to any vessel sailing towards it up the gulf, on a
course of N. 20 W. true, and that it is first distinctly visible without a telescope about
Cape Zosta. Addenda, p. 631.
3 See, especially, Xenophon de Vectigalibus.
4 The region which connected Parnes and Hymettus, and lay beyond it, was called
Diacria.
5 In this region of the Mesogaa there was an inland plain. The sca-coasts ou the
east and west, coming @pwn to Sunium, were called Paralia.
6 The relation of Lycabettus to the crowded buildings below, and to the surrounding
landscape, is so like that of Arthur’s Seat to Edinburgh and its neighbourhood, and
there isso much resemblance between Edinburgh Castle and the Acropolis, that a
tomparison between the city of the Saronic gulf and the city of the Forth has beceme
justly proverbial.
SCENERY ROUND ATHENS. 947
snd looks freely over the intermediate plain to the Pireus and the
Bea.
Athens and the Pirgeus must never be considered separately. Ons
was the city, the other was its harbour. Once they were connected toge-
ther by a continuous fortification. Those who looked down from Lyca
bettus in the time of Pericles, could follow with the eye all the long line
of wall from the temples on the Acropolis to the shipping in the port.
Thus we are brought back to the point from which we digressed. We.
were approaching the Pirzus; and, since we must land in maritime
Athens before we can enter Athens itself, let us return once more to the
vessel’s deck, and iook round on the land and the water. The island on
our left,,with steep cliffs at the water's edge, is gina. The distant
heights beyond it are the mountains of the Morea. Before us is another
island, the illustrious Salamis ; though in the view it is hardly disentan-
gled from the coast of Attica, for the strait where the battle was fought
is narrow and winding. The high ranges behind stretch beyond Eleusis
and Megara, to the left towards Corinth, and to the right along the fron-
tier of Beotia. This last ridge is the mountain line of Parnes, of which
we have spoken above. Clouds! are often seen to rest on it at all seasons
of the year, and in winter it is usually white with snow. ‘The dark heavy
mountain rising close to us on the right immediately from the sea, is
Hymettus. Between Parnes and Hymettus is the plain ; and rising from
the plain is the Acropolis, distinctly visible, with Lycabettus behind, and
seeming in the clear atmosphere to be nearer than it is,
The outward aspect of this scene is now whatit ever was. The lights
and shadows on the rocks of Aigina and Salamis, the gleams on the dis-
tant mountains, the clouds or the snow on Parnes, the gloom in the deep
dells of Hymettus, the temple-crowned rock and the plain beneath it,—
are natural features, which only vary with the alternations of morning
and evening, and summer and winter. Some changes indeed have taken
place : but they are connected with the history of man. The vegetation
is less abundant, the population is more scanty. In Greek and Roman
times, bright villages enlivened the promontories of Sunium and Adgina,
and all the inner reaches of the bay. Some readers will indeed remem-
ber a dreary picture which Sulpicius gave his friend Atticus of the deso-
1 See the passage from the Clouds of Aristophanes quoted by Dr. Wordsworth.
Athens and Attica, p.58. Theophrastus said that the weather would be fine when
there was lightning only on Parnes.
* This is written under the recollection of the aspect of the coast on a cloudy
morning in winter. It is perhaps more usually seen ander the glare of a hot sky.
3 Athens was not always as bare asit is now. See the line quoted by Dio Chrys:
ἄλση δὲ τίς πω τοιαδ' ἔσχ᾽ ἀλλη πόλις; Plato, in the Critias, complains that the wood
was (liminishing.
348 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ΕἸ. PAUL.
lation of these coasts when Greece had ceased to be free ;! but we must
make some allowances for the exaggerations of a poetical regret, «nd must
recollect that the writer had been accustomed to the gay and busy life of
the Campanian shore. After the renovation of Corinth,’ and in the
reign of Claudius, there is no doubt that all the signs of a far mora
numerous population than at present were evident around the Saronic
gulf, and that more white sails were to be seen in fine weather plyiag
across its waters to the harbours of Cenchrese* or Pireus.
Now there is indeed a certain desolation over this beautiful bay: Co-
rinth is fallen, and Cenchree is an insignificant village. The Piraeus is
probably more like what it was, than any other spot upon the coast. It
remains what by nature it has ever been,—a safe basin of deep water,
concealed by the surrounding rock ; and now, as in St. Paul’s time, the
proximity of Athens causes it to be the resort of various shipping. We
know that we are approaching it at the present day, if we see, rising above
the rocks, the tall masts of an English line-of-battle ship, side by side with
the light spars of a Russian corvette or the black funnel of a French
steamer. ‘The details were different when the Mediterranean was a Re-
man lake. The heavy top-gear‘ of corn-ships from Alexandria or the
Euxine might then be a conspicuous mark among the small coasting vessels
and fishing-boats ; and one bright spectacle was then pre-eminent, which
the lapse of centuries has made cold and dim, the perfect buildings on the
summit of the Acropolis, with the shield and spear of Minerva Promachus
glittering in the sun.» But those who have coasted along beneath Hymet-
tus,—and past the indentations in the shore,* which were sufficient har-
bours for Athens in the days of her early navigation,—and round by the
ancient tomb, which tradition has assigned to Themistocles,’ into the bet-
ter and safer harbour of the Pirzeus,—require no great effort of the ima-
gination to picture the Apostle’s arrival. For a moment, as we near the
entrance, the land rises and conceals all the plain. Idlers come down
upon the rocks to watch the coming vessel. The sailors are all on the
alert. Suddenly an opering is revealed ; and a sharp turn ef the helm
brings the ship in between two moles,* on which towers are erected. We
1“ Ex Asia rediens, quum ab /Egina Megaram versus navigarem, ccoepi regiones
eircumcirea prospicere. Post me erat gina; ante Megara; dextra Piraeus; sinistra
Corinthus ; que oppida quodam tempore florentissima fuerunt, nunc prostrata et diruta
ante oculos jacent.” Hp. Fam. iv. 5.
* Corinth was in ruins in Cicero’s time. For the results of its restoration, see the
next Chapter.
3 See Acts xviii. 18. Rom. xvi. 1.
4 See Smith’s Shipwreck, ἄο. 5 See above, p. 346,
6 The harbours of Phalerum and Munyckia.
7 For the sepulchre by the edge of the water, popularly called the ‘tomb of The
mistocles,” see Leake, pp. 379, 380, and the notes.
8 Some parts of the ancient moles are remaining.—Leake, p. 272. See what is said
SCENERY ROUND ATHENS. 34S
are in smooth watcr ; and anchor is cast in seven fathoms in the basin of
the Pirzeus.'
The Pireus, with its suburbs (for so, though it is not strictly accurate,
we may designate the maritime city), was given to Athens as a natural
advantage, to which much of her greatness must be traced. It consists
of a projecting portion of rocky ground, which is elevated above the neigh-
bouring shore, and probably was originally entirely ingulated in the sea,
The two rivers of Athens—-the Cephisus and Ilissus—seem to have
formed, in the course of ages, the low marshy ground which now connects
Athens with its port.2 The port itself possesses all the advantages of
shelter and good anchorage, deep water, and sufficient space. Themisto
cles, seeing that the pre-eminence of his country could only be maintained
by her maritime power, fortified the Piraeus as the outpost of Athens, and
enclosed the basin of the harbour as a dock within the walls. In the
long period through which Athens had been losing its political power,
these defences had been neglected and suffered to fall into decay, or had
been used as materials for other buildings: but there was still a fortress
on the highest point ;° the harbour was still a place of some resort ; °
and a considerable number of seafaring people dwelt in the streets about
the sea-shore. When the republic of Athens was flourishing, the sailors
of the colossal lions now removed to Venice, which gave the harbour its modern
name, p. 271.
1 “The entrance of the Pireus (Port Leoni) is known by a small obelisk built on a
low point by the company of H. M. ship Cambria, in 1820, on the starboard hand going
in... . The entrance lies E. by. S. and W. by N., and has in it nine and ten fathoms.
There are three mole-heads, two of which you have on the starboard hand, and one on
the larboard. When past these mole-heads, shorten all sail, luff up, and anchor in
seven fathoms. The ground is clear and good. There is room enough for three
frigates. As the place is very narrow, great care is required. . . . During the summer
months the sea-breezes blow, nearly all day, directly into the harbour. . . . The middle
channel of the harbour, with a depth of 9 or 10 fathoms, is 110 feet in breadth; the
starboard channel, with 6 fathoms, 40 feet ; the larboard, with 2 fathoms, only 28 feet.”
Purdy’s Sailing Directions, p. 83.
? See the first pages of Curtius, De Portubus Athenarum Commentatio, Hal. 1842.
3 See above, n. 2.
4 For the work of Themistocles, see Thucyd. i. 93. Corn. Nep. Them. 6, and Pau-
sanias. For the completion of the defences during the Peloponnesian war, sec
Thucyd. ii. 94, and Leake’s note, p. 372.
5 The height of Munychia. For the military importance of this position in the Ma-
cedonian and Roman periods. see Leake, pp. 401-412. In the same way, the Museum
became more important, in the military sense, than the Acropolis, which, in every
other respect, was infinitely more illustrious. Pp. 405, 406. Compare p. 429, and the
expression of Diodorus, p. 386, n.
6 Strabo speaks of the population living in “ villages about the port.”” One of them
was probably near the theatre of Munychia, on the low ground on the east of the main
harbour. Leake, p. 396. Even in the time of Alexander, the Pireeus had so much da
tlincd thi a comic writer compared it to a great empty walnut. Leake, p. 402.
8350 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ΒΥ. PAUL.
were a turbulent and worthless part of its population.’ And the Pirseus
under the Romans was not without some remains of the same disorderly
elass, as it doubtless retained many of the outward features of its earlier
appearance :—the landing-places and covered porticos ;? the warehouses
where the corn from the Black Sea used to be laid up ;? the stores of fish
brought in daily from the Saronic Gulf and the A%gean ;‘ the gardens in
the watery groumt at the edge of the plain ;* the theatres® into which
the sailors used to flock to hear the comedies of Menander ; and the tem-
ples’ where they were spectators of a worship which had no beneficial
effect on their characters.
Had St. Paul come to this spot four hundred years before, he would
have been in Athens from the moment of his landing at the Pireus. At
that time the two cities were united together by the double line of fortifi-
cation, which is famous under the name of the “Long Walls.” The space
incluaeu oetween these two arms® of stone might be considered (as, indeed,
it was sometimes called) a third city ; for the street of five miles in length
thus formed across the plain, was crowded® with people, whose habita-
tions were shut out from all view of the country by the vast wall on either
side. Some of the most pathetic passages of Athenian history are associ-
1 The ναυτικὸς ὄχλος of Aristophanes.
? We read especially of the Maxpd Στοά, which was also used asa market. Leake,
pp. 367 and 382. See the allusions on the latter page to the meal-bazaar (στοὰ ἀλφι-
τοπῶλις) and the exchange (δεῖγμα) ; an armoury also (p. 365) and naval arsenais (p.
374), are mentioned. Some of these had been destroyed by Sulla.
3 That part of the Peiraic harbour to which the corn-vessels came was called Zea,
See Leake, pp. 573-376. Thucydides (viii. 90) mentions the building of some corn-
warehouses. Leake, p. 378.
4 Leake, p. 397. 5 Thid.
6 This theatre was on the hill of Phalerum. Leake, p. 386-388. Compare pp. 391,
392 and notes. It ds mentioned by Xenophon (Hell. ii. 4, 32) in connection with the
affair of Thrasybulus, during which some of the troops were driven into the theatre,
like the crowd at Ephesus (Acts xix. 29). There was another theatre in Munychia,
mentioned by Lysias and Thucydides; and there too we have the mention of a great
meeting during the Peloponnesian war. Leake, p. 394.
7 See Pausanias. It is here that he mentions the altars to the unknown gods (βωμοὶ
θεῶν Te ὀνομαζομένων ἀγνώστων καὶ ἡρώων). Clemens Alexandrinus mentions some of
the statues that were seen here in his time. Leake, p. 369, n. 3, also p. 384. One of
the most conspicuous temples was that dedicated to Jupiter and Minerva. Strabo and
Liv. xxxi. 30, and Plin. H. Ν. xxxiv. 8.
8 “These brachia longa viw,” as they are called by Propertius (iii. 20, 24); and
egain by Livy,—*‘ Murus qui brachiis duobus Peirzeum Athenis jungit” (xxxi.26). But
the name by which they were usually known at Athens, was “the Long legs,”—ra
μακρὰ σκέλη.
9 Andocides distinguishes the three garrisons of Athens as—ol ἐν ἄστει οἰκοῦντες, οἱ
ἐν μακρῷ τείχει, and of ἐν Πειραιεῖ. De Myst. p. 22, Reiske. So Polyzenus speaks of
οἱ φύλακες τοῦ ἄστεος καὶ τοῦ Πειραιέως καὶ τῶν Σκελῶν. i 40, ἃ That the ΤοηρῸ-
mural space was thickly inhabited is evident from the passages of Thucydides and
Xenophon referred to below.
THE ‘LONG WALLS. 3&1
ated with this longomural enclosure : as when, in the beginning of the Px
loponnesian war, the plague broke out in the autumn weather among the
miserable inhabitants, who were crowded here to suffocation ;' or, at the
end of the same war, when the news came of the defeat on the Asiatic
shore, and one long wail went up from the Pirgus, “and no one slept in
Athens that night.”? The result of that victory was, that these long walls
were rendered useless by being partially destroyed ; and though another
Athenian admiral and statesman* restored what Pericles‘ had first com-
pleted, this intermediate fortification remained effective only for a time.
In the incessant changes which fell on Athens in the Macedonian period,
they were injured and became unimportant.’ In the Roman siege under
Sulla, the stones were used as materials for other military works.° So
that when Augustus was on the throne, and Athens had reached its ulti-
mate position as a free city of the province of Achaia, Strabo, in his
description of the place, speaks of the Long Walls as matters of past
history ;7 and Pausanias, a century later, says simply that “you see the
ruins of the walls as you go up from the Pireus.”* Thus we can easily
imagine the aspect of these defences in the time of St. Paul, which is in-
termediate to these two writers. On each side of the road® were the
broken fragments of the rectangular masonry put together in the proud-
est days of Athens ; more conspicuous than they are at present (for now”
1 Thucyd. ii. 17. 2 Xen. Hell. ii. 2, 3.
3 Leake (p. 428) thinks that the Phaleric wall may have supplied the materials for
Conon’s restoration. “At least no further notice of the Phaleric wall occurs in history,
nor have any vestiges of it been yet discovered.”
4 For the progress of the work from its first commencement, see Grote’s Greece,
vol. v.
5 See what Livy says of their state after the death of Demetrius Poliorcetes. “Inter
angustias semiruti muri, qui brachiis duobus Pireum Athenis jungit.”’ xxxi.26. Yet
he afterwards speaks of their being objects of admiration in the time of Aim. Paulus.
“Athenas plenas quidem et ipsas vetustate fama, multa tamen visenda habentes;
arcem, portus, muros Pireum urbi jungentes.” xlv, 27.
6 Appian says that Sulla made use of the timber of the Academy and the stonea
from the Long Walls for his military works. Ὕλην τῆς ᾿Ακαδημίας ἔκοπτε καὶ μηγανὰς
εἰργάζετο μεγίστας " τά Te μακρὰ σκέλη καθήρει, λίθους Kal ξύλα καὶ γῆν ἐς τὸ χῶμα
μεταβάλλων. De Bello Mith. 30.
7 Τῷ τεΐχει τούτῳ (the Peiraic fortification) συνῆπται τὰ καθειλκυσμένα ἐκ τοῦ ἄστεος
σκέλη" ταῦτα δ᾽ ἦν μακρὰ τείχη, τετταράκοντα σταδίων τὸ μῆκος, συνάπτοντα τὸ ἄστυ
τῷ Πειραιεῖ. Strabo, ix. 1. He goes on to say that ἃ succession of wars had had the
effect of destroying the defences of the Pirzus.
8 ’Aviovtwy ἐκ Πειραιῶς, ἐρείπια τῶν τειχῶν ἐστιν, ἃ Κόνων, ὕστερον τῆς πρὸς Κνίδῳ
ναυμαχίας, ἀνέστησε. Paus. Att. ii. 2.
9 Leake thinks that the Hamazitus or carriage-way went on the outside of the
nerthern wall (p. 384); but Forchammer has shown that -his was not the case, p. 24. ᾿
10 Leake, p. 417.
1 See Leake, Wordsworth, and other modern travellers. It seems, from what Spon
and Wheler say, that in 1676 the remains were larger and more continuous than af
prosent,
352 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 51. PAUL.
only the foundations can be traced here and there across the plain), but
still very different from what they were when two walls of sixty feet high,
with a long succession of towers,’ stood to bid defiance to every invader
of Attica.
COIN OF ATHENS,
The consideration of the Long Walls leads us to that of the city walla
themselves. Here many questions might be raised concerning the extent
of the enclosure,? and the positions of the gates, when Athens was under
the Roman dominion. But all such enquiries must be entirely dismissed.
We will assume that St. Paul entered the city by the gate which led from
the Pireus, that this gate was identical with that by which Pausanias
entered. and that its position was in the hollow between the outer slopes
of the Pnyx and Museum.’ It is no ordinary advantage that we possess
a description of Athens under the Romans, by the traveller and antiquarian
whose name has just been mentioned. The work of Pausanias © will be our
1 “There is no direct evidence of the height of the Long Walls; but, as Appian (De
B. Mith. 30) informs us that the walls of the Peiraic city were forty cubits high, we
may presume those of the Long Walls were not less. Towers were absolutely neces-
sary to such a work ; and the inscription relating to the Long Walls leuves no question
as to their having existed.” Leake, p. 424, n. 1. The inscription. to which allusion is
made, was published by K. O. Miller, in his work “De Munimentis Athenarum ” (Gott,
1836); it is given in Leake’s Appendix.
* From the British Museum.
3 Our plan of Athens is taken from that of Kiepert, which is based on the arguments
contained in Forchammer’s Topographie von Athen. (Kiel. 1841.) It differs materially
from that of Leake, especially in giving a larger area to the city on the east and south,
and thus bringing the Acropolis in the centre. Forchammer thinks that the traces of
ancient walls, which are found on the Pnyx, &ec., do not belong to the fortifications of
Themistocles, but to some later defences erected by Valerian.
4 For various discussions on the gates, 866 Leake, Wordsworth, and Forchammer.
§ Pausanias does not mention the Peitaic gate by that name. See Leake, Words
worth, and Forchammer. The first of these authorities places it where the modern
road from the Piras enters Athens, beyond all the high ground to the north of the
.Pnyx; the second places it in the hollow between the Pnyx and the Museum; the
third in the same direction, but more remote from the Acropolis, in conformity wita
his view concerning the larger circumference of the walls.
* Pausanias visited Athens about fifty years after St. Paul. It is probable that very
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THE AGORA. 353
best guide to the discovery of what St. Paul saw. By following his route
through the city, we shall be treading in the steps of the Apostle himself,
and shall behold those very objects which excited his indignation and
compassion.
Taking, then, the position of the Peiraic gate as determined, or at
least resigning the task of topographical enquiries, we enter the city, and
with Pausanias as our guide, look round on the objects which were seen
by the Apostle. At the very gateway we are met with proofs of the
peculiar tendency of the Athenians to multiply their objects both of art
and devotion.' Close by the building where the vestments were laid up
which were used in the annual procession of their tutelary divinity
Minerva,’ is an image of her rival Neptune, seated on horseback, and
hurling his trident.2 We pass by a temple of Ceres, on the walls of which
an archaic inscription’ informs us that the statues it contains were the
work of Praxiteles. We go through the gate: and immediately the eye
is attracted by the sculptured forms of Minerva, Jupiter, and Apollo, of
Mercury and the Muses, standing near a sanctuary of Bacchus. We are
already in the midst of an animated scene, where temples, statues, and
altars are on every side, and where the Athenians, fond of publicity and
the open air, fond of hearing and telling what is curious and strange,* are
enjoying their climate and enquiring for news. A long street is before
us, with a colonnade or cloister on either hand, like the covered arcades of
Bologna or Turin. At the end of the street, by turning to the left, we
might go through the whole Ceramicus,’? which leads by the tombs of
eminent Athenians to the open inland country and the groves of the
Academy. But we turn to the right into the Agora, which was the
centre of a glorious public life, when the orators and statesmen, the poets
and the artists of Greece, found there all the incentives of their noblest
enthusiasm ; and still continued to be the meeting-place of philosophy, of
idleness, of conversation, and of business, when Athens could ouly be
few changes had taken place in the city, with the exception of the new buildings erected
by Adrian.
1 Acts xvii. 23.
* This building is the Pompeium (Πομπεῖον). Paus. ii. 4. See Forchammer, p. 31.
3 We have used the terms ‘Minerva, Neptune,” &c., instead of the more accurate
terms “ Athene, Poseidon,” &c., in accommodation to popular language. So before
‘Ch. VI.), in the case of Jupiter and Mercury.
4 'Αττικοῖς γράμμασιν. Paus. 5 Acts xvii. 21.
6 Forchammer makes this comparison, p. 34. It is probable, however, that these
covered walks were not formed with arches, but with pillars bearing horizontal entab-
latures. The position we have assigned to this street is in accordance wi‘h the plan
of Forchammer, who places the wall and gate more remotely from the Agora than our
English topographers.
7 This term, in its full extent, included not ohly the road between the city wall and
the Academy, but the Agora itself. See Plan of Athens,
VOL. I.—23
5:1 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
proud of her recollections of the past. On the south side is the Pnyz}
a sloping hill partially levelled into an open area for political assemblies ;
on the north side is the more craggy eminence of the Avrcopagus,
before us, towards the east, is the Acropolis,? towering high above
the scene of which it is the glory and the crown. In the valley
enclosed by these heights is the Agora, which must not be conceived
of as a great “market,” (Acts xvii. 17) like the bare spaces in many
modern towns, where little attention has been paid to artistic decoration,
but is rather to be compared to the beautiful squares of such Italian cities
as Verona and Florence, where historical buildings have closed in the
space within narrow limits, and sculpture has peopled it with impressive
fizures. Among the buildings of greatest interest are the porticoes or
cloisters, whieh were decorated with paintings and statuary, like the
Campo Santo at Pisa. We think we may be excused for multiplying
these comparisons: for though they are avowedly imperfect, they are
really more useful than any attempt at description could be, in enabling
us to realize the aspect of ancient Athens. ‘Two of the most important of
these were the Portico of the King, and the Portico of the Jupiter of
Freedom.’ On the roof of the former were statues of Theseus and the
Day : in the front of the latter was the divinity to whom it was dedicated,
and within were allegorical paintings illustrating the rise of the Athenian
democracy. One characteristic of the Agora was, that it was full of
memorials of actual history. Among the plane trees planted by the hand
of Cimon,’ were the statues of the great men of Athens—such as Solon
the lawgiver,* Conon the admiral,? Demosthenes the orator." But among
her historical men were her deified heroes, the representatives of her
1 It is remarkable that the Pnyx, the famous meeting-place of the political assem-
blies of Athens, is not mentioned by Pausanias. This may be because there were no
longer any such assemblies, and therefore his attention was not called to it; or, per-
haps, it is omitted because it was simply a level space, without any work of art to
attract the notice of an antiquarian.
See this more fully described below. 3 See above, p. 346.
4 We adopt the view of Forchammer, which is now generally received, that the
position of the Agora was always the same. The hypothesis of a new Agora to the
north of the Areopagus, was first advanced by Meursius and has been adopted by
Le:ke.
5. In the plan, these two porticoes are placed side by side, after Kiepert. Leake places
them to the N. W. of the Areopagus, in accordance with his theory concerning the new
Agora. See below. The first of these porticoes was so called because the King
Archon held his court there. Pausanias does not give the name of the second; but
it is inferred from comparing his description with other authors.
6 Paus. iii. 2. 7 Plut. Cim. Wordsw. p. 68.
8 Paus, xvi. 1. This was in front of the Stoa Peecile, which will be mentiened
below.
9 Paus. iii. 1. 10 Paus, viii. 4.
THE AGORA. 355
mythology—Hercules and Theseus,'—and all the series of the Eponymi*
on their elevated platform, from whom the tribes were named, and whom
an ancient custom connected with the passing of every successive law
And among the deified heroes were memorials of the older divinities,—
Mercuries, which gave their name to the street in which they wero
placed,?—statues dedicated to Apollo, as patron of the city,‘ and her
deliverer from plague,*—and, in the centre of all, the Altar of the Twelve
Gods,* which was to Athens what the Golden Milestone was to Rome.
If we look up to the Areopagus, we see the temple? of that deity from
whom the eminence had received the name of “ Mars’ Hill : 5 and we are
aware that the sanctuary of the Furies® is only hidden by the projecting
ridge keyond the stone steps and the seats of the judges. If we look for-
ward to the Acropolis, we behold there, closing the long perspective, a
series of little sanctnaries on the very ledges of the rock,—shrines of
Bacchus and Asculapius, Venus, Earth, and Ceres,” ending with the
lovely form of that Temple of Unwinged Victory " which glittered by the
entrance of the Propylea above the statues of Harmodius and Aristogei-
ton. Thus, every god in Olympus found a place in the Agora. But the
religiousness of the Athenians went even further. For every public place
and building was likewise a sanctuary. The Record House was a temple
1 The legends of these two heroes were frequently combined in works of art. See
Wordsworth’s Greece. Their statues in the Agora are mentioned by Pausanias, viii. 6.
5. Paus. viii.
3 See what Leake says on this street, p. 253. We adopt Kiepert’s arrangement.
4 Apollo Patrous. His temple was called Pythium. In this building the naval car,
used in the Panathenaic procession, was laid up after its festal voyages, to be exhibited
to travellers; ‘as the Ducal barge of Venice, the Bucentoro, in which the Doge sol-
emnized the annual marriage with the sea, is now preserved for the same purpose in
the Venetian arsenal.” Wordsworth, p. 189.
5 Apollo Alexicacus, who was believed to have made the plague to cease in the
Peloponnesian war.
6 See Wordsworth, p. 169. This is one of the objects not mentioned by Pausanias.
It was near the statue of Demosthenes.
7 Se the plan. 8 Acts xvii. 22.
9. The sanctuary was in a deep cleft in the front of the Areopagus, facing the
Acropolis. See below.
1¢ For the position of these temples, see Leake, Section VII., on the fourth part of
the route of Pausanias.
1! The history of this temple is very curious. In 1676 it was found entire by Spon,
and Wheler. Subsequent travellers found that it had disappeared. In 1835 the
various portions were discovered in an excavation, with the exception of two, which ~
are in the British Museum, It is now entirely restored. The original structure
belongs to the period of the close of the Persian wars.
15 or their position, see Pausanias, These statues were removed by Xerxes ; and
Alexander, when at Babylon, gave an order for their restoration. Images of Brutus
and Cassius were at one time erected near them (Dio C. xlvii. 29), but probably they
were removed by Augustus.
356. | THE LIVE AND EPISTLES OF ST. rAUL.
of the Mother of the Gods.!. The Council-House held statues of Apolle
and Jupiter, with an altar of Vesta.* The Theatre at the base of the
Acropolis, into which the Athenians crowded to hear the words of their
great tragedians, was consecrated to Bacchus. The Pnyx, near which
we entered, on whose elevated platform they listened in breathless atten-
tion to their orators, was dedicated to Jupiter4 on High, with whose
name those of the Nymphs of the Demus* were gracefully associated.
And, as if the imagination of the Attic mind knew no bounds in this
direction, abstractions were deified and publicly honoured. Altars were
“erected to Fame, to Modesty, to Energy, to Persuasion, and to Pity.
This last altar is mentioned by Pausanias among ‘‘ those objects in the
Agora which are not understood by all men: for,” he adds, ‘the Athe-
nians alone of all the Greeks give divine honour to Pity.”? It is needless
to show how the enumeration which we have made (and which is no more
than a selection from what is described by Pausanias) throws light on the
words of St. Luke and St. Paul; and especially how the groping afer
the abstract and invisible, implied in the altars alluded to last, illustrates
the inscription “ΤῸ the Unknown God,” which was used by Apostol -
wisdom to point the way to the highest truth.
What is true of Agora is still more emphatically true of the Acropolts
for the spirit which rested over Athens was concentrated here. The feel
ing of the Athenians with regard to the Acropolis was well, though fanci
fully, expressed by the rhetorician who said that it was the middle space
of five concentric circles of a shield, whereof the outer four were Athens,
Attica, Greece, and the world. The platform of the Acropolis was a
museum of art, of history, and of religion. The whole was “one vast
1 The Mytpdov. See the plan. 3 The Βουλευτήριον. See the plan.
3 Its position may be seen on the plan, on the south side of the Acropolis.
4 See the inscription in Boeckh. This is attributed to the elevated position of the
Pnyx as seen from the Agora. Wordsworth’s Athens and Attica, p. 72.
5 See the restored inscription in Wordsworth (p. 70):—HIEPON ΝΎΜΦΑΙΣ
AHMOXSIAIZ. ‘
6 Jt is doubtful in what part of Athens the altars of Fame, Modesty, and Energy
(Αἰδοῦς καὶ Φήμης καὶ 'Ορμῆς) were placed. Adschines alludes to the altar of Fame. The ;
altar of Persuasion (Πειθὼ) was on the ascent of the Acropolis. There were many other
memorials of the same kind in Athens. Cicero speaks of a temple or altar to Contu-
melia and Impudentia. De Leg. ii. 11. In the temple of Minerva Polias, in the Acro-
polis, was an altar of Oblivion. Plut. Sympos. 9.
1 'Ελέου βωμὸς, ᾧ μάλιστα ϑεῶν, ἐς ἀνθρώπινον βίον καὶ μεταβολὰς πραγμώτων
ὅτι ὠφέλιμος, μόνοι τιμὰς Ἑλλήνων νέμουσιν ᾿Αθηναῖοι. χνὶϊ. 1. He adds that this
altar was not so much due to ἐμεῖγ human sympathy as to their peculiar piety towards
the gods, and he confirms this opinion by proceeding to mention the altars of lame,
Modesty, and Energy.
8 “Ὥσπερ γὰρ en’ ἀσπίδος κύκλων εἰς ἀλλήλους ἐμβεβηκότων, πέμπτως εἰς ὀμφαλὸν
πληροῖ διὰ πάντων ὁ κάλλιστος" εἴπερ ἡ μὲν Ἑλλὰς ἐν μέσῳ τῆς πάσης γῆς" 7 ée
Αττικὴ τῆς Ελλάδος" τῆς δὲ χώρας ἡ πόλις" τῆς δ᾽ αὖ πόλεως ἡ ὁμώνυμος. Aristid.
Panath, i. 99
id AAA
' Wht | \\
May
THE AREOPAGUS.
THE ACROPOLIS. 357
eomposition of architecture and sculpture, dedicated to the national glory
and to the worship of the gods.” By one approach only-—through the
Propyizea built by Pericles—could this sanctuary be entered. If St. Paul
went up that steep ascent on the western front of the rock, past the Tem-
ple of Victory, and through that magnificent portal, we know nearly alf
the ieatures of the idolatrous spectacle he saw before him. At the ep
trance, in conformity with his attributes, was the statue of Mercurius Pro-
pyleus.'! Further on, within the vestibule of the beautiful enclosure, were
statues of Venus and the Graces.* The recovery of one of those who had
laboured among the edifices of the Acropolis was commemorated by a dedi-
cation to Minerva as the goddess of Health There was a shrine of
Diana, whose image had been wrought by Praxiteles.t Intermixed with
what had reference to divinities, were the memorials of eminent men and
of great victories. The statue of Pericles, to whom the glory of the Acro-
polis was due, remained there for centuries.» Among the sculptures on
the south wall was one which recorded a victory we have alluded to,—
that of Attalus over the Galatians.6 Nor was the Roman power without
its representatives on this proud pedestal of Athenian glory. Before the
entrance were statues of Agrippa and Augustus ;7 and at the eastern ex-
tremity of the esplanade a temple was erected in honour of Rome and the
emperor.’ But the main characteristics of the place were mythological
and religious, and truly Athenian, On the wide levelled area,were such
groups as the following :—Theseus contending with the Minotaur ; Her-
1 Paus. xxii. 8.
4 These statues were said to be the work of Socrates. Paus. ib.
5. The Minerva Hygieia was of bronze, and dedicated by Pericles in memory of the
fecovery of a favourite workman ΟἹ Mnesicles, the architect of the Propylea. He had
fallen from the roof, and Minerva appeared in a dream to Pericles and prescribed a
remedy. Plut. Per. 13. Plin. H.N. xxii. 17.
4 Paus. xxiii. 9. :
> Pausanias mentions this statue twice, xxv. 1 and xxxviii. 2. It stood by a brazen
chariot with four horses, mentioned by Herodotus (v. 79) as on the left hand to those
who enter the Acropolis.
6 See p. 241. Several of the statues seen by Pausanias in Athens were those of the
Greek kings who reigned over the fragments of Alexander’s empire. See, especially,
his mention of the Ptolemies, viii. ix. ἢ
7 One pedestal is still standing in this position, with the name of Agrippa inscribed
cnit. There is some reason to believe that some earlier Greek statues had been con-
verted in this instance, as in many others, into monuments of Augustus and Agrippa
Cicero, in one of his letters frem Athens, speaks indignantly of this custom: “ Equidem
valde ipsas Athenas amo. Cdiinscriptiones alienarum statuarum.” Att. vi.1. Within
the enclosure of the Acropelis, Pausanias saw a statue of Hadrian. Unless this alsa
was a Romanized Greek statue, it was not there in St. Paul's time.
8 This temple is not mentioned by Pausanias. Some fragments remain, and among
them the inscription which records the dedication. Augustus did not allow the pro
vinces to dedicate any temple to him except in conjunction with Rome. Suet, Aug,
ὦ, There was a temple of this kind at Caesarea. See p. 115.
358 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
cules strangling the serpents ; the Earth imploring showers from Jupiter ;
Minerva causing the olive to sprout while Neptune raises the waves.’ ‘The
mention of this last group raises our thoughts to the Parthenon,—the Vir-
gin’s House,—the glorious temple which rose in the proudest period ot
Athenian history to the honour of Minerva, and which ages of war and
decay have only partially defaced. The sculptures on one of its pedimenta
represented the birth of the goddess : those on the other depicted her con-
test with Neptune.* Under the outer cornice were groups representing
the victories achieved by her champions. ound the inner frieze was the
long series of the Panathenaic procession.2 Within was the colossal sta-
tue of ivory and gold, the work of Phidias, unrivalled in the world, save
only by the Jupiter Olympus of the same famous artist. This was not the
only statue of the Virgin Goddess within the sacred precincts ; the Acro-
polis boasted of three Minervas.* The oldest and most venerated was in
the small irregular temple called the Erectheium, which contained the
mystic olive-tree of Minerva and the mark of Neptune’s trident. This
statue, like that of Diana at Ephesus (Acts xix. 35), was believed to have
fallen from heaven.’ ‘The third, though less sacred than the Minerva Po-
lias, was the most conspicuous of all.© Formed from the brazen spoils of
the battle of Marathon, it rose in gigantic proportions above all the build-
ings of the Acropolis, and stood with spear and shield as the tutelary
divinity of Athens and Attica. It was the statue which may have caught
the eye of St. Paul himself, from the deck of the vessel in which he sailed
round Sunium to the Pireus.? Now he had landed in Attica, and beheld
all the wonders of that city which divides with one other city all the glory
of heathen antiquity. Here, by the statue of Minerva Promachus, he
conld reflect on the meaning of the objects he had seen in his progress.
His path had been among the forms of great men and deified heroes, among
the temples, the statues, the altars of the gods of Greece. He had seen
the creations of mythology represented to the eye, in every form of beauty
and grandeur, by the sculptor and the architect. And the one overpower-
ing result was this :—“ His spirit was stirred within him, when he saw the
city wholly given to idolatry.”
1 These groups, among others, are mentioned by Pausanias, xxiv.
? For descriptive papers on these pediments, see the Classical Museum, Nos. VI,
XVIII, and XXII. With the remains themselves, in the Elgin’ Room at the British
Museum, the restoration of Mr. Lucas should be studied.
3 For these sculptures, it is only necessary to refer to the Elgin Room in the British
Museum.
4 See here, especially, Dr. Wordsworth’s Chapter on the three Minervas.
δ Διόπετες. Its material was not marble nor metal, but olive-wood.
6 The pedestal appears to have been twenty feet, and the statue fifty-five feet, is
height. Leake, p. 351. The lower part of the pedestal has lately been discovered.
7 Bee above, pp. 346, 348.
VIEW FROM THE ACROPOLIS. 859
But we must associate St. Paul, not merely with the religion, bat with
the philosophy of Greece. And this, perhaps, is our best opportunity for
doing so, if we wish to connect together, in this respect also, the appear:
ance and the spirit of Athens. If the Apostle looked out from the pedes-
tal of the Acropolis over the city and the open country, he would see the
places which are inseparably connected with the names of those who have
always been recognised as the great teachers of the pagan world. In op-
posite directions he would see the two memorable suburbs where Aristotle
and Plato, the two pupils of Socrates, held their illustrious schools. Their
positions are defined by the courses of the two rivers to which we have
already alluded.!. The streamless bed of the Ilissus passes between the
Acropolis and Hymettus in a south-westerly direction, till it vanishes in the
low ground which separates the city from the Pireus. Looking towards
the upper part of this channel we see (or we should have scen in the first
century) gardens with plane-trees and thickets of agnus-castus, with
“others of the torrent-loving shrubs of Greece.”? At one spot, near the
base of Lycabettus, was a sacred enclosure. Here was a statue of Apollo
Lycius, represented in an attitude of repose, leaning against a column,
with a bow in the left hand and the right hand resting on his head. The
god gave the name to the Lyceum Here among the groves, the philoso-
pher of Stagirus,‘ the instructor of Alexander, used to walk. Here he
founded the school of the Peripatetics. To this point an ancient dialogue
represents Socrates as coming, outside the northern city-wall, from the
grove of the Academy.’ Following, therefore, this line in an cypcsite
direction, we come to “the scene of Plato’s school. Those durk olive
groves have revived after all the disasters which have swept across the
plain. The Cephisus has been more highly favoured than the Ilissus. Itg
waters still irrigate the suburban gardens of the Athenians.° Its nightin-
gales are still vocal among the twinkling olive-branches.? The gnarled
trunks of the ancient trees of our own day could not be distiaguished
from those which were familiar with the presence of Plato, and are
1 Above, p. 349.
* Leake, p. 275. See Plato’s Phedrus. The Lyceum was remarkable for its plane-
trees. Socrates used to discourse under them (Max. Tyr. 24), and Aristotle and Theo-
phrastus afterwards enjoyed their shade (Theoph. H. Plant. i. 11). We cannot tell
how far these groves were restored since the time of Sulla, who cut them down. Plut.
Bull. 12.
3 Lucian. Gymnas. 7.
4 See an allusion to his birthplace above, p. 320.
5 "Exopevounv ἐξ ᾿Ακαδημίας εὐθὺ Λυκείον τὴν ἔξω τεΐχους ὑπ’ αὐτὸ τὸ τεῖχος. Plat.
Uys. 1.
6 The stream is now divided and distributed, in order to water the gardens and
olive-trecs. Plutarch calls the Academy the best wooded of the suburbs of Athens
(δενδροφορώτατον τῶν προαστείων. Sull. 12). Compare Diog. Laert. iii. 7.
7 See the well-known chorus in Sophocles. id. Col. 668.
8600 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
more venerable than those which had grown up after Sulla’s destruction
of the woods, befcre Cicero! visited the Academy in the spirit of a pil-
grim. But the Academicians and Peripatetics are not the schools to
which our attention is called in considering the biography of St. Paul
We must turn our eye from the open country to the city itself, if we wish
to see the places which witnessed the rise of the Stows and Epicwreans,
Lucian, in a playful passage, speaks of Philosophy as coming up from the
Academy, by the Ceramicus, to the Agora: ‘‘and there,” he says, “‘ we
shall meet her by the Stoa Pecile.”? Let us follow this line in imagina-
tion, and, having followed it, let us look down from the Acropolis into the
Agora. ‘There we distinguish a cloister or colonnade, which was not men-
tioned before, because it is more justly described in connection with the
Stoics. The Stoa Pacile, or the Painted Cloister,* gave its name to one of
those sects who encountered the Apostle in the Agora. It was decorated
with pictures of the legendary wars cf the Athenians, of their victories
over their fellow Greeks, and of the more glorious struggle at Marathon.
Originally the meeting-place of the poets,‘ it became the school where
Zeno inet his pupils, and founded the system of stern philosophy which
found adherents both among Greeks and Romans for many generations.
The system of Epicurus was matured nearly at the same time and in the
same neighbourhood. The site of the philosopher’s garden® is now un-
known, but it was well known in the time of Cicero ;* and in the time of
1 Cicero, at one time, contemplated the erection of a monument to show his attache
ment to the Academy. Att. vi. 1.
2 Ἐνταῦθα γὰρ ἐν Κεραμεικῷ ὑπομενοῦμεν αὐτήν" ἡ δὲ ἤδη που ἀφίξεται, ἐπανιοῦσα
ἐξ ᾿Ακαδημίας, ὡς περιπατήσειε καὶ ἐν τῇ ἸΠοικίλῃ" τοῦτο γὰρ ὁσημέραι ἔθος πόιεϊν αὐτῇ.
Piscator. 13.
3 This Stoa is the subject of a long paragraph (xv.) in Pausanias. It was one of the
most famous buildings in Athens. Aischines says distinctly that it was in the Agora:
--ΠΠροσέλθετε τῇ διανοίᾳ εἰς τὴν Ποικίλην, ἁπάντων γὰρ ὑμῶν τῶν καλῶν ἔργῶν τὰ
ὑπομνήματα ἐν τῇ ἀγόρᾳ ἀνάκειται. C. Ctesiph. p. 163.
4 Ritter’s History of Philosophy (Eng. Trans.), vol. iii. p. 452.
5 This garden was proverbially known among the ancients. See Juvenal, xiii. 172,
(Epicurum exigui letum plantaribus horti), and xiv. 319. (Quantum, Epicure, tibi
parvis suffecit in hortis): and compare Cicero’s expression, De Nat. Deorum, i. 48,
(Democriti fentibus Epicurus horiulos suos irrigavit). Diogenes Laertius (x.) men-
tions the price at which the garden was bought. Pliny (H. N. xix. 19) traces the love
of city gardens to Epicurus (Jam quidem hortorum nomine in ipsa urbe delicias, agros,
villasque possident. Primus hoe instituit Athenis Epicewrus otii magister). Some
have thought that the suburb on the Ilissus, mentioned by Pausanias under the name
of “tk gardens” (κῆποι), was the scene of the home of Epicurus. But this is impro-
bable.
6 On his first visit to Athens, at the age of twenty-eight, Cicero lodged with an Epi-
eurean. On the occasion of his second visit, the attachment of the Epicureans to the
garden of their founder was brought before him in a singular manner. “ There lived
at this time in exile at Athens C. Memmius..... The figure which he had borne in
Rome gave him great authority in Athens ; and the council of Areopagus had granted
THE ‘PAINTED PORCH” AND THE “ GARDEN.” 361
St. Paul it could not have been forgotten, for a peculiarly affectionate
fecling subsisted among the Epicureans towards their founder.' He left
this garden as a legacy to the school, on condition that philosophy sbould
always be taught there, and that he himself should be annually commemo-
rated? The sect was dwindled into smaller numbers than their rivals, in
the middle of the first century. But it is highly probable that, even then,
those who looked down from the Acropolis over the roofs of the city,
could distinguish the quiet garden, where Epicurus lived a life of philo-
sophic contentment, and taught his disciples that the enjoyment of tran
quil pleasure was the highest end of human existence.
The spirit in which Pausanias traversed these memorable places and
scrutinised everything he saw, was that of a curious and rather sipersti-
tious antiquarian. ‘The expressions used by Cicero, when describing the
same objects, show that his taste was gratified, and that he looked with
satisfaction on the haunts of those whom he regarded as his teachers?
The thoughts and feelings in the mind ef the Christian Apostle, who came
to Athens about the middle of that interval of time which separates the
visit of Pausanias from that of Cicero, were very different from those of
criticism or admiration. He burned with zeal for that Gup whom, “as he
went through the city,” he saw dishonovred on every side. He was melted
with pity for those who, notwithstanding their intellectual greatness, were
“wholly given to idolatry.” His eye was not blinded to tie reality of
things, by the appearance either of art or philosophy. Forms of earthly
beauty and words of human wisdom were valueless in his judement, and
far worse than valucless, if they deified vice and made fasehood attractive.
He saw and heard with an earnestness of conviction which no Epicurear
him a piece of ground to build upon, where Epicurus formerly lived, and where there
still remained the old ruins of his walls. But this grant had given great offence to the
whole body of the Epicurcans, to see the remains of their master in danger of being
destroyed. They had written to Cicero at Rome, to beg him to intercede with Mem-
mius to consent to a restoration of it; and now at Athens they renewed their instances,
and prevailed on him to write about it... .. Cicero’s letter is drawn with much art
and accuracy ; he laughs at the trifling zeal of these philosophers for the old rubbish
and paltry ruins of their founder, yet earnestly presses Memmius to indulge them in a
prejudice contracted through weakness, not wickedness.” Middleton’s Life of Cicero,
Sect. vir.
1 Ritter, iii, 401.
5 Diog. La. x. 18. Cic. de Fin. ii. 81. See Cic. Fam. xiii. 1, in the letter alluded to
sbove, p. 360, n. 6.
3 Valde me Athenx delectarunt : urs dunbtaxat et urbis ornamentum, et hominum
amores in te, et in nos quedam benevolentia. Sed multum et philosophia. "Arw κάτω,
Bi quid est, est in Aristo, apud quem cram.’ Att. v.10. If Orelli’s reading in the
last two clauses is correct, it would seem that the philosophers of Athens were just
then all topsy-turvy, and that Cicero found the must satisfaction in his Epicurean
friend Aristus.
302 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ΕἸ. PAUL.
sould have understood, as his tenderness of affection was morally fas
above the highest point of the Stoic’s impassive dignity.
It is this tenderness of affection which first strikes us, when we turn
from the manifold wonders of Athens to look upon the Apostle himself.
The existence of this feeling is revealed to us in a few words in the Epistle
to the Thessalonians.t He was filled with anxious thoughts concerning
those whom he had left iu Macedonia, and the sense of solitude weighed
upon his spirit. Silas and Timotheus were not arrived, and it was a bur-
den and a grief to him to be “left τη Athens alone.”’ Modern travellers
have often felt, when wandering alone through the streets of a foreign
city, what it is to be out of sympathy with the place and the people. The
heart is with friends who are far off ; and nothing that is merely beautiful
or curious can effectually disperse the cloud of sadness. If, in audition
to this instinctive melancholy, the thought of an irreligious world, of evil
abounding in all parts of society, and of misery following everywhere in
its train,—if this thought also presses heavily on the spirit,—a state of
mind is realised which may be some feeble approximation to what was ex-
perienced by the Apostle Paul in his hour of dejection. But with us
such feelings are often morbid and nearly allied to discontent. We travel
for pleasure, for curiosity, for excitement. It is well if we can take such
depressions thankfully, as the discipline of a worldly spirit. Paul travelled
that he might give to others the knowledge of salvation. His sorrow
was only the cloud that kindled up into the bright pillar of the divine
presence. He ever forgot himself in his Master’s cause. He gloried that
God’s strength was made perfect in his weakness. It is useful, however,
to us, to be aware of the human weakness of that heart which God made
strong. , Paul was indeed one of us. He loved his friends, and knew the
trials both of anxiety and loneliness. As we advance with the subject,
this and similar traits of the man advance more into view,—and with them,
and personified as it were in him, touching traits of the relogion which he
presched, come before us,—and we see, as we contemplate the Apostle,
that the Gospel has not only deliverance from the coarseness of vice and
confort for ruder sorrows, but sympathy and strength for the most sensi-
tive and delicate minds.
No mere pensive melancholy, no vain regrets and desires, hold sway
ovar St. Paul, so as to hinder him in proceeding with the work appointed
to him. He was “in Athens alone,” but he was there as the Apostle of
1 1 Thess. iii. 1. It may be thought that too much is built here on this one expres-
sion, Lut we think the remarks in the text will be justified by those who consider
the tone of the Epistles to the Thessalonians (see next Chapter), and the depression
and sense of isolation evidently experienced by St. Paul when he was without com.
panions. See, especially, Acts xxviii. 15, and 2 Cor. ii. 13. vii. 5. Compare the Ip
troduction. xvi.
RELIGION OF ATHENS. 368
God. No time was lost ; and, according to his custom, he surght out his
brethren of the scattered race of Israel. Though moved with grief and
indignation when he saw the idolatry all around him, he deemed that his
first thought should be given to his own people. They had a synagogue
at Athens, as at Thessalonica, and in this synagogue he first proclaimed
his Master. Jewish topics, however, are not brought before us promi-
rently here. They are casually alluded to; and we are not informed
whether the Apostle was welcomed or repulsed in the Athenian synagogue
The silence of Scripture is expressive : and we are taught that the subjects
to which our attention is to be turned, are connected, not with Judaism,
but with Paganism. Before we can be prepared to consider the great
speech, which was the crisis and consummation of this meeting of Chris-
tianity and Paganism, our thoughts must be given for a few moments to
the characteristics of Athenian religion and Athenian philosophy.
The mere enumeration of the visible objects with which the city of the
Athenians was crowded, bears witness (to use St. Paul’s own words) to
their “carefulness in religion.”! The judgment of the Christian Apostle
agreed with that of his Jewish contemporary Josephus,’—with the proud
boast of the Athenians themselves, exemplified in Isocrates and Plato,?—
and with the verdict of a multitudeeof foreigners, from Livy to Julian,*—
all of whom unite in declaring that Athens was peculiarly devoted to reli-
gion. Replete as the whole of Greece was with objects of devotion,
the antiquarian traveller ὅ informs us that there were more gods in Athens
than in all the rest of the country ; and the Roman satirist ® hardly exag-
gerates, when he says that it is easier to find a god there than a man.
But the same enumeration which proves the existence of the religious senti-
ment in this people, shows also the valueless character of the religion which
they cherished. It was a religion which ministered to art and amusement,
and was entirely destitute of moral power. Taste was gratified by the
bright spectacle to which the Athenian awoke every morning of his life.
1 See below, on the Speech.
* Josephus (contra Ap, τ. 12) calls the Athenians τοὺς εὐσεβεστάτους τῶν Ελλήνων,
3 Tove πρὸς τὰ τῶν θεῶν εὐσεβέστατα διακειμένους. Isoc. Paneg. p. 19. Oi πλεΐστας
μὲν θυσίας καὶ καλλίστας τῶν Ελλήνων ἄγομεν, ἀναθήμασί τε κεκοσμήκαμεν τὰ ἱερὰ
αὐτῶν, ὡς οὐδένες ἄλλοι, πομπάς τε πολυτελεστάτας καὶ σεμνοτάτας ἐδωρούμεθα τοῖς
θεοῖς. ἀν᾽ ἕκαστον ἔτος, καὶ ἐτελοῦμεν χρήματα, boa οὐδ᾽ οἱ ἄλλοι ξύμπαντες "Ἕλληνες
Alcib. 1. p. 97. Compare Thucyd. ii. 38,
4 Athenas inde plenas quidem et ipsas vetustate fame, multa tamen visenda haben-
tes... . simulacra Deorum hominumque, omni genere et materi et artium insignia,
Lib. xly. 27. Φιλόθεοι μάλιστα πάντων eiot . . . καθόλου μὲν Ἕλληνες πάντες, αὐτῶν
Ὁ Ἑλλήνων πλέον τοῦτο ἔχω μαρτυρεῖν ᾿Αθηναίοις. Jul. Misopogon. See also Dionys
Hal.de Thuc. 40. Strabo, x. Lucian, Prom.180. 28]. ν. 17. Philostr. vi. 2.
5 ᾽Αθηναίοις περισσότερόν τι ἢ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἐς τὰ θεῖά ἐστι σπουδῆς. Paus.xziv ἃ
yompare his remark with reference to tke altar of Pity, xvii. 1.
6 Petron. Sat. ὁ. 17.
904 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
Excitement was agreeably kept up by festal seasons, gay precessions, and
varied ceremonies. But all this religious dissipation had no tendency to
make him holy. It gave him no victory over himself: it brought him no
nearer to God. A religion which addresses itself only to the taste, is as
weak as one that appeals only to the intellect. The Greek religion was a
mere deification of human attributes and the powers of nature. It was
doubtless better than other forms of idolatry which have deified the brutes ;
but it had no real power to raise him to a higher positicn than that which
he occupied by nature. It could not even keep him from falling continu-
ally to a lower degradation. To the Greek this world was everything :
be hardly even sought to rise above it. And thus all his life long, in the
ntidst of everything to gratify his taste and exercise his intellect, he re-
mained in ignorance of God. This fact was tacitly recognised by the
monuments in his own religious city. The want of something deeper and
truer was expressed on the very stones. As we are told by a Latin wri-
ter? that the ancient Romans, when alarmed by an earthquake, were ac-
customed to pray, not to some one of the gods individually, but to god in
general, as to the Unknown; so the Athenians acknowledged their igno-
rance of the True Deity by the altars ‘‘ with this inscription, To THE UN-
KNOWN Gop,” which are mentioned by heathen writers,’ as well as by the
inspired historian. Whatever the origin of these altars may have been,‘
the true significance of the inscription is that which is pointed out by the
Apostle himself.» The Athenians were ignorant of the right object of
worship. But if we are to give a true account of Athenian religion, we
must go beyond the darkness of mere ignorance into the deeper darkness
of corruption and sin. The most shameless profligacy was encouraged by
1 See the Introduction to Neander’s generat Church History.
* Aulus Gellius, 1. 28, quoted by Tholuck in his Essay on the Nature and Moral In.
fluence of Heathenism, Eng. Trans. p. 23.
3 The two heathen writers who mention these altars are Pausanias and Philostratus.
Bee above. The passage often quoted from Lucian is not believed to be of any force.
4 It is very probable that they originated from a desire to dedicate the altar to the
god under whose censure the dedicator had fallen, whom he had unwittingly offended,
or whom, in the particular case, he ought to propitiate (τῷ προσήκοντι θεῷ, as it is ex-
pressed in the story of Epimenides, Diog. Luert. L. 1). Eichorn thinks that these
altars belonged to a period when writing was unknown, and that the inscription waa
added afterwards by those who were ignorant of the deity to which they were conse-
trated. Jerome says that the inscription was not as St. Pan] quoted it, but in the
form of a general dedication to all unknown gods. “Inscriptio autem are non ita
erat ut Paulus asseruit, [gnoto Deo ; sed ita, Diis Asie et Europe, Diis ignotis et
peregrinis. Verum quia Paulus non pluribus indigebat Diis ignotis sed uno tantum
Deo ignoto, singulari verbo usus est.” But unless St. Paul quoted the actual words,
his application of the inscription would lose nearly all its point. Some have fancifully
found in the inscription an allusion to the God of the Jews. For some of the notions
of the older antiquarians concerning the “ temple ”’ of the Unknown God, see Leake.
® Acts xvii. 23,
GREEK RELIGION. 365
the public works of art, by the popular belief concerning the character of
the gods, and by the ceremonies of the established worship. Authorities
might be crowded in proof of this statement, both from heathen and Chris
tian writings! It is enough to say with Seneca,” that ‘“ no other effect
could possibly be produced, but that all shame on account of sin must be
taken away from men, if they believe in such gods ;” and with Augustine,
that ““ Plato himself, who saw well the depravity of the Grecian gods, and
has seriously censured them, better deserves to be called a god, than those
ministers of sin.” It would be the worst delusion to infer any good of the
Grecian religion from the virtue and wisdom of a few great Athenians
whose memory we revere. The true type of the character formed by the
influences which surround the Athenian, was such a man as Alcibiades,—
with a beauty of bodily form equal to that of one of the consecrated stat-
ues,—with an intelligence quick as that of Apollo or Mercury,—enthusi-
astic and fickle,—versatile and profligate,—able to admire the good, but
hopelessly following the bad. And if we turn to the one great exception
in Athenian history,-—if we turn from Alcibiades to the friend who nobly
and affectionately warned him,—who, conscious of his own ignorance, was
yet aware that God was best known by listening to the voice within,—
yet even of Socrates we cannot say more than has been said in the follow-
ing words : His soul was certainly in some alliance with the Holy God ;
he certainly felt, in his demon or guardian spirit, the inexplicable nearness
of his Father in heaven ; but he was destitute of a view of the divine na-
ture in the humble form of a servant, the Redeemer with the crown of
thorns ; he had no ideal conception of that true holiness, which manifests
itself in ‘the most humble love and the most affectionate humility. Hence,
also, he was unable to become fully acquainted with his own heart, though
he so greatly desired it. Hence, too, he was destitute of any deep humili-
ation and grief on account of his sinful wretchedness, of that true hu-
mility which no longer allows itself a biting, sarcastic tone of instruction ;
and destitute, likewise, of any filial, devoted love. These perfections can
be shared only by the Christian, who beholds the Redeemer as a wanderer
upon earth in the form of a servant; and who receives in his own soul
the sanctifying power of that Redcemer by intercourse with Him.” 4
When we turn from the religion of Athens to take a view of its Phi-
losophy, the first name on which our eye rests is again that of Socrates *
1 A great number of passages are collected together by Tholuck. See the quotations
rom Augustine and Clemens Alexandrinus, pp. 106-108; and from Martial, Terence,
and Athenzus, pp. 125.126. For practices connected with the temples, see p. 120.
3 De Vita beata.c. 26. ~ 3 De Civ. Dei, ii. 14.
4 Tholuck, p. 163.
5 For Socrates, see especially the Eighth Volume of Grote’s History, and the Quar
terly Review for Dec. 1850.
366 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
This is necessarily the case, not only because of his own singular and unap
proached greatness ; but because he was, as it were, the point to which
all the earlier schools converged, and from which the later rays of Greek
philosophy diverged again. The earlier philosophical systems, such as
that of Thales in Asia Minor, and Pythagoras in Italy, were limited to
physical inquiries: Socrates was the first to call man to the contemplation
of himself, and became the founder of ethical science. A new direction
was thus given to all the philosophical schools which succeeded ; and So-
erates may be said to have prepared the way for the Gospel, by leading
the Greek mind to the investigation of moral truth. He gave the impulse
to the two schools which were founded in the Lyceum, and by the banks
of Cephisus,’? and which have produced such vast results on human thought
in every generation. We are not called here to discuss the doctrines of the
Peripatetics and Academicians. Not that they are unconnected with the
history of Christianity : Plato and Aristotle have had a great work ap-
pointed to them, not only as the Heathen pioneers of the Truth before it
was revealed, but as the educators of Christian minds in every age. The
former enriched human thought with appropriate ideas for the reception
of the highest truth in the highest form ; the latter mapped out all the
provinces of human knowledge, that Christianity might visit them and
bless them. And the historian of the Church would have to speak of
direct influence exerted on the Gospel by the Platonic and Aristotelian
systems, in recounting the conflicts of the parties of Alexandria, and tracing
the formation of the theology of the Schoolmen. But the biographer of
ist. Paul has only to speak of the Stows and Epicwreans. They only,
among the various philosophers of the day, are mentioned as having argued
with the Apostle; and their systems had really more influence in the
period in which the Gospel was established, though, in the Patristic and
Medieval periods, the older systems, in modified forms, regained their sway,
The Stoic and Epicurean, moreover, were more exclusively limited than
other philosophers to moral investigations,>—a fact which is tacitly im-
plied by the proverbial application of the two words to moral principles
and tendencies, which we recognise as hostile to true Christianity.
Zeno, the founder of the Stoic school, was a native of the same part
1 ‘La philosophie grecque avait été d’abord une philosophie de la nature ; arrivée
a sa maturité, elle change de caractére et de direction, et elle devient une philosophie
morale, sociale, humaine. C’est Socrate que ouvre 2ctte nouvelle ére, et qui en repré-
sente le caractére en sa personne.” V. Cousin, p. 226.
3. See above, p. 359.
3 “ Aristote et Platon, en restant fidéles a l’esprit de Socrate, en partant de la nature
hureaine, arrivent bientot ἃ un systéme complet qui renferme avec Ja nature humaine.
la nature entiére, Dieu et le monde..... Le caractére commun du Stoicisme et de
V’Epicuréisme, est de réduire presque entiérement la philosophie ala morale.” V. Cou.
bin, ἢ. 250
sTOICS AND EPICUREANS. 367
of the Levant with St. Paul himself.1 He came from Cyprus to Athens
at a time when patriotism was decayed and political liberty lost, and
when a system, which promised the power of brave and self-sustaining en
durance amid the general degradation, found a willing acceptance among
the nobler minds. ‘Thus, in the Painted Porch, which had once been the
mecting-place of the poets,’ those who, instead of yielding to the prevailing
evil of the times, thought they were able to resist it, formed themselves
into a school of philosophers. In the high tone of this school, and in some
part of its ethical language, Stoicism was an apparent approximation to
Christianity ; but, on the whole, it was a hostile system, in its physics, its
morals, and its theology. The Stoics condemned the worship of images
and the use of temples, regarding them as nothing better than the orna-
ments of art. But they justified the popular polytheism, and in fact, con-
sidered the gods of mythology as minor developments of the Great World-
God, which summed up their belief concerning the origin and existence of
the world. The Stoics were Pantheists ;+ and much of their language is
a curious anticipation of the phraseology of modern Pantheism. In their
view, God was merely the Spirit or Reason of the Universe. The world
was itself a rational soul, producing all things out of itself, and resuming
them all to itself again.’ Matter was inseparable from the Deity.’ He
did not create ; He only organised.?/ He merely impressed law and order
on the substance, which was, in fact, himself. The manifestation of the
Universe was only a period in the development of Gods In conformity
with these notions of the world, which substitute a sublime destiny for the
belief in a persona! Creator and Preserver, were the notions which were
held concerning the soul and its relation to the body. The soul was, in
fact, corporeal. The Stoics said that at death it would be burnt, or re
turn to be absorbed in God. ‘Thus, a resurrection from the dead, in the
sense in which the Gospel has revealed it, must have appeared to the
Stoics irrational. Nor was their moral system less hostile to “the truth
1 He was born at Citium in Cyprus. [See p. 155.] His attention was turned te
philosophy by the books brought from Athens by his father, who was a merchant
Somewhere between the ages of twenty and thirty he was shipwrecked near the Pireeus,
and settled in Athens. The exact dates of his birth and death were not known, but he
lived through the greater part of the century between Β. c. 350 and B. c. 250. A por
trait-bust at Naples is assigned to him, but there is some doubt whether it is to be re-
ferred to him or to Zeno the Eleatic. See Muller’s Handbuch der Archaologie, p. 730.
2 See above, p. 360. 3 Ritter, pp. 537, 538.
4 Thid., p. 509. Also pp. 515, 516. 5 Tbid., p. 592.
6 *Ovaiay δὲ Θεοῦ Ζήνων μέν φησι τὸν ὅλον Κύσμον καὶ τὸν dvgavdy. Diog, La
vii. 148, See Plut. de Stoic. Rep. 34.
7 “Le Dieu des Stoiciens n’a pas créé Ja nature, il l'a formée et organ'née.” V. Cou
un, who, however, will not allow the Stoical system to be Pantheistic.
8 Ritter, p. 593.
Ihid. pp. 512, 549. Compare the whole passage, pp. 518-556.
808 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
as it is in Jesus.” The proud ideal which was set before the disciple of
Zeno was, a magnanimous self-denial, an austere apathy, untouched by hue
man passion, unmoved by change of circumstance. To the Wise man all
outward things were alike. Pleasure was no good. Pain was no evil.
All actions conformable to Reason were equally good ; all actions com
trary to Reason were equally evil.|_ The Wise man lives according to Rea-
son ; and living thus, he is perfect and self-sufficing. He reigns supreme
as a king :* he is justified in boasting as a god? Nothing can well be
imagined more contrary to the spirit οἵ Christianity. Nothing could be
more repugnant to the Stoic than the news of a “Saviour,” who has
atoned for our sin, and is ready to aid our weakness. Christianity is the
School of Humility : Stoicism was the Education of Pride. Christi-
anity is a discipline of life: Stoicism was nothing better than an appren-
ticeship for death. And fearfully were the fruits of its principle illus-
trated both in its earlier and late disciples. Its two first leaders° died by
their own hands; like the two Romans* whose names first rise to the
memory, when the school of the Stoics is mentioned. But Christianity
turns the desperate resolution, that seeks to escape disgrace by death, into
the anxious question, ‘‘ What must I do to be saved?”? It softens the
pride of stern indifference into the consolation of mutual sympathy. How
great is the contrast between the Stoic ideal and the character of Jesus
Christ ! How different is the acquiescence in an iron destiny from the
trust in a merciful and watchful Providence! How infinitely inferior is
that sublime egotism, which looks down with contempt on human weak-
ness, with the religion which tells us that ‘ they who mourn are blessed,”
and which ee to ‘‘rejoice with them that rejoice, and to weep with
them that weep.”
If Stoicism, in its full aideloouterth was utterly opposed to Chmisti-
anity, the same may be said of the very primary principles of the Epi-
1 See the description which a contemporary of St. Paul gives of Stoicism. ‘ Doc-
tores sapientiz, qui sola bona que honesta, mala tantum que turpia; potentiam, nobili-
tatem, ceteraque extra animum, neque bonis neque malisadnumerant.” Tac. Hist. iv. 5.
* Hor..Sat. I. iii, Ep. Li.
3 Plut. de Stoic. Rep. 13. Ady. Stoic. 33.
4 “Le Stoicisme est essentiellement solitaire ; c’est le soin exclusif de son ame, sana
regard a celle des autres ; et, comme la seule chose importante est la pureté de l‘ame,
quand cette pureté est trop en péril, quand on désespere d’étre victorieux dans la lutte,
on peut la terminer comme l’a terminée Caton. Ainsi la philosophie n’est plus qu'un
upprentissage de la mort et non de lavie; elle tend a la mort par son image, l’apathie
et ’ataraxie, et se résout définitivement en wn égoisme sublime.” VY. Cousin.
5 Zeno and Cleanthes. And yet Cleanthes was the author of that hymn which is,
perhaps, the noblest approximaticn to a Christian hymn that heathenism has produced.
See p.5. The hymn is given in Bloomfield’s Recensio Synoptica on Acts xvii. 28,
where there is some doubt whether the Apostle quotes from Cleanthes or Aratus
See below.
6 Mato and Seneca. 7 See p. 308.
STOICS AND EPICUREANS. 363
eurean' school. If the Stoics were Pantheists, the Epicureans were virte
ally Atheists. Their philosophy was a system of materialism, in the
strictest sense of the word; in their view, the world was formed by an ac-
cidental concourse of atoms, and was not in any sense created, or even
modified, by the Divinity. They did indeed profess a certain belief in
what were called gods ; but these equivocal divinities were merely phan-
toms,—inpressions on the popular mind,—dreams, which had no objec
tive reality, or at least exercised no active influence on the physical world
or the business of life. The Epicurean deity, if self-existent at all, dwelt
apart, in serene indifference to all the affairs of the universe. The uni-
verse was a great accident, and sufficiently explained itself without any
reference to a higher power. The popular mythology was derided, but the
Epicureans had no positive faith in anything better. As there was no
creator, so there was no moral governor: all notions of retribution and
of a judgment to come were of course forbidden by such a creed. Tho
principles of the atomic theory, when applied to the constitution of man,
must have caused the resurrection to appear an absurdity. The soul was
nothing without the body ;? or rather, the soul was itself a body, com-
posed of finer atoms, or at best an unmeaning compromise between the
material and immaterial. Both body and soul were dissolved together
and dissipated into the elements ; and when this occurred, all the life of
man was ended. The moral result of such a creed was necessarily that
which the Apostle Paul described : “-- 1 the dead rise not, let us eat
and drink : for to-morrow we die.” The essential principle of the Hpi-
curean philosopher was that there was nothing to alarm® him, nothing te
disturb him. His furthest reach was to do deliberately what the animals
do instinctively ;° his highest aim was to gratify himself. With the
coarser and more energetic minds, this principle inevitably led to the
grossest sensuality and crime ; in the case of others, whose temperament
was more common-place, or whose taste was more pure, the system took
the form of a selfishness more refined. As the Stoic sought to resist the
evil which surrounded him, the Epicurean endeavoured to console himself
by a tranquil and indifferent life. He avoided the more violent excite-
ments of political and social engagements,’ to enjoy the seclusion of a calm
contentment. But pleasure was still the end at which he aimed ; and if
we remove this end to its remotest distance, and understand it to mean an
1 Epicurus, who founded, and indeed matured, this school (for its doctrines were
never further developed), was born in Samos, B. c. 342, though his parents were natives
pf Attica. He died Β. c. 270. An authentic bust has been preserved of him, which ia
engraved in Visconti’s Iconographie Grecque, and again in Milman’s Horace, p. 391.
5 Ritter, p. 440.
3 Colebrook on Indian Philosophy, quoted by Cousin., p. 255.
41 Cor. xv. 32. 5 Ritter, p. 430. 6 Ritter, p. 408.
1 The motto of Epicurus was λάθε βιώσα:.
YOu. l—24
370 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF aT. PAUL.
enjoyment which involves the most manifcld self-denial,—if we give Ep!
eurus credit for taking the largest view of consequences,—and if we be
lieve that the life of his first disciples was purer than there is reason to
guppose,'—te end remains the same. Pleasure, not duty, is the motive
of moral exertion ; expediency is the test to which actions are referred ;
aud the self-denial itself, which an enlarged view of expediency requires,
will probably be found impracticable without the grace of God. Thus,
tue Gospel met in the Garden an opposition not less determined, and
more insidious, than the antagonism of the Porch. The twe enemies it
has ever had to contend with are the two ruling principles of the Epieu-
reans and Stoics,— Pleasure and Pride.
Such, in their original and essential character, were the two schools of
philosophy with which St. Paul was brought directly in contact. We
ought, however, to consider how far these schools had been modified by
the lapse of time, by the changes which succeeded Alexander and accom-
panied the formation of the Roman Empire, and by the natural tendencies
of the Roman character. When Stoicism and Epicureanism were brought
to Rome, they were such as we have described them. In as far as they
were speculative systems, they found little favour: Greek philosophy was
always regarded with some degree of distrust among the Romans. Their
mind was alien from science and pure speculation. Philosophy, like art
and literature, was of foreign introduction. The cultivation of such pur-
suits was followed by private persons of wealth and taste, but was little
extended among the community at large. There were no public schools
of philosophy at Rome. Where it was studied at all, it was studied, not
for its own sake, but for the service of the state.? Thus, the peculiarly
practical character of the Stoic and Epicurean systems recommended
them to the notice of many. What was wanted in the prevailing misery
of the Roman world was a philosophy of life. There were some who
weakly yielded, and some who offered a courageous resistance, to the evil
of the times. The former, under the name of Hpicureans, either spent
their time in a serene tranquillity, away from the distractions and disorders
of political life, or indulged in the grossest sensualism, and justified it on
principle. The Roman adherents of the school of Epicurus were never
numerous, and few great names can be mentioned among them; though
one monument remains, and will ever remain, of this phase of philosophy,
in the poem of Lucretius. The Stoical school was more congenial to the
endurance of the Roman character ; and it educated the minds of some of
the noblest men of the time, who scorned to be carried away by the stream
of vice. Three great names can be mentioned, which divided the period
1 See what Ritter says of the scenes of sensuality witnessed in the Garden even in
the lifetime of Epicurus, p. 402.
3. Sce the Fifth Volume of Tenneman’s Geschichte der Philosophie, Kinl., pp. 1-13
LATER PERIOD OF THE SCHOOLS. 91:
between the preaching of St. Paul and the final establishment of Christi
anity,—Seneca, Epictetus, and Antoninus Pins. But such men were few
in a time of general depravity and unbelief. And such was really the
character of the time. It was a period in the history of the world, when
conquest and discovery, facilities of travelling, and the mixture of races,
had produced a general fusion of opinions, resulting in an indifference to
moral distinctions, and at the same time encouraging the most abject
eredulity.2, The Romans had been carrying on the work which Alexander
and his successors had begun. A certain degree of culture was very
generally diffused. ‘The opening of new countries excited curiosity. New
religions were eagerly welcomed ; immoral rites found willing votaries,
Vice and superstition went hand in hand through all parts of society, and,
as the natural congequence, a scornful scepticism held possession of all the
higher intellects.
But though the period of which we are speaking was one of general
scepticism, for the space of three centuries the old dogmatic schools still
lingered on, more especially in Greece? Athens was indeed no longer
what she had once been, the centre from which scientific and poetic light
radiated to the neighbouring shores of Asia and Europe. Philosophy had
found new homes in other cities, more especially in Tarsus and Alexan-
dria. But Alexandria, though she was commercially great and possessed
the trade of three continents, had not yet seen the rise of her greatest
schools ; and Tarsus could never be what Athens was, even in her decay,
to those who travelled with cultivated tastes and for the purposes of
education. Thus Philosophy still maintained her seat in the city of
Socrates. The four great schools, the Lyceum and the Academy, the
Garden and the Porch, were never destitute of exponents of their doctrines,
When Cicero came, not long after Sulla’s siege, he found the philosophers
in residence. As the empire grew, Athens assumed more and more the
character of an university town. After Christianity was first preached
there, this character was confirmed to the place by the embellishments
and the benefactions of Hadrian. And before the schools were closed by
the orders of Justinian,’ the city which had received Cicero and Atticus
as students together, became the scene of the college friendship of St
1 The approximation of the later Stoics, especially Epictetus, to Christianity, is re-
markable. Hence the emphasis laid by Milton on the Stoic’s “ philosophick pride, by
him called virtue.” Paradise Regained, iv. 300.
? See Tennemann, Tholuck, and Neander. 3 Tennemann.
4 For the schools of Tarsus, see pp. 22, 105.
5 See above, p. 360, and the notes,
6 Between the visits of St. Paul and Pausanias, Hadrian made vast additions to tha
puildings of Athens. and made large endowments for the purposes of education.
1 See Gibbon 4 8 See Middleton’s Life.
372 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
Basil and St. Gregory,' one of the most beautiful episodes of primitive
Christianity.
Thus, St. Paul found philosophers at Athens, among those wnom he
addressed in the Agora, This, as we have seen, was the common meet-
ing place of a population always eager for fresh subjects of intellectuai
curiosity. Demosthenes had rebuked the Athenians for this idle tendency
four centuries before, telling them that they were always craving after
news and excitement, at the very moment when destruction was impending
over their liberties.? And they are described in the same manner, on the
occasion of St. Paul’s visit, as giving their whole leisure to telling and
hearing something newer than the latest news.2 Among those who
sauntered among the plane trees‘ of the Agora, and gathered in knots
under the porticos, eagerly discussing the questions of the day, were philo-
sophers, in the garb of their several sects, ready for any new question, on
which they might exercise their subtlety or display their rhetoric. Among
the other philosophers, the Stoics and Epicureans would more especially
be encountered ; for the ‘‘ Painted Porch”*® of Zeno was in the Agora
itself, and the ‘‘ Garden” ὁ of the rival sect was not far distant. ‘To both
these classes of hearers and talkers—both the mere idlers and the profes-
sors of philosophy—any question connected with a new religion was
peculiarly welcome ; for Athens gave a ready acceptance to all supersti-
tions and ceremonies, and was glad to find food for credulity or scepticism,
ridicule or debate. To this motley group of the Agora, St. Paul made
known the two great subjects he had proclaimed from city to city. He
spoke aloud of “ Jesus and the Resurrection,” —of that Name which is
above every name,—that consummation which awaits all the generations of
men who have successively passed into the sleep of death, He was in the
habit of conversing “daily” on these subjects with those whom he met.
His varied experience of men, and his familiarity with many modes of
thought, enabled him to present these subjects in such a way as to arrest
attention. As regards the philosophers, he was providentially prepared
for his collision with them. It was not the first time he had encountered
1 Basil and Gregory Nazianzene were students together at Athens from 351 to 355,
Julian was there at the same time.
2 Ἡμεῖς δὲ, εἰρήσεται γὰρ τἀληθὲς, οὐδὲν ποιοῦντες ἔνθαδε καθήμεθα, μέλλοντες det
καὶ ψηφιζόμενοι, καὶ πυνθανύμενοι κατὰ τὴν ἀγόραν, εἴ τι λέγεται νεώτερον. Demosth.
ad Ep. Phil., and c. Phil. 1. So Thucydides calls his countrymen νεωτεροποιοῖ; and
Diceearchus says that the people of Attica are περίεργοι ταῖς λαλιαῖς.
3 Acts xvii. 21.
4 See above, 354. It is, of course, impossible to prcve that Cimon’s plane-treee were
succeeded by others; but a boulevard is commonly rn-newed, when a city recovers from
its disasters.
5 For the Στόα ποικίλη, see above, p. 360.
6 See again above. p. 360.
7 Acts xvii. 18.
ST. PAUL IN THE AGORA. Ste
them.' His own native city was a city of philosophers, and was especially
famous (as we have remarked before) for a long line of eminent Stoics,
and he was doubtless familiar with their language and opinions.
Two different impressions were produced by St. Paul’s words, accord:
ing to the disposition of those who heard him, Some said that he was a
mere “‘babbler,”? and received him with contemptuous derision. Others
took a more serious view, and, supposing that he was endeavouring to
introduce new objects of worship,’ had their curiosity excited, and were
desirous to hear more. If we suppose a distinct allusion, in these two
tlasses, to the two philosophical sects which have just been mentioned,
we have no difficulty in seeing that the Epicureans were those who,
according to their habit, received the new doctrine with ridicule,‘—while
the Stoics, ever tolerant of the popular mythology, were naturally willing
to hear of the new “demons” which this foreign teacher was proposing to
introduce among the multitude of Athenian gods and heroes. Or we
may imagine that the two classes denote the philosophers on the one
hand, who heard with scorn the teaching of a Jewish stranger untrained
in the language of the schools,—and the vulgar crowd on the other, who
would easily entertain suspicion (as in the case of Socrates) against any
one seeking to cast dishonour on the national divinities, or would at least
1 See Ch. III. p. 105. Two of the most influential of the second generation of Stoies
were Antipater of Tarsus and Zeno of Tarsus. Chrysippus also is said by Strabo to
have been a native of the same place.
2 Σπερμολόγος is properly a bird that picks up seeds from the ground, and it is so
ased in the “ Birds” of Aristophanes. Hence, secondarily, it may mean a pauper who
prowls abont the market-place, or a parasite who lives by his wits (ex alienis victitans),
and hence “a contemptible and worthless person.”’ Or, from the perpetual chattering
and chirping of such birds, the word may denote an idle “babbler.”” See Meyer. The
former appears the truest view. See the quotations in Suicer’s Thesaurus. The pri-
mary meaning of the word is given by Chrysostom in a striking sentence in one of his
homilies on the Thessalonians “Av μὴ γεωργοὶ, τὴν γῆν ἀναμοχλεύσαντες, περιστείλωσι
τὴ καταβαλλύμενα, τοῖς σπερμολόγοις ὀρνέοις ἔσπειραν.
3 Καίνα δαιμόνια (Acts xvii. 18); thé very words used in the accusation against So-
erates. ’Adixet Σωκράτης, obd¢ μὲν ἡ πόλις νομίζει ϑεοὺς, οὐ νομίζων, ἕτερα δὲ καινὰ
δαιμόνια εἰσφέρων. Xen. Mem.i,1. The word δαιμόνιον is probably here used quite
generally. This is the only place where it occurs in the Acts of the Apostles. See
the remarks which have been made before on this subject, pp. 298-300. Maximus
Tyrius gives the strict definition of δαίμων in the following passage. Τίθεσο θεὸν μὲν,
κατὰ τὸ ἀπαθὲς καὶ ἀθάνατον" δαίμονα δὲ, κατὰ τὸ ἀθάνατον Kai ἐμπαθές" ἄνθρωπον δὲ,
κατὰ τὸ ἐμπαθὲς καὶ ϑνητόν. Diss. xxiv. In another place he says that the god and
the demon have this in common, that they are immortal; the damon and the man, that
they have passion ; the man and the animal, that they have sense ; the animal and the
pliant, that they have life. Diss. xv.
4 See what Lucian says in the Life of Alexander of Abonoteichus: Oi μὲν ἀμφὶ τὸ»
᾿ Πλάτωνα καὶ Χρύσιππον καὶ Πυθαγόραν, φίλοι, καὶ εἰρήνη βαθεῖα πρὸς ἐκείνους jy" ὁ
δὲ ἄτεγκτος ᾿Επίκουρος (οὕτω γὰρ αὐτὸν ὠνόμαζεν) ἔχθιστος δικαίως, πώντα ταῦτα ἐκ
γέλωτι καὶ παιδιᾷ τιθέμενος. ὃ 25.
514 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
be curious to hear more of this foreign and new religion. It is not, ΠΟΤ
ever, necessary to make any such definite distinction between those whe
derided and those who listened. Two such classes are usually found
among those to whom truth is presented, When Paul came among the
Athenians, he came, ‘‘not with enticing words of man’s wisdom,” and
to some of the ‘‘ Greeks” who heard him, the Gospel was “foolishness ;”}
while in others there was at least that curiosity which is sometimes made
the path whereby the highest truth enters the mind ; and they sought to
have a fuller and more deliberate exposition of the mysterious subjects,
which now for the first time had been brought before their attention.
The place to which they took him was the summit of the hill of Areo
pagus, where the most awful court of judicature had sat from time imme-
morial, to pass sentence on the greatest criminals, and to decide the most
solemn questions connected with religion. The judges sat in the open air,
upon seats hewn out in the rock, on a platform, which was ascended by a
flight of stone steps immediately from the Agora. On this spot a long
series of awful causes, connected with crime and religion, had been deter-
mined, beginning with the legendary trial of Mars,‘ which gave to the
place its name of ‘‘ Mars’ Hill.” A temple of the god,> as we have seen,
was on the brow of the eminence ; and an additional solemnity was given
to the place by the sanctuary of the Furies,® in a broken cleft of the rock,
immediately below the judges’ seat. Even in the political decay of
1 See 1 Cor. i. 18.—ii. 5.
? For the carly history of the court, see Hermann’s Lehrbuch der G. Slaatsalter-
thumer, c. v., and Grote, vol. v. Tor miscellaneous details, see Meursius in Gronov.
Thes.
3 Ὑπαίθριοι ἐδίκαζον. Julius Pollux. Vitruvius mentions a building which Leake
(p. 356) thinks may sometimes have been used by the Areopagites. ‘“ Athenis Areopagi
antiquitatis exemplar ad hoc tempus luto tectum.” Vit. ii, 1. The number of steps is
sixteen. See Wordsworth’s Athens and Attica, p.73. ‘Sixteen stone steps cut in the
rock, at its south-east angle, lead up to the hill of the Areopagus from the valley of
the Agora, which lies between it and the Pnyx. This angle seems to be the point of
the hill on which the council of the Areopagus sat. Ithmediately above the steps, on
the level of the hill, is a bench of stone excavated in the limestone rock, forming three
sides of a quadrangle, like a triclinium : it faces the south: on its east and west side
is a raised block: the former may, perhaps, have been the tr’bunal, the two latter the
rude stones which Pausanias saw here, and which are described by Euripides (Iph. T.
962) as assigned, the one to the accuser, the other to the criminal, in the causes which
were tried in this court.” The stone seats are intermediate in position to the sites of
the Temple of Mars and the Sanctuary of the Eumenides, mentioned below.
4 Pausan. xxviii. 5.
5 This temple is mentioned by Pausanias, viii. 5. It was on the southern slope of the
Areopagus, immediately above the Agora, near the Eponymi and the statue of Demos
thenes.
6 The Athenians, according to their usual euphemism, called these dread goddesses
by the name of Εὐμένιδες or Σέμναι; and Pausanias says that their statues in this
place had nothing ferocious in their aspect. The proximity of this senctuary to the
Areopagite court must have tended to give additional solemnity to the place.
THE AREOPAGUS. 375
Athens, this spot and this court were regarded by the people with super.
stitious reverence.!. It was a scene with which the dread recollections of
centuries were associated. It was a place of silent awe in the midst of
the gay and frivolous city. Those who withdrew to the Areopagus from
the Agora, came, as it were, into the presence of a higher power. No
place in Athens was so suitable for a discourse upon the mysteries of
religion.. We are not, however, to regard St. Paul’s discourse on the
Areopagus as a formal defence, in a trial before the court.* The whole
aspect of the narrative in the Acts, and the whole tenor of the discourse
itself, militate against this supposition. The words, half derisive, half
courteous, addressed to the Apostle before he spoke to his audience,
“May we know what this new doctrine is?” are not like the words which
would have been addressed to a prisoner at the bar ; and still more unlike
a judge’s sentence are the words with which he was dismissed at the con-
clusion, ‘‘ We will hear thee again of this matter?”? Nor is there any-
thing in the speech itself of a really apologetic character, as any one may
perceive, on comparing it with the defence of Socrates.‘ Moreover, the
verse®> which speaks so strongly of the Athenian love of novelty and
excitement is so introduced, as to imply that curiosity was the motive of
the whole proceeding. We may, indeed, admit that there was something
of a mock solemnity in this adjournment from the Agora to the Areopa-
gus. ‘The Athenians took the Apostle from the tumult of public ‘discus-
sion, to the place which was at once most convenient and most appro-
priate. There was everything in the place to incline the auditors, so far
as they were seriously disposed at all, to a reverent and thoughtful atten-
tion. It is probable that Dionysius,* with other Areopagites, were on the
1 See Aulus Gellius in Winer. In some respects it seems that the inflnence of the
court was increased under the Romans. See Hermann, 176, and Cic. pro Balbo.
? Some are of opinion that he was forcibly apprehended and put on a formal trial.
It may be argued that, ifa public address was all that was required, the Pnyx would
have been more suitable than the Areopagus. But we need not suppose the crowd
about St. Paul to have been very great; and though the Pnyx might be equally acces-
sible from the Agora, and more convenient for a general address, the Areopagus was
more appropriate for a discourse upon religion. We are disposed too to lay great
stress on the verse (21) which speaks of the curiosity of the Athenians. Unless it were
meant to be emphatic, it would almost have the appearance of an interpolation, ’Eze-
λαβόμενο: (v. 19) is a word of general import. See Acts ix. 27.
3 There is indeed an apparent resemblance between Acts xvii. 32 and Acts xxiv. 25,
but even in the latter passage, Felix is rather setting aside an irksome subject than
giving a judicial decision.
4 Xen. Apol. 5 Acts xvii. 21.
6 Tradition says that he was the first bishop of Athens. The writings attributed ta
him, which were once so famous, are now acknowledged to be spurious, and believed
to have been the work of some Neo-Platonist. See Fabr. Bib. Greca. Malalas calls
him a philosopher, and tells the story of his conversion and ordination as follows :—
᾿κωρακὼς αὐτὸν ὁ ἅγιος ἸΙαῦλος προσηγόρευσε, καὶ ἐπηρώτα τὰν ἅγιον ἸΠαῦλον ὁ Aso
376 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 51. PAUL.
judicial seats. And a vague recollection of the dread thoughts associated
by poetry and tradition with the Hill of Mars, may have solemnised the
minds of some of those who crowded up the stone steps with the Apostle,
and clustered round the summit of the hill, to hear his announcement of
the new divinities.
There is no point in the annals of the first planting of Christianity
which seizes so powerfully on the imagination of those who are familiar
with the history of the ancient world. Whether we contrast the intense
earnestness of the man who spoke, with the frivolous character of those
who surrounded him,—or compare the certain truth and awful meaning
of the Gospel he revealed, with the worthless polytheism which had made
Athens a proverb in the earth,—or even think of the mere words uttered
that day in the clear atmosphere, on the summit of Mars’ Hill, in connee-
tion with the objects of art, temples, statues, and altars, which stood
round on every side,—we feel that the moment was, and was intended to
be, full of the most impressive teaching for every age of the world. Close
to the spot where he stood was the Temple of Mars. The sanctuary “ of the
Eumenides was immediately below him; the Parthenon of Minerva faciny
him above. Their presence seemed to challenge the assertion in which he
declared here, that 7m TEMPLES made with hands the Deity dces not dwell.
In front of him, towering from its pedestal on the rock of the Acropolis,
—as the Borromean Colossus, which at this day, with outstretched hand,
gives its benediction to the low village of Arona ; or as the brazen statue
of the armed angel, which from the summit of the Castel 8S. Angele
spreads its wings over the city of Rome,—was the bronze Colossus of
Minerva, armed with spear, shield, and helmet, as the champion of Athens.
Standing almost beneath its shade, he pronounced that the Deity was
not to be likened vither to that, the work of Phidias, or to other forms in
gold, silver, or stone, graven by art, and man’s device, which peopled the
scene before him.”! Wherever his eye was turned, it saw a succession of
such statues and buildings in every variety of form and situation. On the
rocky ledges on the south side of the Acropolis, and in the midst of the
hum of the Agora, were the “objects of devotion” already described,
And in the northern parts of the city, which are equally visible from the
Areopagus, on the level spaces, and on every eminence, were similar
objects, to which we have made no allusion,—and especially that Temple
νύσιος, Τίνα κηρύσσεις ϑεὸν, σπερμολύγε; καὶ ἀκούσας τοῦ ἁγίου Παύλου ὁ αὐτὸς Διυ-
νύσιος διδάσκοντος αὐτὸν προσέπεσεν αὐτῷ, αἰτῶν αὐτὸν φωτισθῆναι καὶ γενέσθαι
Χριστιανόν" καὶ βαπτίσας αὐτὸν ὁ ἅγιος Παῦλος ἐποΐησε Χριστίανον " καὶ ἑωρακὼς
ὁ ἀγ. Il. τὸ ϑερμὸν τῆς πίστεως τοῦ αὐτοῦ Δ. ἐποίησεν αὐτὸν ἐπίσκοποι ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ
ἐκείνῃ. Mal. Chronog. pp. 251, 252. Bonn Ed.
1 Wordsworth’s Athens and Attica, p. 77. The word χαράγματι (Acts xvii. 29°
should be noticed. The Apostle was surrounded by scu/pture as well as by temples.
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THE AREOPAGUS. 371
ot Theseus, the national hero, which remains in unimpaired beauty, te
enable us to imagine what Athens was when this temple was only one
among the many ornaments of that city which was “ wholly given te
idolatry.”
In this scene St. Paul spoke, probably in his wonted attitude,’ “ stretch
ing out his hand,” his. bedily aspect still showing what he had suffered
from weakness, toil, and pain;? and the traces of sadness and anxiety?
mingled on his countenance with the expression of unshaken faith’ What-
ever his personal appearance may have been, we know the words which he
spoke. And we are struck with the more admiration, the more narrowly
we scrutinize the characteristics of his address. ΤῸ defer for the present
all consideration of its manifold adaptations to the various characters of
his auditors, we may notice how truly it was the outpouring of the emo
tions which, at the time, had possession of his soul. The mouth spoke out of
the fulness of the heart. With an ardent and enthusiastic eloquence he gave
vent to the feelings which had been excited by all that he had seen around
him in Athens. We observe, also, how the whole course of the oration
was regulated by his own peculiar prudence. He was brought into a posi-
tion, when he might easily have been ensnared into the use of words, which
would have brought down upon him the indignation-of all the city. Had
he begun by attacking the national gods in the midst of their sanctuaries,
and with the Areopagites on the seats near him, he would have been in
almost as great danger as Socrates before him. Yet he not only avoids
the snare, but uses the very difficulty of his position to make a road to the
convictions of those who heard him. He becomes a heathen to the hea-
then. He does not say that he is introducing new divinities. He rather
implies the contrary, and gently draws his hearers away from polytheism,
by telling them that he was making known the God whom they themselves
were ignorantly endeavouring to worship. And if the speech is character-
ised by St. Paul’s prudence, it is marked by that wisdom of his Divine
Master, which is the pattern of all Christian teaching. As our Blessed
Lord used the tribute-money for the instruction of His disciples, and drew
living lessons from the water in the well of Samaria, so the Apostle of the
Gentiles employed the familiar objects of Athenian life to tell them of what
was close to them, and yet they knew not. He had carefully observed the
outward appearance of the city. He had seen an altar with an expressive,
though humiliating, inscription. And, using this inscription as a text, he
rpoke to them, as follows, the Words of Eternal Wisdom.
See p. 174, and the note.
» See the account of what took place at Philippi, and coinpare jy. 326.
3 See above, p. 326.
4 The altar erected to Pity, above alluded to, was once used in a similar mannes,
The Athenians were about to introduce gladiatorial shows, and Demonax the Cvnig
378 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 8ST. PAUL.
Their altars to Ye men of Athens, all things which I behold bear
UNKNOWN Gops ᾿ τ ἜΣ ὦ
rove both witness to your’ carefulness in religion. For as I
heir desire to δ .
worship and passed through your city, and beheld the objects of
their ignorance
ln worshipping. your worship, I found amongst them an altar with this
inscription, TO? THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom,
therefore, ye worship, though ye know Him not, Him declare I
unto you.
God dwells not God, who made the world and all things therein,
in the temples δἰ a
ae GHA eMeee ne: seeing that He is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth
tis, nor needs
the serviee of not in temples made with hands.* Neither is He serv-
ed by the hands of men, as though He needed any
thing ; for it is He that giveth unto all life, and breath, and all
things. And He made of one blood‘ all the nations of mankind,
to dwell upon the face of the whole earth ; and ordained to each
the appointed seasons of their existence, and the bounds of their
Man was ere- habitation. That they should seek God, if haply they
ated capable of i .
knowing Goa, might feel after Him and find Him, though he be not
and ought no - Ὁ .
to have fallen far from every one of us: for in Him we live and move
into the follies : :
ofidolatry, | and have our being; as certain also of your own poets "
even where it 9᾽
was adorned by s
the art of Phi- have said
diaa.
“For we are also His offspring.”
anu: “Vo not do this till you have first thrown down the altar of Pity.’ Lucian.
Demonax, 57.
1 The mistranslation of this verse in the Authorised Version is much to be regretted,
because it entirely destroys the graceful courtesy of St. Paul’s opening address, and
represents him as beginning his speech by offending his audience. v
2 Although there is no article before ἀγνώστῳ, yet we need not scruple to retain the
definite article of the Authorised Version ; for although, if we take the expression by
itself, “To AV Unknown God” would be a more correct translation, yet, if we con-
sider the probable origin (see above) of these altars erected to ἄγνωστοι θεοὶ, it will be
evident that “To Z7HE Unknown God’ would be quite as near the sense of the in-
ecription upon any particular one of such altars. Each particular altar was devoted
to the unknown god to whom it properly belonged, though which of the gods it might
be the dedicator knew not.
3 Here again (as at Antioch in Pisidia) we find St. Paul employing the very words
of St. Stephen. Acts vii. 48.
* 4 “Of one blood ;’’ excluding the boastful assumption of a different origin claimed
by the Greeks for themselves over the barbarians.
5 The reading of A. B. G. H. &c. is θεὸν, not κύριον.
6 The quotation is from Aratus, a Greek poet, who was a native of Cilicia, a cir-
cumstance which would, perhaps, account for St. Paul’s familiarity with his writings
His astronomical poems were so celebrated that Ovid declares his fame will live as
long as the sun and moon endure :—“Cum sole et luna semper Aratus erit.” How
little did the Athenian audience imagine that the poet’s immortality would really ke
owing to the quotation made by the despised provincial who addressed them. The
SPEECH OF 51. PAUL. 379
Furasmuch, then, as we are the offspring of God, we ought
not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, Οἱ
stone, graven by the art and device of man.
Howbeit, those past times of ignorance God hath God had over
looked the
averlooked ; but now He commandeth all men every- rast, but now
calls Θ work,
where to repent, because He hath appointed a day Hay mpepare, foe
wherein He will judge the world in righteousness, by ™:t.
that Man whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath
given assurance unto all,? in that He hath raised Him (ints provea
from the dead. retion? WI
St. Paul was here suddenly interrupted, as was no doubt frequently
the case with his speeches both to Jews and Gentiles. Some of those
who listened broke out into laughter and derision. The doctrine of the
“resurrection” was to them ridiculous, as the notion of equal religious
rights with the ‘“ Gentiles” was offensive and intolerable to the Hebrew
audience at Jerusalem.? Others of those who were present on the Areo-
pagus said, with courteous indifference, that they would “ hear him again
on the subject.” The words were spoken in the spirit of Felix, who had
no due sense of the importance of the matter, and who waited for “a con-
venient season.” Thus, amidst the derision of some, and the indifference
éf others,* St. Paul was dismissed, and the assembly dispersed.
But though the Apostle “departed” thus “ from among them,” and
though most of his hearers appeared to be unimpressed, yet many of them
may have carried away in their hearts the seeds of truth, destined to grow
up into the maturity of Christian faith and practice. We cannot fail to
notice how the sentences of this interrupted speech are constructed to
meet the cases in succession of every class of which the audience was com-
posed. Each word in the address is adapted at once to win and to rebuke.
The Athenians were proud of everything that related to the origin of
their race and the home where they dwelt. St. Paul tells them that he
was struck by the aspect of their city ; but he shows them that the place
and the time appointed for each nation’s existence are parts of one great
scheme of Providence ; and that one God is the common Fatter of all
nations of the earth. For the gencral and more ignorant population,
same words occur also in the Hymn of Cleanthes [p. 5. n. 3], which is quoted at length
in Dr. Bloomfield’s Recensio Synoptica.
1 See notes upon St. Paul’s speech at Lystra. It should be observed that no such me
taphor as “winked at”’ is to be found in the original.
3 Observe the coincidence between this sentiment and that in Rem. i. 4.
3 Acts xxii. 22.
4 Some commentators find again in these two classes the Stoics and Hpicureang
‘¢ is not necessary to make so precise a division.
380 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL
some of whom were doubtless listening, a word of approbation is bestowed
on the care they gave to the highest of all concerns ; but they are admon-
ished that idolatry degrades all worship, and leads men away from true
notions of the Deity. That more educated and more imaginative class of
hearers, who delighted in the diversified mythology, that personified the
operations of nature, and localised the divine presence! in sanctuaries
adorned by poetry and art, are led from the thought of their favourite
shrines and customary sacrifices, to views of that awful Being who is the
Lord of heaven and earth, and the one Author of universal life. “ΤΡ to
a certain point in this high view of the Supreme Being, the philosopher of
the Garden, as well as of the Porch, might listen with wonder and admira-
tion. It soared, indeed, high above the vulgar religion ; but in the loity
and serene Deity, who disdained to dwell in the earthly temple, and need-
ed nothing from the hand of man, the Epicurean might almost suppose
that he heard the language of his own teacher. But the next sentence,
which asserted the providence of God as the active, creative energy,—as
the conservative, the ruling, the ordaining principle,—annihilated at once
the atomic theory, and the government of blind chance, to which Epicuru:
ascribed the origin and preservation of the universe.”? And when the
Stoic heard the Apostle say that we ought to rise to the contemplation of
the Deity without the intervention of earthly objects, and that we live and
move and have our being in Him—it might have seemed like an echo of
his own thought *—until the proud philosopher learnt that it was no pan-
theistic diffusion of power and order of which the Apostle spoke, but a liv-
ing centre of government and love—that the world was ruled, not by the
iron necessity of Fate, but by the providence of a personal God—and that
from the proudest philosopher repentance and meek submission were
sternly exacted. Above all, we are called upon to notice how the utten-
tion of the whole audience is concentered at the last upon Jesus Currst,!
though His name is not mentioned in the whole speech. Before St. Paul
was taken to the Areopagus, he had been preaching ‘‘ Jesus and the resur-
rection : 5 and though his discourse was interrupted, this was the last im-
pression he left on the minds of those who heard him. And the impres-
sion was such as not merely to excite or gratify an intellectual curiosity,
but to startle and search the conscience. Not only had a revival from
the dead been granted to that man whom God had ordained—but a day
1 The sacred grottoes in the rocks within view from the Areopagus should be remem-
bered, as well as the temples, &e. See Wordsworth.
2 Milman’s History of Christianity, vol. m. p. 18. See his observations on the whola
speech. He remarks, in a note, the coincidence of St. Paul’s οὐδὲν πουσδεόμενος with
the “nihil indiga nostri” of the Epicurean Lucretius.
3 This strikes us the more forcibly if the quotation is from the Steic Cleanthea
See above.
4 See Meyer. ® Acta xvii. 18.
DEPARTURE FROM ATHENS. 381
had been appointed on which by Him the world must be judged in right
eousness,
Of the immediate results of this speech we have no further knowledge,
than that Dionysius,! a member of the Court of Areopagus, and a woman
whose name was Damaris,’? with some others, were induced to join them:
selves to the Apostle, and became converts to Christianity. How long
St. Paul staid in Athens, and with what success, cannot possibly be. de-
termined. He does not appear to have been driven by any tumult or
persecution. We are distinctly told that he waited for some time at
Athens, till Silas and Timotheus should join him ; and there is some rea-
son for believing that the latter of these companions did rejoin him in
Athens, and was dispatched again forthwith to Macedonia.* The Apos-
tle himself remained in the province of Achaia, and took up his abode at
its capital on the Isthmus. He inferred, or it was revealed to him, that
the Gospel would meet with a more cordial reception there than at
Athens. And it is a serious and instructive fact that the mercantile popu-
lation of Thessalonica and Corinth received the message of God with
greater readiness than the highly educated and polished Athenians. Two
letters to the Thessalonians, and two to the Corinthians, remain to attest
the flourishing state of those Churches. But we possess no letter written
by St. Paul to the Athenians; and we do not read that he was ever in
Athens again.‘
Whatever may have been the immediate results of St. Paul’s sojourn
at Athens, its real fruits are those which remain to us'still. ‘That speech
on the Areopagus is an imperishable monument of the first victory of
Christianity over Paganism. ΤῸ make a sacred application of the words
used by the Athenian historian,> it was “no mere effort for the moment,”
but it is a “‘ perpetual possession,” wherein the Church finds ever fresh
supplies cf wisdom and guidance. It is in Athens we learn what is the
highest point to which unassisted human nature can attain ; and here we
learn also the language which the Gospel addresses to man on his proudest
eminence of unaided strength. God, in His providence, has preserved to
us, in fullest profusion, the literature which unfolds to us all the life of
1 See above, p. 375, n. 2.
? Nothing is known of Damaris. But, considering the seclusion of the Greek women,
the mention of her name, and apparently in connection with the crowd on the Areopa-
fus, is remarkable. Stier throws out the suggestion that she might be a hetera, called
like Mary Magdalene to repentance. Reden der Apostel. π. 21.
3 See 1 Thess. iii. 1. For the movements of Silas and Timotheus about this time,
see the note at the end of Ch. XI.
+ The church of Athens appears to have been long in a very weak state. In the
time of the Antonines, Paganism was almost as flourishing there as ever. The Chris-
tian community seems at one time to have been entirely dispersed, and to have beeu
vollected again about a.p. 165. See Leake, p. 60.
5 Krijua ἐς del μᾶλλον ἢ ἀγώνισμα ἐς τὸ παραχρῆηα ἀκούειν συγκεῖται. Thuc.i 22
582 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
the Athenian people, in its glory and its shame; and He has ordained
that one conspicuous passage in the Holy Volume should be the speech,
in which His servant addressed that people as ignorant idolaters, called
them to repentance, and warned them of judgment. And it can hardly
be deemed profane if we trace to the same Divine Providence the preser-
vation of the very imagery which surrounded the speaker—not only the
sea, and the mountains, and the sky, which change not with the decay of
ndtions—but even the very temples, which remain, after.wars and revo-
lutions, on their ancient pedestals in astonishing perfection. We are thus
provided with a poetic and yet a truthful commentary on the words that
were. spoken once for all at Athens ; and Art and Nature have been com-
missioned from above to enframe the portrait of that Apostle, who standa
for ever on the Areopagus as the teacher of the Gentiles.
ATHENIAN TETRADRAUAM °
Δ From the British Museum.
CORINTH. 383
CHAPTER XI.
“J adjure you, in the name of our Lord Jesus, to see that this letter be read to all
the brethren.”—1 Thess. v. 27.
“JT, Paul, add my salutation with my own hand, which is a token whereby all my
letters may be known.”—2 Thess. iii. 17.
ETTERS TO THESSALONICA WRITTEN FROM CORINTH.—EXPULSION OF THE JEWS FROM
ROME.—AQUILA AND PRISCILLA—ST. PAUI’S LABOURS.—FIRST EPISTLE TO THR
THESSALONIANS.—ST. PAUL IS OPPOSED BY THE JEWS ; AND TURNS TO THE GENTILES.
—HIS VISION—SECOND EPISTLE ΤῸ THE THESSALONIANS.—CONTINUED RESIDENCE
IN CORINTH.
cory oF corrTH.!
Wen St. Paul went from Athens to Corinth, he entered on a scene very
different from that which he had left. It is not merely that his residence
was transferred from a free Greek city to a Roman colony ; as would
have been the case had he been moving from Thessalonica to Philippi.’
His present journey took him from a quiet provincial town to the busy
metropolis of a province, and from the seclusion of an ancient university
to the seat of government and trades Once there had been a time, in
the flourishing age of the Greek republics, when Athens had been politi-
eally greater than Corinth ; but now that the little territories of the
Levantine cities were fused into the larger provincial divisions of the
empire, Athens had only the memory of its preeminence, while Corinth
held the keys of commerce and swarmed with a crowded population.
Both cities had recently experienced severe vicissitudes ; but a spell was
on the fortunes of the former, and its character remained more entirely
Greek than that of any other place :‘ while the latter rose from its ruins,
a new and splendid city, on the Isthmus between its two seas, where 8
1 From the British Museum. The emperor is Claudius. See Acts xviii. 2.
2 See above, p. 333.
3 A journey in the first century from Athens to Corinth might almost be compared
[9 a journey, in the eighteenth, from Oxford to London.
¢ See the preceding Chapter on Athens.
884. THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
multitude of Greeks and Jews gradually united themselves with the milt
tary colonists sent by Julius Cesar from Italy,’ and were apes in order by
the presence of a Roman proconsul.’
The connection of Corinth with the life of St. Paul and the early pro
gress of Christianity, is so close and eventful, that no student of Holy
Writ ought to be satisfied without obtaining as correct and clear an idea
as possible of its social condition, and its relation to other parts of the
empire. This subject will be considered in a subsequent chapter. At
present another topic demands our chief attention. We are now arrived
at that point in the life of St. Paul when his first Epistles were written.
This fact is ascertained, not by any direct statements either in the Acts or
the Epistles themselves, but by circumstantial cvidence derived from a
comparison of these documents with one another? Such a comparison
enables us to perceive that the Apostle’s mind, on his arrival at Corinth,
was still turning with affection and anxiety towards his converts at Thes-
salonica. In the midst of all his labours at the Isthmus, his thoughts
were continually with those whom he had left in Macedonia ; and though
the narrative‘ tells us only of his tent-making and preaching in the
metropolis of Achaia, we discover, on a closer enquiry, that the Letters
to the Thessalonians were written at this particular crisis. It would be
interesting in the case of any man whose biography has been thought
worth preserving, to discover that letters full of love and wisdom had
been written at a time when no traces would have been discoverable,
except in the letters themselves, of the thoughts which had been occupying
the writer’s mind. Such unexpected association of the actions done in one
place with affection retained towards another, always seems to add to our
personal knowledge of the man whose history we may be studying, and to
our interest in the pursuits which were the occupation of his life. This is
peculiarly true in the case of the first Christian correspondence, which has
been preserved to the Church. Such has ever been the influence of letter-
writing,—its power in bringing those who are distant near to one another,
and reconciling those who are in danger of being estranged ;—such espe-
cially has been, the influence of Christian letters in developing the growth
of faith and love, and binding together the dislocated members of the
body of Our Lord, and in making each generation in succession the
1 At the close of the Republic Corinth was entirely destroyed. Thus we find Cicero
travelling, not by Corinth, but by Athens. But Julius Cesar established the city on
the Isthmus, in the form of a colony; and the mercantile population flocked back to -
their old place; so that Corinth rose with grcat rapidity to the rank of one of the
second cities of the Empire. The historical details will be given in the next chapter.
? Acts xviii. 12 shows that the province of Achaia was proconsular. Sce, undet
Cyprus, pp. 141-145.
3 See the arguments below, Ὁ. 390, n. 3.
« Acts xviii. 1-4.
LETTERS TO THESSALONIGA WRITTEN FROM CORINTH. 384
teacher οἱ the next,—that we have good reason to take these Epistles te
the 'Thessalonians as the one chief subject of the present chapter. The
earliest occurrences which took place at Corinth must first be mentioned :
but for this a few pages will suffice.
The reasons which determined St. Paul to come to Corinth (over and
above the discouragement he seems to have met with in Athens) were,
prebably, twofold. In the first place, it was a large mercantile city, in
immediate connection with Rome and the West of the Mediterranean, with
Thessalonica and Ephesus in the ASgean, and with Antioch and Alexan-
dria in the East.! _ The Gospel once established in Corinth, would rapidly
spread everywhere. And, again, from the very nature of the city, the
Jews established there were numerous, Communities of scattered Israel-
ites were found in various parts of the province of Achaia,—in Athens, as
we have recently seen,*—in Argos, as we learn from Philo,*—in Beotia
and Eubea. But their chief settlement must necessarily have heen in
that city, which not only gave opportunities of trade by land along the
Isthmus between the Morea and the Continent, but received in its two
harbours the ships of the Eastern and Western seas. A religion which
was first to be planted in the Synagogue, and was thence intended to
scatter its seeds over all paris of the earth, could nowhere find a more
favourable soil than among the Hebrew families at Corinth.*
At this particular time there were a greater number of Jews in the
city than usual ; for they had lately been banished from Rome by com-
mand of the Emperor Claudius. The history of this edict is involved in
some obscurity. But there are abundant passages in the contemporary
Heathen writers which show the suspicion and dislike with which the
Jews were regarded.’ Notwithstanding the general toleration, they were
violently persecuted by three successive emperors : and there is good
1 For full details, see the next Chapter.
* See the preceding Chapter, p. 362.
3 Philo de Leg. ad Cai. p. 1031. Ed. Francof., adduced in Wiltsch’s Handbuch der
kirchlichen Geographie, ὃ 9. See also Remond’s Versuch einer Geschichte der Aus-
breitung des Judenthums, ὃ 15, and § 33.
4 See p. 18, with Wiltsch and Remond.
5. See what has been said above on Thessalonica.
6 Acts xviii. 2.
See, for instance Tacitus and Juvenal, as quoted p.19, n.1, and Cicero. p. 303, n. 3,
and other passages in Remond.
8. Four thousand Jews or Jewish preselytes were sent as convicts by Tiberius to the
island of Sardinia. “Actum et de sacris Agyptiis Judaicisque pellendis: factumque
patrum consultum, ut quatuor milia libertini generis, ea superstitione infecta, in insu-
lam Sardiniam veherentur, coercendis illic latrociniis, et si ob gravitatem cceli interi-
issent, vile damnum.” Tae. An. ii. 85. ‘ Externas cxrimonias, Algyptios Judaicosque
ritus compescuit, coactis qui superstitione ea tenebantur, religiosas vestes cum instru-
mento omni comburere. Judworum juventutem per speciem sacramenti, in provinciaa
gravioris coeli distribuit ; reliquos gentis ejusdem, vel similia sectantes, Urbe submovit,
VOL. 1.—-2)
380 THE LIFE aND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
reason for identifying the edict mentioned by St. Luke with that alluded te
by Suetonius, who says that Claudius drove the Jews from Rome because
they were incessantly raising tumults at the instigation of a certain
Chresitus.. Much has been writter concerning this sentence of the
bitgrapher of the Cesars. Some have held that there was really a Jew
called Chrestus, who had excited political disturbances :* others that the
name is used by mistake for Christus, and that the disturbances had arisen
from the Jewish expectations concerning the Messiah, or Christ It
seems to us that the last opinion is partially true ; but that we must trace
this movement not merely to the vague Messianic idea entertained by the
Jews, but to the events which followed the actual appearance of the
Christ. We have seen how the first progress of Christianity had been
tne occasion of tumult among the Jewish communities in ‘the provinces ; +
and there is no reason why the same might not have happened in the
capital itself.6 Nor need we be surprised at the inaccurate form in which
the same occurs, when we remember how loosely more careful writers
than Suetonius write concerning the affairs of the Jews.7 Chrestus was a
common name ;° Christus was not: and we have a distinct statement by
Tertullian and Lactantius® that in their day the former was often used
for the latter.
Among the Jews who had been banished from Rome by Claudius
and had settled for a time at Corinth, were two natives of Pontus,
whose names were Aquila and Priscilla." We have seen hefore (Ch.
sub poena perpetue servitutis, nisi obtemperassent.” Suet. Tib. 36. Cf. Joseph. Ant.
xviii. 3,5. The more directly religious persecution of Caligula has been mentioned
previously, Ch. IV. pp. 110, 111.
1 The words are quoted p. 303, n. 4. Compare p. 332.
3. This is Meyer’s view, to which De Wette also inclines.
3 Such seems to be the opinion of Ammon, Paulus, ἄς. See Meyer in Joc. Arch-
pishop Usher takes the same view.
4 See Hug and Kuinoel. Orosius (Hist. vii. 6) seems really to have had the reading
Christo before him. The statement of Dio Cassius (1x. 6) with reference to Claudius
and the Jews,—(rovg ᾿Ιουδαίους πλεογάσαντας αὖθις, ὦστε χαλεπῶς dv ἄνευ ταραχῆς
ὑπὸ τοῦ ὄχλου σφῶν τῆς πόλεως εἰρχθῆναι, οὐκ ἐξήλασε μὲν, τῷ δὲ δὴ πατρίῳ νόμῳ
βίῳ χρωμένους ἐκέλευσε μὴ συναθροίζεσθαι)----56 615 to refer to a point of time anterior
to the edict mentioned by Suetonius and St. Luke.
5. In Asia Minor (Ch. VI.), and more especially in Thessalonica and Beroea (Ch. IX.)
6 Christianity must have been more or less known in Rome, since the return of the
Italian Jews from Pentecost (Acts ii.).
7 Even Tacitus.
8 See, for instance, Cic. Fam. ii. 8. Moreover, Christus and Chrestus are prow:
nounced alike in Romaic. Suetonius, however, was acquainted with the word Chris
tianus. Nero, 16.
9 See the passages quoted by Dean Milman (Hist. of Christianity, 1. p. 430), who re
marks that these tumults at Rome, excited by the mutual hostility of Jews and Chris
tians, imply that Christianity must already have made considerable progress there.
w See pp. 119, 120, and Tac. Ann. xv. 44. 1 Acts xvili. 2.
AQUILA AND PRISCILLA. 387
VIII.) that Pontus denoted a province of As
Minor on the shores of the Euxine, and we hava
noticed some political facts which tended to bring
this province into relations with Judea.'’ Though,
indeed, it is hardly necessary to allude to this, for
there were Jewish colonies over every part of Asia
Minor, and we are expressly told that Jews from
Pontus heard St. Peter’s first sermon? and read his
first Episties Aquila and Priscilla were, perhaps,
of that number. Their names have a Roman form ;4
and, we may conjecture that they were brought into
some connection with a Roman family, similar to that
which we have supposed to have existed in the case of
St. Paul himself.s We find they were on the present
bust or cLavpivs.” — oeeasicn forced to leave Rome ; and we notice that
they are afterwards addressed? as residing there again ; so that it is reason:
able to suppose that the metropolis was their stated residence. Yet we
observe that they frequently travelled, and we trace them on the Asiatic
coast on two distinct occasions, separated by a wide interval of time. First,
before their return to Italy (Acts xviii. 18, 26. 1 Cor. xvi. 19), and again,
shortly before the martyrdom of St. Paul (2 Tim. iv. 19), we find them
at Ephesus. From the manner in which they are referred to as having
Christian meetings in their houses, both at Ephesus and Rome,® we should
be inclined to conclude that they were possessed of some considerable
wealth. The trade at which they laboured, or which at least they super-
intended, was the manufacture of tents,° the demand for which must have
VPP PAYS
1 Especially the marriage of Polemo with Berenice, p. 25, and p. 248.
? Acts ii. 9. 3 1 Pet. i. 1.
4 See p. 151, also p. 46. ᾿Ακύλας is merely the Greck form of Aquila (used by
Josephus, Appian, and Dio Cassius). The hypothesis of Reiche, that this Aquila was a
freedman of one Pontius Aquila, whose name is mentioned by Greek and Roman
writers, and that St. Luke is in error in calling him a native of Pontus, is very gratui-
tous. Nothing is known of him beyond what we read in the New Testament. The
tradition of the Greek Menology is, that he and his wife were beheaded.
From the mention of Priscilla as St. Paul’s συνεργός, and as one of the instructors
of Apollos, we might naturally infer that she was a woman of good education. Her
name appears in 2 Tim. under the form “ Prisca.’”’ So, in Martial, Tacitus, and Sueto-
nius, “ Livia” and “Livilla,”’ “ Drusa’”’ and “ Drusilla,’’ are used of the same person.
See Wetstein on Rom. xvi. Prisca is well known as a Roman name.
Aquila, who made the new translation of the Old Testament into Greek in the reign
of Hadrian, was also a native of Pontus.
5 P. 46. 6 From the Musée des Antiques (Bouillon, Paris, 1812-1817), vol. ii.
7 Rom. xvi. 3.
8 Rom. xvi. 38. 1 Cor. xvi. 19.
9 Many meanings have been given by the commentators to oknvorroiol,—weavers of
tapestry, saddlers, mathematical instrument makers. [Another rendering we have
met with somewhere, is “ rope-makers ;”’ suggested, perhaps, by the word oyouvor cto”
388 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 51. PAUL.
‘ven continual in that age of travelling,—-while the ciliciwm,! or hait
eleth, of which they were made, could easily be procured at every large
town in the Levant,
A question has been raised as to whether Aquila and Priscilla were
already Christians, when they met with St. Paul? Though it is certainly
possible that they may have been converted at Rome, we think, on the
whole, that this was probably not the case. They are simply classed with
the other Jews who were expelled by Claudius ; and we are told that the
reason why St Paul ‘came and attached himself to them”? was not
because they had a common religion, but because they had a common
trade. ‘There is no doubt, however, that the connection soon resulted in
their conversion to Christianity. The trade which St. Paul’s father had
taught him in his youth * was thus made the means of procuring him in-
valuable associates in the noblest work in which man was ever engaged.
No higher example can be found of the possibility of combining diligent
labour in the common things of life with the utmost spirituality ofe mind,
Those who might have visited Aquila at Corinth in the working-hours,
would have found St. Paul quietly occupied with the same task as his
fellow-labourers. Though he knew the Gospel to be a matter of life and
death to the soul, he gave himself to an ordinary trade with as much zeal
as though he had no other occupation. It is the duty of every man to
maintain an honourable independence ; and this, he felt, was peculiarly
incumbent on him, for the sake of the Gospel he came to proclain. He
knew the obloquy to which he was likely to be exposed, and he prudently
prepared for it. The highest motives instigated his diligence in the com-
monest manual toil. And this toil was no hindrance to that communion
with God, which was his greatest joy, and the source of all his peace,
While he “laboured, working with his own hands,” among the Corinthians,
2s he afterwards reminded them,’7—in his heart he was praying continually,
with thanksgiving, on behalf of the Thessalonians, as he says to them
himself * in the letters which he dictated in the intervais of his iabour.
This was the first scene of St. Paul's life at Corinth. Fer the second
which is pronounced by the modern Greeks nearly in the same way.] Dut nothing is
s0 probable as that they were simply makers of those hair-cloth tents, which are still
in constant use in the Levant. That they were manufacturers of the cloth itself is lesa
likely.
1 An account of this cloth is given in Ch. Il. p. 47. See p. 168 and p. 329.
* See the various commentators.
3 ἸΠροσῆλθεν αὐτοῖς. Acts xviii. 2.
4 They were Christians, and able to instruct others, when St. Paul left them at
Ephesus, on his voyage from Corinth to Syria. See Acts xviii. 18, 26,
5 See p. 46.
6 See what is said above in reference to his labours at Thessalonica, p. 329. We
eball meet with the same subject again in the Epistles to the Corinthians.
71 Cor. iv. 12. eMThessi.) 2. i 13.42) ehesss te. 2h
ST. PAUL’S LABORS AT CORINTH. 558
scene we must turn to the synagogue. The Sabbath! was ἃ day of rest
On that day the Jews laid aside their tent-making and their other trades
and, amid the derision of their Gentile neighbours, assembled in the house
of prayer to worship the God of their forefathers. There St. Paul spoke
to them of the “mercy promised to their forefathers,” and of the “ oath
sworn to Abraham,” being “ performed.” There his countrymen listened
with incredulity or conviction - and the tent-maker of Tarsus “reasoned”
with them and “endeavoured to persuade”? both the Jews and the Gen-
tiles who were present, to believe in Jesvs Christ as the promised
Messiah and the Saviour of the World.
While these two employments were proceeding,—the daily labour in
the workshop, and the week!y discussions in the synagogue,—Timotheus
and Silas returned from Macedonia.? The effect produced by their
arrival seems to have been an instantaneous increase of the zeal and
energy with which he resisted the opposition, which was even now begin-
ning to hem in the progress of the truth. The remarkable word* which is
used to describe the “ pressure” which St. Paul experienced at this moment
in the course of his teaching at Corinth, is the same which is employed of
our Lord Himself in a sclemn passage of the Gospels,’ when He says,
“T have a baptism to be baptized with ; and how am 1 séractened till it
be accomplished.” He who felt our human difficulties has given us human
help to aid us in what He requires us to do. When St. Paul’s com-
panions rejoined him, he was reinforced with new earnestness and vigour
in combating the difficulties which met him. He acknowledges himself
that he was at Corinth “in weakness, and in fear and much trembling ;” 5
but “God, who comforteth those that are cast down, comforted him by
the coming”? of his friends. It was only one among many instances we
shall be called to notice, in which, at a time of weakness, “he saw the
brethren and took courage.” §
But this was not the only result of the arrival of St. Paul’s com-
panions. Timotheus (as we have seen’) had been sent, while St. Paui
was still at Athens, to revisit and establish the Church of Thessalonica.
1 See Acts xviii. 4. 3 "Ἔπειθε.
3 Acts xviii. 5. See note at the end of this chapter. We may remark here that
Silas and Timotheus were probably the “ brethren”? who brought the collection men-
tioned, 2 Cor. xi. 9. Compare Phil. iv. 15.
4 Yuvetyero. There seems no doubt that the words which succeed should ke τῷ
λόγῳ and not τῷ πνεύματι. Hammond explains the received reading to mean that Paul
was “distressed in spirit,”” because he produced little effect on his hearers. But the
state of mind, whatever it was, is clearly connected with the coming of Timothy and
Bilas, and seems to imply increasing zeal with increasing opposition. The Vulgate has
instabat verbo.”
5 Luke xii. 50. 6 1 Ὁογ. 1ϊ. 8. 7 2. Cor. vil. 6.
* Acts xxviii. 15. See above, on his solitude in Atbens, p. 362.
® See above.
390 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ΒΥ. PAUL.
The news he brought on his return to St. Paul caused the latter to write
to these beloved converts ; and, as we have already observed,' the letter
which he sent them is the first of his Epistles which has been preserved
tous. It seems to have been occasioned partly by his wish to express his
earnest affection for the Thessalonian Christians, and to encourage them
under their persecutions ; but it was also called for by some errors into
which they had fallen. Many of the new converts were uneasy about the
state of their relatives or friends, who had died since their conversion.
They feared that these departed Christians would lose the happiness of
witnessing their Lord’s second coming, which they expected soon te
behold. In this expectation others had given themselves up to a religious
excitement, under the influence of which they persuaded themselves that
they need not continue to work at the business of their callings, but might
claim support from the richer members of the Church. Others, again,
had yielded to the same temptations which afterwards influenced the
Corinthian Church, and despised the gift of prophesying’ in comparison
with those other gifts which afforded more opportunity for display. These
reasons, and others which will appear in the letter itself, led St. Paul to
write to the Thessalonians as follows : 3—
FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS.
1.
Salutation. ΕΓ Δ1], ἀπ Silvanus, and Timotheus, to the Church of 1
the Thessalonians, in the name of God our Father, and
our Lord Jesus Christ ; ‘4: grace be to you and peace.*
1 Ῥ, 384. 2 1 Thess. v. 20.
3 The correctness of the date here assigned to this Npistle may be proved as follows:
—(1) It was written not long after the conversion of the Thessalonians (1 Thess. i. 8,
9), while the tidings of it were still spreading (ἀπαγγέλλουσιν, present) through Mace-
donia and Achaia, and while St. Paul could speak of himself as only taken from them
for a short season (1 Thess. ii. 17). (2) St. Paul had been recently at Athens (iii. 1),
and had already preached in Achaia (i. 7, 8). (3) Timotheus and Silas were just re-
turned (ἄρτι, ili. 6) from Macedonia, which happened (Acts xviii. 5) soon after St.
Paul’s first arrival at Corinth.
We have already observed (Ch. IX. p. 331), that the character of these Epistles ta
the Thessalonians proves how predominant was the Gentile element in that church, and
that they are among the very few letters of St. Paul in which not a single quotation
from the Old Testament is to be found. [The use, indeed, of the word Satan (1 Thess.
ii. 18) might be adduced as implying some previous kuowledge of Judaism in those to
whom the letter was addressed. See also the note on 2 Thess, ii. 8.}
4 Χώρις ὑμῖν καὶ εἰρήνη. This salutation occurs in all St. Paul’s Epistles, except the
three Pastoral Epistles, where it is changed into Χώρις ἔλεος εἰρήνη.
> The remainder of this verse has been introduced into the Textus Receptus by mis
take in this place, where it is not found in the best MSS. It properly helongs to 2
Thess. i 2.
FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. 391
2 I return! continual thanks to God for you all, thanksgiving
for their con
and make mention of you in my prayers without version.
3 ceasing; remembering always, in the presence of our God
and Father, the working of your faith and the labours of
your love, and the patient endurance of your hope, which was
4 fixed on our Lord Jesus Christ. Brethren, beloved by God,
I know how God has chosen you; for the Glad-tidings which 1
brought’* you worked upon you, not only in word, but also in
power; with the might cf the Holy Spirit, and with the full
5 assurance of belief. And you, likewise, know the manner in
6 which I behaved myself among you, for your sakes. More-
over, you followed in my steps, and in the steps of our Lord
and Master; and you received His teaching in the midst of
great tribulation,? with a joy which came from the Holy Spirit.
᾿ And thus you have become patterns to all the believers in
8. Macedonia and in Achaia. For from you the word of our
Lord has been sounded forth,‘ and not only has its sound been
heard in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place the tid-
ings of your faith towards God have been spread abroad, so that I
1 Tt is important to observe in this place, once for all, that St. Paul uses “we,” ac-
cording to the idiom of many ancient writers, where a modern writer would use “ 1.”
Great confusion is caused in many passages by not translating, according to his true
meaning, in the first person singular ; for thus it often happens, that what he spoke
of himself individually, appears to us as if it were meant for a general truth: instances
will occur repeatedly of this in the Epistles to the Corinthians, especialiy the Second.
It might have been supposed, that when St. Paul associated others with himself in the
salutation at the beginning of an epistle, he meant to indicate that the epistle proceeded
from them as well as from himself; but an examination of the body of the Epistle will
always convince us that such was not the case, but that he was the sole author. For
example, in the present Epistle, Silvanus and Timotheus are joined with him in the
salutation; but yet we find (ch. iii. 1, 2)---εὐδοκήσαμεν καταλειφϑῆναι ἐν ᾿Αθήναις
μόνοι καὶ ἐπέμψαμεν Τιμόθεον τὸν ἀδελφὸν ἡμῶν. Now, who was it who thought fit to
be left at Athens alone? Plainly St. Paul himself, and he only; neither Timotheus
‘who is here expressly excluded) nor Silvanus (who did not rejoin St. Paul till after-
wards at Corinth (Acts xviii. 5) ), being by possibility included. Ch. iii. 6 is not less
decisive pte δὲ ἐλθόντος Τιμοθέον πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἀφ᾽ tudv—when we remember that
Silvanus came with Timotheus. Several other passages in the Epistle prove the same
thing, but these may suffice.
It is true, that sometimes the ancient idiom in which a writer spoke of himself in the
plural is more graceful, and seems less egotistical, than the modern usage; but yet
(the modern usage being what it is) a literal translation of the ἡμεῖς very often conveys
a confused idea of the meaning ; and we have thought it better, therefore, to translate
according to the modern idom.
3. St. Paul 1s here referring to the time when he first visited and converted the Thes
salonians ; the “ hope’ spoken of was the hope of our Lord’s coming.
3 This tribulation they brought on themselves by receiving the Gospel.
4 See p. 324, n. 3,
892 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ΒΤ. PAUL.
have no need to speak of it. For others are telling of their cwn 9
accord,! concerning me, how gladly you received me, and how
you forsook your idols, and turned to the service of God, the
living and the true; and that row you wait with eager longing 14
for the return of His Son from the heavens, even Jesus, whom
He raised from the dead, our deliverer from the coming ven-
geance. i.
He reminds Yea, you know yourselves, brethren, that my
own example. coming amongst you was not fruitless; but after I 2
had borne suffering and outrage (as you know) at Philippi,
I trusted in my God, and boldly declared to you God’s Glad
tidings, although its adversaries contended mightily against me.
For my exhortations are not prompted? by imposture, nor by
lascivionsness, nor do I deal deceitfully. But, seeing that God 4
has tried my fitness for His work, and charged me to declare
the Glad-tidings, so I speak, as one who strives to please not
men but God, whose search tries my heart. For never did
I use flattering words, as you know ; nor hide covetousness un-
der fair pretences, (God is my witness); nor did I seek honour 6
from men, either from you or others; although I might have
been burdensome to you, as being Christ’s apostle? But I be-
haved myself among you with mildness and forbearance ; and
as a nurse cherishes her own children,‘ so in my fond affection 8
it was my joy to give you not only the Glad-tidings of Christ,
but even my own life also, because you were so dear to me.
For you remember, brethren, my toilsome labours; how I 9
worked both night and day, that I might not be burdensome to
any of you, while I proclaimed to you the message which I
bore, the Glad-tidings of God. You are yourselves witnesses, 10
τ
1 Αὐτοὶ. Ι
3. Τὴ this and the following verses, we have allusions to the aceusations brought
against St. Paul by his Jewish opponents. This very charge of secking to please men,
ἀνθοώποις ἀρέσκειν, Was repeated by the Judaisers in Galatia. See Gal. i. id.
3 One of the grounds upon which St. Paul’s Jndaising opponents dexied his apostolic
authority, was the fact that he (in general) refused to be maintained by his converts,
whereas Our Lord had given to His apostles the right of being so maintained. St
Paul fuily explains his reasons for not availing himself of that right in several passages,
especially 1 Cor. ix.; and he here takes care to allude to his possession of the right,
while mentioning his renunciation of it. Cf. 2 Thess. iii. 9.
4 Ta ἑαυτῆς τέκνα. Seep. 329,n.3. It will be observed, also, that we adopt a
different punctuation from that which has led to the received version. Inv. 8 it seeme
very probable that ὁμειρόμενοι, and not ἱμειρόμενοι, is the correct reading; but the
general sense is not altered. See Koch.
FIRS: EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. 393
and God also is my witness, how holy, and just, and un
11 blamable, were my dealings towards you who believe. You
know how earnestly, as a father his own children, I exhorted,
and entreated, and adjured each one among you to walk wor
12thy of God, by whom you are called into His own kingdom
and glory.
13 Wherefore I also give continual thanks to God, because,
when you heard from me the preaching of God’s word, vou re-
ceived it not as the word of man, but, as it is in truth, the
word of God; who! Himself works inwardly in you that
14believe. For you, brethren, followed in the steps of the
churches of God in Judea, which are in the fellowship of Christ
Jesus, and suffered the like persecution from your own coun-
15 trymen, which they endured from the Jews; who killed both
our Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and who have driven
me from city’ to city; a people displeasing to God, and ene-
16 mies to all mankind, who would hinder me from speaking to
the Gentiles, for their salvation; thus they do, as they have
ever done, to fill up the measure of their sins; but now the
wrath of God has overtaken them to destroy them.°
17 ~~“ But I, brethren, having been torn from you for a Expresses bia
short season (in body, not in heart), have sought them.
earnestly, with long desire, to behold you again face to face.*
18 Wherefore I, Paul (for my own part), would have returned to
visit you, and strove to do so once and again; but Satan hin-
i9dered me. For what is my hope or joy? what is the crown
wherein I glory? what but your own selves, when you shail
20 stand befcre our Lord Jesus Christ at His appearing. Yea,
UI you are my glory and my joy.
L Therefore, being no longer able to restrain my And his joy in
hearing of their
2 desire, I determined to be left at Athens alone ; and _ well-doingfrom
Timotheus
I sent Timotheus, my brother, and God’s servant
and fellow-worker " in the Glad-tidings of Christ, that he might
strengthen your constancy, and exhort you concerning your
3 faith, that none of you should suffer himself to be shaken by
1 We cannot agree with Winer (Grammatik, p. 236) that ὅς refers to λόγον here.
᾿Εκδιωξάντων. 3 Εἰς τέλος, “to make an end of them.”
4“ See what is said in the preceding chapter in connection with Berea.
* We read, with Griesbach and Tischendorf, συνεργὸν τοῦ ϑεοῦ, which is analogous
to (1 Cor. iii. 9) ϑεοῦ ἐσμὲν συνεργοί. The boldness of the expression probably led ta
the variation of reading in the MSS.
804 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
these afflictions which have come upon you; for you your-
selves know that such is our appointed lot, and when I was 4
with you, I forewarned you that persecutions awaited us, as
you remember that it befel. For this cause, I also, when I
could no longer forbear, sent to learn tidings of your faith; for
T feared lest perchance the tempter had tempted you, and so
my labour among you should be in vain. But now that Timo- ὁ
theus has returned from you to me, and has brought me the
glad tidings of your faith and love, and that you still keep an
affectionate remembrance of me, longing to see me, as I to see
you—lI have been comforted, brethren, on your behalf, and all 7
my own tribulation and distress has been lightened by your
faith. For now, if you be stedfast in the Lord Jesus, I feel 8
myself to live! What thanksgiving can I render to God for 9
you, for all the joy which you cause ine in the presence of my
God? Night and day, I pray exceeding earnestly to see you10
face to face, that I may complete what is yet wanting in your
faith. Now, may God Himself, our Father, and our Lordi1
Jesus Christ, direct my path towards you. Meantime, may 13
our Lord cause you to increase and abound in love to one an-
other and to all men; even such love as I have for you. And12
so may He keep your hearts stedfast and unblamable in holi-
ness, and present you before our God and Father, with all His
ει
people,’ at His* appearing. IV
Against sensu It remains, brethren, that I beseech and exhort 1
Υ.
you in the name of our Lord Jesus, that, as I taught
you what life you must live to please God, so you would walk
thereafter more abundantly. For you know the commands 2
which I delivered to you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. 3
This, therefore, as I then told you, is the will of God; that you 4
should be consecrated unto Him in holiness, and should keep
yourselves from fornication, and that each of you should learn to
get the mastery over his bodily desires‘ in purity and honour;
1 Ζῶμεν. Compare ἔζων (Rom. vii. 9).
3 We think it better to place a comma after Χριστοῦ, for our Lord will not come
with all His people, since some of his people will be on earth.
3 We substitute the personal pronoun for Inood Χριστοῦ in this and some similar
instances, because it is contrary to the English idiom to repeat the noun in such cases,
4 Κτᾶσθαι cannot mean to possess ; it means, to gain possession of, to acquire for
me’s own use. The use of σκεῦος for body is common, and found 2 Cor. iv. 7. Now
aman may be said to gain possession of his own body when he subdues those lusts
which tend to destroy his mastery over it. Hence the interpretation which we uay¢
FIRST EPISTLE TO THE TIESSALONIANS. 395
56 not in lustful passions, like the heathen who know not God.
6 Neither must any man wrong his brother in this matter by his
transgression.’ All such the Lord will punish, as I have fore-
7 warned you by my solemn testimony. For God has not called
us to a life of uncleanness, but His calling is? a holy calling
8 Wherefore, he that despises these my words, despises not mar
but God, who also has given unto me* His Holy Spirit.
9 Concerning brotherly love it is needless that I Exhortation te
should write to you; for ye yourselves are taught of good onter)
10 God to love one another; as you show by your deeds towards
all the brethren throughout the whole of Macedonia. I exhort
11 you only, brethren, to abound still more. Seek peaceful quiet-
ness, and give yourselves to the concerns of your private life;
let this be your ambition. Work with your own hands (as I
12 commanded you), for your own support; that the seemly order
of your lives may be manifest to those without the church, and
that you may need no help from others.
13 NowlI desire, brethren, to remove your igno- Happiness οἱ
rance concerning those who are asleep, that you ¢ead.
14may not sorrow like other men, who have no hope. For as
surely as we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so surely will
God through Him,’ bring back those who sleep together with
1sdesus. This I declare to you, by the authority of the Lord,
that we who are living, who survive to behold the appearing of
our Lord, shall not enter into His presence sooner than the
16dead. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with
the shout of war,’ the Archangel’s voice, and the trumpet of
17 God ; and first the dead in Christ’ shall arise to life; then we
ndopted appears justifiable and natural, and is certainly less repugnant to ordinary
feelings than that of De Wette,—‘“ Das ein jeglicher wisse sich sein Werkzeug zur
Befriedigung des Geschlectstriebes zu verschaffen.”’
1 The reading τῷ (for rcv), adopted in the Received Text, is allowed by all modern
critics to be wrong. The cbvious translation of ἐν τῷ πράγματι is, “in the matter in
question.”
ἃ Ev ἁγιασμῷ, not εἰς ἁγιασμὸν.
3 We retain ἡμᾶς, with Griesbach and the Received Text.
4 Observe the expression φιλοτιμεῖσθαι ἡσυχάζειν, almost equivalent to “ be ambitious
to be unambitious.”
5 Διὰ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ. It is much more natural to connect these words with ἄξει than
with κοιμηθέντας, as in the Authorised Version.
6 Ἔν κελεύσματι. The word denotes the shout used in battle. See, for instance,
Thucyd. ii. 92. Eur. Hee. 928.
7 Oi νεκροὶ ἐν Χριστῷ, equivalent to of κοιμ. ἐν X. 1Cor.xv.18. Winer’s const
tin (Grammatik, p. 328) is different, and (we think) mistaken. ;
396 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
the living, who remain unto that day, shall be caught up with
them among the clouds to meet the Lord Jesus in the air; and
so both we and they shall be for ever with the Lord. Where-13
fore comfort one another with these words. Υ.
The sudden- But of the times and seasons, brethren, when 1
coming amo. these things shall be, you need no warning. For your- 2
tive to watch- .
fulness. selves know perfectly that the day of the Lord will
come as a thief in the night; and while men say Peace and 3
Safety, destruction shall come upon them in a moment, as the
pangs of travail upon a woman with child; and there shall be
no escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that That 4
day should come upon you as the robber on sleeping men;
for you are all the children of the light and of the day. We 5
are not of the night, nor of darkness; therefore let us not ὁ
sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober; for they who 7
slumber, slumber in the night; and they who are drunken, are
drunken: in the night; but let us, who are of the day, be 8
sober ; arming ourselves with faith and love for a breast-plate ;
and wearing for our helmet the hope of salvation. For to ob- 9
tain salvation, not to abide His wrath, hath God ordained us,
through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether 10
we wake or sleep we should live together with Him. Where- 11
fore exhort one another, and build one another up, even as
you already do.
Τῆς Preshyters Moreover I beseech you, brethren, to acknowledge 12
garded, those who are labouring among you ; who preside over
you in the Lord’s name, and give you admonition. I beseech 13
you to esteem them very highly in love, for their work’s sake.
And maintain peace among yourselves.
ῬΡΟΒΊΒΟΕΙΡΥ ADDRESSED TO THE PreEsBYTERS.?
RENIN. But you, brethren, I exhort; admonish the dis- 14
Pee orderly, encourage the timid, support the weak, be
1 There is some authority for the reading κλέπτας, adopted by Lachmann,—“ as the
daylight surprises robbers ;”’ and this sort of transition, where a word suggests a rapid
change from one metaphor to another, is not unlike the style of St. Paul.
3 Olxodo.eite. The full meaning is, “ build one another up, that you may all toge-
ther grow into a temple of God.’ The word is frequently used by St. Paul in this
sense, which is fully explained 1 Cor. iii. 10-17. It is very difficult to express the
meaning by any single word in English, and yet it would weaken the expression too
much if it were diluted into a periphrasis fully expressing its meaning.
3 It appears evideut that those who are here directed, νουθετεῖτε, are the same whe
»
FTRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. 397
15 paticut with all. Take heed that none of you return evil for
16 evil, but strive to do good always, both to one another and to
17 811 men. In every season keep a joyful mind; let nothing
[8 cause your prayers to cease ; continue to give thanks, whatever
be your lot; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concern-
19,90 ing you. Quench not the manifestation of the Spirit ; think
Ὧ ποῦ meanly Οὗ! prophesyings; try all [which the prophets
22 utter;] reject the false, but keep the good;? hold yourselves
aloof from every form of evil.
23. Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you conctuaing
ete prayers and sa-
wholly ; and may your whole nature, your spirit and _tutations.
soul and body, be preserved blameless, when you stand before
24our Lord Jesus Christ at His appearing. Faithful is He who
ealls you; He will fulfil my prayer.
25,26 Brethren, pray for me. Greet all the brethren with the
27 kiss of holiness. I adjure you, in the name of our Lord Jesus,
to see that this letter be read to all the‘ brethren.
23 °The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.® autograph
benediction.
are described immediately before (v.12) as νουθετοῦντας. Also, they are very solemnly
directed (v. 27) to see that the letter be read to all the Christians in Thessalonica ;
which implies that they presided over the Christian assemblies.
1 We know, from the First Epistle to Corinth, that this warning was not unneeded
in the early church. (See 1 Cor. xiv.) The gift of prophesying (é. 6. inspired preach-
ing) had less the appearance ofa supernatural gift than several of the other Charisms ;
and hence it was thought little of by those who sought more for display than edification.
2 Δοκιμάζειν includes the notion of rejecting that which does not abide the test.
3 Φιλήματι ἁγίῳ. This alludes to the same custom which is referred to in Rom. xvi.
16. 1 Cor. xvi. 20. 2Cor. xiii. 12. We find a full account of it, as it was practised in
the early church, in the Apostolical Constitutions (book ii. ch. 57). The men and
women were placed in separate parts of the building where they met for worship ; and
then, before receiving the Holy Communion, the men kissed the men, and the women
the women: before the ceremony, a proclamation was made by the principal deacon:
— “Let none bear malice against any: let none do it in hypocrisy.” My τις κατά
τινος μή τις ἐν ὑποκρίσει" εἶτα καὶ ἀσπαζέσθωσαν ἀλλήλους οἱ ἄνδρες, Kal ἀλλήλας
αἱ γυναῖκες, τὸ ἐν Κυρίῳ φίλημα. It should be remembered by English readers, that
a kiss was in ancient times (as, indeed, it is now in many foreign countries) the
ordinary mode of salutation between friends when they met.
4 'Αγζοις is omitted in the best MSS.
5. It should be remarked that this concluding benediction is used by St. Paul at the
end of the Epistles to the Romans, Corinthians (under a longer form in the 2 Cor.),
Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Thessalonians, And, ina shorter form, it is used
also at the end of all his other Epistles. It seems (from what he says:in 2 Thess, ili
17, 18) to have been always written with his own hand.
* The “ Amen” of the Received Text is a later addition, not found in the best MSS
898 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF SI. PAUL.
The strong expressions used in this letter concerning the malevolence
of the Jews, lead us to suppose that the Apostle was thinking not oniy
of their past opposition at Thessalonica,! but of the difficulties with which
they were beginning to surround him at Corinth. At the very time of his
writing, that same people who had ‘‘killed the Lord Jesus and their own
prophets,” and had already driven Paul “from city to city,” were
showing themselves ‘‘a people displeasing to God, and enemies to ail man-_
kind,” by endeavouring to hinder him from speaking to the Gentiles for
their salvation (1 Thess. ii. 15, 16). Such expressions would naturaily
be used in a letter written under the circumstances described in the Acts
(xvili. 6), when the Jews were assuming the attitude of an organised and
systematic resistance,” and assailing the Apostle in the language of blas-
phemy,? like those who had accused our Saviour of casting out devils by
Beelzebub.
Now, therefore, the Apostle left the Jews and turned to the Gentiles
He withdrew from his own people with one of those symbolical actions,
which, in the East, have all the expressiveness of language,‘ and which,
having received the sanction of our Lord Himself,? are equivalent to the
denunciation of woe. Heshook the dust off his garments,® and proclaimed
himself innocent of the blood’ of those who refused to listen to the voice
which offered them salvation. A proselyte, whose name was Justus,®
opened his door to the rejected Apostle ; and that house became thence-
forward the place of public teaching. While he continued doubtiess to
lodge with Aquila and Priscilla (for the Lord had said® that His Apos-
tle should abide in the house where the ‘‘ Son of Peace” was), he met hia
flock in the house of Justus. Some place convenient for general meeting
was evidently necessary for the continuance of St. Paul’s work in the
cities where he resided. So long as possible, it was the synagogue. When
he was exiled from the Jewish place of worship, or unable from other
causes to attend it, it was such a place as providential circumstances
might suggest. At Rome it was his own hired lodging (Acts xxviii. 30) :
at Ephesus it was the school of Tyrannus (Acts xix. 9). Here at Corinth
it was a house “ contiguous to the Synagogue,” ! offered on the emergency
for the Apostle’s use by one who had listened and believed. It may
1 See above, Chap. IX.
᾿Αντιτασσομένων, a military term
3 Βλασφημούντων. Compare Matt. xii. 24-31.
4 See Acts xiii. 51 [p. 181]. 5 Mark vi. 11.
6 ᾿Εκτιναξάμενος τὰ ἱμάτια. Acts xviii. 6.
7 See Actsy. 28. xx. 26. Also Ezek. xxxiii. 8, 9, and Mat. xxvii, 24.
3 Nothing more is known of him. The name is Latin.
9 Luke x. 6,7. We should observe that ἔμενε is the word used (v. 3) of the houne
of Aquila and Priscilla, ἦλθε (v. 7) of that of Justus.
0 Συνομοροῦσα τῇ συναγωγῇ
ME TURNS TO THE GENTILES. 399
readily be snpposed that no convenient place could be found in the manw
factory of Aquila and Priscilla. There, too, in the society of Jews lately
exiled from Pre he could hardly have looked for a congregation of
Gentiles ; whereas Justus, being a proselyte, was exactly in a position
to receive under his roof indiscriminately, both Hebrews ard Greeks.
Special menuon 1s made of the fact, that the house of Justus was
“contiguous to the Svnagogue.” We are not necessarily to infer from
this that St. Pan! had any deliberate motive for choosing that locality.
Though it wight be that he would show the Jews, as in a visible symbol,
that ‘by their sin salvation had come to the Gentiles, to provoke them te
jealousy,” '*-while at the same time he remained as near to them as pos-
sible, to assure them of his readiness to return at the moment of their
repentance. Whatever we may surmise concerning the motive of this
choice, certain consequences must have followed from the contiguity of the
house and the Synagogue, and some incident resulting from it may have
suggested the mention of the fact. The Jewish and Christian congrega-
tions would often meet face to face in the street; and all the success of
the Gospel would become more palpable and conspicuous. And even if
we leave out of view such considerations as these, there is a certain
interest attaching to any phrase which tends to localise the scene of
Apostolical labours. When we think of events that we have witnessed,
we always reproduce in the mind, however dimly, some image of the place
where the events have occurred. This condition of human thought is
common to us and to the Apostles. The house of Jonn’s mother at
Jerusalem (Acts xu.), the proseucha by the waterside at Philippi (Acts
xvi.), were associated with many recollections in the minds of the earliest
Christians And when St. Paul thought, even many years afterwards, of
what occurred on his first visit to Corinth, the images before the “ inward
eye,” would be not merely the general aspect of the houses and temples of
Corinth, with the great citadel overtowering them, but the Synagogue and
the house of Justus, the incidents which happened ir their neighbourhood,
and the gestures and faces of those who encountered each other in the
street. Ἶ
If an interest 15 attached to the places, a still deeper interest is attached
to the persons veterred to in the history of the planting of the Church. In
the case of Cormth, the names both of individuals and families are men-
tioned in abundance. f£ne name of Epenetus is the first that occurs to
us : for he seems co navé deen the earliest Corinthian convert. St. Paul
himself speaks of nim, in the Epistle to the Romans (xvi. 5), as ‘‘the first-
fruits of Achaia.”* The same expression is used in the First Epistle to
1 Rom. σι. 11.
* ᾿Απαρχὴ τῆς ’Ayatac. Some MSS. have ᾿Ασίας. If that reading is correct, all the
difficulty of reconciling Rom. xvi. 5 with 1 Cor. xvi. 15 disappears.
400 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ΕἸ. PAUL.
tne Corinthians (xvi. 15) of the household of Stephanas ; from which we
may perhaps infer that Epenetus was a member of that household.'
Another Christian of Corinth, well worthy of the recoliection of the
Church in after ages, was Caius (1 Cor. i. 14), with whom St. Paul found
a home on his next visit (Rom. xvi. 23), as he found one now with Aquila
and Priscilla. We may conjecture, with reason, that his present host and
hostess had now given their formal adherence to St. Paul, and that they
left the Synagogue with him. After the open schism had taken place, we
find the Church rapidly increasing. ‘‘ Many of the Corinthians began to
believe, when they heard, and came to receive baptism.”? (Acts xviii.
8.) We derive some information from St. Paul’s own writifigs concern-
ing the character of those who became believers. Not many of the ,
philosophers,—not many of the noble and powerful (1 Cor. i. 26)—but
many of those who had been profligate and degraded (1 Cor. vi. 11) were
called. The ignorant of this world were chosen to confound the wise :
and the weak to confound the strong. From St. Paul’s language we infer
that the Gentile converts were more numerous than the Jewish. Yet one
signal victory of the Gospel over Judaism must be mentioned here,—the
conversion of Crispus (Acts xviii. 8),—who, from his position as “ruler
of the Synagogue,” may be presumed to have been a man of learning and
high character, and who now, with all his family, joined himself to the new
community. His conversion was felt to be so important, that the Apostle
deviated from his usual practice (1 Cor. i. 14-16), and baptised him, as
well as Caius and the household of Stephanas, with his own hand.
Such an event as the baptism of Crispus must have had a great effect
in exasperating the Jews against St. Paul. Their opposition grew with
his success. As we appreach the time when the second letter to the
Thessalonians was written, we find the difficulties of his position increasing.
In the first Epistle the writer’s mind is almost entirely occupied with the
thought of what might be happening at Thessalonica : in the second, the
remembrance of his own pressing trials seems to mingle more conspicuously
with the exhortations and warnings addressed to those who are absent.
He particularly asks for the prayers of the Thessalonians, that he may be
delivered from the perverse and wicked men around him, who were desti-
tute of faith. Itis evident that he was in a condition of fear and anxiety,
This is further manifest from the words which were heard by him ina
vision vouchsafed at this critical period.* We have already had occasion
1 It is possible that Stephanas and Epenetus (assuming the reading ᾿Αχαΐας to bw
correct) were natives of some other place in Aehaia; but it is nearly certain they were
from Corinth, as St. Paul was writing in one case from, in the other to, that city.
3 Axovovtec ἐπίστευον καὶ ἐθαπτίζοντο.
3 See below, 2 Thess. iii. 2.
« Acts xviii. 9, 10.
‘THE APOSTLE’S VISION. 401
to observe,' that such timely visitations were granted to the Apostie,
when he was most in need of supernatural aid. In the present instance.
the Lord, who spoke to him in the night, gave him an assurance of Hts
presence,” and a promise of safety, along with a prophecy of good success
at Corinth, and a command to speak boldly without fear, and not to keep
silence. From this we may infer that his faith in Christ’s presence was
failing,—that fear was beginning to produce hesitation—and that tne
work of extending the Gospel was in danger of being arrested. Tue
servant of God received conscious strength in the moment of trial ane
conflict ; and the divine words were fulfilled in the formation of a large
and flourishing church at Corinth, and a safe and continued residence
that city, through the space of a year and six months.
Not many months of this period had elapsed when St. Paul found %
necessary to write again to the Thessalonians. The excitement which he
had endeavoured to allay by his first Epistle had increased, and the fans-
tical portion of the Church had availed themselves of the impression pro-
duced by St. Paul’s personal teaching to increase it. It will be remem-
bered that a subject on which he had especially dwelt while he was at
Thessalonica,? and to which he had also alluded in his first Epistle, was
the second advent of Our Lord. We know that our Saviour Himself hae
warned His disciples that “of that day and that hour knoweth no man.
ro, not the angels of heaven, but the Father only ;” and we find these
words remarkably fulfilled by the fact that the early Church, and even the
Apostles themselves, expected their Lord to come again in that very
generation. St. Paul himself shared in that expectation, but being under
the guidance of the Spirit of Truth, he did not deduce any erroneous con-
clusions from this mistaken premise. Some of his disciples, on the other
hand, inferred that if indeed the present world were so soon to come to ar
end, it was useless to pursue their common earthly employments any
longer. They forsook their work, and gave themselves up to dreamy
expectations of the future ; so that the whole framework of society in tne
Thessalonian Church was in danger of dissolution. Those who encouragea
this delusion, supported it by imaginary revelations of the Spirit ;* and
they even had recourse to forgery, and circulated a letter purporting τὸ
be written by St. Paul,* in confirmation of their views. ΤῸ check tis
evil, St. Paul wrote his second Epistle. In this he endeavours to remove
their present erroneous expectations of Christ’s immediate coming, by
reminding them of certain signs which must precede the second advent
1 Ahoye, p. 283. * Compare Matt. xxviii. 20.
3 As he himself reminds his readers (2 Thess. ii, 5), and as we find in the Acta
(xvii. 7). See p. 327.
4 1 Thess. v. 1-11. 5 2 Thess. ii. 2.
4 2 Thess. ii. 2. Compare 2 Thess. iii. 17.
vor 1.-—26
404 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
He had already told ἐποχή of these signs when he was with them ; and this
explains the extreme obscurity of his description of them in the present
Epistle ; for he was not giving new information, but alluding to facts
which he had already explained to them at an earlier period. It would
have been well if this had been remembered by all those who have
extracted such numerous and discordant prophecies and anathemas from
ceriain passages in the following Epistle.
SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS.!
i
Falutatin. Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, to the Church of 1
the Thessalonians, in the name of God our Father, and our
Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be to you, and peace, from God 2
our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Encouragement I? am bound to give thanks to God continually 3
under their per- . .
pier trim on your behalf, brethren, as is fitting, because of the
the hope o A 5 δ
Christ’s coming. abundant increase of your faith, and the overflowing
love wherewith you are filled, every one of you, towards each
other. So that I myself boast of you among the churches of 4
God, for your stedfast endurance and faith, in all the persecu-
tions and afilictions which you now are bearing. And these 5
things are a token that the righteous judgment of God will
grant you ashare in His heavenly kingdom, for whose cause
you are even now suffering. For doubtless God’s righteous- 6
ness cannot hut render hack trouble to those who trouble you,
and give to you, who now are troubled, rest with me,’ when 7
the Lord Jesus shall be revealed to our sight, and shall descend
from heaven with the angels of His might, in flames of fire, to 8
take vengeance on those who know not God, and will not
hearken to the Glad-tidings of my Lord Jesus Christ. Then 9
shall there go forth against them from‘ the presence of the
1 Tt is evident that this Epistle was written at the time here assigned to it, soon after
the first, from the following considerations :—
(1) The state of the Thessalonian Church described in both Epistles is almost exactly
thi same. (A.) The same excitement prevailed concerning the expected advent οἱ
Our Lord, only in a greater degree. (B.) The same party continued fanatically te
neglect their ordinary employments. Compare 2 Thess. iii. 6-14 with 1 Thess. iv. 10-
12 and 1 Thess. ii. 9.
(2) Silas and Timotheus were still with St. Paul. 2 Thess i. 1.
3 See note on 1 Thess. i. ὃ.
3 See above, note on the use of the plural pronoun, p. 391, n. 1
4 ’A7o, proceeding from.
SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. A()3
Lord, and from the brightness of His glorious majesty, their
lorighteous doom, even an everlasting destruction. In that day
of His coming shall the full light of His glory be manifested
in His people, and His wonders beheld in all who had faith:
in Him; and you are of that number, for with faith you re
1 ceived my testimony. Tothis end I pray continually on your
behalf, that our God may count you worthy of the calling
wherewith He has called you, and may, in His mighty power,
perfect within you the love of goodness and the work of faith.
12 That the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and
that you may be glorified? in Him, in such wise as may fitly
[I. answer to the mercy of our God, and of our Lord Jesus Christ.
ι Butconcerning the appearing of our Lord Jesus warning
: é : against an im-
Christ, and our gathering together to meet Him, I mediate ex.
pectation of
2 beseech you, brethren, not rashly to let yourselves be Christ's
coming.
shaken from your soberness of mind, nor to be agitated
either by any pretended revelation of the Spirit,or by any rnmour,
or by any letter? supposed to come from me, saying that the
3 day of Christ is close at hand. Letno one deceive you, by any
means ; for before that day, the falling away must first have
come, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
4 who opposes himself and exalts himself against all that is
called God, and against all worship; even to seat himself‘ in
the temple of God, and take on himself openly the signs of
6 Godhead. Do you not remember that when I was still with
ὃ you, I often’ told you this? You know, therefore, the hin-
drance why he is not yet revealed, as he will be in his own
ἢ season. For the mystery of lawlessness’ is already working,
1 The reading πιστεύσασιν rests on the authority of the best MSS.
® The glory of our Lord at His coming will be “ manifested in His people” (sce v.
10); that is, they, by virtue of their union with Him, will partake of His glorious
likeness. Cf. Rom. viii. 17, 18,19. And, even in this world, this glorification takes
place partially by their moral conformity to His image. See Rom. viii. 30, and 2 Cor.
iii. 18.
3 See the preceding remarks upon the occasion of this Epistle.
4 The received text interpolates ὡς Gedy before καθίσαι, but the MSS. do not confirrs
this reading.
5. Observe thas it is ἔλεγον, not ἔλεξα.
6 Nov here ig not an adverb of time, but (as cften) a conjunction; so “now” ia
often used in English.
7 The proper meaning of ἄνομος is, one unrestrained by law: hence it is often used
as a transgressor, or, generally, a wicked man, as ἀνομία is used often simply for
miguity ; bit in this passage it seems best to keep to the original meaning of the
word.
401 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ΕἸ. PAUL.
only he, who now hinders, will hinder till he be taken out of
the way ; and then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the ἃ
Lord Jesus shall consume with the breath of His mouth,! and
shall destroy with the brightness of His appearing. But the 9
appearing of that lawless one shall be in the strength of Satan’s
working, with all the might and signs and wonders of falsehood,
and all the delusions of unrighteousness, taking possession of 10
those who are in the way of perdition; because they would not
receive the love of the truth, whereby they might be saved.
For this cause, God will send upon whem an inward working 11
of delusion, making them give their faith to lies, that all should 12
be condemned who have refused their faith to the truth, and
have taken pleasure in unrighteousness.
Exhortation But for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, Iam13
to stedfastness :
and obedience. bound to thank God continually, because [He chose
you from the first unto salvation, through sanctification vf the
Spirit, and faith in the truth. And to this He called you1s
through my Glad-tidings, to the end that you might obtain the
glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, be sted-15
fast and hold fast the teaching which has been delivered to you,
whether by my words or by my letters. And may our Lord 10
Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved
us, and has given us in His mercy a consolation which is eter-
nal, and a hope which cannot fail, comfort your hearts, and17
establish you in all goodness both of word and deed.
He asks their Finally, brethren, pray for me, that the word of 1
ae. the Lord Jesus may hold its onward course, and
that its glory may be shown forth towards others as towards
you; and that I may be delivered from the perverse and 2
wicked ; for not all men have faith. But our Lord is faithful, 3
and he will keep you steadfast, and guard you from evil. And 4
I rely upon you in the Lord, and feel confident that you are
following and will follow the charges which I give you. And ἢ
may our Lord guide your hearts to the love of God, and to
the patient endurance which was in Christ.
Exhorts to an I charge you, brethren, in the name of our Lord 6
orderly and
1 This appears to be an illusion to (although not an exact quotation of) Isaiah x.
4 :—“ With the breath of His lips He shall destroy the impious man.” (LXX version.)
In the Targum Jonathan, this prophecy (which was probably in St. Paul’s thoughts) ia
applied to the Messiah’s coming, and “the impious,” yyw (doe67, LXX.), is inter
preted to mean an individual Antichrist
SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. 405
Jesus Christ, to withdraw yourselves from every τ te Ne
brother whose life is disorderly, and not guided by sds ‘exam
7 the rules which I delivered. For you know your-
selves the way to follow my example; you know that my life
8 among you was not disorderly, nor was I fed by any man’s
bounty, but earned my bread by my own labour, toiling night
9 and day, that I might not be burdensome to any of you. And
this I did, not because I am without the right! of being main-
tained by those to whom I minister, but that I might make
10 my own deeds a pattern for you to imitate. For when I was
among you I gave you this rule: ‘If any man will not work,
11 neither let him eat.’ I speak thus, because I hear that some
among you are leading a disorderly life, neglecting their own
12 work, and meddling’? with that of others. Such, therefore, I
charge and exhort, by the authority of my Lord Jesus Christ,
to live in quietness and industry, and earn their own bread by
13 their own labour. But you, brethren, notwithstand- soae of deat-
ing with those
14ing,? be not weary of doing good. If any man re- who refused
obedience.
fuse to obey the directions which I send by this let-
ter, mark that man, and cease from intercourse with him, that
1580 he may be brought to shame. Yet count him not as an
16 enemy, but admonish him as a brother. Now may the Lord
of peace Himself give you peace in all ways and at all sea-
sons. The Lord be with you all.
ι 1, Paul, add my salutation with my own hand, An autograph
. . postscript the
which is a token whereby all my letters may be sign of gen-
uineness.
known. These are the characters in which I write. concluding
1 benediction,
18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
Such was the second of the two letters which St. Paul wrote to
Tiessaionica during his residence at Corinth. Such was the Christian
eorrespondence now established, in addition to the political and commer:
1 See note on 1 Thess. ii. 6.
? The characteristic paronomasia here, μηδεν ἐργαζομένους ἀλλὰ mefrepyalouévoue,
Is not exactly translateable into English. “Busy bodies who do no business” would
be an imitation.
3 J.e. although your kindness may have been abused by such idle trespassers ΟἹ
your bounty.
« μήν here (as in the end of 1 Thess.) is a subsequent addition.
400 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
cial ccrrespondence vxisting before, between the two capitals of Achaia
and Macedonia. Along with the official documents which passed between
the governors of the contiguous provinces,’ and the communications be
tween the merchants of the Northern and Western gean, letters were
now sent, which related to the establishment of a “kingdom not of thia
world,”* and to “‘riches” beyond the discovery of human enterprise.
The influence of great cities has always been important on the wide
movements of human life. We see St. Paul diligently using this influence
during a protracted residence at Corinth, for the spreading and strength-
ening of the Gospelin Achaia and beyond. As regards the province of
Achaia, we have no reason to suppose that he confined his activity to its
metropolis. The expression used by St. Luke‘ need only denote that it
was his head-quarters, or general place of residence. Communication was
easy and frequent, by land or by water,’ with other parts of the province.
Two short days’ journey to the south were the Jews of Argos,® who
might be to those of Corinth what the Jews of Bercea had been to those
of Thessalonia.? About the same distance to the east was the city of
Athens,’ which had been imperfectly evangelised, and could be visited
without danger. Within a walk of a few hours, along a road busy with
traffic, was the sea-port of Cenchrew, known to us as the residence of a
Christian community. These were the ‘Churches of God” (2 Thess. i
4), among whom the Apostle boasted of the patience and the faith of the
Thessalonians,'"—the homes of “ the saints in all Achaia” (2 Cor. i. 1),
saluted at a later period, with the Church of Corinth," in aletisr written
from Macedonia. These churches had alternately the blessirgs of the
presence and the letters—the oral and the written teaching—of St. Paul
The former of these blessings is now no longer granted to us; but those
long and wearisome journeys, which withdrew the teacher so often from
his anxious converts, have resulted in our possession of inspire: Epistles,
in all their freshness and integrity, and with all their lessons of wisdom
and love.
1 Cicero’s Cilician Correspondence furnishes many specimens of the letters which
passed between the governors of neighbouring provinces.
? John xviii. 36. 3 Eph. iii. 8.
4 ’Exaéice. Acts xviii. 11.
¢ Much of the intercourse in Greece has always gone on by small coasters. For the
Roman roads, see Wesseling. Pouqueville mentions traces of a paved road between
Corinth and Argos.
6 See pp. 18 and 385. 7 See above, p. 340.
& We have not entered into the question of St. Paul’s journey from Athens to Co-
tinth. He might either travel by the coast road through Eleusis and Megara, or a sail
of a few hours, with a fair wind, would take him from the Pirzus to Cenchrez.
® Rom. xvi. 1. 10 Compare 1 Thess. i. 7, 8.
1 Tt is possible that the phrase ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ (1 Cor. i. 2) may have the same
meaning.
NOTE. 401
NOTE.
Tuer are some difficulties and differences of opinion, with regard to the move
ments of Silas and Timotheus, between the time when St. Paul left them in
Macedonia, and their rejoining him in Achaia.
The facts which are distinctly stated are as follows. (1) Silas and Timotheus
were left at Bercea (Acts xviii. 14) when St. Paul went to Athens. We are not
told why they were left there, or what commissions they received; but the Apostle
sent a message from Athens (Acts xviii. 15) that they shouid follow him with all
speed, and (Acts xviii. 16) he waited for them there. (2) The Apostle was re
joined by them when at Corinth (Acts xviii. 5). We are not informed how they
‘ad been employed in the interval, but they came “from Macedonia.” It is not
distinctly said that they came together, but the impression at fast sight is that
they did. (3) St. Paul himself informs us (1 Thess. ili. 1), that he was “left
in Athens alone,” and that this solitude was in consequence of ‘Timothy having
been sent to Thessalonica (1 Thess. iii. 2). Though it is not expressly stated
that Timothy was sent from Athens, the first impression is that he was.
Thus there isa seeming discrepancy between the Acts and Kpistles; a journey
of Timotheus to Athens, previous to‘his arrival with Silas and Timotheus at
Corinth, appearing to be mentioned by St. Paul, and to be quite unnoticed by
St. Luke.
Paley, in the Hore Pauline, says that the Epistle “virtually asserts that
Timothy came to the Apostle at Athens,” and assumes that it is “necessary” to
suppose this, in order to reconcile the history with the Epistle. And he points
out three intimations in the history, which make the arrival, though not expressly
mentioned, extremely probable : first, the message that they should come with all
speed ; secondly, the fact of his waiting for them; thirdly, the absence of any
appearance of haste in his departure from Athens to Corinth. “ Paul had ordered
Timothy to follow him without delay: he waited at Athens on purpose that
Timothy might come up with him, and he stayed there as long as his own choice
led him to continue.”
This explanation is satisfactory. But two others might be suggested, which
would equally remove the difficulty.
It is not expressly said that 'Timotheus was sent from Athens to Thessalonica.
St. Paul was anxious, as we have seen, to revisit the Thessalonians ; but since
he was hindered from doing 50, it is highly probable (as Hemsen and Wieseler
suppose) that he may have sent Timotheus to them from Beraa. Silas might
be sent on some similar commission, and this would explain why the two
companions were left behind in Macedonia. This would necessarily cause St.
Paul to be “left alone in Athens.” Such solitude was doubtless painful to him ;
but the spiritual good of the new converts was at stake. The two companions,
after finishing the work entrusted to them, finally rejoined the Apostle at Corinth.!
That he “ waited for them” at Athens need cause us no difficulty: for in those
days the arrival of travellers could not confidently be known beforehand. When
he left Athens and proceeded to Corinth, he knew that Silas and Timotheus could
easily ascertain his movements, and follow his steps, by help of information ob
tained at the synagogue.
) We should observe that the phrase is “ from Macedonia,” not “ from Bercea.”
408 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
But, again, we may reasonably suppose, that in the course of St, Paul’s stay at
Corinth, he may have paid a second visit to Athens, after the first arrival of Timo-
theus and Silas from Macedonia; and that during some such visit he may have
sent Timotheus to Thessalonica. This view may be taken without our supposing,
with Bottger, that the First Epistle to the Thessalonians was written at Athens.
Schrader and others imagine a visit to that city at a later period of his life; but
this view cannot be admitted without deranging the arguments for the date of
1 Thess., which was evidently written soon after leaving Macedonia.
Two further remarks may be added. (1) If Timothy did rejoin St. Paul at
Athens, we need not infer that Silas was not with him, from the fact that the
name of Silas is not mentioned. It is usually taken for granted that the second
arrival of Timothy (1 Thess. iii. 6) is identical with the coming of Silas and Ti-
motheus to Corinth (Acts xviii. 5); but here we see that only Timothy is men-
tioned, doubtless because he was most recently and familiarly known at Thessa-
lonica, and perhaps, also, because the mission of Silas was to some other place.
(2) On the other hand, it is not necessary to assume, because Silas and Timotheus
are mentioned together (Acts xviii. 5), that they came together. All conditions
are satisfied if they came about the same time. If they were sent on missions tc
two different places, the times of their return would not necessarily coincide.t In
considering all these journeys, it is very needful to take into account that they
would be modified by the settled or unsettled state of the country with regard to
banditti, and by the various opporturities of travelling, which depend on the sex
son and the weather, and the sailirg of vessels."
Cort oF cormnTH.?
1 Something may be implied in the form 6,re Σ, καὶ T. (Silas as wel: as Timotheus)
2 Hindrances connected with some such corsiderations may be referre@ te in Phil
iv. 10.
+ From the British Museum. The emperor is Caligula.
CORINTH. 408
CHAPTER XII
“Corinthns, Achaix caput, Grecie decus, inter duo maria, Ionium οὐ “geum
quasi spectacule exposita.”—Florus, ii. 16.
THE ISTHMUS.—EARLY HISTORY OF CORINTH.—ITS TRADE AND WEALTH.—
CORINTH UNDER THE ROMANS,—PROVINCE OF ACHAIA.—GALLIO THE GOVER:
NOR.—TUMULT AT CORINTH.—CENCHREZ.—VOYAGE BY EPHESUS TO CASAr
REA.—VISIT TO JERUSALEM.—ANTIOCH.
Now that we have entered upon the first part of the long series of St,
Paul’s letters, we seem to be arrived at a new stage of the Apostle’s bio-
graphy. ‘The materials for a more intimate knowledge are before us.
More life is given to the picture. We have advanced from the field of
geographical description and general history to the higher interest of per
sonal detail. Even such details as relate to the writing materials em
ployed in the Epistles, and the mode in which they were transmitted from
city to city,—all stages in the history of an Apostolic letter, from the
hand of the amanuensis who wrote from the author’s inspired dictation, to
the opening and reading of the document in the public assembly of the
Church to which it was addressed, have a sacred claim on the Chris-
tian’s attention. For the present we must defer the examination of such
particulars. We remain with the Apostle himself, instead of following
the journey of his letter to Thessalonica, and tracing the effects which the
last of them produced. We have before us a protracted residence in
Corinth,' a voyage by sea to Syria,? and a journey by land from Antioch
to Ephesus,? before we come to the next group of the Apostle’s letters.
We must linger first for a time in Corinth, the great city, where he
staid a longer time than at any other point on his previous journeys, and
from which, or to which, the most important of his Epistles were written.*
And, according to the plan we have hitherto observed, we proceed to elu
tidate its geographical position, and the principal stages of its istory.°
t Acts xviii. 11-18. ? Acts xviii. 18-22. 3 Acts xviii. 23. See xix. 1.
4 The Epistles to the Thessalonians, Corinthians, and Romans.
5 Of four German Monographs devoted to this subject we have made use of threes
Wilckens’ “Rerum Corinthiacarum specimen ad illustrationem utriusque Epistole
Pauline,” 1747; Wagner’s “Rerum Corinthiacarum specimen ;”’ Darmstadt, 1824;
Barth’s “ Corinthiorum Commercii et Mercature Historie particula,” Berlin, 1844,
410 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 51. PAUL.
The Isthmus! is the most remarkable feature in the geography Οἱ
Greece ; and the peculiar relation which it established between the land
and the water—and between the Morea and the Continent—had the ut
most effect on the whole course of the history of Greece. When we were
considering the topography and aspect of Athens, all the associations
which surrounded us were Athenian. Here at the Isthmus, we are, as it
were, at the centre of the activity of the Greek race in general. It has
the closest connection with all their most important movements, both mili-
tary and commercial.
Tn all the periods of Greek history, from the earliest to the latest, we
see the military importance of the Isthmus. The phrase: of Pindar? is,
that it was ‘ the bridge of the sea.” It formed the only line of march for
an invading or retreating army. Xenophon speaks of it as “the gate of
the Peloponnesus,” the closing of which would make all ingress and egress
impossible. And we find that it was closed at various times, by being
fortified and refortified by a wall, some traces of which remain to the pre-
sent day. In the Persian war, when consternation was spread amongst
the Greeks by the death of Leonidas, the wall was first built.1 In the
Peloponnesian war, when the Greeks turned fratricidal arms against each
other, the Isthmus was often the point of the conflict between the Atheni-
ans and their enemies. In the time of the Theban supremacy, the wall
again appears as a fortified line from sea to sea.2 When Greece became
Roman, the Provincial arrangements neutralized, for a time, the military
importance of the Isthmus. But when the barbarians poured in from the
North, like the Persians of old, its wall was repaired by Valerian.®
Again it was rebuilt by Justinian, who fortified it with a hundred and fifty
towers.’? And we trace its history through the later period of the Vene-
tian power in the Levant, from the vast works of 1463, to the peace of
1699, when it was made the boundary of the territories of the Republic.®
a It is from this Greek “bridge of the sea’ that the name isthmus has been given
to every similar neck of land in the world. See some remarks on this subject, and on
the significance of Greek geography in general, in the Classical Museum, No. I., p. 41.
2 Πόντου γεφύρα, Nem. vi. 44. Tepipav ποντιάδα πρὸ Κορίνθου τείχεων, Isth. 111. 38
3 Agesilaus, when he had taken Corinth, is spoken of as ἀναπετάσας τῆς IleAomev-
νήσου Tac πύλας. Ken. Ages. 2.
4 Herod. viii. 71. See Leake’s remarks on this early and rude fortification, and on
the remains of the later wall. Travels in the Morea, m1. 302-304, also 287.
5 Polyb. ii. 138. See Plutarch’s Life of Cleomenes.
8 "Ext Οὐαλεριανοῦ δὲ καὶ Ταλιηνοῦ πάλιν οἱ Σκύθαι διαθώντες τὸν Ἴστρον ποταμὸν
τήν τε Θράκην ἐλήισαν, K.T.A.... . Πελοποννήσιοι δὲ ἀπὸ ϑαλάσσης εἰς ϑαλώσσαν
τὸν Ἴσθμον διετείχισαν. Syncelli Chronog. p. 715, ed. Bonn. See Zonaras,
τ See Phrantzes, pp. 96, 107, 108, 117, &c. of the Bonn. edition.
5. See the notices of the fortress of Heramiliwm in Ducas, pp. 142, 223,519 of the
Bonn edition : and compare what is said in Dodwell’s Travels in Greece, pp. 184-186,
The wail was not built in a straight line. but followed the sinuosities of the ground
CITADEL OF CORINTH. 411]
Conspicuous, both in connection with the military Gefences of the Isth
mus, and in the prominent features of its scenery, is the Acrocorinthus, ot
gitadel of Corinth, which rises in form and abruptness like the rock of
Dumbarton. But this comparison is quite inadequate to express the mag:
nitude of the Corinthian citadel. It is elevated two thousand feet’ above
the level of the sea ; it throws a vast shadow?’ across the plain at its base ;
the ascent is a journey involving some fatigue ; and the space of ground
on the summit is so extensive, that it contained a whole town,’ which, un-
der the, Turkish dominion, had several mosques. Yet, notwithstanding its
colossal dimensions, its sides are so precipitous, that a few soldiers are
enough to guard itt The possession of this fortress has been the object
of repeated struggles in the latest wars between the Turks and the Greeks,
and again between the Turks and the Venetians. It was said to Philip,
when he wished to acquire possession of the Morea, that the Acrocorin-
thus was one of the horus he must seize, in order to secure the heifer.’
Thus Corinth might well be called “the eye of Greece” ina military
sense, as Athens has often been so called in another sense.° If the rock
of Minerva was the Acropolis of the Athenian people, the mountain of
the Isthmus was truly named “ the Acropolis of the Greeks.” 7
It will readily be imagined that the view from the summit is magnifi-
cent and extensive. A sea is on either hand. Across that which lies on
The remains of square towers are visible in some places. The eastern portion abutted
on the Sanctuary of Neptune, where the Isthmian games are held.
1 Dodwell. The ascent is by a zigzag road, which Strabo says was thirty stadia in
length.
? “Qua summas caput Acrocorinthus in auras
Tollit, et alterna geminum mare protegit wmbra.”
Stat: vii. 107.
Compare the expression of Dr. Clarke : ‘‘ Looking down upon the isthmus, the shadow
of the Acrocorinthus, of a conical shape, extended exactly half across its length, the
point of the cone being central between the two seas.”
3. Dodwell and Clarke. The city, according to Xenophon, was forty stadia in cir-
cumference without the Acropolis, and eighty-five with it. Hell. iv. 4, 11.
4 See Plutarch, who says, in the Life of Aratus, that it was guarded by 400 soldiers,
50 dogs and as many keepers.
5 Polyb, vii. 505.
ὁ Cicero (Off. ii. 22) calls it “Gracie lumen.” For the application of the same
phrase tc Athens in another sense, see the last chapter but one.
7 This expression (Ἑλλώνων ἀκρόπολις) is used of it in the Scholiast on Pindar.
Ol. xiii. 32.
8 Strabo had visited Corinth himself, and his description of the view shows that he
had seen it. Wheler’s description is as follows:—“ We mounted to the top of the
highest point, and had one of the most agrecable prospects in the world. On the right
nand of us the Saronic Gulf, with all its little islands strewed up and down it, to Cape
Colonne on the Promontory Sunium. Beyond that the islands of the Archipciaga
seemed to close up the mouth of the Gulf. Qn the left hand of us we had the Gulf of
Lepanto or Corinth, as far as beyond Sicyon, bounded northward with all these famous
419 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 51. PAUL.
the east, a clear sight is obtained of the Acropolis of Athens, at a dis
tance of forty-five miles! The mountains of Attica and Beotia, an] the
islands of the Archipelago, close the prospect in this direction. Beyond
the western sea, which flows in from the Adriatic, are the large masses of
the mountains of north-eastern Greece, with Parnassus towering above
Delphi. Immediately beneath us is the narrow plain which separates the
seas. The city itself is on a small table land* of no great elevation, con-
nected with the northern base of the Acrocorinthus. At the edge of the
lower level are the harbours which made Corinth the emporium of the
richest trade of the East and the West.
We are thus brought to that which is really the characteristic both of
Corinthian geography and Corinthian history, its close relation to the com.
merce of the Mediterranean. Plutarch® says, that there was a want of
good harbours in Achaia ; and Strabo speaks of the circumnavigation of
the Morea as dangerous.t Cape Malea was proverbially formidable, and
held the same relation to the voyages of ancient days, which the Cape of
Good Hope does to our own.? Thus, a narrow and level isthmus,* across
which smuller vessels could be dragged from gulph to gulph,’ was of inesti-
mountains of old times, with the Isthmus, even to Athens, lying in a row, and present
ing themselves orderly to ovr view. The plain of Corinth towards Sicyon or Busilico
is well watered by two rivulets, well-tilled, well-planted with oliveyards and vineyards,
and, having many little villages scattered up and down it, is none of the least of the
ornaments of this prospect. The town also that lieth north of the Castle, in little knots -
of houses, surrounded with orchards and gardens of oranges, lemons, citrons, and
cypress-trees, and mixed with corn-fields between, is a sight not less delightful. So
that it is hard to judge whether this plain is more beautiful to the beholders or
profitable to the inhabitants.” This was in 1675, before the last conflicts of the Turks
aud Venetians. Compare D1. Clarke's description. He was not allowed, however, by
the Turkish authorities, to reach the semmit. Wagner alludes in terms of praise to
Pouqueville’s description. It may be seen in his Travels, ch. vii.
1 Dodwell (ii. 189., whose view was from an eminence to the S. W., from whence
Mohammed II. reduced the Acrocorinth in 1458. Compare Clarke: “ As from the
Parthenon at Athens we had seen the citadel of Corinth, so now we had a commanding
view, across the Saronic Gulf, of Salamis and the Athenian Acropolis.” Sce above,
under Athens.
5. Τὸ μὲν πρὸς ἄρκτον μὲρος ᾿Ακροκορίνθου ἐστὶ τὸ μάλιστα ὀρθίον" ὑφ᾽’ ᾧ κεῖται ἡ
πόλις τραπεζώδους επὶ χωρίου πρὸς αὐτῇ τῇ ῥιζῇ τοῦ ’AKpokopivOov. Strabo. Leake’s
description entirely corresponds with this, p. 251.
3 Pint. Ar. 9. Barth patriotically compares the relation of Corinth to Greece with
that of Hamburg to Germany : “ Erat igitur hee Corinthi ratio similis ei, que interest
Hamburgho cum reliqua Germania,” p. 6, note.
+ He adds that the Sicilian sea was avoided by mariners as much as possible.
5. The proverb concerning Malea in its Latin form was “ Ubi Maleam flexeris, ob-
liviscere que sunt domi.”
€ See above, note on the word “ Isthmus.”
7 Hence the narrowest part of the Isthmus was called δίολκος, a word which in mean-
ing and in piratic associations corresponds with the T'arbat of Scotch geography. The
distance across is about three miles; nearer Corinth it is six miles, whence the name
of the modern village of Hexamili.
CORINTH 412
COLN OF CORINTH.*
malle value to the early traders of the Levant. And the two harbours,
which received the ships of a more maturely developed trade,—Cenchree
on the Eastern Sea, and Lecheum* on the Western, with a third and
smaller port, called Schcenus,‘ where the isthmus was narrowest,—form
an essential part of our idea of Corinth. Its common title in the poets
is “the city of the two seas.”* It is allegorically represented in art as
a female figure on a rock, between two other figures, each of whom bears a
rudder, the symbol of navigation and trade. It is the same image which
appears under another form in the words of the rhetorician, who said that
it was “ the prow and the stern of Greece.” °
As we noticed above a continuous fortress which was carried across
the Isthmus, in connection with its military history, so here we have
to mention another continuous work which was attempted, in connec-
tion with its mercantile history. This was the ship-canal ;—which,
after being often projected, was about to be beguu again about the very
time of St. Paul’s visit.7 Parallels often suggest themselves between the
relation of the parts of the Mediterranean to each other, and those of the
Atlantic and Pacific : for the basins of the “ Midland Sea” were to the
Greek and Roman trade, what the Oceanic spaces are to ours. And it is
1 Millingen. Sylloge of Ancient Unedited Coins, Pl. II. No. 30.
? For Cenchrez, see below. It was seventy stadia from the city.
3 Leckxxum was united to Corinth by long walls. It was about twelve stadia dis-
-tant from the city. Strabo, and Xen. Hellen. iv. 4 and Agesel. See Leake, p. 251.
4 Schoenus was at the point where the Isthmus was narrowest, close to the Sanctuary
of Neptune and the eastern portion of the Isthmian wall. The ship is described as
sailing to this port in the early times when Athens had the presidency of the games.
5 The “bimaris Corinthus” of Horace and Ovid. See Hor. Od.1. vii. 2. Ov. Her.
xii. 27. So Julius Pollux calis it ἀμφιθάλασσος. Compare Eurip. Troad. 1097: δίπο-
ρον κορυφὰν “Ισθμιον.
6 The phrase seems to have been proverbial. Ὑμεῖς ἐστε τὸ δὴ γεγόμενον πρώρα καὶ
πρύμνα τὴς “EAAddoc. Dio Chrys. Orat. xxxvii. 464.
7 Demetrius Poliorcetes, Julius Czesar, and Caligula had all entertained the notion
of cutting through the Isthmus. Nero really began the undertaking in the year 52,
but soon desisted. See Leake (pp. 297-302), who quotes all the authorities. The
portion of the trench which remains is at the narrowest part, near the shore of the
Corinthian Gulf. Dodwell came upen it, after crossing Mount Gerancia from Attica
P. 183
4«[4 ΤῊΣ LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 8ST. PAUL.
difficult, in speaking of a visit to the Isthmus of Corinth in the year 52, --
which only preceded by a short interval the work ‘or Nero’s engineers,--
aot to be reminded of the Isthmus of Panama ir the year 1852, during
which the active progress will be going on of at undertaking often pro-
jected, but never yet carried into effect.
There is this difference, however, between the Oceanic and th: Medi-
terranean Isthmus, that one of the great cities of the ancicnt world
always existed at the latter. What some future Darien may be destined
to become, we cannot prophesy : but, at avery early date, we find Coriuth
celebrated by the poets for its wealth. This wealth must inevitably
have grown up, from its mercantile relations, even without reference te
its two seas,—if we attend to the fact on which Thucydides laid stress
that it was the place through which all ingress and egress took place
between Northern and Southern Greece, before the development of com-
merce by water. Dut it was its conspicuous-position on the narrow neck
of land between the A*gean and Ionian Seas, which was the main cause
of its commercial greatness. The construction of the ship Argo is assigned
by mythology to Corinth. The Samians obtained their ship-builders froma
her. The first Greek triremes,—the first Greek sea-fights,—are connected
with her history.» Neptune was her god. Her colonies® were spread
over distant coasts in the East and West ; and ships came from every sea
to her harbours. Thus she became the common resort and the universal
market of the Greeks.? Her population and wealth were further aug-
mented by the manufactures* in metallurgy, dyeing, and porcelain, which
1 The arguments for this date may be seen in Wieseler. We shall return to the sub-
ject again.
? See Hom. 1]. ii. 570. Pind. ΟἹ. xiii. 4.
3 Οἰκοῦντες τὴν πόλιν οἱ Κορίνθιοι ἐπὶ τοῦ ᾿Ισθμοῦ ἀεὶ δή ποτε ἐμπόριον εἶχον, τῶν
Ἑλλήνων τὸ πάλαι κατὰ γῆν τὰ πλείω ἡ κατὰ ϑώλασσαν, τῶν τε ἐντὸς Πελοποννήσου
καὶ τῶν ἔξω, διὰ τὴς ἐκείνων παρ᾽ ἀλλήλους ἐπιμισγόντων, χρήμασί Te δυνατοὶ ἧσαν
(ὡς καὶ τοῖς παλαίοις ποιηταῖς δεδήλωται), kK. τ. A. Thue. i. 13.
4 Ναῦν ἐναυπήγησατο αὕτη ἡ πόλις, οὐ τριήρη μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὴν τὴν ᾿Αργώ.
Aristides, Isthm. p. 24.
® Πρῶτοι Κορίνθιοι λέγονται ἐγγύτατα τοῦ viv τρόπου μεταχείρισαι τὰ περὶ τὰς
ναῦς, καὶ τοιήρεις πρῶτον ἐν Κορίνθῳ τῆς Ἑλλάδος ναυπηγηθῆναι. φαίνεται δὲ καὶ
Σαμίοις ᾿Αμεινοκλῆς Κορίνθιος ναυπηγὸς ναῦς ποιήσας τέσσαρας. ναυμαχία τε παλαιτάτη
ὦν ἴσμεν γίγνεται Κορινθίων πρὸς Κερκυραίους. Thue. i. 57. See Poppo’s remark on
the word ᾿'Ελλάδος. “ Apud alios populos quidem, ut apud Pheenices, triremes jam
prius in usu fuisse, sed e Grecis Corinthios primos fuisse, qui ejusmodi naves sedifica-
rent, vult dicere.” Eusebius attributes the origir of triremes to the Phceniciany and
Heyptians. Wilckens, p. 43.
6 Coreyra, Syracuse, &e.
7 Κοινὴ πάντων καταφυγή" ὕδος καὶ διέξοδος πάντων ἀνβροώπων, κοιτὸν ἄστυ των
Ἑλλήνων, μητρόπολίς τε ἀτεχνῶς καὶ μητήρ. Aristides. p. 23. In another place he
cumpares Corinth to a ship loaded with merchandise (p. 24), and says that a perpetual
fair was held yearly and daily at the Isthmus.
8 For some of the details concerning these manufactures, see Wilckens, ὃ xxxrx
CORINTH UNDER THE ROMANS. 415
COIN oF corrNTH.!
grew up in connection with the import and export of gocds. And at
periodical intervals the crowding of her streets and the activity of her
trade received a new impulse from the strangers who flocked to the
Isthmian games ;—a subject to which our attention will be often called
hereafter, but which must be passed over here with a simple allusion.
If we add all these particulars together, we see ample reason why the
wealth, luxury, and profligacy of Corinth were proverbial* in the ancient
world.
In passing from the fortunes of the earlier, or Greek Corinth, to its
history under the Romans, the first scene that meets us is one of disaster
and ruin. The destruction of this city by Mummius, about the same
time that Carthage* was destroyed by Scipio, was so complete, that, like
its previous wealth, it passed into a proverb.‘ Its works of skill and
luxury were destroyed or carried away. Polybius the historian saw
Roman soldiers playing at draughts on the pictures of famous artists ; ®
and the exhibition of vases and statues that decorated the triumph of the
Capitol, introduced a new era in the habits of the Romans. Meanwhile
the very place of the city from which these works were taken remained
desolate for many years.7 The honour of presiding over the Isthmian
games was given to Sicyon ;* and Corinth ceased even to be a resting-
place of travellers between the Hast and the West.2 But ἃ ὃν Corinth
1 From the British Museum.
" Οὐ πώντος ἄνδρος εἰς Κόρινθον ἔσθ᾽ ὁ πλοῦς (Non cuivis homini contingit tire
Corinthum). The word Κοριενθιαζεσθαι was used proverbially for an immoral life.
3 See Ch. I. p. 11.
4 “Corinthos olim clara opibus, post clade notior.” Pompon. Mela, ii. 3.
5 Strabo, viii. 6. 6 Muller’s Archaologie, § 165.
7 Strabo, viii. Paus. ii. 2. “The words of Strabo are: Πολὺν δὲ χρόνον ἐρήμη
weivaca ἣ Κόρινθος ἀνελήφθη πάλιν ὑπὸ Kaicapoc, &c. Those of Fausanias are not
less explicit as to the desolation of Corinth: Κόρινθον δὲ οἰκοῦσι Κορινθίων οὐδεὶς ἐνὶ
τῶν ἀρχαίων, ἔποικοι δὲ ἀποσταλέντες ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων. Nevertheless, the site. I conceive,
cannot have been quite uninhabited, as the Romans neither destroyed the public build-
ings tor persecuted the religion of the Corinthians. And as many of those buildings
were still perfect in the time of Pausanias, there must have been some persons whe
had the care of them during the century of desolation.’”’ Leake, p. 231, note ἃ,
8 Pausan. ii. 2.
® On Cicero’s journey between the East and West, we find him resting, not at
Corinth, but at Athens. In the time of Ovid the city was rising again.
416 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF §T. PAUL.
rose from the ashes of the old. Julius Cesar, recognising the importares
of the Isthmus as a military and mercantile position, sent thither a colony
of Italians, who were chiefly freed men.! This new establishment rapidly
increased by the mere force of its position. Within a few years it grew,
as Sincapore’ has grown in our days, from nothing to an enormous city.
The Greek merchants, who had fled on the Roman conquest to Delos and
the neighbouring coasts, returned to their former home. The Jews set-
tled themselves in a place most convenient both for the business of com-
merce and for communication with Jerusalem.2 Thus, when St. Paul
arrived at Corinth after his sojourn at Athens, he found himself in the
midst of a numerous population of Grecks and Jews. They were pro
bably far more numerous than the Romans, though the city had the consti-
tution of a cclony,* and was the metropolis of a province.
It is commonly assumed that Greece was constituted as a province
under the name of Achaia, when Corinth was destroyed by Mummius.
But this appears to be a mistake.» There seems to have been an iuter-
mediate period, during which the country had a nominal independence, as
was the case with the contiguous province of Macedonia.“ The descrip-
tion which has been given of the political limits of Macedonia (Ch, IX.)
defines equally the extent of Achaia. It was bounded on all other sides by
the sea, and was nearly co-extensive with the kingdom of modern Greece.
The name of Achaza was given to it, in consequence of the part played by
1 ’Eroixove τοῦ ἀπελευθερικοῦ γενοῦς πλείστους. Strabo, viii. 6. See Pausan. ii. 1.
* See the Life of Sir Stamford Raffles, and later notices of the place in Rajah
Brooke’s journals, &e.
3 See the preceding chapter for the establishment of the Jews at Corinth.
4See the Latin letters on its coins. Its full name was “Colonia Laus Julia
Corinthus.”
5 A memoir was read on this subject by Professor K. Ε΄, Hermann of Gottingen, at
‘he Philosophical Meeting at Basle in 1847. The substance of the memoir is given,
with additional matter, in the Classical Museum, vol. vii. p. 259. ‘“ When did Greece
become a Roman province?” The drift of the argument is to show that the provincial
organisation did not immediately follow the destruction of Corinth by Mummius; but
that Achaia was not formed into a province till the civil war between Cesar and
Pompey, or perhaps not until the time of Augustus. The apparent evidence in favour
of the common hypothesis, from Pausanias and Strabo, adduced by Sigonius, is shown
to be inconclusive ; and direct evidence against it is brought from Plutarch, and the
list of early proconsuls given by Pighius is proved to be erroneous. To Professor Her-
mann’s arguments the writer in the Classical Museum adds further evidence from
Cicero and Zonaras. There is a mistake, however, in the statement (pp. 267, 268)
that Athens and Delphi were not in the province of Achaia. See the limits of the
province as mentioned above.
6 From 169 to 147. See Liv. xlv. 29.. The ten commissioners who, with Mummiua,
regulated the affairs of Greece, had a similar task with those in Asia (Liv. xxxvii. 55),
which was not at that time reduced to a province; and the phrase of Rufus, “ previncia
obtenta est,” is used in the case of Armenia.
PROVINCE OF ΑΟΗΛΙΑ. 417
fhe Achzan Ieague in the last independent strvggles of ancient Greece ;
and Corinth, the head of that league, became the metropolis.” The pro.
vince experienced changes of government such as those which have becr
alluded to in the case of Cyprus. At first it was procousular.t After
wards it was placed by Tiberius under a procurator of his own.? But in
the reign of Claudins it was again reckoned among the “ unarmed pro-
vinces,” ὁ and governed by a proconsul.7
One of the proconsuls who were sent out to govern the province of
_achaia in the course of St. Paul’s second missionary journey was Gallio.®
His original name wis Anneeus Novatus, and he was the brother of
Annus Seneca the philosopher. The name under which he is known to
us in sacred and secular history was due to his adoption into the family of
Junius Gallio the rhetorician.2 The time of his government at Corinth, as
indicated by the sacred historian, must be placed between the years 52
and 5!, if the dates we have assigned to St. Paul’s movements be corres
We have no exact information on this subject from any secular source,
nor is he mentioned by any heathen writer as having been proconsul of
Achaia. But there are some incidental notices of his life, which give
rather a curious confirmation of what is advanced above. We are inform-
ed by Tacitus and Dio that he died in the year 65.!° Pliny says that
after his consulship he had a serious illness, for the removal of which he
tried a sea-voyage :"' and from Seneca we learn that it was am Achaia
that his brother went on shipboard for the benefit of his health.” If we
knew the year of Gallio’s consulship, our chronological result would be
brought within narrow limits. We do not possess this information ; but
it has been reasonably conjected 13 that his promotion, if not due to his
brother’s influence, would be subsequent to the year 49, in which the
philosopher returned from his exile in Corsica, and had the youthful Nero
1 Καλοῦσι δὲ οὐκ “EXAad0¢ ἀλλ᾽ ᾿Αχαΐας ἡγεμόνα ol Ῥώμαιοι, διότι ἐχειρώσαντο τοὺς
Ἕλληνας, ᾿Αχαίων τότε τοῦ "Ελληνικοῦ προεσηκύότων. Paus. Ach.
3. See Wilckens, § xiv. Ritter says that this is the meaning of “Corinthus Achaiz
urbs,” in Tac. Hist. ii. 1.}
3 See Ch. V. 4 Dio Cass. Ix. 5 Tac. Ann. i. 76.
6 “ Tnermes provincie,’’—a pliase applied to those provinces which were proconsu
Jar and required the presence of no army. See Ὁ. 249, n. 1i.
7 Suet. Cland. 25. 8 Acts xviii. 12.
® Tac. Ann. xv. 73. Senec. Epist. 104. Nat. Qu. 4 Pref. Dio Cass. xl. 35.
10 Tac. as above. Dio, lxii. zo.
1 “ Preterea est alius usus multiplex, principalis vero navijrandi phthisi affectis .
cut proxime Anneum Gallionem fecisse post consulatem meminimus.” Plin. N. Η
XXxi. 33.
12 ὦ ΠΙΩ͂ mihi in ore erat domini mei Gallionis, qut, cum in Achaia febrem habere
coepisset, protinus navem ascendit, clamitans non corporis esse sed loci morbuzn.”
Benec. Ep. 104.
*3 See Anger and Wieseler.
“OL. L—27
ἘΠῸ THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ΚΤ. PAUL.
placed under ais tuition. The interval of time thus marked out between
the restoration of Seneca and the death of Gallio, includes the narrower
period assigned by St. Luke to the proconsulate ia Achaia.
The coming of a new governor to a province was an event of great
importance. The whole system of administration, the general presperity,
the state of political parties, the relative position of different sections of
the population, were necessarily affected by his personal character. The
provincials were miserable or happy, according as a Verres or a Cicero
was sent from Rome.!' As regards the personal character of Gallio, the
inference we should naturally draw from the words of St. Luke closely
corresponds with what we are told by Seneca. His brother speaks
of him with singular affection ; not only as a man of integrity and hon-
esty, but as one who won universal regard by his amiable temper and
popular manners.* His conduct on the occasion of the tumult at Corinth
is quite in harmony with a character so described. Η did not allow lim
self, like Pilate, to be led into injustice by the clamour of the Jews ;°
and yet he overlooked, with easy indifference, an outbreak of violence
which a sterner and more imperious governor would at once have
arrested.4
The details of this transaction were as follows:—The Jews, anxious
to profit by a change of administration, and perhaps encouraged by the
well-known compliance of Gallio’s character, took an early opportunity
of accusing St. Paul before him. They had already set themselves in
battle array > against him, and the coming of the new governor was the
signal for a general attack. It is quite evident that the act was precon-
eerted and the occasion chosen. Making use of the privileges they en-
Joyed as a separate community, and well aware that the exercise of their
worship was protected by the Roman state,’ they accused St. Paul of
1 For a description of the misery inflicted on a province by a bad governor, see Cia.
pro leg. Man. 23.
2 ὦ Gallio frater meus, quem nemo non parum amat, etiam qui amare plus non
potest. ... . Ingenium suspicere ccepisti, omnium maximum et dignissimum,....
Frugalitatem laudare ccepisti, qua sic a numis resiliit, ut illos habere nec damnare vi-
deatur. . . . Capisti mirari comitatem et incompositam suavitatem, quz illos quoque,
quos transit, abducit, gratuitum etiam in obvios meritum. JVemo enim mortalium
uni tam dulcis est, quam hic omnibus. Cum interim tania naturalis boni vis est, ut
artem simulationemque non redoleat.”? Quest. Nat. iv. Pref. The same character ia
given of him by the poet Statius. Sylv. ii. 7:
“ Hoe plus quam Senecam dedisse mundo,
Aut dulcem generasse Gallionem.”
3 Acts xviii. 14. 4 Acts xviii. 17.
5 See above, note on ὠἀντιτασσομένων.
6 'Ομοθυμαδόν, Acts xviii. 12.
7 See Walther’s Geschichte des Romischen Rechts, p. 320: “ Zuweilen war eins
Stadt aus mehreren Nationen zusammengesetzt; namentlich bildeten die Juden auch
ausserhalb ihres Landes iz jeder Stadt ein anerkanntes Gemeinwesen fur sich, das sich
GALLIO. 419
siolating their own religious law. They scem to have thought, if this
violation of Jewish law could be proved, that St. Paul would become
amenable to the criminal law of the empire ; or, perhaps, they hoped, as
afterwards at Jerusalem, that he would be given up into their hands for
punishment. Had Gallio been like Festus or Felix, this might easily nave
happened ; and then St. Paul’s natural resource would have been to ap-
peal to the emperor, on the ground of his citizenship. But the appointed
time of his visit to Rome was not yet come, and the continuance of his
missionary labours was secured by the character of the governor, whe
was providentially sent at this time to manage the affairs of Achaia.
The scene is set before us by St. Luke with some details which give
us a vivid notion of what took place. Gallio is seated on that proconsu-
lar chair! from which judicial sentences were pronounced by the Roman
magistrates. ΤῸ this we must doubtless add the other insignia of Roman
power, which were suitable to a colony and the metropolis of a province.
Before this heathen authority the Jews are preferring their accusation
with eager clamour. Their chief speaker is Sosthenes, the successor of
Crispus, or (it may be) the ruler of another synagogue.? The Greeks?
are standing round, eager to hear the result, and to learn something of
the new governor’s character ; and, at the saine time, hating the Jews,
and ready to be the partizans of St. Paul. At the moment when the
Apostle is “about to open his mouth,”+ Gallio will not even hear his
defence, but pronounces a decided and peremptory judgment.
His answer was that of a man who knew the limits of his office, and
felt that he had no time to waste on the religious technicalities of the
Jews.» Had it been a case in which the Roman law had been violated
nach seinen vaterlandischen Gebrauchen regierte und die Abgaben fur den Tempel in
Jerusalem einsammelte.”” Compare Joseph. B. J. ii. 14, 4, on Caesarea. In Alexan-
dria, there were four distinct classes of population, among which the Jews were citizens
under their Ethnarch, like the Romans under their Juridicus. For the later position
of the Jews, after Caracalla had made all freemen citizens, see Walther, p. 422.
1 The βῆμα is mentioned three times in the course of this narrative. It was of two
kinds ; (1) fixed in some open and public place ; (2) movable, and taken by the Roman
magistrates to be placed wherever they might sit in a judicial character. Probably
here and in the case of Pilate (John xix. 13) the former kind of seat is intended. See
Smith’s Dictionary of Antiquities, under “Sella.’’? See also some remarks on “ the
tribunal—the indispensable symbol of the Roman judgment-seat,” in the Edinburgh
review for Jan. 1847, p. 151.
? Whether Sosthenes had really been elected to fill the place of Crispus, or was only
a cc-ordinate officer in the same or some other synagogue, must be left undetermined,
On the organisation of the synagogues, see Ch. VI. p. 185. It should be added, that
we cannot confidently identify this Sosthenes with the “ brother”? whose name occurs
t Cer. i. 1.
3 See below, note on “EXanvec.
© Μέλλοντος δὲ τοῦ Παύλου ἀνοίγειν το στόμα, v. 14.
* Son some good remarks here by Menken, Blicke in das Leben des Apostels Panius
Ι
450 THI LIFE AND EPISTLES OF §T. PAUL.
by any brec- » of the peace or any act of dishonesty, then it would have
been reasona) + and right that the matter should have been fully investi-
gated ; but, siace it was only a question of the Jewish law, relating ta
the disputes cf Hebrew superstition,’ and to names of no pubiic interest,
ne utterly refused to attend toit. They might excommunicate the offender,
or inflict on him any of their ecclesiastical punishments ; but he would not
mecdle with trifling quarrels, which were beyond his jurisdiction. And
‘ without further delay he drove the Jews away from before his judicial
ehair.’
The effect of this proceeding must have been to produce the utmost
rage and disappointment among the Jews. With the Greeks and other
bystanders? the result was very different. Their dislike of a superstitious
and misanthropic nation was gratified. They held the forbearance of
Gallio as a proof that their own religious liberties would be respected
under the new administration ; and, with the disorderly impulse of a mob
which has been kept for some time in suspense, they rushed upon the ruler
of the synagogue, and beat him in the very presence of the proconsular
tribunal.!| Meanwhile, Gallio took no notice® of the injurious punish-
ment thus inflicted on the Jews, and with characteristic indifference left
Sosthenes to his fate.
Thus the accusers were themselves involved in disgrace; Gallio ob-
tained a high popularity among the Greeks, and St. Paul was enabled to
pursue his labours in safety. Had he been driven away from Corinth, the
whole Christian community of the place might have been placed in jeo-
pardy. Lut the result of the storm was to give shelter to the infant
Church, with opportunity of safe and continued growth. As regards the
Apostle himself, his credit rose with the disgrace of his opponents. So
far as he might afterwards be noticed by the Roman governor or the
Greek inhabitants of the city, he would be regarded as an injured man,
As his own discretion had given advantage to the holy cause at Vhilippi,
by involving his opponents in blame,* so here the most imminent peril was
providentially turned into safety and honour.
Thus the assurance communicated in the vision was abundantly ful-
filled. Though bitter enemies had “set on” Paul (Acts xviii. 10), no
one had “hurt” him. The Lord had been ‘with him” and “much peo-
1 Ζήτημα περὶ ὀνομάτων, v.15. We recognise here that much had been made by the
Jews of the name of “ Christ ” being given to Jesus.
3 Kel ἀπήλασεν αὐτοὺς ἀπὸ τοῦ βήματος, v. 16.
3 The manuscript evidence tends to show that "E2Anvec is ἃ gloss. It cannut, how
ever, be well doubted that the persons in question were Greeks. The reading ‘lovddey
found in some MSS., is evidentiy wrong.
4 *Eurppodev τοῦ βήματος, ν. 17.
ὅ Οὐδὲν τούτων TOT. ἔμελεν, ν. 17. See above, on Gallio’s character.
5 See p. 311.
DEPARTURE FROM CORINTH. 421
ple” had been gathered into Hischurch. At length the time cume wher
the Apostle deemed it right to leave Achaia and revisit Judvea, induced (as
it would appear) by a motive which often guided his journeys, the desire
to be present at the great gathering of the Jews at one of their festivals,!
and possibly also influenced by the movements of Aquila and Priscilla,
who were about to proceed from Corinth to Ephesus.* Before his de
parture he took a solemn farewell of the assembled Church. How tonch-
ing St. Paul’s farewells must have been, especially after a protracted
residence among his brethren and disciples, we may infer from the affec-
tionate language of his letters ; and one specimen is given to us of these
parting addresses, in the Acts of the Apostles. From the words spoken
at Miletus (Acts xx.), we may learn what was said and felt at Corinth,
He could tell his disciples here, as he told them there, that he had taught
them “ publicly and from house to house ;”* that he was “pure from the
blood of all men ;”* that by the space of a year and a half he had “ not
ceased to warn every one night and day with tears.”° And doubtless he
forewarned them of “grievous wolves entering in among them, of men
speaking perverse things arising’? of themselves, to draw away disciples
after them.” And he could appeal to them, with the emphatic gesture of
“those hands” which had laboured at Corinth, in proof that he had
“coveted no man’s gold or silver,” and in confirmation of the Lord’s
words, that “it is more blessed to give than to receive.”® Thus he de-
parted, with prayers and tears, from those who “‘ accempanied him to the
ship” with many misgivings that they might “‘see his face no more.” 9
The three points on the coast to which our attention is called in the
brief notice of this voyage contained in the Acts,” are Cenchree, the
harbour of Corinth ; Ephesus, on the western shore of Asia Minor ; and
Cesarea Stratonis, in Palestine. More suitable occasions will be found
hereafter for descriptions of Cesarea and Ephesus. The present seems to
require a few words to be said concerning Cenchree.
After descending from the low table-land on which Corinth was situ-
ated, the road which connected the city with its eastern harbour extended
a distance of eight or nine miles across the Isthmian plain.'' Cenchrea
has fallen with Corinth ; but the name ” still remains to mark the place of
1 See Acts xviii. 21. There is little doubt that the festival was Pente;ost. See
Wieseler.
Vive 18.190: 3 Τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς ἀποταξάμενος, v. 18, 4 V. 20.
5 V. 26. Compare xviii. 6, and see p. 398.
6 V.31. Compare what is said of his tears at Philippi. Philip. iii. 18.
7 Vy. 29, 30.
® Compare vy. 33-35 with xviii. 2 and with 1 Cor. iv. 12.
9 Vv. 36-38. 10 Acts xviii. 18-22.
1 See the descriptions in Dodwell and Leake.
1 The modern name is Kichries. In Walpole’s Memoirs, a conjecture is offered hp
0° THE LIFE AND EIFSSTLES OF ST. PAUL.
the port, which once commanded a large trade with Alexandria and Ant
och, with Ephesus and Thessalonica, and the other cities of the Agean.
That it was a town of some magnitude may be inferred from the attention
which Pausanias devotes to it in the description of the environs of Co-
rinth ;1 and both its mercantile character, and the pains which had beer
taken in its embellishment, are well symbolised in the coin? which repre-
sents the port with a temple on each enclosing promontory, and a statue
of Neptune on a rock between them.
From this port St. Paul began his yoyage to Syria. But before the
vessel sailed, one of his companions performed a religious ceremony which
must not be unnoticed, since it is mentioned in Scripture. Aquila? had
bound himself by one of those vows, which the Jews often voluntarily
took, even when in foreign countries, in consequence of some mercy re-
ceived, or some deliverance from danger, or some other occurrence which
had produced a deep religious impression on the mind. The obligations
of these vows were similar to those in the case of Nazarites,—as regards
abstinence from strong drinks and legal pollutions, and the wearing of the
hair uncut till the close of a definite length of time. Aquila could not be
literally a Nazarite ; for, in the case of that greater vow, the cutting of
the hair, which denoted that the legal time was expired, could only take
place at the Temple in Jerusalem, or at least in Judiea.4 In this case the
ceremony was performed at Cenchresee. Here Aquila,—who had been for
some time conspicuous, even among the Jews and Christians at Corinth,
for the long hair which denoted that he was under a peculiar religious re-
striction—came to the close of the period of obligation ; and before ac-
companying the Apostle to Ephesus, laid aside the tokens of his vow.
Dr. Sibthorpe, that the name was given from a certain kind of grain which is still cul-
tivated there. Some travellers (for instance, Lord Nugent) make a mistake in identi-
fying Cenchrese with Kalamaki, which is further to the north.
Y Pausan. ii. 2.
? An engraving of this coin will be given in the second volume.
3 Tt may be said that we have here cut what De Wette cails a Gordian knot, in assum-
ing that the vow was taken by Aquilaand not by Paul. This view rests partly on the
arrangement of the words, the order being Πρίσκιλλα καὶ ᾿Ακύλας, contrary to St.
Luke’s ordinary practice ; partly on the improbability that St. Paul should have taken
a vow of this kind. See Meyer on this latter point. The opinion of commentators ig
divided on the subject. Chrysostom, Hammond, Grotius, &e., advocate the view we
have taken. Heinrichs says :—“ Preeferendum mihi videtur, guia constructio fluit faci-
lior, propiusque fidem est, notitiam hanc, que breviter nonnisi et quasi per transennam
additur, de homine ignotiore adjunctam esse: but what follows is merely a conjec
ture :—‘ videtur votum fecisse Aquila, see nullam novactlam admissurum, antequam
ex fuga, quam Roma in Judwam capessebat, sospes ad ultimum Europe portum venis-
set.” Niemeyer had, perhaps, the same idea :—“ Sie nahmen den Weg uber Cenchrea
nach Ephesus, weil Aquila ein Gelubde hatte, sein Haupt daselbst zu beschecren.”
Uhar. der Bibel. p. 197 (ed. 1778).
¢ See De Wette and Meyer.
VOYAGE BY EPHESUS TO CHSAREA. 423
From Corinth to Ephesus, the voyage was among the islands of the
Greek Archipelago. The Isles of Greece, and the waters which break on
their shores, or rest among them in spaces of calm repose, always present
themselves to the mind as the scenes of interesting voyages,—whether we
shink of the stories of early legend, or the stirring life of classical times, of
the Crusades in the middle ages, cr of the movements of modern travellers,
some of whom seldom reflect that the land and the water round them were
hallowed by the presence and labours of St. Paul. One great purpose of
this book will be gained, if it tends to associate the Apostle of the Gentiles
with the coasts, which are already touched by so many other historical
recollections.
No voyage across the Algean was more frequently made than that be-
tween Corinth and Ephesus. They were the capitals of the two flourish-
ing and peaceful provinces of Achaia and Asia,! and the two great mer-
cantile towns on the opposite side of the sea. If resemblances may be
again suggested between the Ocean and the Mediterranean, and between
ancient and modern times, we may say that the relation of these cities of
the Eastern and Western Greeks to each other was like that between
New York and Liverpool. Even the time taken up by the voyages con-
stitutes a point of resemblance. Cicero says that, on his eastward passage,
which was considered a long one, he spent fifteen days, and that his return
was accomplished in thirteen.?
A fair wind, in much shorter time than either thirteen or fifteen days,
would take the Apostle across from Corinth to the city on the other side
of the sea. It seems that the vessel was bound for Syria, and staid-only a
short time in harbour at Ephesus. Aquila and Priscilla remained there
while he proceeded. But even during the short interval of his stay, Paul
made a visit to his Jewish fellow-countrymen, and (the Sabbath being pro-
bably one of the days during which he remained) he held a discussion with
them in the synagogue concerning Christianity! Their curiosity was ex-
cited by what they heard, as it had been at Antioch in Pisidia ; and per-
haps that curiosity would have speedily been succeeded by opposition, ‘f
their visitor had staid longer among them. But he was not able to grant
the request which they urgently made. He was anxious to attend the
approaching festival at Jerusalem ;* and, had he not proceeded with the
ship, this might have been impossible. He was so far, however, encour
aged by the opening which he saw, that he left the Hphesian Jews with a
promise of his return. This promise was limited by an expression of that
1 See how Achaia and Asia are mentioned by Tacitus, Hist. il.
3. Cic. Ep. 3 Κἀκείνους κατέλιπεν aitou, ν. 19.
« Διελέχθη, v.19. Contrast the aorist with the imperfect διελέγετο \v. 4), used of
the continued discussions at Corinth.
5 V.21. See above.
494. THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
dependence on the Divine will which is characteristic of a Christian’s life,
whether his vovation be to the labours of an Apostle, or to the routine of
ordinary toil. We shall see that St. Paul’s promise was literally fulfilled,
when we come to pursue his progress on his third missionary circuit.
The voyage to Syria lay first by the coasts and islands of the Algean
to Cos and Cnidus, which are mentioned on subsequent voyages,” and then
across the open sea by Rhodes and Cyprus to Cesarea.? This city has the
closest connection with some of the most memorable events of early Chris
tianity. We have already had occasion to mention it, in alluding to St
Peter and the baptism of the first Gentile convert.1| We shall after-
wards be required to make it the subject of a more elaborate notice, when
we arrive at the imprisonment which was suffered by St. Paul under two
suceessive Roman governors.’ The country was now no longer under nar
tive kings. ‘Ten years had elapsed since the death of Herod Agrippa, the
last event alluded to (Ch. IV.) in connection with Cxsarea. Felix had
been for some years already procurator of Judea.é If the aspect of the
country had become in any degree more national under the reign of the
Herods, it had now resumed all the appearance of a Roman province.?
Cexsarea was its military capital, as it was the harbour by which it was ap-
proached by all travellers from the West. From this city roads* had
been made to the Egyptian frontier on the south, and northwards along
the coast by Ptolemais, Tyre, and Sidon, to Antioch, as well as across the
interior by Neapolis or Antipatris to Jerusalem and the Jordan.
The journey from Cxsarea to Jerusalem is related by St. Luke in a
single word.’ No information is given concerning the incidents which oc
curred there :—no mectings with other Apostles,—no controversies on dis
puted points of doctrine,—are recorded or inferred. We are not even
sure that St. Paul arrived in time for the festival at which he desired to
be present."° The contrary seems rather to be inferred; for he is said
simply to have “ saluted the Church,” and then to have proceeded to
Antioch. It is useless to attempt to draw aside the veil which conceals
the particulars of this visit of Paul of Tarsus to the city of his forefathers
1 Τοῦ Θεοῦ ϑέλοντος. See Jamesiv. 15. ’Edv ὁ Κύριος ϑελήσῃ καὶ ζήσωμεν.
*VACtS Στ ὙΧΥΙΪ. 1: 3 See Acts xxi. 1-3.
‘4 See p. 115. Compare p. 53. 5 Acts xxi., Xe.
6 Tac. Ann, xiv. 54, and Josephus. 7 See pp. 28 and 55.
8 See the map of the Roman roads in Palestine, and the remarks, p. 84.
9 Arvabdc, y. 22. Some commentators think that St. Paul did not go t6 Jerusalem
at all, but that this participle merely denotes his going up from the ship into the town
of Casarea: but, independently of his intention to visit Jerusalem, it is hardly likely
that such a circumstance would have been specified in a narrative so bricfly given.
10 We shall see, in the case of the later voyage (Acts xx. xxi.), that he could not kave
arrived in time for the festival, had not the weather been peculiarly favourable.
1 ΣΑσπασάμενος THY ἐκκλησίαν, V 22.
ST. PAULS LAST VISIT TO ANTIOCH. 498
As if it were no longer intended that we should view the Church in con
nection with the centre of Judaism, our thoughts are turned immediately
to that cther city,' where the name “ Christian” was first conferred Ongit.
From Jerusalem to Antioch it is likely that the journey was accom
plished by land. It is the last time we shall have occasion to mention a
road which was often traversed, at different seasons of the year, by St.
Paul and his companions. Two of the journeys along this Phoenician
coast have been jong ago mentioned. Many years had intervened since
the charitable mission which brought relief from Syria to the poor in
Judxa (Ch. IV.), and since the meeting of the council at Jerusalem, and
the joyful return at a time of anxious controversy (Ch. VII.). When we
allude to these previous visits to the Holy City, we feel how widely the
Church of Christ had been extended in the space of very few years. ‘The
course of our narrative is rapidly carrying us from the Hast towards the
West. We are now for the last time on this part of the Asiatic shore.
For a moment the associations which surround us are all of the primeval
past. The monuments which still remain along this coast remind us of the
ancient Phenician power, and of Baal and Ashtaroth,*—or of the Assy-
rian conquerors, who came from the Euphrates to the West, and have left
forms like those in the palaces of Nineveh sculptured on the rocks of the
Mediterranean,?—rather than of anything connected with the history of
Greece and Rome. The mountains which rise above our heads belong to
the characteristic imagery of the Old Testament: the cedars are those of
the forests which were hewn by the workmen of Hiram and Solomon ; the
torrents which cross the road are the waters from “the sides of Lebanon.” 4
But we are taking our last view of this Scenery : and, as we leave it, we
feel that we are passing from the Jewjsh infancy of the Christian Church
to its wider expansion among the Heathen.
Once before we had occasion to remark that the Church had no longer
now its central point in Jerusalem, but in Antioch, a city of the Gentiles.’
The progress of events now carries us still more remotely from the land
which was first visited by the tidings of salvation. The world through
which our narrative takes us begins to be European rather than Asiatic.
So far as we know, the present visit which St. Paul paid to Antioch was
his last.6. We have already seen how new centres of Christian life had
1 Κατέθη εἰς ᾿Αντιόχειαν, ν. 22.
3 The ruins of Tortosa and Aradus.
3 The sculptures of Assyrian figures on the coast road near Beyrout are noticed in the
works of many travellers.
4 These torrents are often flooded, so as to be extremely dangerous; so that St
Paul may have encountered “perils of rivers” in this district. Maundrell says that
the traveller Spon lost his life in one of these torrents.
5 Pp. 108, 109.
“ Antioch is not mentioned in the Acts after xviii. 22.
496 THE LIFE AND EPISTIES OF ΕἸ. PAUI.
been established by himin the Greek cities of the Agean. The course ΟἹ
the Gospel is further and further towards the West ; and the inspired part
ofsthe Apostle’s biography, after a short period of deep interest in Judessa,
finally centres in Rome.
COIN OF CORINTH.1
t Prom the British Museum.
SPIRITUAL GIFTS IN THE LIFETIME OF ST. PAUL 427
CHAPTER XIII.
“ We see not yet all things put under Him.”’—Heb. ii. 8.
THE SPIRITUAL GIFTS, CONSTITUTION, ORDINANCES, DIVISIONS, AND HERESI£S
OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH IN THE LIFETIME OF ST. PAUL.
WE are now arrived at a point in St. Paul’s history when it seems needful
for the full understanding of the remainder of his career, and especially of
his Epistles, to give some description of the internal condition of those
churches which looked to him as their father in the faith. Nearly all of
these had now been founded, and regarding the early development of
several of them, we have considerable information from his letters to them
and from other sources. This information we shall now endeavour to
bring into one general view ; and in so doing (since the Pauline Churches
were only particular portions of the universal Church), we shall necessa-
rily have to consider the distinctive peculiarities and internal condition of
the primitive Church generally, as it existed in the time of the Apostles.
The feature which most immediately forces itself upon our notice, as
distinctive of the Church in the Apostolic age, is its possession of super-
natural gifts. Concerning these, our whole information must be derived
from Scripture, because they appear to have vanished with the disappear-
ance of the Apostles themselves, and there is no authentic account of
their existence in the Church in any writings of a later date than the
books of the New Testament. ‘This fact gives a more remarkable and im-
pressive character to the frequent mention of them in the writings of the
Apostles, where the exercise of such gifts is spoken of as a matter of ordi-
nary occurrence. Indeed, this is so much the case, that these miraculous
powers are not even mentioned by the Apostolic writers as a class apart
(as we should now consider them), but are joined in the same classification
with other gifts, which we are wont to term natural endowments or
“talents.”! Thus St. Paul tells us (1 Cor. xii, 11) that all these
1 The two great classifications of them in St. Paul’s writings are as follows :—
J. (1 Cor. xii. 8.)
Class 1. ᾧ μὲν Class 2. ἑτέρῳ δὲ Class 3. ἑτέρῳ δὲ
ι41) λόγος σοφίας. (β1) πίστις. : .7}) γένη γλωσσῶν.
(ἦ λύγος γνώσεως, (852) χαρίσματα ἰαμάτων. (7) ἑρμηνεία γλωσσων
(88) ἐνεργήματα δυνάμεων.
(84) προφητεία.
(B°) διακρίσεις πνευμάτων.
428 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
charisms, or spiritual gifts, were wrought by one and the same s,Arit, wha
distributed them to each severally according to His own will; and among
these he classes the gift of healing, and the gift of Tongues, as falling
under the same category with the talent for administrative usefulness, and
the faculty of Government. But thongh we learnffrom this to refer the
ordinary natural endowments of men, not less than the supernatural powers
bestowed in the Apostolic age, to a divine source, yet, since we are
treating of that which gave a distinctive character to the Apostolic
Church, it is desirable that we should make:a division between the two
classes of gifts, the extraordinary and the ordinary : although this division
was not made by the Apostles at the time when both kinds of gifts were in
ordinary exercise.
_ The most striking manifestation of divine interposition was the power
of working what are commonly called Miracles, that is, changes in the
usual operation of the laws of nature. This power was exercised by St.
Paul himself very frequently (as we know from the narrative in the Acts),
as well as by the other Apostles ; and in the Epistles we find repeated
allusions to its exercise by ordinary Christians! As examples of the
operation of this power, we need only refer to St. Paul’s raising Hutychus
.from the dead, his striking Elymas with blindness, his healing the sick at
Ephesus,’ and his curing the father of Publius at Melita.
The last-mentioned examples are instances of the exercise of the gift
II. (1 Cor. xii. 28.)
ἀπόστολοι.
. πμυδῆται. See (βῆ.
. διδαυκαδοι; including (a!) and (a*) perhaps.
. δυνάμεις. See (G3).
(1) χαρίσματα ἰαμάτων. See (6°).
(2) ἀντιλήψεις.
(3) kvbepvycecc.
(4) γένη γλωσσῶν. See (y').
It may be remarked, that the following divisions are in 1. and not in IL; viz. p!,
8, and γῆ: αἱ and a’, though not explicitly in IL, yet are probably included in it as
necessary gifts for ἀπόστολοι, and perhaps also for διδάσκαλοι, as Neander supposes.
It is difficult to observe any principle which runs through these classifications ; pro-
bably L. was not meant as a systematic classification at all; IL, however, certainly was
in some measure, because St. Paul uses the words πρῶτον, δεύτερον, τρίτον, Ke.
It is very difficult to arrive at any certain conclusion on the subject, because of our
imperfect understanding of the nature of the χαρίσματα themselves; they are alluded
to only as things well known to the Corinthians, and of course without, any precise
description of their nature. :
In Rom. xii. 6 another unsystematic enumeration of four charisms is given; vim
(1) προφητεία, (2) διακονία, (3) διδασκαλία, (4) παράκλησις.
1 Gal. ili. 5, ὁ ἐνεργῶν [observe the present tense] δυνώμεις ἐν ὑμῖν, is one of many
examples.
SUN CtS Exits ΠΠ ioe
3 On this latter miracle, see the excellent remarks in “Smith’s Voyage and Ship
wreck of St. Panl,” p. 115.
oo bh ΡΣ
a
SPIRITUAL GIFTS IN THE LIFETIME OF ST. PAUL. 429
of healing,’ which was a peculiar branch of the gzft of miracles,’ and some
times apparently possessed by those who had not the higher gift. Tha
source of all these miraculous powers was the charism of fai; namcly,
that peculiar kind of wonder-working faith spoken of in Matt. xvii. 20.
1 Cor. xii. 9 and xiii. 2, which consisted in an intense belicf that al
obstacles would vanish before the power given: this must of course be
distinguished from that disposiiion of faith which is essential to the
Christian life.
We have remarked that the exercise of these miraculous powers is
spoken of both in the Acts and Epistles as a matter of ordinary occurrence ;
and in that tone of quiet (and often incidental) allusion, in which we men-
tion the facts of our daily life. And this is the case, not in a narrative of
events long past (where unintentional exaggeration might be supposed to
have crept in), but in the narrative of a cotemporary, writing immedi-
ately after the occurrence of the events which he records, and of which he
was an eye-witness ; and yet farther, this phenomenon occurs in letters
which speak of those miracles as wrought in the daily sight of the readers
addressed. Now the question forced upon every intelligent mind is,
whether such a phenomenon can be explained except by the assumption
that the miracles did really happen. Is this assumption more difficult
vhan that of Hume (which has been revived with an air of novelty by
modern infidels), who cuts the knot by assuming that whenever we meet
with an account of a miracle, it is zpso facto to be rejected as incredible, ne
matter by what weight of evidence it may be supported ?
Besides the power of working miracles, other supernatural gifts of a less
extraordinary character were bestowed upon the early Church ; the most
important were the gift of tongues, and the gift of prophecy. With regard
to the former there is much difficulty, from the notices of it in Scripture,
in fully comprehending its nature. But from the passages where it is
mentioned‘ we may gather thus much concerning it : first, that it was not
a knowledge of foreign languages, as is often supposed 3 we never read of
its being exercised for the conversion of foreign nations, nor (except on
the day of Pentecost alone) for that of individual foreigners ; and even on
that occasion the foreigners present were all Jewish proselytes, and most
of them understood the Hellenistic ® dialect, Secondly, we learn that this
gift was the result of a sudden influx of supernatural inspiration, which
came upon the new believer immediately after liis baptism, and recurred
1 Xapicua ἰαμάτων. 5. Χάρισμα δυνάμεων. [1: Χάρισμα γλωσσῶν.
4 viz. Mark xvi.17. Acts ii. 4, &e. Acts χ. 47. Acts xi. 1ὅ-17. 1 Cor. xii., and
1 Cor. xiv. We must refer to the notes on these two last-named chapters for some fur
ther discussion of the difficulties connected with this gift.
5. This must probably have been the case with all the foreigners mentioned, except
the Parthians, Medes, Hlamites, and Arabians, and the Jews from these latter countries
would probably understand the Aramaic of Palestine.
480 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
afterwards at uncertain intervals. TZhzrdly, we find that while under ita
Influence the ¢xercise of the wnderstanding was suspended, while the spurat
was rapt into a state of eestacy by the immediate communication of the Spirit
of God. In this ecstatic trance the believer was constrained by an irri- ἡ
sistible! power to pour forth his feelings of thanksgiving and rapture in
words ; yet the words which issued from his mouth were not his own ; he
was even (usually) ignorant of their meaning ; they were the words of
some foreign language, and not intelligible to the bystanders, unless some
of these chanced to be natives of the country where the language was
spoken. St. Paul desired that those who possessed this gift should not be
suffered to exercise it in the congregation, unless some one present pos-
sessed another gift (subsidiary to this), called the ‘interpretation of
fongues,”? by which the ecstatic utterance of the former might be rendered
available for general edification. Another gift, also, was needful for the
checking of false pretensions to this and some other charisms, viz., the gift
of discerning of spirits,3 the recipients of which could distinguish between
the real and the imaginary possessors of spiritual gifts.‘
From the gift of tongues we pass, by a natural transition, to the gifs
of prophecy.’ It is needless to remark that, in the Scriptural sense of the
term, a prophet does not mean a foreteller of future events, but a revealer
of God’s will to man; though the latter sense may (and sometimes does)
include the former. So the gift of prophecy was that charism which en-
abled its possessors to utter, with the authority of inspiration, divine
strains of warning, exhortation, encouragement, or rebuke ; and to teach
and enforce the truths of Christianity with supernatural energy and effect
'The wide diffusion among the members of the Church of this prophetical
inspiration was a circumstance which is mentioned by St. Peter as distine-
tive of the Gospel dispensation ;* in fact, we find that in the family of
Philip the Evangelist alone,’ there were four daughters who exercised this
gift ; and the general possession of it is in like manner implied by the
directions of St. Paul to the Corinthians. The latter Apostle describes
the marvellous effect of the inspired addresses thus spoken.’ He looks
upon the gift of prophecy as one of the great instruments for the conver-
sion of unbelievers ; and far more serviceable in this respect than the gift
of tongues, although by some of the new converts it was not so highly
esteemed, because it seemed less strange and wonderful.
1 His spirit was not Eadie to his will. See 1 Cor. xiv. 32.
3 'Epunvela γλωσσῶν. 3 Διάκρισις πνευμάτων
4 This latter charism seems to have been requisite for the presbyturs. See 1 Thess
v. 21.
5 Χάρισμα προφητείας. If it be asked why we class this as among the supernatura:
or extraordinary gifts, it will be sufficient to refer to such passages as Acts xi. 27, 28,
6. Acts ii. 17, 18. 7 Acts xxi. 9.
8 1 Cor. xi. 4, and 1 Cor. xiv. 24, 31, 34. 9 1 Cor. xiv. 25.
SPIRITUAL GIFTS IN THE LIFITIME OF 51. PAUL. 431
Thus far we have mentioned the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit which
were vouchsafed to the Church of that age alone ; yet (as we have before
aaid) there was no strong line of division, no ‘great gulf fixed” between
these, and what we now should call the ordinary gifts, or natural endow
ments of the Christian converts. Thus the gift of prophecy cannot easily
be separated by any accurate demarcation from another charism often
mentioned in Scripture, which we should now consider an ordinary talent,
namely, the gzft of teaching.! The distinction between them appears to
have been that the latter was more habitually and constantly exercised
hy its possessors than the former: we are not to suppose, however, that
is was necessarily given to different persons ; on the contrary, an access
of divine inspiration might at any moment cause the teacher to speak as a
prophet ; and this was constantly exemplified in the case of the Apostles,
who exercised the gift of prophecy for the conversion of their unbelieving
hearers, and the gift of teaching for the building up of their converts in
the faith.
Other gifts specially mentioned as charisms are the gift of government?
and the geft of minestration.s By the former, certain persons were spe-
cially fitted to preside over the Church and regulate its internal order ;
by the latter its possessors were enabled to minister to the wants of their
brethren, to manage the distribution of relief among the poorer members
of the Church, to tend the sick, and carry out other practical works of
piety.
The mention of these latter charisms leads us naturally to consider the
offices which at that time existed in the Church, to which the possessors
of these gifts. were severally called, according as the endowment which
they had received fitted them to discharge the duties of the respective
functions. We will endeavour, therefore, to give an outline of the con-
etitution and government of the primitive Christian churches, as it ex-
isted in the time of the Apostles, so far as we can ascertain it from the
information supplied to us in the New Testament.
Amongst the several classifications which are there given of church
officers, the most important (from its relation to subsequent ecclesiastical
history) is that by which they are divided inte Apostles,‘ Presbyters, and
* Χάρισμα διδασκαλιας. 3 Χάρισμα κυθερνησεως.
® Χάρισμα διακονίας or ἀντιλήψεως.
4 ᾿Απόστολοι καὶ πρεσθύτεροι are mentioned Acts xv. 2 and elsewhere, and the twe
classes of presbyters and deacons are m2ntioned Phil. i. 1, ἐπισκόποις καὶ διακόνοις.
See p. 434, n. 1.
The following are the facts concerning the use of the word ἀπόστολο in the New
Festament. It occurs—
once in St. Matthew ;—of the Twelve.
ence in St. Mark; of the Twelve.
452 THE LIFE AND EVISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
Deacons. The monarchical, or (as it would be now called) the episcopal
element of church government was, in this first period, supplied by the
authority of the Apostles. This title was probably at first confined te
“the Twelve,” who were immediately nominated to their office (with the
exception of Matthias) by our Lord himself. To this body the title was
limited by the Judaizing section of the Church ; but St. Paul vindicated
his own claim to the Apostolic name and authority as resting upon the
same commission givea him by the same Lord ; and his companion, St.
Luke, applies the name to Barnabas also. In a lower sense, the term was
applied to all the more eminent Christian teachers ; as, for example, to
Andronicus and Junias.'. And it was also sometimes used in its simple
etymological sense of emissary, which had not yet been lost in its other
and more technical meaning. Still those only were called emphatically
the Apostles who had received their commission from Christ himself, in-
cluding the eleven who had been chosen by Him while on earth, with St.
Matthias and St. Paul, who had been selected for the office by their Lord
(though in different ways) after His ascension.
In saying that the Apostles embodied that element in church govern-
ment, which has since been represented by episcopacy, we must not,
however, be understood to mean that the power of the Apostles was sub-
ject to those limitations to which the authority of bishops has always been
subjected. The primitive bishop was surrounded by his council of presby-
ters, and took no important. step without their sanction ; but this was far
from being the case with the Apostles. They were appointed by Christ
himself, with absolute power to govern His Church; to them He had
given the keys of the kingdom of Heaven, with authority to admit or
6 times in St. Luke ;—5 times of the Twelve, once in its general etymological
sense.
once in St. John ;—in its general efymological sense.
30 times in Acts ;—(always in plural) 28 times of the Twelve, and twice of Pazl
and Barnahas.
8. times in Romans ;—twice of St Paul, once of Andronicus.
16 times in Corinthians ;—14 times of St. Paul or the Twelve, twice in etymolegical
sense, viz. 2 Cor. viii. 23, and xi. 13.
3 times in Gal. ;—of St. Paul and the Twelve.
4 times in Ephes. ;—of St. Paul and the Twelve.
once in Philip. ;—etymological sense.
once in Thess. ;—of St. Paul.
4 times in Timothy ;—of St. Paul.
once in Titus ;—of St. Paul.
once in Hebrews (iii. 1) ;—of Christ himself.
3 times in Peter ;—of the Twelve.
once in Jude ;—of the Twelve.
3 times in Apocalypse ;—either of “false apostles” or of the ‘I'welve.
Besides this, the word ἀποστόλη is used to signify the Apostolic office. once in Acty
and three times by St. Paul (who attributes it to himself).
1 Rom. xvi. 7
CONSTITUTION OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 423
to exclude ; they were also guided by His perpetual inspiration, so that
all their moral and religious teaching was absolutely and infallibiy true ,
they were empowered by their solemn detunciations of evil, and their in-
spired judgments on all moral questions, to bind and to loose, to remit
and to retain the sins of men.!' This was the essential peculiarity of their
office, which can find no parallel in the after history of the Church, But,
so far as their function was to govern, they represented the monarchical
element in the constitution of the early Church, and their power was a
full counterpoise to that democratic tendency which has sometimes been
attributed to the ecclesiastical arrangements of the Apostolic period.
Another peculiarity which distinguishes them from ali subsequent rulers
of the Church is, that they were not limited to a sphere of action defined
by geographical boundaries ; the whole world was their diocese, and they
bore the Glad-tidings, east or west, north or south, as the Holy Spirit
might direct their course at the time, and governed the churches which
they founded wherever they might be placed. Moreover, those charisms
which were possessed by other Christians singly and severally, were col-
lectively given to the Apostles, because all were needed for their work.
The gift of miracles was bestowed upon them in abundant measure, that
they might strike terror into the adversaries of the truth, and win, by
outward wonders, the attention of thousands, whose minds were closed by
ignorance against the inward and the spiritual, They had the οἱ of
prophecy as the very characteristic of their office, for it was their especial
commission to reveal the truth of God to man ; they were consoled in the
midst of their labours by heavenly visions, and rapt in supernatural ecsta-
sies, in which they “spake in tongues” “to God and not to man.”?
They had the “ gift of government,” for that which came upon them daily
was “the care of all the Churches ;” the “gift of teaching,” for they
must build up their converts in the faith ; even the “ g2ft of ministration”
was not unneeded by them, nor did they think it beneath them to under-
take the humblest offices of a deacon for the good of the Church. When
needful, they could ‘ serve tables” and collect alms, and work with their
own hands at mechanical trades, “that so labouring they might support
the weak ;” inasmuch as they were the servants of Him who came not to
be ministered unto, but to minister.
Of the offices concerned with Church government, the next in rank to
that of the Apostles was the office of Overseers or Elders, more usually
known (by their Greek designations) as Bishops or Presbyters. ‘These
1 No doubt, in a certain sense, this power is shared (according to the teaching of
our Ordination Service) by Christian ministers now, but it is in quite a secondary
sense ; viz. only so far as it is exercised in exact accordance with the inspired teaching
of the Apostles.
* See note on 1 Cor xiy. 18,
VOL. 1- -28
j
434 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
terms are used in the New Testament as equivalent,! the former (émcxomog)
denoting (as its meaning of overseer implies) the duties, the latter (zpeos-
-epoc) the rank, of the office. ‘The history of the Church leaves us no room
for doubt that on the death of the Apostles, or perhaps at an earlier
period (and, in either case, by their directions), one amongst the presby-
ters of each church was selected to preside over the rest, and to him was
applied emphatically the title of the bishop or overseer, which had pre-
viously belonged equally to all; thus he became in reality (what he was
sometimes called) the successor of the Apostles, as exercising (though in-
in a lower degree) that function of government which had formerly be
longed to them. But in speaking of this change we are anticipating ; for
at the time of which we are now writing, at the foundation of the Gentile
Churches, the Apostles themselves were the chief governors of the Church,
and the presbyters of each particular society were co-ordinate with one an-
other. We find that they existed at an early period in Jerusalem, and
likewise that they were appointed by the Apostles upon the first forma-
tion of a church in every city. The same name, “ Hlder,” was attached
to au office of a corresponding nature in the Jewish synagogues, whence
both title and office were probably derived. The name of Bishop was
afterwards given to this office in the Gentile churches, at a somewhat
later period, as expressive of its duties, and as more familar than the other
title to Greek ears.’
The office of the Presbyters was to watch over the particular church in
which they mivistered, in all that regarded its external order and internal
purity ; they were to instruct the ignorant,’ to exhort the faithful, to con-
fute the gainsayers,‘ to “ warn the unruly, to comfort the feeble-minded,
to support the weak, to be patient towards all.”° They were “to take
heed to the flock over which the Holy Ghost had made them overseers,
to feed the Church of God which He had purchased with His own
blood.” ὁ In one word, it was their duty (as it has been the duty of all
who have been called to the same office during the nineteen centuries
which have succeeded) to promote to the utmost of their ability, and by
every means within their reach, the spiritual good of all those committed
to their care.’
1 Thus, in the address at Miletus, the same persons are called ἐπισκόπους (Acts χα,
28) who had just before been named πρεσθυτέρους (Acts xx.17). See also the Pastora!
Epistles, passim.
4 Ἐπίσκοπος was the title of the Athenian commissioners to their subjcct allies.
See Scholiast on Aristoph. Aves, 1023.
3 1 Tim. iii. 2. 4 Tit. i. 9. 5 1 Thess. v. 14. 6 Acts xx, 28,
7 Other titles, denoting their office, are applied to the presbyters in some passages;
viz οἱ προιστάμενοι (Rom. xii. 8, and 1 Thess. y. 12), of ἡγούμενοι (Heb. xiii. 7), οἱ
κατηχοῦντες (Eph. iv. 11), διδάσκαλοι (1 Cor. xii. 28). It is, indeed, possible (as
Neander thinks) that the διδάσκαλοι may at first have been sometimes Jifferent from
VONSTITUTION OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 438
The last of the three orders, that ef Deacons, did not take its place in
the ecclesiastical organisation till towards the close of St. Paul’s life ; or,
at least, this name was not assigned to those who discharged the functions
of the Diaconate till a late period ; the Hpistle to the Philippians being
the earliest in which the term occurs! in its technical sense. In fact, the
word (διάκονος) occurs thirty times in the New Testament, and only three
times (or at most four) is it used as an official designation ; in all the
other passages it is used in its simple etymological sense of a ministering
servant. It is a remarkable fact, too, that it never occurs in the Acts as
the title of those seven Hellenistic Christians who are generally (though
improperly) called the seven deacons, and who were only elected to sup-
ply a temporary emergency.” Although the title of the Diaconate, how-
ever, does not occur till afterwards, the office seems to have existed from
the first in the Church of Jerusalem (see Acts v. 6, 10) ; those who dis
charged its duties were then called the young men, in contradistinction to
to the presbyters or e/ders; and it was their duty to assist the latter by
discharging the mechanical services requisite for the weil-being of the
Christian community. Gradually, however, as the Church increased, the
natural division of labour would suggest a subdivision of the ministrations
performed by them ; those which only required bodily labour would be in-
trusted to a less educated class of servants, and those which required the
work of the head, as well as the hands (such, for example, as the distribu-
tion of alms), would form the duties of the deacons ; for we may now
speak of them by that name, which became appropriated to them before
the close of the Apostolic epoch.
There is not much information given us, with regard to their functions,
in the New Testament: but, from St. Paul’s directions to Timothy, con-
cerning their qualifications, it is evident that their office was one of con-
siderable importance. He requires that they should be men of grave char-
acter, and “ποῦ greedy of filthy lucre ;” the latter qualification relating
to their duty in administering the charitable fund of the Church. He de-
sires that they should not exercise the office till after their character had
been first subjected to an examination, and had been found free from all
the mpecbirepos, as the χάρισμα διδασκαλίας was distinct from the χάρισμα κυθερνή-
σεως; but those who possessed both gifts would surely have been chosen presbyters
from the first, if they were to be found ; and, at all events, in the time of the Pastoral
Epistles we find the offices united.
1 In Romans xvi. 1, it is applied to a woman ; and we cannot confidently assert that
it is there used technically to denote an office, especially as the word διώκονος is so
constantly used in its non-technical sense of one who ministers in any way to others.
8 We observe, also, that when any of the seven are referred to, it is never by the
title of deacon; thus Philip is called “ th2 evangelist’ (Acts xxi. 8). In fact, the
office of the seven was one of much higher importance than that held by tue subse
guent deacons.
£36 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
imputation against it. If (as is reasonable) we explain these intimations
py what we know of the Diaconate in the succeeding century, we may as-
sume that its duties in the Apostolic Churches (when their organisation
was complete), were to assist the presbyters in all that concerned the out-
ward service of the Church, and in executing the details of those meas
ares, the general plan of which was organised by the presbyters. And,
doubtless, tuose only were selected for this office who had received the
gut of mimstration (διακονίας) previously mentioned.
It is a disputed point whether there was an order of Deaconesses to :
minister among the women in the Apostolic Church; the only proof of
their existence is the epithet attached to the name of Pheebe,' which may
be otherwise understood. At the same time, it must be acknowledged
that the almost Oriental seclusion in which the Greek women were kept,
would render the institution of such an office not unnatural in the churches
of Greece, as well as in those of the Hast. ὁ
Besides the three orders of Apostles, Presbyters, and Deacons, we find
another classification of the ministry of the Church in the Epistle to the
Ephesians,’ where they are divided under four heads, viz.,? Ist, Apostles;
Qndly, Prophets ; 3rdly, Evangelists ; 4thly, Pastors and Teachers. By
the fourth class we must understand‘ the Presbyters to be denoted,
and we then have two other names interpolated between these and the
Apostles ; viz. Prezhets and Evangelists. By the former we must under-
stand those cn whom the gift of prophecy was bestowed in such abun-
dant measure as to constitute their peculiar characteristic ; and whose
work it was-to impart constantly to their brethren the revelations which
they received from the Holy Spirit. The term Evangelist is applied to
those missionaries, who, like Philip the Hellenist,> and Timothy,® travelled
from place to place, to bear the Glad-tidings of Christ to unbelieving na-
tions or individuals. Hence it follows that the Apostles were all EKvan-
gelists, although there were also Evangelists who were not Apostles. It
is needless to add that our modern use of the word Evangelist (as mean-
ing writer of a Gospel) is of later date, and has no place here.
All these classes of Church-officers were maintained (so far as they re-
quired it) by the contributions of those in whose service they laboured.
St. Paul lays down, in the strongest manner, their right to such mainten-
ance ;7 yet, at the same time, we find that he very rarely accepted the
offerings, which, in the exercise of this right, he might himself have claimed.
He preferred to labour with his own hands for his own support, that he
1 Rom. xvi. 1. See p. 435, n. 1. 2 Eph. iv. 11.
3 A similar classification occurs 1 Cor. xii. 285; viz., lst, Apostles; 2dly, Prophets ;
srdly, Teachers.
4 See above, p. 434, n. 7 5 Acts xxi. 8.
* 2 Tim, iy. 5. 7 1 Cor. ix. 7-14.
VONSTITUTION OF TUE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 434
might put his disinterested motives beyond the possibility of suspicion ;
and he advises the*presbyters of the Ephesian Church to follow his exam
ple in this respect, that so they might be able to contribute, by their own
exertions, to the support of the helpless.
The mode of appointment to these different offices varied with the
nature of the office itseif. The Apostles, as we have seen, received their
commission directly from Christ himself ; the Prophets were appointed by
that inspiration which they received from the Holy Spirit, yet their claims
would be subjected to the judgment of those who had received’ the gift of
discernment of spirits. 'The Evangelists were sent on particular missions
from time to time, by the Christians with whom they lived (but not with-
out a special revelation of the Holy Spirit’s will to that effect), as the
Church of Antioch sent away Paul and Barnabas to evangelise Cyprus.
The presbyters and deacons were appointed by the Apostles themselves
(as' at Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch in Pisidia), or by their deputies, as
in the case of Timothy and Titus; yet, in all such cases, it is not im-
probable that the concurrence of the whole body of the Church was ob-
tained ; and it is possible that in other cases, as well as in the appoint-
ment of the seven Hellenists, the officers of the Church may have been
elected by the Church which they were to serve.
In all cases, so far as we may infer from the recorded instances in the
Acts, those who were selected for the performance of Church offices were
solemnly set apart for the duties to which they devoted themselves. "118
ordination they received, whether the office to which they were called was
permanent or temporary. ‘The Church, of which they were members,
devoted a preparatory season to “‘ fasting and prayer ;” and then those who
were to be set apart were consecrated to their work by that solemn and
touching symbolical act, the laying on of hands, which has been ever since
appropriated to the same purpose and meaning. And thus, in answer to
the faith and prayers of the Church, the spiritual gifts necessary for the
performance of the office were? bestowed by Him who is “the Lord and
Giver of Life.”
Having thus briefly attempted to describe the Offices of the Apostolic
Church, we pass to the consideration of its Ordinances. Of these, the
chief were, of course, those two sacraments ordained by Christ himself,
which have been the heritage of the Universal Church throughout all sue-
seeding ages. ‘The sacrament of Baptism was regarded as the door of
entrance into the Christian Church, and was held to be so indispensable
that it could not be omitted even in the case of St. Paul. We have seen
that although he had been called to the apostleship by the direct interven
1 Acts xiv. 21.
® Compare 2 Tim i. 6, “The gift of God which is in thee by the putting on of my
bands.” ᾿
438 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 8T. PAUL.
tion of Christ himself, yet he was commanded to receive baptism at the
hands of a simple disciple. In ordinary cases, the sole condition 1equired
for baptism was, that the persons to be baptized should acknowledge Jesus
as the Messiah,' “ declared to be the Son of God with power, by his resur-
rection from the dead.” In this acknowledgment was virtually involved
the readiness of the new converts to submit to the guidance of those whom
Christ had appointed as the Apostles and teachers of His Church ; and
we find’ that they were subsequently instructed in the truths of Christi-
anity, and were taught the true spiritual meaning of those ancient μιο-
phecies, which (if Jews) they had hitherto interpreted of a human
conqueror and an earthly kingdom. This instruction, however, took plave
after baptism, not before it ; and herein we remark a great and striking
difference from the subsequent usage of the Church. For, not long after
the time of the Apesties, the primitive practice in this respect was com-
pletely reversed ; in all cases the convert was,subjected to a long course of
preliminary instruction before he was admitted to baptism, and in some
instances the catechumen remained unbaptized till the hour of death ; for
thus he thought to escape the strictness of ἃ Christian life, and fancied that
a death-bed baptism would operate magically upon his spiritual condition,
and ensure his salvation, The Apostolic practice of immediate baptism
would, had it been retained, have guarded the Church from so baneful a
superstition.
It has been questioned whether the Apostles baptized adults only, or
whether they admitted infants also into the Church ; yet we cannot but
think it almost demonstratively proved that infant baptism was their
1 This condition would (at first sight) appear as if only applicable to Jews or Jewish
proselytes, who already were looking for a Messiah; yet, since the acknowledgment
of Jesus as the Messiah involves in itself, when rightly understood, the whole of Chris-
tianity, it was a sufficient foundation for the faith of Gentiles also. In the case both
of Jews and Gentiles, the thing required, in the first instance, was a belief in the testi-
mony of the Apostles, that ‘this Jesus had God raised up,” and thus had “ made that
same Jesus, whom they had crucified, both Lord and Christ.” The most important
passages, as bearing on this subject, are the baptism and confirmation of the Samaritan
converts (Acts viii.), the account of the baptism of the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts viii.),
of Cornelius (Acts x.), of the Philippian gaoler (Acts xvi.) (the only case where the
baptism of a non-proselyted keathen is recorded), of John’s disciples at Ephesus
(Acts xix.), and the statement in Rom. x. 9, 10.
2 This appears from such passages as Gal. vi. 6, 1 Thess. ν. 12, Acts xx. 20, 28, and
many others. ς
3 It is at first startling to find Neander, with his great learning and candor, taking
an opposite view. Yet the arguments on which he grounds his opinion, both in the
Planting and Leading and in the Church History, seem plainly inconclusive. He
himself acknowledges that the principles laid down by St. Paul (1 Cor. vii. 14) con-
tain a justification of infant baptism, and he admits that it was practised in the time
of Irenxeus. His chief reason against thinking it an Apostolical practice (Church His-
tory, sect. 3) is, that Tertullian opposed it; but Tertullian does not pretend to call it
wo innovation. Surely if infant baptism had not been sanctioned by the Apostles, we
ORDINANCES OF THE CHURCH. 433
nractice. This seems evident, not merely because (had it been otherwise’
we must have foundsome traces of the first introduction of infant baptism
afterwards, but also because the very idea of the Apostolic baptisin, as
the entrance into Christ’s kingdom, implies that it could not have been
refused to infants without violating the command of Christ: “ Suffer little
children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom
of heaven.” Again, St. Paul expressly says that the children of a Chris-
tian parent were to be looked upon as consecrated to God (ἅγιοι) by virtue
of their very birth ;' and it would have been most inconsistent with this
view, as well as with the practice in the case of adults, to delay the recep-
tion of infants into the Church till they had been fully instructed in Chris-
tian doctrine, .
We know from the Gospels * that the new converts were baptized “1n
the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” And
after the performance*® of the sacrament, an outward sign was given that
God was indeed present with His Church, through the mediation of The
Son, in the person of The Spirit ; for the baptized converts, when the
Apostles had laid their hands on them, received some spiritual gift, either
the power of working miracles, or of speaking in tongues, bestowed upon
each of them by Him who “ divideth to every man severally as He will.”
It is needless to add that baptism was (unless in exceptional cases) ad-
ministered by immersion, the convert being plunged beneath the surface of
the water to represent his death to the life of sin, and then raised from
this momentary burial to represent his resurrection to the life of right
eousness. It must be a subject of regret that the general discontinuance
of this original form of baptism (though perhaps necessary in our northern
climates) has rendered obscure to popular apprehension some very import-
ant passages of Scripture.
With regard to the other sacrament, we know both from the Acts and
the Epistles how constantly the Apostolic Church obeyed their Lord’s
command : “Do this in remembrance of me.” Indeed it would seem that
originally their common meals were ended, as that memorable feast at
Emmaus had been, by its celebration ; so that, as at the first to those
should have found some one at least among the many churches of primitive Chiisten-
dom resisting its introduction.
1 1 Cor. vii. 14.
* Matt. xxviii. 19. We cannot agree with Néander (Planting and Leading, 1, 25 und
188) that the evidence of this positive command is at all impaired by our finding bap-
tism described in the Acts and Epistles as baptism into the name of Jesus ; the latter
seems a condensed expression which would naturally be employed, just as we now
speak of Christian baptism. The answer of St. Paul to the disciples of John the Bap-
tist at Ephesus (Acts xix. 3), isa strong argument that the name of the Holy Ghost
occurred in the baptismal formula then employed.
3 The case of Cornelius, in which the gifts of the Holy Spirit were’ bestowed before
baptism, was an exception to the ordinary rule.
440 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 1. PAUL.
two disviples, their Lord’s presence was daily “made knewn unto them i
the breaking of bread.”! Subsequently the vommunion was adininistered
at the close of the public feasts of love (ἄγαπαι ") at which the Christians
met to realise their fellowship one with another, and to partake together,
rich and poor, masters and slaves, on equal terms, of the common meal,
But this practice led to abuses, as we see in the case of the Corinthiar
Church, where the very idea of the ordinance was violated by the provid-
ing of different food for the rich and poor, and where some of the former
were even guilty of intemperance. Consequently a change was made, and
the communion administered before instead of after the meal, and finally
separated from it altogether.
The festivals observed by the Apostolic Church were at first the same
with those of the Jews; and the observance of these was continued,
especially by the Christians of Jewish birth, for a considerable time. A
higher and more spiritual meaning, however, was attached to their cele
bration ; and particularly the Paschal feast was kept, no longer as a
shadow of good things to come, but as the commemoration of blessings
actually bestowed in the death and resurrection of Christ. Thus we
already see the germ of our Easter festival in the exhortation which St.
Pau! gives to the Corinthians concerning the manner in which they should
celebrate the paschal feast. Nor was it only at this annual feast that they
kept in memory the resurrection of their Lord ; every Sunday likewise was
a festival in memory of the same event ; the Church never failed to meet
for common prayer and praise on that day of the week ; and it very soon
acquired the name of the “ Lord’s Day,” which it has since retained.
But the meetings of the first converts for public worship were not
confined to a single day of the week; they were always frequent, often
daily. ‘The Jewish Christians met at first in Jerusalem in some of the
courts of the temple, there to join in the prayers and hear the teaching of
Peter and John. Afterwards the private houses* of the more vpulent
Christians were thrown open to furnish their brethren with a place of
assembly ; and they met for prayer and praise in some “upper chamber,” 4
with the “doors'shut for fear of the Jews.” he outward form and order
of their worship differed very materially from our own, as\indeed was
necessarily the case where so many of the worshippers were under the
miraculous influence of the Holy Spirit. Some were filled with prophetic
inspiration ; some constrained to pour forth their ecstatic feelings in the
exercise of the gift of tongues, ‘‘ as the Spirit gave them utterance.” We
gee, from St. Paul’s directions to the Corinthians, that there was danger
1 Luke xxiv. 35.
3 Jude xii. This is the custom to which Pliny alludes, when he describes the Chrie
finns meeting to partake of cibus promiscwus et innoxius (Ep. x. 97).
3 See Rom. xvi. 5, and 1 Cor. xvi. 19, and Acts xviii. 7.
4 “The upper chamber where they were gathered together.” Acts xx. 8.
DIVISIONS IN THE CHURCH. 44]
even then lest their worship should degenerate into a scene of confusion,
from the number who wished to take part in the publie ministrations ; and
he lays down rules which show that even the exercise of supernatural gifts
was to be restrained, if it tended to violate the orderly celebration of
public worship. He directs that not more than two or three should pro-
phecy in the same assembly ; and that those who had the gift of tongues
should not exercise it, unless some one present had the gift of interpreta-
tion, and could explain their utterances to the congregation. He also for-
bids women (even though some of them might be prophetesses') to speak
in the public assembly ; and desires that they should appear veiled, as
became the modesty of their sex.
In the midst of so much diversity, however, the essential parts of
public worship were the same then as now, for we find that prayer was
made, and thanksgiving offered up, by those who officiated, and that the
congregation signified their assent by a unanimous Amen.’ Psalms also
were chanted, doubtless to some of those ancient Hebrew melodies which
have been handed down, not improbably to our own times, in the simplest
form of ecclesiastical music ; and addresses of exhortation or instruction
were given by those whom the gift of prophecy, or the gift of teaching,
had fitted for the task.
But whatever were the other acts of devotion in which these assem-
blies were employed, it seems probable that the daily worship always con-
cluded with the celebration of the Holy Communion. And as in this the
members of the Church expressed and realised the closest fellowship, not
only with their risen Lord, but also with each other, so it was customary
to symbolise this latter union by the interchange of the kiss of peace be-
fore the sacrament, a practice to which St. Paul frequently alludes.‘
It would have been well if the inward love and harmony of the Church
had really corresponded with the outward manifestation of it in this touch-
ing ceremony. But this was not the case, even while the Apostles them-
selves poured out the wine and broke the bread which symbolised the per-
fect union of the members of Christ’s body. The kiss of peace sometimes
only veiled the hatred of warring factions. So, St. Paul expresses to the
1 Acts xxi. 9. 1 Cora χιν. 10:
3 This seems proved by 1 Cor, xi. 20, where St. Paul appears to assume that the very
object of συνελθεῖν ἐν ἐκκλησιᾷ was κυρίακον δείπνον φαγεῖν, As the Lord’s Supper
was originally the conclusion of the Agape, it was celebrated in the evening; and pro-
bably, therefore, evening was the time, on ordinary occasions, for the meeting of the
church. This was certainly the case in Acts xx. 8; a passage which Neander must
have overlooked when he says (Church History, sect. 3) that the church service in the
time of the Apostles was held early in the morning. There are obvious reasons why
the evening would have been the most proper time for a service wh.ch was to ke attended
by those whose day was spent in “ working with their hands,”’
4 See note cn 1 Thess. v. 26.
449 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PALL.
Corinthians his grief at hearing that there were “ divisions smong them,"
which showed themselves when they met together for public worship.
The earliest division of the Christian Church into opposing parties was
caused by the Judaizing teachers, of whose factious efforts in Jerusalem
and elsewhere we have already spoken. Their great object was to turn
the newly converted Christians into Jewish proselytes, who should differ
from other Jews only in the recognition of Jesus as the Messiah. In
their view the natural posterity of Abraham were still as much as ever
the theocratic nation, entitled to God’s exclusive favour, to which the rest
of mankind could only be admitted by becoming Jews. Those members
of this party who were really sincere believers in Christianity, probably
expected that a majority of their countrymen, finding their own national
privileges thus acknowledged and maintained by the Christians, would on
their part more willingly acknowledge Jesus as their Messiah ; and thus
they fancied that the Christian Church would gain a larger accession of
members than could ever accrue to it from isolated Gentile converts: so
that they probably justified their opposition to St. Paul on grounds not
only of Jewish but of Christian policy ; for they imagined that by his
admission of uncircumcised Gentiles into the full membership of the
Church, he was repelling far more numerous converts of Israelitish birth,
who would otherwise have accepted the doctrine of Jesus. This belief
(which in itself, and seen from their point of view, in that age, was not
unreasonable) might have enabled them to excuse to their consciences, as
Christians, the bitterness of their opposition to the great Christian Apos-
tle. But in considering them as a party, we must bear in mind that they
felt themselves more Jews than Christians. They acknowledged Jesus of
Nazareth as the promised Messiah, and so far they were distinguished
from the rest of their countrymen ; but the Messiah himself, they thought,
was only a “Saviour of His people Israel ;” and they ignored that true
meaning of the ancient prophecies, which St. Paul was inspired to reveal
to the Universal Church, teaching us that the “excellent things” which
are spoken of the people of God, and the city of God, in the Old Testa
ment, are to be by us interpreted of the “household of faith,” and “the
heavenly Jerusalem.”
We have seen that the Judaizers at first insisted upon the observance
of the law of Moses, and especially of circumcision, as an absolute re-
quisite for admission into the Church, ‘‘ saying, Except ye be circumcised
after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.” But after the decision
of the “ Council of Jerusalem” it was impossible for them to require this
rondition ; they therefore altered their tactics, and as the decrees of the
Council seemed to assume that the Jewish Christians would continue te
abserve the Mosaic Law, the Judaizers teak advantage of this to insist
DIVISIONS IN THE CHURCH. 448
on the necessity of a separation between those who kept the whole law
and all others; they taught that the uncircumcised were in a lower com
dition as to spiritual privileges, and at a greater distance from God,
and that only the circumcised converts were in a state of full acceptance
with Him: in short, they kept the Gentile converts who would not sub
mit to circumcision on the same footing as the proselytes of the gate, and
treated the circumcised alone as proselytes of righteousness. When we
comprehend all that was involved in this, we can easily understand the
energetic opposition with which their teaching was met by St. Paul. It
was no mere question of outward observance, no matter of indifference
(as it might at first sight appear), whether the Gentile converts were cir-
cumcised or not ; on the contrary, the question at stake was nothing less
than this, whether Christians should be merely a Jewish sect under the
bondage of a ceremonial law, and only distinguished from other Jews by
believing that Jesus was the Messiah, or whether they should be the
Catholic Church of Christ, owning no other allegiance but to Him, freed
from the bondage of the letter, and bearing the seal of their inheritance
no longer in their bodies, but in their hearts. We can understand now
the full truth of his indignant remonstrance, “If ye be circumcised, Christ
shall profit you nothing.” And we can understand also the exasperation
which his teaching must have produced in those who held the very anti-
thesis of this, namely, that Christianity without circumcision was utterly
worthless. Hence their long and desperate struggle to destroy the influ-
ence of St. Paul in every Church which he founded or visited ; in Antioch,
in Galatia, in Corinth, in Jerusalem, and in Rome. For ashe was in truth
the great prophet divinely commissioned to reveal the catholicity of the
Christian Church, so he appeared to them the great apostate, urged by
the wurst motives! to break down the fence and root up the hedge, which
separated the heritage of the Lord from a godless world,
We shall not be surprised at their success in creating divisions in the
Churches to which they came, when we remember that the nucleus of all
those Churches was a body of converted Jews and proselytes. The
Judaizing emissaries were ready to flatter the prejudices of the influential
body ; nor did they abstain (as we know both from tradition and from hig
own letters) from insinuating the most scandalous charges against their
great opponent.* And thus, in every Christian church established by St.
1 That curious apocryphal book, the Clementine Recognitions, contains, in a modi-
fied form, a record of the view taken by the Judaizers of St. Paul, from the pen of the
Judaizing party itself, in the pretended epistle of Peter to James. The English reader
should consult the interesting remarks of Mr. Stanley on the Clementines (Stanley’s
Sermons, p. 914, &c.), and also Neander’s-Church History (American translation,
vol. ii. p. 35, &c.).
? We learn from Epiphanius that the Ebionites accused St. Paul of renouncirg
144. THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
Paul, there sprang up, as we shall see, a schismatic party, opposed to his
teaching and hostile to his person.
This great Judaizing party was of course subdivided into various see
tions, united in their main object, but distinguished by minor shades of
difference. Thus, we find at Corinth, that it comprehended two factions,
the one apparently distinguished from the other by a greater degree of
violence. ‘The more moderate called themselves the followers of Peter, or
rather of Cephas, for they preferred to use his Hebrew name.' These
dwelt much upon our Lord’s special promises to Peter, and the necessary
inferiority of St. Paul to him who was divinely ordained to be the rock
whereon the Church should be built. They insinuated that St. Pau. felt
doubts about his own Apostolic authority, and did not dare to claim the
right of maintenance,” which Christ had expressly given to His true Apos-
tles. They also depreciated him as a maintainer of celibacy, and con-
trasted him in this respect with the great Pillars of the Church, “ the
brethren of the Lord and Cephas,” who were married.* And no doubt
they declaimed against the audacity of a converted persecutor, “ born
into the Church out of due time,” in “ withstanding to the face” the chief
of the Apostles. A still more violent section called themselves, by a
strange misnomer, the party of Christ.1 These appear to have laid great
stress upon the fact, that Paul had never seen or known Our Lord while
on earth; and they claimed for themselves a peculiar connexion with
Christ, as having either been among the number of His disciples, or at
least as being in close connexion with the “brethren of the Lord,” and
especially with James, the head of the Church at Jerusalem. ΤῸ this
subdivision probably belonged the emissaries who professed to come
“from James,”*® and who created a schism in the Church of Antioch.
Connected to a certain extent with the Judaizing party, but yet to be
earefully distinguished from it, were those Christians who are known in
the New Testament as the ‘‘ weak brethren.”® These were not a factious
or schismatic party ; nay, they were not, properly speaking, a party at all.
Judaism because he was a rejected candidate for the hand of the High Priest’s daugh-
ter. See p. 97.
1 The MS. reading is Cephas, not Peter, in those passages where the language of
the Judaizers is referred to. See note on Gal. i. 18.
* 1 Cor. ix. 4,6. 2,Cor. xi. 10. 3 1 Cor. ix. 5.
4 Such appears the most natural explanation of the Χριστοῦ party (1 Cor. i. 12).
De Wette’s view of it is different, and will be found in the Introduction to his Com-
mentary on the Epistle. Another hypothesis is stated and defended at length by
Neander. (Planting and Leading, p. 383, &c.) It appears to us that both De Wette’s
view and Neander’s is inconsistent with 2 Cor. x. 7—elri¢ πέποιθεν ἑαυτῷ Χριστοῦ
εἶναι, τοῦτο λογιζέσθω πάλιν ἀφ᾽ ἑαυτοῦ ὅτι καθὼς αὐτὸς Χριστοῦ οὕτω καὶ ἡμεῖς
Χριστοῦ; for surely St. Paul would never have said, “4s those who claim some
imaginary communion with Christ belong to Christ, so also do I belong to Christ.”’
5 Gal. ii. 12. 6 Rom. xiv. 1, 2. Ront. xv. 1. 1 Cor. viii. 7. ix. 22.
DIVISIONS IN THE CHURCH, 445
They were individual converts of Jewish extraction, whose minds were not
as yet sufficiently enlightened to comprehend the fulness of “ the liberty
with which Christ had made them free.” ‘Their conscience was sensitive,
and filied with scruples, resulting from early habit and old prejudices ; but
they did not join in the violence of the Judaizing bigots, and there waa
even a danger lest they should be led, by the example of their more en-
lightened brethren, to wound their own conscience, by joining in acts
which they, in their secret hearts, thought wrong. Nothing is more bean-
tiful than the tenderness and sympathy which St; Paul shows towards
these weak Christians ; while he plainly sets before them their mistake,
and shows that their prejudices result from ignorance, yet he has no
sterner rebuke for them than to express his confidence in their further en-
lightenment : “If in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal
even this unto you.”! So great is his anxiety lest the liberty which they
witnessed in others should tempt them to blunt the delicacy of their moral
feeling, that he warns his more enlightened converts to abstain from lawful
indulgences, lest they cause the weak to stumble. “If meat make my
brother to offend, I will eat no meat while the world standeth, lest I make
my brother to offend.”* “‘ Brethren, ye have been called unto liberty,
only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one an-
other.” “ Destroy not him with thy meat for whom Christ died.” 4
These latter warnings were addressed by St. Paul to a party very dif:
ferent from those of whom we have previously spoken ; a party who called
themselves (as we see from his epistle to Corinth) by his own name, and
professed to follow his teaching, yet were not always animated by his spirit.
There was an obvious danger lest the opponents of the Judaizing section
of the Church should themselves imitate one of the errors of their antago-
nists, by combining as partizans rather than as Christians ; St. Paul feels
himself necessitated to remind them that the very idea of the Catholic
Church excludes all party combinations from its pale, and that adverse
factions, ranging themselves under human leaders, involve a contradiction
to the Christian name. ‘Is Christ divided ? was Paul crucified for you?
or were you baptized into the name or Paul?” “ Who then is Paul, and
who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed?” ®
The Pauline party (as they called themselves) appear to have ridi-
culed the scrupulosity of their less enlightened brethren, and to have felt
for them a contempt inconsistent with the spirit of Christian love. And
in their opposition to the Judaizers, they showed a bitterness of feeling
t Phil. iii. 15. 2 1.Cor. viii. 13.
3 Gal. v. 13. 4 Rom. xiy. 15.
5 1 Cor. i. 13, and 1 Cor. iii. 5.
6 Rom. xiv. 10. “Why dost thou despise (ἐξουθενεῖς) thy brother?” 18 a question
sadressed to this party.
146 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
and violence of action,! too like that of their opponents. Some of them,
also, were inclined to exult over the fall of God’s ancient people, and te
plory in their own position, as though it had been won by supericr merit.
These are rebuked by St. Paul for their “ boasting,” and warned against its
consequences. ‘‘ Be not high-minded, but fear ; for if God spared not the
natural branches, take heed lest He also spare not thee.”* One section
of this party seems to have united these errurs with one still more danger-
ous to the simplicity of the Christian faith ; they received Christianity
more in an intellectuakthan a moral aspect ; not as a spiritual religion, so
much as a new system of philosophy. This was a phase of error most
likely to occur among the disputatious* reasoners who abounded in the
oreat Greek cities ; and, accordingly, we find the first trace of its exist-
ence at Corinth. There it took a peculiar form, in consequence of the ar-
rival of Apollos as a Christian teacher, soon after the departure of St.
Paul. He was a Jew of Alexandria, and as such had received that Gre-
cian cultivation, and had acquired that familiarity with Greek philosophy,
which distinguished the more learned Alexandrian Jews. Thus he was
able to adapt his teaching to the taste of his philosophising hearers at
Corinth far more than St. Paul could do ; and, indeed, the latter had pur-
posely abstained from even attempting this at Corinth.‘ Accordingly, the
School which we have mentioned called themselves the followers of Apol-
los, and extolled his philosophic views, in opposition to the simple and un-
learned simplicity which they ascribed to the style of St. Paul. It is easy
to perceive in the temper of this portion of the Church the germ of that
rationalising tendency which afterwards developed itself into the Greek
element of Gnosticism. Already, indeed, although that heresy was not
yet invented, some of the worst opinions of the worst Gnostics found δᾶ:
vocates among those who called themselves Christians ; there was, even
now, a party in the Church which defended fornication® on theory, and
which denied the resurrection of the dead.¢ These heresies probably ori-
ginated with those who (as we have observed) embraced Christianity as a
new philosophy ; some of whom attempted, with a perverted ingenuity, to
extract from its doctrines a justification of the immoral life to which they
were addicted. Thus, St. Paul had taught that the law was dead to true
Christians ; meaning thereby, that those who were penetrated by the Holy
Spirit, and made one with Christ, worked righteousness, not in conse
quence of a law of precepts and penalties, but through the necessary ope-
ration of the spiritual principle within them. For, as the law against
1 See the admonitions addressed #0 the zvev ματικοί in Gal. v. 13, 14, 26, and Gal
vi. 1-5,
3 Rom. xi. 17-22. 3 The συζητηταὶ τοῦ αἰῶνος τούὔύτοι, 1 Cor. i. 20.
4 1 Cor. ii. 1.
* Sec 1 Cor. vi. 9-20. 6 See 1 Cor. xy. 12.
HERESIES IN THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 447
theft might be said to be dead to a rich man (because he would feel ne
temptation to break it), so the whole moral law would be dead to a per-
fect Christian ;! hence, to a real Christian, it might in one sense be truly
paid that prohabitions were abolished? But the heretics of whom we are
speaking took this proposition ina sense the very opposite to that whick
it really conveyed ; and whereas St. Paul taught that prohibitions were
abolished for the righteous, they maintained that all things were lawful te
the wicked. “The law is dead”* was their motto, and their practice was
what the practice of Antinomians in all ages has been. “ Let us continue
in sin, that grace may abound” was their horrible perversion of the Hvan-
gelical revelation that God is love. ‘In Christ Jesus, neither circum-
cision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision.”* ‘The letter killeth, but
the Spirit giveth life.”° ‘ Meat commendeth us not to God ; for neither
if we eat are we the better, nor if we eat not are we the worse;”* “ the
kingdom of God is not meat and drink.”7 Such were the words in which
St. Paul expressed the great truth, that religion is not a matter of outward
ceremonies, but of inward life. But these heretics caught up the words,
and inferred that all outward acts were indifferent, and none could be
criminal. They advocated the most unrestrained indulgence of the pas-
sions, and took for their maxim the worst precept of Hpicurean atheism,
“let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die.” It is in the wealthy and
vicious citics of Rome and Corinth that we find these errors first manifest-
ing themselves ; and in the voluptuous atmosphere of the latter it was not
unnatural that there should be some who would seek in a new religion an
excuse for their old vices, and others who would easily be led astray by
those “ evil communications ” whose corrupting influence the Apostle him-
self mentions as the chief source of this mischief.
The Resurrection of the Dead was denied in the same city and by the
same ὃ party ; nor is it strange that as the sensual Felix trembled when
Paul preached to him of the judgment to come, so these profligate cavil-
lers shrank from the thought of that tribunal before which account must
be given of the things done in the body. Perhaps, also (as some have in-
ferred from St. Paul’s refutation of these heretics), they had misunder-
stood the Christian doctrine, which teaches us to believe in the resurree-
tion of a spiritual body, as though it had asserted the re-animation of
“this vile body” of “flesh and blood,” which “ cannot inherit the kingdom
! This state would be perfectly realised if the renovation of heart were complete ;
and it is practically realised in proportion as the Christian’s spiritual union with Christ
approaches its theoretic standard, We may believe that it was perfectly realised by
Kt. Paul when he wrote Gal. ii. 20,
3 Compare 1 Tim. 1, 9.—dikaiw νόμος οὐ κεῖται.
8 ἸΙάντα μοι ἔξεστιν, 1 Cor. vi. 12. 4 Gal. v. 6.
δ 2 Cor. iii. 6. 6 1 Cor. viii. 8 7 Rom. xiv. 17.
* Thie is proved by 1 Cor. xv. 33, 34.
448 imk LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
of God ;” or it is possible that a materialistic philosophy! led them te
maintain that when the body had crumbled away in the grave, or been
consumed on the funeral pyre, nothing of the man remained in being. In
either case, they probably explained away the doctrine of the Resurrec-
tion as a metaphor, similar to that employed by St. Paul when he says
that baptism is the resurrection of the new convert ;* thus they would
agree with those later heretics (of whom were Hymenaus and Phitetus)
who taught ‘ that the Resurrection was past already.”
Hitherto we have spoken of those divisions and heresies which appear
to have sprung up in the several Churches founded by St. Paul at the
earliest period of their history, almost immediately after their conversion.
Beyond this period we are not yet arrived in St. Paul’s life ; and from his
conversion even to the time of his imprisonment, his conflict wus mainly
with the Jews or Judaizers. But there were other forms of error which
harassed his declining years ; and these we will now endeavour (although
anticipating the course of our biography) shortly to describe, so that it
may not be necessary afterwards to revert to the subject, and at the same
time that particular cases, which will meet us in the Epistles, may be un-
derstood in their relation to the generai religious aspect of the time.
We have seen that, in the earliest epoch of the Church, there were two
elements of error which had already shown themselves ; namely, the bigot-
ed, exclusive, and superstitious tendency, which was of Jewish origin ; and
the pseudo-philosephic, or rationalising tendency, which was of Grecian
birth. In the early period of which we have hitherto spoken, and on-
wards till the time of St. Paul’s imprisonment at Rome, the first of these
tendencies was the principal source of danger; but after this, as the
Church enlarged itself, and the number of Gentile converts more and more
exceeded that of the Jewish Christians, the case was altered. The catho-
licity of the Church became an established fact, and the Judaizers, properly
so called, ceased to exist as an influential party anywhere except in Pales-
tine. Yet still, though the Jews were forced to give up their exclusive-
ness, and to acknowledge the uncircumcised as ‘fellow heirs and of the same
body,” their superstition remained, and became a fruitful source of mis-
chief. On the other hand, those who sought for nothing more in Christi-
anity than a new philosophy, were naturally increased in number, in pro
portion as the Church gained converts from the educated classes ; the lee:
turers in the schools of Athens, the ‘‘ wisdom seekers” of Corinth, the An:
tinomian perverters of St. Paul’s teaching, and the Platonising rabbis of
Alexandria, all would share in this tendency. The latter, indeed, as rep
1 Tf this were the case, we must suppose them to have been of Epicurean tendencies,
and, so far, different from the later Platonising Gnostics, who denied the Resurrectioz
2 Col. ii. 12. Compare Rom. vi. 4.
HERESIES IN THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 4.8
resented by the learned Philo, had already attempted to construct a sys
tem of Judaic Platonism, which explained away almost all the peculiari
ties of the Mosaic theology into accordance with the doctrines of the Aca-
demy. And thus the way was already paved for the introduction of that
most curious amalgam of Hellenic and Oriental speculation with Jewish
superstition, which was afterwards called the Gnostic heresy. It is a dis
puted point at what time this heresy made its first appearance in the
Church ; some! think that it had already commenced in the Church of
Corinth when St. Paul warned tnem to beware of the knowledge ( Gnosis)
which puffeth up; others maintain that it did not originate till the time
of Basilides, long after the last Apostle had fallen asleep in Jesus. Per-
haps, however, we may consider this as a difference rather about the defi-
nition of a term than the history of a sect. If we define Gnosticism to be
that combination of Orientalism and Platonism held by the followers of
Basilides or Valentinus, and refuse the title of Gnostic to any but those
who adopted their system in its full-grown absurdity, no doubt we must
not place the Gnostics among the heretics of the Apostolic age. But if,
on the other hand (as seems most natural), we define a Gnostic to be one
who claims the possession of a peculiar “ Gnosis” (2. 6. a deep and philo
sophic insight into the mysteries of theology, unattainable by the vulgar),
then it is indisputable that Gnosticism had begun when St. Paul warned
Timothy against those who laid claim to a “knowledge falsely so called "
(ψευδώνυμος γνῶσις). And, moreover, we find that, even in the Apostolic
age, these arrogant speculators had begun to blend with their Hellenic phi-
losophy certain fragments of Jewish superstition, which afterwards were
incorporated into the Cabbala.? In spite, however, of the occurrence of
such Jewish elements, those heresies which troubled the later years of St.
Paul, and afterwards of St. John, were essentially rather of Gentile 4 than
of Jewish origin. So far as they agreed with the later Gnosticism, this
1 This is the opinion of Dr. Burton, the great English authority on the Gnostic
heresy. (Lectures, pp. 84, 85.) We cannot refer to this eminent theologian without
expressing our obligation to his writings, and our admiration for that union of pro-
found learning with clear good sense and candour which distinguishes him. His pre-
mature death robed the Church of England of a writer who, had his life been spared,
would have been inferior to none of its brightest ornaments,
? Neander well observes, that the essential feature in Gnosticism is its re-establishing
an aristocracy of knowledge in religion, and rejecting the Christian principle which
recognises no religious distinctions between rich and poor, learned and ignorant
Church History, sect. 4.
3 Thus the “ genealogies”? mentioned in the Pastoral Epistles were probably thosa
speculations about the emanations of spiritual beings found in the Cabbala; at least,
such is Burton’s opinion, (Pp. 114 and 413.) And the angel worship at Colosse be-
longed to the same class of superstitions. Dr. Burton has shown (pp. 304-306) that
the later Gnostic theories of eons and emanations were derived, in some measure, from
Jewish sources, although the essential character of Gnosticism is entirely Anti-Judaical
4 See the note at the end of this Chapter.
VOL. I.—29
«0 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 850. PAUL.
must certainly have been the case, for we know that it was a characteris
‘ic of all the Gnostic sects to despise the Jewish Scriptures, Moreover
those who laid claims to “ Gnosis” at Corinth (as we have scen) were 4
Gentile party, who professed to adopt St. Paul’s doctrine of the abolition
of the law, and perverted it into Antinomianism : in short, they were the
opposite extreme to the Judaizing party. Nor need we be surprised te
find that some of these philosophising heretics adopted some of the wildest
superstitions of the Jews; for these very superstitions were not so much
the natural growth of Judaism as ingrafted upon it by its Rabbinical cor-
rupters and derived from Oriental sources, And there was a strong affi-
nity between the neo-Platonic philosophy of Alexandria and the Oriental
theosophy which sprang from Buddhism and other kindred systems, and
which degenerated into the practice of magic and incantations.
It is not necessary, however, that we should enter into any discussion
of the subsequent development of these errors ; our subject only reqnires
that we give an outline of the forms which they assumed during the
hfetime of St. Paul; and this we can only do very imperfectly, because
the allusions in St. Paul’s writings are so few and so brief, that they give
us but little information. Still, they suffice to show the main features of
the heresies which he condemns, especially when we compare them with
notices in other parts of the New Testament, and with the history of the
Church in the succeeding century.
We may consider these heresies, first, in their doctrinal, and, secouaie?
in their practical, aspect. With regard to the former, we find that their
general characteristic was the claim to a deep philosophical insight into
the mysteries of religion. Thus the Colossians are warned against the
false teachers who would deceive them by a vain affectation of ‘“ Philoso-
phy,” and who were “‘ puffed up by a fleshly mind.” (Col.ii. 8,187) So,
in the Epistle to Timothy, St. Paul speaks of these heretics as falsely
claiming ‘‘ knowledge” (gnosis). And in the Epistle to the Ephesians (so
called) he seems to allude to the same boastful assumption, when he
speaks of the love of Christ as surpassing “ knowledge,” in a passage
which contains other apparent allusions * to Gnostic doctrine. Connected
with this claim to a deeper insight into truth than that possessed by the
uninitiated, was the manner in which some of these heretics explained
away the facts of revelation by an allegorical interpretation. Thus we .
find that Hymenzeus and Philetus maintained that “the Resurrection was
past already.” We have seen that a heresy apparently identical with
this existed at a very early period in the Church of Corinth, among the
1 Dr. Burton says :—‘ We find all the Gnostics agreed in rejecting the Jewish Sorip
tures, or at least in treating them with contempt.” P. 39.
® Compare ἡ γνῶσις φυσιοῖ, 1 Cor. viii. 1.
3 Eph. iii. 19. See Dr. Burton’s remarks, Lectures, pp. 83 and 125.
HERESIES IN THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 451
free-thinking, or pseudo-philosophical, party there ; and all the Gnostic
sects of the second century were united in denying the resurrection of the
dead.' Again, we find the Colossian heretics introducing a worship of
angels, “intruding into those things which they have not seen :” and
80, in the Pastoral Epistles, the “self-styled Gnostics” (ψευδων. γνωσ.)
are occupied with “endless genealogies,” which were probably fanciful
myths, concerning the origin and emanat:on of spiritual beings.* This
latter is one of the points in which Jewish superstition was blended with
Gentile speculation ; for we find in the Cabbala,? or collection of Jewish
traditional theology, many fabulous statements concerning such emana-
tions. It seems to be a similar superstition which is stigmatised in the
Pastoral Epistles as consisting of ‘‘ profane and old wives’ fables ;”4 and,
again, of “Jewish fables and commandments of men.”* The Gnostics of
the second century adopted and systematised this theory of emanations,
and it became one of the most peculiar and distinctive features of their
heresy. But this was not the only Jewish element in the teaching of these
Colossian heretics ; we find also that they made a point of conscience o1
observing the Jewish Sabbaths * and festivals, and they are charged with
clinging to outward rites (στοιχεῖα τοῦ yoouov), and making distinctions
between the lawfulness of different kinds of food.
In their practical results, these heresies which we are considering had
a twofold direction. On one side was an ascetic tendency, such as we find
at Colosse, showing itself by an arbitrarily invented worship of God,7 an
affectation of self-humiliation and mortification of the flesh. So, in the
1 Burton, p. 131.. So Tertullian says: “ Resurrectionem quoque mortuorum mani-
feste annuntiatam in imaginariam significationem distorquent, asseverantes ipsam etiam
mortem spiritaliter intelligendam ... et resurrectionem eam vindicandam qua quis
adita veritate redanimatus ... ignorantiz morte discuss, velut de sepulcro veteris
hominis eruperit.”? Tertul. de Resurrect. Carnis, xix.
3 See p. 449, n. 3. According to the Cabbala, there were ten Sephiroth, vi emana-
tions proceeding from God, which appear to have suggested the Gnostic ons. Upon
this theory was grafted a system of magic, consisting mainly of the use of Scriptural
words to produce supernatural effects.
3 St. Paul denounces “the tradition of men” (Col. ii. 8) as the source of these
exrors ; and the word Cabbala (4525) means tradition. Dr. Burton says, “ the Cab-
bala had certainly grown into a system at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem ;
and there is also evidence that it had been cultivated by the Jewish doctors long
before.” FP. 298.
4 1 Tim. iv. 7. 5 Tit. i. 14,
6 This does not prove them, however, to have been Jews, for the superstitious heatnen
were also in the habit of adopting some of the rites of Judaism, under the idea of their
producing some magical effect upon them; as we find from the Roman satirists. Com
pare Horace, Sat. 1.9, 71. (“Hodie tricesima sabbata,”’ &c.), and Juv. vi. 542-547
See also some remarks on the Colossian hezetics in onr introductory remarks on tke
Epistle to the Colossians.
7 BéeAobpnckeia.
$52 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
Pastoral Epistles, we find the prohibition of marriage,! the enforceé
abstinence from food, and other bodily mortifications, mentioned as charac
teristics of heresy.? If this asceticism originated from the Jewish element
which has been mentioned above, it may be compared with the practice of
the Essenes, whose existence shows that such ascetism was not inconsistent
with Judaism, although it was contrary to the views of the Judaizing
party properly so' called. On the other hand, it may have arisen from
that abhorrence of matter, and anxiety to free the soul from the dominion
of the body, which distinguished the Alexandrian Platonists, and which
(derived from them) became a characteristic of some of the Gnostic sects.
But this asceticism was a weak and comparatively innocent form, in
which the practical results of this incipient Gnosticism exhibited them-
selves. Its really dangerous manifestation was derived, not from its Jew-
ish, but from its Heathen element. We have seen how this showed itself
from the first at Corinth ; how men sheltered their immoralities under the
name of Christianity, and even justified them by a perversion of its doc-
trines. Such teaching could not fail to find a ready audience wherever
there were found vicious lives and hardened consciences. Accordingly,
it was in the luxurious and corrupt population of Asia Minor,’ that this
early Gnosticism assumed its worst form of immoral practice defended by
Antinomian doctrine. Thus, in the Epistle to the Ephesians, St. Paul
warns his readers against the sophistical arguments by which certain false
teachers strove to justify the sins of impurity, and to persuade them that
the acts of the body could not contaminate the soul,—‘‘ Let no man deceive
you with vain words; for because of these things cometh the wrath of
God upon the children of disobedience.” Hymenseus and Philetus are
the first leaders of this party mentioned by name: we have seen that
they agreed with the Corinthian Antinomians in denying the resurrection,
and they agreed with them no less in practice than in theory. Of the
1 Which certainly was the reverse of the Judaizing exaltation of marriage.
? St. Paul declares that these errors shall come “in the last days;” but St. Jonn
says “ the last days” were come in his time ; and it is implied by St. Paul’s words that
the evils he denounces were already in action ; just as he had said before to the Thes-
salonians, τὸ μυστήριον ἤδη ἐνεργεῖται τῆς ἀνομίας (2 Thess. ii. 7), where the peculiar
expressions ἀνομία and ὁ ἄνομος seem to point to the Antinomian character of these
heresies.
3 Both at Colossee and in Crete it seems to have been the Jewish form of these here-
sies which predominated ; at Colosse they took an ascetic direction; in Crete, among
a simpler and more provincial population, the false teachers seem to have been hypo-
erites, who encouraged the vices to which their followers were addicted, and inoculated
them with foolish superstitions (lovdaixol μύϑοι-μώρας ζητήσεις καὶ γενεαλογίας) ; but
we do not find in these Epistles any mention of the theoretic Antinomianism which ex-
isted in some of the great cities,
4 Eph. v. 6. See also the whole of the warnings in Eph. y. The Epistle, though
not addressed (at any rate not exclusively) to the Ephesians, was probably sent tg
several other cities in Asia Minor.
MERESIES IN THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 452
first cf them it is expressly said that he' had “cast away a godd con
seience,” and of both we are told that they showed themselves not to be
leng to Christ, because they had not His seal ; this seal being described
as twofold—‘‘ The Lord knoweth them that are His,” and ‘‘ Let every one
who nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.”? St. Paul appears
to imply that though they boasted their “ knowledge of God,” yet that the
Lord had no knowledge of them ; as our Saviour had himself declared that
to the claims of such false disciples He would reply, ‘ I never knew you ;
depart from me, ye workers of iiquily.” But in the same Epistle where
these heresiarchs are condemned, St. Paul intimates that their principles
were not yet fully developed; he warns Timothy* that an outburst of
immorality and lawlessness must be shortly expected within the Church
beyond anything which had yet been experienced. The same anticipa-
tion appears in his farewell address to the Ephesian presbyters, and ever
at the early period of his Epistles to the Thessalonians; and we see from
the Epistles of St. Peter and St. Jude, and from the Apocalypse of St.
John, all addressed (it should be remembered) to the Churches of Asia
Minor, that this prophetic warning was soon fulfilled. We find that many
Christians used their liberty as a cloak of maliciousness ;4 “ promising
their hearers liberty, yet themselves the slaves of corruption ;”* “ turning
the grace of God into lasciviousness ;”* that they were justly condemned
by the surrounding Heathen for their crimes, and even suffered punish-
ment as robbers and murderers.7_ They were also infamous for the prac-
tice of the pretended arts of magic and witchcraft,’ which they may have
borrowed either from the Jewish soothsayers® and exorcisers,” or from the
Heathen professors of magical arts who so much abounded at the same
epoch. Some of them, who are called the followers of Balaam in the
Hpistles of Peter and Jude, and the Nicolaitans (an equivalent name) in
the Apocalypse, taught their followers to indulge in the sensual impurities,
anc even in the idol-feasts of the Heathen." We find moreover, that
11 Tim. i. 19.
3.2 ΤΊη.. 11]. 19. 3.2 Tim. iii. 41 Pet. 1]. 16.
5 2 Pet. ii. 19. 6 Jude iv. 71 Pet. iv. 15.
8. Rey. ii. 20. Compare Rey. ix. 21, Rev. xxi. 8, and Rev. xxii. 15.
9 Compare Juv. vi. 546: “ Qualiacunque voles Judxi somnia yendunt.”
10 See Acts xix. 13.
1. Such, at least, seems the natural explanation of eidwAddura φαγεῖν (Rev. ii. 20),
fcr we can scarcely suppose so strong a condemnation if the offence had been only eat-
ing meat which had once formed part of a sacrifice. It is remarkable how completely
tke Gnostics of the second century resembled these earlier heretics in all the pointa
nere mentioned. Their immorality is the subject of constant animadversion in the
writings of the Fathers, who tell us that the calumnies which were cast upon the Chris-
tlans by the heathen were caused by the vices of the Gnostics. Jrenmus asserts that
they said, “as gold deposited in the mud does not lose its beauty, so they themselves,
whatever may be their putward immorality, cannot te injured by it, nor lose thei
484 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
these false disciples, with their licentiousness in morals, united anarchy is
politics, and resistance to law and government. They “walked after the
flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despised governments.” And thus
they gave rise to those charges against Christianity itself, which were made
by the Heathen writers at the time, whose knowledge of the new religion
was naturally taken from those amongst its professors who rendered them-
selves notorious by falling under the judgment of the Law.
When thus we contemplate the true character of these divisions and
heresies which beset the Apostolic Church, we cannot but acknowledge
that it needed all those miraculous gifts with which it was endowed, and
all that inspired wisdom which presided over its organisation, to ward off
dangers which threatened to blight its growth and destroy its very exist
ence. In its earliest infancy, two powerful and venomous foes twined
themselves round its very cradle ; but its strength was according to its
day ; with a supernatural vigour it rent off the coils of Jewish bigotry
and stifled the poisonous breath of Heathen licentiousness ; but the peril
was mortal, and the struggle was for life or death. Had the Churech’s
fate been subjected to the ordinary laws which regulate the history of
earthly commonwealths, it could scarcely have escaped one of the two
opposite destinies, either of which must have equally defeated (if we may
so speak) the world’s salvation. Hither it must have been cramped into
a Jewish sect, according to the wish of the majority of its earliest mem-
bers, or (having escaped this immediate extinction) it must have added
one more to the innumerable schools of Heathen philosophy, subdividing
into a hundred branches, whose votaries would some of them have sunk
into Oriental superstitions, others into Pagan voluptuousness. If we
need any proof how narrowly the Church escaped this latter peril, we
have only to look at the fearful power of Gnosticism in the succeeding
century. And, indeed, the more we consider the elements of which every
Christian community was originally composed, the more must we wonder
how little the flock of the wise and good! could have successfully resisted
the overwhelming contagion of folly and wickedness. In every city the
nucleus of the Church consisted of Jews and Jewish proselytes ; on thia
foundation was superadded a miscellaneous mass of heathen converts,
almost exclusively from the lowest classes, baptized, indeed, into the name
spiritual substance.” Iren. vr. 2, quoted by Burton. And so Justin Martyr speaks of
heretics, who said “that though they lived sinful lives, yet, if they know God, the
Lord will not impute to them sin.” Tryph. 141. And Epiphanius gives the most
horrible details of the enormities which they practiced. Again, their addiction to magi
cal arts was notorious. See Burton, p. 179, &c. And their leaders, Basilides and Va-
lentinus, are accused of eating εἰδωλόθυτα (like the Nicolaitans of the Apocalypse) te
avoid persecution. Burton, pp. 148 and 453.
τ Whom St. Paul calls τέλειοι (Phil. iii, 15), 7. ο. mature in the knowledg? of Chris
tian truth.
HERESIES IN THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 458
of Jesus, but still with all the habits of a life of idolatry and vice clinging
to them. How was it, then, that such a society could escape the twe
temptations which assailed it just at the time when they were most likely
to be fatai? While as yet the Jewish element preponderated, a fanatical
party, commanding almost necessarily the sympathies of the Jewish por:
tion of the society, made a zealous and combined effort to reduce Christi-
anity to Judaism, and subordinate the Church to the Synagogue. Over
their great opponent, the one Apostle of the Gentiles, they won a tem-
porary triumph, and saw him consigned to prison and to death. How
was it that the very hour of their victory*was the epoch from which we
date their failure? Again,—this stage is passed,—the Church is thrown
open to the Gentiles, and crowds flock in, some attracted by wonder at
the miracles they see, some by hatred of the government under which
they live, and by hopes that they may turn the Church into an organised
conspiracy against law and order ; and even the best, as yet unsettled in
their faith, and ready to exchange their new belief for a newer, “ carried
about with every wind of doctrine.’ At such an epoch, a systematic
theory is devised, reconciling the profession of Christianity with the prac-
tice of immorality ; its teachers proclaim that Christ has freed them from
the law, and that the man who has attained true spiritual enlightenment
is above the obligations of outward morality ; and with this seducing phi-
losophy for the Gentile they readily combine the Cabbalistic superstitions
of Rabbinical tradition to captivate the Jew. Who could wonder if,
when such incendiaries applied their torch to such materials, a flame burst
. forth which well nigh consumed the fabric. Surely that day of trial was
“yevealed in fire,” and the building which was able to abide the flame
was nothing less than the Temple of God.
It is painful to be compelled to acknowledge among the Christians of
‘the Apostolic Age the existence of so many forms of error and sin. It
was a pleasing dream which represented the primitive church as a society
of angels ; and it is not without astrugele that we bring ourselves to open
our eyes and behold the reality. But yet it is a higher feeling which bids
us thankfully to recognise the truth that “ there is no partiality with God;”
that he has never supernaturally coerced any generation of mankind intc
virtue, nor rendered schism and heresy impossible in any age of the Church,
So St. Paul tells his converts? that there must needs be heresies among
them, that the good may be tried and distinguished from the bad ; imply-
ing that, without the possibility of a choice, there would be no test of
faith or holiness. And so Our Lord himself compared His Charch toa
net cast into the sea, which gathered fish of all kinds, both good and bad ;
nor was its purity to be attained by the exclusion of evil, tii! the end
1 Οὐκ ἔστί ποοσωπολήπτης ὁ Θεός, Acts x. 34.
ΣΙ ΣΝ τὶν 10.
£56 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ΒΤ. FAUL.
should come. Therefore, if we sigh, as well we may, for the realisaticn
of an ideal which Scripture paints to us and imagination embodies, but
which our eyes seek for and cannot find ; if we look vainly and with earnest
tongings for the appearance of that glorious Church, “without spot or
wrinkle or any such thing,” the fitting bride of a heavenly spouse ;—it
may calm our impatience to recollect that no such Church has ever existed
npon earth, while yet we do not forget that it has existed and does exist
in heaven. In the very lifetime of the Apostles, no less than now, “ the
earnest expectation of the creature waited for the manifestation of the
sons of God ;” miracles did nof convert; inspiration did not sanctify ;
then, as now, imperfection and evil clung to the members, and clogged the
energies, of the kingdom of God; now, as then, Christians are fellow
heirs, and of the same body with the spirits of just men made perfect ;
nov’, as then, the communion of saints unites into one family the Church
ni“ant with the Church triumphant.
NOTE.
Upon the Origin of the Heresies of the later Apostolic Age.
In the above sketch we have taken a somewhat different view of these heresies
from tliat advocated with great ability by Mr. Stanley. He considers all the
heretics opposed by St. Paul in the Epistles to the Colossians and Ephesians, and
in those to Timothy and Titus, and even those denounced by St. Peter, St. Jude,
and St. John, to have been Judaizers: and he speaks of St. Paul’s opposition
to them as “the second act of the conflict with Judaism.” In deference to a
writer who has done much to give clearness and vividness to our knowledge of
the Apostolic age, we feel bound to justify our dissent from his view by a few
additional remarks.
First, we think that even if the Jewish element had been the chief ingredient
in the teaching of these heretics, still they ought not to be called Judazzers. The
characteristic of the original Judaizers was a determination to confine Christen-
dom within the walls of the Synagogue, and to put Christianity on the same
footing with Pharisaism or Sadduceeism, as a tolerated Jewish sect. The rapid
increase and gradual preponderance cf the Gentile portion of the Church, soon
rendered the existence of this Judaizing party impossible, except in Palestine.
Hence it seems to introduce unnecessary confusion, if we apply the distinctive
name of Judaizers to heretics whose opinions were so very different from those ad
socated by the party originally called by that name.
But farther ; we cannot think that the Jewish element had that preponderat
3 P. 210.
ΝΟΪῈ ON THE HERESIES OF THE LATER ΑΡΟΒΤΟΙΙΟ AGE. 452
ite influence in the heresies of the later Apostolic period which Mr. Stanley
assigns to it. On the contrary, the accounts of them in tae Epistles inclinc us
to believe that the Jewish element was only the accidental, and the Gentile ele
ment the essential, constituent of these heresies. Mr. Stanley’s reasons for the
opposite opinion are mainly as follows :—
(1) That the party claiming ψευδώνυμος yudorg! is the same party who are
called vouodiddoxador.2 But the former are mentioned in quite a different part of
the Epistle from the latter, and there is no proof that the same persons are meant
in the two passages: and even if they are, the expression νομοδιδάσκαλοι might
very well be applied to learned Platonising Jews like Philo, who taught what
they considered the true and deep view of the Mosaic Law, by which it was
allegorised away into a mystic philosophy. And, in the teaching of such Jews,
Judaism was quite subordinated to Hellenism.
(2) Mr. Stanley argues that the anarchical policy of the heretics denounced
by St. Peter and St. Jude, is to be attributed to the Jewish national aspiration
after earthly empire, and impatience of the Roman yoke. It may be conceded
that some Jewish Christians may have joined these agitators from such feelings ;
but is it not equally probable that, as Arnold supposes, this lawless party cou
sisted mainly of nominal converts from heathenism, who “ took part with Chris-
tianity for its negative side, not for its positive ;” outlawed by their vices or their
crimes from the existing order of society, and anxious to revolutionise it, and
hoping to find in the Church an instrument for promoting their sinister ends ?
(3) Mr. Stanley assumes that “those who say they are Jews and are not,” 1
are to be identified with the Nicolaitans or Balaamites, mentioned in the same
chapter. But this is not quite clear ; and even if they be the same party, there
is no proof that they were Judaizing Christians ; on the contrary, the practices
attributed to them are in direct opposition to Judaism.4 And we should tkere-
fore Le inclined to agree with Dr. Burton,} that their profession of Judaism was —
only alopted to shield them from heathen persecution, at a time when it was
directed against Christians, Judaism being a religio licita, which Christianity
was not.
(4) Mr. Stanley argues that as Cerinthus. is (traditionally) connected with
the Ebiowites, and as St. John is represented (traditionally) as opposing Cerinthus,
therefore St. John wrote against the Ebionites, and consequently against a Juda
izing sect of heretics. But we do not think it would be safe to rely upon such
inferences, founded upon conditions of a vague and somewhat inconsistent kind.
It is true that Cerinthus is sometimes classed with the Ebionites by the early
writers agaiast heretics; but this appears only to be because some of their lesa
important doctrinal tenets were the same ;* for in the most essential points they
1 1 Tim. vi. 20. 3.1 ΠῚ τι 1 7 3 Rev. ii. 9.
4 Neander (Church History, sect. 4) thinks that the Nicolaitans of the Apocalypse
were not properly a sect. but only a class of people who were in the practice of seducicg
Christians to partake in the heathen sacrificial feasts, and, therefore, clearly Anti-
Judaistic. But see “ Planting anil Leading,” vol. ii. p. 533.
5 P. 237, &e.
6 The chief point of agreement seems to have been, that Cerinthus (as well as tha
later Gnostics) traced back all divine attributes in Christ to the descent of tho Holy
Spirit on Him at His baptism.
458 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
seem to have been the very antipodes of one another. The Cerinthians are repre
sented as advocates of gross sensuality and unbridled licence, like tke Antino-
mians of Corinth; whereas the Ebionites were a sect of ascetics, who practised
the most austere temperance, and resembled the Essenes in the strictness of their
morality. Again, we are told by Epiphanius! that Cerinthus considered the Law
as the work of an evil spirit, like the later Gnostics ; whereas the Ebionites were
strict Judaizers, the true representatives of the original party so called. More
over, St. John is universally believed to have written against heresies which
manifested themselves at Kphesus ; whereas the Ebionites were confined to
Palestine. And though Cerinthus adhered to some of the observances of the Law,
yet he is recorded? to have derived his theology, not from Palestine, but from
Alexandria.
Having thus mentioned Mr. Stanley’s principal reasons for thinking the here-
sies in question to be Jewish, we will state the arguments which have led us to
think them of Gentile origin. ἢ
(1) Their strong resemblance to the Corinthian Antinomianism ; shown by
Ilyinenzeus and Philetus denying the Resurrection; and by the Sophists of the
Epistle to the Ephesians (κενοὶ λόγοι3), who justified fornication ; and by their
name of “ followers of Balaam,” as explained to arise from their persuading their
followers to commit fornication.‘
(2) Their eating ἐιδωλόθυτα,» which we cannot easily conceive any Jewish
sect doing.
(3) The whole tone in which they are spoken of by St. Peter and St. Jude,
whose denunciations are directed against a system of open and avowed profligacy,
such as might be supposed with greater ease to spring from Heathen laxity than
from Jewish formalism. Surelv. had they been a ὧν daizing sect, some notice of
, the fact must have been found in these Mpistles ; wnereas it seems implied that
they were perverters of St. Paul’s doctrines.®
(4) The fact that the Epistles of St. John are directed against heretics who
claimed a peculiar “ knowledge of God,” and maintained their right to sin; still
reminding us of the Corinthian Antinomians, and with no trace of Judaism.
(5) The close connection between the opinions of all these heretics and those
of the later Gnostics; which leads us to infer that Judaism could not be a pre
dominant feature in their heresies, since later Gnosticism was so especially op-
posed to Judaism. For though the Gnostics borrowed some Jewish notions
which they blended with their own system,’ yet they all agreed in referring the
1 See Burton, Ὁ. 478. It is tre thet w the ~ecresentaaon of the doctrine of Cerin-
‘hus given by others, and adopted by Neander in his Chureh History (sect. 4), Cerin-
thus only taught that the Law was given by an angelic Demiurge, who unconsciously
did the work of God. But even on this view, he taught that the Jews as a nation wor-
shipped this Demiurge by mistake as the supreme “ God,” and that beyond this infe
rior standing point the Law could not raise them. Surely this is enough to show how
completely the Alexandrian element preponderated over the Jewish in Cerinthus’s
doctrine.
* By Theodoret, whose statement is believed by Neander.
3 Eph. v. 6. 4 Rev. ii. 14. 5 Rev. ii. 20. 6 2 Pet. iii. 15.
7 It is remarkable that the three earliest leaders of the Gnostics, viz. Cerinthus, Ba
ailides, and Valentinus. were all Alexandrians; and the pagan name of the son af
NOTE ON THE HERESIES OF THE LATER APOSTOLIC AGE. 459
origin of the Mcsaic Law either to an evil spirit, or to an inferior and unenlight-
ened Demiurge.
Basilides (Isidorus) seems to show that Basilides could not have even been of Jewish
race. It is true that Neander divides the Gnostic sects into two classes, one connected
with, and the other opposed to, Judaism. But the connection with Judaism of which
he speaks in the former, only consisted in their transferring to their own systems some
elements derived from Judaism, which, as a whole, they all considered a religion suited
only to the unenlightened and “ peychical”’ mass. In all of them the speculative aad
philosophising element, whether derived from Hellenic or Oriental sources, predowi-
sated over the Judaicai.
ΩΣ bas
H Mohit ἢ Ἧι
te ἐν Mey i TRE a δὴ εν ἢ [ἢ Rie ΩΣ τυ. Ne iy ᾽ ΝΙΝ
‘
Hy ἽΝ (Ὁ ἰδ ὑπ
Ἷ Ὶ Pha ὙΠ
Ἢ ἴω, ΝΥΝ ‘Bai Thiet
WK winds Ae: ee μι" ΤῊ ll it? debe ΜΠ sis
ia a oll in us bali "
a eh ria
ΤῊΝ
᾿ 31 Arch of Titus.
1 Mhan Beige (Ponte 8. A λ
3 Remaios of Triamphal Brige,
3 Japicnlensian Br. (Ponte Sisto
4 Bridge of Fabricius (Ponte 4 eer
5 do of Costius (Ponte 8, Bartolomeo)
6 Palatine Bridge Vata Rotto).
7 Remains of Sublician Bridge.
8 Pyramid of Cains Cestiua
9 Reservoir of Aqua Julia
10 Aqua Tepula and Julia ΕῚ a-
il Agus Claudia, he
19 Aqua Marcia.
13 Tarpeian Rock. os gr
14 Temple of Romulns. sf
16 lo Jupiter Tonans.
16 do Concord.
17 do Pietas Romana (S. Nicola in Carcere)
18 do Fortuna Virilis (8, Maria Egiziaca),
19 do Vesta (5. Maria iu Cosmedin).
2 do Remus (S. Cosmo e Damiano).
«λ΄. «do Castor (3, Maria Liberatrics),
φῷ do Peace (Basilica of Constantine),
Ὧ do Venus ἃ Rome(S, Francesca Rormana) Φ
24 do = Antoninus & Faustiua (8, Lorenzo m Miranda)
25 f+
Antoninus Pius aap House).
Claudius (5. Ste
27 Bathe of Paulus Emilius.
28 Forum’of Trajan, Ὁ
49 Pantheon ahh?
30 Maueoleum of Augustus,
31 OM Push & Portico of Octavias.
32 Theatre of Apollo Tordinons
33 Theatre of Marcellus (Orsini Palace)
34 Theatre of Pompey.
36 Arch of Septimins Severm.
36 Column of Phoces Ε
ano Rotondo).
38 Constantine.
® de Gallienus. 46 Circus of Magnan
4 do Dollabehn ὯΝ 41 Circus of Nero
41 Arch of Droeus:& Aqueduct of Atoms. ἢν Navicella (3, Maria fn Domurca).
42 Tombs of the Scipios. 5
“ sprang lect το brs “ἐλ μον of 8M. Maggiore.
Ἢ Amphitheatre of Statilras Taaras Pp
6 macnn of Hadnan do 5. Croce in Gernsalemms
Da | é i
εὖ Ps
μ its ι a
Se ΝΥ ΤῊΝ εν» ae
Lr. vialpra
πα Praenestin®
ἃ (ἃ ataggiore
D2.
iy ee
PLAN OF ROM#,
EXHIBITING A CUMPARATIVE VIEW op
THE ANCIENT AND MODERN SITES.
Porta Lating
SP,
᾿ς
git’ My ν it
oe | me ea Δ
“ny on |
TR ani
> h ay ni yy
iy | ΓΝ) Ὧν ὺ
; ' ἯΠ ΝῊ HEA Lines ΑΗ ψ eee ᾿
mB » Ὁ» δι ΠΣ hid.” Sa i ΠΥ ἢ
hic dhe ΝΜ θλγυν! ae eee
Ἷ iach, lia - Ly
CONTENTS
UF
THE SECOND VOLUME.
CHAPTER XIV.
PAUSE
Peparture from Antioch.—J ourney through Phrygia and Galatia.— Apollos
at Ephesus and Corinth— Arrival of St. Paul at Ephesus.—Disciples of
John the Baptist—The Synagogue.—The School of ''yrannus.— Miracles.
—Ephesian Magic.—The Exorcists——Burning of the Books - δῦ
CHAPTER XY.
St. Paul pays a short Visit to CorinthReturns to Ephesus— Writes a Let-
ter to the Corinthians, which is now lost.—They reply, desiring farther
Explanations.—State of the Corinthian Church.—St. Paul writes The
First Epistle to the Corinthians Fae eth irsre 2) Seem ὐρξο ΓΟ.
CHAPTER XVI.
Description of Ephesus.—Temple of Diana.—Her Image aud Worship.—Po-
litical Constitution of Ephesus.—The Asiarchs.—Demetrius and the Silver-
emiths.—Tumult in the Theatre.—Speech of the Town-Clerk.—St. Paul’s
Departure - - - - - - - - - : - - 69
CHAPTER XVII.
St. Paul at Troas—He passes over to Macedonia.—Causes of his Dejec-
tion.—He iaeets Titus at Philippi-~Writes The Second Epistle to the Cor-
wnthzans.—Collection for the poor Christians in Judea.—J ΠΝ by Illyri-
cum to Greece SN = ΣΙ ΩΝ ΝΣ τό αι νυ
CHAPTER XVIII.
St. Paul’s Feelings on approaching Corinth—Contrast with his first Visit.—-
Bad News from Galatia.—He writes The Epistle to the Galatians . - 130
vi CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XIX.
St. Paul at Corinth.—Punishment of contumacious Offenders.—Subse yuent
Character of the Corinthian Church._-Completion of the Collection.—
Pheebe’s Journey to Rome.—She bears The Epistle to the Romans -Ἑ -
Note on the Isthmian Stadium - - - - Ξ = = ἐδ ξ
CHAPTER XX.
Corinth—Isthmian Games.—Voyage from Philippi—Sunday at Troas.
Assos.— Voyage by Mitylene and Trogyllium to Miletus.—Speech to the
Ephesian Presbyters—Voyage by Cos and Rhod>s to Patara.—Thence to
Pheenicia.— Christians at Tyre——Ptolemais.—Hyvents at Cxsarea.—Arri-
valat Jerusalem - - - - - - « and through which, as before,
we cannot venture to Jay down a route.° Though the visitation of the
Churches was systematic, we need not conclude that the same exact course
was followed. Since the order in which the two districts are mentioned is
different from that in the former instance,? we are at liberty to suppose
that he travelled first from Lycaonia through Cappadocia’ into Galatia,
and then by Western Phrygia to tle coast of Adgean. In this last part
of his progress we are in still greater doubt as to the route, and one ques-
tion of interest is involved in our opinion concerning it. The great road
from Ephesus by Iconium to the Euphrates, passed along the valley of the
Meander, and near the cities of Laodicea, Colosse, and Hierapolis ; and
we should naturally suppose that the Apostle would approach the capital
of Asia along this well-travelled line. But the arguments are so strong
for believing that St. Paul was never personally at Colossee,’? that it is
safer to imagine him following some road further to the north, such as
that, for instance, which, after passing near Thyatira, entered the valley
of the Hermus at Sardis."!
Thus, then, we may conceive the Apostle arrived at that region, where
he was formerly in hesitation concerning his future progress,'’*—the frontier
1 See again Ch. VL and Ch. VIII. for Lycaonia and Mount Taurus.
3 See Vol. I. p. 22 and 49.
3 See Ch. VI. and Ch. VIII., with the map on p. 189.
4 See Vol. I. p. 270. 5 Acts xvi. 6. 6 See Ch, VIIL
7 Compare Acts xvi. 6 with xviii. 23. In hoth cases we should observe that the
phrase ἡ Γαλατικὴ χώρα is used. See what is said on the expression “ churches of
Galatia,” p. 272.
8 This is Wieseler’s view. For the province of Cappadocia, see Vol. I. p. 249
The district is mentioned Acts ii. 9 and 1 Pet. i. 1.
9 See Vol. I. pp. 269-271, and 272.
10 From Col. ii. 1 we should naturally infer that St. Paul had never been personally
among the Colossians. See Wieseler on this subject, and on the question whether the
Apostle visited Colosse from Ephesus, p. 51 and p. 440, note. For a full discussion
on the other side, where all Lardner’s arguments are considered, see Dr. Davidson’s
Introduction. :
ul See Leake’s map. The characteristic scenery of the Mander and Hermus iw
described in several parts of Hamilton’s travels. See especially ch. viii—x., xxviii—
x}.; also li. lii, and especially Vol. I. pp. 124,136. We may observe that, on one
ot his journeys, nearly in the direction in which St. Paul was moving, he crossed tha
mountains from near Afium Kara Hissar (Synnada) to visit Yalobatch (Antioch in Pisi
flia). The Apostle might easily do the sams.
4 Acts xvi. 6-8.
APOLLOS. 13
.
district of Asia and Phrygia,’ the mountains which contain the upper
waters* of the Hermus and Meander. And now our attention is sud-
denly called away to another preacher of the Gospel, whose name, next te
that of the Apostles, is perhaps the most important in the early history of
the Church. There came at this time to Ephesus, either directly from
Egypt by sea, as Aquila or Priscilla from Corinth, or by some routa
through the intermediate countries, like that of St. Paul himself? a
“disciple” named Apollos,‘ a native of Alexandria. This visit occurred
at a critical time, and led to grave consequences in reference to the esta-
blishment of Christian truth, and the growth of parties in the Church ;
while the religious community (if so it may be called) to which he
belonged at the time of his arrival, furnishes us with one of the most
interesting links between the Gospels and the Acts.
Apollos, along with twelve others,’ who are soon afterwards mentioned
at Ephesus, was acquainted with Christianity only so far as it had been
made known by John the Baptist. They “knew only the baptism of
John.”7 From the great part which was acted by the forerunner of
Christ in the first announcement of the Gospel, and from the effect pro-
duced on the Jewish nation by his appearance, and the number of disciples
who came to receive at his hands the baptism of repentance, we should
expect some traces of his influence to appear in the subsequent period,
during which the Gospel was spreading beyond Judea. Many Jews from
other countries received from the Baptist their knowledge of the Messiah,
and carried with them this knowledge on their return from Palestine.
We read of a heretical sect, at a much later period, who held John the
Baptist to have been himself the Messiah. But in a position intermedi
ate between this deluded party, and those who were travelling as teachers
of the full and perfect Gospel, there were doubtless many, among ‘the
floating Jewish population of the empire, whose knowledge of Christ ex-
tended only to that which had been preached on the banks of the Jordan.
1 Some description of this district is given, p. 278.
? This part of the table-land of the interior is what is meant by τὰ dvwrepixd μέρη,
Acts xix. 1. It is needless to say that the word “coasts”? in the Authorised Version
has no reference to the sea. So Herodotus uses the expression τὰ ἄνω τῆς ᾿Ασίας, i. 177.
3 Κατήντησεν.
4 Winer remarks that this abbreviated form of the name Apollonius is found in
Sozomen. It is, however, very rare; and it is worth observing that among the terra-
cottas found at Tarsus (described Vol. I. p. 256, note) is a circular disc which has the
name AIJOAAQO inscribed on it in incursive Greek.
5 See the excellent remark of Olshausen on the whole narrative concerning Apollox
end the other disciples of John the Baptist.
6 See Acts xix. 1-7. 7 Acts xviii. 25. Compare xix. 3.
* The Zabeans. See Olshausen. So in the Clementine Recognitions are nrentioned
eome “ex discipulis Jokannis, qui magistrum suum veluti Christum pradicaruné”
(J 64, 60.)
14 THE LifFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
That such persons should be found at Ephesus, the natural meet.ng-slace
of all religious sects and opinions, is what we might have supposed a
priori. Their own connection with Judea, or the connection of their
teachers with Judea, had been broken before the day of Pentecost. Thus
their Christianity was at the same point at which it had stood at the com-
mencement of our Lord’s ministry. They were ignorant of the full mean-
ing of the death of Christ ; possibly they did not even know the fact of
His resurrection ; and they were certainly ignorant of the mission of the
Comforter. But they knew that the times of the Messiah were come,
and that one had appeared? in whom the prophecies were fulfilled. That
voice had reached them, which cried, “‘ Prepare ye the way of the Lord”
(Is. xl. 3). They felt that the axe was laid to the root of the tree, that
“the kingdom of Heaven was at hand,” that “ the knowledge of Salvation |
was come to those that sit in darkness” (Luke i. 77), and that the chil-
dren of Israel were everywhere called to “repent.” Such as were in
this religious condition were evidently prepared for the full reception of
Christianity, so soon as it was presented to them; and we see that they
were welcomed by St. Paul and the Christians at Ephesus as fellow
disciples * of the same Lord and Master.
In some respects Apollos was distinguished from the other disciples of
John the Baptist, who are alluded to at the same place, and nearly at the
same time. ‘There is much significance in the first fact that is stated, that
he was “born at Alexandria.” Something has been said by us already
concerning the Jews of Alexandria, and their theological influence in the
age of the Apostles.s In the establishment of a religion, which was
intended to be the complete fulfilment of Judaism, and to be universally
supreme in the Gentile world, we should expect Alexandria to bear her
part, as well as Jerusalem. The Hellenistic learning fostered by the
foundations of the Ptolemies might be made the handmaid of the truth,
no less than the older learning of Judeea and the schools of the Hebrews.
As regards Apollos, he was not only an Alexandrian Jew by birth, but
he had a high reputation for an eloquent and forcible power of speaking,
and had probably been well trained in the rhetorical schools on the banks
of the Nile. But though he was endued with the eloquence of a Greek
orator, the subject of his study and teaching were the Scriptures of his
forefathers. The character which he bore in the synagogues was that of
a man “mighty in the Scriptures.” In addition to these advantages ΟἹ
» Acts xix. 2. ‘
3 Kuinoel thinks they were not even aware of Christ’s appearance.
2 Note the word μαθητὴς, xix. 1.
4 See pp. 35-37. Also pp, 9, 10-18, and 105.
δ Λόγιος is probably “eloquent” rather than “ learned,” inasmuch as in thc same
verse he is called δυνατὸς ἐν ταῖς γραφαῖς.
APOLLOS AT EPHESUS. 15
birth and education, he seems to have had the fullest and n.ost systematic
instruction in the Gospel, which a disciple of John could possibly receive.’
Whether from the Baptist himself, or from some of those who travelled
into other lands with his teaching as their possession, Apollos had received
full and accurate instruction in the “way of the Lord.” We are farther
told that his character was marked by a fervent zeal? for spreading the
truth. Thus we may conceive of him as travelling, like a second Baptist,
beyond the frontiers of Judwa,—-expounding the prophecies of the Old
Testament, announcing that the times of the Messiah were come, and cali-
ing the Jews to repentance in the spirit of Elias* Hence he was, like his
great teacher, diligently ‘“‘ preparing the way of the Lord.”* Though
ignorant of the momentous facts which had succeeded the Resurrection
and Ascension, he was turning the hearts of the ‘disobedient to the
wisdom of the just,” and ‘making ready a people for the Lord,”*> whom
he was soon to know “more perfectly.” Himself “a burning and shining
light,” he bore witness to “that Light which lighteth every man that
cometh into the world,” ‘—as, on the other hand, he was a “‘ swift witness”
against those Israelites whose lives were unholy, and came among them
“to purify the sons of Levi, that they might offer unto the Lord an offer-
ing in righteousness,”? and to proclaim that, if they were unfaithful, God
was still able “to raise up children unto Abraham.” 8
Thus, burning with zeal, and confident of the truth of what he had
learnt, he spoke out boldly in the synagogue.? An intense interest must
have been excited about this time concerning the Messiah in the synagogue
at Ephesus. Paul had recently been there, and departed with the promise
of return. Aquila and Priscilla, though taking no forward. part as public
teachers, would diligently keep the subject of the Apostle’s teaching before
the minds of the Israelites. And now an Alexandrian Jew presented him-
self among them, bearing testimony to the same Messiah with singular
eloquence, and with great power in the interpretation of Scripture. Thus
an unconscious preparation was made for the arrival of the Apostle, who
was even now travelling towards Ephesus through the uplands ef Asia
Minor.
The teaching of Apollos, though eloquent, learned, and Zcalous, was
1 Ἣν κατηχημένος τὴν ὁδὸν τοῦ Κυρίου. 3. Ζέων τῷ πνεύματι.
3 IIe was probably able to go further in Christian teaching than John the Baptist
could do, by giving an account of the life of Jesus Christ. So far his knowledge was
aecurate (ἀκριθὴς). Further instructions from Aquila and Priscilla made it more ac-
curate (ἀκριθέστερον).
4 The phrase ἢ ὁδὸς τοῦ Κυρίου should be carefully compared with the passages in
the Gospels anil Prophets, where it occurs in reference to John the Baptist. Matt. iii,
8. Marki. 3. Luke iii.4. John i. 28. Isa. xl. 3. (Lxx.) Compare Mal. iii. 1. (1xx)
5 Luke i. 16, 17. 6 John v. 3,5. i. 9. 7 Mal. iii. 3-5.
® Matt. iii. 9. 9 “Ἥρξατο παῤῥησιάζεσθαι ἐν τῇ ευναγωγῇ. xviii 26
2
16 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF §T. PAUL.
seriously defective. But God had provided among his listeners those wha
could instruct him more perfectly. Aquila and Priscilla felt that he waa
proclaiming the same truth in which they had been instructed at Corinth.
They could inform hin that they had met with one who had taught with
authority far more concerning Christ than had been known even to John
the Baptist ; and they could recount to him the miraculous gifts, which
attested the outpouring of the Holy Ghost. Thus they attached them
selves closely to Apollos,' and gave him complete instruction in that “way
of the Lord,” which he had already taught accurately,’ though imperfectly ;
and the learned Alexandrian obtained from the tent-makers a knowledge
of that “mystery” which the ancient Scriptures had only partially
revealed.
This providential meeting with Aquila and Priscilla in Asia became
the means of promoting the spread of the Gospel in Achaia. Now that
Apollos was made fully acquainted with the Christian doctrine, his zeal
urged him to go where it had been firmly established by an Apostle. It
is possible, too, that some news received from Corinth might lead him to
suppose that he could be of active service there in the cause of truth. The
Christians of Ephesus encouraged‘ him in this intention, and gave him
“letters of commendation” * to their brethren across the AZgean. On his
arrival at Corinth, he threw himself at once among those Jews who had
rejected St. Paul, and argued with them publicly and zealously on the
ground of their Scriptures,’ and thus? became “a valuable support to those
who had already believed through the grace of God ;” for he proved with
power that that Jesus who had been crucified at Jerusalem, and whom
Paul was proclaiming throughout the world, was indeed the Christ.2 Thus
he watered where Paul had planted, and God gave an abundant increase.
(1 Cor. iii. 6.) And yet ev grew up side by side with the good. For
while he was a valuable aid to the Christians, and a formidable antagonist
to the J qyys, and while he was honestly co-operating in Paul’s great work
of evangelizing the world, he became the occasion of fostering pas ty-spirit
1 TIpoceAdbovro αὐτόν. “They took him to themselves,” v. 26.
2 Compare ἀκριθῶς, v. 25; and ἀκριθέστερον, ν. 26.
3 y. 27. 4 Προτρεψάμενοι, ν. 27.
5 Ol ἄδελφοι ἔγραψαν τοῖς μαθηταῖς, v. 27. Compare συστατικαὶ ἐπιστολαὶ, 2 Cor.
tii. 1) where the reference is to commendatory letters addressed to or from the very
sume Church of Corinth.
6 Compare εὐτόνως (v. 28) with ζέων τῷ πνεύματι (Vv. 25) ; δημοσίᾳ with παῤῥησιά-
(εσθαι (v. 26); and ἐπιδεικνὺς διὰ τῶν γραφῶν with δυνατὸς ἐν ταῖς γραφαῖς (ν. 24).
7 The word γὰρ should be noticed. His coring was ἃ valuable assistance te the
Christians against the Jews, in the controversies which had doubtless been going on
singe St. Paul’s departure.
᾿ς 8 ’'Exudecxvog εἶναι τὸν Χριστὸν ᾿Ιησοῦν, v. 28. The phrase is much more definite
than those which are used above (τὴν ὁδὸν τοῦ Κυρίου, ana τὰ περὶ τοῦ K vy. 25) of the
time when he was not fully instructed.
APOLLOS AT CORINTH. 17
among the Corinthians, and was unwillingly held up as a rival of the
Apostle himself. In this city of rhetoricians and sophists, the erudition
and eloquent speaking of Apollos were contrasted with the unlearned
simplicity with which St. Paul had studiously presented the Gospel to his
Corinthian hearers... Thus many attached themselves to the new teacher,
and called themselves by the name of Apollos, while others ranged them-
selves as the party of Paul (1 Cor. i. 12),—forgetting that Christ could
not be “divided,” and that Paul and Apollos were merely ‘“ministers by
whom they had believed.” (1 Cor. iii. 5.) We have no reason to imagine
that Apollos himself encouraged or tolerated such unchristian divisions.
A proof of his strong feeling to the contrary, and of his close attachment
to St. Paul, is furnished by that letter to the Corinthians, which will soon
be brought under our notice,? when, after vehement rebukes of the schisma-
tic spirit prevailing among the Corinthians, it is said, “touching our
brother Apollos,” that he was unwilling to return to them at that parti-
cular time, though St. Paul himself had “ greatly desired it.”
But now the Apostle himself is about to arrive in Ephesus. His resi-
dence in this place, like his residence in Antioch and Corinth, is a subject
to which our attention is particularly called. Therefcre, all the features
of the city—its appearance, its history, the character cf its population,
its political and mercantile relations—possess the utmost interest for us.
We shall defer such description to a future chapter, and limit ourselves
here to what may set before the reader the geographical position of Ephe-
sus, as the point in which’St. Paul’s journey from Antioch terminated for
the present.
We imagined him? about the frontier of Asia and Phrygia, on his ap-
proach from the interior to the sea. From this region of volcanic mo7a-
tains, a tract of country extends to the Aigean, which is watered by t Ὁ
of the long western rivers, the Hermus and the Meander, and which 8
celebrated through an extended period of classical history, and is saci 1
COIN oF EPHESUS. ἢ
: See the remarks on the Corinthian parties in Vol. L p. 446.
δ 1 Cer. xvi. 12. 3 Above, p. 13.
4 Due to the kindness of Mr. Akerman. The abbreviation of the word veaxooe
{Acta xix. 35) will be observed here. The image, however, of Diana is not the form
ander which she was worshipped at Ephesus.
VOL. I1.-—2
18 THE LIFE’AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
+o us as the scene of the Churches of the Apocalypse.'. Near the mouth
of one of these rivers is Smyrna ; near that of the other is Miletus. The
islands of Samos and Chios are respectively opposite the projecting por-
tion of coast, where the rivers flow by these cities to the sea.* Between
the Hermus and the Meander is a smaller river, named the Cayster, separ:
ated from the latter by the ridge of Messogis, and from the former by
Mount Tmolus. Here, in the level valley of the Cayster, is the early
cradle of the Asiatic name,—the district of primeval ‘‘ Asia,”—not as
understood in its political or ecclesiastical sense, but the Asia of old poetic
legend. And here, in a situation preeminent among the excellent posi-
tions which the Ionians chose for their cities,t Ephesus was built, on some
hills near the sea. For some time after its foundation by Androclus the
Athenian, it was inferior to Miletus ;* »at with the decay of the latter
city, in the Macedonian and Roman periods, it rose to greater eminence,
and in the time of St. Paul it was the greatest city of Asia Minor, as
well as the metropolis of the province of Asia. Though Greek in its
origin, it was half-oriental in the prevalent worship, and in the character
of its inhabitants ; and being constantly visited by ships from all parts of
the Mediterranean, and united by great roads with the markets of the
interior, it was the common meeting-place of various characters and
classes of men.
. Among those whom St. Paul met on his arrival, was the small com-
pany of Jews above alluded to,®° who professed the imperfect Christianity
of Johz the Baptist. By this time Apollos had departed to Corinth.
Those “disciples” who were now at Ephesus were in the same religious
condition in which he had been, when Aquila and Priscilla first spoke to
1 Rev. i. ii. iii. Laodicea is in the basin of the Meander ; Smyrna, Thyatira, Sardis,
and Philadelphia are in that of the Hermus; Pergamus is further to the north on the
Caicus. For a description of this district, see Arundell’s Visit to the Seyen Churches,
and Fellows’ Asia Minor.
2 Tn the account of St. Paul’s return we shall have to take particular notice of this
coast. He sailed between these islands and the mainland, touching at Miletus,
Acts xx.
3 For the early history of the word Asia, see Vol. I. pp. 237, 238.
4 Herodotus says of the cities of the Ionians generally: Oi ἤίωνες ἐν τῷ καλλίστῳ
ἐτύγχανον ἱδρυσάμενοι πόλιας πάντων ἀνθρώπων τῶν ἡμεῖς iduev. i. 142; and Strabo
says of Ephesus: Ἡ πόλις τῇ πρὸς τὰ ἄλλα εὐκαιρίᾳ τῶν τύπων αὔξεται Kat!’ ἑκάστην
ἡμέραν ἐμπόριον οὖσα μέγιστον τῶν κατὰ τὴν ᾿Ασίαν τὴν ἐντὸς 'Γαύρου. xiv. An ac-
count of the early history of Ephesus to the time of Alexander, will be found in a trea-
tise “De rebus Ephesiorum,” by W. C. Perry (Gottingen, 1837). A much more
copious work is Guhl’s “ Ephesiaca” (Berlin, 1843), of which we sha]l make abundant
ase. See alsoa paper by Mr. Akerman, containing ‘‘ Remarks on the Coins of Epheaus,
struck during the Roman Dominion” (read before the Numismatic Society, May 20
1841).
5 See Guhl, p. 27; Perry, p. 11. In legend its origin is referred to the Amazona
6 Above, p. 13. See Acts xix. 1-7,
DISCIPLES OF JOHN THE BAPTIST. 19
fim, though doubtiess they were infericr to him both in learning and zeal.!
St. Paul found, on inquiry, that they had only received John’s baptism,
and that they were ignorant of the great outpouring of the Holy Ghost,
in which the life and energy of the Church consisted.” They were even
perplexed by his question. He then pointed out, in conformity with
what had been said by John the Baptist himself, that that prophet only
preached repentance to prepare men’s minds for Christ, who is the true
object of faith. On this they received Christian baptism : 4 and after they
were baptized, the laying on of the Apostle’s hands resulted, as in all
other Churches, in the miraculous gifts of Tongues and of Prophecy.
After this occurrence has been mentioned as an isolated fact, our at-
tention is called to the great teacher’s labours in the synagogue. Doubt-
less, Aquila and Priscilla were there. Though they are not mentioned
here in connection with St. Paul, we have seen them so lately (Acts xviii.)
instructing Apollos, and we shall find them so soon again sending saluta-
tions to Corinth in the Apostle’s letter from Hphesus (1 Cor. xvi.) that
we cannot but believe he met his old associates, and again experienced
the benefit of their aid. It is even probable that he again worked with
them at the same trade: for in the address to the Enhesian elders at
Miletus (Acts xx. 34) he stated that “his own hands had ministered to
his necessities, and to those who were with him ;” and in writing to the
Corinthians he says (1 Cor. iv. 11, 12) that such toil had continued
“even to that hour.” There is no doubt that he “reasoned” in the Syna-
gogue at Ephesus with the same zeal and energy with which his spiritual
labours had been begun at Corinth.6 He had been anxiously expected,
and at first he was heartily welcomed. A preparation for his teaching
had been made by Apollos and those who instructed him. ‘For three
months” Paul continued to speak beldly in the synagogue, “ arguing and
endeavouring to convince his hearers of all that related to the kingdom
of God.”? The hearts of some were hardened, while others repented and
believed ; and in the end the Apostle’s doctrine was publicly calumniated
1 It is impossible to know whether these men were connected with Apollos. The
‘yhole narrative seems to imply that they were in a lower state of religious knowledge
than he was.
? See the last chap. in Vol. I.
3 The English version, “ We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy
Ghost,” is a literal translation of the Greek, ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲ εἰ Πνεῦμα ἅγιον ἐστὶν ἠκούσα-
μεν. Some commentators supply δοθέν, or some equivalent word. If taken thus, the
passage will be a close parallel to John vii. 39, οὔπω γὰρ ἣν Πνιεῖμα éyvov—* the
Holy Spirit is not yet [given].”
4 On the inference derivable from this passage, that the name of the Holy Ghost was
used in the baptismal formula, see p. 439.
5 See again the last chap. in Vol. I., and the note below on 1 Cor.
BU THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 51. PAUL.
by the Jews before the people.! On this he openly separated himself
and withdrew the disciples from the Synagogue; and the Christian
Church at Ephesus became a distinct body, separated both from the Jews
and the Gentiles.
As the house of Justus at Corinth® had afforded St. Paul a refuge
from calumny, and an opportunity of continuing his public instruction, so
here he had recourse to “ the school of Tyrannus,” who was probably a
teacher of philosophy or rhetoric, converted by the Apostle to Christi-
anity.2 His labours in spreading the Gospel were here continued for two
whole years. For the incidents which occurred during this residence, for
the persons with whom the Apostle became acquainted, and for the pre-
cise subjects of his teaching, we have no letters to give us information
supplementary to the Acts, as in the cases of Thessaloniva and Corinth : 3
inasmuch as that which is called the “ Epistle to the Ephesians,” enters
into no personal or incidental details.» “But we have, in the address to
the Ephesian elders at Miletus, an affecting picture of an Apostle’s la-
bours for the salvation of those whom his Master came to redvem. From
that address we learn, that his voice had not been heard within the school
of Tyrannus alone, but that he had gone about among his converts, in-
structing them “from house to house,” and warning “each one” of them
affectionately “ with tears.” 5 The subject of his teaching was ever the
same, both for Jews and Greeks, “‘repentance towards God, and faith
towards our Lord Jesus Christ.”7 Labours so incessant, so disinterested,
and continued through so long a time, could not fail to produce a great
result at Ephesus. A large Church was formed, over which many pres-
byters were called to preside. Nor were the results confined to the city
Throughout the province of “ Asia” the name of Christ became generally
known, both to the Jews and Gentiles ;? and doubtless, many daughter-
churches were founded, whether in the course cf journeys undertaken by
the Apostle himself,” or by means of those with whom he became
1 ᾿Ενώπιον τοῦ πλήθους, ν. 9. 2 Acts xviii. 7. See Vol. L.p. 398.
3 Those who are apt to see a Jewish or Talmudical reference almost everywhere (ag
Lightfoot, Vitringa, and Schottgen), think that Tyrannus ,may have been a Jew, and
his “school” a place for theological teaching (2 nog), such as those mentioned,
Vol. I. p. 60.
4 See in the first volume the chapter containing the two Epistles to the Thessalonians,
and in the present volume those which contain the two Epistles to the Corinthians.
53. The peculiarities of this Hpistle will be considered hereafter.
6 Acts xx. 20, 31 Compare vy. 19. 7 Tb. 21.
8. Τρ. 17. τοὺς πρεσθυτέρους τῆς ἐκκλησίας, below (v. 28) called ἐπισκύπους. See
what is said on this subject, Vol. I. p. 434.
9 Ὥστε πάντας τοὺς κατοικοῦντας τὴν ᾿Ασίαν ἀκοῦσαι τὸν λόγον τοῦ Κυρίου ᾿Ἰηςοῦ,
Ἰουδαίους τε καὶ ’"EAAnvac. Acts xix. 10. There must have been many Jews in
various parts of the province.
10 What is said of his continued residence at Ephesus by no means implies thai ha
did not make journeys in the province.
ἙΡΠΈΡΙΑΝ MAGIC. 24
acquainted,—as for instance by Epaphras, Archippus, and Philemon, in com
nection with Colosse, and its neighbour cities Hierapolis and Laodicea.'
It is during this interval, thet one of the two characteristics of
the people of Ephesus comes prominently into view. ‘This city was re
nowned throughout the world for the worship of Diana, and the practice
of magic. Though it was a Greek city, like Athens or Corinth, the manners
of its inhabitants were half oriental. The image of the tutelary goddess
resembled an Indian idel? rather than the beautiful forms which crowded
the Acropolis of Athens :* and the enemy which St. Paul had to oppose
was not a vaunting philosophy, as at Corinth,! but a dark and. Asiatic su-
perstition. The worship of Diana and the practice of magic were closely
connected together. Eustathius says, that the mysterious symbois, called
“ Ephesian Letters,” were engraved on the crown, the girdle, and the feet
of the goddess.? These Ephesian letters or monograms have been com
pared to the Runic characters of the north.6 When pronounced, they
were regarded as a charm ;7 and were directed to be used, especially by
νι those who were in the power of evil spirits. When written, they were
carried about as amulets.? Curious stories are told of their influence.
Creesus is related to have repeated the mystic syllables when on his fune-
ral pile ; 190 and an Hphesian wrestler is said to have always struggled suc-
cessfully against an antagonist from Miletus until he lost the scroll, which
before had been like a talisman. 'The study of these symbols was an ela-
borate science ; and books, both numerous and costly, were compiled by
its professors.”
1 See above for the arguments against supposing that St. Paul travelled to Ephesus
by Colosss and the valley of the Meander. The same arguments tend to prove that
he never visited this district from Ephesus. It is thought by many that Epaphras
was converted by St. Paul at Ephesus, and founded the church of Colosse. See Col
i 7. iv. 12-17. Philem. 23.
* See the Coins in the next chapter but one. We shall return to the subject hereafter
5 See Vol. I. p. 355, &e. 4 See Vol. I. p. 446. ,
5 davai τινες ἦσαν ἐπὶ τῆς στεφάνης Kai τῆς ζώνης Kal τῶν ποδῶν τῆς ᾿Εφεσίας
Αοτέμιδος αἰνιγματώδως γεγραμμέναι. Ἰδαδίαίῃ. Od. xiv. p. 1864,
6 By a Swedish writer, Beeth, De Templo Dianze Ephesia : Upsal, 1700. See Guhl’r
Ephesiaca, ο. iii. ὃ 6.
7’Enwoat, ἃς οἱ φωνοῦντες ἐνίκων ἐν παντί, among the quotations in Guhl.
®’Oi μάγοι, τοὺς δαιμονιζομένους κελεύουσι τὰ ᾿Εφέσια γράμματα καταλέγειν καὶ
ὀνομάζειν. Plut. Symp.
9 Ἔν σκυταρίοις ῥαπτοῖσι φέρων ’Edeciia γράμματα καλά, Anaxilas in Athenzeus,
xii. 584, ὁ.
10 See the Htymologicum Magnum.
1 Suidas and Eustathius, referred to by Guhl.
” For further information on Ephesian magic, see Wetstein and Grotius. The life
of Alexander of Tralles in Smith’s Biography, and in the biography of the 1]. K. Socie«
ty, contains some important illustrations. Olshausen quotes some of the mystic syk
lables from Hesychius.
22 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF wT. PAUL.
This statement throws some light on the peculiar character of the mir
acles wrought by St. Paul at Ephesus. We are ποῦ to suppose that the
Apostles were always able to work miracles at will. An influx of super-
natural power was given to them, at the time, and according to the cir-_
cumstances that required it. And the character of the miracles was not
always the same. They were accommodated to the peculiar forms of sin,
superstition, and ignorance they were required to oppose.’ Here, at
Ephesus, St. Paul was in the face of magicians, like Moses and Aaron be-
fore Pharaoh ; and it is distinctly said that his miracles were “not ordi-
nary wonders ;”? from which we may infer that they were different from
those which he usually performed. We know, in the case of our Blessed
Lord’s miracles, that though the change was usually accomplished on the
speaking of a word, intermediate agency was sometimes employed ; as
when the blind man was healed at the pool of Siloam. A miracle
which has a closer reference to our present subject, is that in which
the hem of Christ’s garment was made effectual to the healing of a
poor sufferer, and the conviction of the bystanders.4 So on this oceasion gar-
ments > were made the means of communicating a healing power to those
who were at a distance, whetber they were possessed with evil spirits, or
afflicted with ordinary diaeases.6 Such effects, thus publicly manifested,
must have been a signal refutation of the charms and amulets and mystic
letters of Ephesus. Yet was this no encouragement to blind superstition,
When the suffering woman was healed by touching the hem of the gar-
ment, the Saviour turned round and said, “ Virtue is gone out of me.”?
And here at Ephesus we are reminded that it was God who “ wrought
miracles by the hands of Paul” (v.11), and that “ the name,” not of Paul,
but “of the Lord Jesus, was magnified.” (vy. 17.)
These miracles must have produced a great effect upon the minds of
those who practised curious arts in Ephesus. Among the magicians whe
1 The narrative of what was done by St. Paul at Ephesus should be compared witk
St. Peter’s miracles at Jerusalem, when “many signs and wonders were wrought
among the people .... insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets,
and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by
might overshadow some of them.” Acts vy. 12-16.
2 Δυνάμεις ob τὰς τυχούσας. xXix. 11. :
3 “He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and anointed the eyes of the
blind man with the clay, and said unto him: Go, wash in the pool of Siloam.” John
UKs Osis
4 Matt. ix. 20. See Trenct on the Miracles, p. 189, ἄο.
5 Both the words used here are Latin. The former, swdariwm, is that which occurs
Luke xix. 20. John xi. 44. xx. 7, and is translated “napkin.” The latter, sezz-
zinclium, denotes some such article of dress—shawl, handkerhief, or apron—as is
easily laid aside.
6 Kai ἀπαλλάσσεσθαι ἀπ’ ἀυτῶν τὰς νόσονς, τὰ τε πνεύματα τὰ πεονηοὰ ἐξέρχισθαι
an αὐτῶν. ν. 12.
7 Luke viii. 46. Compare vi. 19.
THE EXORCISTS. 293
were then in this city, in the course of their wanderings through the Kast,
were several Jewish exorcists.!. This is a cireumstance which need not
surprise us. The stern severity with which sorcery was forbidden in the
Old Testament’ attests the early tendency of the Israelites to such prao
tices : the Talmud bears witness to the continuance of these practices at
a later period ;3 and we have already had occasion, in the course of this
nistory, to notice the spread of Jewish magicians through various parts of
e
the Roman Empire.* It was an age of superstition and imposture—an
age aiso in which the powers of evil manifested themselves with peculiar
force. Hence we find St. Paul classing “‘ witchcraft ” among the works of
the flesh (Gal. v. 20), and solemnly warning the Galatians, both in words?
and by his letters, that they who practise it cannot inherit the king-
dom of God ; and it is of such that he writes to Timothy (2 Tim. iii. 13),
—that ‘evil men and sedwcers* shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and
being deceived.” This passage in St. Paul’s latest letter had probably re-
ference to that very city in which we see him now brought into opposition
with Jewish sorcerers. These men, believing that the name of Jesus acted
as a charm, and recognising the Apostle as a Jew like themselves, at-
tempted his method of casting out evil spirits? But He to whom the
demons were subject, and who had given to His servant “power and au-
thority ” over them (Luke ix. 1), had shame and terror in store for those
who presumed thus to take His Holy Name in vain.
One specific instance is recorded, which produced disastrous conse-
quences to those who made the attempt, and led to wide results among
the general population. In the number of those who attempted to cast
out evil spirits by the “name of Jesus,” were seven brothers, sons of Sceva,
who is called a high-priest,* either because he had really held this c.tice at
Jerusalem, or because he was chief of one of the twenty-four courses of
1 Acts xix. 13.
2 See Exod. xxii. 18. Ley. xx. 27. Deut. xviii, 10,11. 1 Sam. xxviii. 3. 9.
3 See Lightfoot in Biscoe on the Acts, p. 265. A knowledge of magic was a requi-
site qualification of a member of the Sanhedrin, that he might be able to try those who
were accused of such practices. Josephus (Ant. xx. 7, 2) speaks of a Cyprian Jew, ἃ
sorcerer, Who was a friend and companion of Felix, and who is identified by some with
Simon Magus. Again (Ant. viii. 2,5) he mentions certain forms of incantation used
by Jewish magicians which they attributed to King Solomon.
4 See Vol. 1. 145, &e.
5 Observe the phrase in v. 21, “as I told you in time past” (προεῖπον), perhaps og
the very journey through Galatia which we have just had occasion to mention. Ses
again Rey. ix. 21. xviii. 33.
6 The word is γοῆτες, the customary term for these wandering magicians. See Neane
der, 1. 41, &c., Eng. Trans,
7 See v. 13.
8 Olshausen’s version, that he was merely the chief rabbi of the Ephesian Jews (einer
Oberrabbi, der vermuthlich das Haupt der Ephesinischen Judenschaft war) can hardly
be a correct rendering of ἀοχιερεύς,
94. THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
priests. But the Demons, who were subject to Jesus, and by His wil!
subject to those who preached His Gospel, treated with scorn those whe
used His Name without being converted to His truth. ‘“ Jesus I know,
and Paul I know ; but who are ye?” was the answer of the evil spirit.
And straightway the man who was possessed sprang upon them, with
frantic violence, so that they were utterly discomfitted, and “ fled out of
the house naked and wounded.” !
This fearful result of the profane use of that Holy Name which was
proclaimed by the Apostles for the salvation of all men, soon became no-
torious, both among the Greeks and the Jews. Consternation and alarm
took possession of the minds of many ; and in jrvportion to this alarm the
name of the Lord Jesus began to be reverenced and honoured.2 Even
among those who had given their faith to St. Paul’s preaching,* some ap-
pear to have retained their attacliment to the practice of magical arts.
Their conscience was moved by what had recently occurred, and they
came and made a full confession to the Apostle, and publicly acknowl-
edged and forsook their deeds of darkness.*
The fear and conviction seems to have extended beyond those who
made a profession of Christianity. A large number of the sorcerers them-
selves* openly renounced the practice which had been so signally con-
demned by a higher power ; and they brought together the books? that
contained the mystic formularies, and burnt them before all the people.
When the volumes were consumed,’ they proceeded to reckon up the price
at which these manuals of enchantment would be valued. Such books,
from their very nature, would be costly ; and all books in that age bore a
value, which is far above any standard with which we are. familiar.
Hence we must not be surprised that the whole cost thus sacrificed and
surrendered amounted to as much as two thousand pounds of English mo-
ney.® This scene must have been long remembered at Ephesus. It was
a strong proof of honest conviction on the part of the sorcerers, and a
striking attestation of the triumph of Jesus Christ over the powers of dark-
1 y. 16. avails 3 ’Eyeyadivero.
4 It seems unnatural to take the pertect participle τῶν πεπιστευκότων in any other
sense than “those who had previously believed.”
5 Τὰς πράξεις αὑτῶν, which must surely refer to the particular practices in question.
The word ἐξομολογεῖσθαι denotes “ to make a full confession,” as in Matt. iii, 6. Jam.
v. 16.
6 v.19. 7 Τὰς βίθλους, “ their books.”
8 The imperfect catéxazsv should be noticed, as imparting a graphic character to the
whole narrative. The burning and blazing of the books went on for some consider-
able time. Compare the instances of the burning of magical books recorded in Liv. xL
29. Suet. Aug. 31: also Tac. Ann. xiii. 50. Agr. 2.
9 The “piece of silver” mentioned here was doubtless the drachma, the current
Greek coin.of the Levant: the value was about ten-pence. There can be no reason
+0 suppose with Grotius that the shekel is meant.
\
BURNING OF THE BOOKS. 95
ness. The workers of evil were put to scorn, like the priests of Baal by
Elijah on Mount Carmel ;! and the teaching of the doctrine of Christ
“increased mightily and grew strong.” ?
With this narrative of the burning of the books, we have nearly
reached the term of St. Paul’s three years’ residence at Ephesus. Before
his departure, however, two important subjects demand our attention,
each of which may be treated in a separate chapter :—the First Epistle
to the Corinthians, with the circumstances in Achaia which led te the
writing of it,—and the uproar in the Ephesian Theatre, which will be
considered in connection with a description of the city, and some notice of
the worship of Diana,
COIN oF ΕΡΉΠΕΙΞ.
ΕΣ Kings xviii.
Θύτω κατὰ κράτος ὁ λόγος τοῦ K. ηὔξανε καὶ ἴσχυεν. v. 20.
Gee v. 21, which immediately follows. 4 See above, Ὁ. 17,a.4
26 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ΕἸ. PAUT.
CHAPTER XV:
“Αἱ μὲν ἐπιστολαὶ (φησὶ) βαρεῖαι καὶ ἰσχυραῖ" ἣ de παρουσία -od σώματος ἀσϑενὴν
καὶ ὁ λόγος ἐξουθενημένος.""--- Cor. x. 10.
ST. PAUL PAYS A SHORT VISIT TO CORINTH.—RETURNS TO EPHESUS.—WRITES A LETTER
τὸ THE CORINTHIANS, WHICH IS NOW LOST.—THEY REPLY, DESIRING FARTHER EX
PLANATIONS.—STATE OF THE CORINTHIAN CHURCH.—ST. PAUL WRITES THE F/RST
EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS.
We have hitherto derived such information as we possess, concerning the
proceedings of St. Paul at Ephesus, from the narrative in the Acts; but
we must now record an occurrence which St. Luke has passed over in
silence, and which we know only from a few incidental allusions in the let-
ters of the Apostle himself. This occurrence, which probably took place
not later than the beginning of the second year of St. Paul’s residence at
Ephesus, was a short visit which he paid to the Church at Corinth.!
4 The occurrence of this visit is proved by the following passages :
(1) 2 Cor. xii. 14. τρίτον τοῦτο ἑτοίμως ἔχω ἐλθεῖν πρὸς ὑμᾶς.
(2) 2 Cor. xiii. 1. τρίτον τοῦτο ἔρχομαι πρὸς ὑμᾶς.
If the visit after leaving Ephesus was the third, there must have been a serona.
before it.
(3) 2 Cor. xii. 21. μὴ πάλιν ἐλθόντα pe ταπεινώσῃ ὁ Θεὸς, καὶ πενθήσω πολλοὺς
τῶν προημαρτηκότων. He fears lest he should again be humbled on visiting them,
and again have to mourn their sins. Hence there must have been a former visit, in
which he was thus humbled and made to mourn.
Paley in the Hore Pauline, and other commentators since, have shown that these
passages (though they acknowledge their most natural meaning to be in favour of an
intermediate visit) may be explained away ; in the first two St. Paul might perhaps
only have meant “this is the third time J have intended to come to you ;” and in the
third passage we may take πάλιν with ἐλθόντα, in the sense of ‘on my return.” But
we think that nothing but the hypothesis of an intermediate visit can explain the fol-
iowing passages:
(4) 2 Cor.ii 1. ἔκρινα μὴ πάλιν ἐν λύπῃ πρὸς ὑμᾶς ἐλθεῖν (which is the reading
of every one of the Uncial manuscripts). Here it would be exceeding!y unnatural to
join πάλιν with ἐλθεῖν ; and the feeling of this probably led to the error of the Textus
Receptus.
(5) 2 Cor. xiii. 2. προείρηκα καὶ προλέγω, ὡς παρὼν τὸ δεύτερον, καὶ ἀπὼν vir
[γράφω in the Textus Receptus is not found in the best MSS.] τοῖς προημαρτηκύσι καὶ
τοῖς λοιποὶς πᾶσιν, ὅτι ἐὰν ἔλθω εἰς TO πάλιν, οὐ φείσομαι. I have warned you
formerly, and Inow forewarn you, as when Iwas present the second time, so now
ST. PAUL’S VISIT TO CORINTH. 2%
If we had not possessed any direct information that such a visit had
deen made, yet in itself it would have seemed highly probable that St
Paul would not have remained three years at Ephesus without revisiting
his Corinthian converts. We have already remarked! on the facility of
communication which existed between these two great cities, which were
united by a continual reciprocity of commerce, and were the capitals of
two peaceful provinces. And we have seen examples of the intercourse
which actually took place between the Christians of the two Churches,
both in the case of Aquila and Priscilla, who had migrated from the one
to the other, and in that of Apollos, concerning whom, ‘‘ when he was dis-
posed to pass into Achaia,” “ the brethren [at Ephesus] wrote, exhorting
the disciples [at Corinth] to receive him” (Acts xviii. 27). We have
seen, in the last chapter, some of the results of this visit of Apollos to
Corinth ; he was now probably returned to Ephesus, where we know?
that he was remaining (and, it would seem, stationary) during the third
year of St. Paul’s residence in that capital. No doubt, on his return, he
had much to tell of the Corinthian converts to their father in the faith,—
much of joy and hope, but also much of pain, to communicate ; for there
can be little doubt that those tares among the wheat, which we shall pre-
sently see in their maturer growth, had already begun to germinate, al-
though neither Paul had planted, nor Apollos watered them. One evil at
least, we know, prevailed extensively, and threatened to corrupt the whole
Church of Corinth. This was nothing less than the addiction of many
Corinthian Christians to those sins of impurity which they had practised
i the days of their heathenism, and which disgraced their native city,
even among the heathen. We have before mentioned the peculiar
licentiousness of manners which prevailed at Corinth. So notorious was
this, that it had actually passed into the vocabulary of the Greek tongue ;
and the very word “ to Corinthianise,’ meant ‘to play the wanton ;”
while Tam absent, saying to those who had sinned before that time, and to all the
rest, “If I come again, I will not spare.”
Against these arguments Paley sets (1st) St. Luke’s silence, which, however, is ac-
knowledged by all to be inconclusive, considering that so very many of St. Paul’s
travels and adventures are left confessedly unrecorded in the Acts (see note on 2 Cor.
xi. 23, &c.). (2ndly) The passage, 2 Cor. i. 15, 16, in which St. Paul tells the Corin-
thians he did not wish now to give them a “second benefit,” δευτέραν χάριν; whence
he argues that the visit then approaching would be his second visit. But a more
careful examinetion of the passage shows that St. Paul is speaking of his original
intention of paying them a double visit, on his way to Macedonia, and on his return
from Macedonia.
The whole argument on both sides is very ably stated by Wieseler, Chronologie, p.
232-241.
1 Vol. I. p. 423. 3.1 Cor. xvi. 12.
3 Κορε"θιάζομαι, used by Aristophanes in a lost play (quoted by Steph. Byz.). Com
pare also Aristoph. Plut. 149.
28 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
nay, the bad reputation of the city had become proverbial, even in foreign
languages, and is immortalised by the Latin poets. Such being the
habits in which many of the Corinthian converts had been educated, we
cannot wonder if it proved most difficult to root out immorality from the
rising Church. The offenders against Christian chastity were exceedingly
numerous? at this period ; and it was especially with the object of at
tempting to reform them, and to check the growing mischief, that St.
Paul now determined to visit Corinth.
Ue has himself described this visit as a painful one ;* he went in sor-
row at the tidings he had received, and when he arrived, he found the
state of things even worse than he had expected ; he tells us that it was
a time of personal humiliation‘ to himself, occasioned by the flagrant sins
of so many of his own converts ; he reminds the Corinthians, afterwards,
how he had “ mourned” over those who had dishonoured the name of
Christ by “the uncleanness and fornication and wantonness which they
had committed.” *
But in the midst of his grief he showed the greatest tenderness for the
individual offenders ; he warned them of the heinous guilt which they
were incurring ; he showed them its inconsistency with their Christian
calling ;* he reminded them how, at their baptism, they had died to sin,
and risen again unto righteousness ; but he did not at once exclude them
from the Church which they had defiled. Yet he was compelled to
threaten them with this penalty, if they persevered in the sins which had
now called forth his rebuke. He has recorded the very words which he
used. “If I come again,” he said, “I will not spare.” 7
It appears probable that, on this occasion, St. Paul remained but a
very short time at Corinth. When afterwards, in writing to them, he
says, that he does not wish ‘‘ now to pay them a passing visit,” he seems ὃ
to imply, that his last visit had deserved that epithet. Moreover, had it
occupied a large portion of the “space of three years,” which he describes
himself to have spent at, Ephesus (Acts xx. 31), he would probably have
expressed himself differently in that part of his address to the Ephesian
1 Non cuivis homini contingit adire Corinthum. (Hor. Ep. i. 17.) See Vol. Lp
415, note 2.
2 Only a part of them who remained unrepentant after rebuke and warning are
called πολλοὺς. 2 Cor. xii. 21.
3 Ἔν λυπῇ (2 Cor. ii. 1). 4 Ταπεινώσῃ (2 Cor. xii. 21).
5 2 Cor. xii. 21.
6 There can be no doubt that he urged upon them the same arguments which he way
afterwards obliged to repeat at 1 Cor. vi. 15. :
7 2 Cor. xiii. 2.
8 1 Cor. xvi. 7. Yet this admits of another explanation ; for perhaps he only meant
to say, “1 will not now (at once) come to you (by the direct route) on my way te
Macedunia, for a passing visit,” &e
ST. PAUL RETURNS TO EPHESUS. 99
e
presbyters ;! and a long visit could scarcely have failed to furnish more
allusions in the Epistles so soon after written to Corinth. The silence of
St. Luke also, which is easily explained on the supposition of a short
visit, would be less natural had St. Paul been long absent from Ephesus,
where he appears, from the narrative in the Acts, to be stationary during
all this period.
On these grounds, we suppose that the Apostle, availing himself of
the constant maritime intercourse between the two cities, had gone by sea
to Corinth ; and that he now returned to Ephesus by the same route
(which was very much shorter than that by land), after spending a few
days or weeks at Corinth.
But his censures and warnings had produced too little effect upon his
converts ; his mildness had been mistaken for weakness ; his hesitation
in punishing had been ascribed to a fear of the offenders ; and it was not
long before he received new intelligence that the profligacy which had
infected the community was still increasing. Thenit was that he felt him-
seif compelled to resort to harsher measures ; he wrote an Epistle (which
has not been preserved to us)? in which, as we learn from himself, he
ordered the Christians of Corinth, by virtue of his Apostolic authority,
“to cease from all intercourse with fornicators.” By this he meant, ag
he subsequently explained his injunctions, to direct the exclusion of all
profligates from the Church. The Corinthians, however, either did not,
understand this, or (to excuse themselves) they affected not to do so;
for they asked, how it was possible for them to abstain from all intercourse
with the profligate, unless they entirely secluded themselves from all the
business of life, which they had to transact with their heathen neighbours.
Whether the lost Epistle contained any other topics, we cannot know with
certainty ; but we may conclude with some probability, that it was very
short, and directed to this one subject ;* otherwise it is not easy to under-
stand why it should not have been preserved together with the two sub-
sequent Epistles.
Soon after this short letter had been dispatched, Timotheus, accom-
panied by Erastus,‘ left Ephesus for Macedonia. St. Paul desired him,
1 Wieseler, however, gets over this, by supposing that when St. Paul mentions three
years spent among his hearers, he means to address not only the Ephesian presbyters
whom he had summoned, but also the companions of his voyage (Acts xx. 4) who had
been with him in Macedonia and Achaia.
? See 1 Cor. v. 9-12. This lost Fpistle must have been written after his second
visit ; otherwise he need not have explained it in the passage referred to.
3 Probably it was in this lost letter that he gave them notice of his intention to
visit them on his way to Macedonia ; for altering which he was so much blamed by his
ppponents,
« Erastus was probably the treasurer (οἰκονομός) of the city of Corinth mentioned
Rom. xvi. 23 and 2 Tim. iy. 20; and therefore was most likely proceeding at any rate
te Corinth.
90 - THE LIFE AND EPISTJ. ES OF ST. PAUL,
if possible, to continue his journey to Corinth ; but did not feel certain
that it would be possible for him to do so! consistently with the other
objects of his journey, which probably had reference to the great collec
tion now going on for the poor Hebrew Christians at Jerusalem.
Meantime, some members of the household of Chloe, a distinguished
Christian family at Corinth, arrived at Ephesus ; anc from them St. Pau.
received fuller information than he before possessed of the condition &
the Corinthian Church. The spirit of party had seized upon its members,
and well nigh destroyed Christian love. We have already seen, in our
general view of the divisions of the Apostolic Church, that the great par-
ties which then divided the Christian world had ranked themselves under
the names of different Apostles, whom they attempted to set up against
each other as rival leaders. At Corinth, as in other places, emissaries
had arrived from the Judaizers of Palestine, who boasted of their “ letters
of commendation” from the metropolis of the faith ; they did not, how-
ever, attempt, as yet, toinsist upon circumcision, as we shall find them
doing successfully among the simpler population of Galatia. This would
have been hopeless in a great and civilised community like that of Corinth,
imbued with Greek feelings of contempt for what they would have deemed
a barbarous superstition. Here, therefore, the Judaizers confined them-
selves, in the first instance, to personal attacks against St. Paul, whose
apostleship they denied, whose motives they calumniated, and whose
authority they persuaded the Corinthians to repudiate. Some of them
declared themselves the followers of Cephas, whom the Lord himself had
selected to be the chief Apostle; others (probably the more extreme
members of the party”) boasted of their own immediate connection with
Christ himself, and their intimacy with “the brethren of the Lord ;” and
especially with James, the head of the Church at Jerusalem. The endea-
vours of these agitators to undermine the influence of the Apostle of the
Gentiles met with undeserved success; and they gained over a strong
party to their side. Meanwhile, those who were still stedfast to the doc-
trines of St. Paul, yet were not all unshaken in their attachment to his
person: ἃ portion of them preferred the Alexandrian learning with which
Apollos had enforced his preaching, to the simple style of their first
teacher, who had designedly abstained, at Corinth, from anything like
philosophical argumentation.? This party then, who sought to form for
themselves a philosophical Christianity, called themselves the followers of
Apollos ; although the latter, for his part, evidently disclaimed the rivalry
with St. Paul which was thus implied, and even refused to revisit Corinth,
lest he should seem to countenance the factious spirit of his adherents.
! Timotheus apparently did not reach Corinth on this occasion, or the fact would
bave been mentioned 2 Cor. xii. 18,
2 See above, Vol. I. pp. 444, 445. 3 1 Cor. ii. 1-5. 41 Cor, xvi. 12
STATE OF THE CORINTHIAN CHURCH. 81
It is not impossible that the Antinomian Free-thinkers, whom we have
already seen to form so dangerous a portion of the Primitive Church,
attached themselves to this last-named party ; at any rate, they were, at
this time, one of the worst elements of evil at Corinth: they put forward
a theoretic defence of the practical immorality in which they lived ; and
some of them had so lost the very foundation of Christian faith as te
deny the resurrection of the dead, and thus toe adopt the belief as well as
the sensuality of their Epicurean neighbours, whose motto was “ Let us
eat and drink, for to-morrow we die.”
A crime, recently committed by one of these pretended Christians.
was now reported to St. Paul, and excited his utmost abhorrence : a mem-
ber of the Corinthian Church was openly living in incestuous intercourse
with his step-mother, and that, during his father’s life ; yet this audacious
offender was not excluded from the Church.
Nor were these the only evils: some Christians were’ showing their
total want of brotherly love by bringing vexatious actions against their
brethren in the heathen courts of law; others were turning even the
spiritual gifts which they had received from the Holy Ghost into occasions
of vanity and display, not unaccompanied by fanatical delusion ; the decent
order of Christian worship was disturbed by the tumultuary claims of rival
ministrations ; women had forgotten the modesty of their sex, and came
forward, unveiled (contrary to the habit of their country), to address the
public assembly ; and even the sanctity of the Holy Communion itself
was profaned by scenes of revelling and debauch.
About the same time that all this disastrous intelligence was brought
to St. Paul by the household of Chloe, other messengers arrived from
Corinth, bearing the answer of the Church to his previous letter, of which
(as we have mentioned above) they requested an explanation ; and at the
same time referring to his decision several questions which caused dispute
and difficulty. These questions related—Ist, To the controversies respect-
ing meat which had been offered to idols ; 2ndly, To the disputes regard
ing celibacy and matrimony ; the right of divorce; and the perplexities
which arose in the case of mixed marriages, where one of the parties was
an unbeliever ; 3dly, to the exercise of the spiritual gifts in the public
assemblies of the Church.
St. Paul hastened to reply to these questions, and at the same time te
denounce the sins which had polluted the Corinthian Church, and almost
annulled its right to the name of Christian. The letter which he was
thus led to write is addressed, not only to this metropolitan Church, but
also to the Christian communities established in other places in the same
province,' which might be regarded as dependencies of that in the capital
1 See the translation of 1 Cor. ii, 2, and the note. Also Vol. 1. p 406,
32 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
eity ; hence we must infer that these Churches also had been infected by
some of the errors:or vices which had prevailed at Corinth. This letter
is, in its contents, the most diversified of all St. Paul’s Epistles; and in
proportion to the variety of its topics, is the depth of its interest for our-
selves. For by it we are introduced, as it were, behind the scenes of the
Apostolic Church, and its minutest features are revealed to us under the
light of daily life. We see the picture of a Christian congregation as it
met for worship in some upper chamber, such as the house cf Aquila, or
of Gaius, could furnish. We see that these seasons of pure uevotion were
not unalloyed by human vanity and excitement ; yet, on the oiner hand,
we behold the heathen auditor pierced to the heart by the inspired
eloquence of the Christian prophets, the secrets of his conscience laid bare
to him, and himself constrained to fall down on his face and worship God;
we hear the fervent thanksgiving echoed by the unanimous Amen; we see
the administration of the Holy Communion terminating the feast of love.
Again we become familiar with the perplexities of domestic life, the cor-
rupting proximity of heathen immorality, the lingering superstition, the
rash speculation, the lawless perversion of Christian liberty ; we witness
the strife of theological factions, the party names, the sectarian animosi-
ties. We perceive the difficulty of the task imposed upon the Apostle,
who must guard from so many perils, and guide through so many difficul-
ties, his children in the faith, whom else he had begotten in vain ; and we
learn to appreciate more fully the magnitude of that laborious responsi-
bility under which he describes himself as almost ready to sink, “ the care
of all the Churches.”
But while we rejoice that so many details of the deepest historical
interest have been preserved to us by this Hpistle, let us not forget to
thank God who so inspired His Apostle, that in his answers to questions of
transitory interest he has laid down principles of eternal obligation.! Let
us trace with gratitude the providence of Him, who “out of darkness
calls up light ;” by whose mercy it was provided that the unchastity of
the Corinthians should occasion the sacred laws of moral purity to be
established for ever through the Christian world ;—that their denial of
the resurrection should cause those words to be recorded whereon reposes,
as upon a rock that cannot be shaken, our sure and certain hope of im-
mortality.
The following is a translation of the Epistle, which was written at
Easter, in the third year of St. Paul’s residence at Ephesus :—
1 The contrast between the short-lived interest of the questions referred to him for
eolution, and the eternal principles by which they must be solved, was brought pro-
minently before the mind of the Apostle himself by the Holy Spirit, under whose gui-
dance he wrote; and he has expressed it in those sublime words which might serve aa
Ὁ. motto fcr the whole Epistle (1 Cor. vii. 29-31).
FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS, 33
FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS::
I
I. Pavt,a called Apostle of Jesus Christ by the will — satutation.
2 of God, and Sosthenes? the Brother, greet the church of God at
Corinth, who have been hallowed in Christ Jesus, and called
to be His holy people,’ together with all who worship Jesus
Christ our Lord in every place which is their home—and our
home also.‘
3 Grace be unto you and peace, from God our father, and
from our Lord Jesus Christ.
4 I1* thank my God continually on your. behalf, for introductory
thanksgiving
1 The date of this Epistle can be fixed with more precision than that of any other.
It gives us the means of ascertaining, not merely the year, but even the month and
week, in which it was written.
(1) Apollos had been working at Corinth, and was now with St. Paul at Ephesus
(1 Cor. i. 12. iii. 4, 22. iv. 6. xvi. 12). This was the case during St. Paul’s resi-
dence at Ephesus (Acts xix. 1).
(2) He wrote during the days of unleavened bread, i.e. at Easter (1 Cor. y.7), and
intended to remain at Ephesus till Pentecost (xvi. 8. ef. xv. 32). After leaving Ephe-
sus, he purposed to come by Macedonia to Achaia (xvi. 5-7). This was the route he
took (Acts xx. 1, 2) on leaving Ephesus after the tumult in the theatre.
(3) Aquila and Priscilla were with him at Ephesus (xvi. 19). They had taken up
their residence at Ephesus before the visit of St. Paul (Acts xviii. 26).
(4) The Great Collection was going on in Achaia (xvi. 1-3). When he wrote to the
Romans from Corinth during his three months’ visit there (Acts xx. 3), the collection
was completed in Macedonia and Achaia (Rom. xv. 26).
(5) He hopes to go by Corinth to Jerusalem, and thence to Rome (xvi. 4 and xvi
25-28). Now the time when he entertained this very purpose was towards the conclu-
sion of his long Ephesian residence (Acts xix. 21).
(6) He had sent Timothy towards Corinth (iv. 17), but not direct (xvi. 10). Now it
was at the close of his Ephesian residence (Acts xix. 22) that he sent Timothy with
Erastus (the Corinthian) from Ephesus to Macedonia, which was one way to Corinth,
but not the shortest.
2 Sosthenes is, perhaps, the same mentioned Acts xviii. 17. See Vol. I. p. 419
3 The sense of dyoe in the New Testament is nearly equivalent to the modern
“Christians ;’’ but it would be an anachronism so to translate it here. since (in the
time of St. Paul) the word “Christian” was only used asa term of reproache The
chjection to translating it “saints” is, that the idea now conveyed by that term is quite
different from the meaning of of ἄγιοι as used by St. Paul.
4 The Authorised Version here appears scarcely reconcileable with the order of the
Greek, though it is defended by the opinions of Chrysostom, Billroth, Olshausen, &c.
The translation of Meyer, “in every place under their and our dominion,” seems
more like a Papal than an Apostolic rescript ; and that of De Wette, “in every place
both of their and our abode,” is frigid, and adds nothing to the idea of παντὶ τόπῳ,
St. Paul means to say that he feels the home of his converts to be also his ewn,
Both sentiment and expression are the same as in Rom. xvi. 13: τὴν μητέρα αὐτοῦ καὶ
ἐμοῦ.
δ Observe how εὐχαριστῷ and μου follow immediately after ἸΤαύλος καὶ Σωσθένης,
VoL, 11.—3
34 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
orthereon- the grace which He gave you [at the first] in Christ
Jesus. Because, in Him, you were every-wise en- § |
riched with all the gifts of speech and knowledge (for thus 6
my testimony to Christ was confirmed among you), so that 7
you came behind no other church in any spiritual gift; looking
earnestly for the time when our Lord Jesus Christ shall be
revealed to our sight.'
And He also will confirm? you unto the end, that you may 8
be without reproach at the day of His coming. For God is 9
faithful, by whom you were called into fellowship with His Son,
Jesus Christ, our Lord and Master.
Bebuke of heir Nevertheless, brethren, I exhort you, by thele
and’ special name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to shun disputes,
and suffer no divisions among you, but to be knit
together in the same mind, and the same judgment.’
For tidings have been brought to me concerning you, my 1]
brethren, by the members of Chloe’s household, whereby 1
have learnt that there are contentions among you. I mean, 12
that one of you says, “Iam a follower of Paul;” another, “I
of Apollos ;” another, “1 of Cephas;” + another, “I of Christ.” 13
Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? or were you
baptized unto the name of Paul? I thank God that I bap-14
tized none of you except Crispus ‘and Gaius® (lest any onei5
should say that I baptized unto my own name); and I bap-1.
tized also the household of Stephanas; besides these I know not
that I baptized any other. For Christ sent me forth as His1¥
apostie,® not to baptize, but to publish Ilis Glad-tidings ; and
that, not with the wisdom of argument, lest thereby the cross
of Christ should lose its mark of shame.’ For the tidings of the 19
showing that, though the salutation runs in the name of both, the author of the Epistle
was St. Paul alone. Compare the remarks on 1 Thess. p. 391, note 1.
1 See note on Rom. ii. 5.
7 j.@ He will do His part to confirm you unto the end. If you fall, it will not be
for want of His help.
3 Νοῦς refers to the view taken by the understanding ; γνώμη to the practical deci-
sion arrived at. )
4 Cephas is the name by which St. Peter is called throughout this Epistle. It was
the actual word used by our Lord himself, and remained the Apostle’s usual appellation
among the Jewish Christians up to this time. It is strange that it should afterwards
have been so entirely supplanted by its Greek equivalent, “ Peter,’ even among the
Jewish Christians. See note on Gal.i.18. For an explanation of the parties here
alluded to, see Vol. I. pp. 442-447,
5 Or Caius, if we use the Roman spelling ; see Vol. I. p. 400.
6 ᾿Απέστειλε. 7 κενωθῇ, literally be emptied of its contents
¥IRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. 88
cross,! to those in the way of perdition, are folly; but to us in
19 the way of salvation,’ they are the power of God. And so it is
written,’ “ wil destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to
20nothing the understanding of the prudent.” Where is the
Philosopher? Where is the Rabbi? Where is the reasoner
of this passing‘ world? Has not God turned this world’s
21 wisdom into folly? For when the world had failed to gain by
its wisdom the knowledge of the wisdom of God, it pleased
God, by the folly of our preaching, to save those who have®
22 faith therein. For the Jews ask for asign from heaven, and
the Greeks demand a system of philosophy; but we® pro-
23 claim a Messiah crucified, to the Jews a stumbling-block, and
24 to the Greeks a folly; but to the called’ themselves, whether
they be Jews or Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the
25 wisdom of God. For the folly which is of God, is wiser than
man’s wisdom, and the weakness which is of God, is stronger
9¢6than man’s strength. For you see, brethren, how God has
called you; how few of you are wise in earthly wisdom, how
;few are powerful, how few are noble. But what the world
thinks folly, God has chosen, to confound its wisdom; and
what it holds for weakness He has chosen, to confound its
28 strength; and what the world counts base and scorns as worth-
less, nay, what it deems to have no being, God has chosen, to
29 bring to nought the things that be; that no flesh should glory
30 in His presence. But you He owns for His children* in Christ
Jesus, who has become to us God’s wisdom, and righteousness,
and sanctification, and redemption; that the Seripture might
a1 be fulfilled which saith,? “ Ze that glorieth, let ham glory in the
Lord.”
Π.
I. So, brethren, when I myself first came to declare fm his ova
1 7. e. the tidings of a crucified Messiah.
* For the translation of σωζόμενοι, see Winer, Gram. ὃ 46, 5.
3 Is. xxix. 14; not quite literally quoted from LXX.
4'O αἴων οὗτος distinguished from κύσμος by involving the notion of transitory
duration.
5 Observe πιστεύοντας, not πιστεύσαντας.
6 “ We,” including St. Paul and the other preachers of Chrietianity.
7 Κλητοῖς. All who make an outward profession of Christianity are, in St. Paul’s
Janguage, “the called.’ They have received a message from God, which has called
them to enter into His church.
8 Ἔξ αὐτοῦ. 9 Jerem. ix. 23, from the LXX., but not literally.
36 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
bed not aime among you the testimony of God, I came not with
παρα μα ρα ce any surpassing skill of eloquence, or philosophy.
poauence, et For it was no earthly knowledge which I deter- ἃ
ar sos mined to display among you, but the knowledge of
Rac tine Jesus Christ alone, and Him '—crucified. And in 3
Spirit of God. : ν :
my intercourse with you, I was weighed down by a
feeling of my weakness, and was filled with anxiety, and self
distrust.2. And when I proclaimed my message, I used not the 4
persuasive arguments of human wisdom, but showed forth by
sure proofs the might of the Holy Spirit, that your faith might 5
have its foundation not in the wisdom of men, but in the power
of God.
Nevertheless, among those who are ripe in knowledge? I 6
speak wisdom; albeit not the wisdom of this passing world, nor
of those who rule it, whose greatness will soon be nothing.
But it is God’s wisdom that I speak; wherevf the secret is ἢ
made known to his people,’ even the hidden wisdom which
God ordained before the ages, that we might be glorified there-
by. But the rulers of this world knew it not; for had they 8
known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory.
But as it is written,’ “Hye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither 9
have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath
prepared for them that love Ilim.” Yet to us? God has re-10
vealed them by His Spirit, for the Spirit fathoms all things,
even the deepest counsels of God. For who can know what is 11
inaman but the spirit of the man which is within him? even so
none can know what is in God, but the Spirit of God alone.
Now to us has been granted, not the spirit of this world, but12
1 7. 6. Him, not exalted on the earthly throne of David, but condemned to the death
of the vilest malefactor.
Compare 2 Cor. vii. 15 and Eph. vi. 5. St. Paul appears, on his first coming to
Corinth, to have been suffering under great depression, perhaps caused by the bodily
malady to which he was subject (cf. 2 Cor. xii. 8; see Vol. I. p. 274), perhaps by the
ill-success of his efforts at Athens. See Vol. I. p. 389.
3 Οἱ τέλειοι is St. Paul’s expression for those who had attained the maturity of
Christian wisdom. Compare 1 Cor. xiv. 20 and Phil. iii. 15. Such men could under-
stand that his teaching was in truth the highest philosophy.
4 Καταργούμενοι, literally “ passing away into nothingness.”
5 Σοφίαν ἐν μυστηρίῳ is a wisdom reveaied to the μύσται, or initiated, 2. 6. (in this
case) to Christians ; but hidden from tie rest of the world.
6 Isaiah Ixiv. 4 is the nearest passage to this in the Old Testament. The quotation
Is not to be found anywhere exactly.
7 175, including all the inspired Christian teachers, and the rest of the réAeice
FIRST KPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. aot
the Spirit which is of God; that we might understand those
good things which have been freely given us by God.
13. These are the things whereof we speak, in words not taught
by man’s wisdom, but by the Holy Spirit; explaining spirit
14 18} things to spiritual' men. But the natural? man rejects
the teaching of God’s Spirit, for to him it is folly; and it
must needs be beyond his knowledge, for the spiritual mind
15 alone can judge thereof. But the spiritual man judges all
things truly, yet cannot himself be truly judged by others.
16 For “Who hath known the mind of the Lord that he may ii
struct him , "5 but we have the mind of the Lord 4 within us.
IIT.
1 And JI, brethren, could not speak to you as spir- the _ party
which claimed
itual men, but as carnal, and in the first infancy of to be “the
Ε ἢ is Ἂ ὃ spiritual ”’
2 your growth in Christ. I fed you with milk and (πνευματικοὶ)
. are proved to
not with meat; for you were not able to bear the be camal ny
their ἢ dissen-
stronger food, nay you are not yet able, for you are sions.
3 still carnal. For while you are divided amongst
yourselves by jealousy, and strife, and factious parties, is it not
evident that you are carnal, and walking in the common ways
4 ofmen? When one says, “I follow Paul,” and another “I
foliow Apollos,” can you deny that you are carnal ?
5 Who then is Paul, or who is Apollos? what are tt is a contra
dictionin terms
they but servants [of Christ,] by whose ministration to make Chris-
tian teachers
you believed? and was it not the Lord who gave to the leaders of
Ἶ Opposing _ par-
6 each of them the measure of his suecess? I planted, ties. _ Nature
of their work.
Apollos watered; but it was God who made the
ἢ seed to grow. So that he who plants is nothing, nor he who
8 waters, but God alone who gives the growth. But the planter
and the waterer are one together;* and each will receive the
9 wages due to him, according to his work. For we are God’s
10 fellow-labourers,’ and you are Ged’s husbandry. You are
God’s building; God gave me the gift of grace whereby like a
skilful architect I have laid a foundation; and on this founda.
1 Πνευματικὰ πνευματικοῖς. Compare iii. 1.
* ψυχικὸς, properly man considered as endowed with the anima (the living prin
ciple), as distinguished from the spiritual principle. See Juv. Sat. xv. 148.
2 Isaiah xl. 13 (LXX.).
4 The best MSS. are divided between the readings of Χριστοῦ and Κυρίου here.
* “ And therefore cannot be set against each other” is implied.
6 This remarkable expression is used by St. Paul repeatedly. Compare 2 Cor. vi. J,
and the note on 1 Thess. iii. 2.
38 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
tion another builds; but let each take heed what that is which
he builds thereon—[“ thereon,” I say,] for other foundation can 11
no man lay, than that already laid, which is “Jesus ΤῊΒ
Curisr.”! But on this foundation one man may raise a temple 12
of gold, and silver, and precious marbles; another, a building
of wood, hay, and stubble. But in due time each man’s work 13
will be made manifest; for the day [of the Lord’s coming] will
show of what sort it is; because that day will be revealed with
fire, and the fire will test each builder’s work. He whose14
building stands unharmed, .shall receive payment for his la-
bour; but he whose work is burned down, shall forfeit his re-15
ward: yet he shall not himself be destroyed; but shall be
saved as one who scarcely escapes through the flames.
the) Church ts Know? ye not yourselves that you are God’s16
temple, and that you form a shrine wherein God’s
Spirit dwells. Ifany man shall do hurt to the temple of God, 17
God shall do hurt* to him; for the temple of God is holy; and
holy 4 therefore are ye.
τα νέο ala α Let none of you deceive himself; if any man 18
spirit are un- among you is held wise in the wisdom of this pass-
ing world,’ let him make himself a fool [in the
world’s judgment], that so he may become truly wise. ΒῸΣ 19
the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, as it is writ-
ten,° “ He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.” Aud 20
again,’ “ The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise that they
are vain.” Therefore let none of you make his boast in men ;* 21
for all things are yours; both Paul and Apollos, and Cephas, 22
and the whole world itself; both life and death, things presert 23
1 The Textus Receptus, ᾿Ιησοῦς ὁ Χριστός, rests on very little MS. authority ; the
best MSS. being divided between Χριστὸς ᾿Ιησοῦς and ᾿Ιησοῦς Χριστὸς. Yet as the
Textus Receptus gives more distinctly the sense which must virtually be involved in
all three readings, we have retained it here.
* The connection with what precedes is “In calling you God’s building, I tell you
no new thing; you know already that you are God’s temple.”
3 Observe φθερεῖ, answering to φθείρει.
4 Oltwec not “which temple” (A. Y.).
5 Τῷ αἰῶνι τούτῳ. The notion of transitory duration is always ccaveyed by this
expression. See note on ii. 6,
6 Job v.13. (LXX.) 7) ῬΒ, χοῖν. 11... (ΣΧ)
8 The meaning is, “ Boast not of having this man or that as your leader ; fer all the
Apostles, nay, all things in the universe, are ordained by God to co-operate for you
good.” 5;
FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. 39
and things to come—all are yours—but! you are Christ’s; ana
Christ is God’s.
TaN
1 Look therefore on us as servants of Christ, and cnrist’s Apos
tles are only
stewards charged to dispense the knowledge of the eee, iat
2 mysteries of God.* Moreover, it is but required in minister is not
a steward faithfully to administer his master’s wealth.
3 Yet to me it matters nothing how I may be judged by you, or
4 by the doom of man; nay, I judge not even myself. For al-
though I know not that I am guilty of unfaithfulness, yet my
own sentence will not suffice to justify me; but I must be tried
5 by the judgment of my Lord. Therefore judge nothing hastily,
until the coming of our Lord and Master; for He shall bring to
light the darkest counsels, and make manifest the inmost se-
erets of men’s hearts; and then God shall give to each the?
praise which he deserves.
6 But these things, brethren, I have represented contrast ne.
tween the self-
under the persons of myself and Apollos, for your exaltation οἵ
the pseudo-
sakes ; that so you may learn not to think of your- philosophical
party, and the
selves above that which has now been written, and «basement οἱ
Christ’s Apos-
that you may cease to puff yourselves up in the tes.
7 cause‘ of one against another. For who makes thee to dif:
fer from another? what hast thou that thou didst not receive ?
and how then canst thou boast of it, as if thou hadst won it for
8 thyself? But ye forsooth have eaten to the full [cf spiritual
food], ye are rich [in knowledge], ye have seated yourselves
upon your throne, and have no longer need* of me. Would
that you were indeed enthroned, that I too might reign with
g you. For,’ as to us the Apostles, I think that God has set us
forth last of all, like criminals condemned to die, to be gazed
at in a theatre’ by the whole world, both men and angels.
1 All things work together for the good of Christians; all things conspire to do
them service ; but their work is to do Christ’s service, even as He Himself came to de
the will of His Father.
2 Mysteries are secrets revealed to the initiated, i. 6. to all Christians. See note
on ii. 7.
3 Ὃ ἔπαινος. The error in A. V. was caused by not observing the article.
4“ St. Paul means “in the cause of your party-leaders ;” but speaks with intentionsd
jadistinetness.
5 Χωρὶς ἡμῶν.
6 The connection is, “ The lot of an Apostle is no Κίποῖγ lot.’
7 The spectacle to which St. Paul here alludes was common in those times. Crimi-
tals condemned to death were exhibited for the amusement of the populace on tha
40 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
We for Christ’s sake are fools, while you join faith in Christ 1¢
with worldly wisdom; we are weak, while you are strong ;
you are honourable, while we are outcasts; even to the present 11
hour we bear hunger and thirst, and nakedness and stripes,
and have no certain dwelling-place, and toil with our own hands 12
for daily bread; curses we answer with blessings, persecution
with patience, railings with good words. We are counted the13
refuse of the earth, the very off-scouring of all things, unto this
day. I write not thus to reproach you, but as a father I chide 14
the children whom 1 love. For though you may have ten15
thousand guardians! to lead you towards the school of Christ,
you can have but one father; and I it was who begat you in
Christ Jesus, by the Glad-tidings which I brought. I beseech 16
you, therefore, become followers of me.
Mission of For this cause I have sent to you Timotheus, my 17
warning to the beloved son, who has been found faithful in the ser-
faction at vice of our Lord, and he shall put you in remem-
brance of the path wherein I walked in fellowship
with Christ, as I still teach everywhere in all the churches.
Now some of you have been filled with arrogance, and imagine 18
that Iam not coming to visit you. But I shall be with you1g
shortly, if the Lord will; and then I shall meet these arrogant
boasters, and shall learn their power, not by their words, but
by their deeds. For mighty deeds, not empty words, are the 20
tokens of God’s kingdom. What is your desire? Must I come 21
to you with the rod of punishment, or in the spirit of love and
gentleness ?
V.
Judgment on It is commonly reported that there 1s fornication 1
the incestuous δ ἥ τ ν i
person. among you, and such fornication, as is not so much
as named even among the Heathen, that a man should have
his father’s wife. And you forsooth have been puffed up with 2
arrogance, when you ought rather to have been filled with
shame and scrrow, and so to have put out from among you the
man who has done this deed. Jor me—being present with 3
arena of the amphitheatre, and forced to fight with wild beasts, or to slay one another
as gladiators. These criminals were exhibited at the end of the spectacle as an exciting
termination to the entertainment (ἔσχατοι ἀπεδείχθησαν). So Tertullian paraphrasea
the passage “Vos Deus Apostolos novissimos elegit velut bestiarios.” (Tertul de
Pudicitia, cap. xiv.)
1 Παιδαγωγός, the guardian slave who led the child to school. See note ou
Gal. iii. 24
FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. 4]
You in spirit, although absent in body,—I have already passed
sentence as if I were present with you, upon him who has thus
4sinned; and I decree in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ
that you convene an assembly, and when you, and my spirit
with you, are gathered together, with the power of our Lord
5 Jesus Christ, that you deliver over to Satan! the man who has
thus sinned, for the destruction of his fleshly lusts, that his
6 spirit may be saved in the day of our Lord Jesus. Truly you
have no ground for boasting; know ye not that ‘a little leaven
7 leaveneth the whole ene Cast out therefore the old leaven
that your body may be renewed throughout, even as now [at
this Paschal season]* you are without taint of leaven; for
Christ Himself is our Paschal Lamb, who has been slain for
8 us; therefore let us keep the feast, not with the old leaven, the
leaven of vice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread
of purity and truth.
9 I enjoined you in my letter‘ not to keep company open and fagi
tious offenders
10 with fornicators; yet I meant not altogether to bid must be ex-
cluded from
you forego intercourse with the men of this world the Church,
who may be fornicators, or lascivious, or extortioners, or idola
ters ; for so you would be forced to go utterly out of the world.
11 Βα" my meaning was, that you Should not keep company
with any man who, bearing the name of a Brother, is either a
fornicator, or lascivious,’ or an idolater, or a railer, or a
1 This expression appears used as equivalent to casting out of the Church; from
the following words there seems also a reference to the doctrine that Satan is the
author of bodily disease. Compare 2 Cor. xii. 7.
3 The same proverb is quoted Gal. v. 9.
3 In spite of the opinion of Chrysostom and some eminent modern commentators
we must adhere to this interpretation ; for if we take καθώς ἐστε ἄζυμοι in a metapho-
vieal sense, it is inconsistent with the previous ἐκκαθάρατε τὴν π. ζύμην ; for the passage
would then amount to saying, “ Be free from taint as you are free from taint.’’? More-
over, if so taken, the connection with what follows seems unnatural. There seems no
difficulty in supposing that the Gentile Christians joined with the Jewish Christians in
celebrating the Paschal feast after the Jewish manner, at least to this extent. And we
see that St. Paul still observed the ἥμεραι τῶν ἀζύμων at this period of his life, from
Acts xx. 6. Also, from what follows, we perceive how naturally this greatest of Jewish
feasts changed into the greatest of Christian festivals,
4 The letter here referred to has not come down to us. See p. 29.
5 Νυνὶ here seems not to be a particle of time (see De Wette in doco).
6 ΤΙλεονέκτης has undoubtedly this meaning in St. Paul’s writings. Compare Eph.
v.65 (where it is coupled with ἀκάθαρτος). So πλέονεξία, in St. Paul, almost invariably
means wnpurity. See Eph.iv.19. ν. ὃ. Col. iii.5. The only places where the word
is used by St. Paul in the sense covetousness are 2 Cor. ix. 5 and 1 Thess. ii. 5, in the
tatter of which passages the other meaning would not be inadmissible. How the word
49 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 8T. PAUL
drunkard, or an extortioner; with such a man, I say, you must
not so much as eat. For what need have I to judge those who 13
are without the Church? Is it not your part to judge those
who are within it? But those who are without are for God’s13
judgment. And for yourselves, “ Ye shall cast out the evil
one from the midst of you.” }
VI
Litigation _be- Can there be any of you who dare to bring their 1
ians must not private differences into the courts of law, to be judged
be brought
pease eg by the wicked, and not rather submit them to the
is outers is arbitration” of Christ’s people. Know ye not that 2 »
Christ’s people shall judge the world? and if you
are called to sit in judgment on the universe, are you anfit to
decide even the most trifling matters? Know ye not that we 3
shall judge angels? how much more then the affairs of this”
life? If, therefore, you have disputes to settle which concern 4
the affairs of this life, give the arbitration of them to the very
east esteemed in your Church? I speak to your shame. Can 5
it be that in your whole body, there is not so much as one:
man wise enough to arbitrate between his brethren, but must
brother go to law with brother, and that in the courts of the 6
unbelievers? Nay, farther, you are in fault, throughout, in 7
having such disputes at all. Why do you not rather submit
to wrong? Why not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded $
Nay, you are yourselves wronging and defrauding others, and 8
No immorality that too your brethren. Know ye not that wrong a
ee doers shall not inherit the kingdom of Gel? 96 not
deceived—neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor
adulterers, nor self-defilers, nor sodomites, nor robbers, norie
wantons, nor drunkards, nor railers, nor extortioners, shall in-
herit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you; but 1]
you have washed away your stains,*—you have been hallowed,
you have been justified by your fellowship with the Lord
contracted its Pauline meaning may be inferred from the similar use of concupiscence
in English.
1 Dent. xxiv. 7. (LXX.)
? Τὸ should be remembered that the law gave its sanction ‘0 the decision pronounced
in a litigated case by arbitrators privately chosen ; so that the Christians might obtain
a just decision of their mutual differences without resorting to the heathen tribunsta,
3 Observe that ἀπελούσασθε is middle, not passive, asin A Y.
FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. 43
Jesus, whose name you bear, and by the indwelling Spirit οἱ
our God.!
12 [But some of you say]—“all things are lawful jeechntinomian
efence of im-
for me.” [Be it so;]* but not all things are good Seta yas
for me; though all things are in my power, they
13 shall ot bring me under thezr power. “ Meat is for the belly,
and the belly for meat,” penal: death will soon, by God’s ordi-
nance, put an end to both’ but the body is not for fornication,
14 but for the Lord Jesus; and the Lord Jesus for the body ;3 and
as God raised our Lord Jesus from the grave, so He will raise
15 us also by Ilis mighty power.t| Know ye not that your bodies
are the members of Christ’s body? Shall I then take the mem-
bers of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God
16 forbid. now ye not, that he who joins himself to an harlot
becomes one body with her? As it is written, “they twain
17 shall be one flesh.”* But he who joins himself to Christ, be-
18 comes one with Christin spirit. Flee fornication. [It is true,
indeed,® that] all sin springs, not from the body, but from the
19soul; yet the fornicator sins against his own body. Know ye
not that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit which
dwells within you, which ye have received from God? And
20 you are not your own, for you were bought with a price.
Glority God, therefore, not in your spirit only, but in your body
also, since both are His.s
1 Yor the translation of ἐν in this verse, see Winer, Gram. cap. v. ὃ 52.
* See the explanation of this in Vol. I. p. 447; and con.pare (for the true side of
πάντα ἔξεστιν) Gal. v. 23, κατὰ τῶν τοιούτων οὐκ ἔστι νόμος. Alsosee chap. viii. 1,
below. From what follows it is evident that these Corinthian free-thinkers argued
that the existence of bodily appetites proved the lawfulness of their gratification.
3 The body is for the Lord Jesus, to be consecrated by His indwelling to His ser-
vice ; and the Lord Jesus is for the body, to consecrate it by dwelling therein in the
person of His Spirit.
4 St. Paul’s argument here is, that sins of unchastity, though bodily acts, yet injure
8 part of our nature which will not be destroyed by death, and which is closely con-
nected with our moral well-being. And it is a fact no less certain than mysterious,
that moral and spiritual ruin is caused by such sins; which human wisdom (when un-
taught by Revelation) held to be actions as blameless as eating and drinking.
5. Gen. ii. 24. (LXX.), quoted by our Lord, Matt. xix. 5.
6 Literally, “every sin which a man commits is without (ἐκτὸς, external to) the
body.” The Corinthian freethinkers probably used this argument also; and perhaps
availed themselves of our Lord’s words, Mark vii. 18: “ Do ye not perceive that what-
soever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him, because it
entereth not into his heart,” ἄρ. (See the whole passage.)
7 The price is the blood of Christ. Compare Acts xx. 28 and Col. i. 14,
8 The latter part of this verse, from καὶ to Θεοῦ, though not in the best MSS., yet ig
implied in the sense.
44 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 51. PAUL. ;
VI
Answers to As to the questions which you have asked me in 1
geal your letter, this is my answer. It is good for a man 2
ἐν ΡΟ to remain unmarried. Nevertheless, to avoid forni-
ote ta oases cation, let every man have his own wife, and every 3
rage. woman her own husband. Let the husband live in 4
the intercourse of affection with his wife, and likewise the wife
with her husband. The wife has not dominion over her own
body, but the husband; and so also the husband has not do-
minion over his own body, but the wife. Do not separate one 5
from the other, unless it be with mutual consent for a time, that
you may give yourselves without disturbance to fasting and
prayer, with the intent of shortly living again together, lest,
through your fleshly passions, Satan should tempt you to sin.
But in speaking thus, I mean not to command marriage, but 6
only to permit it. For I would that all men were as I am; 7
but men have different gifts from God, one this, another that.
But to the unmarried and to the widows, I say that it would 8
be good for them if they should remain in the state wherein I
myself also am: yet if their desires do not allow them to re- 9
main contented in this state, let them marry; for it is better
to marry than to be tempted by sinful desires. To the married, 10
not I, but the Lord Jesus Himself gives commandment,' that
the wife leave not her husband; (but if she have already [6101]
him, let her remain single, or else be reconciled with hit 5)
likewise also, that the husband put not away his wife. But12
for the cases which follow, my decisions are given not by the
Lord Jesus, but by myself. If any of the Brethren be married
to an unbelieving wife, let him not put her away, if she be
content to remain with him; neither let a believing wife leave 13
an unbelieving husband who is willing to remain with her;
for the unbelieving husband is hallowed by union with his 14
believing wife, and the unbelieving wife by union with her
believing husband; for otherwise your children would be un-
clean,’ but now they are holy. But if the unbelieving hus-15
band or wife seeks for a divorce, let it not be hindered ; for in
1 Compare Mark x. 12: Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another,
committeth adultery against her. And if a woman shall put away her husband,
and be married to another, she committeth adultery.
5 Ακάθαρτος, literally “unclean,” the term being used in its Jewish sense, to denote
that which is beyond the hallowed pale of God’s people; the antith The meaning of this very difficulf expression seems to be as follows :—The angela
gre sent as ministering servants to attend upon Christians, and are especially present
when ile church assembles for public worship; and they would be offended by any
violation of decency or order. It need scarcely be remarked, that to translate διὰ
τοὺς ἀγγέλους, “by the hands of angels” (as has been sometimes proposed), would
be a gross grammatical error.
3 Τὴ their relation to Christ. man and woman are not to be severed ( χωοίς) the one
from the ather. Compare Gal. iii. 28. St. Paul means to say that the distinction
Setween the sexes is one which only belongs to this life.
4 Literally, that neither I, nor the churches of God, admit of such a custom.
.ς Kai.
54 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
tested and made known. Moreover,! those among you who 2¢
meet [peaceably] together, are not really met to eat the Lord’s
Supper; for each begins to eat what he has brought for his 21
own supper, before anything’ has been given to others;
so that while some are hungry, others are drunken.* [lave 23
you then no houses for your feasts? or do you come to show
contempt for the congregation of God’s people, and to shame
the poor? What can I say to you? Shall I praise you in
this? I praise you not. For I myself* received from the Lord 23
that whichI delivered to you, how that the Lord Jesus in the
night when He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had 24
given thanks, He brake it, and said—“ Take, eat; this is my
body, which is broken for you: this doin remembrance of me.”
In the same manner also He took the cup, after supper, saying, 25
“ This cup is the new covenant in my blood: this do ye, as often
as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat 26
this bread, and drink this cup, you openly show forth the
Lord’s death until He shall come again. Therefore, whoso- 27
ever shall eat this bread, or drink this cup of the Lord un-
worthily, shall be guilty of profaning the body and blood
of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and 8028
-et him eat of this bread and drink of this cup. For he 29
who eats and drinks of it unworthily, eats and drinks
a judgment against himself, since he makes no difference
between the Lord’s body and common food. For this cause 30
many of you are weak and sickly, and some sleep the sleep of
death. For if we would rightly judge ourselves, we should 31
not be judged by God. But when we are judged, we are 32
chastened by the Lord Jesus, that we may not be condemned
together with the world. Therefore, my brethren, when you 33
meet for the Lord’s Supper, let none begin to eat by himself
while he leaves others unprovided; and if any one is hungry, 34
1 The second subject of rebuke is introduced by οὖν instead of by ἔπειτα dé (which
would naturally have answered the πρῶτον μὲν), because the συνερχομένων, κι. τ΄ A,, ia
taken up again from verse 18.
2 Προλαμθάνει.
3 For the explanation of this, see Vol. I. p. 440. It should be observed that a oem:
mon meal, to which each of the guests contributed his own share of the provisicrs,
was a form of entertainment of frequent occurrence among the Greeks, aud known by
the name of ἔρανος.
4 Observe the emphatic ἐγώ,
FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. 55
Jet him eat at home, lest your meetings should bring judgment
upon you. The other matters I willset in order when I come.
XII.
1 Concerning those who exercise Spiritual Gifts, onthespiritua
2 brethren, 1 anes to remove your ignorance. You aad
know that in the days of your Leathen eal you were blindly led
astray to worship dumb and senseless idols [by those who pre-
3 tended to gifts from heaven]. This test therefore I give you, to
guide your judgment; no man who is inspired by the Spirit of
God can call Jesus accursed; and no man can say that Jesus
4 is the Lord, unless he be inspired by the Holy Spirit... More-
over, there are varieties of Spiritual Gifts, but the same Spirit
5 gives them all; and they are given for various ministrations,
6 but all to serve the same Lord Jesus; and the inward work-
ing whereby they are wrought is various, but they are all
wrought in every one of those who receive them, by the work-
7 ing of the same God.? But the gift whereby the Spirit be-
8 comes manifest, is given to each for the profit of all. To one?
is given by the Spirit the utterance of Wisdom, to another the
utterance of Knowledge‘ according to the working cf the
9 same Spirit. To another the power of Faith® through the same
Spirit. To another gifts of Healing through the same Spirit.
10To another the powers which work Miracles; to another the
gift of Prophecy; to another the discernment of Spirits ;* to
another varieties of Tongues ;7 to another the Interpretation of
11 Tongues. Dut all these gifts are wrought by the working of
that one and the same Spirit, who distributes them to each ac-
12cording to His will. For as the body is one, and has many
1 ἃς ο. the mere outward profession of Christianity is (so far as it goes) a proof of the
Holy Spirit’s guidance. Therefore the extraordinary spiritual gifts which followed
Christian baptism in that age proceeded in all cases from the Spirit of God, and not
from the Spirit of Evil. This is St. Paul’s answer to a difficulty apparently felt by the
Corinthians (and mentioned in their letter to him), whether some of these gifts might
not be given by the Author of Evil to confuse the Church.
? Tt should be observed that the 4th, 5th, and 6th verses imply the doctrine of the
Trinity.
3 On this classification of spiritual gifts, see Vol. I. p. 427, n. 2.
4 Τνῶσις is the term used throughout this Epistle for a deep insight into the divine
truth ; σοφία isa more general term, but here (as being opposed to γνῶσις) probably
means practical wisdom.
5 Sve Vai. I. p. 429. ® See Vol. I. p. 430.
7 See Vol. L pp. 428-431 for remarks on this and the other gifts menticned in this
parsage
56 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
members, and as all the members, though many,! are one body ;
so also is Christ. Jor in the communion of one Spirit we all 1a
were’ baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles,’
whether slaves or freemen, and were all made to drink of the
same Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. 14
If‘ the foot should say, “I am not the hand, therefore I belong 15
not to the body,” does it thereby sever itself from the body ?
Or if the ear should say, “I am not the eye, therefore I belong 15
not to the body,” does it thereby sever itself from the body ?
If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing?17
If the whole body were an ear, where would be the smelling ?
But now God has placed the members severally in the body 18
according to His will. If all were one member, where would 19
be the body? But now, though the members are many, yet 20
the body is one. And the eye cannot say to the hand, * I have 21
no need of thee;” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no
need of you.” Nay, those parts of the body which are reckon- 22
ed the feeblest are the most necessary, and those parts which 23
we hold the least honourable, we clothe with the more abun-
dant honour, so that the less beautiful parts are clad with the
greater beauty; and those which are beautiful need not our 24
adornment. But God has tempered the body together, and
given to the lowher parts the higher honour, that there should
be no division in the body, but that all its parts should feel, 25
one for the other, a common sympathy. And thus, if one
member suffer, every member suffers with it; or if one mem- 26
ber be honoured, every member rejoices with it. Now ye are 27
together the body of Christ, and each one of you a separate
member. And God has set the members in the Church, some 28
in one place, and some in another: first,’ Apostles; secondly,
Prophets; thirdly, Teachers; afterwards Miracles; then Gifts
of Healing ; Serviceable Ministrations ; Gifts of Government ;
varieties of Tongues. Can all be Apostles? Can all be Pro- 29
1 The τοῦ ἑνός of the Received Text is omitted by the best MSS. ; so also is the εἰς
before ἕν πνεῦμα in verse 15.
3 The past tense is mistranslated in A. V. as present.
3 See note on Rom. i. 16.
4 The resemblance between this passage and the well-known fable of Menenius
Agrippa (Liv. m. 32) can scarcely be accidental; and may therefore be considered
another proof that St. Paul was not unacquainted with classical literature.
5 On this classification, see Vol. I. p. 427, note 2; on the particular charisms and
offices mentioned in it, see pp. 428-434,
FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. 57
z0phets? Can all be Teachers? Can all work Miracles? Have
all the Gifts of Healing? Do all speak with Torgues? Can
ali interpret the Tongues? But I would have you delight? in
3ithe best gifts; and moreover, beyond them all,’ I will show
you a path wherein to walk.
XIUI.
1 Though it were given me to speak in all the superiority of
, = Love to all the
tongues of men and angels, if I have not love, I am_ extraordinary
; ἕ ἢ Gifts οἵ the
no better than sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. spirit.
2 And although I have the gift of prophecy, and understand 41]
the mysteries, and all the depths of knowledge; and though [
have the fulness of faith,? so that I could remove mountains; if |
3 have not love, 1am nothing. And though I sell all my goods
to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, if I
4 have not love, it profits me nothing. Love is long suffering;
love is kind; love envies not; love speaks‘ no vaunts; love
5 shows no vanity; love is never uncourteous; love is never
selfish ; love is not easily provoked; love bears no malice; +
6 love rejoices not in the punishment® of wickedness, but re-
7 joices in the victory of truth; forbears in all things,’ believes
8 all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love shall
never pass away; though the gift of Prophecy shall vanish,
and the gift of Tongues shall cease, and the gift of Knowledge
9 shall come to nought. For our knowledge is imperfect, and
10 our prophecying is imperfect. But when the fulness of perfec-
11 tion is come, then all that is imperfect shallpass away. When
I was a child, my words were childish, my desires were child-
ish, my judgments were childish; but being grown a man, I
12 have done away with the thoughts of childhood. So now we
1 Ζηλοῦν means originally to feel intense eagerness about a person or thing: hence
its different senses of love. jealousy, &c., are derived. Here the wish expressed is, that
the Corinthians should take that delight in the exercise of the more useful gifts, which
hitherto they had taken in the more wonderful, not that individuals should “ covet
earnestly ” for themselves gifts which God had not given them. Compare xiv. 39.
? This seems the meaning of καθ᾽ ὑπερθολὴν, which can scarcely be taken as an ad-
fective with ddov, as in A. V.
3 ἧς e. the charism of wonder-working faith. See Vol. I. p. 429. The “removal af
mountains 7) alludes to the words of our Lord, recorded Matt. xvii. 20.
4 Περπερευομαι, jacto me verbis (Wahl).
5 The Authorised Version bere, “thinketh no evil,” is so beautiful that we cannot
cut wish it had keen a correct translation. The same disposition, however, is implied
by the παντα πιστεύει below.
3 ᾿Επιγαΐρω is 10 rejoice in the misfortune of another.
7 For the meaning of στέγει, see ix. 12: mora στέγνομεν.
58 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ΕἸ. PAUL.
see darkly, by the reflection of a mirror, but then face to face,
now I know in part, but then shall I know God, even as now
{am? known by Him. Yet while other gifts shall pass away, 13
these three, Faith, Hope, and Love, abide for ever; and the
greatest of these is Love.
Directions for I beseech you to follow earnestly after Love; 1
the exercise of : as
ea ane yet J would have you delight in the spiritual gifts,
giftof Tongues. but especially in the gift of Prophecy. Tor he 2
who speaks in a Tongue, speaks not to men but to God ; for
no man understands him, but with his spirit he utters mys-
teries. But he who prophecies speaks to meu, and builds them 3
up, with exhortation and with comfort. [16 who speaks in a 4
Tongue builds up himself alone; but he who prophecies builds
up the Church. I wish that you all had the gift of Tongues, 5
but rather that you had the gift of Prophecy ; for he who pro-
phecies is above him who speaks in Tongues, unless he interpret
the sounds he utters, that the Church may be built up there-
by. Now, brethren, if when I came to you I were to speak in ὃ
Tongues, what should I profit you, unless I should also speak
either in Revelation or in Knowledge, either in Prophecying
or in Teaching? Even if the lifeless instruments of sound, the
flute or the harp, give no distinctness to their notes, how can
we understand their music? Ifthe trumpet utter an uncertain 8
note, how shall the soldier prepare himself for the battle? So 9
also if you utter unintelligible words with your tongue, how
can your speech be understood? you will but be speaking to
the air. It may be that the Tongues in which you speak are 10
among the many languages spoken in the world, and of these
languages none is without meaning. Now if I know not thei
meaning of the language, I shall be as a foreigner to him that
speaks it, and he will be accounted a foreigner by me. Where-12
fore, I beseech you (since you delight in spiritual gifts) to
strive that your abundant possession of them may build up the
Church. ‘Therefore, let him who speaks in a Tongue, pray that13
he may be able to interpret? what he utters. For if I utter14
«τ
1 A? ἐσύπτρου, not “through a glass,” but by means of a mirror. ,
2 "Επεγνώσθην, literally “I was known,” ἡ. e. when in this world. The tense used
retrospectively ; unless it may be better to take it as the aorist used in a perfect sense,
which is not uncommon in St. Paul’s style.
3 This veren distinctly proves that the gift of Tongues was not a knowledge of
forrign languages, as is often supposed. See Vol. I. 429-430.
FIRST EPISfLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. 59
prayers in a Tongue, my spirit indeed prays, but my under
15 standing bears no fruit. What follows, then? I will pray in
deed with my spirit, but I will pray with my understanding
also; I will sing praises with my spirit, but I will sing with my
1g6understanding also. For if thou, with thy spirit, offerest
thanks and praise, how shall the Amen be said to thy thanks:
giving by those worshippers who take no part! in the ministra-
tions, while they are ignorant of the meaning of thy words?
17 Thou indeed fitly offerest thanksgiving, but they who hear
18 thee are not built up. I offer thanksgivings to God in private,?
19speaking in Tongues to Him, more than any of you. Yet in
the congregation I would rather speak five words with my un-
derstanding so as to instruct others, than ten thousand words in
20a Tongue. Brethren, be not children gin understanding; but
21in malice be children, and in understanding be men. It is
written in the book of the Law, “ With men of other tongues
and other lips will IL speak unto this people; and yet for all
22 that they will not hear me, saith the Lord.” So that the gift
of Tongues is a sign‘ given to men in a state of anbelief;
23whereas the gift of Prophecy belongs to believera. When,
therefore, the whole congregation is assembled in its place of
meeting, if all the brethren speak in Tongues, and if any who
take no part in your ministrations, or who aro unbelievers,
should enter your assembly, will they not say that you are
24mad?° But ifall exercise the gift of Prophecy, then if any
man who is an unbeliever, or who takes no part in your minis-
trations, should enter the place of meeting, he is convicted in
25 conscience by every speaker, he feels hiraself judged by all,
and® the secret depths of his heart are laid open; and so he
will fall upon his face and worship God, declaring to all men
that God is in you of a truth. What follows then, brethren?
1 Tod ἰδιώτου, not the unlearned (A. V.), but him who takes no part in the parti-
cular matter in hand.
? This is evidently the meaning of the verse. Cumpare verse 2, ὁ λαλῶν γλώσσῃ
οὐκ ἀνθρώποις λαλεῖ ἀλλὰ τῷ θεῷ, and verse 28, ἑαυτῷ λαλείτω καὶ τῷ θεῷ.
3 Is. xxviii. 11. Not exactly according to the Hebrew or LXX.
4 That is, a condemnatory sign.
5 We must not be led, from any apparent analogy, to confound the exercise sf the
gift of Tongues in the primitive Church with modern exhibitions of fanaticism, which
bear a superficial resemblance to it. We must remember that such modern pretensions
to this gift must of course resemble the manifestations ef the original gift in external
features, because these very features have been the objects of intentional imitation,
& Οὕτω is omitted in best MSS.
60 JHE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
If, when you are met together, one is prepared to sing a lyin 2
of praise, another to exercise his gift of Teaching, another his
gift of Tongues, another to deliver a Revelation,’ another an In-
terpretation ; let all be so done as to build up the Church. If 21
there be any who speak in Tongues, let not more than two, or at
the most three, speak [in the same assembly]; and let them speak
in turn; and let the same interpreter explain the words of all.
But if there be no interpreter, let him who speaks in Tongues 28
keep silence in the congregation, and speak in private to him-
self and God alone. Of those who have the gift of Prophecy, 29
let two or three speak [in each assembly], and let the rest?
judge; but if another of them, while sitting as hearer, receives 30
a revelation calling him to prophecy, let the first end his dis-
course. Jor so every one of you [who have received the gift] 31
can prophecy, that all in turn may receive teaching and exhor-
tation; (and the gift of Prophecy does not take from the pro- 32
phets* the control over their own spirits). Jor God is not the 33
author of confusion, but of peace.
The women “4In your congregation, as in all the congre-
must not offici-
ate publicly in gations of Christ’s people, the women must keep
the congrega- Ss j Σ
tion. silence; for they are not permitted to speak in pub- 34
lic, but to show submission, as it is said also in the Book of the
Law.* And if they wish to ask any question, let them ask it 35
of their own husbands at home ; for it is disgraceful to women
to speak publicly in the congregation. [Whence is your claim 36
to change the rules delivered to you?] Was it from you that
the word of God was first sent forth ? or, are you the only church
which it has reachea? Nay, if any think that he has the gift 37
of Prophecy, or that he is a spiritual® man, let him acknow-
ledge the words which I write for commands of the Lord Jesus.
But if any man refuse this acknowledgment, let him refuse it 38
at his own peril.
Therefore, brethren, I would have you delight in the gift of 39
1 This would be an exercise of the gift of προφητεία.
7 7. e. let the rest of the prophets judge whether those who stand up to exercise the
gift have really received it. This is parallel to the direction in 1 Thess. v. 21.
3 Literally, “the spirits of the prophets are under the control of the prophets.”
This is a reason why the rule given above can easily be observed.
4 This translation places a full-stop at εἰρήνης, and a comma at ἁγίων,
> Gen. iii. 16: “Thy husband shall have the dominion over thee.”
6 πνευματικός, the epithet on which the party of Apollos (the ultra-Pauline party)
especially prided themselves. See chap. iii, 1-3, and Gal. vi. 1, ὑμεῖς οἱ πνευματικοὶ;
FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. 61
40 Prophecy, and not hinder the gift of Tongues. And let all be
done with decency and order.
XV.
J Moreover, brethren, I call to your remembrance _The doctrins
f the Resur-
that which I declared to you as the Glad-tidings of rection of the
Dead establish-
Christ, which you then received, and wherein you Saetenee oe
2 now stand firm; by which also you are saved! if
3 you still hold it fast, unless indeed you believed in vain. For
the first thing which I taught you was that which 1 had my-
self been tanght, that Christ died for our sins as the Scriptures
4 had foretold,’ and that He was buried, and that Ie rose? the
5 third day from the dead, according to the Scriptures;4 and
6 that He was seen by Cephas, and then by The Twelve; after
that he was seen by above five hundred brethren at once, of
whom the greater part are living at this present time, but
7 some are fallen asleep.* Next He was seen by James, and then
8 by all the Apostles; and last of all He was seen by me also,
who am placed among the rest as it were by an untimely
9 birth; for lam the least of the Apostles, and am not worthy
to be called an Apostle, because I persecuted the Church of
10God. But by the grace of God, I am what Iam; and His
grace, which was bestowed upon me, was not fruitless; but 1
laboured more abundantly than all the rest; yet not I, but the
li grace of God which was with me. So then, whether pro-
claimed by me, or by them, this is the truth which we declare,
and this is the truth which you believed.
12 zf then {115 be our tidings, that Christ is risen from the
_ dead, how is it that some among you say, there is no resurrec-
13 tion of the dead? But if the dead rise not, then Christ is not
14risen; and if Christ be not risen, vain is the Glad-tidings which
1 Σώζεσθε, literally you are in the way of salvation. The words which follow (τίνι
λόγῳ ev.) we join with εὐεγγελισάμην in the preceding verse.
® So our Lord quotes Is, liii. 12, in Luke xxii. 37.
3 In the original itis ἐγήγερται, not ἡγέρθη : “ He is risen,” κοὐ “ He rose ;” because
Christ, being once risen, dieth no more.
4 Among the “Scriptures” here referred to by St. Paul, one is the prophecy which
he himself quoted in the speech at Antioch from Ps. xvi. 10.
® Can we imagine it possible that St. Paul should have said this without knowing it
to be true? or without himself having seen some of these “ five hundred brethren,” of
whom “the greater part” were alive when he wrote these words? The sceptical (but
eandid and honest) De Wette acknowledges this testimony as conclusive: “ Das Zeug-
niss des Apostels entscheidet fur die Richtigkcit des Tactums.” (De W. in doco.)
«
62 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF §T. PAUL.
we proclaim, and vain the faith with which you heard it.
Moreover, we are found guilty of false witness against Gud 5 14
because we bore witness of God that He raised Christ from
the dead, whom He did not raise, if indeed the dead rise not.
For if there be no resurrection of the dead, Christ himself? is 16
not risen. And if Christ be not risen, your faith is vain, you 17
are still in? your sins. Moreover, if this be so, they who have 13
fallen asleep in Christ, perished when they died. Yea, if in1
this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most
miserable. But now, Christ is risen from the dead; and He 20
rose to be the first-fruits? of all who sleep. For since by 21
man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the
dead. For as, in Adam, all men die, so, in Christ, shall all be 22
raised to life. But each in his own order; as the first-fruits of 23
all Christ is already risen ; afterwards they who are Christ’s shall
rise, at His appearing; finally, the end shall come, when. He 24
shall give up His kingdom to God His Father, having destroyed
all other powers which claim rule and sway.t For His king- 25
dom must last “tll He hath put all enemies under His feet.” 5
And last of His enemies, Death also shall be destroyed. For * 26
“ God hath put all things under His feet.” But in that saying, 27
“all things are put under Him,” it is manifest that God is
excepted, who put all things under Him. And when all things 28
are made subject to Him, then shall the Son also subject Him-
self to Him who made them subject, that God may be all
in all. :
Again, what will become of those who cause themselves to 29
1 This argument is founded on the union between Christ and His members: they 80
share His life, that because He lives for ever, they must live also; and conversely, if
we deny their immortality, we deny His.
3 Because we “are saved ” from our sins “ by His life.” (Rom. v. 10.)
3 ’Arapyy. On the second day of the feast of Passover a sheaf of ripe corn wag
offered upon the altar as a consecration of the whole harvest. ‘Till this was done it
was considered unlawful to begin reaping. See Levit. xxiii. 10, 11, and Josephus
Antiq., iii. 10. The metaphor, therefore, is, “ As the single sheaf of first-fruits repre-
sents and consecrates all the harvest, so Christ’s resurrection represents and involves
that of all who sleep in Him.” It should be observed that ἐγένετο is not present (aa
in A. V.), but past.
4 'Αρχὴν καὶ ἐξουσίαν καὶ δύναμιν. Compare Col. ii. 15: ἀπεκδυσάμενος tag ἀρχὰς
καὶ τὰς ἐξουσίας. Compare also Eph. i. 21.
5 Ps, ex. 1. (ΧΧ.) Quoted. and similarly applied, by our Lord himself, Mats
rxli. 44.
6 Ps, viii. 6, nearly after LXX.
FIRST EPISTLE ΤῸ THE ΟΟΠΙΝΤΗΙΑΙΪΒ, 63
be baptized for the dead,'if the dead never rise again? Why
then do they submit to baptism for the dead?
80 And I too, why do I expose my life every hour to deadly
3iperil? Iam daily at the point of death, I protest by my? very
boasting thereof, which I make [not in myself, but] in Christ
32 Jesus our Lord and Master. If] have fought (so to speak) with
beasts at Ephesus,? what am I profited if the dead rise not?
“ Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die.” + Beware lest
you be led astray ; “ Converse with evil men corrupts good man-
33 ners.”*> Change your drunken revellings* into the sobriety
84 οὗ righteousness, and live no more in sin; for some of you
know not God; I speak this to your shame.
δῦ DButsome disputer will say, “‘ How are the dead raised up ?
36 and with what body do they rise?” Thou fool, the seed which
thou sowest is not quickened into life till it hath partaken of
37 death. And that seed which thou sowest has not the same
body with the plant which will spring from it, but it is mere
88 grain, of wheat, or whatever else it may chance to be. But
God gives it a body according to His will; and to every seed
the body of its own proper plant. For all flesh is not the same
39 flesh [but each body is fitted to the place it fills]; the bodies
1 The only meaning which the Greek seems to admit here is a reference to the prac
tice of submitting to baptism instead of some person wlio had died unbaptized. Yet
this explanation is liable to very great difficulties. (1) How strange that St. Paul
should refer to such a superstition without rebuking it! (2) If such a practice did
exist in the Apostolic Church, how can we account for its being discontinued in the
period which followed, when a magical efficacy was more and more ascribed to the
material act of baptism. Yet the practice was never adopted except by some obscure
sects of Gnostics, who seem to have founded their custom on this very passage.
The explanations which have been adopted to avoid the difficulty, such us “ over the
graves of the dead,” or “in the name of the dead (meaning Christ),” &c., are all inad-
missible, as being contrary to the analogy of the language. On the whole, therefore,
the passage must be considered to admit of no satisfactory explanation. It alludes to
some practice of the Corinthians, which has not been recorded elsewhere, and of which
every other trace has perished.
2 We read ἡμετέραν with Griesbach, on the authority of the Codex Alexandrinus.
3 This is metaphorical, as appears hy the qualifying expression κατ᾽ ἄνθρωπον. It
must refer to some very violent opposition which St. Paul had met with at Ephesus,
the particulars of which are not recorded
4 Js. xxii. 13. (LXX.).
5 St. Paul bere quotes a line from the Thais, a comedy of Menander’s: the line had
probably passed into a proverbial expression. We see, from this passage, that the
free-thinking party at Corinth joined immoral practice with their licentious doctrine;
ard that they were corrupted by the evil example of their heathen neighbours.
6 'Exvjpate, Dot swake (A. V.), but cease to be drunken.
64 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
of men, and of beasts, of birds, and of fishes, differ the
one from the other. And there are bodies which belony 46
to heaven, and bodies which belong to earth; but in bright-
ness and in beauty the heavenly differ from the earthly. ‘The 41
sun is more glorious than the moon, and the moon is more
glorious than the stars, and one star excels another in the glory
of its brightness. So will it be in the resurrection of the dead ;
[they will be clothed with a body fitted to their lot]; it is sown 42
in corruption, it is raised in incorruption; it is sown in dis- 43
honour, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised
in power; it is sown a natural! body, it is raised a spiritual 44
body; for as there are natural bodies, so there are also spirit-
ual bodies. And so it is written,’ “ Zhe jirst man Adam was 45
made a living soul,” whereas, the last Adam was made a life-
giving spirit. But the spiritual comes not tiil after the natu- 4ς
ral. The first man was made of earthly clay, the second man 47
was the Lord from heaven. As is the earthly, such are they 48
also that are earthly ; and as is the heavenly, such are they
also that are heavenly ; and as we have borne the image of the 49
earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. But 50
this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood® cannot inherit the
1 For the translation of ψυχικός, see note on ii. 14. The reference to this of the fol-
jowing ψυχὴν (in the quotation) should be observed, though it cannot be retained in
English.
* Gen. ii. 7, slightly altered from LXX.
3 The importance of the subject justifies our quoting at some length the admirable
remarks of Dr. Burton (formerly Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford) on this pas
sage, in the hope that his high reputation for learning and for unblemished orthodoxy
may lead some persons to reconsider the loose and unscriptural language which they
are in the habit cf using :—After regretting that some of the early Fathers have (when
treating of the Resurrection of the Body) appeared to contradict these words of St.
Paul, Dr. Burton continues as follows :—
“Tt is nowhere asserted in the New Testament that we shall rise again with our
bodies. Unless a man will say that the stalk, the blade, and the ear of corn are 80-
tualiy the same thing with the single grain which is put into the ground, he cannot
quote St. Paul as saying that we shall rise again with the same bodies; or at least he
must allow that the future body may only be like to the present one, inasmuch as
both come under the same genus; 7. 6. we speak of human bodies, and we speak of
heavenly bodies. But St. Paul’s words do not warrant us in saying that the resem
bla..ce between the present and future body will be greater than between a man and a
stu, or between a bird anda fish. Nothing can be plainer than the expression whica
he uses in the first of these two analogies, Thow sowest not that body that shall be.
(xv. 37.) He says also, with equal plainness, of the body, It is sown a natural body
tt is raised a spiritual body: there is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body,
(v. 44.) These words require to be examined closely, and involve remotely a deep
FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. 6
kingdom of God, neither can corruption inherit incorruption.
61 Behold, I declare to you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but
52 we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an
eye, at the sound of the last trumpet; for the trumpet; shall
sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall
53be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption
and this mortal must put on immortality.
54. But when this corruptible is clothed with incorruption, ana
this mortal is clothed with immortality, then shall be brought
to pass the saying which is written,’ “ Death is swallowed up
δδ ὅ7υ victory.” 7“ O death, where is thy sting ?” “O grave, where
36 ts thy victory?” The sting of death is sin, and the strength of
57sin is the law;* but thanks be to God, who gives to us the
victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, immovable,
always abounding in the work of the Lord; knowing that your
labour is not in vain, in the Lord.
XVI.
1. Concerning the collection for Christ’s people [at Directions com
cerning the col-
Jerusalem] I would have you follow the same plan, lection for the
Judean Christ-
which I have enjoined upon the churches of Galatia, ins
2 Upon the first day of the week, let each of you set apart what-
ever his gains may enable him to spare; that there may be no
metaphysical question. In common language, the terms Body and Spirit are accus-
tomed to be opposed, and are used to represent two things which are totally distinct.
Eut St. Paul here brings the two expressions together, and speaks of a spiritual body.
Sc. Paul therefore did not oppose Body to Spirit: and though the looseness of mod-
ein language may allow us to do so, and yet to be correct in our ideas, it may save
some confusion if we consider Spirit as opposed to Matter, and if we take Body to be
a generic term, which comprises both. .4 body, therefore, in the language of St. Paul,
is something which has a distinct individual existence.
“St. Paul tells us that every individual, when he rises again, will have a spiritual
body: but the remarks which I have made may show how different is the idea con-
veyed by these words from the notions which some persons entertain, that we shall
rise again with the same identical body. St. Paul appears effectually to preclude this
notion, when he says, Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.” (ver.
50.)—Burton’s Lectures, pp. 429-431.
1 Is. xxv. 8. Not quoted from the LXX., but apparently from the Hebrew, with
some alteration.
? Hosea xiii. 14. Quoted, but not exactly, from LXX.
3 Why is the Law called “the strength of Sin?” Because the Law of Duty, being
acknowledged, gives to sin its power tc wound the conscience; in fact, a moral law
of precepts and penalties announces the fatal consequences of sin, without giving us
any power of conquering sin.
VoL. 11.--ὃ
66 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
need to make collections when I come. And when 1 am witk 3
vou, whomsoever you shall judge to be fitted for the trust, I
will furnish with letters, and send them to carry your benevo-
lence to Jerusalem; or if there shall seem sufficient reason for 4
me also to go thither, they shall go with me. But I will 5
eee visit you after I have passed through Macedonia
(for through Macedonia I shall pass); and perhaps 6
I shall remain with you, or even winter with you, that you may
forward me on my farther journey, whithersoever I go. For I ἢ
do not wish to see you now for a passing! visit; but I hope to
stay some time with you, if the Lord permit. But I shall re- 8
main at Ephesus until Pentecost, for a door is opened to me g
both great and effectual; and there are many adversaries
Timotheus. [against whom I must contend]. If Timotheus come 19
to you, be careful to give him no cause of fear,” for he is Jabour-
ing, as I am, in the Lord’s work. Therefore, let no mani
despise him, but forward him on his way in peace, that he
may come hither to me; for I expect him, and the brethren
with him,
Apollos. As regards the brother Apollos, 1 urged him 12
much to visit you with the brethren [who bear this letter];
nevertheless, he was resolved not to come to you at this time,
but he will visit you at a more convenient season.
Exhortations. Be watchful, stand firm in faith, be manful andi3
stout-hearted.s Let all you do be done in love. 14
τεϑύσρβαδα, You know, brethren, that the house of Stepha-15
ortunatus,
and Achaicus. nag were the first-fruits of Achaia, and that they
have taken on themselves the task of ministering to Christ’s
people. I exhort you, therefore, to show submission towards 16
men like these, and towards all who work laboriously with
them. I rejoice in the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus, 17
and Achaicus, for they * have supplied all which you needed 318
1 ἃ, 6, St. Paul had altered his original intention, which was to go from Ephesus, by
sea, to Corinth, and thence to Macedonia. For this change of purpose he was re-
proached by the Judaizing party at Corinth, who insinuated that he was afraid to
come, and that he dared not support the loftiness of his pretensions by corresponding
deeds (see 2 Cor. i. 17 and x. 1-12). He explains his reason for postponing his visit
in 2 Cor. i. 23. It was an anxiety to give the Corinthians time far repentance, that he
might not be forced to use severity with them.
2 The youth of Timotheus accounts for this request. Compare 1 Tim. iy. 12,
3 i. δ. under persecution. 4 See Vol. I. 399, 200.
5 Compare 2 Cor xi. 9
FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. 67
since they have lightened my spirit and yours.!’ Render, there
fore, to such men the acknowledgment of their worth.
19 The Churches of Asia salute you. Aguila and — salutations
Sake « a Ξ Δ 5 from the Pro
Priscilla send their loving salutation in the Lord vince of Asia.
Jesus, together with the Church which assembles at their house.
20 All the brethren here salute you. Salute one another with the
kiss of holiness.?
21. I, Paul, add this my salutation with my own Autograph
22hand. Let him who loves not the Lord Jesus Christ erg
be accursed. Zhe Lord cometh.
23,24 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. My
love be with you all in Christ Jesus.+
In the concluding part of this letter we have some indication of the
Apostle’s plans for the future. He is looking forward to a journey
through Macedonia (xvi. 5), to be succeeded by a visit to Corinth (ib.
2-7), and after this he thinks it probable he may proceed to Jerusalem
ib. 3, 4). In the Acts of the Aposties the same intentions® are ex-
pressed, with a stronger purpose of going to Jerusalem (xix. 21), and
with the additional conviction that after passing through Macedonia and
Achaia, and visiting Palestine, he “must also see Rome” (ib.). He had
won many of the inhabitants of Asia Minor and Ephesus to the faith :
and now, after the prospect of completing his charitable exertions for the
poor Christians of Juda, his spirit turns towards the accomplishment of
remoter conquests.° Far from being content with his past achievements,
or resting from his incessant labours, he felt that he was under a debt of
perpetual obligation to all the Gentile world.7 Thus he expresses himself,
1 Viz. by supplying the means of our intercourse.
2 See note on 1 Thess. ν. 25.
5 Maran-Atha (xm 74/2) means “The Lord cometh,” and is used apparently by St.
Paul as a kind of motto; compare ὁ κύριος εγγύς (Phil. iv. 5). Billroth thinks that he
wrote it in Hebrew characters, as a part of the autograph by which he authenticated this
letter. Buxtorf (Lex. Chald. 827) says it was part of a Jewish cursing formula, from
tre “Prophecy of Enoch” (Jude 14) ; but this view appears to be without foundation.
in fact. it would have been most incongruous to have blended together a Greek word
(ANATHEMA) with a Hebrew phrase (MARAN ATHA), and to use the compound
as a formula of execration. This was not done till (in later ages of the Church) the
meaning of the terms themselves was lost.
4 The “ Amen” is not found in the best MSS.
5 Tke important application made in the Hore Pauline of those coincidences
between the Acts and Corinthians, and again those referred to below between the Asta
and Romans, need only be alluded to.
4 See Menken’s Blicke in das Leben, ἃ. s. w.
7 “Ἐλλησί τ: Kal Βαρθάοιος ὀφειλέτης xyi. Rom. i. 14.
68 THE LIFE ΑΚ EPISTLES OF 8T. PAUL
soon after this time, in the Epistle to the Roman Christians, whums he
had long ago desired to see (Rom. i. 10-15), and whom he hopes at
length to visit, now that he is on his way to Jerusalem, and looks forward
to a still more distant and hazardous journey to Spain (ib. xv. 22-29).
The path thus dimly traced before him, as he thought of the future at
Ephesus, and made more clearly visible, when he wrote the letter at
Corinth, was made still more evident! as he proceeded on his course.
Yet not without forebodings of evil,* aud much discouragement,? and
mysterious delays,‘ did the Apostle advance on his courageous career.
But we are anticipating many subjects which will give a touching in-
terest to subsequent passages of this history. Important events still
detain us in Ephesus. Though St. Paul’s companions had been sent be-
fore in the direction of his contemplated journey (Acts xix. 22), he still
resolved to stay till Pentecost (1 Cor. xvi.8). A “great door” was open
to him, and there were “ many adversaries,” against whom he had yet te
contend.
1 By the visions at Jerusalem (Acts xxiii. 11), and on board the ship (xxvii. 23, 24).
* Compare what he wrote to the Romans (Rom. xv. 30, 31) with what ke said ad
Miletus (Acts xx. 22, 23), and with the scene at Ptolemais (Ib. xxi. 10-14).
< The arrest at Jerusalem.
4 The two years’ imprisonment at Caesarea, and the shipwreck
DESCRIPTION OF EPHESUS. θυ
CHAPTER XVI.
“ But I shall remain at Ephesus until Pentecost; for a door is opened to me both
great and effectual, and there are many adversaries against whom I must contend.”—
1 Cor. xvi. 8, 9.
“ Great is Diana of the Ephesians.’’—Acts xix. 28.
DESCRIPTION OF EPHESUS.—TEMPLE OF DIANA.—HER IMAGE AND WORSHIP.—
POLITICAL CONSTITUTION OF EPHESUS.—THE ASIARCHS.—-DEMETRIUS AND
THE SILVERSMITHS.—TUMULT IN THE THEATRE.—SPEECH OF THE TOWN:
CLERK.—ST. PAUL’S DEPARTURE.
comn or EPHESUS.!
Tre boundaries of the province of Asia,’ and the position of its chief city
Hphesus,? have already been placed before the reader., It is now time
that we should give some description of the city itself, with a notice οἱ
its characteristic religious institutions, and its political arrangements under
the Empire.
No cities were ever more favourably placed for prosperity and στον
than those of the colonial Greeks in Asia Minor, They had the advan-
tage of a coast-line full of convenient harbours, and of a sea which was
favourable to the navigation of that day; and, by the long approaches
formed by the plains of the great western rivers, they had access to the
inland trade of the East, Two of these rivers have been more than once
alluded to,—the Hermus and the Meander.‘ The valley of the first was
bounded on the south by the ridge of Tmolus ; that of the second was
bounded on the north by Messogis. In the interval between these two
mountain ranges was the shorter course of the river Cayster. A few
1 From Ak. Num. Ill. p. 49. For the form under which Diana is represented, sea
below, p. 76. Compare p. 18.
? Ch. viii. Vol. I. p. 237. 3 Ch. xiv. Vol. 11. p. 18,
4 fee above, Vol. Il. pp. 12 18.
τῇ THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
miles from the sea a narrow gorge is formed by Mount Pactyas on the
south, which is the western termination of Messogis,! and by the preci:
pices of Gallesus on the north, the pine-clad summits* of which are more
remotely connected with the heights of Tmolus. This gorge separates the
Upper ‘‘Caystrian meadows”? from a small alluvial plain‘ by the sea.
Partly on the long ridge of Coressus, which is the southern boundary of
this plain,—partly on the detached circular eminence of Mount Prion,—
and partly on the plain itself, near the windings of the Cayster, and about
the edge of the harbour,—were the buildings of the city.’ Ephesus was
not so distinguished in early times as several of her Ionian sisters,® and
some of them outlived her glory. But, though Phocsa and Miletus sent
out more colonies, and Smyrna has ever remained a flourishing city, yet
Ephesus had great natural advantages, which were duly developed in the
age of which we are writing. Having easy access through the defiles of
Mount Tmolus to Sardis, and thence up the valley of the Hermus far
into Phrygia,’ and again, by a similar pass through Messogis to the
Meander, being connected with the great road through Iconium to the
Euphrates,’ it became the metropolis of the province of Asia under the
1 See Strabo xiv. 1. i
? “ Our road lay at the foot of Gallesus, beneath precipices of a stupendous height,
abrupt and inaccessible. In the rock are many holes inhabited by eagles ; of which
several were soaring high in the air, with crows clamouring about them, so far above
us as hardly to be discernible.” Chandler, p.111. Of another journey he says: “‘ We
rode among the roots of Gallesus, or the Aleman, through pleasant thickets abounding
with goldfinches. The aerial summits of this immense mountain towered above us,
clad with pines. Steep succeeded steep, as we advanced, and the path became more
narrow, slippery, and uneven..... the known sureness of foot of our horses being our
confidence and security by fearful precipices and giddy heights.” p.103. For the
Cayster and the site of Ephesus, see p. 107. The approach from Sardis, by which we
suppose St. Paul to have come (see above, p. 10), was on this side: and part of the
pavement of the road still remains.
3 For the “Aovog λειμών, see above, Vol. I. p. 238.
4 The piain is said by Mr. Arundell (p. 25) to be about five miles long; and the
morass has advanved considerably into the sea since the flourishing times of Ephesus.
See Plin. H. N. v. 31. 3
5 The only maps which can be referred to for the topography of Ephesus are the
Admiralty chart, and the plans given in Guhl and Kiepert.
6 The Ephesian Diana, however, was the patroness of the Phocean navigators, even
when the city of Ephesus was unimportant. See Grote’s Greece, vol. m1. p. 375 and
compare pp. 235-243.
7 In this direction we imagine St. Paul to have traveWed. See above.
* We have frequently had occasion to mention this great road. See Vol. I. pp. 269-
272. II. p.12. It was the principal line of communication with the eastern provinces :
but we have conjectured that St. Paul did not travel by it, because it seems probable
that he never was at Colosse. See Vol. 11. Ὁ. 12. A description of the route by Colos-
se and Laodicea will be found in Arundell’s Asia Minor. The view he gives of the
sliffs of Colosse (vol. τι. p. 164) should be noticed. Though St. Paul may never have
seen them, they are interesting as connected with Epaphras and his other converts,
DESCRIPTION OF EPHESUS. τί
Romans, and the chief emporium of trade on the nearer side of Taurus
The city built by Androclus and his Athenian followers was on the slope
of Coressus ; but gradually it descended into the plain, in the direction ot
the Temple of Diana. The Alexandrian age produced a marked altera-
tion in Ephesus, as in most of the great towns in the East ; and Lysima-
chus extended his new city over the summit of Prion as well as the
heights of Coressus.'. The Roman age saw, doubtless, a still further in-
crease both of the size and magnificence of the place. To attempt to
reconstruct it from the materials which remain, would be a difficult task,’
—far more difficult than in the case of Athens, or even Antioch ; but
some of the more interesting sites are easily identified. Those who walk
over the desolate site of the Asiatic metropolis, see piles of ruined edifices
on the rocky sides, and among the thickets of Mount Prion:? they look
out from its summit over the confused morass which once was the har-
bour,* where Aquila and Priscilla landed ; and they visit in its deep
recesses the dripping marble-quarries, where the marks of the tools are
visible still. On the outer edge of the same hill they trace the enclosure
of the Stadium,® which may have suggested to St. Paul many of those
images with which he enforces Christian duty, in the first letter written
from Ephesus to Corinth.7 Farther on, and nearer Coressus, the remains
of the vast theatre’ (the outline of the enclosure is still distinct, though
1 The changes are mentioned by Strabo, xiv. See Steph. Byz.
2 A plan of the entire city, with a descriptive memoir, has been prepared by E.
Falkener, Esq., architect, but remains unpublished.
3 Hamilton’s Researches in Asia Minor, vol. ii. p. 23,. Compare Chandler .
4 “ Wven the sea has retired from the scene of desolation, and a pestilential morass,
covered with mud and rushes, has succeeded to the waters which brought up the ships
laden with merchandize from every country.” Arundell’s Seven Churches, p. 27.
Another occasion will occur for mentioning the harbour, which was very indifferent.
Some attempts to improve it were made about this time.
5 Chandler. A curious story is told of the discovery of this marble. A shepherd
named Pixodorus was feeding his flock on the hill: two of his rams fighting, one of
them missed his antagonist, and with his horn broke a crust of the whitest marble.
The Ephesians were at this time in search of stone for the building of their temple.
The shepherd ran to his fellow-citizens with the specimen, and was received with joy.
His name was changed into Evangelus (the giver of glad-tidings), and divine honours
were afterwards paid to him. Vitruv. x. 7.
6 See Chandler, who measured the area and found it 687 feet in length. The side
next the plain is raised on vaults, and faced with a strong wall.
7 1 Cor. ix. 24-27.
8 ‘Of the site of the theatre, the scene of the tumult raised by Demetrius, there can
be no doubt, its ruins being a wreck of immense grandeur. I think it must have been
larger than the one at Miletus, and that exceeds any I have elsewhere seen in scale,
although not in ornament. Its form alone can now be spoken of, for every seat is
removed, and the proscenium is a hill of ruins.”’ Fellows’ Asia Minor, p. 274. The
theatre of Ephesus is said to be the largest known of any that have remained to us
from antiquity.
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DESCRIPTION OF EPHESUS. V3
the marble seats are removed) show the place where the multitude, roused
by Demetrius, shouted out, for two hours, in honour of Diana.' Below
is the Agora,’ through which the mob rushed up to the well-known place
of meeting. And in the valley between Prion and Coressus is one of the
gymnasia,? where the athletes were trained for transient honours and a
perishable garland. Surrounding and crowning the scene, are the long
Hellenic walls of Lysimachus, following the ridge of Coressus# On a
spur of the hill, they descend to,an ancient tower, which is still called the
prison of St. Paul.» The name is doubtless legendary ; but St. Paul may
have stood here, and looked over the city and the plain, and seen the
Cayster winding towards him from the base of Gallesus.6 Within his view
was another eminence, detached from the city of that day, but which be-
came the Mahomedan town when ancient Ephesus was destroyed, and
nevertheless preserves in its name a record of another apostle, the “ disci-
ple” St. John.’
But one building at Ephesus surpassed all the rest in magnificence and
in fame. This was the Temple of Artemis or Diana,® which glittered in
brilliant beauty at the head of the harbour, and was reckoned by the
ancients as one of the wonders of the world. ‘The sun, it was said, saw
nothing in his course more magnificent than Diana’s Temple. Its honour
dated from remote antiquity. Leaving out of consideration the earliest
temple, which was cotemporaneous with the Athenian colony under An-
droclus, or even yet more ancient,® we find the great edifice, which was
1 Acts xix.
? The Agora, with its public buildings, would naturally be between the hill-side on
which the theatre and stadium stood, and the harbour. For the general notion of a
. Greek Agora, see the description of Athens.
3 See an engraving of these ruins in the second volume of Ionian Antiquities,. pub-
lished by the Dilettanti Society.
4 “An interesting feature in these ruins is the Hellenic wall of Lysimaehus, ranging
along the heights of Coressus. It extends for nearly a mile and three-quarters, in a
8. E. and N. W. direction, from the heights immediately to the S. of the gymnasium to
the tower called the Prison of St. Paul, but which is in fact one of the towers of the
uncient wall... .. It is defended and strengthened by numerous square towers of the
same character at unequal distances.’ Hamilton’s Researches, vol. ii. p. 26. An
engraving of one of the gateways is given, p. 27. 5 Hamilton, as above.
6 “This eminence (a root of Coressus running out towards the plain) commands a
lovely prospect of the river Cayster, which there crosses the plain from near Gallesus,
with a small but full stream, and with many luxuriant meanders.”? Chandler.
7 Ayasaluk, which is a round hill like Prion, but smaller. This is the eminence
which forms a conspieuous object in our engraved view. See Vol. I. Its name is said
to be a corruption of ὁ ἅγιος Θεόλογος.
8 One of the chief works on this temple is that of Hirt (Ueber den Tempel der
Diana von Ephesus: Berlin, 1809). We have not been able to consult it, though we
have used the extracts given by Guhl. See also Miuller’s Archaologie. New light
may be expected on the subject in Mr. Falkener’s work. See above.
® For all that is known on this subject, see Guhl, pp. 78 and 160,
74 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
anterior to the Macedonian period, begun and continued in the midst of
the attention and admiration both of Greeks and Asiatics. The fourda-
tions were carcfully laid, with immense substructions, in the marshy
ground. Architects of the highest distinction were employed.? The
quarries of Mount Prion supplied the marble? All the Greek cities of
Asia contributed to the structure ; and Cresus, the king of Lydia, himself
lent his aid.* The work thus begun before the Persian war, was slowly
continued even through the Peloponnesian war ; and its dedication was
celebrated by a poet contemporary with Euripides.6 But the building,
which had been thus rising through the space of many years, was not des-
tined to remain long in the beauty of its perfection. The fanatic Heros-
tratus set fire to it on the same night in which Alexander was born.’ This
is one of the coincidences of history, on which the ancient world was fond
of dwelling: and it enables us, with more distinctness, to pursue the
annals of ‘‘ Diana of the Ephesians.” The temple was rebuilt with new
and more sumptuous magnificence. The ladies of Ephesus contributed
their jewellery to the expense of the restoration.?7 The national pride in
the sanctuary was so great, that, when Alexander offered the spoils of his
eastern campaign if he might inscribe his name on the building, the honour
was declined.s The Ephesians never ceased to embellish the shrine of
their goddess, continually adding new decorations and subsidiary buildings,
with statues and pictures by the most famous artists. This was the temple
that kindled the enthusiasm of St. Paul’s opponents (Acts xix.), and was
still the rallying-point of heathenism in the days of St. John and Pelycarp.
In the second century we read that it was united to the city by a long
colonnade. But soon after it was plundered and laid waste by the Goths,
who came from beyond the Danube in the reign of Gallienus.® It sunk
entirely into decay in the age when Christianity was overspreading the
1 Ὁ τεχνίτης τὰ βάθη τῶν ὀρυγμάτων καταθιθάσας εἰς ἄπειρον ἐβάλλετο τὴν κατώρυγα
ϑεμελίωσιν. Philo Byz. de Septem Orbis Miraculis, in the eighth volume of Grono
vius, 2682. Ne in lubrico atque instabili fundamenta tante molis locarentur, calcatis
ea substuere carbonibus, dein velleribus lanz. Plin. xxxvi. 21. He says that it was
built in marshy ground, lest it should be injured by earthquakes. See Diog.
Laert. ii. 8, 19.
2 The first architect was Theodore of Samos. He was succeeded by Chersiphon of
Gnossus, then by his son Metagenes. The building was completed by Demetrius and
Peeonius.
3 Sce above, p. 71.
4 Communiter a civitatibus Asie factum. Liv. i.45. Tota Asia extruente, Plin,
xvi. 79. Factum a tota Asia, Plin. xxxvi. 21.
5 Timotheus. See Muller’s History of Greek Literature.
3. Strabo, xiv. 1.
7 "AAAov ἀμείνω κατεσκεύασαν συνενέγκαντες Tov τῶν γυναίκωι κόσμον, K, τ. A
Strabo.
8 Strabo, as above. See Arrian, i. 17.
> Arundell’s Seven Churches, p. 46.
TEMPLE OF DIANA. %5
empire ; and its remains are to be sought for in medizval buildings, in the
colum.us of green jasper which support the dome of St. Sophia, or even in
the naves of Italian cathedrals.
Thus the Temple of Diana of Ephesus saw all the changes of Asia
Minor, trom Croesus to Constantine. Though nothing now remains on the
spot to show us what or even where it was,” there is enough in its written
memorials to give us some notions of its appearance and splendour. The
reader will bear in mind the characteristic style which was assumed by
Greek architecture, and which has suggested many of the images of the
New Testament.* It was quite different from the lofty and ascending
form of those buildings which have since arisen in all parts of Christian
Europe, and essentially consisted in horizontal entablatures resting on
vertical columns. In another respect, also, the temples of the ancients
may be contrasted with our churches and cathedrals. They were not
roofed over for the reception of a large company of worshippers, but were
in fact colonnades erected as subsidiary decorations, round the cell which
contained the idol,‘ and were, through a great part of their space, open to
the sky. The colonnades of the Hphesian Diana really constituted an
epoch in the history of Art, for in them was first matured that graceful
Tonic style, the feminine beauty ὃ of which was more suited to the genius of
the Asiatic Greek, than the sterner and plainer Doric, in which the Par-
thenon and Propylea were built.6 The scale on which the Temple was
erected was magnificently extensive. It was 425 feet in length and 220
in breadth, and the columns were 60 feet high.?/ The number of columns
was 127, each of them the gift of a king ; and 36 of them were enriched
1 Arundell’s Seven Churches, p. 47.
? Tts actual site is a matter of dispute. Discussions on this subject will be found im
Chandler, Arundell, &c. One conjectural position may be seen in Guhl’s map, also in
that of Kiepert. Mr. Falkener’s opinion is that it lay more to the west, and nearer
the sea. .
3 See, for instance, Gal. ii. 9. Rev. 111,12, also 1 Tim. iii, 15 ; comparing what has
been said above, Vol. I. p. 219. :
4 See on this subject, Hermann’s Lehrbuch der gottesdienstlichen Alterthumer, τι. 1.
§§ 18,19. [While this is passing throngh the press, a friend suggests one parallel in
Christian architecture, viz. the Atrium, or western court of St. Ambrogio at Milan,
which is a colonnade west of the Church, itself enclosing a large oblong space not
roofed over.]
5 “Tones Diane constituere sedem querentes, novi generis speciem ad muliebrem
transtulerunt gracilitatem.” Vitruv. iv. 1. Hirt remarks here, p. 5, ‘Der Tempel
der Diana von Ephesus bezeichnet eine wesentliche Epoche in dieser Kunst. Et
weckte in derselben einen ganz neuen Geist, und bewirkte den kuhnen Umschwung,
vermoge dessen es vielleicht allein moglich ward die architektonische Kunst der Grie
chen auf jene Hohe zu fuhren, wodurch sie das vollendete Vorbild fur alle gebildete,
Volker und Zeiten ward.”
6 See Vol. I. ch. x. 7 Plin. xxxvi. 21.
γί THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
with ornament and colour.!' The folding doors were of cypress-wood ;
the part which was not open to the sky was roofed over with cedar ;* ana
the staircase was formed of the wood of one single vine from the island of
Cyprus.*| The value and fame of the Temple were enhanced by its being
the treasury, in which a large portion of the wealth of ‘Western Asia was
stored ἀρ. It is probable that there was no religious building in the
world, in which was concentrated a greater amount of admiration, enthu:
siasm, and superstition.
COIN OF EPHESUS.6
If the Temple of Diana at Ephesus was magnificent, the image en-
shrined within the sumptuous enclosure was primitive and rude. We
usually conceive of this goddess, when represented in art, as the tall hun-
tress, eager in pursuit, like the statue in the Louvre. Such was not the
form of the Ephesian Diana, though she was identified by the Greeks with
their own mountain-goddess, whose figure we often see represented on the
coins of this city.7 What amount of fusion took place in the case of this
1 Tbid. This “ Celatura” seems to have denoted an enrichment with colour and
metal, which was intended to elucidate the mouldings and to relieve the perspective.
See Plin. xxxiv. 7. Or perhaps the word denotes bas-reliefs. The word “ Czlavere”’
is applied by Pliny to the decoration of the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, which we
know to have been bas-reliefs.
? Plin. xvi. 79. He adds that they lasted 400 years: so Theophrastus, Τούτων
χρονιώτατα δοκεῖ τὰ κυπαρίττινα εἶναι, τὰ γοῦν étv’Edéow ἐξ dy αἱ ϑύραι τοῦ ved
τεθαυρισμέναι, τέτταρας ἐκεῖντο γενέας. Hist. Plant. v. 5.
3 Plin. xvi. 79. Vitruv. ii. 9.
4 This too seems to have been one of the wonders of the vegetable world. ‘“ Etiam
nune scalis tectum Ephesiz Dian scanditur una e vite Cypria, ut ferunt, quoniam ibi
ad precipuam magnitudinem exeunt.” Plin. xiv. 2.
5 A German writer says that the temple of the Ephesian Diana was what the Bank
of England is in the modern world. See Guhl, p. 111, n. 71.
6 From Ak, Num. Ill. p. 55. This coin is peculiarly interesting for many reasons,
It has a representation of the temple, and the portrait and name of Nero, who wes
now reigning; and it exhibits the words νεώκορος (Acts xix.), and ἀνθύπατος (Ib.).
The name of the Proconsul is Aviola. It is far from impossible that he might hold
that office while St. Paul was at Hphesus (7. 6. from the autumn of 54 to the spring cf
57). We learn from Seneca, Tacitus, and Suetonius, that a member of the same
family was consul in the year 54, when Claudius died and Nero became emperor.
See Clinton’s Fasti Romani.
7 Hence she is frequently represented as the Greek Diana cn coins of Ephesus. Sea
those which are given in the last chapter but one.
IMAGE OF DIANA. Te
worship between Greek and Oriental notions, we need not enquire.’ 'The
image may have been intended to represent Diana in one of her customary
characters, as the deity of fountains ;* but it reminds us rather of the
idols of the far Hast, and of the religions which love to represent the life
of all animated beings as fed and supported by the many breasts of nae
ture? The figure which assumed this emblematic form above, was termi-
nated below in a shapeless block. The material was wood.‘ The best MSS. read 6 not 6.
6 Ἔν προσώτῳ. Compare Proverbs viii. 30: εὐφραινόμην ἐν προσώπῳ αὐτοῦ (LXX.)
The expression is used somewhat differently in iv. 6.
7 The we of this verse appears to include the readers, judging from th? change οὐ
person before and after.
8 Namely, from the Christians of Troas.
9 Θριαμβεύειν (which is mistranslated in A. V.) means to lead a man αὐ a captive
[1
SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. 101
gnowledge of Him, a steam of fragrant incense, throughout the
ἰδ world. For Christ’s is the fragrance! which I offer up to God,
whether among those in the way of salvation,’ or among those
16 in the way of perdition; but to these it is an odour of death, to
those of life.
And [if some among you deny my sufficiency], Defence of the
manner in which
17 who then is sufficient for these things? For I seek he discharged his
apostolic office,
no profit (like most)+ by setting the word of God aut its | glory
contrasted with
to 5816. but I speak from a single heart, from the thst of the Mo-
saic ᾿ cispensa-
Iiicomand of God, as in God’s presence, and in fellow- Hot των μη
1 ship with Christ. Will yousay that I am again beginning to
commend myself? Or think you that I need letters of com-
mendation (like some other men) either to you, or from you?
2 Nay, ye are yourselves my letter of commendation, a letter
3 written on® my heart, known and read? by all men; a letter
coming manifestly from Christ, and committed to my charge;
written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God ; not
upon tablets of stone,* but upon the fleshly tablets of the heart.
4 But through Christ have I this confidence® before God; not
5 thinking myself sufficient to gain wisdom by my own reason-
ings,” as if it came from myself, but drawing my sutliciency
an a triumphal procession; θριαμβεύειν ἐν Χριστῷ means, to lead captive in a
triumph over the enemies of Christ. The metaphor is taken from the triumphal
procession of a victorious general. God is celebrating his triumph over His enemies ;
St. Paul (who had been so great an opponent of the Gospel) is a captive following
in the train of the triumphal procession, yet (at the same time, by a characteristic change
of metaphor) an incense-bearer, scattering incense (which was always done on these oc-
casions) as the procession moveson. Some of the conquered enemies were put to death
when the procession reached the Capitol; to them the smell of the incense was ὀσμὴ
θανάτου εἰς θάνατον ; to the rest who were spared, ὀσμὴ ζωῆς εἰς Conv. The metaphor
appears to have been a favourite one with St. Paul: it occurs again Col. ii. 15.
1 Literally, Christ’s fragrance am I, unto God.
2 Σωζομένοις, not “who are saved” (A. V.).
3 Literally, to these it is an odour of death, ending in death; to those an odour
of life, ending in life.
4 The mistranslation of of πολλοὶ, by ‘many’ (A. V.), materially alters the sense.
He evidently alludes to his antagonists at Corinth; see p. 96, and xi. 13.
5 Καπηλεύειν, is to sell by retail, including a notion of fraud in the selling.
6 Jt is possible that in using ταῖς καρδίαις here St. Paul meant to include Timotheus;
yet as this supposition does not agree well with the context, it seems better to suppose
the plural used merely to suit the plural form of ἡμῶν,
7 The paronomasia γινωσκομένη Kal ἀναγινωσκομένη cannot well be here imitated
in English. Compare i. 14.
5. Like the law of Moses.
§ Viz of his sufficiency. Compare ii. 16 ixavéc; iii. 5 ἱκανοί. 6 ἱκανωσεν.
16. Ao iacabai TL ἀφ᾽ ἑαυτῶν, literally, to reach any concitusicn by my own reason
109 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. FAUL
from God. For He it is who has made me sufiice for the nuir- ἢ
istration of a new covenant, a covenant not of letter, Let of spi-
rit; for the letter gives the doom of death, but the spirit gives
the power of life. Yet ifa glory was shed upon the ministra-
tion of the law of death, (a law written in letters, and graven
upon stones), so that the children of Israel could not fix their
eyes on the face of Moses, for the glory of his countenance,
aithough its brightness was soon to fade ;' how far more glori- 8
ous must the ministration of the spirit be. For if the ministra- 9
tion of doom had glory, far more must the ministration of right-
eousness abound in glory.? Yea, that which then was glorified 10
with brightness, is now turned into darkness,’ by the surpassing
glory wherewith it is compared. For if a glory shone upon 11
that which was doomed to pass away, much more shall glory rest
upon that which remains for ever. Therefore, having this hope 12
[in the abiding glory of the new covenant], I speak and act
without disguise ; and not like Moses, who spread a veil over13
his face, that® the children of Israel might not see the end of
that fading brightness. But their minds were blinded ; yea to14
this day, when they read in their synagogues ὃ the ancient cove-
nant, the same veil rests thereon, nor? can they see beyond it
that the law is done away in Christ; but even now, when Mo-15
ses is read in their hearing, a veil® lies upon their heart. But16
=I
As Theodoret explains it, οὐκ ἐξ οἰκείων ὑφαΐνοντες λογισμῶν προσφέρομεν τὰ κηρύγματα
(Comment. in loco.)
1 Καταργούμενος. See note on 1 Cor. ii. 6.
2 The whole of this contrast between the glory of the new and the old dispensations,
appears to confirm the hypothesis that St. Paul’s chief antagonists at Corinth were of
the Judaizing party.
3 Τὸ δεδοξασμένον ἐν τούτῳ τῷ μέρει, that which, in this particular, was glorified
unth brightness ; οὐδὲ δεδόξασται, has not so much as been glorified with brightness ;
the latter expression being equivaient to has no brightness at all. If, with the best
MSS., we read οὐ instead of οὐδὲ, the meaning will not be essentially altered.
4 Ἔν, opposed to the preceding διὰ,
5 See Exod. xxxiv. 35. St. Paul here (as usual) blends the allegorical with the his-
torical view of the passage referred to in the Old Testament.
6 In their synagogues is implied in the term ἀναγνώσει. Compare Acts xv. 21.
7 We take μὴ ἀνακαλυπτύμενον absolutely (with Meyer) ; literally, it being not un-
veiled [i.e. not revealed] to them that it [the ancient covenant] is done away ἴη
Christ. Καταργεῖται is predicated, not of the veil, but of the old covenant. Com-
pare καταργουμένου in the preceding verse, and the use of the same word in verses
7 and 11.
8 Perhaps there may be here an allusion to the Tallith, which was worn in the syna-
gogue by every worshipper, and was literally a veil hung over the breast. See
011. Ρ. 119.
΄":
SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. 108
17 when they turn to the Lord: Jesus, the veil is rent away. Now
the Lord is the Spirit ; and where the Spirit of the Lord abides,
18 there bondage gives place to freedom; and we all, while with
face unveiled we behold as in a mirror the brightness of our
Lord’s glory, are ourselves transformed into the same likeness 5
and the glory which shines upon us’? is reflected by us, even as
[Vit procecds from the Lord, the Spirit.
1 ‘Therefore haying this ministry, I discharge it with no faint-
2 hearted fears, remembering the mercy which [5 received. I
have renounced the secret dealings of shame, I walk not in the
paths of cunning, I+ adulterate not God’s message ; but openly
setting forth the truth, as in the sight of God, I commend my-
3 self to the conscience of all men. But if there be still a veil
which hides my Glad-tidings from some who hear me, it is
4 among those* who are in the way of perdition; whose unbe-
lieving minds the God of this passing world ® has blinded, and
shut out the light of the Glad-tidings, even the glorious bright-
5 ness of Christ, who is the image of God. For I proclaim not
myself, but Christ Jesus as Lord and Master, and myself your
6 bondsman for the sake of Jesus. For God, who called forth
light out of darkness, has caused His light to shine in my heart,
that the knowledge of His glory manifested in the face of Jesus
Christ might be shed forth [upon others also].’
7 But this treasure is lodged in a body of fragile Τὰ sicknessana
danger his
clay, that so the surpassing might which aids me *trenethis from
the power of
8\should be God’s, and not my own. I am hard Christ, and the
) hope of eternad
9 pressed, yet not crushed; helpless, yet not hopeless; '*:
19 persecuted, yet not forsaken ; cast down, yet not destroyed.s I
bear about continually in my body the dying of Jesus,® that the
1 Κύριον.
2 "Απὸ δόξης describes the cause, viz. the glory shining on us; εἰς δόξαν, the effect ;
viz. the reflection of that glory by us. For the metaphor, compare 1 Cor. xiii. 11, and
note. We observe in both passages that even the representation of divine truth given
us by Christianity is only a reflection of the reality.
8 Viz. in his conversion from a state of Jewish unbelief.
4 St. Paul piainly intimates here (as he openly states xi. 17) that some other?
teachers were liable to these charges.
5 Compare ii. 15, 16. :
6 For this translation of αἰῶνος τούτου, see note on 1 Cor. i. 20.
7 For the meaning of φωτισμόν, compare verse 4.
* Observe the force of the present tense of all these participles, implying that the
state of things described was constantly going on.
9 Κυρίου is not found in the best MSS.
104 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
life also of Jesus might in my body be shewn forth, For 1. ints
the midst of life, am daily given over to death for the sake of
Jesus, that in my dying flesh the life whereby Jesus conquered
death might shew forth its power.
So then death working in me, works life? in you. Yet12
having the same spirit of faith whereof it is written “J* had 13
faith, and therefore have I spoken,” 1 also have faith, and
therefore speak. For I know that He who raised our Lord Je-14
sus from the dead, shall raise me also by Jesus, and shall call
me into His presence together with you; for all my sufferings 15
are on your behalf, that the mercy which has abounded above
them all, might call forth your thankfulness; that so the fulness
of praise might be poured forth to God, not by myself alone,
but multiplied by many voices. Wherefore I faint not; but1¢6
though my outward man decays, yet my inward man is re-
newed from day to day. For my light afflictions, which last 17
but for a moment, work for me a weight of glory, immeasura-
ble and eternal. Meanwhile I look not to things seen, but [0 18
things unseen: for the things that are seen pass away ; but the v
things that are unseen endure for ever. Yea, I know that if 1
the tent’ which is my earthly house be destroyed, I have a
mansion built by God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in
the heavens. And for this I groan with earnest longings, de-
siring to cover® my earthly raiment with the robes of my hea-
venly mansion. (If indeed I shall be found? still clad in my 3
floshly garment). For we who are dwelling in the tent, groan 4
and are burdened ; not desiring to put off our earthly clothing,
but to put over it our heavenly raiment, that this our dying na-
ture might be swallowed up by life. And He who has pre- 5
bo
1 Observe the force of the καί. Literally, “the life as well as the death, of Jesus.”
? 7. e. the mortal peril, to which St. Paul exposed himself, was the instrument of
bringing spiritual life to his converts.
3 Ps. exvi. 10. (LXX.).
4 The exactly literal translation would be, “ that the mercy which has above aii «
abounded might, through the thanksgiving of the greater number, overflow to the
praise of God.’ Compare the similar sentiment at Chap. I. 11.
& The shifting tent, σκῆνος, is here opposed to the enduring mansion, οἰκοδομή ; the
vile body of flesh and blood, to the spiritual body of the glorified saint.
6 Observe the force of ἐπενδύσασθαι as distinguished from ἐνδύσασθαι.
7 Literally, “ If indeed I shall be found clad, and not stripped of my clothing :”
i. 6. “If, at the Lord’s coming, I shall be found stili living in the flesh.”” We know
from other passages that it was a matter of uncertainty with St. Paul whether he
should survive to vehold the second coming of Christ or not. Compare 1 Thess. iv. 15
and i Cor. xv. 51.
BECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. 105
pared me for this very end is God, who has given me the Spiri{
6 as the earnest of my hope. Therefore, in all my perils! I am
of good courage, knowing that while my home is in the body,
7 I am in banishment from my Lord; (for I walk by faith, not
8 by sight). Yea, my heart fails me not, but I would gladly sut-
fer banishment from the body, and have my home with Christ.’
9 Therefore I strive earnestly that, whether in banishment or at
10 home, I may be pleasing in His sight. For we must all be
made manifest? without disguise before the judgment seat of
Christ, that each may receive according to that which he has
done in the body, either good or evil.
11 Knowing therefore the fearfulness of the Lord’s His earnestness
springs from a
judgment, though I seek to win men,‘ yet my Up-_ Fense of his re-
sponsibility to
rightness is manifest in the sight of God; and [ Crist, whose
commission he
hope also that it is manifested by the witness of your bears, and by
union
whom his whole
12 consciences. I write not thus to repeat my own “pom bis whole
commendation,® but that I may furnish you with a ‘™”s*?
ground of boasting on my behalf, that you may have an an
swer for those whose boasting is in the outward matters of sight,
13 not in the inward possessions of the heart. For if 1 be mad, it
1415 for God’s cause; if sober, it is for yours. For the love ot
Christ constrains me, because I thus judge, that if one died for
15 all, then His death was their death ;7 and that He died for all,
that the living might live no longer to themselves, but to Him,
who, for their sakes, died and rose agai.*
16 [9 therefore, from henceforth, view no man carnally ; yea,
though once my view of Christ was carnal,” yet now it is no
17 longer carnal. Whosoever, then, is in Christ, is created anew ;
1 Πάντοτε. 5. Literally, the Lord.
2 Φανεοωθῆνα!: is mistranslated in the Authorised Version.
4 'Ανθρώπούς πείθω. He was aceused by the Judaizers of ἀνθρώπευς πείθειν and
ἀνθοώποις ἀοέσκειν. (See Gal. i. 10, and the note.)
5 This alludes to the accusation of vanity brought against him by his antagonists.
6 J. e. ἐ 1 exalt myself (his opponents called him beside himself with vanity), ἐξ is
for God’s cause ; if I humble myself, it is for your sakes. ᾿
7 Οἱ πάντες ἀπέθανον cannot mean all were dead (A. Y.), but all died.
s The best commentary on the 14th and 15th verses is Gal. ii. 20.
9 Ἡμεῖς, emphatic.
™ We agree with Billroth, Neander, and De Weitte, that this cannot refer to any
actual knowledge which St. Paul had of our Lord when upon earth ; it would probably
nave been ᾿Ιησοῦν had that been meant; moreover, οἴδαμεν κατὰ σάρκα, above, doea
not refer to personal knowledge, but to a carnal estimate. Yor other reasons against
sveh an interpretation, see Vol. J. p. 64. St. Paul’s view of Christ was carnal when
ke foaked (like other Jews) for a Messiah who should be an earthly conqueror.
106 THE LIFE AND EPI{STLES OF ST. PAUL.
his old being has passed away, and behold, all has become new.
But all comes from God, for He it is who reconciled me to Hin- 1s
self by Jesus Christ, and charged me with the ministry of recon-
ciliation ; for’ God was in Christ reconciling the world to Him- 19
self, reckoning their sins no more against them, and Ie made
it my task to bear the message of reconciliation. Therefore [20
am an ambassador for Christ, as thongh God besought you by
my voice; in Christ’s stead I beseech you, be ye reconciled to
God. For Him who knew no sin, God struck with the doom 21
of sin on our behalf; that we might? be changed into the right- VI
eousness of God in Christ. Moreover, as working* together 1
with Him, I also exhort you, that the grace which you have re-
ceived from God be not in vain. For He saith: “ I have heard 2
thee in an acceptable time, and in the day of salvation have I
succoured thee.” 4 Behold, now is the acceptable time ; behold,
now is the day of salvation.
Vindication of Meanwhile I take heed to give no cause of stum- 3
with which he bling, lest blame should be cast on the ministration
had discharged 5
his duty, and wherein I serve; but in all things I commend my- 4
appeal to the ech Θ : i
affection of his self5 as one who ministers to God’s service; in pa-
converts. . . . . . . . . .
tient endurance, in afilictions, in necessities, in strait- 5
ness of distress, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in
labours, in sleepless watchings, in hunger and thirst ; in purity, 6
in knowledge, in long-suffering, in kindness, in [the gifts of ] the
Holy Spirit, in love unfeigned; speaking the word of truth, 7
working with the power of God, fighting with the weapons of
righteousness, both sword and shield; through good report and 8
evil, through honour and through infamy; counted as a de- 9
ceiver, yet being true; as unknown [by men], yet acknowledged "
[by God]; as ever dying, yet behold I live; as chastened by
ν
suffering, yet not destroyed ; as sorrowful, yet ever filled with 10
joy ; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet
possessing all things.
1'Qe ὅτι, als weil, némlich weil, pleonastisch (De Wette, in loco). So also Winez,
ἃ 67.
3 Τενώμεθα is the reading of the best MSS.
3 See note on 1 Cor. ili. 9. 4 15, xlix.8. (LXX.)
5 Συνιστῶντες ἑαυτοὺς, an allusion apparently to συνιστάνειν ἑαυτοὺς and συστατικῶν
ἐπιστολῶν (iii. 1}; as though he said, J commend myself, not by word, but by deed.
8 For this meaning of ἐπιγινωσκόμενοι, see 1 Cor, xiii. 12.
SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTEIANS. 107
11 Corinthians, my' mouth has spoken to you freely,—my
12heart has opened itself fully towards you. You find no nap
13rowness in my love, but the narrowness is in your own. 1
pray you therefore in return fcr my affection (I speak as to my
chitdren), let your hearts be opened in like manner.
14. Cease to yoke yourselves unequally in ill-matched Exnortation ἐς
intercourse with unbelievers; for what fellowship ΠΥ τα ἐπὶ
δ ὃ . (τνευματικοὶ)
has righteousness with unrighteousness; what com- ‘o shun all fe
15 munion has light with darkness? what concord has μα leas
Christ with Belial? what partnership has a believer with an
16 unbeliever? what agreement has the temple of God with idols?
For ye are yourselves a temple of the living God, as God said:
“7? will dwell in them, and walk in them, and Iwill be their
17 Goa, and they shall be my people.” Wherefore, “ Come? oué
From among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch
18 not the unclean thing, and I will recewe you.” And “47: will be
VI. unto you a father, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith
1 the Lord Almighty.” Waving therefore these promises (my
beloved children), let us cleanse ourselves from every defile-
ment, either of flesh or spirit, and perfect our holiness, in the
fear of God.
2 Give mea favourable hearing. [have wronged satisfaction at
the tidings just
no man, [have done hurt 5 to no man, I have defraud- brought ὃν
Titus from Co-
8 ed no man; yet I say not this to condemn you [as math.
though {had myself been wronged by you], for I havesaid before
4 that I have you in my heart, to live and die with you. Great is
my freedom towards you, great is my boasting of you; I am filled
with the comfort which you have caused me; I have more than
5 an overweight of joy, for all the affliction which has befallen me.
When first I came into Macedonia my flesh had no rest, but I
1 Observe, as a confirmation of: previous remarks, ἡμῶν (11), λέγω (13) ; also Aude
(vii. 2), λέγω (vii. 3), ἡμῶν (vii. 3), μοι (vii. 4).
Levit. xxvi. 11, 12 (according to LXX., with slight variations).
3. Isaiah lii. 11 (according to LXX., with alterations); κάγω εἰσδέξομαι ὑμᾶς not
yeing either in the LXX. or the Hebrew.
4 This passage is not to be found exactly in the Old Testament, although 2 Sam. vii
a4 and Jer. xxxi. 9, and xxxiii. 32, contain the substance of it.
5. It is not impossible that the preceding part ‘# the Epistle may have been written
before the coming of Titus. See p. 95, n. 1.
6 St. Paul appears frequently to use φθείρειν in this sense (compare 1 Cor. iii. 17)
and not in the ordinary meaning of corrupt.
108 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
was troubled on every side ; without were fightings, within were 6
fears. But God who comforts them that are cast down, comforted
me by the coming of Titus; and not by his coming only, but by 1
the comfort which he felt on your account, and the tidings which
he brought of your longing for my love, your mourning for :ny
reproof, your zeal for my cause; so that my sorrow has been
turned into joy. And I do not now regret (although I did ¢
before regret), that I wrote the letter’ which has given you
pain (for I see that you were pained by that letter, though it
was but for a season) ;—not that I rejoice in your sorrow, but 9
because it led you to repentance; for the sorrow which I
caused you was a godly sorrow; so that I might nowise harm
you [even when I grieved you]. For godly sorrow works 1a
repentance not to be repented of, leading to salvation; but
worldly sorrow works nought but death. Consider what was 11
wrought among yourselves when you were grieved with a godly
sorrow; what earnestness it wrought in you, yea, what eager-
ness to clear yourselves from blame, what indignation,’ what
fear,) what longing,‘ what zeal,? what punishment of wrong.
You have cleared yourselves altogether from every stain of
guilt in this matter. Know, therefore, that although I wrote 12
to rebuke you, it was not so much to punish the wrong doer,
nor to avenge him® who suffered the wrong, but that my earnest
zeal for you in the sight of God might be manifest to your-
selves.
This, therefore, is the ground of my comfort;7 but besides 13
my consolation on your account, I was beyond measure rejoiced
by the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by the.
conduct of you all. For whatever boast of you I may have14
made to him, I have not been put toshame. But as all I ever
said to you was spoken in truth, so also my boasting of you to
Titus has been proved a truth. And his heart is more than 15
ever drawn towards you, while he calls to mind the obedience
1 Viz. 1 Cor., unless we adopt the hypothesis that another letter had been written
in the interval, according to the view mentioned p. 91, n. 2.
Indignation against the offender. 3 Fear of the wrath of God.
4 Longing for restoration to St. Paul’s approval and love.
5 Zeal on behalf of right, and against wrong.
6 Viz. the father of the offender. We need not be perplexed at his wife’s forming
another connection during his life time, when we consider the great laxity of the law
of divorce among the Greeks and Romans. .
7 Yhe reading of the best MSS. is ἐπὶ δὲ τῇ παοακλήσει,
SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. 10
or you all, and the anxiety and self-distrust! wherewith you
tsreceived him. I rejoice that I can now confide in you
altogether.
Vu.
1 I desire, brethren, to make known to you the _ Explanations
op . . c and directions
manifestation of God’s grace, which has been given concerning the
collection for
2 in? the churches of Macedonia. For in the heavy thd poor Ohnikt
trial which has proved their stedfastness, the ful- lem.
ness of their joy has overflowed, out of the depth of their
3 poverty, in the richness oftheir liberality. They have given (I
bear them witness) not only according to their means, but beyond
4 their means, and that of their own free will; for they besought
me with much entreaty that they might bear their part*® in the
δ᾽ grace of ministering to Christ’s people. And far beyond my hope,
they gave their very selves to the Lord Jesus‘ first, sad to me
6 also, by the willof God. So that I have desired Titus [to revisit
you], that as he caused you to begin this work, so he may
lead you to finish it, that this grace may not be wanting® in
7 you; but that, as you abound in all gifts, in faith and utterance,
and knowledge, and earnest zeal, and in the love which joins®
your hearts with mine, so you may abound in this grace also,
8 I say not this by way of command; but by the zeal of others
9 I would prove the reality of your love. For you know the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, how, though He was rich, yet
for our sakes He became poor, that you, by His poverty, might
10 be made rich. And I give you my advice in this matter; for
it becomes you to do thus, inasmuch as you began not only the
contribution, but the purpose of making it, before others,’ in
11the year which is past. Now, therefore, fulfil your purpose
‘by your deeds, that as you then shewed your readiness of
will, so now you may finish the work, according to your
1gmeans. For if there be a willing mind, the® gift is accept-
able when measured by the giver’s power, and needs not to ga
1 For the meaning of φόβου καὶ τρόμου, see 1 Cor ii. 3.
3 Δεδομένην ἐν cannot mean “bestowed on” (A. Y.).
3 Δέξαοθαι ἡμᾶς is omitted by the best MSS. 4 Τῷ Eve.
5 Observe the force of the second καί.
6 Τῇ ἐξ ὑμῶν ἐν ἡμῖν ἀγαπῇ, literally, the love which springs from you and dzbella
in me.
17 Προ-ενήρξασθε ; viz. before the Macedonian churches.
8 Literally, it ts acceptable according to that which it possesses, not that wrech a
possesses not. The τις is omitted in the best MSS.
1{1ὺ THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
beyond. Nor is this collection made that others may be eased, 13
and you distressed, but to make your burdens equal, that, as now i4
your abundance supplies their need, your own need may at
another time be relieved in equal measure by their abundance,
as it is written, —“//e that gathered much had nothing over ; and 15
he that gathered little had no lack.” But, thanks be to God, that 16
He has put into the heart of Titus the same zeal as I have on your
behalf; for he not only has consented to my desire, but is 17
himself very zealous in the matter, and goes* to you of his
own accord. And I have sent as his companion the brother 18
who is with him, whose praise in publishing the Glad-tidings?
is spread throughout all the churches, and who has more-1
over been chosen by the churches [of Macedonia] to accom-
pany me in my journey (when I bear this gift, which I have
undertaken to administer); that our Lord‘ Jesus might be
glorified, and that® I might undertake the task with more
good will. For I guard myself against all suspicion which 20
might be cast upon me in my administration of this bounty
with which I am charged; being careful to do all things in a21
seemly manner, not only in the sight of our Lord, but also in
the sight of men. The brother® whom I have sent likewise 22
with them, is one whom I have put to the proof in many trials,
and found always zealous in the work, but who is now yet
more zealous from the full trust which he has in you. Con- 23
cerning Titus, then (on the one hand), he is partner of my lot,
and fellow-labourer with me for your good; concerning our
1 Exodus xvi. 18, quoted according to LXX. The subject is the gathering of the
manna.
2 ξηλθε in the past, because the act is looked ‘upon, according to the classical
idiom, from the position of the reader.
3 Τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ here cannot refer, as some have imagined, to a written Gospel,
the word is of constant occurrence in the New Testament (occurring sixty times in St.
Paul’s writings. and sixteen times in the other books), but never once in the supposed
sense. Who the deputy here mentioned was, we have no means of ascertaining. Pro-
bably, however, he was either Luke (Acts xx. 6), or one of those, not Macedonians (ix.
4), mentioned Acts xx. 4; and possibly may have been Trophimus. See Acts xxi. 29,
We may notice the coincidence between the phrase here (συνέκδημος ἡμῶν) and cuvers
δήμους τοῦ Παύλου (Acts xix. 29).
4 Tod Κυρίου.
5 The best MSS. omit αὐτοῦ, and read ἡμῶν (not ὕμῶν).
6 There is even less to guide us in our conjectures as to the person here indicated,
than in the case of the other deputy mentioned above. Here, also, the einissary was
elected by some of the Churches who had contributed to the collection. He may have
been either Luke, Gaius, Tychicus, or Trophimus (Acts xx. 4).
SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. 111
brethren (on the other hand), they are ambassadors of the
ἂς churches,—a manifestation of the glory of Christ. I peseech
you, therefore, to justify my boasting on your behalf, in the
ἘΧ. sight of the churches whence they come, by proofs of your love
1 to them.! For of your ministration to Christ’s people [at*Jeru-
saiem] it is needless that I should write to you; since 1 know
2 the forwardness of your mind, and boast of it to the Macedo-
nians, saying that Achaia has been ready ever since last year;
and the knowledge of your zeal has roused the most of them to
8 follow it. But I have sent the brethren,’ lest my report of
you in this matter should be turned into an empty boast; that
4 you may be truly ready, as I have declared you to be. Lest
perchance the Macedonians, who may come with me to visit
you, should find you not yet ready, and so shame should fall
upon me (for I will not say upon you) by the failure of this
5 boast, whereon I founded? my appeal to them. Therefore, I
thought it needful to desire these brethren to visit you before
my coming, and to arrange beforehand the completion of this
bounty which you before promised to have in readiness; so it
be really given by your bounty, not wrung from your covet-
6 ousness. But remember, he‘ who sows sparingly shall reap
sparingly ; and he who sows bountifully shall reap bountifally.
ἢ Let each do according to the free choice of his heart; not
grudgingly, or of necessity ; for “ God loveth a cheerful giver.” §
g And God is able to give you an overflowing measure 6f all
good gifts, that all your wants may be supplied, and you may
9 give of your abundance to every good work. As it is written,
—“ The good man hath scattered abroad, he hath given to the
in poor; his righteousness remaineth for ever.” 5 Now may He who
furnisheth “ seed to the sower, and bread for the food of man,” ’
1 Elc¢ αὐτοὺς answers to εἰς τοὺς ἁγίους in the following verse. The καί before εἰς,
πρόσωπον is omitted by all the best MSS.
2 Viz. Titus and the other two.
3 ὙὝποστάσει, literally, the groundwork on which some superstructure is founded.
ff (with the best MSS.) we omit τῆς καυχήσεως, the meaning will be unaltered. Com
pare xi. 17.
4 The same expression occurs Gal. vi. 7.
5 Proy. xxii. 8 (according to LXX.. with slight variation).
6 Ps, exii. 9 (LXX.).
7 The words σπέρμα τῷ σπείροντι καὶ ἄρτον εἰς βοῶσιν, are an exact quotation from
Isaiah ly. 10 (LXX.). Ignorance of this fact has caused an inaccuracy in A. V. Tha
literal translation of the remainder of the verse is,—“ Furnish and make plenteous
yuur seed, and increase the fruits springing from your righteousness.”
11 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
furnish you with plenteous store of seed, and bless yoar nght-
eousness with fruits of increase. May you be enriched with tt
all good things, and give them freely with singleness of mind ;
eansing thanksgivings to God from’ those to whom I bear your
gifts. For the administration of this service not only fills upis
the measure of the necessities of Christ’s people, but also over-
flows beyond it, in many thanks to God; while they? praise 13
God for the proof thus given of the obedience wherewith you
have consented to the Glad-tidings of Christ, and for the single-
minded liberality which you have shewn both to them, and
to all. Moreover, in their prayers for you they express the14
earnest longings of their love towards you, called forth through
the surpassing grace of God manifested in you. Thanks be tos
God for His unspeakable gift. xX
Hecontrastshis ΝΟΥ͂ J, Paul, myself exhort you by the meek- 1
own character
and services ness and gentleness of Christ-——(I, who am mean, for-
with those of
sas ene sooth,’ and lowly in outward presence, while I am
ciated him. ~~ among you, yet treat you boldly when I am absent)
--- Ἰ beseech you (I say), that you will not force me to show, 2
when I come, the bold reliance on my own authority, where-
with I reckon to deal with some who measure‘ me by the stan-
dard of the flesh. For, though living in the flesh, my warfare 3
is not waged according to the flesh. For the weapons which I 4
wield are not of fleshly weakness, but mighty in the strength
of God to overthrow the strongholds of the adversaries. There-
by can I overthrow the reasonings of the disputer, and pull
down the lofty bulwarks which raise themselves against the
knowledge of God, and bring every rebellious thought into cap-
tivity and subjection to Christ. And when the obedience of 6
your " church shall be complete, I am still ready to punish all
those who remain disobedient.
Do you look at matters of outward advantage? If there 7
be any among you who boasts that he belongs above the rest to
or
1 Literally, causing thanksgiving to God by my instrumentality.
* Literally, they being caused, by the proof of this ministration, to praise God for
the obedience, ὅτ.
3 Compare verse 10 and κατὰ πρόσωπον (verse 7); also V. 12 τοὺς ἐν προσώπᾳ
καυχωμένους.
4 Literally, who account of me as though I walked according to the flesh. The
verses which follow explain the meaning of the expression.
9. ‘Yuov, Corapare ii. 5.
SECOND EPISTLE ἸῸ THE CORINTHIANS. 113
Christ,: I bid him once more to consider my words, that if he
8 belong to Christ, so do I no less. For although I were to boast
somewhat highly concerning the authority which the Lord Je-
sus has given me (not to cast you down, but to build you up),
y my words would not be shamed by the truth. I say this, lest
you should imagine that I am writing empty threats to terrify
toyou. “ For his letters,” says one,’ “are written with authority
and firmness, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech
11 contemptible.” Let such a man assure himself that the words
which I write while absent, shall be borne out by my deeds
12 when present. For I venture not to number or compare my-
self with those among you who prove their worth by their self-
commendation; but they, measuring themselves by themselves,
and comparing themselves with themselves, are guilty of folly.‘
13 But I, for my part, will not let my boasting carry me beyond
all measure, but will confine it within that measure given me
14 by God, who made my line reach even to you. For I stretch
not myself beyond due bounds (as though I reached you not); for
I have already come as far even as Corinth ὅ to publish the Glad-
15 tidings of Christ. I am not boasting beyond my measure, for
the labours of others ;* but I hope that if your faith goes on
16 increasing among? yourselves, [ shall be still further honoured,
within the limits appointed to me, by bearing the Glad-tidings to
1 The party who said ἐγὼ δὲ Χριστοῦ (1 Cor. i. 12). See Vol. 1. Ὁ. 444. As we
have remarked above, p. 96, this party at Corinth seems to have been formed and led
by an emissary from the Judaizers of Palestine, who is especially referred to in this
chapter.
* Φησὶ, literally, “says he ;” but it is occasionally used impersonally (see Winer,
§ 49) for “they say ;” yet as, in that sense, φασὶ would be more naturally used, the
use of φησὶ and of ὁ τοιοῦτος in the next verse, seems to point to a single individual at
the head of St. Paul’s opponents. See last note and p. 96, and compare the use of 6
τοιοῦτος for the single incestuous person (2 Cor. ii. 7), and for St. Paul himself (2 Cor.
xii. 2).
3 Literally, “ Let such a man reckon, that such as Iam in word by letters while
absent, such will I be also in deed when present.”
4 Συνιοῦσιν is an Hellenistic form of the 3rd pl. ind. present from συνίημι, and
occurs Mat. xiii. 13. Hence we need not take it here for the dative pl. of συνεών, with
Olshausen and cthers. If the latter view were correct, the translation would be, “but
I measure myself by my own standard, and compare myself with myself alone, unwise
asI am.” But this translation presents several difficulties, both in itself, and consid-
ered in reference to the context. Lachmann, with cod. B., reads συνιᾶσιν, a reading
which (as well as the omission of the words from οὐ to dé in several ancient MSS.) has
apparently been caused by the difficulty of the Hellenistic form συνιυῦσιν.
2 Ὕμῶν,. 6 This was the conduct of St. Paul’s Judaizing antagonista
7 We join αὐξανομένης with ἐν ὑμῖν.
VOL. 11.—8
114 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ΕΤ. PAUL.
the countries beyond you; not by boasting of work made ready
to my hand within the field assigned to another. Meantime,1% _
“ He that boasteth, let him boast in the Lord.”' For a mang
is proved worthy, not when he commends himseif, but when he
is commended by his Lord. Ἶ ΧΙ
Would that ye could bear with me a little in my folly! 1
Yea, ye already bear with me. For I love you with a godly 2
jealousy, because I betrothed you to one only husband, even
to Christ, that I might present you unto Him in virgin purity ;
but now I fear lest, as Eve was beguiled by the craftiness of 3
the serpent, so your imaginations should be corrupted, and you
should be seduced from your single-minded faithfulness to
Christ. For evenif he that is come among you proclaims to you 4
another Jesus, of whom I told you not, or if you receive from
him the gift of another Spirit, which you received not before,
or a new Glad-tidings, which you never heard from me, yet
you would fitly bear with me;* for I reckon myself no whit
behind those who are counted? such chief Apostles. Yea, 6
though I be unskilled in the arts of speech, yet I am not want-
ing in the gift of ‘ knowledge ; but 1 have manifested * it to you
in all things, and amongst all men. Or is it a sin [which must
rob me of the name of Apostle],° that I have proclaimed to you,
without fee or reward, the Glad-tidings of God, and have
abased 7 myself that you might be exalted? Other churches I 8
have spoiled, and taken their wages to do you service. And 9
when I was with you, though I was in want, I pressed not upon
or
“1
1 Quoted, according to the sense, from Jer. ix. 24 (LXX.); ἐν Κυρίῳ being substi-
tuted for ἐν τούτῳ συνιεῖν ὅτι, ἐγώ εἰμι Κύριος. Quoted also 1 Cor. i. 31.
2 Ἠνεΐχεσθε. Lachmann (with the Vatican Manuscript) reads ἀνέχεσθε, which
makes the coincidence with vy. 1 more exact; but if we keep ἠνείχεσθε (or rather its
Hellenistic fourm, ἀνείχεσθε), it may bear the sense here given it, on the same principle
on which erat is often used for esset, and fuerat for fuisset. We understand pov (not
αὐτοῦ with most commentators), because this agrees better with the context (γάρ fol-
lowing), and with the first verse of the chapter.
3 T'év vmeodiay ἀποστόλων. This phrase (which occurs only in this Epistle) is
ironical, as is evident from the epithet υπερλίαν, “ the super-apostolic Apostles.”
4 The gift of γνώσις was a deep insight into spiritual truth. See Vol. 1. p. 427, n.2.
5 Φατερώσαντες is the reading supported by the preponderating weight of MS.
authority.
6 See Vol. I. p. 436.
7 I. e. by working with his hands for his daily bread. See Vol. 1. p. 388. In a)
probability (judging from what we know of other manufactories in those times) hia
fellow-vorkmen in Aquila’s tent manufactory were slaves. Compare Phil. iv. 12,
olda «απεινοῦσθαι.
SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. 115
any ot you; tor the brethren,! when they came from Macedo
nia, su plied my needs; and I kept, and will keep myself alte
0 gether from casting a burden upon you. ΔΒ the trath of
Christ is in me, no deed of mine shall rob me? of this boasting
11 in the region of Achaia. And why? Because I love you not!
32God knows my love. But what I doI will continue to do, that
I may cut off all ground from those who wish to find some-
thing whereon they may rest a slander; and let them show the
13 same cause for their boasting as I for mine. For men like these
are false Apostles, deceitful workmen, clothing themselves in
14 the garb of Christ’s Apostles. And no wonder; for even Satan
15 can transform himself into an angel of light. It is not strange,
then, if his servants disguise themselves as servants of right-
eousness ; but their end shall be according to their works.
16 [ entreat you all once more‘ not to count me for a fool; Or
if you think me such, yet bear with me in my folly, while 1,
17 too, boast a little of myself. But, in so doing, I speak not in
the spirit of Christ, but, as it were, in folly, while we stand
1gupon this ground of boasting ; fer, since many are boasting
19 in the spirit of the flesh, I will boast likewise. And I know
20 that you bear kindly with fools, as beseems the wise. Nay...
you bear with men though they enslave you, though they de- _
vour you, though they entrap you, though they exalt them- τῇ
21 selves over you, though they smite you on the face, (I speak οὗ.
degradation),’ as though I were weak [and they were strong].
And yet, if any think they have grounds of boldness, I too
22 (I speak in folly) have grounds to be as bold as they. Are
1 Probably Timotheus and Silvanus, who may have brought the contribution sent
by the Philippians. The A.V. would require of ἐλθόντες.
2. Φραγήσεται, not σφραγίσεται, is the reading of the MSS. The literal English
would be “ this boasting shall not be stopped for me.”
3. The literal English of this difficult passage is, “that they, an the ground of thew -
boasting, may be found even as I.” De Wette refers ἐν ᾧ καυχῶνται to the Apostolic
τ
Office. We take it more generally. .A more obvious way would be to take ἐν @ :
καυχῶνται (with Chrysostom and the older interpreters) to mean their abstaining -
from receiving maintenance ; but we know that the false teachers at Corinth did not
do this (compare v. 20 below), but, on the contrary, boasted of, their privilege, and
alleged that St. Paul, by not claiming it, showed his consciousness that he was not
truly sent by Christ. See 1 Cor. ix.
4 Literally, “J say once more, let none of you count me,” &e.
5. Κατά ἀτιμίαν λέγω. This explanation, which only requires a slight alteration of
the ordinary punctuation, is simpler than De Wette’s, who translates “I speak to my
own shame,’’ which the Greek can scarcely mean. St. Paul virtually says, “ you beag
unth my epponents, as though I were too weak to resist them.”
ΞΕ
116 THE LIFE AND ἘΡΙΒΤΙΕΒ OF ST. PAUL.
they Hebrews? soam 1. Are they children of Israel? sc am
I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am 1. Are they ser-23
sants of Christ? (I speak as though I were beside myseif) such,
far more, am I. In labours more abundant, in stripes above
measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. (live times I 24
received from Jews the forty stripes save one; thrice I was 25
scourged with the Roman rods; once I was stoned; thrice I
suffered shipwreck ;! a night and a day I spent in the open?
sea). In journeyings often; in perils of rivers, in perils of rob- 26
bers; in perils from my countrymen, in perils from the hea-
then ; in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils
in the sea; in perils among false brethren. In toil and weari-27
ness, often in sleepless watchings; in hunger and thirst, often
without bread to eat ; in cold and nakedness. And besides all
the rest,’ there is the crowd‘ which presses upon me daily, and 28
the care of all the churches. Who is weak,*® but I share his
weakness? Who is caused to fall, but 1 burn with indignation ? 29
If I must needs boast, it shall not be in my strength, but in my 30
weakness. God, who is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 31
He who is blessed for ever, knows that I lie not.®
In Damascus, the governor under Aretas,’ the king, kept 32
watch over the city with a garrison, purposing to apprehend
me; and I was let down by the wall, through a window, in a33
basket, and thus [not by my strength, but by my weakness,] I
escaped his hands. It is not for me, then to boast. ἘΠῚ
But 1 will come also to visions and revelations of the
1 The five Jewish scourgings, two of the three Roman beatings with rods (one being
at Philippi), and the three shipwrecks, are all unrecorded in the Acts. The stoning
was at Lystra. What a life of incessant adventure and peril is here disciosed to us!
And when we remember that he who endured and dared all this was a man constantly
suffering from infirm health (see 2 Cor. iy. 7-12, and 2 Cor. xii. 7-10, and Gal. iy. 13,
14), such heroic self-devotion seems almost superhuman.
2 Probably in a small boat, escaping from one of the wrecks.
3 Τῶν παρεκτὸς, not “ those things that are without.” (A. Y.)
4 For this meaning of ἐπισύστασις, compare Acts xxiv. 12.
5. For the way in which St. Paul shared the weakness of the “‘ weaker brethren,” see
Vil. I. p. 445, and the passages there referred to.
6 This solemn oath, affirming his veracity, refers to the preceding statements of hia
abours and dangers. Compare Gal. i. 20.
7 For the historical questions connected with this incident, see Vol. I. p. 100. Also
on ἐθνάρχης, see Winer’s Realworterbuch.
8 (xii. 1.) We prefer the reading καυχᾶσθαι δὴ οὐ συμφέρει μοι of the Textus Re-
ceptus (which is also adopted by Chrysostom and by Tischendorf) to that of the Vati-
can Manuscript, adopted by Lachmann, καυχᾶσθαι dei οὐ σύμφερον μέν. On the other
hand, we read with Lachmann, on the authority of the Codex Vaticanus, ἐλεύσομαι ¢2
SECOND EPISTLE [0 ‘HE VORINTHIANS. ἘΠῚ
Lord Jesus. I know! a man who was caught up fourteen
2 years ago (whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell ;
God knoweth), caught up, I say, in the power of Christ,? even
8 to the third heaven. And I know that such a man (whether ir
the body or out of the body I cannot tell; God knoweth)
4 was caught up into Paradise,? and heard unspeakable worda
5 which it is not lawful for man to utter. Of such a man, I will
boast ; but of myself I will not boast, save in the tokens of my
6 weakness. If I should choose to boast, I should not be guilty
of empty vanity, for I should speak the truth ; but I forbear to
speak, that I may not cause any man to think of me more
highly than when he sees my deeds or hears my teaching.
7 And lest, through the exceeding greatness of these revelations,
I should be lifted up with pride, there was given me a thorn in
the flesh,‘ a messenger of Satan, to buffet me and keep down
8 my pride. And thrice I besought the Lord Jesus " concerning it,
g that it might depart from me; but He said to me, “ My grace
is sufficient for thee; for my strength shows its full might in
weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, will I boast rather in my
weakness than in my strength, that the strength of Christ may
10 rest upon me, and dwell in me.* Therefore I rejoice in signs
of weakness, in outrage, in necessities, in persecutions, in strait-
ness of distress, endured for Christ; for when I am weakest,
then am I strongest.’
καὶ, instead of the Textus Receptus, ἐλ. γάρ. The whole passage is most perplexing,
from the obscurity of its connection with what precedes and what follows. Why did
St. Paul mention his escape from Damascus in so much detail? Was it merely as an
event ignominious to himself? This seems the best view, but it is far from satisfactory.
There is something most disappointing in his beginning thus to relate in detail the first
in that series of wonderful escapes of which he had just before given a rapid sketch,
and then suddenly and abruptly breaking off; leaving our curiosity roused and yet
ungratified. We cannot agree with De Wette in considering the Damascene escape ta
be introduced as the climax of all the other perils mentioned, nor in referring to it the
solemn attestation of ν, 31.
1 The mistranslation of oida in A. V. (knew for know) very seriously affects the
sense: πρὸ is also mistranslated.
2 We take ἐν Χριστῶ with ἁρπαγέντα, which would have come immediately after
δεκατεσσάρων, had it not been intercepted by the parenthetic clause.
3 Compare Luke xxiii. 43, To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise, and Rev. ii. 7.
41. e.a painful bodily infirmity. See Gal. iv. 13, 14, and Vol. I. p. 274.
5 Tov Κύριον.
6 The full meaning of ἐπισκηνόω is, to come to a place for Ue purpose of fixing
one’s tent there. Compare (with the whole verse) iv. 7.
7 J. e. the more he was depressed by suffering and persecution, the more waa he
enabled te achieve by the aid of Christ.
118 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 571. PAUL.
I have been guilty of folly in boasting, but you have forced 11
me to it; for I ought myself to have been commended by you:
for I have come no whit behind those who are reckoned such
chief! Apostles, although I be of no account. The marks, at 12
least, of an Apostle were seen in the deeds which 1 wrought
among you, in signs and wonders, and miracles, with steadfast
endurance of persecution.” Wherein had you the disadvantage 13
of other churches, unless, indeed, that I did not burden you
with my own maintenance; forgive me, I pray, this wrong
which I have done you. Behold I am now for the third time*14
preparing to visit you, and I purpose to cast no burden upon
you; for I seek not your substance, but yourselves. And chil-
dren should not lay up wealth for parents, but parents for chil-
dren. Nay, rather, most gladly will I spend, yea, and myself15
be spent, for your souls, though the more abundantly I love you,
the less I be loved.
But though it be granted that I did not burden you myself, 16
yet perchance this was my cunning, whereby I entrapped your
simplicity. Did I then defraud you of your wealth by some of 17
the messengers whom I sent to you? I desired Titus to visit1g
you, and, with him, 1 sent the brother, his fellow-traveller. Did
Titus defraud you? Did we not act in the same spirit? Did
we not walk in the same steps ?
He warns the Do you again imagine that it is before yon I de-19
factious and im-
moral minority fend myself? Nay, before God I speak, in fellow-
that he must
Pe tne, Ship with Christ; but doing all, beloved, for your
it they persist’ sakes, that you may be built up. For I fear lest
ie perchance when I come I should find you not such
as I could wish, and that you also should find from me other
treatment than you desire. I fear to find you full of strife,
jealousies, passions, intrigues,‘ slanderings, backbitings, vaunt-
ing, sedition. I fear lest, when I come, my God will again
humble me® by your faults, and I shall be compelled to mourn
over many among those who had sinned before my ὃ last visit,
1 See note on xi. 5.
3 Ὑπομον (in St. Paul’s language) means steadfastness under persecution. Some
of the persecutions referred to are recorded in Acts xviii.
3 See note on xiii. 1.
4 'Βριθεῖαι, intrigues. See note on Rom. ii. 8.
5. Literally, humble me in respect of ycu. See on this verse, p. 26, note 1.
6 Ipo-nuaptynKoTes.
SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. lly
and have not repented of the uncleanness, and fornication, and
XILI.wantonness which they committed.
1 I now come to you for the third time.t “ Out of the mout\
2 of two or three witnesses shall every word be confirmed.”? J
have warned you formerly, and J now forewarn you, as when?
I was present the second time, so now, while I am absent, say-
ing to those who had sinned before my last visit, and to all the
rest of the offenders,—“ If I come again, 1 will not spare.” Ὁ
3 Thus you shall have the proof you seek of the power of Christ,
who speaks in me; for He shows no weakness towards you, but
4 works mightily among you. For although He died upon the
cross through the weakness of the flesh, yet now He lives
through the power of God. And so I, too, share the weakness
of His body ; yet I shall share also the power of God, whereby
5 he lives, when*® I come to deal with you. Examine® not me,
but yourselves, whether you are truly in tke faith; put your-
selves to the proof [concerning Christ’s presence with you which
ye seek in me]. Know ye not of your own selves, that Jesus
Christ is dwelling in you? unless, perchance, when thus proved,’
6 you fail to abide the test. But I hope you will find that I, for
7 my part, abide the proofs Yet I pray to God that I may ποὺ
harm you in any wise. I pray, not that my own power may ba
clearly proved, but that you may do right, although I should
seem unable to abide the proof [because I should show no sign
8 of power]; for I have no power against the truth, but only for
9 the truth’s defence. I rejoice, therefore, when I am powerless
1 Τρίτον τοῦτο ἔρχομαι πρὸς ὑμᾶς. This could scarcely mean merely, “I am for the
third time preparing to visit you,” although 2 Cor. xii. 14 might imply no more than
that. See p. 26, note 1.
? Deut. xix. 15 (from LXX. nearly verbatim), meaning, “TI will judge not without
examination, nor will I abstain from punishing upon due evidence.” Or else (perhaps),
“1 shall now assuredly fulfil my threats.”
3 This passage, in which γράφω is omitted by the best MSS., seems conclusive
for the intermediate journey. What would be the meaning of saying, “I forewarn
you as if I were present the second time, now also while I am absent”? which is the
iranslation that we must adopt, if we deny the intermediate visit. Also the προοημαρ-
τηκότες, contrasted with the λοιποὶ πώντες (v. 2), seems inexplicable except on this
hypothesis. See p. 26, n. 1.
4 "Or: (as frequently) is here equivalent to a mark of quotation.
© Εἰς ὑμᾶς.
» Observe here the reference of δοκιμάζετε to the previous δοκιμὴν ζητειτε,
ΤΑ δόκιμος εἷναι, means, to fail when tested ; this was the original meaning of the
English to be reprobate (A. V.). Observe, here, again, the reference to the context
see preceding note). A paronomasia on the same words occurs Rom. i. 28.
# Viz. the proof that Christ’s power is with me.
190 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
[against you], and you are strong ; yea, it is the very end of iny
prayers, that you may be perfected. Therefore I write this ἰο 16
you while absent, that, when present, I may not deal harshly
with you in the strength of that authority which the Lord Jesus
has given me, not to cast down,' but to build up.
Conclusion. Finally, brethren, farewell. Perfect what is lack-11
ing in yourselves, exhort one another, be of one mind, live in
peace ; so shall the God of love and peace be with you. Salute 12
one another with the kiss of holiness.’ AI] Christ’s people here 13.
salute you.
Autograph ben- The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love 14
iction, ᾿ πεν
of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be
with you all.
In this letter we find a considerable space devoted to subjects con-
nected with a collection now in progress for the poor Christians in Judea.‘
It is not the first time that we have seen St. Paul actively exerting him-
self in such a project.* Nor is it the first time that this particular contri-
bution has been brought before our notice. At Ephesus, in the First
Epistle to the Corinthians, St. Paul gave special directions as to the
method in which it should be laid up in store (1 Cor. xvi. 1-4). Even
before this period similar instructions had been given to the Churches of
Galatia (ib. 1). And the whole project was in fact the fulfilment of a
promise made at a still earlier period, that in the course of his preaching
among the Gentiles, the poor in Judwa should be remembered (Gal. ii. 10).
The collection was going on simultaneously in Macedonia and Achaia ;
and the same letter gives us information concerning the manner in which
it was conducted in both places. The directions given to the Corinthians
were doubtless similar to those under which the contribution was made at
Thessalonica and Philippi. Moreover, direct information is incidentally
given of what was actually done in Macedonia ; and thus we are furnished
with materials for depicting to ourselves a passage in the Apostie’s life
which is not described by St. Luke. There is much instruction to be
gathered from the method and principles according to which these funds
were gathered by St. Paul and his associates, as well as from the condact
of those who contributed for their distant and suffering brethren.
Both from this passage of Scripture and from others we are fally
1 Compare x. 8. ? See note on 1 Thess. vy. 25.
* The ὀμὴν is not found in the best MSS.
“ The whole of the eighth and ninth chapters.
'& See the account of the mission of Barnabas and Saul to Jerusalem ir the time st
the famine, Vol. I. Ch. IV.
CONTRIBUTION FUR POOR JEWISH CHRISTIANS. 121
made aware of St. Paul’s motives for urging this benevolent work. Be
sides his promise made long age at Jerusalem, that in his preaching
among the Gentiles the poor Jewish Christians should be remembered,
the poverty of the residents in Judza would be a strong reason for his
activity in collecting funds for their relief, among the wealthier communi-
ties who were now united with them in the same faith and hope.? But
there was a far higher motive, which lay at the root of the Apostle’s
anxious and energetic zeal in this cause. It is that which is dwelt on in
the closing verses of the ninth chapter of the Epistle which has just been
read,? and is again alluded to in words less sanguine in the Epistle to the
Romans.‘ A serious schism existed between the Gentile and Hebrew
Christians,> which, though partially closed from time to time, secmed in
danger of growing continually wider under the mischievous influence of
the Judaizers. The great labour of St. Paul’s life at this time was directed
to the healing of this division. He felt that if the Gentiles had been
made partakers of the spiritual blessings of the Jews, their duty was to
contribute to them in earthly blessings (Rom. xy. 27), and that nothing
would be more likely to allay the prejudices of the Jewish party than
charitable gifts freely contributed by the Heathen converts.’ According
as cheerful or discouraging thoughts predominated in his mihd,—and to
such alternations of feeling even an Apostle was liable,—he hoped that
“the ministration of that service would not only fill up the measure of
the necessities of Christ’s people” in Judea, but would “ overflow” in
thanksgivings and prayers on their part for those whose hearts had been
opened to bless them (2 Cor. ix. 12-15), or he feared that this charity
might be rejected, and he entreated the prayers of others, “that he
might be delivered from the disobedient in Judzea, and that the service
which he had undertaken for Jerusalem might be favourably received by
Christ’s people” (Rom. xy. 30, 31).
Influenced by these motives, he spared no pains in promoting the
work ; but every step was conducted with the utmost prudence and
delicacy of feeling. He was well aware of the calumnies with which his
enemies were ever ready to assail his character ; and therefore he took
the most careful precautions against the possibility of being accused of
mercenary motives. At an early stage of the collection, we find, him
writing to the Corinthians, to suggest that ‘‘ whomsoever they should
1 Gal. ii. 10 above quoted, See Vol. I. p. 220.
7 See the remarks on this subject, in reference to the early jealousy between the
Christians of Aramaic and Hellenistic descent, Vol. I. p. 66.
2 2 Cor. ix. 12-15. 4 Rom. xv. 30, 31.
5 See the remarks on this sitbject in Ch. VIL.
® See Vol. I. p 130. Compare Neander’s remarks at the end of the 7th chapter of
the Pil. u. L.
122 THE LIFE AND EPISTLUS OF 51, PAUL.
judge fitted for the trust, should be sent to carry their benevolenc. ta
Jerusalem” (1 Cor. xvi. 8); and again he alludes to the delegates som-
missioned with Titus, as “guarding himself against all suspicion which
might be cast on him in his administration of the bounty with which he
was charged,” and as being “careful to do all things in a seemly manner,
not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men” (2 Cor.
viii. 20, 21). This regard to what was seemly appears most strikingly in
his mode of bringing the subject before those to whom he wrote and
spoke. He lays no constraint upon ‘them. They are to give “not
grudgingly or of necessity,” but each “according to the free choice of his
heart ; for God loveth a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. ix. 7). “If there is a
willing mind, the gift is acceptable when measured by the giver’s power,
and needs not to go beyond” (2 Cor. viii. 12). He spoke rather as
giving “advice” (viii. 10), than a “command ;"! and he sought to prove
the reality of his converts’ love, by reminding them of the zeal of others
(viii. 8). In writing to the Corinthians, he delicately contrasts their
wealth with the poverty of the Macedonians. In speaking to the Mace-
donians themselves, such a mode of appeal was less natural, for they were
poorer and more generous. Yet them also he endeavoured to rouse to a
generous rivalry, by reminding them of the zeal of Achaia (viii. 24. ix. 2).
To them also he would doubtless say that ‘he who sows sparingly shall
reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifuily shall reap bountifully ”
(ix. 6), while he would gently remind them that God was ever able to
give them an overflowing measure of all good gifts, supplying all their
wants, and enabling them to be bountiful? to others (ib. 8). And that
one overpowering argument could never be forgotten,—the example of
Christ, and the debt of love we owe to Him,—*‘ You know the grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ, how, though He was rich, yet for our sakes He
became poor, that you, by His poverty, might be made rich” (viii. 9).
Nor ought we, when speaking of the instruction to be gathered from this
charitable undertaking, to leave unnoticed the calmness and deliberation of
the method which he recommends of laying aside, week by week,® what is
devoted to God (1 Cor. xvi. 2),
excitement of popular appeals, and the mere impulse of instinctive bene-
a practice equally remote from the
volence.
The Macedonian Christians responded nobly to the appeal which was
made to them by St. Paul. The zeal of their brethren in Achaia ‘ roused
1 Compare his language to Philemon, whom he “ might have commande],” but
“for love’s sake he rather besonght him” vy. 9. See the Introduction, p. xv.
1. Compare what was said at Miletus, Acts xx. 35 ; also Eph. iv. 28.
3 From 2 Cor. viii. 10, ix. 2, it would seem that the plan recommended in 1 Cor. xvi.
2 had been carried into effect. See Paley’s remarks in the Horse Paulin on 2 Cor
The same plan had been recommended in Galatia, and probably in Macedonia.
LIBERALITY OF THE MACEDONIANS. 123
ithe most of them to follow it” (2 Cor. ix.2). God’s grace was abun
Jantly “manifested in the Churches”! on the north of the gean (ib,
viii. 1). Their conduct in this matter, as described to us by the Apostle’
pen, rises to the point of the highest praise. It was a time, not of pros
perity, but of great affliction, to the Macedonian Churches ; nor were
they wealthy communities like the Church of Corinth ; yet, “in their
heavy trial, the fulness of their joy overflowed out of the depth of their
poverty in the riches of their liberality” (ib. vill. 2). Their contribution
was no niggardly gift, wrung from their coveteousness (vill. 5) ; but they
zave honestly “according to their means” (ib. 3), and not only so, but
even “beyond their means” (ib.) ; nor did they give grudgingly, under the
pressure of the Apostle’s urgency, but “ of their own free will, beseeching
him with much entreaty that they might bear their part in the grace
of ministering to Christ’s people” (ib. 3,4). And this liberality arose
from that which is the basis of all true Christian charity. ‘They gave
themselves first to the Lord Jesus Christ, by the will of God” (ib. 5).
The Macedonian contribution, if not complete, was in a state of much
forwardness,? when St. Paul wrote to Corinth. He speaks of liberal
funds as being already pressed upon his acceptance (2 Cor. viii. 4), and
the delegates who were to accompany him to Jerusalem had already bees
shosen (2 Cor. viii. 19,23). We do not know how many of the Churches
of Macedonia took part in this collection,’ but we cannot doubt that that
of Philippi held a conspicuous place in so benevolent a work. In the case
of the Philippian Church, this bounty was only a continuation of the bene-
volence they had begun before, and an earnest of that which gladdened
the Apostle’s heart in his imprisonment at Rome. “In the beginning of
the Gospel” they and they only had sent once and again‘ to relieve his
wants, both at Thessalonica and at Corinth (Philip. iv. 15, 16) ; and “at
the last” their care of their friend and teacher “ flourished again” (ib. 10),
and they sent their gifts to him at Rome, as now they sent to their un-
known brethren at Jerusalem. The Philippians are in the Hpistles what
that poor woman is in the Gospels, who placed two mites in the treasury.
They gave much, because they gave of heir poverty ; and wherever the
‘ See p. 109, n. 2.
? The aorist ἐπερίσσευσεν (2 Cor. viii. 2) does not necessarily imply that the collec-
tion was closed ; aud the present καυχῶμαι (ix. 2) rather implies the contrary.
3 In 2 Cor. xi. 9 we find Philippi used as equivalent to Macedonia (p. 92), and so it
may be here. But it is not absolutely certain (ibid.) that the Second Epistle to the
Corinth'ans was written at Philippi. The Churches in Macedonia were only few, and
communication awong them was easy along the Via Egnatia ; as when the first contribu:
tions were sent from Philippi to St. Paul at Thessalonica. ‘See Vol. 1. p. 329.
4 See above, p. 92. For the account of this relief being sent to St. Paul, see Vol. ἢ
». 329 : and p. 989, n. 3, in reference to Phil. iv. 10 and 2 Cor. xi. 9. ¢
124 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
Gospel is preached throughout the whole world, there shall this liberality
be told for ἃ memorial of them.
If the principles enunciated by the Apostle in reference to the col-
lection command our devout attention, and if the example of the Macedo-
nian Christians is held cut to the imitation of all future ages of the
Church, the conduct of those who took an active part in the manage-
ment of the business should not be unnoticed. Of two of these the names
are unknown to us,' though their characters are described. One was a
brother, ‘‘ whose praise in publishing the Gospel was spread throughout
the churches,” and who had been chosen by the Church of Macedonia to
accompany St. Paul with the charitable fund to Jerusalem (2 Cor. viii.
18,19). The other was one “ who had been put to the proof in many
trials, and always found zealous in the work” (ib. 22). But concerning
Titus, the third companion of these brethren, “the partner ot St. Paul’s
lot and his fellow-labourer for the good of the Church,” we have fuller
information ; and this seems to be the right place to make a more parti-
cular allusion to him, for he was nearly concerned in all the steps of the
collection now in progress.
Titus does not, like Timothy, appear at intervals through all the pas-
sages of the Apostle’s life. He is not mentioned in the Acts at. all, and
this is the only place where he comes conspicuously forward in the
Epistles ;* and all that is said of himis connected with the business of the
collection. Thus we have a detached portion of his biography, which is
at once a thread that guides us through the main facts of the contribu.
tion for the Judzean Christians, and a source whence we can draw some
knowledge of the character of that disciple, to whom St. Paul addressed
one of his pastoral Epistles. At an early stage of the proceedings he
seems to have been sent,—soon after the First Epistle was despatched
from Ephesus to Corinth,—not simply to enforee the Apostle’s general
injunctions, but‘ to labour also in forwarding the collection (2 Cor. xii.
18). Whilst he was at Corinth, we find that he took an active and a
zealous part at the outset of the good work (ib. viii. 6). And now thas.
he had come to Macedonia, and brought the Apostle good news from
Achaia, he was exhorted to return, that he might finish what was so well
' See the notes on 2 Cor. viii.
* Sce Vol. I. p. 211, note. It is observed there that the only epistles in which he iy
mentioned are 2 Cor. and 2 Tim.
3 The prominent appearance of Titus in this part of the history has been made an
argument for placing the Epistle to Titus, as Wieseler and others have done, about
this part of St. Paul’s life. This question will be discussed afterwards.
#See above, p. 91. The fact that the mission of Titus had something to do with the
collection, might be inferred from 2 Cor. xii. 18: “ Did Titus defraud you?” We do
not know who the “brother” was, that was sent with him on that oceasion from
Ephesus.
‘CITOB. 225
begun, taking with him (as we have seen) the Second Epistle to the
Corinthians, and accompanied by the two deputies who have just been
mentioned. It was a task which he was by no means unwilling to under-
take. God “put into his heart the same zeal” which Paul himself had ;
he not only consented to the Apostle’s desire, but was “himself very
zealous in the matter, and went of his own accord” (2 Cor. viii. 16, 17).
If we put together these notices, scanty as they are, of the conduct of
Titus, they set before us a character which seems to claim our admira-
tion for a remarkable union of enthusiasm, integrity, and discretion.
After the departure of Titus, St. Paul still continued to prosecute the’
labours of an evangelist in the regions to the north of Greece. He was
unwilling as yet to visit the Corinthian Church, the disaffected members of
which still caused him so much anxiety,—and he would doubtless gladly
employ this period of delay to accomplish any plans he might have formed
and left incomplete on his former yisit to Macedonia. On that occasion
he had been persecuted in Philippi,! and had been forced to make a pre-
cipitate retreat from Thessalonica ;* and from Bercea his course had been
similarly urged to Athens and Corinth. Now he was able to embrace a
wider circumference in his Apostolic progress. Taking Jerusalem as his
centre,’ he had been perpetually enlarging the circle of his travels, In
his first missionary journey he had preached in the southern parts of Asia
Minor and the northern parts of Syria: in his second journey he had
visited the Macedonian towns which lay near the shores of the Augean;
and now on his third progress he would seem to have penetrated into the
mountains of the interior, or even beyond them, to the shores of the Adri-
atic, and “fully preached the Gospel of Christ round about unto Illyri-
“eum” (Rom. xv. 19).
We here encounter a subject on which some difference of opinion must
unavoidably exist. If we wish to lay down the exact route of the Apostle,
we must first ascertain the meaning of the term “ Illyricum” as used by
St. Paul in writing to the Romans: and if we find this impossible, we
must be content to leave this part of the Apostle’s travels in some degree
of vagueness ; more especially as the preposition (‘‘ unto,” μέχρι) employed
in the passage is evidently indeterminate.
The political import of the -vord “ Illyricum” will be seen by referring
to what has been written in an earlier chapter on the province of Macedo
nia.’ It has been there stated that the former province was contiguous ta
the north-western frontier of the latter. It must be observed, however,
1 Voli. p. 298. 2 Vol. I. p. 331. 3 Ib. p. 340.
4 Notice the phrase, ἀπὸ ’Iepoucadjy καὶ κύκλῳ μέχρι τοῦ ᾿Ιλλυρικοῦ. Rom. xv
19; and see the Hora Pauline.
6 Vol. 1. Ὁ. 515, &e. See our map of St. Panl’s third missionary journey.
126 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 8T. PAUL.
that a distinction was anciently drawn! between Greek Illyricum, a district
on the south, which was incorporated by the Romans with Macedonia, and
formed the coast line of that province where it touched the Adriatic,°—
and Barbarous, or Roman Illyricum, which extended towards the head of
that gulf, and was under the'administration of a separate governor. his
is “one of those ill-fated portions of the earth which, though placed in im-
mediate contact with civilisation, have remained perpetually barbarian.”
For a time it was in close connection, politically and afterwards ecclesias
tically, with the capitals both of the Eastern and Western empires: but
afterwards it relapsed almost into its former rude condition, and “ to this
hour it is devoid of illustrious names and noble associations.”4 Until the
time of Augustus, the Romans were only in possession of a narrow portion
along the coast, which had been torn during the wars of the Republic
from the piratic inhabitants. But under the first emperor a large region,
extending far inland towards the valleys of the Save and the Drave, was
formed into a province, and contained some strong links of the chain of
military posts, which was extended along the frontier of the Danube.6 At
first it was placed under the senate :7 but it was soon found to require the
presence of large masses of soldiers: the emperor took it into his own
hands,* and inscriptions are still extant on which we can read the records
of its occupation by the seventh and eleventh legions.2 Dalmatia, which
is also mentioned by St. Paul (2 Tim. iv. 10), was a district in the south-
ern part of this province ; and after the final reduction of the Dalmatian
tribes,’ the province was more frequently called by this name than by that
of Illyricum." The limits of this political jurisdiction (to speak in general
1 See Forbiger, Alte Geographie, iii. p. 833.
3 For the seaboard of Macedonia on the Adriatic, see Vol. I. pp. 315, 316.
3 Arnold’s Rome, vol. i. p. 495.
4 Arnold’s Rome, vol. i. p. 495.
5 It extended from the river Drilon to the Istrian peninsula. For the conquest of
the country under Augustus, see Appian, Illyr. 18-21, and Dio. xlix. 35, seq., also
Strabo, iv. and vii.
6 One of the most important of these military posts was Siscia, in the Pannonian
country, on the Save. See App. Illyr. 23, Dio. xlix. 36, seq. The line was continued
by Augustus through Meesia, though the reduction of that region to a province was
later. Six legions protected the fronticr of the Danube, Tac. Ann. iv. 5.
7 Dio. lili. 12. 8 Dio. liv. 34.
9 Orelli’s inscriptions, 3452, 3553, 4295, 4996. Josephus alludes to these legions in
the following passage, and his language on geographical subjects is always important
as an illustration of the Acts: Of ἀπὸ τῶν Θοάκων ᾿Ιλλυριοὶ τὴν μέχρι Δαλματίας
ἀποτεμνομένης Ἴστρῳ κατοικοῦντες, οὐ δυσὶ μόνοις τάγμασιν ὑπείκουσι, ue? ὧν αὐτοὶ
τὴς τῶν Δακῶν ἀνακύπτουαιν ὁρμάς. B. J. ii. 16.
10 See the history in Dio.
41 Hoeck’s Rom. Gesch. p. 379. Dalmatia is ἃ name unknown to the earlier Greew
wciters, See Cramer’s Greece, vol. i. p. 35.
ILLYRICUM. 12”
terms) ray be said to have included Bosnia and the modern! Daimatia,
with parts of Croatia and Albania.
But the term Illyricum was by no means always, or even generally,
used in a strictly political sense. The extent of country included in the
expression was various at various times. The Illyrians were loosely spoken
of by the earlier Greek writers as the tribes which wandered on the east-
ern shore of the Adriatic.? The Illyricum which engaged the arms of
Rome under the Republic was only a narrow strip of that shore with the
adjacent islands. But in the lnperial times it came to be used of a vast
and vague extent of country lying to the south of the Danube, to the east
of Italy, and to the west of Macedonia? So it is used by Strabo in the
reign of Augustus,‘ and similarly by Tacitus in his account of the civil
wars which preceded the fall of Jerusalem ;* and the same phraseology
continues to be applied to this region till the third century of the Christian
era.© We need not enter into the-geographical changes which depended ©
on the new division of the empire under Constantine,’ or into the fresh
significance which, in a later age, was given to the ancient names, whev
the rivalry of ecclesiastical jurisdictions led to the schism of Eastern and
Western Christendom.’ We have said enough to show that it is not pos-
sible to assume that the Illyricum of St. Paul was a definite district ruied
as a province by a governor from Rome.
It seems by far the most probable that the terms “ Illyricum” and
“Dalmatia” are both used by St. Paul in a vague and general sense: as
we have before had occasion to remark in reference to Asia Minor, where
many geographical expressions, such as ‘‘ Mysia,” ‘‘ Galatia,” and “ Phry-
gia,” were variously used, popularly or politically? It is indeed quite pos-
sible that St. Paul, not deeming it right as yet to visit Corinth, may have
pushed on hy the Via Egnatia,'’ from Philippi and Thessalonica, across the
1 The modern name of Illyria has again contracted to a district of no great extent
in the northern part of the ancient province.
* Herodotus and Scylax. Compare Appian, Ilyr. 1.
3 See Gibbon’s first chapter.
¢ Strabo, vii. See Appian Illyr. 6.
> Tac. Hist. i. 2, 76, &c., where under the term Iilyricum are included Dalmatia.
Pannonia, and Meesia; and this, it must be remembered, is strictly contemporaneouy
with the Anostle.
6 See Vopiscus, Aurel. 13. Treb. Claud. 15.
7 In this division, I/7yricwm occidentale (including Pannonia and Noricum) was a
diocese of the Prefecture of Italy. The Prefecture of Illyricum contained only that
part of the old Illyrian country which was called Greek Illyricum, and belonged, in
the time of Claudius, to the province of Macedonia. See above.
8 A geographical acgount of Illyricum in its later ecclesiastical sense, and of the
Jioceses which were the subjects of the rival claims of Rome and Constar tinople, will
ye found in Neale’s History of the Eastern Church.
See Val. I. pp. 237, 276.
” See the account of the Via Egnatia, Vol. 1. p. 317.
198 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ΒΤ. PAUL.
eentral mountains which turn the streams eastward and westward, te
Dyrrhachium, the landing-place of those who had come by the Appian
Road from Rome to Brundusium.! Then, though still in the province of
Macedonia, he would be in the district cailed Greek Illyricum :* and he
would be on a line of easy communication with Nicopolis? on the south,
where, on a later occasion, he proposed to winter (Tit. iii. 12); and he
could easily penetrate northwards into Roman or Barbarous Illyricum,
where was that district of Dalmatia,* which was afterwards visited by his
companion Titus, whom, in the present instance, he had dispatched to
Corinth. But we must admit that the expression in the Romans might
have been legitimately® used, if he never passed beyond the limits of
Macedonia, and even if his Apostolic labours were entirely to the east-
ward of the mountains, in tle country watered by the Strymon and the
Axius.®
Whether he travelled widely anc rapidly in the regions to the north of
Greece, or confined his exertions to the neighbourhood of those churches
which he had previously founded,—the time soon came when he determined
to revisit that church, which had caused him so much affliction not un-
mixed with joy. During the course of his stay at Ephesus, and in all
parts of his subsequent journey in Troas and Macedonia, his heart had
been continually at Corinth. He had been in frequent communication
with his inconsistent and rebellious converts. Three letters? had been
written to entreat or to threaten them. Besides his own personal visit®
when the troubles were beginning, he had sent several messengers, who
were authorised to speak in his name. Moreover, there was now a special
subject in which his interest and affections were engaged, the contribu-
1 It has been said above (Vol. I. p. 317) that when St. Paul was on the Roman way
at Philippi, he was really on the road which led to Rome. The ordinary ferry was
from Dyrrhachium to Brundusium.
5 See above, p. 126, comparing Vol. I. pp. 315, 316.
3 Nicopolis was in Epirus, which it will be remembered (see above under Macedo-
nia), was in the province of Achaia. The following passage may be quoted in illus-
tration of the geography of the district :—Eum honorem [consulis] Germanicus iniit
apud urbem Achaie Nicopolim, quo venerat per J?/7yricam oram, viso fratre Druso in
Dalmatia agente. Tac. Ann. 11. 53. See Wieseler, p. 353, For the stages on the
Roman road between Apollonia on the Adriatic and Nicopolis, see Cramer’s Greece,
vol. i. p. 154.
4 See above, p. 126. It is indeed possible that the word Dalmatia in this Epistle
may be used for the province (of Ilyricum or Dalmatia), and not a subordinate district
of what was called Illyricum in the wider sense.
5 The preposition μέχρι need not dencte anything more than that St. Paul came te
the frontier. See Hemsen’s remarks in answer to the question, “Kam Paulus nach
Ilyricum?” yp. 390, and compare p. 399.
6 See what has been said of these rivers in Chap. IX.
7 The question of the lost letter has been discussed above in this volume, Ch. KV
vp. 29, 30.
8 See again, on this intermediate visit, the beginning of Ch. XV.
ΒΤ. PAUL’S JOURNEY SOUTHWARD. 199
tion for the poor in Judea, which he wished to “seal” to those for
whom it was destined (Rom. xv. 28) before undertaking his journey to
the West.? \
Of the time and the route of this southward journey we can only say
that the most probable calculation leads us to suppose, that he was travel:
ling with his companions towards Corinth at the approach of winter ;?
and this makes it likely that he went by land rather than by sea. A good
road to the south had long been formed from the neighbourhood of Bercea,*
connecting the chief towns of Macedonia with those of Achaia. Oppor-
tunities would not be wanting for preaching the Gospel at every stage in
his progress ; and perhaps we may infer from his own expression in writing
to the Romans (xv. 23),—“‘I have no more place in those parts,”—either
that churches were formed in every chief city between Thessalonica and
Corinth, or that the Glad-tidings had been unsuccessfully proclaimed in
Thessaly and Beeotia, as on the former journey they had found but little
credence among the philosophers and triflers of Athens.°
! For the project of this westward journey see the end of Chap. XV. above.
? See Wieseler. 3 See Acts xxvii. 9.
4 The roads through Dium have been alluded to above, Vol. I. p. 342, and compare
p. 338, n. 8. The stages between Bercea and Larissa in Thessaly may be seen in Cra-
mer’s Greece, vol. i. p. 281. See again p. 450.
5 Athens is never mentioned again after Acts xviii. 1,1 Thess. iii. 1. We do not
know that it was ever revisited by the Apostle, and in the second century we find that
Christianity was almost extinct there. See Vol. I. p. 381. At the same time nothing
would be more easy than to visit Athens, with other “churches of Achaia’’ during his
residence at Corinth. Se» Vol. I. p. 408, and Vol. IT. p. 96.
von, 1 --
180 THE LIFR AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL
CHAPTER XVIII.
ὦ foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you ?””—Gal. iii. 1.
ΒΤ. PAUL’S FEELINGS ON APPROACHING CORLNTH.—CONTRAST WITH EIS FIRST VISIT.—BAD
- NEWS FROM GALATIA.—HE WRITES THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS.
Ir was probably already winter, when St. Paul once more beheld in the
distance the lofty citadel ef Corinth, towering above the isthmus which it
commands. The gloomy season must have harmonised with his feelings as
he approached, The clouds which hung round the summit of the Acro-
Corinthus, and cast their shadow upon the city below, typified the mists
of vice and error which darkened the minds even of its Christian citizens.
᾿ Their father in the faith knew that, for some of them at least, he had
laboured in vain. He was returning to converts who had cast off the mo-
rality of the Gospel ; to friends who had forgotten his love ; to enemies
who disputed his divine commission. It is true, the majority of the Corin-
thian church had repented of their worst sins, and submitted to his Apos-
tolic commands. Yet what was forgiven could not entirely be forgotten :
even towards the penitent he could not feel all the confidence of earlie:
affection ; and there was still left an obstinate minority, who would not
give up their habits of impurity, and who, when he spoke to them of
righteousness and judgment to come, replied either by openly defending
their sins, or by denying his authority and impugning his orthodoxy.
He now came prepared to put down this opposition by the most deci-
sive measures ; resolved to cast out of the Church these antagonists of
truth and goodness, by the plenitude of his Apostolic power. Thus he
warned them a few months before (as he had threatened, when present on
an earlier occasion), ‘‘ when I come again I will not spare” (2 Cor. xiii. 2).
He declared his determination to punish the disobedient (2 Cor. x. 6).
He “ boasted” of the authority which Christ had given nim (2 Cor. x. 8).
He besought them not to compel him to use the weapons entrusted to him
(2 Cor. x. 2), weapons not of fleshly weakness, but endowed with the
might of God (2 Cor. x. 4). He pledged himself to execute by his deeds
when present, all he had threatened by his words when absent. (2 Cor
x. 11.) 7
As we think of him, with these purposes of severity in his mind, ap-
proaching the walls of Corinth, we are irresistibly reminded of the eventful
ΒΤ. PAUL’S FEELINGS ON APPROACHING CORINTH. 13]
close of a former journey, when Saul, “breathing out threatenings and
slaughter against the disciples of the Lord,” drew nigh to Damascus
How strongly does this accidental resemblance bring out the essential cor
trast between the weapons and the spirit of Saul and Paul! Then he
wielded the sword of the secular power—he travelled as the proud repre-
sentative of the Sanhedrin—the minister of human cruelty and injustice ;
he was the Jewish Inquisitor, the exterminator of heretics, seeking for vic-
tims to imprison or tostone. Now he is meek and lowly,! travelling in the
humblest guise of poverty, with no outward marks of pre-eminence or
power ; he has no gaolers at his command to bind his captives, no execu-
tioners to carry out his sentence. All he can do is to exclude those whe
disobey him from a society of poor and ignorant outcasts, who are the ob-
jects of contempt to all the mighty, and wise, and noble among their
countrymen. His adversaries despise his apparent insignificance ; they
know that he has no outward means of enforcing his will; they see that
his bodily presence is weak ; they think his speech contemptible. Yet he
is not so powerless as he seems. Though now he wields no carnal weapons,
his arms are not weaker but stronger than they were of old. He can not
bind the bodies of men, but he can bind their souls. ‘Truth and love are
on his side ; the spirit of God bears witness with the spirits of men on his
behalf. His weapons are “mighty to overthrow the strongholds of
the adversaries ;’ ‘‘Thereby” he could “overthrow the reasonings of
the disputer, and pull down the lofty bulwarks which raise themselves
against the knowledge of God, and bring every rebellious thought into
captivity and subjection to Christ.” *
Nor is there less difference in the spirit of his warfare than in the
character of his weapons. Then he “breathed out threatenings and
slaughter ;” he ‘‘ made havoc of the Church ;” he ‘ haled men and women
into prison ;” he ‘compelled them to blaspheme.” When their sentence
was doubtful, he gave his vote for their destruction ;* he was “ exceed-
ingly mad against them.” ‘Then his heart was filled with pride and hate,
uncharitableness and self-will, But now his proud and passionate nature
is transformed by the spirit of God ; he is crucified with Christ ; the fer-
vid impetuosity of his character is tempered by meekness and gentleness ;
his very denunciations and threats of punishment are full of love ; he
gricves over his contumacious opponents ; the thought of their pain fills
him with sadness. “ For if I cause you grief, who is there to cause me
joy ?”* He implores them, even at the eleventh hour, to save him from
the necessity of dealing harshly with them; he had rather leave his au-
thority doubtful, and still remain liable to the sneers of his adversaries,
1 Tarewvoc ἐν ὑμῖν (2 Cor. x. 1). 2 2 Cor. x. 4 5. 3 Acts xxvi. 10.
. 2 Οὐν. il. 2.
f
[99 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
than establish it by their punishment (2 Cor. xiii. T-9). He will vonde
scend to the weakest prejudices, rather than cast a stumbling-block in 8
brother’s path ; he is ready to become all things to all men, that he may
by all means save some.
Yet all that was good and noble in the character of Saul remains in
Paul, purified from its old alloy. The same zeal for God burns in his
neart, though it is no longer misguided by ignorance nor warped by party
spirit. The same firm resolve is seen in carrying out his principles to their
consequences, though he shows it not in persecuting but in suffering. The
same restless energy, which carried him from Jerusalem to Damascus that
he might extirpate heresy, now urges him from one end of the world to the
other,' that he may bear the tidings of salvation.
The painful anticipations which now saddened his return to Corinth
were not, however, altogether unrelieved by happier thoughts. As he
approached the well-known gates, in the midst of that band of faithful
friends who, as we have seen, accompanied him from Macedonia, his
memory could not but revert to the time when first he entered the same
city, a friendless and lonely? stranger. He could not but recall the feel-
ings of extreme depression with which he first began his missionary work
at Corinth, after his unsuccessful visit to Athens. The very firmness and
bold confidence which now animated him,—the assurance which he felt ef
victory over the opponents of truth,—must have reminded him by con-
trast of the anxiety and self-distrust® which weighed him down at his first
intercourse with the Corinthians, and which needed a miraculous vision 4
for its removal. How could he allow discouragement to overcome his
spirit, when he remembered the fruits borne by labours which had begun
in so much sadness and timidity. It was surely something that hundreds
of believers now called on the name of the Lord Jesus, who when he first
came among them, had worshipped nothing but the deification of their
own lusts. Painful no doubt it was, to find that their conversion had
been so incomplete ; that the pollutions of heathenism still defiled those
who had once washed away the stains® of sin; yet the majority of the
Church had repented of their offences ; the number who obstinately per-
sisted in sin was but small; and if many of the adult converts were so
tied and bound by the chains of habit, that their complete deliverance
could scarce be hoped for, yet at least their children might be brought
up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Moreover, there were
1 He was at this very time intending to go first to Jerusalem, thence to Rome, ἃπὰ
thence to Spain ; that is, to travel from the Eastern to the Western extremities of the
civilized world. See Rom, xv. 28. Compare the conclusion of Chap. XVII.
2 He was left at Athens alone (1 Thess. iii. 1), and so remained till Timotheus and
Silas rejoined him at Corinth. See Vol. 1. p. 362.
3 See 1 Cor. iii. 1-3. 4 Acts xviii. 9.
> 1 Cor. vi. 11.
STATE OF THE GALATIAN CHURCH. 188
some even in this erring church, on whom St. Paul could think with un
mingled satisfation ; some who walked in the spirit, and did not fulfil the
ust of the flesh ; who were created anew in Christ Jesus ; with whom old
things had passed away, and all things had become new ; who dwelt in
Christ, and Christ in them. Such were Erastus the treasurer, and
Stephanas, the first fruits of Achaia ; such were Fortunatus and Achaicus,
who had lately travelled to Ephesus on the errand of their brethren ; suck
was Gaius,' who was even now preparing to welcome beneath his hospit:
able roof the Apostle who had thrown open to himself the door of entrance
into the Church of Christ. When St. Paul thought of ‘them that were
such,” and of the many others “ who worked with them and laboured”?
as he threaded the crowded streets on his way to the house of Gaius,
doubtless he ‘‘thanked God and took courage.”
But a painful surprise awaited him on his arrival. He found that in-
telligence had reached Corinth from Ephesus, by the direct route, of a
more recent date than any which he had lately received ; and the tidings
brought by this channel concerning the state of the Galatian churches,
excited both his astonishment and his indignation. His converts there,
whom he seems to have regarded with peculiar affection, and whose love
and zeal for himself had formerly been so conspicuous, were rapidly for-
saking his teaching, and falling an easy prey to the arts of Judaizing mis-
sionaries from Palestine. We have seen the vigour and success with
which the Judaizing party at Jerusalem were at this period pursuing their
new tactics, by carrying the war into the territory of their great oppo-
nent, and endeavouring to counterwork him in the very centre of his
influence, in the bosom of those Gentile Churches which he had so lately
founded. We know how great was the difficulty with which he had
defeated (if indeed they were yet defeated) the agents of this restless
party at Corinth ; and now, on his reaching that city to crush the last
remains of their opposition, he heard that they had been working the same
mischief in Galatia, where he had least expected it. There, as in most ot
the early Christian communities, a portion of the Church had been Jews
by birth ; and this body would afford a natural fulcrum for the efforts of
the’ Judaizing teachers ; yet we cannot suppose that the number of Jews
resident in this inland agricultural district could have been very large.
-And St. Paul, in addressing the Galatians, although he assumes that there
were some among them familiar with the Mosaic Law, yet evidently im-
plies that the majority were converts from heathenism.? It is remark-
1 Jt would be more correct to write this name Caius; but as the name urder itz
Greek form of Gaius has become naturalised in the English language as a synonym of
Christian hospitality, it seems undesirable to alter it.
3.1 Cor. xvi. 16.
3 See Gal. iv 8.
184 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
able, therefore, that the Judaizing emissaries should sc sovn have gained
so great a held over a church consisting mainly of Gentile Christians ;
and the fact that they did so proves not only their indefatigable activity,
but also their skill in the arts of conciliation and persuasion. It must be
remembered, however, that they were by no means scrupulous as to the
means which they employed to effect their objects. At any cost of false-
nood and detraction, they resolved to loosen the hold of St. Paul upon the
affection and respect of his converts. Thus to the Galatians they accused
nim of a want of uprightness, in observing the Law himself whilst among
the Jews, yet persuading the Gentiles to renounce it ;’ they argued that
lis motive was to keep his converts in a subordinate state, excluded from
the privileges of a full covenant with God, which was enjoyed by the cir-
cumcised alone ;* they declared that he was an interested flatterer,? ‘‘ be-
coming all things to all men,” that he might make a party for himself ;
and above all, they insisted that he falsely represented himself as an
apostle of Christ, for that he had not, like the Twelve, been a follower of
Jesus when He was on earth, and had not received His commission ; that,
on the contrary, he was only a teacher sent out by the authority of the
Twelve, whose teaching was only to be received so far as it agreed with
theirs and was sanctioned by them; whereas his doctrine (they alleged)
was now in opposition to that of Peter and James, and the other
“ Pillars” of the Church. By such representations they succeeded to a
creat extent in alienating the Galatian Christians from their father in the
faith ; already many of the recent converts submitted to circumcision,’
and embraced the party of their new teachers with the same zeal which
they had formerly shown for the Apostle of the Gentiles ;° and the rest
of the Church was thrown into a state of agitation and division.
On receiving the first intelligence of these occurrences, St. Paul
hastened to check the evil before it should have become irremediable. He
wrote to the Galatians an Epistle which begins with an abruptness and
severity showing his sense of the urgency of the occasion, and the great-
ness of the danger ; it is also frequently characterised by a tone of sad-
ness, such as would naturally be felt by a man of such warm affections
when he heard that those whom he loved were forsaking his cause and
believing the calumnies of his enemies. In this letter his principal object
is to show that the doctrine of the Judaizers did in fact destroy the very -
essence of Christianity, and reduced it from an inward and spiritual life to
an outward and ceremonial system ; but, in order to remove the sceds of
alienation and distrust which had been designedly planted in the minds of
1 Gal. v. 11.
? Gal. iv 16 compared with Gal. ii. 17. 3 Gali. 10
4 See the whole of the first two chapters of the Epistle.
5 Gal. vi. 13. 6 Gal iy. 14, 15.
EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. 135
nis converts, he begins by fully contradicting the falsehoods which had
peen propagated against himself by his opponents, and especially by vindi-
cating his title to the Apostolic office as received directly from Christ, and
exercised independen‘ly of the other Apostles. Such were the cir
cumstances and such the objects which led him to write the following
Epistle.
EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS:
1 Pavt,—an Apostle, sent not from men nor by man, Defence of his
independent
but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who aposiolic autho.
rity against
1 The date of this Epistle cannot be so clearly demonstrated as that of most of the
others; but we conclude that it was written at the time assumed in the text on the
following grounds :—
Ist. It was not written till after St. Paul’s second visit to the Galatians. This
is proved (A) by his speaking of their conversion as having occurred at his Jirst visit
(τὸ πρότερον, iv. 13); implying that he had paid them a second visit. (B) (iv. 16):
“Am I now become (yéyova) your enemy by speaking truth among you?” implies
that there had been a second visit in which he had offended them, contrasted with the
first when he was so welcome.
2ndly. It is maintained by many eminent authorities that it was written sc m after
his second visit. This St. Paul (they argue) expressly says: he marvels that the Ga-
latians are so soon (οὕτω ταχέως, i. 6) forsaking his teaching. The question is (accord-
ing to these writers), within what interval of time would it have been possible for him
to use this word “soon?” Now this depends on the length of their previous Christian
life ; for instance, had St. Paul known them as Christians for twenty years, and then
after an absence of four years heard of their perversion, he might have said their aban-
donment of the truth was marvellously soon after their possession of it; but if they had
been only converted to Christianity for three years before his secvad visit (as was
really the case), and he had heard of their perversion not till four years after hig
second visit, he could scarcely, in that case, speak of their perversion as having oc-
curred soon after they had been in the right path, in reference to the whole time they
had been Christians. He says virtually, “‘ You are wrong now, you were right a short
time ago.’ The natural impression conveyed by this language (considering that the
time of their previous stedfastness in the true faith was only three years altogether)
would certainly be that St. Paul must have heard of their perversion within about a
year from the time of his visit. At that time he was resident at Ephesus, where he
would most naturally and easily receive tidings from Galatia. Hence they consider
the Epistle to have been written at Ephesus during the first year of St. Paul’s resi-
dence there. But in answer to these arguments it may be replied, that St. Paul does
ποῦ say the Galatians were perverted soon after his own last visit to them. His words
are, ϑαυμάζῳ ὅτι οὕτω ταχέως μετατίθεσθε, “1 wonder that you are so quickly shifting
your ground.” The same word, ταχέως, he uses (2 Thess. ii. 2) where he exhorts the
Thessalonians μὴ ταχέως σαλευθῆναι, “not rashly to let themselves be shaken ;’’ where
ταχέως refers not so much to the time as to the manner in which they were affected,
like the English hastily. But even supposing the ταγέως in Gal. i. 6 te refer simply
to dime, and to be translated quickly or soon, we still (if we would fix the date from
it) must ask, “ quickly after what event ?”—“ soon after what event?” And it ig
more natural (especially as ὠετατίθεσθε is the present tense) to understand “ soon
186 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ΒΊ. PAUL.
Jeéaizing yaised Him from the dead ;—With all the brethren - 2
teachers, and
usterical proofs Who are in my company. To THe CuuRcHES oF
mission was not
derived from GALATIA.
th h
heen Grace be tu you and peace from God our? 3
Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ; who gave himself for our 4
sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world,
according to the will of our God and Father; to whom be 5
glory, even unto the ages of ages. Amen.
after the entrance of the Judaizing teachers,” than to understand “soon after my
last visit.”
Hence there seems nothing in this ταχέως to fix the date of the Epistle ; nor is there
any other external evidence of a decisive nature supplied by the Epistle. But
3rdly. The internal evidence that the Epistle was written nearly at the same time
with that to the Romans is exceedingly strong. Examples of this are Rom. viii. 15
compared with Gal. iv. 6. Rom. vii. 14-25 compared with Gal. vy. 17. Rom. i. 17
compared with Gal. iii. 11, and the argument about Abraham’s faith in Rom. iy. com-
pared with Gal. iii. But the comparison of single passages does not so forcibly im-
press on the mind the parallelism of the two Epistles, as the study of each Epistle as a
whole. The more we examine them, the more we are struck by the resemblance ; and
it is exactly that resemblance which would exist between two Epistles written nearly
at the same time, while the same line of argument was occupying the writer’s mind,
and the same phrases and illustrations were on his tongue. This resemblance, too,
becomes more striking when we remember the very different circumstances which
called forth the two Epistles; that to the Romans being a deliberate exposition of St.
Paul’s theology, addressed to a Church with which he was personally unacquainted ;
that to the Galatians being an indignant rebuke, written on the urgency of the occa-
sion, to check the perversion of his children in the faith.
This internal evidence, therefore, leads us to suppose that the Epistle to the Gala-
tians was written within a few months of that to the Romans; and most probably,
therefore, from Corinth during the present visit (although there is nothing to show
which of the two was written the first). The news of the arrival of the Judaizers in
Galatia would reach St. Paul from Ephesus; and (considering the commercial relations
between the two cities) there is no place where he would be so likely to hear tidings
from Ephesus as at Corinth. And since, on his arrival at the latter city, he would
probably find some intelligence from Ephesus waiting for him, we have supposed, in
the text, that the tidings of the perversion of Galatia met him thus on his arrival at
Corinth. :
1 Some of these “ brethren in St. Paul’s company” are enumerated in Acts xx. 4:
Sopater of Beroea ; Aristarchus and Secundus of Thessalonica ; Gaius of Derbe ; Timo-
theus; and Tychicus and Trophimus from Proconsular Asia. The junction of their
names with that of Paul in the salutation of this Epistle, throws light on the junction
of the names of Timotheus, Sosthenes, Silvanus, &c. with Paul’s in the salutation at
the head of some other Epistles; showing us more clearly that these names were not .
joined with that of St. Paul as if they were joint authors of the several Epistles re-
ferred to. This clause also confirms the date we have assigned to the Hpistle, since it
suits a period when he had an unusual number of travelling companions, in conse
quence of the collection which they and he were jointly to bear to Jerusalem. See the
last chapter.
? The text used by Chrysostom placed ἡμῶν after πάτρος, which is the usual order.
The meaning of the other reading (which has the greater weight of MS. authority for
it) is probably the same.
EPISfLE TO THE GALATIANS. 137
6 1 marvel that you are so soon shifting’ your ground, and
forsaking Him? who called you? in the grace of Christ, for a
7 new Glad-tidings ; which is nothing else+ but the device of cer
tain men who are troubling you, and who desire to pervert the
§ Glad-tidings of Christ. But even though I myself, or an angel
from heaven, should declare to you any other Glad-tidings than
9 that which I declared, let him be accursed. As I have said
before, so now I say again, if any man is come to you with a
Glad-tidings different from that which you received before, let
10 him be accursed. Think ye that man’s® assent, or God’s, is now
my object? or is it that 1 5661 favour with men? Nay, if I
still sought favour with men, I should not be the bondsman
of Christ.
11 For I certify you, brethren, that the Glad-tidings which I
12 brought you is not of man’s devising. For I myself received
it not from man, nor was it taught me by man’s teaching, but
13 by the revelation of Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my
former behaviour in the days of my Judaism, how I persecuted
beyond measure the Church of God, and strove ® to root it out,
14and outran in Judaism many of my own age and nation, being
more exceedingly zealous? for the traditions of my fathers.
15 But when it pleased Him, who set me apart " from my mother’s
womb, and called me by His grace, to reveal His Son in me,
16 that 1 might proclaim His Glad-tidings among the Gentiles, I
17 did not immediately take counsel with flesh and blood, nor yet
did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were Apostles before
me, but I departed into Arabia,» and from thence returned to
1 For the translation of this, see the note on the date of this Epistle, above.
2“ Fim who called you.” St. Paul probably means God. Compare Rom. ix. 24.
3 “In the grace of Christ.’ It is scarcely necessary (since Winer’s writing) to ob-
serve that ἐν cannot mean into; Christians are called to salvation in the grace of
Christ.
4 The Authorised Version, “which is not another,” is incorrect; the ἄλλο of this
verse not being a repetition of the preceding ἕτερον.
5 This alludes to the accusation brought against him. See above, p. 133; also 2
Cor. v 11; and for the words ἀνθρώποις ἀρέσκειν compare ἀνθρωπάρεσκοι (Col. iii. 22).
His answer is, that had popularity and power been his object, he would have remained
a member of the Sanhedrin. The ἄρτι and é7 mark the reference to this contrast be-
tween his position before and since his conversion.
6 ᾿Ἐπορθοῦν (the imperfect).
7 Ζηλωτής. This term was, perhaps, already adopted (as it was not long after,
Joseph. Bell. iv. 6) by the Ultra-Pharisaical party.
Compare Rom. i. 1: ἀφωρισμένος εἰς εὐαγγέλιον.
On the events mentioned in this verse, see Vol. I. p. 95
138 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
Damascus. Afterwards, when three years had passed, 1 went 18
ap to Jerusalem, that I might know Cephas,' and with him I
remained fifteen days; but other of the Apostles saw 1 none, 19
save only James,’ the brother of the Lord. (Now in this which 20
I write to you, behold I testify before God that I lie not.) Af-2)
ter this I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia; but I was 22
still unknown by face to the Churches of Christ in Judea:
tidings only were brought them from time to time,’ saying, 23
“He who was once our persecutor now bears the Glad-tidings of
that Faith, which formerly he laboured to root ont.” And they 24
glorified God in me. ; Il.
Then fourteen+ years after, 1 went up again to Jerusalem 1
The council of With Barnabas, and took Titus with me also. At 2
venue that time I went up in obedience to a revelation
which I had received, and I communicated to the brethren® in
Jerusalem the Glad-tidings which I proclaim among the Gen-
tiles ; but to the chief brethren I communicated it privately,®
lest perchance my labours, either past or present, might be
rendered fruitless. Yet not even Titus, my own companion 3
(being a Greek), was compelled to be circumcised. But this 4
communication? [with the Apostles in Judea] I undertook on
account of the false brethren who gained entrance by fraud, for
they crept in among us to spy out our freedom § (which we pos-
sess in Christ Jesus) that they might enslave us under their
own yoke. To whom I yielded no submission, no, not for an 5
hour; that you might continue to enjoy the reality of Christ’s
Glad-tidings.
1 Cephas, not Peter, is the reading of the best MSS. throughout this Epistle, as well
as in the Epistles to Corinth; except in one passage, Gal. ii. 7, 8. St. Peter was or-
dinarily known up to this period by the Syro-Chaldaic form of his name (the nama
actually giver by our Lord), and not by its Greek equivalent. It is remarkable that
he himself, in his Epistles, uses the Greek form, perhaps as a mark of his antagonism
to the Judaizers, who naturally would cling to the Hebraic form.
2 See note on 1 Cor. ix. 5. 3 Ακούοντες ἧσαν.
4 See the discussion of this passage, Vol. I. pp. 227-235 ; also see Vol. I. p. 219 and
Vol. Il. p. 74. 5 Αὐτοῖς. Compare the preceding verse.
6 On these private conferences preceding the public assembly of the Church, see
Vol. I. p. 213.
7 Something must be supplied here to complete the sense: we understand ἀνεθέμην
from v. 2; others supply οὐ περιετμήθη, “ but I refuse to circumcise him (which other-
wise I would have done) on account of the false brethren, that I might not seem to
yield to them.”’ Others again supply περιετμήθη, which gives an opposite sense. Our
interpretation agrees best with the narrative in Acts xy.
8 Viz. from the ordinances of the Mosaic law
EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. 139
6 Pat from those who were held in chief reputation—it mat-
ters not to me of what account they were,—God is no respectex
of persons—those (I say) who were the chief in reputation gave
7 me no new instruction; but, on the contrary, when they saw
that I had’ been charged to preach the Glad-tidings to the un-
circumcised by the same authority as Peter to the circumcised
8 (for He who wrought in Peter a fitness for the Apostleship of
the circumcision, wrought also in me the gifts needful for an
9 Apostle of the Gentiles), and when they had learned the grace
which God had given me,—James, Cephas, and John, who
were accounted chief pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the
right hand of fellowship, purposing that we should go to the
10 Gentiles, and they to the Jews; provided only, that we should
remember the poor [brethren in Judeea], which I have accord.
ingly ? endeavoured to do with diligence.
11 Lut when Cephas came to Antioch, I withstood St, Peter at An
12him openly, because he had incurred? reproach; ὁ
for before the coming of certain [brethren] from James, he was
in the habit of eating with the Gentiles; but when they came,
he drew back, and separated himself from the Gentiles, for
“13 fear of the Jewish brethren. And he was joined in his dissim-
ulation by the rest of the Jews [in the Church of Antioch], so
that even Barnabas was drawn away with them to dissemble in
14like manner. But when I saw that they were walking in a
crooked path,‘ and forsaking the truth of the Glad-tidings, I
said to Cephas before them all, “If thou, being The Jewish be
born a Jew, art wont to live according to the eus- nounced — the
righteousness
tom of the Gentiles, and not of the Jews, why would- of the lav.
est thou constrain the Gentiles to keep the ordinances of the
15Jews? We are Jews by birth, and not unhallowed Gentiles ;
16 yet,’ knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the
Law, but by faith in Jesus Christ, we ourselves also have put
our faith in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by the faith
1 Πεπίστευμαι, the perfect, used because the charge still continued.
3 The A. V. here is probably incorrect. ᾿Εσπούδασα seems to be the aorist used for
perfect (as cften). Αὐτὸ τοῦτο (used in this way) is nearly equivalent to accordingly
Compare 2 Cor. ii. 3 and Phil. i. 6.
3 Κατεγνωσμένος ἦν, a remarkable expression, not equivalent to the Av thorised
translation, “he was to be blamed.” For the history of this see Chap. VII.
4 'OpGorodeiv (only found here), to walk in a straight path.
‘We read δὲ here with Tischendorf and the best MSS.
140 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF §8T. PAUL.
of Christ, and not by the works of the Law; for by the works
of the Law ‘shall no flesh be justified.’ ”
But what if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we have 14
indeed reduced’ ourselves to the sinful state of unhallowed*
Gentiles? Must we then hold Christ for the minister of sin?
That be far from us ! 4
For if I again build up that [structure of the Law] which 18
I have overthrown, then I represent myself as a transgressor.
Whereas I, through the operation " of the Law, became dead to 19
the Law, that I might live to God. Iam crucified with Christ, 20
and 5 live no more myself, but Christ is living in me; and my
outward life which still remains, I live in the faith of the Son
of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I will not set 2]
at naught the gift of God’s grace [by seeking righteousness in
the Law]; for if the Law can make men righteous, then Christ
has died in vain.
111,
Appeal to the O foolish Galatians, who has bewitchea yuu #7 1
the Galatians, You, before whose eyes was held up the picture’ of
Jesus Christ upon the cross. One question I would ask you. 2
When you received the Spirit, was it from the works of the
Law, or the teaching of Faith? Are you sosenseless? Having 3
begun in the Spirit, would you now end in the Flesh? Have 4
you received so many benefits in vain—if indeed it has been in
1 Ps, exliii. 2. (LXX.) ; quoted also more fully, Rom. iii. 20.
? Literally, been found.
3 ‘Auaptwaoi. Compare ἐξ ἐθνῶν ἀμαρτωλοὶ above.
4 Neander (P. und L. 352) thinks that the 17th verse also ought to be included in
the speech of St. Paul, and much might be said in favour of his view. Still, on the
whole, we think the speech more naturally terminates with v.16. See Vol. I. p. 226,
n.1. The hypothesis in vy. 17 is that of the Judaizers, refuted (after St. Paul’s man-
ner) by an abrupt reductio ad absurdam. The Judaizer objects, “ You say you seek
righteousness in Christ, but in fact you reduce yourself to the state of a Gentile ;
you are farther from God, and therefore farther from righteousness, than you were
before.’ To which St. Paul only replies, “ On your hypothesis, then (dpa), we must
conclude Christ to be the minister of sin! μὴ γενοιτο." This passage is illustrated
by the similar mode in which he answers the objections of the same party, Rom. iii.
3-8. See note on μὴ γένοιτο below, chap. iii. 21.
5 This thought is fully expanded in the 7th of Romans.
6 It is with great regret that we depart from the A. V. here, not only because of its
extreme beauty, but because it must be so dear to the devctional feelings of all good
men. Yet ζῶ dé οὐκέτι ἐγὼ cannot be translated “ nevertheless I live, yet not I.”
7 The words τῇ ἀληθείᾳ μὴ πείθεσθηι are not found in the best MSS., and é ὑμῖν
is also omitted.
3 Ilpoeypagn.
EPISTLE ΤῸ iu GALATIANS. 141
6 vain? I say, How came the gifts of Him who furnishes you
with the fulness of the Spirit, and works in you the power of
miracles?! Came they from the deeds of the Law, or from the
teaching of Faith ?
6 So likewise “ Abraham’* had faith nm God, and sith, and μοι
7 wt was reckoned unto him for righteousness.” Know, source of rights
therefore, that they only are the sons of Abraham
8 who are children of Faith. And the Scripture, foreseeing that
God through Faith justifies [not the Jews only but] the Gentiles,
declared beforehand to Abraham the Glad-tidings of Christ,
saying, “All: the nations of the Gentiles shall be blessed in
9 thee.” So then, they who are children of Faith [whether they
be Jews or Gentiles] are blessed with faithful Abraham.
10For all they who rest upon the works of the Law, lie
under a curse; for it is written, “ Cursed‘ ds every one that
continueth notin all things which are written in the book of the
11 Law to do them.” And it is manifest that no man is counted
righteous in God’s judgment under the conditions of the Law;
12 for it is written, “ By* faith shall the righteous live.” But the
Law rests not on Faith, but declares, “ 7165 man which doeth
these things, shall live therein.” Christ has redeemed us from
13 the curse of the Law, for He became accursed for our sakes
(as it is written, “Cursed? ts every one that hangeth on a tree”),
14 to the end that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might
come unto the Gentiles; that through Faith we might receive
the promise of the Spirit.
15 Brethren—(I speak by comparison,*)—neverthe- the ray
less,—a man’s covenant, when ratified, cannot by Sea arta
its giver be annulled, or set aside by a later ad- Momnam.”
16 dition. Now God’s promises were made to Abraham and to
his seed; the scripture says not “and to thy seeds,” as if it
1 Ἐνεργῶν δυνάμεις. Compare ἐνεργήματα δυνάμεων, 1 Cor. xii. 10.
* Gen. xy. 6 (LXX.) 5 quoted also Rom. iv. 3.
3 Gen. xii. 3, from the LXX. but not verbatim. Compare the similar quotation,
Rom. iv. 17.
4 Deut. xxvii. 26. Nearly verbatim from LXX.
5 Hab. ii. 4 (UX X.) ; quoted also Rom. i. 17.
5 Levit. xviii. 5 (LXX.) ; quoted also Rom. x. 5.
7 Deut. xxi. 23. Nearly verbatim from LXX.
3 Kar’ ἄνθρωπο» λέγω, in St, Paul’s style, seems always to mean, 7 use a compars:
yon drawn from human affairs or human language. Compare Rom. iii 5, and 1
Sor xv. 32.
149 THE LIFE AND EPISILES OF ST. PAUT..
spoke of many, but as of one, “and to thy seed ;”' and iLis
seed is Chiist. But this I say; a covenant which had been 1%
ratified before by God, to be fulfilled in Christ, the law which
was given four hundred and thirty’ years afterwards, cannot
make void, to the annulling of the promise. For if the 1π-18
heritance comes from the Law, it comes no longer from pro-
mise ; whereas God has given it to Abraham freely by pro-
mise.
To what end, then, was the Law? it was? added because 1g
of the transgressions‘ of men, till the Seed should come, to
whom belonged the promise; and it was ordained through the
ministration of angelss by the hands of [Moses,° who was] a
mediator [between God and the people]. Now where’ a medi- 24
ator is, there must be two parties. But God is one [and there
is no second party to His promise].
Relation of | Do I say then® that the Law contradicts the 21
Judaism to
Christianity. promises of God? that be far from me! For ifa
1 Gen, xiii. 15. (LXX.) The meaning of the argument is, that the recipients of
God’s promises are not to be looked on as an aggregate of different individuals, or of
different races, but are all one body, whereof Christ is the head.
2 With regard to the chronology, see Vol. I. p. 176, n.1. To the remarks there the
following may be added: τοὺς μηδὲν τῶν τοιούτων οἰομένους εἷναι δαιμόνιον, ἀλλὰ
πάντα τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης γνώμης, δαιμονᾶν ἔφη " δαιμονᾶν δὲ καὶ τοὺς μαντευομένους ἃ
τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἔδωκαν οἱ θεοὶ μαθοῦσι διακρίνειν " οἷον... . ἃ ἔξεστιν ἀριθμήσαντας
ἢ μετρήσαντας ἢ στήσαντας εἰδέναι" τοὺς τὰ τοιαῦτα παοὰ τῶν θεῶν πυνθανομένους
ἀθέμϊστα ποιεῖν ἡγεῖτο" ἔφη δὲ δεῖν, ἃ μὲν μαθόντας ποιεῖν ἔδωκαν οἱ θεοὶ, μανθάνειν "
ἃ δὲ μὴ δῆλα τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐστὶ, πειρᾶσθαι παρὰ τῶν θεῶν πυνθάνεσθαι. Memorabilia
Socratis, 1. 1. :
3 ΤΙροσετέθη is the reading of the best MSS.
4 Compare Rom. v. 20: νόμος παρεισῆλθεν iva πλεονάσῃ τὸ παράπτωμα.
5 Compare Acts vii. 53.
6 Moses is called ‘the Mediator ”’ by the Rabbinical writers. See several passages
quoted by Schoettgen (Hore Hebraic) on this passage.
7 St. Paul’s argument here is left by him exceedingly elliptical, and therefore very
obscure ; as is evident from the fact that more than two hundred and fifty different
explanations of the passage have been advocated by different commentators. The
most natural meaning appears to be as follows: “It is better to depend upon an un-
conditional promise of God, than upon a covenant made between God and man; for in
the latter case the conditions of the covenant might be broken by man (as they had
been), and so the blessings forfeited ; whereas in the former case, God being immutable,
the blessings derived from His promise remain steadfast for ever.’’? The passage ig
parallel with Nom. iv. 13-16.
8 The expression μὴ γένοιτο occurs fourteen times in St. Paul; viz. three times in
Galatians, ten times in Romans (another example of the similarity between these
Epistles), and once in 1 Corinthians. In one of these cases (Gal. vi. 14) it is not in-
terjectional, but joined with éuoc; in another (1 Cor. vi. 15), it repels a direct hypo-
thesis, “ Shall Ido (so and so)? God forbid.” But in all the other instances it ia
EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. 148
Law were given which could raise men from death to life, then
we might truly say that righteousness came from the Law.
22 But! the Scripture (on the other hand) has shut up the whole
world together under the condemnation of sin, that through
Faith in Jesus Christ the promise might be given to the
faithful.
23 = But before Faith came, we were shut up in prison, in ward
under the Law, in preparation for the Faith which should
24afterwards be revealed. Thus, even as the slave? who leads
a child to the house of the schoolmaster, so the Law led ys to
25 our teacher Christ, that by Faith we might be justified; but
now that Faith is gome, we are under the slave’s care no
26longer. For you are all the sons of God, by your faith in
27 Jesus Christ ; yea, whosoever among you have been baptized
2gunto Christ, have put on Christ. In Him there is neither
Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor freeman, neither male nor
29female ; for you all are one in Christ Jesus. And if you are
Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs of his blessing
1V.by promise.
1 Now Isay, that the heir, so long as he is a child, has no
more freedom than a slave, though he is owner of the whole
2 inheritance; but he is under overseers and stewards until the
3 time appointed by his father. And so we also [who are
Israelites] when we were children, were treated like slaves,
and taught the lessons of childhood by outward ordinances.
4 But when the appointed time was fully come, God sent forth
His own Son, who was born of a woman [partaker of our
flesh and blood], and born an Israelite, subject to the Law;
5 that so he might redeem from their slavery the subjects of
the Law, and that we‘ might be adopted as the sons of God.
interjectional, and rebuts an inference deduced from St. Paul’s doctrine by an oppo-
nent. So that the question which precedes μή γένοιτο is equivalent to “ Do I then
infer that.”
1 The conneztion of the argument is, that if the Law could give men spiritual life,
and so enable them to fulfil its precepts, it would give them righteousness: but it does
not pretend to do this; on the contrary, it shows the impotence of their nature by the
contrast of its requirements with their performance. This verse is parallel with Rom.
1/82.
nt Παιδαγωγός. The mistranslation of this word in the Authorised Version has led
to a misconception of the whole metaphor. See note on 1 Cor. iv. 15.
3 Τὰ στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου literally means the elementary lessons of outward things
Compare Col. ii. 8 and 20.
4 We, namely, all Christians, whether Jews or Gentiles.
144 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
And because you are the sons of God, He has sent forth the 6
spirit of His own Son into your hearts, crying unto Him, and
saying “ Our Father.” Wherefore thou [who canst so pray] 1
art no more a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of
. God through Christ.
Appeal to the But you [who were Gentiles], when you knew 8
heathen con- 5 ‘
verts not to not God, were in bondage to gods that have no real
return to an
outward and being. But now, when you have gained the know- 9
formal worship.
ledge of God,—or rather, when God has acknow-
ledged you,—how is it that you are turning backwards to
those childish lessons, void both of strength and_ blessing ?
Would you seek again the slavery which you have outgrown?
Are you observing days,” and months,’ and seasons,‘ and 1
years? I am fearful for you, lest I have spent my labour on 11
you in vain. I beseech you, brethren, to become as I am1z
[and seek no more a place among the circumcised]; for I too
have become as you® are [and have cast. away the pride of
my circumcision]. You have never wronged me hitherto:
on the contrary, although it was sickness (as you know) which 18
caused’? me to preach the Glad-tidings to you at my first visit,
yet you neither scorned nor loathed me because of the bodily 14
infirmity which was my trial ;* but you welcomed me as an
angel of God, yea, even as Christ Jesus. Why, then, did you15
1 ’AG(a is the Syro-Chaldaic word for Father, and it is the actual word with which
the Lord's prayer began, as it was uttered by our Lord himself. The ὁ πατήρ which
follows is only a translation of ’AGd, inserted as translations of Aramaic words often
are by the writers of the New Testament, but not used along with’AB3d, This is
rendered evident by Mark xiv. 36, when we remember that our Lord spoke in Syro-
Chaldaic. Rom. viii. 15 is exactly parallel with the present passage.
2 The Sabbath-days. Compare Col. ii. 16. 3 The seventh months.
4 The seasons of the great Jewish feasts.
5 The Sabbatical and jubilee years. From this it has been supposed that this Epistle
must have been written in a Sabbatical year. But this does not necessarily follow,
because the word may be merely inserted to complete the sentence ; and of course
those who observed the Sabbaths, festivals, &c. would intend to observe also the Sab-
batical years when they came. The plural of the word ἐνιαυτούς being uscd, favours
this view.
6 This is of course addressed to the Gentile converts.
7 J. e. by keeping him in their country against his previous intention. See Vol. L
p’ 274.
8 Πειρασμόν. This was probably the same disease mentioned 2 Cor. xii. 7. It is
very unfortunate that the word temptation has so changed its meaning in the last two
hundred and fifty years, as to make the Authorised Version of this verse a great source
of misapprehension to ignorant readers. Some have even been led to imagine that St,
Paul spoke of a sinful habit in which he indulged, and to the dominion of which he
was encouraged (2 Cor. xii. 9) contentedly to resign himself !
EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. 145
think yourselves so happy? (for I bear you witness that, if it
iv had been possible, you would have torn out your own eyes
16 and given them to me). Am 1 then become your enemy? be-
27 cause I tell you the truth? They [who call me so] show zeal
for you with no good intent; they would shut you out from
8 others, that your zeal may be for them alone. But it is good
to be zealous* in a good cause, and that at all times, and not
when zeal lasts only [like yours] while I am present with
tg you. My beloved children, [am again bearing the pangs of
20 travail for you, till Christ be fully formed within you. I would
that I were present with you now, that I might change my
tone [from joy to sadness]; for you fill me with perplexity.
1. Tell me, ye that desire to be under the Law, will you not
o2hear the Law? For therein it is written that 6 anegory
Abraham had two sons;‘ one by the bond-woman, κε “traces
23the other by the free. But the son of the bond- ‘in ew"
woman was born to him after the flesh; whereas the son of the
24 free-woman was born by virtue of God’s promise. Now, all
this is allegorical ; for these two women are the two covenants;
the first given from Mount Sinai, whose children are born inte
25 bondage, which is Hagar (for the word Hagar® signifies
Mount Sinai in Arabia); and herein she answers to the earthly
Jerusalem, for® she continues in bondage with her children
26 But [Sarah? is the second covenant, which is in Christ, and
answers to the heavenly Jerusalem; for] the heavenly Jeru-
1 This certainly seems to confirm the view of those who suppose St. Paul’s malady
to have been some disease in the eyes. The ὑμῶν appears emphatic, as if he would
say, you would have torn out your own eyes to supply the lack of mine.
3 The Judaizers accused St. Paul of desiring to keep the Gentile converts in an infe-
rior position, not admitted (by circumcision) into full covenant with God; and called
him, therefore, their enemy. So, in the Clementines, St. Paul is covertly alluded to
as ὁ ἐχθρός ἄνθρωπος.
3 Td ζηλοῦσθαι might also mean, “ to be the object of zeal,” as many interpreters take
it; but, on the whole, the other interpretation (which is that of Winer, Meyer, and De
Wette) seems to suit the context better. Perhaps, also, there may be an allusion here |
io the peculiar use of the word ζηλωτὴς. Compare Gal. i. 14.
4 With this passage compare Rom. ix. 7-9.
5 The word Hagar in Arabic méans “a rock,’’ and some authorities tell us tha.
Mount Sinai is so called by the Arabs. The lesson to be drawn from this whole pas-
sage, as regards the Christian use of the Old Testament, is of an importance which can
scarcely be overrated.
6 All the best MSS. read γὰρ, not δὲ,
7 This clause in brackets is implied, though not expressed, by St. Paul, being neces
sary for the completion of the parallel.
von. 1.—10
140 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
salein is free, and is the mother of us 811} And so it is written
[that the spiritual seed of Abraham should be more numeroas
than his natural seed; as says the Prophet] “ Lejoice, thou 24
barren that bearest not; break forth into shouting, thou that
travailest not ; for the desolate hath many more children than
she which hath the husband.”? Now, we, brethren, like Isaac, 28
are children born [not naturally, but] by virtue of God’s pro-
mise. Yet, as then the spiritual seed of Abraham was perse- 29
cuted by his natural seed, so it is also now. Nevertheless, 30
what says the Scripture? “ Cast out the bond-woman and her
son ; for the son of the bond-woman shall not be heir with the
son of the free-woman.”* So then, brethren, we are not chil- 31
dren of the bond-woman, but of the free. Stand fast, there- Vv. 1
fore, in the freedom which Christ has given us, and turn not
back again, to entangle yourselves in the yoke of bondage.
Lo, I Paul declare unto you, that if you cause yourselves 2
to be circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. I testify 3
again to every man who submits to circumcision, that he there-
by lays himself under obligation to fulfil the whole Law. By 4
resting your righteousness on the Law, you have annulled
your fellowship with Christ, you are fallen from the free gift
of His grace. For we, through the power of the Spirit [not 5
through the circumcision of the Flesh], from Faith [not works],
look with earnest longing for the hope* of righteousness. For 6
in Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails anything, nor un-
circumcision; but Faith, whose work * is Love.
Warningagainst = You were running the race well; who has cast 7
the Judaizing
teachers, and g stumbling block in your way? who has turned
against party
divisions. you aside from your obedience to the truth? The 8
counsel which you have obeyed’ came not from Him who
called® you. [Your seducers are few; but] “A little leaven 9
1 The weight of MS. authority is rather against the πάντων of the received text;
yet it bears an emphatic sense if retained, viz. “we all, whether Jews or Gentiles,
who belong to the Israel of God.” Compare Gal. vi. 16.
2 Tsaiah liv. 1. (LXX.)
3 Gen. xxi. 10, from LXX., but not quite verbatim.
4 In the words πνεῦμα and “πίστις a tacit reference is made to their antitheses (con-
stantly present to St. Paul’s mind) s20f or γράμμα, and νόμος or ἔργα, respectively.
5 I. 6, the hope of eternal happiness promised to the righteous.
6 Literally, “ whose essential operation consists in the production of love.”
* Observe the paronomasia between πεισμονή and πείθεσθαι.
1 Τοῦ καλοῖντος. The participle used substantively. Compare i. 6, and note.
EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. 147
loleavens the whole lump.”' ΑΒ for me, I rely upon you,
brethren, in the Lord Jesus, that you will not be led astray ;
but he that is troubling you, whosoever he be, shall bear the
blame.
uss But if, myself also [as they say] preach circumcision,? why
am I still persecuted? for it 1 preach circumcision, then the
cross, the stone at which they stumble,’ is done away.
12 I could wish that these agitators who disturb your quiet,
would execute upon themselves not only circumcision, but
excision also.‘
13 For you, brethren, have been called to freedom ; Pxhoriation to
he more en-
only make not your freedom a vantage-ground for lightened party
not to abuse
the Flesh, but rather enslave yourselves one to tit freedom.
I4ahother by the bondage of love. For all the Law is fulfilled
15in this one commandment, “ Dhow shalt love thy neighbour as
thyself.”*> But if, on the other hand, you bite and devour one
another, take heed lest you be utterly destroyed by one
another’s means.
16 This I say, then; walk in the Spirit, and you _ Variance ve
tween the
ιτ shall not fulfil the desire of the Flesh; for the desire Spit pada tee
of the Flesh fights against the Spirit, ana the desire.
of the Spirit fights against the Flesh; and this variance be-
tween the I"lesh and the Spirit would hinder ὁ yoy from doing
18 that which your will prefers. But, if you be led by the Spirit,
19 you are not under the Law.? Now, the works of the Flesh
1 This proverb is quoted also 1 Cor, v. 6.
* This accusation might naturally be made by St. Paul’s opponents, on the ground
of his circumcising Timothy, and himself still contiauing several Jewish observances.
Sce Acts xx. 6., and Acts xxi. 24.
3 Literally, the stwmbling-stone of the cross; i. 6. the cross, which is their stum-
bling-stone. Compare 1 Cor. i. 23. The doctrine of a crucified Messiah was a stum-
bling-block to the national pride of the Jews; but if St. Paul would have consented to
make Christianity a sect of Judaism (as he would by “ preaching circumcision”),
their pride would have been satisfied. But then, if salvation were made to depend on
outward ordinances, the death of Christ would be rendered unmeaning.
4 Observe the force of the sz? and of the middle voice here; the A. Y. is a mistrans
lation.
5 Levit. xix. 18, saree
δ Ἵνα uj ποιῆτ:, not “so that you cannot’ (A. V.). but tending to prevent you
from.
7 To be “under the yoke of the Law,” and “under the yoke of the Flesh.” is in St
Paul’s language the same ; because, for those who are under the Spirit’s guidance, the
Law is dead (v. 23); they do right, not from fear of the Law’s penalties, but through
the influence of the Spirit who dwells within them. This, at least, is the ideal staty
/
148 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
aie manifest, which are such as these;! fornication, impurity, 2(
lasciviousness; idolatry, withcraft;* enmities, strife, jealousy,
passionate anger ; intrigues,’ divisions, sectarian parties; envy, 2:
murder, drunkenness, revellings, and such like. Of which I
forewarn you (as I have told you also in times past), that they
who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But 22
the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kind-
ness, goodness, trustfulness,‘ gentleness, self-denial. Against 23
such there is no Law.
Warning to But they who are Christ’s have crucified the 24
the more en-
lightened party Flesh, with its passions and its lusts. If we live by 25
against spirit- Paes .
val pride. the Spirit, let us take heed that our steps are guided
by the Spirit. Let us not thirst for empty honour, let us not 26
provoke one another to strife, let us not envy one another. VI.
Brethren,—I speak to you who call yourselves the Spiritual,» 1
—even if any one be overtaken in a fault, do you correct such
a man in aspirit of meekness; and let each of you take heed
to himself, lest he also be tempted. Bear ye one another’s 2
burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. For, if any man exalts 3
himself, thinking to be something when he is nothing, he
deceives himself with vain imaginations. Rather let every 4
man examine his own work, and then his boasting will concern
himself alone and not his neighbour; for each will bear the 5
load [of sin] which is his own ® [instead of magnifying the load
which is his brother’s].
of Christians. Compare Rom. viii. 1-14. St.Paul here, and elsewhere in his Epistles,
alludes thus briefly to important truths, because his readers were already familiar with
them from his personal teaching. By the Flesh (σάρξ) St. Paul denotes not merely
the sensual tendency, but generally that which is earthly in man, as opposed to what
is spiritual. “Die σάρξ bezeichnet die menschliche Natur uberhaupt in Zustande
ihrer Entfremdung von gottlichen Leben.’? Neander, P. und L., 664. It should be
observed, that the 17th verse is a summary of the description of the struggle between
flesh and spirit in Rom. vii. 7-25 ; and verse 18th is a summary of the description of
the Christian’s deliverance from this struggle. Rom. viii. 1-14.
1 *Arcva is less definite than d In the words which follow, μοιχεία is omitted in the
best MSS.
? Φαρμακεία, the profession of magical arts. The history of the times in which St
Paul lived is full of the crimes committed by those who professed such arts. We have
seen him brought into contact with such persons at Ephesus already. They dealt iy
poisons also, which aecounts for the use of the term etymologically.
3 ᾿Ἐξριθεία. Compare Rom. ii. 8 and note. Also 2 Cor. xii. 20.
4 Πίστις seems to have this meaning here ; for faith (in its larger sense) could not
-be classed as one among a number of the constituent parts of Jove. See 1 Cor. xiii.
5 Ὑμεϊς ol πνευματικοὶ. See Vol. I. p. 446.
€ The allusion here is apparently to Aisop’s well-known fable. It is unfortunate
EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. 149
6 Moreover, let him who is receiving instruction | Proviston ta
be made fo
in the Word? give to his Instructor a share in all the mainte
nance of the
7 the good things which he possesses. Do not deceive , Presbyters
(κατηχοῦντες)
8 yourselves—God cannot be defrauded. Every man
shall reap as he has sown. The man who now sows for his own
Flesh, shall reap therefrom a harvest doomed? to perish; but
he who sows for the Spirit, shall from the Spirit reap the har-
9 vest of life eternal. But let us continue in well-doing, and not
be weary ;* for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all men,
but especially to our brethren in the household of Faith.
LL Observe the size‘ of the characters in which I autozraph con
have written to you with my own hand. ea
12 I tell you that they who wish to have a good repute in
things pertaining to the Flesh, they, and they alone: are
forcing circumcision upon you; and that only to save them
selves from the persecution which 5 Christ bore upon the cross.
13 For even they who circumcise themselves do not keep the
Law; but they wish to have you circumcised, that your
that in the Authorised Version the two words φορτίον and βάρος (v. 2) are translated
by the same term burden, which seems to make St. Paul contradict himself. His
meaning is, that self-examination will prevent us from comparing ourselves boastfully
with our neighbour ; we shall have enough to do with our own sins, without scrutinis
ing his.
1 By the Word is meant the doctrines of Christianity.
3 Φθοράν. See Rom. viii. 21.
3 Compare 2 Thess. iii. 13, where the expression is almost exactly the same: μὴ
ἐκκακήσητε καλοποιοῦντες.
41 Thus we must understand πηλίκοις γράμμασιν, unless we suppose (with Tholuck)
that πηλίκοις is used for ποιοῖς, as in the later Greek of the Byzantine writers. Tc
take γράμματα as equivalent to ἐπιστόλῃ appears inadmissible. St. Paul does not
here say that he wrote the whole Epistle with his own hand, but this is the beginning
of his usual autograph postscript, and equivalent to the οὕτω γράφω in 2 Thess. iii. 17.
We may observe as a further confirmation of this view, that scarcely any Epistle bears
more evident marks than this of having been written from dictation. The writer re-
ceived a letter from the venerable Neander a few months before his death, which illus
trated this point in a manner the more interestirg, because he (Neander) takes a dif-
ferent view of this passage (P.u. L., p 368). His ‘letter is written in the fair and
flowing hand of an amanuensis, but it 2nds with a few irregular lines in large and
rugged characters, written by himself, and explaining the cause of his necding the
services of an amanuensis, namely, the weakness cf ‘1s eyes (probably the very malady
af St. Paul). It was impossible to read this autograph without thinking of the present
passage, and observing that he might have expressed himself in the very words of St
Paul :—Ide πηλίκοις σοι γοάμμασιν eypapa τῇ ἐμῇ χειρί. ;
5 The οὗτοι is emphatic.
8 Literally, persecution inflicted by the cross of Christ.
150 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
obedience! to the fleshly ordinance may give them a ground
of boasting. But as for me, far be it from me to boast, save 14
only in the cross* of our Lord and Master Jesus Christ;
whereby the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails anything, nor 15
uncircumcision ; but a new creation. And whosoever shallig
walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon
all the Israel of God.
Henceforth, let no man vex me [by denying that I am17
Christ’s servant]; for I bear in my body the scars* which
mark my bondage to the Lord Jesus.
Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your18
spirit. Amen.
1 Literally, that they may boast in your flesh.
* To understand the full force of such expressions as “to boast in the ecross,’’ we
must remember that the cross (the instrument of punishment of the vilest malefactors)
was associated with all that was most odious, contemptible, and horrible, in the minds
of that generation, just as the word gibbet would be now.
3 Compare ch. iii. v. 9.
4 Yriyuara, literally, the scars of the wounds made upon the body of a slave by the
branding-iron, by which he was marked as belonging to his master. Observe the
emphatic ἐγὼ, “1 (whatever others may do), I at least bear in my body the true marke
whieh show that I belong to Christ ; the scars, not of circumcisicno, but of wounds suf
fered for His sake.”
8T. PAUL AT CORINTH. 15)
CHAPTER XIX.
Οὕτω τὸ car’ ἐμὲ πρόθυμον καὶ ὑμῖν τοῖς ἐν ‘POMH εὐαγ) eAicacbar.—Rom. i. 19,
8T. PAUL AT CORINTH.—PUNISHMENT OF CONTUMACIOUS OFFENDERS.—SUBSEQUEANY
CHARACTER OF THE CORINTHIAN CHURCH.—COMPLETION OF THE COLLECYION.—
PHBE’S JOURNEY TO ROME.—SHE BEARS THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.
No sooner had St. Paul despatched to Ephesus the messengers who bore
his energetic remonstrance to the Galatians, than he was called upon tc
inflict the punishment which he had threatened upon those obstinate
sinners who still defied his censures at Corinth. We have already seen
that these were divided into two classes: the larger consisted of those
who justified their immoral practice by antinomian' doctrine, and styling
themselves ‘‘ the Spiritual,” considered the outward restrictions of morality
as mere carnal ordinances, from which they were emancipated ; the other
and smaller (but more obstinate and violent) class, who had been more
recently formed into a party by emissaries from Palestine, were the ex-
treme Judaizers,? who were taught to look on Paul as a heretic, and to
deny his apostleship. Although the principles of these two parties differed
so widely, yet they both agreed in repudiating the authority of St. Paul ;
and, apparently, the former party gladly availed themselves of the calum-
nies of the Judaizing propagandists, and readily listened to their denial of
Paul’s divine commission ; while the Judaizers, on their part, would foster
any opposition to the Apostle of the Gentiles,. from whatever quarter it
might arise.
But now the time was come when the peace and purity of the Corin-
thian Church was to be no longer destroyed (at least openly) by either of
these parties. St. Paul’s first duty was to silence and shame his leading
opponents, by proving the reality of his Apostleship, which they denied.
This he could only do by exhibiting ‘“‘ the signs of an Apostle,” which con-
sisted, (as he himself informs us), mainly in the display of miraculous
1 In applying this term Antinomian to the πάντα ἔξεστιν party at Corinth, we de
not of course mean that all their opinions were the same with those which have been
held by modern (so-called) Antinomians. But their characteristic (which was a belief
that the restraints of outward law were abolished for Christians) seems more accurately
expressed by the term Antinomian, than by any other.
* See above. Chap. XVII. p. 96.
152 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
powers (2 Cor. xii. 12). The present was a crisis which required such ax
appeal to the direct judgment of God, who could alone decide between
conflicting claimants to a Divine commission. It was a contest like that
between Elijah and the prophets of Baal. St. Paul had already in his
absence professed his readiness to stake the truth of his claims on this
issue (2 Cor. x. 8, and xiii. 3-6) ; and we may be sure that now, when he
was present, he did not shrink from the trial. And, doubtless, God, who
had sent him forth, wrought such miracles by his agency as sufficed to
convince or to silence the gainsayers. Perhaps the Judaizing emissaries
from Palestine had already left Corinth, after fulfilling their mission by
founding an anti-Pauline party there. If they had remained, they must now
have been driven to retreat in shame and confusion. All other opposition.
was quelled likewise, and the whole Church of Corinth were constrained to
confess that God was on the side of Paul. Now, therefore, that “‘ their obe-
dience was complete,” the painful task remained of “punishing all the dis-
obedient” (2 Cor. x. 6). It was not enough that those who had so often
offended, and so often been pardoned before, should now merely profess
once more ἃ repentance which was only the oflspring of fear or of hypocrisy.
They had long infected the Church ; they were not merely evil themselves,
but they were doing harm to others, and causing the name of Christ to be
blasphemed among the heathen. It was necessary that the salt which had
lost its savour should be cast out, lest its putrescence should spread to
that which still retained its purity. St. Panl no longer hesitated to stand
between the living and the dead, that the plague might be stayed. We
know, from his own description (1 Cor. v. 3-5), the very form and
wnanner of the punishment inflicted. A solemn assembly of the Church
was convened ; the presence and power of the Lord Jesus Christ was
especialiy invoked ; the cases of the worst offenders were separately con
sidered, and those whose sins required so heavy a punishment, were pub-
licly cast out of the Church, and (in the awful phraseology of Scripture)
delivered over to Satan. Yet we must not suppose that even in such
extreme cases the object of the sentence was to consign the criminal to
final reprobation. On the contrary, the purpose of this excommunication
was so to work on the offender’s mind as to bring him to sincere repent-
ance, “ that his spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.”! If
it had this happy effect, and if he manifested true contrition, he was re
stored (as we have already seen in the case of the incestuous person?) te
the love of the brethren and the communion of the Church.
We should naturally be glad to know whether the pacification and
purification of the Corinthian Church thus effected was permanent ; Οἱ
whether the evils which were so deeply rooted, sprang up again after St
11 Cor. v.5 2 Cor. ii. 6-8.
SUBSEQUENT CHAKACTER OF THE CORINTHIAN CHURCH. 154
Paul’s departure. On this point Scripture gives us no farther information,
nor can we nnd any mention of this Church (which has hitherto occupied
50 large a space in our narrative) after the date of the present chapter,
either in the Acts or the Epistles. Such silence seems, so far as it goes,
of favourable augury. And the subsequent testimony of Clement (the
“fellow-labourer” of Paul, mentioned Phil. iv. 3) confirms this interpreta-
tion of it. He speaks (evidently from his own personal experience) of
the impression produced upon every stranger who visited the Church of
Corinth, by their exemplary conduct ; and specifies particularly their pos-
session of the virtues most opposite to their former faults. Thus, he says,
that they were distinguished for the ripeness and soundness of their know-
ledge,' in contrast to the unsound and false pretence of knowledge for
which they were rebuked by St. Paul. Again, he praises the pure and
blameless lives of their women ;* which must therefore have been greatly
changed since the time when fornication, wantonness, and impurity (2 Cor.
xii. 21) was the characteristic of their society. But especially he com-
mends them for their entire freedom from faction and party-spirit,3 which
had formerly been so conspicuous among their faults. Perhaps the picture
which he draws of this golden age of Corinth may be too favourably
coloured, as a contrast to the state of things which he deplored when he
wrote. Yet we may believe it substantially true, and may therefore hope
that some of the worst evils were permanently corrected ; more particu-
larly the impurity and licentiousness which had hitherto been the most
flagrant of their vices. Their tendency to party-spirit, however (so cha-
racteristic of the Greek temper), was not cured; on the contrary, it
blazed forth again with greater fury than ever, some years after the
death of St. Paul. ‘Their dissensions were the occasion of the letter οἱ
Clement already mentioned ; he wrote in the hope of appeasing a violent
and long-continued‘ schism which had arisen (like their earlier divisions)
from their being ‘“‘ puffed up in the cause of one against another.”> He
rebukes them for their envy, strife, and party-spirit;* accuses them of
being devoted to the cause of their party-leaders rather than to the cause
of God ;7 and declares that their divisions were rending asunder the body
of Christ, and casting a stumbling-block in the way of many.’ This is the
1 Τὴν τελείαν καὶ ἀσφαλῆ γνῶσιν. Clem. Ep. I. cap. 1.
Τυναιξὶν ἐν ἀμώμῳ καὶ σεμνῇ καὶ ἁγνῇ συνειδήσει πάντα ἐπιτελεῖν παρηγγέλλετε
πο ΠΣ: πάνυ σωφρονούσας. I. cap. 1.
3 Πᾶσα στάσις καὶ πᾶν σχίσμα βδελυκτὸυ ὑμῖν. Cap. 2.
4 ᾿Επίμονος ὑμῶν ἐστιν ἣ στάσις. Clem. Ep. I. cap. 46.
5 1 Cor. iv. 6.
6 Φιβθόνος καὶ ἔρις καὶ στάσις. Clem. Ep. 1. cap. 3.
7 Δίκαιον... ὑπηκόους ἡμᾶς μᾶχλον γένεσθαι τῷ Θεῷ ἢ τοῖς ἐν ἀλαζονείᾳ καὶ
Ξκαταστασίᾳ ἀρχηγοῖς ἐξακολουθεῖν (cap. 14). Also he tells them that they were
wv ἕν ἢ δύο πρόσωπα στασιάζοντες (cap. 47). See also cap. 54.
8 Clem. Ep. I. cap. 46.
154 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 51. PAUL.
ast account which we have of the Corinthian Church in the Apcstolie
age; so that the curtain falls upon a scene of unchristian strife, too muck
like that upon which it rose. Yet, though this besetting sin was stil
ansubdued, the character of the Church, as a whole, was (as we have
seen) very much improved since the days when some of them denied the
resurrection, and others maintained their right to practise ruchastity.
St. Paul continued three months! resident at Coriuth ; or, at least, he
made that city his head-quarters during this pericd. Probably he made
excursions thence to Athens and other neighbotriag Churches, which (as
we know”) he had established at his first visit t
That be far from us; for [if this 6
"
‘
1 The Pharisees and Pharisaic Judaizers sought to gain the praise of men by their
outward show of sanctity; which is here ecntrasted with the inward holiness which
sceks no praise but that of God. The same contrast occurs in the Sermon on the
Mount.
? Οὗν, if this be so.
3 Ἢ πίστησαν refers to the preceding ἐπιστεύθησαν,
4 See note on μὴ γένοιτο, Gal. iii. 21.
5 That is, shall we imagine that God will break his covenant with the true Israel,
because of the unfaithfulness of the false Israel ἢ
6 Ps, li. 4.
Compare Rom, xi. 1-5.
for what says the Scripture: “Abraham had faath fous Promises
foreshadows
in God, and it was reckoned unto him for righteous- Greinke
. Ω . “ ing by vi f
2 ness.” Now if a man earn his pay by his work, it iin ":ith the
spiritual chil
is not “reckoned to him” as a favour, but it is paid Gren of Abra-
5 him as a debt; but if he earns nothing by his work, orig promises,
but rests his faith ἢ in Him who justifies? the ungodly, then his
6 faith is “reckoned to him for righteousness.” In like manner
David also tells the blessedness of the man, to whom God
reckoneth righteousness, not by works but by another way,’
1 saying, “ Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and
8 whose sins are covercd. Blessed is the man against whom the
9 Lord shall not reckon sin.” . Is this blessing then for the cir-
cumcised alone? or does it not belong also to the uncircum-
cised? for we say, “his’ faith was reckoned to Abraham for
10 reghtcousness.” How then was it reckoned to him? when he
was circumcised, or uncircumcised ?, Not in circumcision but
lin uncireumcision, And he received circumcision as an out-
ward sign οὐδ inward things, a seal to attest the righteousness
which belonged to his Faith while he was yet uncircumcised.
That so he might be the father of all the uncircumcised who
have Faith, whereby the righteousness of Faith might be
12 reckoned to them no less? than to him ;—and the father of cir
cumcision to those [of the house of Israel] who are not cireum-
cised only in the flesh, but who also tread in the steps of
that Faith which our father Abraham had while yet uncir-
cumcised.
13 For the promise * to Abraham and his seed that he should
inherit the land, came not by the Law, but by the righteous-
14ness of Faith. For, if this inheritance belong to the children
of the Law, Faith is made of no account, and the promise is
15 brought to nought; because the Law brings [not blessings but]
punishment (for where there is no law, there can be no law-
16 breaking). Therefore the inheritance belongs to Faith, that
it might be a free gift; that so the promise® [not being capa
ble of forfeiture] might stand firm to all the seed of Abraham,
1 Gen. xv. 6. (LXX.) 3 See note on iii. 26.
3 Χωρίς. See note on iii. 21. 4 Ps. xxxii. 1,2. (LXX.)
5 Gen. xv. 6. (LXX.) repeated. _
6 This is the full meaning of σημεῖον, 7 Καὶ.
8 “The land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever,"
Gen. xiii. 15.
® This passage throws light on Gal. iii. 18 and 20.
£06 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
not to his children of the Law alone, but to the children of his
Faith; for he is the lather of us all [both Jews and Gertiles],
(as it is written, “1 have made thee the father of many nations \1
of the Gentiles,”) in the sight of God, on whom he fixed his
faith, even God who makes the dead to live, and calls the things
which are not as though they were. For Abraham had faith 1g
in hope beyond hope, that he might become the father of many
nations ;*? as it was said unto him, “ Look toward heaven and
tell the stars if thou be able to number them; even so shall
thy seed be.”*? And having no feebleness in his faith, he re-19
garded not his own body which was already dead (being about
a hundred years old), nor the deadness of Sarah’s womb; at 20
the promise of God (I say) he doubted not faithlessly, but his
spirit 4 was strengthened with the might of Faith, and he gave
praise to God; being fully persuaded that what He has pro-21
mised, He is able also to perform. Therefore “his faith was 22
reckoned to him for righteousness.” But these words were not 23
written for his sake only, but for our sakes likewise; for to us 24
also it will be “reckoned for righteousness,” because we have
faith in Him that raised from the dead our Lord Jesus ; who was 25
given up to death for our transgressions, and raised again to
life for our justification.> Vv.
Through faith Therefore, being justified by Faith, we have 1
Christians are peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ ;
Christians are
ustified ; and F .
thoy rejoice in. through whom also we have received entrance into 2
the midst of 3 .
their present this grace® wherein we stand, and through whom
sufferings, be- ᾿ δ ΡΝ :
ing filled’ with we exult in hope [of the future manifestation] of
@ conscious- 4 .
ness of God’s God’s glory. And not only so, but we exult also in 3
love in the sa-
evifice of Christ j . "τσ Ie Ino
crifice of Christ Our [present] sufferings; for we know that suffering
b artakin 7 a ¢ e
by partaking gives the stedfastness of endurance, and stedfast en- 4
ramet, meyare durance gives the proof of soundness, and the proof
1 Gen. xvii. 5. (LXX). It is impossible to represent in the English the full force of
the Greek, where the same word means nations and gentiles.
2 Gen. xvii. 5. See the previous note.
3 Gen. xv. 5. (LXX.) In such quotations, a few words were sufficient to recall the
whole passage to Jewish readers; therefore, to make them intelligible to modern
readers, it is sometimes necessary to give the context.
4 Literally, he was strengthened inwardly.
5 i.e. That we might have an ever-living Saviour as the object of our faith, and
might through that faith be united with Him, and partake of His life, and thus be jus.
tified, or accounted righteous, and (for St. Paul does not, like later theologians, separate
these ideas) have the seed of all true moral life implanted in us. Compare vy. 10.
8 Τῇ πίστει is omitted in the best MSS.
EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 101
God, and by
δ of soundness gives strength tc hope, and cur hope Fis, an’ ᾿
the life 9
eannot shame us in the day of trial; because the (ist they are
tove of God is shed forth in our hearts by the Holy “|
6 Spirit, who has been given unto us. For while we were yet
helpless [in our sins], Christ at the appointed time died for
~ sinners. Now hardly for a righteous man will any be found
to die, (although some perchance would even endure death for
8 him whose goodness! they have felt,) but God gives proof οἵ
His own love to us, because while we were yet sinners Christ
9 died for us. Much more, now that we have been justified in
His blood,? shall we be saved through Him from the wrath? to
10come. For, if when we were His enemies, we were reconciled
to God by the death of His son, much more, being already re-
11 conciled, shall we be saved, by sharing in His life. Nor is
this our hope only for the time to come; but even [in the midst
of our sufferings] we exult in God, through Jesus Christ our
Lord, by whom we have now received reconciliation with
God.
12 This, therefore, is like the case‘ when, through yor onrist in
one man [Adam], sin entered into the world, and by Yas tne mene
sin death ; and so death spread to all mankind, be- mankina tor.
13 cause all committed sin. For before the Law was Adam was for
condemnation.
given [by Moses] there was sin in the world; but Te Mosaic
Law has added
sin is not reckoned against the sinner, when there is to the law of
conscience, in
Aes ino itl: ΤΟ order that sin
14n0 law [forbidding it]; nevertheless, death reigned Cat τῖθ κα
from Adam till Moses, even over those whose sin be® transgres-
sion of acknow-
ξ δ ledged duty,
[not being the breach of law] did not resemble the "ise duty, |
" δ . . the gift of spi-
sin of Adam. Now Adam is an image of Him τ ἄς ἘΣ
15that was to come. But far greater is the gift than pee ete
δ - δ red to feel
was the transgression; for if by the sin of the one theirneedo’ it,
s0 that man’s
man [Adam], death passed upon the many,® much sin might be
the occasion of
more in the grace of the one man Jesus Christ hag Goa’s mercy.
1 Δίκαιος here is a man who righteously fulfils the duties of life, and ὁ ἀγαθός ia
the good and benevolent man with whom we ourselves have been brought into contact.
* Justified in His blood, i.e. by participation in (év) His blood ; that is, being
made partakers of His death. Compare Rom. vi. 3-8; also Gal. ii. 20.
2 Observe the τῆς before ὀργῆς.
4 Much difficulty has been caused to interpreters here by the ὥσπερ (which introduces
the first member of the parallel) haying no answering οὕτως (nor anything equivalent
to it) to introduce the second. The best view of ihe passage is to consider ὥσπερ as
used elliptically for [the case is] as what follows, in which sense it is used Matt. xxv
146: ὥσπερ yap ἄνθρωπος, &e., where it neither has, nor requires, any answering οὕτωρ
" Οἱ πγλλοΐζ, not “many” (A. V.), but the many nearly equivalent to all.
9 ὃ ΜῈ LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 8T. PAUL.
the freeness of God’s! bounty overflowed unto the many.
oreover the boon [of God] exceeds the fruit? of Adam’s 16
sin; for the doom came, out of one offence, a sentence
nf condemnation; but the gift comes, out of many offen-
ces, a sentence of acquittal. For if the reign of death was17
established by the one man [Adam], through the sin of him
alone; far more shall the reign of life be established, in those
who receive the overflowing fulness of the free gift of righ-
teousness, by the one man Jesus Christ. Therefore, as the1s
fruit of one offence reached to all men, and brought upon
them condemnation [the source of death]; so likewise the
fruit of one acquittal shall reach? to all, and shall bring justi-
fication, the source‘ of life. For as, by the disobedience of 19
the one [Adam], the many were made sinners; so by the obe-
dience of the one [Christ], the many shall be made righteous.
And the law was added, that sin might abound;> but where 20
sin had abounded, the gift of grace has overflowed beyond
[the outbreak of sin]; that as sin has reigned in death, so 21
grace might reign through righteousness unto life eternal, by
the work of Jesus Christ our Lord. VI.
Foes a bedicnns What shall we say then? shall we® persist in sin 1
tradict - .
vosion ot ὑεῖς that the gift of grace may be more abundant? God
truth to con- . . .
elude from it forbid. We who died’? to sin [when we became 2
that we should ° . .
persist in sin in followers of Christ], how can we any longer live in
wrder to ca
1 We take ἡ χάρις τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ ἡ δωρεὰ together. Compare the same expression
below, in verse 17 ; litcrally, the free gift and the boon of God, an hendiadys for the
freeness of God’s bounty.
* Literally, the boon is not as [that which was] wrought by one man who sinned.
3 We take δικαιῶμα here in the same sense as in verse 16, because, first, it is difficult
to suppose the same word used in the very same passage in two such different mean-
ings as Recte factum, and decretum absolutorium (which Wahl and most of the com-
mentators suppose it to be), And, secondly, because otherwise it is necessary to take
ἑνός differently in the two parallel phrases dv’ ἑνὸς δικαιώματος and δι’ ἑνὸς παραπτώ-
maroc (masculine in the one, and neuter in the other) which is unnatural.
4 Ζωῆς, literally, appertaining to life.
5 A light is thrown on this very difficult expression by vii. 13: see note on that
verse.
6 This was probably an objection made by Judaizing disputants (as it has been made
by their successors in other ages of the Caurch) against St. Panl’s doctrine. They
argued that if (as he said) the sin of man called forth so glorious au exhibition of the
pardoning grace of God, the necessary conclusion must he, that the more men sinned
the more God was glorified. Compare iii. 7-8 and verse 15 below. We know algo,
that this inference was actually deduced by the Antinomian party at Corinth (see Vol
I. p. 447), and therefore it was the more necessary for St, Paul to refute it.
7 The A. Y. “are dead ”’ is ἃ mistranslation.
EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 168
sin? or have you forgotten that all of us, when we fort iva greate:
exhibition οἱ
were baptized into fellowship with Christ Jesus, God's grace
for spiritual
were baptized into fellowship with his death? lie (which is
the grace) can
« With Him therefore we were buried by the bap- Wh, Ossie
tism wherein we shared His death, [when we sank %*-
beneath the waters; and were raised! from under them], that
even as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the
& Father, so we likewise might walk in newness of life. For if
we have been grafted? into the likeness of His death, so shall
6 we also,share His resurrection. For we know that our old
man was [then] crucified? with Christ, that the sinful body
{of the old man]‘ might be destroyed, that we might no
7 longer be the slaves of sin; (for he that is dead is justified‘
8 from sin.) Now if we haye shared the death of Christ, we
9 believe that we shall also share His life; knowing that Christ
being raised from the dead, can die no more; death has no
10more dominion over Him. For He died once, and once only,
11 unto sin; but He lives [for ever] unto God. Likewise reckon
ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but living unte
12 God in Christ Jesus.° Let not sin therefore reign in your dy-
ing body, causing you to obey its lusts; nor give up your mem-
13 bers to sin, as instruments of unrighteousness; but give your-
selves to God, as being restored to life from the dead, and your
14members to His service as instruments of righteousness; for
sin shall not have the mastery over you, since you are not
under the Law,’ but under grace.
? This clause, which is here left elliptical, is fully expressed, Col. ii 12: ovvrader-
τες αὐτῷ ἐν τῳ βαπτίσματι ἐν ᾧ καὶ συνηγέρθητε. This passage cannot be under-
stood unless it be borne in mind that the primitive baptism was by immersion. Sce
Vol. I p. 439.
_ ἢ Σύμφυτο, γεγόναμεν, &e., literally, have become partakers by a vital union [as
that of a graft with the tree into which it is grafted] of the representation of his
death [in baptism]. The meaning appears to be, if we have shared the reality of his
death, whereof we have undergone the likeness.
3 Observe the mistranslation in the A. V., “is crucified.”
4 On τὸ σῶμα τῆς ἁμαρτίας, see Winer, Gram. p. 173, and De Wette in loco, ard
zompare τὸ σῶμα τῆς capkog (Col. ii. 11).
5 Δεδικαίωται, meaning that if a criminal charge is brought against a man who died
before the perpetration of the crime, he must be acquitted, since he could not have
committed the act charged against him.
6 The best MSS. omit τῷ κ. 77. 2
7 To be “under the law,” in St. Paul’s language, means to avoid sin from fear of
penalties attached to sin by the law. This principle of fear is not strong enough ta
keep men in tbe path of duty. Union with Christ can alone give man the mastery
aver sin.
170
The Christian’s
freedom from
the Law con-
sists in living
in the morality
of the Law, not
from fear of its
penalties, but
as necessary
fruits of the
spiritual _ life
whereof Christ-
ians partake,
Hence’ the
slaves of sincan
have no part in
this freedom
from the Law;
since they are
still subject to
the penalties of
THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
What then? shall we sin' because we are not ii
under the Law, but under grace? God forbid. Know 16
ye not that He to whose service you give yourselves,
is your real master, whether sin, whose fruit is death,
or obedience, whose fruit is righteousness. But1j
God be thanked that you, who were once the slaves
of sin, have obeyed from your hearts the teaching
whereby you were moulded anew ;* and when you 18
were freed from the slavery of sin, you became the
bondsmen of righteousness. (I speak the language 1y
the Law, whieh
thelaw, whieh of common life, to show the weakness of your
ry resuits of
ἐπ fleshly nature,? [which must be in bondage either to
the one, or to the other].) Therefore, as you once gave up the
members of your body for slaves of uncleanness and licentious-
ness, to work the deeds of licence; so now give them up for
slaves of righteousness, to work the deeds of holiness. For 20
when you were the slaves of sin, you were free from the service
of righteousness. What fruit then had you in those times, from 21
the deeds whereof you are now ashamed? yea, the end of them
is death. But now, being freed from the bondage of sin, and 22
enslaved to the service of God, your fruit is growth in holiness,‘
and its end is life eternal. For the wage of sin is death; but 23
the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord and
Vii.
You must acknowledge* what I say [that we are 1
not under the Law]; knowing, brethren, (for Ispeak
master.
As above said,
Christians are
not under the
1 See note on the first verse of this chapter.
* Literally, the mould of teaching into which you were transmitted.
phor is from the casting of metals.
3 There is a striking resemblance between this passage and the words of Socrates
recorded by Xenophon (Mem. I. δ) ; ἐμοὶ μέν δοκεῖ... . δουλεύοντα ταῖς τοιαύταις
ἡδοναῖς ἱκετεύειν τούς θεοὺς δεσποτῶν ἀγαθῶν τυχεῖν" οὕτως γάρ ἄν μόνως ὁ
τοιοῦτος σωθείη.
4 Literally, the fruit which you gain tends to produce (εἰς) holiness. In other
words, the reward of serving God is growth in holiness.
5 Ἤ ἀγνοεῖτε, Literally, or are you ignorant ; the or (which is omitted in A. V.)
referring to what has gone before, and implying, if you deny what I have said, you
must be ignorant of, &c., or in other words, you must acknowledge what I say, or be
ignorant of, &c. The reference here is to the assertion in verses 14 or 15 of the pre
ceding chapter, that Christians “ are not under the law.” For the argument of the
present passage, see the marginal sQ¥mmary. St. Paul’s view of the Christian life,
throughout the sixth, seventh, and eighth chapters, is that it consists of a death and
a resurrection; the new-made Christian dies to sin, to the world, to the flesh, and te
the Law; this death he undergoes at his first entrance into communion with Christ,
Thu meta-
EPISTLE YO THE ROMANS,
to men who know the Law) that the dominion of the
Law over its subjects lasts only during their life ;
2 thus the married woman is bound by the Law to her
husband while he lives, but if her husband is dead,
the Law which bound her to him has lost its hold
3 upon her; so that while her husband is living, she
will be counted an adulteress if she be joined to an-
other man; but if her husband be dead, she is free
from the Law, and although joined to another man
4 she is no adulteress. Wherefore you also, my breth-
a7]
Ian; tor the
Law belongs to
that sinful
eartlly nature
to which they
have died by
partaking in
Christ’s death
having been ad-
mitted to a bet-
ter spiritual
service by their
union with
Christ’s life ; se
that the sins ot
which the Law
was formerly
the oceasion
overcome them
no more.
ren, were made dead to the Law, by [union with] the body of
Christ; that you might be married to another, even to Him
who was raised from the dead that we might bring
forth fruit
5 unto God. For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions
occasioned by the Law wrought in our members, leading us to
6 bring forth fruit unto death.
But now the Law wherein we
were formerly held fast, lost its hold upon us when we died:
{with Christ]: so that we are no longer in the old bondage of
the letter, but in the new service of the spirit.
What shall we say then? that the Law is sinful ?
That be far from us! But yet I should not have
known what sin was, except through the Law; thus
I should not have known the sin of coveting, unless
8 the Law had said Zhou shalt not covet But when
my sin had gained by the commandment a vantage
ground [against me], it wrought in me all manner
of coveting ; (for where there is no law, sin is dead),
9 And I felt * that I was alive before, when I knew no
law ; but when the commandment came, sin rose to
1olife, and I sank into death; and the very command-
ment whose end is life, was found to me the cause
11 of death; for my sin, when it had gained a vantage
7
. Science
The Law has
been above said
to be the occa-
sion οἵ sin.
For when its
precepts awa-
ken the con-
to a
sense of duty,
the sins which
before were
done in igno-
rance, are now
done in spite of
the resistance
of conscience,
For the carnal
nature of the
natural man
fulfils the evil,
which his spir-
itual nature
condemns. Thus
a struggle is
produced in
which the worse
and it is both typified and realised when he is buried beneath the baptismal waters
But no sooner is he thus dead with Christ, than he rises with Him; he is made par-
taker of Christ’s resurrection ; he is united to Christ’s body ; he lives in Christ, and to
Christ ; he is no longer “ in the flesh,’”’ but “ in the spirit.’’
1 ᾿Αποθανόντες is the reading of the best MSS. It is opposed to ὅτε ἦμεν ἐν. τῇ
σαρκὶ of the preceding verse. To make it clear, this verse should be stopped thus,
κατ. ἀπὸ τ. νόμου, ἀποθανόντες, ἐν ᾧ κατειχύμεθα. It should also be observed that
κατηργήθημεν is the aorist, and not (as in A. V.) the present As to the sense ἴῃ
which Christians are “dead,’’ see the preceding note.
5 ixod. xx./17. (IuXX.) 3 Yor this meaning of ζῶ, see 1 Thess iii. 8.
172 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
part in man ground by the commandment, deceived me to my
triumphs over | >
the better, the fall, and slew me by’ the [sentence of the] Law.
aw Οἵ his flesh . . .
over the law of Wherefore the Law indeed is holy, and its com- 14
is min Ὡς 5
man in esi mandments are holy, and just, and good. Dol say 18
αὐτὸς ἐγὼ ;
wathout the μοῖρ then that Good became tome Death?? Far be that
0 rist’s F .
Spirit, musteon- from me. But I say that sin wrought this; that so
tinue the slave
fee ee it might be made manifest as sin, in working Death
to me through [the knowledge of] Good; that sin
might become beyond measure ὃ sinful, by the commapdment.
For we know that the Law is spiritual; but for me, I amy
exurnal,’ a slave sold into the captivity of sin. What Ido, I ac-1s
knowledge not; for I do not what I would, but what I hate.
But if my will is against my deeds, I thereby acknowledge the 16
goodness of the Law. And now it is no more I myself who do17
the evil, but itis the sin which dwells in me. For I know that1s
in me, that is, in my flesh, good abides not; for to will is
present with me, but to do the right is absent 5 the good that 119
would, I do not; but the evil which I would not, that I do,
Now if my own’ will is against my deeds, it is no more I my- 20
self who do them, but the sin which dwells in me. I find then 21
1 See note on 1 Cor. xv. 56.
2 Téyove. Literally, is it become: equivalent to do I say that it became? We must
supply γέγονε θάνατος again after ἡ ἁμαρτία.
3 This explains Rom. v. 20. In both passages, St. Paul states the object of the law
to be to lay down, as it were, a boundary line which should mark the limits of right
aod wrong ; so that sin, by transgressing this line, might manifest its real nature, and
be distinctly recognised for what it is.
4 It may be asked, how is this consistent with many passages where St. Paul speaks
of the Law as a carnal ordinance, and opposes it (as γράμμα) to πνεῦμα! The answer
is. that here he speaks of the law under its moral aspect, as is plain fro.n the whole
context.
5 Scarcely anything in this Epistle has caused more controversy than the question
whether St. Paul, in the following description of the struggle between the flesh and
the spirit, wherein the flesh gains the victory, meant tc describe his own actual state.
The best answer to this question is a comparison between vi. 17 and 20 (where he tells
the Roman Christians that they are no longer the slaves of sin), vii. 14 (where he
says I amt CARNAL, σαρκικός, a slave sold into the captivity of sin), and viii. 4 (where
he includes himself among those who live not the life of the flesh, σάρξ, but the life of
the spirit, i. e. who are NOT CARNAL). It is surely clear that these descriptions cannot
be meant to belong to the same person at the same time. The best commentary on
the whole passage (vii. 7 to viii. 13) is to be found in the condensed expression of the same
truths contained in Gal. v. 16-18: Walk in the spirit and YE SHALL NOT FULFIL THE
DESIRE OF THE FLESH; for the desire of the flesh fights against the spirit, and the
desire of the spirit fights against the flesh; and this variance between the flesh and
the spirit would hinder you from doing that which your will prefers ; but if you be
led by the spirit, you are not under the Law.
6 The ἐγώ is emphatic.
EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 173
this law, that though my will is to do good, yet evil is present
22 with me; for I consent gladly to the law of God in my inner
23man; but I behold another law in my members, warring
against the law of my mind, and making me captive to the law
24 οἱ sin which dwells in my members. O wretched man that
am! who shall deliver me from this body of death!
25 I thank God [that He has now delivered me] through Jesus
Christ our Lord.
So then, in myself,! though Iam subject in my mind to the
VulLlaw of God, yet in my flesh I am subject to the Jaw of sin.
1 Now, therefore, there is no condemnation to those
2 who are in Christ Jesus ;” for the law of the Spirit
of life in Christ Jesus* has freed me from the law
3 of sin and death. For God (which was impossible
to the Law, because through the weakness of our
flesh it had no power), by sending His own Son in
the likeness of sinful flesh, and on behalf of sin,
4 overcame‘ sin in the flesh;* to the end, that the
righteous statutes of the Law might be fulfilled in
us, who walk not after the Flesh, but after the
But with that
help this sinfu.
earthly natura
is vanquished
in the Christ- -
ian, and he is
enabled to live,
not according
to the carnal
part of his na-
ture (σὰρξ).
but according
to the spiritual
part (πνεῦμα)
God’s true
children are
those only who
are thus en-
abled by the in-
dwelling spirit
5 Spirit. For they who live after the flesh, mind or Ghia
1 Αὐτὸς ἐγὼ, I in myself, i. 6. without the help of God. This expression is the key
to the whole passage. St. Paul, from verse 14 to verse 24, has been speaking of him-
self as he was in himself, i.e. in his natural state of helplessness, with a conscience
enlightened, but a will enslaved ; the better self struggling vainly against the worse.
Every man must continue in this state, unless he be redeemed from it by the Spirit of
God. Christians are (so far as God is concerned) redeemed already from this state ;
but in themselves, and so far as they live to themselves, they are still in bondage.
The redemption which they (potentially, if not actually) possess, is the subject of the
8th chapter. Leighton most beautifully expresses the contrast between these two
states (of bondage and deliverance) in his sermon on Romans viii. 35: “1s this he
that so lately cried out, Oh wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me? that
now triumphs, O happy man! who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Yes,
it is the same. Pained then with the thoughts of that miserable conjunction with a
body of death, and so crying out, who will deliver? Now he hath found a deliverer
to do that for him, to whom he is for ever united. So vast a difference is there betwixt a
Christian taken in himself and in Christ.”
3 The clause which follows, from μὴ to πρΡεῦμα, is omitted in the best MSS., having
(it would seem) been introduced by a clerical error from verse 4.
3 Winer wishes to join ἐν (Xp. ᾽1ησ.) with 7Aevbépwoe, because there is no τοῦ before
the ἐν; but there are so many examples of a similar construction in St. Paul’s style,
that we think his reasons insufficient to justify a departure from the more obvious view
4 Literally, condemned, i. 6. put it to rebuke, worsted it. Compare κατέκρινε,
Heb. xi. 7. ;
5 “In the flesh,” that is to say, in the very seat of its power.
3 The contrast between the victory thus obtained by the spirit, with the previa
114 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ΒΊ ΡΑΓῚ-
κοῦν TU) to. fleshly things; but they who live after the Spirit
conquer
earthly nature. mind spiritual things; and’! the fleshly mind is 6
death ; but the spiritual mind is life and peace. LBecause the 7
fleshly mind is enmity against God ; for it is not subject to the
law of God, nor by its very nature can be; and they whose ¢
life is in the Flesh cannot please God. But your life is not in 9
the Flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God be
dwelling in you; and if any man has not the Spirit of Christ
within him, he is not Christ’s. But/if Christ be in you, though 1¢
your body be dead, because of sin [to which its nature tends],
yet your spirit is life,’ because of righteousness [which dwells
within it]; yea, if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from 1]
the dead be dwelling in you, He who raised Christ from the
dead shall endow with life also your dying bodies, by His®
Spirit which dwells within you. Therefore, brethren, we are 12
debtors, bound not to the Flesh, that we should live after the
Flesh [but to the Spirit]; for if you live after the Flesh you13
are doomed to die; but if by the Spirit you destroy the deeds
of the body, in their death‘ you will attain to life.
subjection of the soul to the flesh, is thus beautifully described by Tertullian :—* When
the Soul is wedded to the Spirit, the Flesh follows—like the handmaid who follows
her wedded mistress to her husband’s home—being thenceforward no longer the ser-
vant of the Soul, but of the Spirit.” The whole passage forms an excellent commen-
tary on this part of the Epistle, especially the following : “Omnis anima eousque in
Adam censetur, donec in Christo recenseatur ; tamdiu immunda quamdiu [—donec]
recenseatur.... Nam Nature corruptio alia natura est;.... ut tamen insit et
bonum anime, illud principale, illud divinum et germanum, et proprie naturale.
Quod enim a Deo est, non tam extinguitur, quam obumbratur. Potest enim obum-
brari, quia non est Deus; extingui non potest, quia a Deo est. . . . Sic et in pessimis
aliquid boni, et in optimis nonnihil pessimi. . . . Propterea nulla anima sine crimine,
quia nulla cize boni semine. Proinde cum ad fidem pervenit .. . . totam lucez suam
conspicit. Excipitur a Spiritu Sancto, sicut in pristina nativitate a Spiritu profano.
Sequitur animam, Spiritui nubentem, caro, ut dotale mancipium, et jam non anime
famula, sed Spiritis. O beatum connubium, si non admiserit adulterium.” Tertull
de Anima, ec. 40, 41.
1 Winer sneers at Tholuck’s remark, that ydp isa mere transition particle here;
but yet what else is it, when it does not introduce a reason for a preceding proposition ?
In these cases of successive clauses each connected with the preceding by a γώρ, they all
appear to refer back to the first preceding clause, and therefore all but the first γώρ
raight be represented by and. Just in the same way as δέ and sed are uscd sometimes,
and but in English; as, for example, “‘ But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified.”
3 Ζωὴ in St. Paul’s writings is scarcely represented adequately by life; it generully
means more than this, viz. life triumphant over death.
3 The MSS. of highest authority read διὰ τοῦ here, although the greater number
read did τὸ, which Tischendorf prefers on the principle that it is the most difficull
“eading.
4 This translation ig necessary to represent the reference to Gavarcire.
EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.
ἃ. For all who are led by God’s Spirit, and they
"salone,! are the sons of God. For you have not re-
ceived a Spirit of bondage, that you should go back
again to the state of slavish fear, but you have re-
ceived a Spirit of adoption wherein we cry unto
ι6 God and say, “Our Lather.”* The Spirit itself
joins its testimony with the witness of our own spi-
178
Such person,
have an inward
consciousness
of child-like
love to God
(4GBa), and
they anticipate
a future and
more perfect
state when this
relation to God
will have its full
development
L7 rit, to prove that we are the children of God. And (none Aaa)
if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint
heirs with Christ; that if now we share His sufier-
\gings, we should hereafter share His glory. For I
reckon that the sufferings of this present time are
nothing worth, when set against the glory which
19shall scon? be revealed unto us. For the earnest
longing of the whole creation looks eagerly for the
time when [the glory of] the sons of God shall
20 openly be brought to light. for the creation was
made subject to corruption and decay,‘ not by its
ing for a future
perfection is
shared by all
created beings,
whose discon-
tent at present
imperfection
points to ano-
ther state freed
from eyil. And
this feeling is
(26, 27) im-
planted in
Christians \ by
the Spirit of
God, who sug-
gests their
prayers and
longings.
210wn will, but through Him who subjected it thereto ; with
hope that the creation itself also shall be delivered from its
slavery to death, and shall gain the freedom of the sons of
22 God when they are glorified.» For we know that
the whole
creation is groaning together, and suffering the pangs of la-
23 bour, which ὃ have not yet brought forth the birth.
only they, but ourselves also, who have received the
And not
Spirit for .
the first fruits [of our inheritance], even we ourselves are
groaning inwardly, longing for the adoption’? which shall ran-
1 Οὗτοι, they and they alone, they, and not the carnal seed of Abraham.
2 See note on Gal. iv. 6.
3 Μέλλουσαν ἀποκαλυφθῆναι, which is about to be revealed, which shail soon be
revealed,
4 Ματαιύτης means the transitory nature which causes all the animated creation so
rapidly to pass away. We join ἐπ’ ἐλπίδι with the following ὅτι.
5 Literally, the freedom which belongs to the glorification of the sons of God.
6 Literally, continuing to suffer the pangs of labour even until now. St. Paul
heré suggests an argument as original as it is profound. The very struggles which all
animated beings make against pain and death, show (he says) that pain and death are
not a part of the proper laws of their nature, but rather a bondage imposed upon
them from without. Thus every groan and tear is an uncorscious prophecy of libera-
tion from the power of evil.
7 Ὑἱοθεσίαν, adoption ; by which a slave was emancipated and made “no longer a
slave but a son.” (Gal. iv. 7.) In one sense St. Paul taught that Christians had
already received this adoption (compare Rom. viii. 15. Gal. iv.5. Eph. i. 5): they
were already made the sons of God in Christ. (Rom. viii. 16. Gal. iii. 26.) But ir
176
som our body from its bondage.
THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 8f. PAUL.
For our salvation: lies in 24
hope ; but hope possessed is not hope, since a man cannot hope
for what he sees in his possession; but if we hope for things 25
not seen, we stedfastly? endure the present, and long ear-
nestly for the future.
And, even as* we long for our redemp- 26
tion, so the Spirit gives help to our weakness; for we know
not what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit itself
makes intercession for us, with groans [for deliverance] which
words cannot utter.
But’ He who searches our hearts knows 21
(though it be unspoken] what is the desire of the Spirit, be-
cause He intercedes for Christ’s people according to the will
οἵ God.
Hence in the
midst of their
persecutions
Christians are
more than con-
querors ἢ for
they feel that
all works to-
gether for their
good, God has
culled them to
share ἴῃ his
glory, and no
human = accu-
sers or judges,
Moreover, we know that all things [whether 28
sad or joyful]* work together for good to those who
love God, who have been called according to His
purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also 29
predestined to be made like* to the pattern of His
Son, that many brethren might be joined to Him,
the first born. And those whom He predestined to 30
this end, them He also called; and whom Ile call-
no earthly suf-
ferings, no pow-
er in the whole
Creation, can
separate them
from His love-
ed, them He also justified ; and whom He justified,
them He also glorified. What shall we say then to 31
these things? If God be for us, who can be against
this passage he teaches us that this adoption is not perfect during the present life ,
there is still a higher sense, in which it is future, and the object of earnest longing te
those who are already in the lower sense the sons of God.
1 Literally, we were saved, i. 6. at our conversion. The A. V. “are saved” is in-
correct. The exact translation would be, “ the salvation whereto we were called lies
in hope.”
2 ᾿Απεκδεχύμεθα, we long earnestly for the future; δι’ ὑπομοντῆς, with stedfast
endurance of the present.
3 After ὡσαύτως, in like manner, we must supply ὥσπερ ἀπεκδεχόμεθα from the
preceding clause ; and the object of ἀπεκδεχόμεθα is τὴν ἀπολύτρωσιν (by verse 23).
4 This passage is well explained by Archbishop Leighton, in the following beautiful
words: ‘“‘ The work of the Spirit is in exciting the heart at times of prayer, to break
forth in ardent desires to God, whatsoever the words be, whether new or old, yea pos-
sibly without words; and then most powerful when it words it least, but vents in
sighs and groans that cannot be expressed. Our Lord understands the language o
these perfectly, and likes it best; He knows and approves the meaning of His own
Spirit; He looks not to the outward appearance, the shell of words, as men do.”
—Leighton’s Lxposition of Lord’s Prayer.
ὃ We must remember that this was written in the midst of persecution, and in the
expectation of bonds and imprisonment. See verses 17, 18, and 35, and Acts xx. 23.
6 Συμμόρφους. Like in suffering seems meant. Compare Phil. iii. 10. Τὴν xo
νίαν τῶν παθημάτων αὐτοῦ, συμμορφούμενος τῷ θονάτῳ αὐτοῦ.
11|
EPISTLE 10 THE ROMANS.
32us? Ie that spared not His own Son, but gave Him up to
death for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us
33all things? What accuser can harm God’s chosen? it is God
34 who justifies them. What judge can doom us? It is Christ
who died, nay, rather, who is risen from the dead; yea, who is
at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.
35 Who car separate us from the love of Christ? Can suffering,
or straitness of distress, or persecution, or famine, or naked-
ness, ar the peril of our lives, or the swords of our enemies ἢ
36 [though we may say,] as it is written, “ Hor! thy sake we are
killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the
37 slaughter.” Nay, in all these things we are more than conquer-
ors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded that
neither death, nor life, nor all the? Principalities and Powers
88 οὐ Angels, nor things present, nor things to come, nor things
39 above, nor things below, nor any power in the whole creation,
shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in
Christ J esus our Lord.
IX.
1 I speak the truth in Christ—(and my conscience
bears me witness, with the Holy Spirit’s testimony,
The fact that
God has adopt-
ed Christians as
His peculiar
people, and re-
2 that I lie rot)—I have great heaviness, and unceas-
3 ing sorrow in my heart; yea, I could wish that I
myself were cast out from Christ as an accursed
thing, for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen ac-
4 cording to the flesh; who are the seed of Israel,
whom God adopted for His children, whose were
jected the Jewa
from their ex-
clusive privi-
leges, is in ac
cordance with
His former
dealings. For
not all the de-
scendants of
Abraham, but
ouly a selected
portion of them
were chosen by
God.
the glory οἱ the Shekinah, and the Covenants, and
the Lawgiving, and the service of the temple, and
5 the promises of blessing. Whose Fathers were the Patriarchg,
and of whom (a3 to His flesh) was born the Christ who is over
all, God blessed for ever. Amen.
6 Yet I speak not asif the promise of God had fallen to the
7 ground ; for not all are Israel who are of Israel, nor because all
are the seed of Abraham, are they all the children of Abra-
8 ham; but ἐγν5 Lsaae shall thy seed be called. That is, not the
1. Ps,.isliv./232 + (EXE)
3. The expressions dpyai and δυνάμεις were terms applied in the Jewish theology te
divisions of the hierarchy of angels, and such as were familiar to St. Paul’s Jewish
rvaders. Compare Eph. i. 21 and Col. i. 16,
3 Gen. xxi. 12. (LXX.) Compare Gal. iv. 22.
vou. 1.—12
The context is, “ Let it not be
178 THE LIFK AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
children of the flesh of Abraham are the sons of God, but his
children of the promise are counted for his true seed. For 9
thus spake the word of promise, saying, Ad this time will L
come, and Sarah shall have a son‘ [so that Ishmael, although
the son of Abraham, had no part in the promise]. And not 1¢
only so, but [Esau likewise was shut out; for] when Rebekah
had conceived two sons by the same husband, our forefather
Isaac, yea, while they were not yet born, and had done nothing 11
either good or bad (that God’s purpose according to election
might abide, coming not from the works of the? called, but
from the will of The Caller,) it was declared unto her, 7161
elder shall serve the younger ; according to that which is writ-
ten, Jacob have 7 loved, but Lsau have I hated. 13
The ie Ga What shall we say then? Shall we call God un-14
right to reject Just [because He has cast off the seed of Abraham] $
some and select
coerce, Lhat be far from us. For to Moses He saith, “Z*15
since it is as-
serted inthe Wer have mercy on whom L will have mercy, and
own Scriptures δ . .
in the case of 2. well have compassion on whom I will have com-
Pharaoh. It ° ” . 5
may be ohject- passion.” So then, the choice comes not from man’s 16
ed that sucha ἔ 5 Ω
τον represents Will, nor from man’s speed, but from God’s mercy.
iod’s will as
the arbitrary And thus the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “ Aven 5 for 11
-cause of man’s
actions ; the thes end have L raised thee up, that [might show my
answer is, that
the created be- mower in thee, and that my name night be declared
ing cannot in-
vestigate the throughout all the earth.” According to His will, 1g
causes which
may have de
may pave “therefore, He has mercy on one, and hardens an-
ΜῊ] οὐ σον. other, Thou wilt say to me, then,’ “ Why does God19
grievous in thy sight, because of the lad [Ishmael] and because of thy bondwoman
{Hagar}, for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.”
1 Gen. xviii. 10, from LXX. not verbatim, but apparently from memory.
* Literally, coming not from works, but from the caller.
3 Gen. xxv. 23. (LXX.) The context is, “ Two nations are in thy womb, and
the eldrr shall serve the younger.”
4 Mol i 2,3. (LXX.) 5 Exod. xxxiii. 19, (LXX.)
6 Exed. ix. 16, verbally according to LXX., except substitution of ἐξήγειρά ce for
διετηρήϑης, and ἰσχύν for δύναμιν.
7 'Iiesic obv.... Here comes the great question—no longer made from the stand-
ing-point of the Jew, but proceeding from the universal feeling of justice. St. Paul
answers the question by treating the subject as one above the comprehension of the
human intellect, when considered in itself objectively, Ifit be once acknowledged
that there is any difference between the character and ultimate fate of a good and a
bad man, the intellect is logically led, step by step, to contemplate the will of the
Creator as the cause of this difference. The question τί ye ἐποίησας οὕτως will equally
occur and be equally perplexing in any system of religion, either natural or revealed,
[t is in fact a difficulty springing at once from the permitted existence of evil. Scrip
EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 176
40 still blame us? for who can resist his will?’ Nay, rather, oh
man, who art thou that disputest against God? “ Shall the
thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made
21 7.6 thus?” “ Hath not the potter power over the clay,”* to
make out of the same lump one vessel for honour and one for
22dishonour? But what if God (though willing to show forth Mis
ture considers men under two points of view; first as created by God, and secondly,
as free moral agents themselves. These two points of view are, to the intellect of
man, irreconcileable ; yet both must be true, since the reason convinces us of the one,
and the conscience of the other. St, Paul here is considering men under the first of
these aspects, as the creatures of God, entirely dependent on God’s will. It is to be
observed that he does not say that God’s will is arbitrary, but only that men are en-
tirely dependent on God’s will. The reasons by which God’s will itself is determined
are left in the inscrutable mystery which conceals God’s nature from man.
The objection and the answer given to it, partly here and partly chap. iii. v. 6, may
be stated as follows :—
Objector.—If men are so entirely dependent on God’s will, how can He with justice
blame their actions?
Answer.—By the very constitution of thy nature thou art compelled to acknowl-
edge the blame-worthiness of certain actions and the justice of their punishment (iii.
6); therefore it is self-contradictory to say that a certain intellectual view of man’s
dependence on God would make these actions innocent ; thou are forced to feel them
guilty whether thou wilt or no, and (ix. 20) it is vain to argue against the constitution
of thy nature, or its author.
The metaphysical questions reiating to this subject which have divided the Christian
world are left unsolved by Scripture, which does not attempt to reconcile the apparent
inconsistency between the objective and subjective views of man and his actions.
Ifence many have been led to neglect one side of the truth for the sake of making a
consistent theory: thus the Pelagians have denied the dependence of man’s will on God,
and the Fatalists have denied the freedom of man’s moral agency.
We may further observe that St. Paul does not here explicitly refer to eternal hap-
piness or to its opposite. His main subject is the national rejection of the Jews, and
the above more general topics are only incidentally introduced.
1 Isaiah xlv. 9. Not literally from either LXX. or Hebrew; but apparently from
memory out of LXX.
* Jeremiah xviii. 6, not quoted literally, but according to the sense. In this and in
other similar quotations from the Old Testament, a few words were sufficient to recall
the whole passage to St. Paul’s Jewish readers (compare Rom. iv. 18) ; therefore, to
comprehend his argument, it is often necessary to refer to the context of the passage
from which he quotes. The passage in Jeremiah referred to is as follows :—Then 1
went down to the potter’s house, and behold he wrought a work on the wheeis.
And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hands of the potter ; so he
made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. O house
of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter, saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay
is in the potter's hand, so are ye in my hand, O house of Israel. At what instant
T shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to
pull down and to destroy it ; if that nation against whom Ihave pronounced
turn from their evil, Iwill repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. And
at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to
build and to plant it; if it do evil in my sight, that it otey not my voice, tren I
roll repent of the good wherewith I said I would benefit them.
¢
180 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
wrath, and to make known His power) endured with much
long-suffering vessels of wrath, fitted for destruction [and cast
them not at once away]. And what if thus He purposed to 23
nake known the riches of His glory bestowed upon vessels of
mercy, which He had before prepared for glory. And such 24
are we, whom He has called, not only from among the Jews,
but from among the Gentiles, as it is written’ also in Hosea,
Alsothe Jewish “ 7 well call them my people which were not my peo- 25
Scriptures speak
of the calling ple, and her beloved which was not beloved ;* and 2 26
of the Gentiles
and the rejec- shal) come to pass that in the place where wwus said
tion of the diso-
bedient Jews. γέρο them, Ye are not my people. there shall they be
called the children of the living God.”*? But Esaias cries con- 27
cerning Israel, saying, “Though+ the number of the children of
Israel be as the sand of the sea, only the remnant shall be saved ;
for He doth complete Ilis reckoning, and cutteth ἐέ short 28
in righteousness ; yea, a short reckoning will the Lord make
upon the earth.” And,as Esaias had said before, “ Except " the 29
Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed remaining, we had been as
Sodom, and had been made like unto Gomorrha.”
Tee ee ΟΣ What shall we say, then? We say that 110 30
this rejection of
the Jews was 5 ΞΕ
that ‘they τὸς Gentiles, though they sought not after righteousness,
sisted in a false
idea of righte. ave attained to righteousness, even the righteous-
ousness, as con- .
sisting in out. ness of Faith; but that the house of Israel, though 31
ward works and 5 :
rites, and τὸ they sought a law of righteousness, have not attain-
fused the trus 9 .
righteousness ed thereto. And why? Because* they suught it 82
manifested to
them in Christ, not by Faith, but thought to gain it by the works
who was the
Ἢ ΩΝ lw of the Law ; for they stumbled against the stone of
ew considers stumbling, as it is written, “ Behold’ I lay in Zion 33
righteousness ag
the outward a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offe ence ὁ and
obedience to
ments αν ὅν, whoso hath faith in Him shall be saved from confu-
The Christian - 2.
considers right S070.
1 Λέγει, scilicet 7 γραφή, not ὁ Θεός (literally, τὲ says),
3 Hosea ii. 23, (LXX. almost verbatim.) 3 Hosea i. 10. (LXX.)
4 Tsaiah x. 22, 23. (LX X. almost verbatim.) 5 Isaiah i. 9, (LXX.)
6 Observe that in the preceding part of the chapter God is spoken of as rejecting tha
Jews according to His own will; whereas here a moral reason is given for their rejec-
tion. This illustrates what was said in a previous note of the difference betweer the
objective and subjective points of view.
7 Isaiah xxviii, 16, apparently from LXX., but not verbatim, λίθον προσκόμματος
kai πέτραν σκανδάλου being interpolated, and not found exactly anywhere in Isaiah,
though in viii. 14 there is λίθου mpookduucre and πέτρας πτώματι, Corapare alge
Matt. xxi. 44.
EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 181
» Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to cousressas pro
ceeding from the
2 God for Israel is, that they may be saved; for 1 bear sardine
them witness that they have a zeal for God, yet not 24h, Whene
Jew or Gentile,
3 guided by knowledge of God ;' for because they snin'’be admit?
knew not the righteousness of God, and sought to favour
establish their own righteousness, therefore they have not sub-
4 mitted themselves to the righteousness of God. For the end of
the Law is Christ, that all may attain righteousness who have
5 faith in Him. For Moses writes concerning the righteousness
of the Law, saying, “ Zhe? man which doeth these things shall
6 live therein ;” but the righteousness of Faith speaks in this wise.
Say not in thine heart, “ Who shall ascend into heawen ?”8 that
7 is, “ Who can bring down Christ from heaven?” nor say,
“ Who shall descend into the abyss ?” that is, “ Who can raise
8 up Christ from the dead?’ But how speaks it? “Zhe word is
nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart ;”—that is, the
9 Word of Faith which we proclaim, saying, “ If with thy mouth
thou shalt confess Jesus for thy Lord, and shalt have faith in
thy heart that God raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be
losaved.” For faith unto righteousness is in the heart, and con-
11 fession unto salvation is from the mouth. And so says the
Scripture, “ Whosoever hath faith in Him shall be saved from
12 confusion ;”4 for there is no distinction between Jew and Gen-
tile, because the same [Jesus] is Lord over all, and he gives
13 richly to all who call upon Him ; for “ Every man who shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
1 For the meaning of ἐπίγνωσις (which is not equivalent to γνῶσις), compare
1 Cor. xiii. 12.
? Levit. xviii. 5. (LXX.)
3 Deut. xxx. 12. St. Paul here, though he quotes from the LXX. (verse 8 is verba-
tim), yet sliglitly alters it, so as to adapt it better to illustrate his meaning. His main
statement is, “the Glad-tidings of salvation is offered, and needs only to be accepted ;”
to this he transfers the description which Moses has given of the Law, viz. “ the Word
is nigh thee,” ἄο. ; and the rest of the passage of Deuteronomy he applies in a higher
sense than that in which Moses had written it (according to the true Christian mode of
using the Old Testament) not to the Mosaic Law, but to the Gospel of Christ. The
passage in Deuteronomy is as follows :—“ This commandment which I command thee
this day is not hidden from thee, netther is it far off. It is not in heaven that thou
shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven and bring it unto us, that we may
hear it and doit? WNeither is it beyond the sea that thou shouldest say, Who shall
go over the sea for us and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? Bus
the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest de
ue?
4 Tsaiah xxviii. 16. (LXX.) See ix. 33.
5 Joel 11. 22. (LXX.)
182 THE .IFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
n order, there- Ilow then shall they call on Him in whom they 14
fore, tbat all x!
may be so ad- have put no faith? And how shall they put faith in
mitted, the in-
ritation to be- Him of whom they never heard? And howshall they 15
lieve mnst be-
universally hear of Him if no man bear the tidings? And who
th a shall bear the tidings if no messengers be sent
some ane forth?! As it is written, “Mow? beautiful are the
reise otiens, feet of them that bear Glad-tidings of peace, that
Gally'as they bear Glad-tidings of good things.” Yet some haye1
aoe ee not hearkened to the Glad-tidings, as saith Esaias,
in eis “own “ Lord, who hath given faith to our teaching?”
So, then, faith comes by teaching ;‘ and our teach-17
ing comes by the Word of God. But I say, have they ποῦ 18
heard the voice of the teachers? Yea, ‘‘Zheir sound went forth
énto all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.” +
Again I say, did not Israel know [the purpose of God]? yea, 19
it is said first by Moses, “J wall make you jealous against them
which are no people, against a Gentile nation without un-
derstanding will I make you wrath.” But Esaias speaks 29
boldly, saying, “Z7 was found of them that sought me not ;
I was made manifest unto them that asked not afier me.”
But unto Israel He says, “All daylong have I spread forth my 2\
arms* unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.” ° i.
he Jews, how: I say, then,—must we ” think that God has cast 1
ever, are no
all rejected; off His people?" That be far from us; for I am my-
those who be-
lieve in Christ gelf also an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the
have been se-
(exlby Ged tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast off His people
His people,and whom He foreknew. Yea, know ye not what is 2
only the unbe-
ar said in the Scriptures of Elias, how he intercedes
1 This is a justification of the mission of the Apostles to the Gentiles, which was an
offence to the Jews. See Acts xxii. 22.
3 Isaiah lii. 7, apparently from the Hebrew. and not LXX.
3 Isaiah liii, 1. (LXX.)
4 There is no English word which precisely represents ἀκοή in its subjective as well as
objective meaning.
6 Psxix.4. (LXX.)
6 Deut. xxxii, 21. (LXX.)
7 Js, lxv. 1. (LXX. with transposition).
8 The metaphor is of a mother opening her arms to call back her child to her em
brace.
9 Is, Ixv. 2. (LXX.)
10 Μή, like nwm, asks a question expecting a negative answer = is it true that?
must we think that? Also see note on μῇ γένοιτο, Gal. iii. 21.
n Alluding to Psalm xciy. 14: “ Jehovah shall not utterly cast out his people.”
(LXX.) No doubt St. Paul’s antagonists accused him of contradicting this prophecy
EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.
183
3 with God against Israel, saying, “Lord, they have killed
Thy prophets, and digged down Thine altars, and 1 am left
4 alone, and they seek my life also.” But what says the answer
of God to him ?
“7? have yet left to myself a remnant; even
seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”
5 So likewise at this present time there is a remnant [of the
6 house of Israel] chosen by gift of grace.
But if their choice be
the gift of grace, it can no more be deemed the wage of works;
for the gift that is earned isno gift: or ifit be gained by works,
it is no longer the gift of grace; for work claims‘ wages and
7 not gifts. What follows then ?
That which Israel seeks, Israel
8 has not won; but the chosen have won it, and the rest were
hardened, as it is written, “ God* hath given them a spirié of
slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should
9 not hear, unto this day.”
And David says, “ Let* their table
be made a snare and a trap, and a stumbling-block and a re-
Locompense unto them. Let their eyes be darkened that they may
not sec, and bow down their back alway.”
Shall we say,’ then, “they have stumbled to the
end that they might fall?’ That be far from us;
but rather, their stumbling has brought salvation to
the Gentiles, “to® provoke the house of Israel to
12 jealousy.” Now, if their stumbling enriches the
world, and if the lessening of their gain gives wealth
to the Gentiles, how much more would their fulness
do!
13 For to you who are Gentiles I say that, as Apos-
14 tle of the Gentiles, I glorify my ministration for this
end, if perchance I might “provoke to jealousy” my
15 kinsmen, and save some among them. For if the
casting of them out is the reconciliation of the
ll
11 Kings xix. 10. (LXX. but not verbatim.)
* 1 Kings xix. 18, more nearly according to the Hebrew than LXX.-
Nor is the re
jection of the
unbelieving
Jews final, so
as to exclude
them and their
descendants for
ever from read-
mission into
God’s church.
As the Gentile
unbelievers had
on their belief
been grafted
into the Christ-
ian Church,
which is the
same original
stock as the
Jewish church,
much more
would Jewish
unbelievers on
their Lelief be
grafted anew
into that stock
3 Κατέλιπον corresponding to the subsequent λεῖμμα, and the preceding καταλεῖμμα
(chap. ix. 27).
4 By ἔργον is here meant work which earns wages. Ccmpare iv. 4-5. The latter
tlause of this verse, however, is omitted by the best MSS.
5 This quotation seems to be compounded of Deut. xxix. 4, and Isaiah xxix. 16
({LXX.), though it does not correspond verbatim with cither.
6 Ps, lxix. 23, 24, (LXX. nearly verbatim),
7 Literally, I say then, shall we conclude that, &c. See note on verse 1.
* Deut. xxxii. 21 (LXX.), quoted above ch. x. 20.
184
from
they had been
broken off.
which
THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
world [to God], what would the gathering of them
in be, but life from the dead ?
Now, if the first of the dough be hallowed,’ the whole mags 14
is thereby hallowed; and if the root be hallowed, so are also
the branches.
But if some of the branches were broken off, 11
and thou being of the wild olive stock wast grafted in amongst
them, and made to share the richness which flows from the root
of the frnitful olive, yet boast not over the vranches; but,—1s
if thou art boastful,—thou bearest not the root, but the root
thee.
I might be grafted in.”
broken off, and by faith thou standest in their place:
high-minded,
take heed lest He also spare not thee.
branches,
Thou wiltsay then, “The branches were broken otf that 19
It is trne,—for lack of faith tney were 20
be not
but fear; for if God spared not the natural 21
Behold, 22
therefore, the goodness and the severity of Goa; towards them
who fell, severity, but towards thee, goodness, if thou continue
stedfast to His goodness; for otherwise thou too shalt be eut
off. And they also, if they’persist not in their faithlessness, 23
shall be grafted in; for God is able to graft them in where
they were before.
by nature
against nature into the fruitful olive, how much more
Ree if thou wast cut out from that which 24
was the stock of the wild olive, and wast grafted
shall
these, the natural branches, be grafted into the fruitful donk
from whence they sprang.
Thus God’s ob-
ject has been
not to reject
mercy
upon all man-
kind. His pur-
pose has been
to make use of
the Jewish un-
belief to call
the Gentiles in-
to His Church,
and by the ad-
mission of the
Gentiles to
rouse the Jews
to accept His
message, that
all might at
leugth receive
His mercy.
For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, of 25
this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own
conceits ; that hardness of heart has fallen upon a
part of Israel until the full body of the Gentiles shall
have come in. And so all Israel shall be saved, as 26
it is written, “ Out of Zion shall come the deliverer,
and He shall turn away ungodliness from Tacob.
And this is my covenant with them” When 721
shall take away their sins.”* In respect of the xs
Glad-tidings [that it might be borne to the Gentiles],
they are God’s enemies for your sakes; but in re-
spect of God’s choice, they are His beloved for their father’s
sakes: for no change of purpose can annul God’s gifts and eall. 29
1 St. Paul alludes to the Heave-offering
prescribed Numbers xv. 20: “ Ve shal!
offer up a cake of the first of your dough for an heave-offering.”
3 Isaiah lix. 20.
(LXX. almost verbatim).
3 Tsaiah xxvii. 9. (LXX. nearly verbatim). ,
EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 183
30 And as in times past you were yourselves, disobedient to God,
31 but have now received mercy upon their disobedience; so in
this present time they have been disobedient, that upon your
32 obtaining mercy they likewise might obtain mercy. For God
has shut up, together both‘ Jews and Gentiles under [the
doom of] disobedience, that 116 might have mercy upon them
33all. O depth of the bounty, and the wisdom, and the know-
34 ledge of God; how unfathomable are His'judgments, and how
unsearchable His paths! Yea, “Who hath known the mind of
35 the Lord, or who hath been [Tis counsellor?” * Or“ Who hath
Jirst given unto God, that he should deserve a recompense?” 6
36 For from Him is the beginning, and by Him the life, and in
Him the end, of all things.
Unto Him be glory for ever. Amen.
XII.
11 exnorr you, therefore, brethren, as you ‘would ac- Extortations te
the contented
knowledge the mercies of God, to offer your bodies 24, earnest
performance of
a living sacrifice, holy and well-pleasing unto God, the, tuties be-
tte to their
1 Ἷ . 7 worch} severn Ἰδίᾳ
2 which is your reasonable’ worship. And be not *‘ πὸ
and to forgive-
conformed to the fashion of this passing*® world, but térineic
. . Also (xiii, 1-
be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ὡς ἀ Ὁ
δ . ἢ th ivil -
by an. unerring test® you may discern the will ΟΥ̓ sistrates as on
. . dained by God.
God, even that which is good, and acceptable, and And generally
‘ ] } ] . f (xiii. 8-10) to
sperfect. For through the gift of grace bestowed lve, as com:
ἦ prenending a
upon me [as Christ’s Apostle], I warn every man duties to” our
neighbour. All
among you not to think of himself more highly than thee duties
should be per-
he ought to think, but let each of you strive to gain fone Ge
a sober mind, according to the measure of faith 10 expectation of
st’s speedy
° coming.
' Throughout this passage in the A. V., ἀπειθεία is translated as if it were equiva-
ent to ἀπιστία, which it isnot. Compare i. 30: γονεῦσιν ἀπειθξὶς.
* The stopping we aacpt is ἠπείθησαν, τῷ ὑμετέρῳ ἐλέει iva καὶ αὐτοὶ ἐλεηθῶσι.
3 Συνέκλεισεν. Compare Gal. iii. 22.
4 This translation is justified by the article before πάντας.
5 Isaiah xl, 13. (LX-X. nearly verbatim.)
5. Job. xli, 11 (according to tke sense of the Hebrew, but not LXX.:
7 Reasonable worship, as contrasted with the unreasonable worship of those whose
faith rested only on outward forms. See note oni. 9.
8 See note on 1 Cor. i. 20.
9 See note on ii. 18.
10 Mérpov πίστεως here seems (from the context of the following verses) equivalent
to χάρισμα, as Chrysostom takes it. The particular talent given by God may be called
a measure of faith, as being that by the use of which each man’s faith will be tried
Compare, as to the verbal expressions, 2 Cor. x. 13.) This explanation is, perhaps
186 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 8T. PAUL
which God has given him. For as we have many limbs, 4
which all are members of the same body, though they have not
all the same office; so we ourselves ave all! one body in ὅ
Christ, and fellow-members one of another; but we have gifts 6
differing according to the grace which Goi has given us.2 He
that hath the gift of prophecy, let him exercise it* accord-
ing to the proportion of his faith. He that has the gift of 7
ministration, let hint minister; he that has the gift to teach,
let him use it in teaching; he that can exhort, let nim ‘labour g
in exhortation. He who gives, let him give in singleness of
mind. He who rules, let him rule diligently. He who shows
pity, let him show it gladly. Let your love be without feign- 9
ing. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.
Be kindly affectioned one to another in brotherly love; in1¢
honour let each set his neighbour above himself. Let your 11
diligence be free from sloth, let your spirit glow with zeal; be
true bordsmen of your Lord. In your hope be joyful; in12
your sufferings be stedfast; in your prayers be unwearied. Be13
liberal to the needs of Christ’s people, and show hospitality to
the stranger. Bless your persecutors; yea, bless, and curse 14
not. Rejoice with them that rejoice, and weep with them that15
weep. 6 of one mind amongst yourselves. Set not your16
heart on high things, but suffer yourselves to be borne along ‘
with the lowly. Be not wise in your own conceits. Repay no17
man evil for evil. See that your life be blameless in the sight
of all. Itit be possible, as far as lies in yourselves, keep peace 18
with all men. Revenge not yourselves, beloved, but give1g9
place to the wrath [οὐ God]* for it is written, “ Vengeance és
"
not very satisfactory ; but to understand μέτρον as meaning amount, is still less so, for
a double gift of prophecy did not imply a double faith. The expression is so perplex-
ing that one is almost tempted to conjecture that the words crept into the text here by
mistake, having been originally a marginal explanation of τὴν ἀναλογίαν τῆς πίστεως,
just below.
1 Of πολλοὶ.
* The construction and the parallel both seem to require a comma after weAn, and ἃ
fullstop after διάφορα.
3 We think it better to tuke these elliptical clauses as all imperative (with the A. V.)
1ather than to consider them (with Dz Wette and others) as “descriptive of the sphere
of the gift’s operation ” up to a certain point, and then passing into the imperative.
The participles in verses 9, 16, and 17 seem to refute De Wette’s arguments.
4 This is the literal translation of Συναπαγόμενοι.
3 This is the interpretation of Chrysostom, and is supported by the ablest modern
mterpreters.
EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 151
20mine ; 1 will repay, saith the Lord.”' Therefore, “270 thine
enemy hunger, feed him ; of he thirst, give him drink ; for in
so doing, thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head.”* Ba
XIII. not overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
1 Let every man submit himself to the authorities of govern:
ment; for all authority comes from God, and the authorities
2 which now are, have been set in their place by God: there-
fore, he who sets himself against the authority, resists the or-
dinance of God; and they who resist will bring judgment
3 upon themselves. For the magistrate is not terrible to good
works,’ but to evil. Wilt thou be fearless of his authority?
4 do what is good, and thou shalt have its praise. Jor the ma-
gistrate is God’s minister to thee for good. But if thou art an
evil doer, be afraid; for not by chance does he bear the sword
[of justice], being a minister of God, appointed to do ven-
5 geance upon the guilty. Wherefore you must necds submit,
6 not only for fear, but also for conscience sake; for this also
is the cause why you pay tribute, because the authorities of
government are officers of God’s will, and His service is the
7 very end of their daily work. Pay, therefore, to all their dues;
tribute to whom tribute is due; customs to whom customs;
9 fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour. Owe no debt to
any man, save the debt of love alone; for he who loves his
9 neighbour has fulfilled the law. For the law which says,
“+ Thou shalt not commit adultery ; Thou shalt do no murder;
Thow shalt not steal ; Thou shalt not bear false witness ; Thou
shalt not covet,” and whatsoever other commandment there be,
is all contained in this one saying, “ Thow shalt love thy neigh-
_ 10 b0ur as thyself.”> Love works no ill to his neighbour; there-
fore Love is the fulfilment of the Law.
11. + ‘This do, knowing the season wherein we stand, and that for
us it is high time to awake out of sleep, for our salvation is
12 already nearer than when we first believed. The night is far
spent, the day is at hand; let us therefore cast off the works of
1 Deut. xxxii. 35. (LXX. but not verbatim.)
* Prov. xxv. 21. (LXX.) There can be little doubt that the metaphor is taken
from the melting of metals,
3 We must remember that this was written before the Imperial government had be
gun to persecute Christianity. It is a testimony in favour of the gencral administra
tion of the Roman criminal law.
Eyad, xx. 13-17. (LXX,) 5 Levit. xix. 18. (LX-X.)
188 THE LIFE AND EPISiLUS OF 8T. PAUL.
darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us waik 13
(as in the light of day) in seemly guise; not in rioting and
drunkenness, not in dalliance and wantonness, not in strife and 14
envying. But clothe yourselves with Jesus Christ your Lord,
and take no thought to please your fleshly lusts. KTV.
Him who is weak in his faith receive into your |
Gung to super- fellowship, and make no distinctions for’ opinion’s
stitious tacoa Sake. Some have faith that they may eat all things 5 2
tsand days
whould be Others, who are weak,’ eat herbs alone. Let not 3
treated with A . . A
indulgence by him who eats despise him who abstains; nor let
the more en- ed ᾿ = .
lightened, and him who abstains judge him who eats, for God has
all should treat 3 “ ents
edoht' éther received him among* His people. Who art thou, 4
wi charity,
and forbear that judgest another’s servant? To his own mas-
from condemn-
ing one ano- ter he must stand or fall; but he shall be made to
ther, whether
Jews or Gen- stand, for God is able to set him up. There are 5
tiles, since
Christ had re- gome who esteem one day above another; and again
ecived both into
fhee*vour #8 there are some who esteem all days alike; let each
rhe be fully persuaded in his own mind. He who re- ¢
gards the day, regards it unto the Lord; and he who regards it
not, disregards it unto the Lord. He who eats, eats unto the
Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who abstains, abstains
unto the Lord, and gives thanks to God likewise. For not 7
unto himself does any one of us either live or die; but whe- 8
ther we live, we live unto our Lord, or whether we die, we
die unto our Lord; therefore, living or dying, we are the
Lord’s. For to this end Christ died, and lived again, that He 9
might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. But thou, 10
why judgest thou thy brother? Or thou, why despisest thou
thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment-seat of
Christ. And so it is written, “As* 7 live, saith the Lord,i.
every knee shall baw to me, and every tongue shall acknowledge
God.” So, then, every one of us shall give account to God 12
{not of his brethren, but] of himself. Let us then judge each 13
other no more, but let this rather be your judgment, to put no
Those Chris-
tians who still
1 Literally, not avting, 80 as to make distinctions which belong to disputatious
reasonings.
? These were probably Christians of Jewish birth, who so feared lest they should
(without knowing it) eat meat which had been offered to idols (which might easily
happen ip such a place as Rome), that they abstained from meat altogether.
3 Προσελάθετο, received him unto Himself.
4 Kai ἀνέστη is omitted by the best MSS.
5. Isaiah xlv. 23 (LXX. not accurately, hut apparently from memury).
EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 189
t4stumbling-block or cause of falling in your biother’s way. 1
know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is in
itself unclean; but whatever a man thinks unclcan, is unelean
5to him. And if for meat thou grievest thy brother, thou hast
ceased to walk by the rule of love. Destroy not him with thy
meat for whom Christ died.
16 [580 then, let not your good be evil spoken of. For the
17 kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and
18 peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit; and he who lives in these
things as Christ’s bondsman is well-pleasing to God, and can-
19not be condemned? by men. Let us therefore follow the
things which make for peace, such as may bwild us up together
into one. Destroy not thou the work of God for a meal of
20meat. All things indeed [in themselves] are pure; but evil is
21 that which causes stumbling to the eater. It is good neither
to eat flesh, nor to drink? wine, nor to do any‘ other thing,
22 whereby thy brother is made to stumble.* Hast thou faith
[that nothing is unclean]? keep it for thine own comfort before
God. Happy is he who condemns not himself by the very
23 judgment which he pronounces. But he who doubts, is there-
XV. by condemned if he eats, because he has not faith’ that he
1 may eat; and every faithless deed* is sin. And we, who are
strong,’ ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to
2 please ourselves. Let each of us therefore please his neigh-
3 bour for good ends, to build him up, Tor we know that
Christ pleased not Himsesf, but in Him was fulfilled that
1 Compare 1 Cor. x. 29.
2 Δόκιμος, literally, is capable of standing any test to which he may be put.
5. This does not necessarily imply that any of the weaker brethren actually did
-seruple to drink wine ; it may be put only hypothetically. But it is possible that they
may have feared to taste wine, part of which had been poured in libation to idols.
4 It is strange that no critic has hitherto proposed the simple emendation of reading
év instead of év, which avoids the extreme awkwardness of the ellipse necessitated by
the received text. Compare οὐδὲ ἕν, Joh. i. 3. The ᾧ is governed by προσκόπτει, just
as in ix, 32 : προσέκοψαν τῷ λίθῳ,
5 We adopt the reading sanctioned by Tischendorf, which omits 4 σκανδαλίζεται
ἢ ἀσθενεῖ.
6 See note on ii. 18,
7 Literally he eats not from faith.
8 Literally, every deed which springs not from faith [that it is a right deed] is sin,
9 Ἡμεῖς οἱ δυνατοὶ, literally, “We the strong.’ St. Paul here addresses the same
party whom he so often exhorts to patience and forbearance ; those who called them:
selves οἱ πνευματικοὶ (Gal. vi. 1. 1 Cor. iii. 1), and boasted of their “ knowledge”
(1 Cor. viii. 1). See Vol. I. p. 444.
10 Καὶ γὰρ ὁ Χριστὸς, The “even” of A. V. is not in the original.
190 THE LIVE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
which is written “ Zhe} reproaches of them that reproached thee
Fell upon me.” For our instruction is the end of all which was 4
written of old; that by stedfast endurance [in suffering], and
by the counsel of the Scriptures, we may hold fast our hope.
Now may God, from whom both counsel and endurance come, 5
grant you to be of one mind together, according to the will of
Christ, that you may all [both strong and weak], with one ὁ
heart and voice, give praise to Him, who is our God, and the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore, receive ye one ἢ
another into fellowship, to the praise of God, even as Christ
also received you.’
For? I say that Jesus Christ came to be a minister of the 8
covenant of circumcision, to maintain the truthfulness of God,
and confirm the promises which were made to our fathers ; and
[he came to minister to the Gentiles also], that the Gentiles 9
might praise God for His mercy, as it is written, “ Hor* this
cause I will acknowledge thee among the Gentiles, and will sing
unto thy name.” And again it is said, “ Lejotce,’ ye Gentiles, 10
with His people ;” and again, “ Praises the Lord, all yeii
Gentiles, and laud Him, all ye peoples ;” and again Esaias saith,
« There’ shall come the root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to 15
reign over the Gentiles , in him shall the Gentiles hope.” Now 13
may the God of hope ὃ fill you with all joy and peace in believ-
ing, that you may abound in hope, through the mighty working
of the Holy Spirit. ΄
GM panl ives But I am persuaded, my brethren, both by the 14
these exhorta- .
tions boldly ‘to reports of others,* and by my own judgment also,
Christians, »s that you are already full of goodness, filled with
fle of the Gen. all knowledge, and able, without my counsel, to
tiles. He in-
tends soon to admonish one another. Yet I have written to you1s
visit them on
a τ» somewhat boldly in parts” [of this letter], to re-
1 Ps, Ixix. 9. (LXX.)
3 'Yud¢ (not judc) is the reading of the best MSS.
¥ Λέγω γάρ (not δὲ) is the reading of the MSS.
4 Ps. xviii. 49. (LXX.)
5 Deut. xxxii. 43. (LXX.) See note on ix. 25.
6 Ps, cxvii. 1, (LXX.) 7 Isaiah xi. 10. (LXX.)
8 The reference of this to the preceding quotation is lost in A. V. through the trans.
lation of é?-7rido¢ and ἐλπιοῦσιν by ‘ hope” and “ trust” respectively.
® Observe the force of the καὶ αὐτὸς ἐγὼ.
10 For the meaning of ἀπὸ μέρους, see 2 Cor. i. 14. 2 Cor. ii. 5. It might here be
translated in some measure (as Neander proposes, compare vy. 24), but that this ig
already expressed in τολμηρύτερον. The word ἀδελφοὶ is omitted in best MSS.
EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 191
mind you [rather than to teach you], because of faizireaiy ex
ecuted his
i6 that μὴ of grace which God has given me, whereby ἀἰοῆσα ἴα ἐὰν
mission in the
eastern parts
He sent me to minister for Jesus Christ, bearing ¢r the empire
. . 1: . . so far as the
His Glad-tidings to the Gentiles, that I might pre- ποιὰ was ‘not
. . occupied by
sent them to God, as a priest presents the offering other labopr-
° . . ere. First,
a sacrifice well pleasing unto Him, hallowed by however, he
must go to Je-
i7the working of the Holy Spirit. I have therefore basalt
somewhat whereof to boast in Christ Jesus, concern- contributions
thither, in spite
ising the things of God ; for I will not dare [as some of the dangers
do] to glorify myself for the labours of others,’ but I pects to meet
will speak only of the works which Christ has
19 wrought by me, to bring the Gentiles to obedience, by word
and deed, with the might of signs and wonders, the might of
the Spirit of God; so that going forth from Jerusalem, and
round about so far as* Illyricum, I have fulfilled my task in
20 bearing the Glad-tidings of Christ. And my ambition was to
bear it according to this rule, [that I should go], not where the
21name of Christ was known (lest I should be building on ano-
ther man’s foundation), but [where it was unheard]; as it is
written, “ Zo‘ whom He was not spoken of, they shall see ; and
the people who have not heard shall understand.”
22 This is the cause why I have often been hindered from
23 coming to you. But now that I have no longer room enough
[for my labours] in these regions, and have had a great, desire
24 to visit you these many years, so soon as I take my journey
into Spain I will come to you; for I hope to see you on my
way, and to be set forward on my journey thither by you,
after I have in some measure satisfied my desire of your com-
aspany. But now I am going to Jerusalem, being employed®
26in a ministration for Christ’s people. For the provinces ot
Macedonia and Achaia have willingly undertaken to make a
certain contribution for the poor among Christ’s people in Je-
ztrusalem. Willingly, I say, they have done this; and indeed
they are debtors to the Church in Jerusalem; for since the
1 Literally, “to minister for Jesus Christ unto the Gentiles, a priest presenting
an offering in respect of the Glad-tidings of God, that the Gentiles might be offered
up as an offering well-pleasing unto Him.” The same thing is said under a some
what different metaphor, 2 Cor. xi. 2.
3 Compare 2 Cor. x. 15.
3 See the remarks on this in the last chapter, p. 125.
4 Isaiah liii. 15. (LXX.)
* Διακονῶν, the present participle, not (as in A. V.) the future.
199 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
Gentiles have shared in the spiritual goods of the brethren in
Judea, they owe it in return to minister to them of their own
earthly goods. When, therefore, I have finished this task, and 28
have given to them in safety the fruit of this collection, I will
come from thence,' by you, into Spain. And 1 am sure that 29
when I come to you, our meeting will receive the fulness of
Christ’s? blessing. But I beseech you, brethren, by our Lord 30
Jesus Christ, and by the love which the Spirit gives, to help
me in my conflict with your prayers to God on my behalf,
that I may be delivered from the disobedient in Judea, and 31
that the service which I have undertaken for Jerusalem may
be favourably received by Christ’s people ; that so 1 may come 32
to you in joy, by God’s will, and may be refreshed in your
companionship. May the God of ‘peace be with you all.33
Amen. |
ΧΥῚ
eee ΤΣ I commend to you Phebe our sister, who 155 a i
culuhines «ministering servant of the Church at Cenchres ;
salutations to
numerous Ro-
man Christ. that you may receive her in the Lord, as Christ’s 2
Te people should receive their brethren, and aid her in
any business‘ wherein she needs your help; for she has herself
aided many, and me also among the rest.
Greet Priscilla and Aquila,* my fellow-labourers in the 3
work of Christ Jesus, who, to save my life, laid down their
own necks; who are thanked, not by me alone, but by all the
1 Literally, 1 shall come in the fulness, &c.
3 Τοῦ εὐαγγελίου is not in any of the best MSS.
3 Διάώκονον. See Vol. I. p. 435, note 1.
4 From the use of the legal terms παραστῆτε and προστάτις, it would seem that the
business on which Phoebe was visiting Rome was connected with some trial at law.
5 Concerning these distinguished Christians, see Vol. I. p. 887, When and where
they risked their lives for St. Paul we know not, but may conjecture at Ephesus. We
see here that they had returned to Rome (whence they had. been driven by the edict
of Claudius) from Ephesus, where we left them last. It is curious to observe the wife
mentioned first, contrary to ancient usage. Throughout this chapter we observe in-
stances of courtesy towards women sufficient to refute the calumnies of a recent infidel]
writer, who accuses St. Paul of speaking and feeling coarsely in reference to women ;
we cannot but add our astonishment that the same writer should complain that the
standard of St. Paul's ethics, in reference to the sexual relations, is not sufficiently
elevated, white at the same time he considers the instincts of the German race to have
first introduced into the world the true morality of these relations. One is inclined to
ask whether the present facility of divorce in Germany is a legitimate development of
the Teutonic instinct ; and if so, whether the law of Germany, or the law of our Sa
viour (Mark x. 12) enforced by St. Paul (1 Cor. vii. 10), expresses the higher tone oz
morality, and «ends the more to elevate the female sex.
EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 198
4 Churches of ‘ae Gentiles. Greet likewise the Church whicb
assembles at their house.
5 Salute Epnetus my dearly-beloved, who is the first fruits
of Asia‘ unto Christ.
Salute Mary, who laboured much for me.
Salute Andronicus and Junias, my kinsmen and fellow-pri-
soners,? who are well known among the Apostles, and who
were also in Christ before me.
8 Salute Amplias, my dearly-beloved in the Lord.
9 Salute Urbanus, my fellow-workman in Christ’s service,
and Stachys my dearly-beloved.
10 Salute Apelles, who has been tried and found trust-worthy
in Christ’s work.
Salute those who are of the household of Aristobulus.?
11 Salute Herodion, my kinsman.
Salute those of the household of Narcissus‘ who are in the
Lord’s fellowship.
12 Salute Tryphena and Tryphosa, the faithful labourers in the
-_
Lord’s service.
Salute Persis the dearly-beloved, who has laboured much in
the Lord.
‘1 Asia, not Achaia, is the reading of the best MSS. See Tischendorf; and compare
Vol. I. p. 399, note 2.
? When were they St. Paul’s fellow-prisoners? Probably in some of those imprison-
ments not recorded in the Acts, to which he alludes 2 Cor. xi. 23. It is doubtful
whether in calling them his “kinsmen” St. Paul means that they were really related to
him, or only that they were Jews. (Compare Rom. ix. 3.) The latter supposition
seems improbable, because Aquila and Priscilla, and others in this chapter, mentioned
without the epithet of kinsmen, were certainly Jews; yet, on the other hand, it seems
unlikely that so many of St. Paul’s relations as are here called “ kinsmen’’ (verses
7, 11, 21) should be mentioned in a single chapter. Perhaps we may take a middie
course, and suppose the epithet to denote that the persons mentioned were of the tribe
of Benjamin.
3 This Aristobulus was probably the great-grandson of Herod the Great, mentioned
by Josephus and Tacitus, to whom Nero in .p. 55 gave the government of Lesser Ar-
menia. ie had very likely lived previously at Rome, and may still have kept Rpt
establishment there, or perhaps had not yet gone to his government. See Tac. Ann.
xiii. 7, and Joseph. Ant. xx. 5.
4 There were two eminent persons cf the name of Narcissus at Rome about thia
tiine ; one the well-known favourite of Claudius (Suet. Claud. 28, Tac. Ann, xii. 57,
65, xiii. 1), who was put to death by Nero, a. Ὁ, 54, soon after the death of Claudius,
and therefore before this Epistle was written: the other was a favourite οἵ Nero’s, and
is probably the person here named. Some of his slaves or freedmen had become
Hhristians. This Nareissus was put to death by Galba (Dio. Ixiv. 3).
VOL. 1:.--1 3
194 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
Salute Rufus,' the chosen in the Lord, and his mother, who 13
is also mine.
Salute Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Blows ἢ 14
and the brethren who are with them.
Salute Philologus, and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and1
Olympas, and all Christ’s people who are with them.
Salute one another with the kiss of holiness.* 16
The Churches of Christ [in Achaia] salute you. ἢ
ΠΣ δῆ T exhort you, brethren, to keep your eyes upon17
against self-in- ΑΝ Ἂ
terested parti. those who cause divisions, and cast stumbling-blocks
Ba in the way of others, contrary to the teaching which
you have learned. Shun them that are such; for the master 18
whom they serve is not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own
belly ; and by their fair speaking and flattery they deceive the
hearts of the guileless. I say this, because the tidings of your 19
obedience have been told throughout the world. On yourown
behalf, therefore, I rejoice: but I wish you not only to be:
simple in respect of evil, but to be wise for good. And the 20
God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet speedily:
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. be with you.
ἘΣ ποτε Timotheus, my fellow-labourer, and Lucius, and 21
from acral a
at Corinth to Jason ,? and Sosipater,‘ my kinsmen, salute you.
those at Ron Ἢ
‘ L cise: who have written this letter, salute 22
you in the Lord.
Gaius,’ who is the host, not of me alone, but also of the 22
whole Church, salutes you.
1 St. Mark (xv. 21) mentions Simon of Cyrene as “the father of Alexander and
Rufus ;” the latter therefore was a Christian well known to those for whom St. Mark
wrote, and probably is the same here mentioned. It is gratifying to think that she
whom St Paul mentions here with such respectful affection, was the wife of that
Simon who bore our Saviour’s cross.
2 See note on 1 Thess. v. 25.
3 Jason is mentioned as a Thessalonian, Acts xvii. 5; he had prebably accompanid
St. Paul from Thessalonica to Corinth.
4 Sosipater is mentioned as leaving Corinth with St. Paul, soon after this Epistl
was written (Acts xx. 4).
5 This Gaivs (or Caius) is no doubt the same mentioned (1 Cor. i. 14) as baptized at
Corinth by St. Paul with his own hands. In Acts xx. 4 we find “ Gaius of Derbe’
leaving Corinth with St. Paul, soon after the writing of this Epistle, but this may
perhaps have been a different person ; although this is not certain, considering how
the Jews migrated from one place to another, of which Aquila aud Priscilla are an
vbvious example.
EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 195
Erastus,' the treasurer of the city, and the brothe: Quartus,
salute you.
24 ‘The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you Antograph com:
all. clusion,
2 NowI commend you? unto Him who is able to keep you
stedfast, according to my Glad-tidings, and the preaching ® of
Jesus Christ ———— whereby is unveiled the mystery which
26 was hidden in silence through the ages‘ of old, but has now
been brought to light, and made known to all the Gentiles by
the Scriptures of the Prophets, by command of the everlasting
God; that the Gentiles might be led to the obedience of faith
27 ———— unto Him, the only wise God,» I commend you through
Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever. Amen.°
a oo
Ὁ ο. 99 ϑοος
ed
SS “2 δ)
CORINTHIAN COIN REPRESENTING CENCHRER.”
1 Erastus is again mentioned (as stopping at Corinth) in 2 Tim. iv. 20. Probably
the same Erastus who went with Timotheus from Ephesus to Macedonia, on the way
towards Corinth. (Acts xix, 22.)
? If we retain the ᾧ in verse 27 (with the great majority of MSS.) we must supply
συνίστημι, oY something equivalent, here, or else leave the whole passage anacoluthical,
Ixamples of a similar commendation to God at the conclusion of a letter or speech
are frequent in St. Paul. Compare 1 Thess. ν. 23. 2 Thess. ii. 16, and especially the
conclusion of the speech at Miletus. Acts xx. 32.
_ 3 Κήρυγμα, literally, proclamation.
4 Meaning the times of the Mosaic Dispensation, as is proved by the use of the
same expression, Tit. i. 2.
5 If we were (on the authority of the Codex Vaticanus) to omit the @ in this passage,
the last three verses would become a continuous doxology. The translators of
the A. V. have tacitly omitted this ᾧ, although professing to follow the Textus Re-
cr ptus.
6 Some MSS. insert the verses 25, 26, 27, after xiv. 23, instead of in this place ; but
the greater weight of MS. authority is in favour of their present position. A good re-
futation of the objections which have been made against the authenticity of the last
two chapters, is given by De Wette (in 1060) and by Neander (P. und L, 451-453) ;
put, above all, »y Paley’s Hore Pauline, inasmuch as these very chapters furnish four
or five of the most striking undesigned coincidences there mentioned.
7 Little has been said as yet concerning Cencbrex, and some interest is given to the
place both by the mention of its Church in the preceding Epistle (Rom. xvi. 1), and by
the departure of St. Paul from that port on his first visit to Achaia (Acts xviii 18%
196 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 51. PAUL.
ENCLISH FEET.
500
: mo 4 : > EDS, SAREE
POSIDONIUM AT THE ISTHMUS.
Note on the Isthmian Stadium.
Jn our account of Corinth (Chap. xi. xii.), we have entered into no enquiry
concerning the topography of the scene of the Isthmian games. (See p. 415).
Since St. Paul makes many allusions to the athletic contests of the Greeks, and
since we are now come to the point in his life when he leaves Corinth for the last
We have seen (Vol. I. p. 413) that it was seventy stadia, or nearly nine miles distant
from Corinth, and (p. 422) that its position is still pointed out by the modern Kikries,
where some remains of the ancient town are visible. The road is described by Pausa-
nias as leading from Corinth through an avenue of pine-trees, and past many tombs,
among which, two of the most conspicuous were those of the cynic Diogenes and the
profligate Thais (ad cujus jacuit Grecia tota fores. Prop. ii. 2). For the coast-line,
see the chart illustrating Thucyd. iv. 42, 44, at the end of Dr. Arnold’s second volume,
and compare Poppo’s Prolegomena. The coin here engraved is from Millingen
(Recueil de quelques Médailles grecques inédites: Rome, 1812), and is that to which
allusion was made Vol. I. p. 422, π. 2. It isa colonial coin of Antoninus Pius, and
represents the harbour of Cenchree exactly as it isdescribed by Pausanias. See Leake’s
Morea, iii. 233-235.
NOTE ON THE ISTHMIAN STADIUM. 197
time, it seems right that we should state what is known on the subject. No good
topographical delineation of the Isthmus exists. This district was omitted in the
French Expédition de la Morée ; and the second volume of the work of Curtius on
the Peloponnesus has not yet appeared. We have given here the plan from Col.
Leake’s third volume, which is the most complete yet published, and which acen
rately represents the relative positions of the stadium, the theatre, and the temple.
The Posidonium or Sanctuary of Neptune, is at the narrowest part of the Isthmus,
close by Schcenus, the modern Kalamaki (see p. 413, n. 5) ; and modern travellers
may visit the ruins on their way between Kalamaki and Lutraki, from one steam.
boat to the other. St. Paul would also pass by this spot if he went by land from
Athens (p. 406, note). The distance from Corinth is about eight miles; and at
Hexamili, near Uorinth, the road falls into that which leads to Cenchrez. (See
the preceding page, and Leake, iii. 286.) The military wall, which crossed the
Isthmus to Lechzeum, abutted on the sanctuary (p. 410 n. 7), and was for some
space identical with the sacred enclosure. At no great distance are the traces of
the canal which Nero left unfinished about the time of St. Paul’s death (pp. 444,
445) ; and in many places along the shore may be seen those pine-trees, whose
leaves wove the “fading garlands ” which the Apostle contrasts with the “ unfad
ing crown,” the prize for which he fought. (Introd. Ὁ. xii.)
108 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
CHAPTER XX.
“Tgitur oram Achaix et Asia, ac leva maris pretervectus, Rhodum et Cyprum
Insulas, inde Syriam audentioribus spatiis petebat.””—Tac. Hist. ii. 2.
CORINTH.—ISTHMIAN GAMES.—YOYAGE FROM PHILIPPI.—SUNDAY AT TROAS.—ASSOS.—
VOYAGE BY MITYLENE AND TROGYLLIUM TO MILETUS.—SPEECH TO THE EPHESIAN
PRESBYTERS.—VOYAGE BY COS AND RHODES TO PATARA.—THENCE TO PHC@NICIA.—
CHRISTIANS AT TYRE.—PTOLEMAIS.—EVENT AT C/SAREA.—ARRIVAL AT JERUSALEM
In the Epistles which have been already set before the reader in the course
of this biography, and again in some of those which are to succeed, St.
Paul makes frequent allusion to a topic which engrossed the interest, and
called forth the utmost energies, of the Greeks. The periodical games
were to them rather a passion than an amusement ; and the Apostle often
uses language drawn from these celebrations, when he wishes to enforce
the zeal and the patience, with which a Christian ought to strain after his
heavenly reward. The imagery he employs is sometimes varied. In one
instance, when he describes the struggle of the spirit with the flesh, he
seeks his illustration in the violent contest of the boxers (1 Cor. ix. 26).
In another, when he would give a strong representation of the perils he
had encountered at Ephesus, he speaks as one who had contended in that
ferocious sport which the Romans had introduced among the Greeks, the
fighting of gladiators with wild beasts (ib. xv. 32). But, usually, his
reference is to the foot-race in the stadiwm, which, as it was the most
ancient, continued to be the most esteemed among the purely Greek
athletic contests.! If we compare the various passages where this language
is used, we find the whole scene in the stadium brought vividly before us,
—the “herald”? who summons the contending runners,—the course, which
rapidly diminishes in front of them, as their footsteps advance to the
1 See Krause’s Gymnastik and Agonistik der Hellenen (Leips. 1841), pp. 537-343.
The victory in the stadium at Olympia was used in the formula for reckoning Olym-
piads. The stadium was the Greek unit for the measurement of distance. With St.
Paul’s frequent reference to it in the epistles, 1 Cor. ix. 24. Rom. ix. 16. Gal. ii. 2.
v.7. Phil. ii. 16. 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8, should be compared:twe passages in the Acts, xx
24, where he speaks of himself, and xiii. 25, where he speaks of John the Baptist.
3 Κηρύξας. 1 Cor. ix. 27. For the office of the Heralds, see Hermann’s Gott. Alt.
§ 50, 22. Plato says (Legg. viii. 833) that the herald summoned the candidates for
the foot-race first into the stadium.
ISTHMIAN GAMES. 199
goal, the juage? who holds out the prize at the end of the course,—the
prize itself, a chaplet of fading leaves, which is compared with the strongest
emphasis of contrast to the unfading glory with which the faithful Chris.
tian will be crowned,*—the joy and erultation of the victor, which the
Apostle applies to his own case, when he speaks of his converts as his “joy
and crown,” the token of his victory and the subject of his boasting.« And
under the same image he sets forth the heavenly prize, after which his
converts themselves should struggle with strenuous and unswerving zeal,—
with no hesitating step (1 Cor. ix. 26),—pressing forward and never
looking back (Phil. iii. 18, 14),—even to the disregard of life itself (Acts
xx. 24). And the metaphor extends itse!f beyond the mere struggle in
the arena, to the preparations which were necessary to success,—to that
severe and continued training,® which, being so great for so small a reward,
was a fit image of that “ training unto godliness,” which has the promise
not only of this life, but of that which is to come,—to the strict regula-
fions® which presided over all the details, both of the contest and the
preliminary discipline, and are used to warn the careless Christian of the
peril of an undisciplined life,—to the careful dzef,7 which admonishes us
1 Τὰ μὲν ὀπίσω ἐπιλανθανόμενος, τοῖς δὲ ἔμπροσθεν ἐπεκτεινύμενος. Phil. iii. 14.
2 2 Tim. iv. 8.
3 Βραβεῖον. 1 Cor. ix. 24. Phil. iii. 14. It was a chaplet of green leaves; φθαρτὸς
στέφανος. 1 Cor. ix. 25. (Cf. 2 Tim. ii. 5. iv. 8; also 1 Pet. v. 4.) The leaves
varied with the locality where the games were celebrated. At the Isthmus they were
those of the indigenous pine. For a time parsley was substituted for them ; but in the
Apostle’s day the pine-leaves were used again. Plut. qu. symp. v. 3. See Boeckh’s
Pindar, p. 193.
4 'Αδελφοί μου, χαρὰ καὶ στεφανός pov. Phil. iv. 1. Τίς ἡμῶν χαρὰ ἢ στέφανος
καυχήσεως, ἢ οὐχὶ καὶ ὑμεῖς. 1 Thess. ii. 19. This subject illustrates the frequent
use of the word καύχησις by St. Paul.
5 Τυμνάζω and γυμνασία. 1 Tim. iv. 7,8. The γυμνάσιον was an important feature
of every Greek city. The word is not found in the New Testament, but we find it in
1 Mae. i. 14, and 2 Mac. iy. 9, when allusion is made to places of Greek amusement
built at Jerusalem. For the practices of the gymnasium and the palestra, see Krause,
“vol. i. 2, vol. ii. 1. Faber’s Agonisticon, a work of the sixteenth century (in the Sth
tol. of Gronovius), contains a mass of information, but there is great confusion in the
arrangement.
6 "Edy μὴ νομίμως ἀθλήσῃ. 2 Tim. ii.5. For the special vou of the foot-race,
see Krause, vol. i. pp. 362, &c. As regards the more general νόμιμα of the athletie
contests, the following may be enumerated from the Eliaca of Pausanias. Every can-
didate was required to be of pure Hellenic descent. He was disqualified by certain
moral and political offences. He was obliged to take an oath that he had been ten
months in training, and that he would violate none of the regulations. Bribery waa
punished by a fine. The candidate was obliged to practise again in the gymnasium
immediately before the games, under the direction of the judges or umpires, who were
themselves required to be instructed for ten months in the details of the games.
Krause and Hermann.
7 ’Avaxyogayia is the term used by Aristotle for this prescribed diet, of which we
find an account in Galen. See Krause, p. 358, and especially pp. 642, ἄο. Compare
Horace, A. P. 414. (Multa tulit fecitque puer, sudavit et alait; Abstinuit Venere et
900 TIE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
that, if we would so run that we may obtain, we must be “ temperate is
all things.” !
This imagery would be naturally and familiarly suggested to St. Paul
by the scenes which he witnessed in every part of his travels. At his own
native place on the banks of the Cydnus,’ in every city throughout Asia
Minor,? and more especially at Ephesus,‘ the stadium, and the training for
the stadium,® were among the chief subjects of interest to the whole popu-
Jation. Even in Palestine, and at Jerusalem itself, these busy amusements
were well known. But Greece was the very home, from which these
institutions drew their origin ; and the Isthmus of Corinth was one of four
sanctuaries, where the most celebrated games were periodically held,
Now that we have reached the point where St. Paul is about to leave this
city for the last time, we are naturally led to make this allusion: and an
interesting question suggests itself here, viz, whether the Apostle was
ever himself present during the Isthmian games. It might be argued a
priort that this is highly probable ; for great numbers came at these
seasons from all parts of the Mediterranean to witness or take part in the
contests ; and the very fact that amusement and ambition brought some,
makes it certain that gain attracted many others ; thus it is likely that the
Apostle, just as he desired to be at Jerusalem during the Hebrew festivals,
so would gladly preach the Gospel at a time when so vast a concourse
met at the Isthmus,—whence, as from a centre, it might be carried to
vino, ἅς.) Tertullian describes the self-restraint of the Athletes: “Athlete seli-
_ guntur ad strictiorem disciplinam ; ut robori xdificando vacent, continentur a luxuria,
a cibis lautioribus, a potu jucundiore : coguntur, cruciantur, fatigantur: quanto plus
πῃ exercitationibus laboraverint, tanto plus de victoria sperant.””? For all this training
in its educational aspect, see Herm. Privatalt. § 35-37.
1 The following energetic passage from St. Chrysostom (who was very familiar with
all that related to public amusements, both at Antioch and Constantinople) is well
worth quoting in illustration of St. Paul’s language :—“'O τρέχων οὐ πρὸς τοὺς ϑεατὰς
(pg, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὸ βραβεῖον. κἂν πλούσιοι, κἀν πενητὲες Gol, κῶν σκώπτῃ τις, κἂν
ἐπαινῇ, κῶν ὑβρίζῃ, κἄν λίθοις βάλλῃ, κἂν τὴν οἰκίαν διαρπάζῃ, κἂν παῖδας ἴδῃ, κἂν
γυναῖκα, κἂν ὁτιοῦν, οὐδαμῶς ἐπιστρέφεται, ἀλλ᾽ ἑνὸς γίνεται μόνον τοῦ τρέχειν, τοῦ
λαβεῖν τὸ βραβεῖον. ὁ τρέχων οὐδαμοῦ ἵσταται" ἐπεὶ κἂν μικρὸν ῥαθυμήσῃ, τὸ πᾶν
ἀπώλεσεν. ὁ τρέχων οὐ μόνον οὐδὲν ὑφαιρεῖ πρὸ τοῦ τέλους, ἀλλὰ καὶ τότε μάλιστα
ἐπιτείνει τὸν δρόμοι." Homil. vii. in Epist. ad Heb. p. 763.
2 Jt is worth observing, that the only inscription from Tarsus published by Boeckh
(No, 4437) relates to the restoration of the stadium.
3 Nothing is more remarkable than the number and magnitude of the theatres am
stadia in the ruins of the great cities.of Asia Minor. A vast number, too, of the in-
scriptions relate to the public amusements. It is evident that these amusements must
have been one of the chief employments of the populaticn. See the Travels of Spratt
and Forbes.
for the games celebrated at Ephesus, see Guhl’s Ephesiaca.
5 See above, note on γυμνάσιον.
6 See the reference to Herod’s theatre and amphitheatre, Vol. I. p 2. Bence the
significance of such a passage as Heb. xii. 1, 2 to the Hebrew Christians of Palestine.
MACEDONIA. 201
‘
every shore with the dispersion of the strangers. But, further, it will be
remembered, that on his first visit, St. Paul spent two years at Corinth
and though there is some difficulty in determining the times at which the
games were celebrated, yet it seems almost certain that they recurred
every second year, at the end of spring or the beginning of summer.' Thus
it may be confidently conciuded that he was there at one of the festivals.
As regards the voyage undertaken from Ephesus (Vol. II. p. 26), the
time devoted to it was short; yet that time may have coincided with the
festive season; and it is far from inconceivable that he may have sailed
across the Aigean in the spring, with some company of Greeks who were
proceeding to the Isthmian meeting. On the present occasion he spent
only three of the winter months in Achaia, and it is hardly possible that
he could have been present during the games. It is most likely that there
were no crowds among the pine-trces? at the Isthmus, and that the
stadium at the Sanctuary of Neptune was silent and unoccupied, when
St. Paul passed by it along the northern road, on his way to Macedonia.*
His intention had been to go by sea to Syria,‘ as soon as the seasou
of safe navigation should be come; and in that case he would have em-
barked at Cenchrez, whence he had sailed during his second missionary
journey, and whence the Christian Pheebe had recently gone with the
letter to the Romans. He himself had prepared his mind for a journey to
Rome ;° but first he was purposed to visit Jerusalem, that he might convey
the alms which had been collected for the poorer brethren, in Macedonia
and Achaia. He looked forward to this expedition with some misgiving ;
for he knew what danger was to be apprehended from his Jewish and
Judaizing enemies ; and even in his letter to the Roman Christians, he
1 They were, in the Greek way of reckoning, a τριέτηρις. Of the four great national
festivals, the Olympian and Pythian games took place every fourth year, the Nemean
and Isthmian every third ; the latter in the fourth and first year of each Olympiad.
See Hermann, ὃ 49, 14,15. The festival was held in the year 53 a.p., which is the
first of an Olympiad ; and (as we have seen) there is good reason for believing that
the Apostle came to Corinth in the autumn of 52, and left it in the spring of 54.
Wilckens, in his Specimen Antiquitatum Corinthiacarum (ὃ vi—viii.), enters into the
same inquiry, and comes to the same conclusion, though his dates are different.
? These pine-trees supplied the wreath of the victors. See p. 199, n.3. They
are still abundant in the neighbourhood, as any traveller may see on his way from
Kalamaki to Lutraki.
3 For the locality of this sanctuary, see the note at the end of the preceding Chapter.
A full account, both of the description, as given by Pausanias, and of present appear-
ances, may be seen in Leake. The inscription (p. 294) relating to P. Licinius Priscus
Juventianus, who κατεσκεύασεν τὰς καταλύσεις τοῖς ἀπὸ τῆς οἰκουμένης ἐπὶ τὰ ᾿Ισθμια
παραγενομένοις ἀθληταῖς, is interesting, as illustrative of the celebrity of the games ἴῃ
Roman times.
4 Acts xx. 3.
5 For Cenchrez, see the note at the end of the preceding Chapter. A good notion
of its position is obtained from the view of the Isthmus, Vol. I. p. 410,
€ See the end of Ch. XV.
209 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ΒΊ. PAUL.
‘
requested their prayers for his safety. And he had good reason t3 fear
the Jews ; for ever since their discomfiture under Gallio they had been
irritated by the progress of Christianity, and they organized a plot against
the great preacher, when he was on the eve of departing for Syria.' We
are not informed of the exact nature of this plot ; but it was probably a
conspiracy against his life, like that which was formed at Damascus soon
after his conversion (Acts ix. 23. 2 Cor. xi. 32), and at Jerusalem, both
before and after the time of which we write (Acts ix. 19. xxiii. 12), and
necessitated a change of route, such as that which had once saved him on
his departure from Bercea.*
On that occasion his flight had been from Macedonia to Achaia ; now
it was from Achaia to Macedonia. Nor would he regret the occasion
which brought him once more among some of his dearest converts. Again
he saw the Churches on the north of the Ajgean, and again he went
through the towns along the line of the Via Egnatia.? He reappeared in
the scene of his persecution among the Jews of Thessalonica, and passed
on by Apollonia and Amphipolis to the place where he had first landed on
the European shore. The companions of his journey were Sopater the son,
of Pyrrhus,‘ a native of Bercea,—Aristarchus and Secundus, both of
Thessalonica,—with Gaius of Derbe, and Timotheus,—and two Christians
from the province of Asia, Tychicus and Trophimus, whom we have men-
tioned before (Vol. 11. p. 91), as his probable associates, when he last
departed from Ephesus. From the order in which these disciples are
mentioned, and the notice of the specific places to which they belonged,
we should be inclined to conjecture that they had something to do with
the collections which had been made at the various towns on the route.
As St. Luke does not mention the collection,> we cannot expect to be able
to ascertain all the facts. But since St. Paul left Corinth sooner than
was intended, it seems likely that all the arrangements were not complete,
and that Sopater was charged with the responsibility of gathering the
funds from Berea, while Aristarchus and Secundus took charge of those
from Thessalonica.? St. Luke himself was at Philippi: and the remaining
1 Μέλλοντι ἀνάγεσθαι.
3 “The Jews generally settled in great numbers at seaports for the sake of com-
merce, and their occupation would give them peculiar influence over the captains and
owners of merchant vessels, in which St. Paul must have sailed. They might, there-
fore, form the project of seizing him or murdering him at Cenchrex with great proba-
bility of success.” Comm. on the Acts, by Rev. F.C. Cook, 1850.
3 For the Via Egnatia and the stages between Philippi and Bercea, see Vol. 1. pp.
316-322, 338.
4 Σώπατρος Πυῤῥου Βεροιαῖος. Such seems to be the correct reading. See Tischen-
dorf. We might conjecture that the word Πυῤῥου was added to distinguish him from
Sosipater. (Rom. xvi. 21.)
5 Except in one casual allusicn at a later period. Acts xxiv. 17.
© See Hemsen, pp. 467-475.
* RUINS AT THESSALONICA.
VOYAGE FROM PHILIPPI. 2028
®
four ot the party were connected with the interior or the coast of Asia
Mivor.'
The whole of this company did not cross together from Europe te
Asia ; but St. Paul and St. Luke lingered at Philippi, while the others
preceded them to Troas.2. The journey through Macedonia had beer
rapid, and the visits to the other Churches had been short. But the
Church at Philippi had peculiar claims on St. Paul’s attention: and the
time of his arrival induced him to pause longer than in the earlier part of
his journey. It was the time of the Jewish passover. And here our
thoughts turn to the passover of the preceding year, when the Apostle
was at Ephesus (p. 41). We remember the higher and Christian meaning
which he gave to the Jewish festival, It was no longer an Israelitish
ceremony, but it was the Easter of the New Dispensation. He was not
now occupied with shadows ; for the substance was already in possession.
Christ the Passover had been sacrificed, and the feast was to be kept with
the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Such was the higher standing-
point to which he sought to raise the Jews whom he met, in Asia or in
Europe, at their annual celebrations.
Thus, while his other Christian companions had preceded him to Troas,
he remained with Luke some time longer at Philippi, and did not leave
Macedonia till the passover moon was waning. Notwithstanding this
delay, they were anxious, if possible, to reach Jerusalem before Pentecost.?
And we shall presently trace the successive days through which they
were prosperously brought to the fulfillment of their wish. Some doubt
1 Some would read Δερβαῖος δὲ Τιμόθεος, in order to identify Gaius with the dis-
ciple of the same name who is mentioned before along with Aristarchus (Taiov καὶ
᾿Αρίσταρχον Makédovac, xix. 29). But it is almost certain that Timotheus was a native
of Lystra, and not Derbe (See Vol. I. p. 264, n. 1), and Gaius [or Caius, see above, p.
34] was so common a name, that this need cause us no difficulty.
? It is conceivable, but not at all probable, that these companions sailed direct from
Corinth to Troas, while Paul went through Macedonia. Some would limit οὗτοι to
Trophimus and Tychicus; but this is quite unnatural. The expression ἄχρι τῆς ᾿Ασίας
seems to imply that St. Paul’s companions left him at Miletus, except St. Luke (who
continues the narrative from this point in the first person) and Trophimus (who was
with him at Jerusalem, xxi. 29), and whoever might be the other deputies who accom-
panied him with the alms, (2 Cor. viii. 19-21.)
3 Acts xx. 16.
4 It may be well to point out here the general distribution of the time spent on the
voyage. Forty-nine days intervened between Passover and Pentecost. The days of
unleavened bread [Mark xiv.12. Luke xxii. 7. Acts xii. 3. 1. Cor. v. 8] succeeded
the Passover. Thus, Si. Paul stayed at least seven days at Philippi after the Passover
(v. 6),—five days were spent on the passage to Troas (ib.),—sia days (for so we mav
reckon them) were spent at Troas (ib.),—four were octupied on the voyage by Cos
to Miletus (v. 13-15, see below),—two were spent at Miletus,—in three days St. Paul
went by Cos and Rhodes to Patara (xxi. 1, see below),—two days would siffice for the
voyage to Tyre (v. 2, 3),—six days were spent at Tyre (v. 4),—two were taken up in
proceeding by Ptolemais to Cesarea (v. 7, 8). This calculation gives us thirty-seven
204 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
has been thrown on the pessibility of this plan being accomplished in the
interval ; for they did not leave Philippi till the seventh day after the
fourteenth of Nisan was past. It will be our business to show that
the plan was perfectly practicable, and that it was actually accomplished,
with sume days to spare.
The voyage seemed to begin be ee The space between Neapolis
and Troas could easily be sailed over in two days with a fair wind: and
this was the time occupied when the Apostle made the passage on his
first coming to Europe.'! On this occasion the same voyage occupied five
days. We have no means of deciding whether the ship’s progress was
retarded by calms, or by contrary winds.? Hither of these causes of delay
days in all; thus leaving thirteen before the festival of Pentecost, after the arrival at
Cesarea, which is more than the conditions require. We may add, if necessary, two
or three days more during the voyage in the cases where we have reckoned inclusively.
The mention of the Sunday spent at Troas fixes (though not quite absolutely) the
day of the week on which the Apostle left Philippi. It was a Tuesday or a Wednes-
day. We might, with considerable probability, describe what was done each day of
the week during the voyage; but we are not sure, in all cases, whether we are to
reckon inclusively or exclusively, nor are we absolutely certain of the length of the
stay at Miletus,
It will be observed, that all we have here said is independent of the particular year
in which we suppose the voyage to have been made, and of the day of the week on
which the 14th of Nisan occurred. Mr. Greswell (Dissertation 25, in vol. iv.) hag
made a careful calculation of the different parts of the voyage, on the hypothesis, that
the year was ὅθ 4.p., when Passover fell on March 19, and Pentecost on May 8; and
he has shown that the accomplishment of St. Paul’s wish, under the circumstances
described, was quite practicable. He has even allowed, as we shall see, more time
than was necessary, by supposing that the time from Patara to Tyre lasted from Mon-
day to Thursday (p. 523). The same may be said of Wieseler’s estimate (pp. 99-115),
according to which the year was 58 A.p., when the 14th of Nisan fell on March 27.
He allows five days (p. 101) for the voyage between Patara and Tyre, adducing the
opinion of Chrysostom as one well acquainted with those seas. Hug allows six days.
(αὐτο. to New Testament, Eng. Transl., Vol. IL. pp. 325-327.)
We may observe here, that many commentators write on the nautical passages of
the Acts asif the weather were always the same and the rate of sailing uniform, or ag
if the Apostle travelled in steamboats. His motions were dependent on the wind.
He might be detained in harbour by contrary weather. Nothing is more natural than
that he should be five days on one occasion, and two on another, in passing between
Philippi and Troas; just as Cicero was once fifteen, and once thirteen, in passing be-
tween Athens and Ephesus. So St. Paul might sail in two days from Patara to Tyre,
though under less favourable circumstances, it might have required four or five, or
even more. It is seldom that the same passage is twice made in exactly the same time
by any vessel not a steamer.
Another remark may be added, that commentators often write as though St. Panl
bad chartered his own vessel, and had the full command of her movements. This
would be highly unlikely for a person under the circumstances of St. Paul; and we
shall see that it was not the case in the present voyage, during which, as at other
times, he availed himself of the opportunities offered by merchant vessels or coasters.
1 Acts xvi. 11.
? The course is marked in our map with a zigzag line. If the wind was contrary,
the vessel would have to beat. The delay might equally have been caused by calma
TROAS. 205
might equally be expected in the changeable weather of those seas. St
Luke seems to notice the time in both instances, in the manner of one whe
was familiar with the passages commonly made between Europe and
Asia :' and something like an expression of disappointment is implied in
the mention of the “ five days” which elapsed before the arrival at Troas
The history of Alexandria Troas, first as a city of the Macedonian
princes, and then as a favourite colony of the Romans,’ has been given
before ; but little has Leen said as yet of its appearance. From the extent
and magnitude of its present ruins (though for ages it has been a quarry
both for Christian and Mahomedan edifices) we may infer what it was in
its flourishing period. Among the oak-trees, which fill the vast enclosure
of its walls, are fragments of colossal masonry. Huge columns of granite
are seen lying in the harbour, and in the quarries on the neighbouring hills.
A theatre, commanding a view of Tenedos and the sea, shows where the
Greeks once assembled in crowds to witness their favourite spectacles.
Open arches of immense size, towering from the midst of other great
masses of ruin, betray the hand of Roman builders. ‘These last remains,—
once doubtless belonging to 1 gymnasium or to baths, and in more ignorant
ages, when the poetry of ΤΙ mer was better remembered than the facts of
history, popularly called “‘The Palace of Priam,” ‘—are conspicuous from
1 Tt has been remarked above (Vol. I. p. 312), that St. Luke’s vocation as a physi-
cian may have caused him to reside at Philippi and Troas, and made him familiar with
these coasts. The awtoptical style (see p. 284) is immediately resumed with the
change of the pronoun.
2 For the history of the foundation of the city under the successors of Alexander,
and of the feelings of Romans towards it, see the concluding part of Ch. VIII. The
travellers who have described it are Dr. Chandler, Dr. Hunt (in Walpole’s Memoirs,
relating to European and Asiatic Turkey), Dr. Clarke and Sir C. Fellows (Asia Minor).
A rude plan is given by Pococke, IT. ii. 108.
3 Alexandria Troas, must have been, like Aberdeen, a city of granite. The hills
which supplied this material were to the N.E.and S.E. Dr. Clarke (vol. ii. p. 149)
mentions a stupendous column, which is concealed among some trees in the neighbour-
hood, and which he compares to the famous column of the Egyptian Alexandria.
Fellows (p.58) speaks of hundreds of columns, and says that many are bristling among
the waves to a considerable distance out at sea. He saw seven columns lying with
their chips in a quarry, which is connected by a paved road with the city. Thus
granite seems to have been to Alexandria Troas what marble was to Athens; and we
ere reminded of the quarries of Pentelicus. (See the account of them in Wordsworth’s
Greece.) The granite columns of Troas have been used for making cannon-halls for
the defense of the Dardanelles. Hunt, p. 135.
4 See the description of these ruins in Dr. Clarke’s Travels. and the view, p. 152.
He regards them as the remains of baths, the termination of the aqueduct of Hercder
Atticus. Hunt (p. 135) and Chandler (p. 30) think they belonged to a gymnasium,
perhaps of the time of the Antonines. There are also two views in vol. ii. of the
Transactions of the Dilettanti Society. Dr. Clarke, in a subsequent passage (p. 178),
alludes again to the appearance of these ruins from the sea:—“ Continuing our course
[from the Dardanelles] towards the south, after passing the town of 'Tenedos, we were
struck by the very grand appearance of the ancient Balnea, already described, among
206 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
the sea. We cannot assert that these buildings existed in the days of St
Paul, but we may be certain that the city, both on the approach from the
water, and to those who wandered through its streets, must have presented
an appearance of grandeur and prosperity. Like Corinth, Ephesus, or
Thessalonica, it was a place where the Apostle must have wished to lay
firmly and strongly the foundations of the Gospel. On his first visit, as
we have seen (Vol. I. pp. 281-285), he was withheld by a supernatura,
revelation from remaining ; and on his second visit (Vol. II. pp. 90-92),
though a doer was opened to him, and he did gather together a community
of Christian disciples, yet his impatience tu see ‘Titus compelled him te bid
them a hasty farewell.! Now, therefore, he would be the more anxious to
add new converts to the Church, and to impress deeply, on those who
were converted, the truths and the’ duties of Christianity: and he had
valuable aid both in Luke, who accompanied him, and the other disciples
who had preceded him.
The labours of the early days of the week that was spent at Troas are
not related to us ; but concerning the last day we have a narrative which
enters into details with all the minuteness of one of the Gospel histories.
It was the evening which succeeded the Jewish Sabbath.? On the Sunday
morning the vessel was about to sail.2 The Christians of Troas were
gathered together at this solemn time to celebrate that feast of love which
the last commandment of Christ has enjoined on all His followers. The
place was an upper room, with a recess or balcony‘ projecting over the
street or the court. The night was dark: three weeks had not elapsed
since the Passover,’ and the moon only appeared as a faint crescent in ths
or
the remains of Alexandria Troas. The three arches of the building make a conspicuous
figure from a considerable distance at sea, like the front of a magnificent palace ; and
this cireumstance, connected with the mistake so long prevalent concerning the city
itself [viz. that it was the ancient Troy], gave rise to the appellation of ‘The Palace
of Priam,’ bestowed by mariners upon these ruins.”” See Vol. I. p, 281, n. 5.
1 2 Cor. ii. 13.
3 Ἔν τῇ pia τῶν σαθθάτων, v.7. This is a passage of the utmost importance, as
showing that the observance of Sunday was customary. Cf. 1 Cor. xvi. 2. See
Vol. I. p. 440.
3 Μέλλων ἐξίεναι τῇ ἐπαύριον, ib. See v.13. By putting all these circumstances
together, we can almost certainly infer the day of the week on which St. Paul left
Troas. See above.
4 Ev τῷ ὑπερώῳ, v. 8. Ertl τῆς ϑυρίδις, v. 9. Απὸ τοῦ ~pioréyov, ib. For a good
illustration of ϑυρίς, see the note on the Legend of Thecla, Vol. I. p. 184. It denotes
an aperture closed by a wooden door, doubtless open in this case because of the heat.
See the note and the woodcut in the Pietorial Bible. These upper rooms (czenacula)
of the ancients were usually connected with the street by outside stairs (ἀναθαθμοῖ),
such as those of which we see traces at Pompeii (Cf. Liv. xxxix. 14). An ancient
representation of a Greek ϑυρίς, with a lady looking out, may be seen in “ Manners
and Customs of the Greeks from Panofka,” plate xviii. (London, 1849.) See again,
Vol. I. p. 100, for modern ϑυρίδες at Damascus.
5. See above, p. 194,
SUNDAY AT TRO.AS. 207
early part of the night. Many iamps were burning in tlie room where tne
congregation was assembled.'. The place was hot and crowded. St.
Paul, with the feeling strongly impressed on his mind that the next das
was the day of his departure, and that souls might be lost by delay, was
continuing in earnest discourse, and prolonging it even to midnight ;* when
an occurrence suddenly took place, which filled the assembly with alarm,
though it was afterwards converted into an occasion of joy and thanks-
giving. A young listener, whose name was Eutychus, was overcome by
exhaustion, heat, and weariness, and sank into a deep slumber. He was
seated or leaning in the balcony ; and, falling down in his sleep, was dashed
upon the pavement below, and was taken up dead.* Confusion and terror
followed, with loud lamentation.2 But Paul was enabled to imitate the
power of that Master whose doctrine he was proclaiming. As Jesus had
once said® of the young maiden, who was taken by death from the society
of her friends, ‘She is not dead, but sleepeth,” so the Apostle of Jesus
received power to restore the dead to life. He went down and fell upon
the body like Elisha of old,? and, embracing Eutychus, said to the bystand-
ers ; ‘Do not lament ; for his life is in him.”
With minds solemnized and filled with thankfulness by this wonderful
token of God’s power and love, they celebrated the Hucharistic feast.
The act of Holy Communion was combined, as was usual in the Apostolic
age, with a common meal: and St. Paul now took some refreshment
after the protracted labour of the evening,’ and then continued his conver-
1 "Hoav δὲ λαμπάδες ikavai, v. 8. Various reasons have been suggested why this
circumstance should be mentioned. Meyer thinks it is given as the reason why the
fate of the young man was perceived at once. But it has much more the appearance
of having simply ‘“ proceeded from an eye-witness, who mentions the incident, not for
the purpose of obviating a difficulty which might occur to the reader, but because the
entire scene to which he refers stood now with such minuteness and vividness before
his mind.” Hackett on the Acts, Boston, U.S., 1852. [See a similar instance in the
case of the proseucha at Philippi, Acts xvi. 13, Vol. 1. p. 295.]
Παρέτεινεν τὸν λόγον μέχρι μεσονυκτίου, v. 7. Avadeyouévov τοῦ Παύλου ἐπὶ
πλεῖον, ν. 9.
3 Karagepouevog ὕπνῳ βαθεῖ, v.9. The present participle seems to denote the gra-
dual sinking into sleep, as opposed to the sudden fall implied by the past participle in
the next phrase.
4 Κατενεχθεὶς ἀπὸ τοῦ ὕπνου ἔπεσεν, ib. It is quite arbitrary to qualify the words
ἦρθη νεκρός by supposing that he was only apparently dead.
5. This is implied in Μὴ ϑορυθεῖσθε below. The word denotes a loud and violent ex-
pression of grief, as in Matt. ix. 23. Mark v. 39.
5 Matt. ix. 24. Mark v. 39.
7 2 Kings iv. 34. In each case, as Prof. Hackett remarks, the act appears to have
been the sign of a miracle. ἢ
5 Αναδὰς καὶ κλάσας τὸν ἄρτον, γ. 11. The article appears to be used because of
κλάσαι ἄρτον above, ν. 7.
9. See Vol. I. p. 439.
ἢ Τευσώμενος (¥. 11), which is to be distinguished from κλάσας τὸν ἄοτον.,
208 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
sation till the dawning of the day.!. It was now time for the congregation
to separate. The ship was about to sail, and the companions of Paul’a
journey took their departure to go on board.’ It was arranged, however
that the Apostle himself should join the vessel at Assos, which was only
about twenty miles? distant by the direct road, while the voyage round
Cape Lectum was nearly twice as far. He thus secured a few more
precious hours with his converts at Troas: and eagerly would they profit
by his discourse, under the feeling that he was so soon to leave them: and
we might suppose that the impression made under such circumstances, and
with the recollection of what they had witnessed in the night, would aever
be effaced from the minds of any of them, did we not know, on the highest
authority, that if men believe not the prophets of God, neither will they
believe ‘‘ though one rose from the dead.”
But the time came when St. Paul too must depart. The vessel might
arrive at Assos before him ; and, whatever influence he might have with
the seamen, he could not count on any long delay. He hastened, therefore,
through the southern gate, past the hot springs,‘ and through the oak
1’Ed@’ ἱκανόν τε ὁμιλήσας ἄχρι αὐγῆς (ib.) where ὁμιλήσας denotes conversation
rather than continued discourse, and should be distinguished from διελέγετο and διαλε-
youévov above.
2 We might illustrate what took place at this meeting by the sailing of the Bishop
of Calcutta from Plymouth in 1829. ‘“ He and his chaplain made impressive and pro-
fitable addresses to us, the first part of the meeting, as they had received orders to em-
bark the same morning. I began then to speak, and in the middle of my speech the
captain of the frigate sent for them, and they left the mreeting.’””—Memoir of Rev. E.
Bickersteth, vol. i. p. 445.
3 See Vol. I. p. 280. The stages in the Antonine Itinerary from Dardanus to Adra-
myttium are ILIO M. P. XII. TROAS ΜΝ. P. XVI, ANTANDRO M. P. XXXV.,
ADRAMYTTIO ΜΝ. P. XXXI. Wesseling, pp. 334, 335. Assos lay between Troas
and Antandrus, considerably to the west of the latter.
The impression derived from modern travellers through this neglected region is,
that the distance between Assos and Troas is rather greater. Sir C. Fellows (Asia
Minor, p. 56) reckons it at 30 miles, and he was in the saddle from half past eight to five.
Dr. Hunt, in Walpole’s Memoirs (131-134), was part of two days on the road, leaving
Assos in the afternoon, but he deviated to see the hot springs and salt works. Mr.
Weston (MS. journal) left Assos at three in the afternoon and reached Troas at ten the
next morning ; but he adds, that it was almost impossible to find the road without a
guide.
In a paper on “ Recent Works on Asia Minor,’ in the Bibliotheca Sacra for Oct,
1851, it is said (p. 867) that Assos is nine miles from Troas. This must be an over
sight. It is, however, quite possible that Mitylene might have been reached, as we
have assumed below, on the Sunday evening. If the vessel sailed from Troas at seven
in the morning, she would easily be round Cape Lectum before noon. If St. Paul left
Troas at ten, he might arrive at Assos at four in the afternoon and the vessel might
be at anchor in the roads of Mitylene at seven. Greswell supposes that they sailed
from Assos on the Monday (p. 521). This would derange the days of the week, as we
have given them below, but would not affect the general conclusion.
4 See Fellows and Hunt, There are now salt-works in the neighbourhood of the
boiling springs.
rs 4 we ie ΧΩ
4 ἢ
GATEWAY AT ASSOS.
ASSUS. 20S
woods,'--then in full foliage,*—-which cover all that shore with greenness
and shade, and across the wild water-cOurses on the western side of Ida.
Such is the scenery which now surrounds the traveller on his way from
Troas to Assos. The great difference then was, that there was a good
Roman road,‘ which made St. Paul’s solitary journey both more safe and
more rapid than it could have beennow. We have seldom had occasion to
think of the Apostle in the hours of his solitude. But such hours must
have been sought and cherished by one whose whole strength was drawn
from communion with .God, and especially at a time when, as on this
present journey, he was deeply conscious of his weakness, and filled with
foreboding fears. There may have been other reasons why he lingered at
Troas after his companions: but the desire for solitude was doubtless one
reason among others. The discomfort of a crowded shij\ is unfavourable
for devotion: and prayer and meditation are necessary fo. maintaining
the religious life even of an Apostle. That Saviour to whose service he
was devoted had often prayed in solitude on the mountain, and crossed
the brook Kedron to kneel under the olives of Gethsemane. And strength
and peace were surely sought and obtained by the Apostle from the
Redeemer, as he pursued his lonely road that Sunday afternoon in spring,
among the oak woods and the streams of Ida.
No delay seems to have occurred at, Assos. He entered by the Sacred
Way among the famous tombs,° and through the ancient gateway, and
proceeded immediately to the shore. We may suppose that the vessel was
already hove to and waiting when he arrived; or that he saw her ap-
proaching from the west, through the channel between Lesbos and the
main, He went on board without delay, and the Greek sailors and the
Apostolic missionaries continued their voyage. As to the city of Assos
1 All travellers make mention of the woods of Vallonea oaks in the neighbourhood
of Troas. The acorns are used for dyeing, and form an important branch of trade.
The collecting of the acorns, and shells, and gall nuts employs the people during a
great part of the year. Fellows, p. 57. One traveller mentions an English vessel
which he saw taking in a load of these acorns. Walpole’s MS. in Clarke, p. 157.
* The woods were in full foliage on the 18th of March. Hunt, p. 134.
3 For the streams of this mountain, see Vol. I. p. 279, n. 5.
4 See note on the preceding page.
> Compare Rom. xv. 30, 31. Acts xx. 3, with Acts xx. 22-25. xxi. 4, 13.
6 This Street of Tombs {Via Sacra) is one of the most remarkable features of Assum
It is described by Fellows in his excellent account of Assos (Asia Minur, p. 52). See
aiso the earlier notices of the city by Leake in Walpole’s Travels, p. 254, and by Dr,
Hunt in Walpole’s Memoirs, p. 130. The Street of Tombs extends to a great distance
across the level ground to the N.W. of the city. Some of the tombs are of vast dimen-
sions, anu formed each of one block of granite. See the engraving in Fellows, Ρ. 48.
These remains are the more worthy of notice because the word sarcophagus was first
applied in Roman times to this stone of Assos (Japis Assius), from the peculiar power
it was supposed to possess of aiding the natural decay of corpses. Plin. U. N. ii 95,
xxxvi. 17. Cf. Aug. de Civ. Dei, xviii. 5.
VOL, 11.—14
510 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
itself, we must conclude, if we compare the description of the ancients with
present appearances, that its aspedt as seen from the sea was sumptuous
aud magnificent. A terrace with a long portico was raised by a wall of
tock above the water-line. Above this was a magnificent gate, approached
by a flight of steps. Higher still was the theatre, which commanded a
glorious view of Lesbos and the sea, and those various buildings which
are now a wilderness of broken columns, triglyphs, and friezes. The whole
was crowned by a citadel of Greek masonry on a cliff of granite. Such
was the view which gradually faded into indistinctness as the vessel retired
from the shore, and the summits of Ida rose in the evening sky.!
The course of the voyagers was southwards, along the eastern shore
of Lesbos. When Assos was lost, Mitylene, the chief city of Lesbos,
came gradually into view. The beauty of the capital of Sappho’s island
was celebrated by the architects, poets, and philosophers of Rome.? Like
other Greek cities which were ennobled by old recollections, it was hon-
oured by the Romans with the privilege of freedom.? Situated on the
COIN OF MITYLENE.!
1 The travellers above mentioned speak in strong terms of the view from the Acro-
polis towards Lesbos and the sea. Towards Ida and the land side the eye ranges over
the windings of a river through a fruitful plain. Strabo (xv.) says that the Persian
kings sent for their best grain to Assos. The coins (see Eckhel, p. 450) exhibit a
diota, with the head of a bull, the emblem of agriculture.
Besides the illustrations referred to above, see the view in Texier’s Asie Mineure,
and a bas-relief in Clarac’s Musée de Sculpture. Part of a frieze and of a Cyclopean
wall, with three of the gateways, are given by Fellows. He conceives that these re-
mains have been preserved from the depredations committed on other towns near the
coast, in consequence of the material being the “same grey stone as the neighbouring
rock, and not having intrinsic value as marble.” He observed ‘‘no trace of the Ro-
mans.” Leake says that the “hard granite of Mount Ida”’ has furnished the materials
for many of the buildings and even the sculptures; and he adds that “ the whoie gives
perhaps the most perfect idea of a Greek city that any where exists.”
3 Mitylene pulchra.” Hor. Ep. xi.17. See Od.1. vii. 1: “ Et natura et descriptione
sdificiorum et pulchritudine imprimis nobilis.” Cic.c. Rull. SeeSenec. ad Helv. 9, 9.
Vitruvius says (i. 6) “ Magnificenter est edificatum :’ but he adds ““ positum non pru-
denter,’”? and proceeds to describe the prevalent winds as unfavourable to health.
3 “ Libera Mitylene, annis MD. potens.”’ Plin. v. 39. For a sketch of the history
of Mitylene, see Cramer’s Asia Minor, vol. i. pp. 157, &c. For the appearance of this
side of the island, we may refer to our own engraved view. A rude picture of the
town, as it was in 1700, is given by Tournefort, Voyage du Levant, vol. i. pp. 148, 149
From his description it would appear that there were then many remains of the ancient
city.
4 From the British Museum. This city appears on coins as IPQTH AECBOY MY.
MITYLENE. 211
eouth-eastern coast of the island, it would afford a good shelter from the
north-westerly winds, whether the vessel entered the harbour, or lay at
anchor in the open roadstead.! It seems likely that the reason why they
lay here for the night was, because it was the time of dark moon,* and
they would wish for daylight to accomplish safely the intricate navigation
between the southern part of Lesbos and the mainland of Asia Minor.
In the course of Monday they were abreast of Chios (v. 15). The
weather in these seas is very variable: and from the mode of expression
employed by St. Luke it is probable that they were becalmed. An
English traveller under similar circumstances has described himself as
“engrossed from daylight till noon” by the beauty of the prospects with
which he was surrounded, as his vessel floated idly on this channel between
Scio and the Continent. On one side were the gigantic masses of the
mainland ; on the other were the richness and fertility of the island, with
its gardens of oranges,‘ citrons, almonds, and pomegranates, and its white
scattered houses overshadowed by evergreens. Until the time of its recent
disasters, Scio was the paradise of the modern Greek: and a familiar
proverb censured the levity of its inhabitants,> like that which in the
fIAHNH. The words € ΠῚ CTP on imperial coins seem to show that it was governed
by a supreme magistrate called pretor. Sometimes we find ApoJlo and the lyre (as
here), sometimes Sappho and the lyre. The phrase “ Concordia cum Adramytenis ”’
illustrates the connection of Mitylene with Adramyttium, in the recess of the opposite
gulf. See Vol. I. p. 279.
1 “The chief town of Mitylene is on the S.E. coast, and on a peninsula (once an
island forming two small harbours: of these the northern one is sheltered by a pier to
the north, and admits small coasters. ..... The roadstead, which is about seven
miles N. from the 5.10. end of the island, is ἃ good summer roadstead, but the contrary
in winter, being much exposed to the S. E. and N. E. winds, which blow with great
violence.” Purdy’s Sailing Directory, p. 154. See the Admiralty Chart, No. 1665,
also 1654, compared with Strabo, xiii. and Pausan, viii. It should be particularly ob-
served that St. Paul’s ship would be sheltered here from the N.W. We shall see, as
we proceed, increasing reason for believing that the wind blew from this quarter.
? The moon would be about six days old (see above), and would set soon after mid-
night. We are indebted for this suggestion to Mr. Smith (author of the “ Voyage and
Shipwreck of St. Paul,’”’) and we take this opportunity of acknowledging our obliga-
tions to his MS. notes, in various parts of this chapter.
3 Dr. Clarke’s Travels, vol. ii. p. 188. See the whole description. This applies to a
period some years before the massacre of 1822. For notices of Scio, and a description
of the scenery in its nautical aspect, see the Sailing Directory, pp. 124-128.
4 It must be remembered that the vegetation, and with the vegetation the scenery,
of the shores of the Mediterranean has varied with the progress of civilization. It
seems that the Arabians introduced the orange in the early part of the middle ages,
Other changes are subsequent to the discovery of America. See Vol. I. p. 21, ἢ. 3
The wines of Chios were always celebrated. Its coins display an amphora and a bunch
of grapes.
5 The proverb says that it is easier to find a green horse (ἄλογο πράσινο) than a
sober-minded Sciot (Χιῶτα φρόνιμον).
919 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
Apostle’s day described the coarser faults of the natives of Crete (Tit
i. 12).
The same English traveller passed the island of Samos after leaving
that of Chios. So likewise did St. Paul (v. 15). But the former sailed
along the western side of Samos, and he describes how its towering cloud.
capped heights are contrasted with the next low island to the west. The
Apostle’s course lay along the eastern shore, when a much narrower
“marine pass” intervenes between it and a long mountainous ridge of the
mainland, from which it appears to have been separated by some violent
convulsion of nature.” This high pron.ontory is the ridge of Mycale, well
known in the annals of Greek victory over the Persians. At its termina
tion, not more than a mile from Samos, is the anchorage of Trogyllium.
Here the night of Tuesday was spent ; apparently for the same reason as
that which caused the delay at Mitylene. The moon set early: and it
was desirable to wait for the day, before running into the harbour of
Miletus.®
See the view which Dr. Clarke gives of this remarkable “ marine pass,’’ Vol. Uf. p.
192. The summit of Samos was concealed by a thick covering of clouds, and he was told
that its heights were rarely unveiled. See again Vol. IIL pp. 364-367. Compare
Norie’s Sailing Directory, p. 150. ‘Samos, being mountainous, becomes visible twenty
leagues off ; and the summit of Mount Kerki retains its snow throughout the year.”
The strait through which Dr. Clarke sailed is called the Great Boghaz and is ten miles
broad. (Purdy, p.118.) The island to the west is Icaria, which, with this portion of
the Aigean, bore the name of Icarus. See Strabo, xiv. 1. παρώκειται τῇ Σάμῳ, νῆσος
ἡ Ἰκαρία, ἀφ᾽ ἧς τὸ Ἰκαρίον πέλαγος" αὕτη δ᾽ ἐπωνυμός ἐστιν ᾿Ικάρου, παιδὸς τοῦ
Δαιδάλου.
? See Fellows as quoted below. This strait is the Little Boghaz (Purdy, p. 120),
which is reckoned at about a mile in breadth both by Strabo and Chandler. ‘H
Μυκάλη ἐπίκειται τῇ ζαμίᾳ, καὶ ποιεῖ πρὸς αὐτὴν ἐπέκεινα τῆς Τρωγιλίου καλουμένης
ἄκρας, ὅσον ἑπταστάδιον πορθμόν, xiv. 1. “8 overlooked ἃ beautiful cultivated plain
lying low beneath us, bounded by the sea and Mycale, a mountain now, as anciently,
woody and abounding in wild beasts. The promontory, once called Trogilium, runs
out toward the N. end of Samos, which was in view, and, meeting a promontory of the
island, named Posidium, makes a strait only seven stadia or near a mile wide.”’? Chand-
ler, pp. 165, 166. We shall return presently to this ridge of Mycale in its relation to
the interior, when we refér to the journey of the Ephesian elders to Miletus. In
another sentence Strabo speaks of Trogyllium as πούπους τις τῆς Μυκάλης. It was
evidently a place well known to sailors, from his reckoning the distance from hence to
Sunium in Attica,
3 We should observe here again that Trogyllium, though on the shore of the main-
land, is protected by Samos from the north-westerly winds. With another wind it
might have been better to have anchored in a port to the N. E. of Samos, now called
Port Vathy, which is said in the Sailing Directory (p. 119), to be “ protected from
every wind but the N. W.” We may refer here to the clear description and map of
Samos by Tournefort, Voyage du Levant, 1. pp. 156, 157. But the Admiralty Charts
(4530 and 1555) should be zonsulted for the soundings, &. An anchorage will be
ween just to the east of the extreme point of Trogyllium, bearing the name of “ δὲ
Paul’s Port,”
TROGYLLIUM. 218
The short voyage from Chios to Trogyllium had carried St, Pau through
familiar scenery. The bay across which the vessel had been passing, was
that into which the Cayster! flowed. The mountains on the eastern main
were the western branches of Messogis and Tmolus,’ the ranges that enclose
the primeval plain of “ Asia.” The city, towards which it is likely that
some of the vessels in sight were directing their course, was Ephesus,
where the Apostolic labours of three years had gathered a company of
Christians in the midst of unbelievers. One whose solicitude was so great
for his recent converts could not willingly pass by and leave them unvisited ;
and had he had the command of the movements of the vessel, we can
hardly believe that he would have done so. He would surely have, landed
at Ephesus, rather than at Miletus. ‘The same wind which carried him to
the latter harbour, would have been equally advantageous for a quick
passage te the former. And, even had the weather been unfavourable at
the time for landing at Ephesus, he might easily have detained the vessel
at Trogyllium ; and a shert journey by land northward would have taken
him to the scene of his former labours.*
Yet every delay, whether voluntary or involuntary, might have been
fatal to the plan he was desirous to accomplish. St. Luke informs us
here (and the occurrence of the remark shews us how much regret was
felt by the Apostle on passing by Ephesus), that his intention was, +f
possible, to be in Jerusalem at Pentecost (v. 16). Even with a ship at
his command, he could not calculate on favourable weather, if he lost his
present opportunity : nor could he safely leave the ship which had con
veyed him hitherto ; for he was well aware that he could not be certain
of meeting with another that would forward his progress. He determined
therefore to proceed in the same vessel, on her southward eourse from
Trogyllium to Miletus. Yet the same watchful zeal which had urged
him to employ the last precious moments of the stay at Troas in his
Master’s cause, suggested to his prompt mind a method of re-impressing
the lessons of eternal truth on the minds of the Christians at Ephesus,
though unable to revisit them in person. He found that the vessel would
be detained at Miletus‘ a sufficient time to enable him to send for the
1 See what is said of Cayster, Vol. IT. pp. 18, 69, 70.
* See again on these Ephesian mountains, pp. 69, 70.
3 Trogyllium, as we have seen, is at the point where the coast projects and forms a
narrow strait between Asia Mimor and Samos. It recedes northwards towards Ephesus,
and southwards towards Miletus, each of these places being about equidistant from
Trogyllium. Up to this point from Chios St. Paul had been nearly following the line
of the Ephesian merchant vessels up what is now called the gulf of Scala Nuova. By
comparing the Admiralty Chart with Strabo and Chandler, a very good notion is
obtained of the coast and country between Ephesus and Miletus.
4 Jt is surely quite a mistake to suppose, with some commentators, that St. Paul had
‘he command of the movements of the vessel. His influence with the captain and the
peainen might induce them to do all in their power to oblige him; and perbaps we
914 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 51. PAUL.
presbyters of the Ephesian Church, with the hope of their meeting him
there. The distance between the two cities was hardly thirty miles, and a
good road connected them together.’ Thus, though the stay at Miletus
would be short, and it might be hazardous to attempt the journey himself,
ne could hope for one more interview,—if not with the whole Ephesian
Church, at least with those members of it whose responsibility was the
greatest.
The sail from Trogyllium, with a fair wind, would require but little
time. If the vessel weighed anchor.at daybreak on Wednesday, she would
be in harbour long before noon.? The message was doubtless sent to
COIN OF ILETUS?
Ephesus immediately on her arrival: and Paul remained at Miletus
waiting for those whom the Holy Spirit, by his hands, had made “ over-
seers” over the flock of Christ (v. 28). The city where we find the
Christian Apostle now waiting, while those who had the care of the vessel
were occupied with the business that detained them, has already been
referred to as more ancient than Ephesus,‘ though in the age of St. Paul
inferior to it in political and mercantile eminence. Even in Homer,’ the
may trace some such feeling in the arrangements at Assos, just as afterwards at Sidon
(Acts xxvii. 3), when on his voyageto Rome. But he must necessarily have been
coutent to take advantage of such opportunities as were consistent with the business
on which the vessel sailed. She evidently put in for business to Troas, Miletus, and
Patara. At the other places she seems to have touched merely for convenience, in
consequence of the state of the weather or the darkness.
1 Pliny says that Magnesia is fifteen miles from Ephesus (“ Magnesia abest ab Epheso
XV. ΜΝ. P.,” v. 31), and Magnesia was about equidistant from Ephesus, Tralfles, and
Miletus. See Leake’s map, with this road marked from the Peut. Table. It does not
go beyond Magnesia in the direction of Miletus, but follows the great eastern road
towards Iconium, which we have so often mentioned. There is, however, a shorter
road from Ephesus to Miletus in the Peut. Table, passing through Panionium and
Priene, and close behind the ridge of Mycale. This seems to have been the road
which Sir C. Fellows took (pp. 266-274). Some of the wanderings of Dr. Chandler
(ch. xl. xli. xlvi. xlvii. xlviii. xlix. lii. liii.) were more in the direction of the longer
route by Magnesia. See also for the part between Ephesus and Magnesia, Pococke’s
Travels, Π. ii. 54.
2 The distance is about seventeen nautical miles and a half. If the vessel sailed at
six in the morning from Trogyllium, she would easily be in harbour at nine.
3 From the British Museum. The common type of the coins of Miletus, a lion look:
ing back on a star, is an astrological emblem, like the ram on those of Antioch.
4 See above, in this volume, p. 18. Compare p. 70. Thus the imperial coins ot
Miletus are rare, and the autonomous coins begin very early.
ὁ Lom. Il. ii. 868. Herodotus (i. 142) speaks of it as the chief city in Ionia
MILETUS. 215
*Carian Miletus” appears asa place of renown. WHighty colonies went
forth from the banks of the Mander, and some of them were spread eves
to the eastern shores of the Black Sea, and beyond the pillars of Hercules
to the west.! It received its first blow in the Persian war, when its
inhabitants, like the Jews, had experience of a Babylonian captivity.* It
suffered once more in Alexander’s great campaign :* and after his time
it gradually began to sink towards its present condition of ruin and decay,
from the influence, as it would.seem, of mere natural causes,—the increase
of alluvial soil in the delta having the effect of removing the city gradually
further and further from the sea. Even in the Apostle’s time, there was
between the city and the shore a considerable space of level ground, through
which the ancient river meandered in new windings, like the Forth at
Stirling. Few events connect the history of Miletus with the transactions
of the Roman empire. When St. Paul was there, it was simply one of
the second-rate sea-ports on this populous coast, ranking, perhaps, with
Adramyttium or Patara, but hardly with Ephesus or Smyrna.*
The excitement and joy must have been great among the Christians
of Ephesus, when they heard that their honoured friend and teacher, to
whom they had listened so often in the school of Tyrannus, was in the
harbour ® of Miletus, within the distance of a few miles. The presbyters
must have gathered together in all haste to obey the summons, and gone
with eager steps out of the southern gate, which leads to Miletus. By
those who travel on such an errand, a journey of twenty or thirty miles is
not regarded long and tedious, nor is much regard paid to the difference
1 Strabo. Plin. Senec. ad Helv. 6. In an inscription given by Chandler, Miletus
boasts itself as ‘primam in Ionia fundatam et matrem multarum et magnarum urbium
in Ponto et Agypto et undique per orbem.”
3 Herod. v. 30, vi. 18. 3 Arrian. Anab. i. 19, 20.
4 This is the comparison of Sir C. Fellows. The Meander was proverbial among
the ancients, both for the sinuosities of its course, and the great quantity of alluvial
soil brought down by the stream. Pliny tells us that islands near Miletus had been
joined to the continent (ii. 91. See v. 31), and Strabo relates that Priene, once a sea-
port, was in his time forty stadia from the sea. Fellows (p. 264) says that Miletus
was once a headland in a bay, which is now a “dead flat” ten miles in breadth.
Chandler (p. 202), on looking down from Priene on the “bare and marshy plain”
says, “ How different its aspect, when the mountains were boundaries of a gulf, and
Miletus, Myus, and Priene maritime cities,”—and again (p. 207) he looks forward to
the time when Samos and other islands will unite with the shore, and the present pro-
montories will be seen inland. See Kieppert’s Hellas, for a representation of the coast
as it was in the early Greek times ; and for a true delineation of its present state, sea
the Admiralty Chart, No. 1555,
5 For Smyina, see again pp. 18, 70.
6 Strabo says that Miletus had four harbours, one of which was for vessels of war,
No trace of them is to be seen now: and, indeed, there seems to be some doubt wheter
the remains called Pa/latsha, and generally supposed to be those of Miletus, are nod
eally those of Myes. See Forbiger, pp. 213, 214, and the notes.
910 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
between day and night.!| The presbyters of Ephesus might easily reack
Miletus on the day after that on which the summons was received.” And
though they might be weary when they arrived, their fatigue would soon
be forgotten at the sight of their friend and instructor ; and God, also,
“who comforts them that are cast down” (2 Cor. vii. 6), comforted him
by the sight of his disciples. They were gathered together—probably in
some solitary spot upon the shore—to listen to his address. This little
company formed a singular contrast with the crowds which used to assem-
ble at the times of public amusement in the theatre of Miletus.? But that
vast theatre is now a silent ruin,—while the words spoken by a careworn
traveller to a few despised strangers are still living as they were that day,
to teach lessons for all time, and to make known eternal truths to all who
will hear them,—while. they reveal to us, as though they were merely
human words, all the tenderness and the affection of Paul, the individual
speaker.‘
Fiotpteene Brethren,? ye know yourselves,® from the first
pact ou ὑϑὴ day that I came into Asia after what manner I
among have been with you throughout all the time; serv-
1 For a notion of the scenery of this journey of the presbyters over or round the
ridge of Mycale, and by the windings of the Meander (Μαιάνδρου te ῥοὰς, Μυκάλης τ’
αἰπεινὰ κάρηνα. Hom. 1]. ii. 869), the reader may consult Chandler and Fellows.
The latter says, “The ride of fifteen miles from Sansin [Priene] to Chanly, probably
the ancient Neapolis [more probably Panioniwm], standing not far beyond the pro-
montory of Trogyllium, is up the steepest track I ever rode over. From the summit
of the main range, of which Trogyllium forms the termination (although Samos is geo-
logically a continuation of it), is seen on either side a perfect and beautiful map, on
one side extending to the mountains forming the Dorian Gulf, and on the other to
those of Chios and Smyrna” (p. 272). Dr. Chandler describes the ascent on the
northern side (p. 180). He was travelling, like these presbyters, in April; and “the
weather was unsettled: the sky was blue and the sun shone, but a wet wintry north
wind swept the clouds along the top of the range of Mycale” (p. 184).
? We may remark here, in answer to those who think that the ἐπίσκοποι mentioned
in this passage were the bishops of various places in the province of Asia, that there
was evidently no time to summon them. On the convertibility of ἐπίσκοπος and
πρέσθύτερος, see below.
3 Compare a view in the first volume of the Transactions of the Ditettanti Society,
and a vignette in the second volume, which shows the great size of the theatre. There
are three German monographs on Miletus, by Rambach (Hal. 1790), Schroder (Stral-
sund, 1827), Soldan (Darmstadt, 1829).
4 For a very instructive practical commentary on this speech, see the concluding
sections of Mencken’s Blicke in das Leben des Ap. P. For the points of resemblance
between the expressions used by the Apostle here and in his Epistles, we have used a
valuable essay by Tholuck in Studien u. Kritiken.
5 ᾿Αδελφοὶ is found here in the Uncial Manuscript p and in some early versions; and
we have adopted it, because it is nearly certain that St. Paul would not have begun
his address abruptly without some such word. Compare all his other recorded speeches
in the Acts.
6 ‘Yeic, emphatic
SPEECH TO THE EPHESIAN PRESBYTERS, Q17
ung the Lord Jesus’ with all? lowliness of mind, and in many
tears* and trials which befel me through the plotting* of the
Jews. And how I kept* back none of those things which are
profitable for you, but declared them to you, and taught you
both publicly and from house® to house; testifying both to
Jews and Gentiles their? need of repentance towards God, and
faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And now as for me,! behold
I go to Jerusalem,’ in spirit foredoomed to chains; yet I
know not the things which shall befal me there, save that in
every city ® the Holy Spirit gives the same testimony, that
bonds and afflictions abide me. But none of these things move
me," neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might
finish my course with joy,” and the ministry which I received
from the Lord Jesus, to testify the Glad-tidings of the grace of
God.
His farewell And now, behold I know that ye all,® among whom
roa I have gone from city to city, proclaiming the king-
dom of God, shall see my face no more. Wherefore I take you
1T6 Κυρίῳ. With this self-commendation Tholuck compares 1 Thess. 11..10, and 2
Cor. vi. 3, 4. See note on verse 33, below. “ Felix,” says Bengel, “ qui sic exordiri
potest conscientiam auditorum testando.”
“All.” Tholuck remarks on the characteristic use of πᾶς in St. Paul’s Epistles,
“ Tears.’ Compare 2 Cor. ii. 4, and Phil. iii. 18.
“ Plotting of Jews.” Compare 1 Cor. xv. 31.
“Κορὲ back nothing.” Compare 2 Cor. iv. 2, and 1 Thess, ii. 4.
“ House to house.” Compare 1 Thess. ii. 11.
Observe the article τήν, 8 Ghserve the ἐγώ,
Δεδεμένος ἐγώ is the true reading. St. Paul was δεδεμένος, ti. e. a prisoner in
chains, but as yet only in the Spirit, τῷ πνεύματι, not in body. Τὸ πνεύμα here is not
the Holy Spirit, from which it is distinguished by the addition of ἅγεον in the verse
below. This explanation of the passage (which agrees with that of Grotius and Chry-
‘sostom) seems the natural one, in spite of the objectionsof De Wette and others.
10 We have two examples of this afterwards, namely at Tyre (Acts xxi. 4) and at
Ceesarea (Acts xxi. 10, 11). And from the present passage we learn that such warn
ings had been given in many places during this journey. St. Paul’s own anticipations
of danger appear Rom. xv. 31.
1 The reading adopted by Tischendorf here, though shorter, is the same in sense.
12 Compare 2 Tim. iv. 7, and Phil. ii. 17. See the remarks which have been made
in the early part cf this Chapter on this favourite metaphor of St. Paul, especial! yp
198, n. 1.
8 This “all” includes not only the Milesian presbyters but also the brethren from
Macedon (See Acts xx. 4). Observe also the διελθών. With regard to the expecta-
tion expressed by St. Paul, it must be regarded as a human inference, from the danger
which he knew to be before him. If (as we think) he was liberated after his first im:
prisonment at Rome, he did see some of his present audience again. Tholuck com
pares Phil. i. 20, i. 25, and ii. 24.
»
ox’ oOo un kh
218 THE LIFE AND ἘΡΙΒΤΙΙΕΒ OF ST. PAUL.
to witness this day, that Iam clear from the blood! of al. For
I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.
Take heed, therefore, unto yourselves, and to all the flock in
which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers,’ to feed the
Church of God? which He has purchased with His own blood.
For this I know, that after my departure grievous wolves shall
enter in among you, who will not spate the flock. And from
your own selves will men arise speaking perverted words, that
they may draw away the disciples after themselves.‘ Therefore,
be watchful, and remember that for the space of three years* I
ceased not to warn every one of you, night and day, with tears.*
Final commen- And? now, brethren, I commend you to God, and
dation to God
and exhorta- to the word of His grace; even to H’m who is able to
tion to disin-
terested exer- Duild you up and to give you an inheritance among all
them that are sanctified. When I was with you, I
coveted no man’s silver or gold, or raiment. Yea, ye know
yourselves,’ that these hands ministered to my necessities, and to
those who were with me. And all this I did for your example;
to teach you that so labouring we ought to support the helpless,»
1 See xviii. 6. “ Your blood be upon your own heads: I am clean.”
3 "Επισκόπους. It is scarcely necessary to remark, that in the New Testament the
words ἐπίσκοπος and πρεσβύτερος ‘are convertible. Compare verse 17 and Tit. i. 5, 7,
and see Vol. I. p. 434. Tholuck remarks, that this reference to the Holy Spirit as the
author of church government is in exact accordance with 1 Cor. xii. 8, 11 and 28.
3 We have retained the T. R. here, since the MSS. and fathers are divided between
the readings Ofov and Κυρίου. At the same time, we must acknowledge that the
balance of authority is rather in favour of Κυρίου. A very candid and able outline of
the evidence on each side of the question is given by Mr. Humphry. ‘The sentiment
exactly agrees with 1 Cor. vi. 20.
4 We read ἑαυτῶν with Lachmann on the authority of some of the best MSS.
5 This space of three years.may either be used (in the Jewish mode of reckoning)
for the two years and upwards which St. Paul spent at Ephesus; or, if we suppose
him to speak to the Macedonians and Corinthians also (who were present), it may
refer to ithe whole time (about three years and a half), since he came to reside at
Ephesus in the autumn of 54 a.p.
6 See p. 217, n. ὃ. We have much satisfaction in referring here to the second of A.
Monod’s recently published sermons. (Saint Paul, Cinq. Discours. Paris, 1851.)
7 This conclusion reminds us of that of the letter to the Romans so recently written.
Compare Rom. xvi. 25.
8 This is the force of the aorist, unless we prefer to suppose it used (as often by St
Paul) for a perfect.
9 This way of appealing to the recollection of his converts in proor of his disinter-
estedness is highly characteristic of St. Paul. Compare 1 Thess, ii. 5-11. 2 Thess. iii
4-9. ‘WCor. ix. 4-15. 2'Cor, ΣΙ. 2)Cor. xu. 14, &e.
10 ᾿Ασθενούντων, i.e. the poor. This interpretation is defended by Chrysostom, and
confirmed by Aristophanes (Pax. 636), quoted by Wetstein. The interpretaticn of
DEPARTURE FROM MILETUS. 219
and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said “ Ir
ΙΒ MORE BLESSED TO GIVE THAN TO RECEIVE.”
The close of this speech was followed by a solemn act of united sup
plication (Acts xx. 36). St. Paul knelt down on the shore with all?
those who had listened to him, and offered up a prayer to that God whe
was founding His Church in the midst of difficulties apparently insuperable ;
and then followed an outbreak of natural grief, which even Christian faith
and resignation were not able to restrain. They fell on the Apostle’s neck
and clung to him, and kissed him again and again,’ sorrowing most because
of his own foreboding announcement, that they should never behold that
countenance again, on which they had often gazed* with reverence and
love (ib. 37, 38). But no long time could be devoted to the grief of
separation. The wind was fair,‘ and the véssel must depart. They
accompanied the Apostle to the edge of the water (ib. 38). The Christ-
ian brethren were torn from the embrace of their friends ;* and the ship
sailed out into the open sea, while the presbyters prepared for their weary
and melancholy journey to Ephesus.
The narrative of the voyage is now resumed in detail. It is quite
clear, from St. Luke’s mode of expression, that the vessel sailed from
Miletus on the day of the interview. With a fair wind she would easily
run down to Cos in the course of the same afternoon. The distance is
about forty nautical miles ; the direction is due south. The phrase used
implies a straight course and a fair wind ;° and we conclude, from the
well-known phenomena of the Levant, that the wind was north-westerly,
which is the prevalent direction in those seas.?7_ With this wind the vessel
would make her passage from Miletus to Cos in six hours, passing the
shores of Caria, with the high summits of Mount Latmus on the left, and
with groups of small islands (among which Patmos (Rev. i. 9) would be
seen at times®) studding the sea on the right. Cos is an island about
twenty-three miles in length, extending from south-west to north-east, and
Calvin (who takes it as the weak in faith), which is supported by Neander and others,
seems hardly consistent with the context.
1 Θεὶς τὰ γόνατα αὐτοῦ σὺν πᾶσιν αὐτοῖς προσηύξατο, Vv. 36.
5. Κατεφίλουν, ν. 37. Observe the imperfect.
3 Τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ ϑεωρεῖν, ν. 38. Observe ϑεωρεῖν, and contrast it with the
word ὄψεσθε, used by St. Paul himself above, v. 25. Meyer says justly of the wncle
scene: “ Welche einfach schéne und ergreifende Schilderung.”’
4 See below. 5 Observe ὠποσπασθέντας, xxi. 1.
8 ᾿Ευθυδρομήσαντες, xxi. 1. See what has been said before on this nautical phrase
Vol. I. p. 285.
7 For what relates to this prevalent wind. see below.
8 Dr. Clarke describes a magnificent evening. with the sun setting behind Patmos
wich he saw on the voyage from Samos to Cos. Travels, ii. 194.
ὡ THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 8T. PAUL.
separated by a narrow channel from the mainland.'' But we should rather
sonceive the town to be referred to, which lay at the eastern extremity of
the island. It is described by the ancients as a beautiful and well-built
city ;? and it was surrounded with fortifications erected by Alcibiades
towards the close of the Peloponnesian war? Its symmetry had been
injured by an earthquake, and the restoration had not yet been effected ;4
but the productiveness of the island to which it belonged, and its position
in the Levant, made the city a place of no little consequence. The wine
and the textile fabrics of Cos were well known among the imports of Italy.
Even now no harbour is more frequented by the merchant vessels of the
Levant.’ The roadstead is sheltered by nature from all winds except the
north-east, and the inner harbour was not then, as it is now, an unhealthy
lagoon.?’ Moreover, Claudius had recently bestowed peculiar privileges on
the city. Another circumstance made it the resort of many strangers,
and gave it additional renown. It was the seat of the medical school
traditionally connected with Aisculapius ; and the temple of the god of
healing was crowded with votive models, so as to become in effect a
museum of anatomy and pathology.2 The Christian physician St. Luke,
10
COIN OF COS.
1 This is to be distinguished from the channel mentioned below, between the southern
tide of Cos and Cape Crio.
? Strabo and Diodorus, 3 Thue. viii. 100.
4 The city was restored after the earthquake by Antoninus Pius. Pausan. viii. 43.
5 Amphore Coz, Plin. xxv. 12, 46. Cow Vestes, Hor. Od. iv. 13.
6 “ No place in the Archipelago is more frequented by merchant vessels than this
port.” Purdy, p. 115.
7 See the description of the town and anchorage in Purdy :—“ The town is sheltered
from westerly winds by very high mountains,” p. 114. ‘The road is good in all
winds except the E.N.E.,” p.115. A view of the modern city of Cos from the anchor-
age, as well as the present sourdings, amd the traces of the ancient port, is given in
the Admiralty Chart, No. 1550.
8 Tac. Ann. xii. 61.
9 See Forbiger’s Alte Geographie, p. 240. The medical clan of the Asclepiade be-
longed to this island. [See Vol. I. p. 313, n. 2.1] Perhaps the fullest account of Cos
is that given by Dr. Clarke, vol. ii. pp. 196-213, and again after his return from Egypt,
vol. iii. 321-329. He describes the celebrated plane-tree, and from this island he
brought the altar which is now in the Public Library at Cambridge. We may refer
also to a paper on Cos by Col. Leake in the second vol. of the Transactions of the
Royal Society of Literature. There isa monograph on the subject by Kuster (de Ce
Insula. Hal. 1833).
10 From the British Museum. It is a coin of Augustus, exhibiting a club and a ser-
pent, the emblems of Hercules and Aisculapius. The earliest type on the cc'ns of Cos
is ἃ crah; after this, a crab with the bow of Hercules.
COS AND RHODES. 221
wha knew these coasts so well, could hardly be ignorant of the scient#ie
and religious celebrity of Cos. We can imagine the thankfulness with
which he would reflect—as the vessel Jay at anchor off the city of Hippo
crates—that he had been emancipated from the bonds of superstition,
without becoming a vietim to that scepticism which often succeeds it,
especially in minds familiar with the science of physical phenomena.'
On leaving the anchorage of Cos, the vessel would have to procee
through the channel which lies between the southern shore of the island and
that tongue of the mainland which terminates in the Point of Cuidus. If
the wind continued in the north-west, the vessel would be able to hold a
straight course from Cos to Cape Crio (for such is the modern name of the
promontory of Triopium, on which Cnidus was built), and after rounding
the point she would run clear before the wind all the way to Rhodes.’
Another of St. Paul’s voyages will lead us to make mention of Cnidus.3
We shall, therefore, only say, that the extremity of the promontory
descends with a perpendicular precipice to the sea, and that this high rock
is separated by a level space from the main, so that, at a distance, it
appears like one of the numerous islands on the coast.‘ Its history, ag
1 Ifweattached any importance to the tradition which represents St. Luke asa painter,
we might add that Cos was the birth-place of Apelles as well as of Hippocrates.
* We shall return again to the subject of the north-westerly winds which prevail
during the fine season in the Archipelago, and especially in the neighbourhood of
Rhodes. For the present the following authorities may suffice. Speaking’ of Rhodes,
Dr. Clarke says (vol. ii. Ὁ. 223), “The winds are liable to little variation ; they are
N. or N. W. during almost every month, but these winds blow with great violence :”?
and again, p. 230, “ A N. wind has prevailed from the time of our leaving the Darda-
nelles.” Again (vol. iii. p. 378), in the same seas he speaks of a gale from the N. W.:
—‘ Τὸ is surprising for what a length of time, and how often, the N. W. rages in the
Archipelago. It prevails almost unceasingly through the greater part of the year,”
380. And ina note he adds, “ Mr. Spencer Smith, brother of Sir Sidney Smith, in-
formed the author that he was an entire month employed in endeavouring to effect
a passage from Rhodes to Stanchio [Cos]: the N. W. wind prevailed all the time
with such force, that the vessel in which he sailed could not double Cape Crio.”
We find the following in Norie’s Sailing Directory, p. 127 :—“The Etesian winds,
which blow from the N. E. and N. W. quarters, are the monsoons of the Levant, which
blow constantly during the summer, and give to the climate of Greece so advantageous
a temperature. At this season the greatest part of the Mediterranean, but particularly
the eastern half, including the Adriatic and Archipelago, are subject to N. W. winds.
. - » When the sun, on advancing from the North, has begun to rarefy the atmosphere
of southern Europe, the Etesians of spring commence in the Mediterranean Sea. These
blow in Italy during March and April.” In Purdy’s Sailing Directory, p. 122, of the
neighbourhood of Smyrna and Ephesus: “ The northerly winds hereabous continue all
the summer, and sometimes blow with unremitting violence for several weeke.” Sea
again what Admiral Beaufort says of the N. W. wind at Patara.
3 See Acts xxvii. 7.
4 In the Admiralty Chart of the gulf of Cos, &c. (Nv. 1604), a very good view οἱ
Cape Crio is given. We shall speak of Cnidus more fully hereafter. Meantime wa
may refer to a view in Laborde, which gives an admirable representation of the passage
between Cos and Cape Crio.
$93 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
well as its appearance, was well impressed on the mind of the Greek navi
gatcr of old; for it was the scene of Conon’s victory ; and the memory
of their great admiral made the south-western corner of the Asiatic
peninsula to the Athenians, what the south-western corner of Spain is to
us, through the memories of St. Vincent and Trafalgar.
We have supposed St. Paul’s vessel to have rounded Cape Crio, to
have left the western shore of Asia Minor, and to be proceeding along
the southern shore. The current between Rhodes and the main runs
strongly to the westward ;’ but the north-westerly wind? would soon
carry the vessel through the space of fifty miles to the northern extremity
of the island, where its famous and beautiful city was built.
Until the building of its metropolis, the name of this island was com-
paratively unknown. But from the time when the inhabitants of the
earlier towns were brought to one centre,? and the new city, built by
Hippodamus (the same architect who planned the streets of the Pirzus),
rose in the midst of its perfumed gardens and its amphitheatre of hills,
with unity so symmetrical, that it appeared like one house,;—Rhodes has
held an illustrious place among the islands of the Mediterranean. From
the very effect of its situation, lying as it did on the verge of two of the
basins of that sea, it became the intermediate point of the eastern and
western trade. Even now it is the harbour at which most vessels touch
on their progress to and from the Archipelago.’ It was the point from
which the Greek geographers reckoned their meridians of latitude and
longitude. And we may assert, that no place has been so long renowned
for ship-building, if we may refer to the “benches, and masts, and ship-
boards” of “‘Dodanim and Chittim,” with the feeble constructions of the
modern Turkish dockyard, as the earliest and latest efforts of that Rhodian
1 Purdy. ? See above.
3 Herodotus simply mentions Rhodes as forming part of the Dorian confederacy
with Cos and Cnidus (i. 144, 11. 178). It was about the time of the Peloponnesian
war that the three earlier cities of Lindus, Ialysus, and Camirus were centralised in
the new ciéy of Rhodes. (Diod. xiii. 75. Strabo, xiv.) “We find the Rhodian navy
rising in strength and consequence towards the time of Demosthenes ;”’ and, after
this period, it “‘ makes nearly as great a figure in history as Venice does in the annals
ef Modern Europe.””—Cramer’s Asia Minor, ii. 229, 230.
4 Diod. Sic. xiii. 75.
> An interesting illustration of the trade of Rhodes will be found in vol. iii. of the
frans. of the Royal Society of Literature, in a paper on some inscribed handles of
wine-vessels found at Alexandria. We shall refer to this paper again when we come
to speak of Cnidus. .
6 “ Vessels bound to the ports of Karamania, as well as to those of Syria and Egypt
generally touch here for pilots or for intelligence.” Beaufort. “The southern hap
bour is generally full of merchant-vessels.” Purdy, p. 232. ‘The chief source of
what little opulence it still enjoys is in the number of vessels which touch here ou
their passage from the Archipelago to the eastward.” Ib,
e
RHODES. 22a
skill, which. was celebrated by Pliny in the time of St Paul To the
copious supplies of ship timber were added many other physical advantages.
It was a proverb, that the sun shone every day in Rhodes ;* and het
inhabitants revelled in the luxuriance of the vegetation which surroundec
them. We find this beauty and this brilliant atmosphere typified in her
coins, on one side of which is the head of Apollo radiated like the sun,
while the other exhibits the rose-flower, the conventional emblem which
bore the name of the island. But the interest of what is merely outward
COIN OF RHODES.?
fades before the moral interest associated with its history. If we rapidly
*run over its annals, we find something in every period, with which elevated
thoughts are connected. The Greek period is the first,—famous not
merely for the great Temple of the Sun,‘ and the Colossus, which, like
the statue of Borromeo at Arona, seemed to stand over the city to protect
it,*—but far more for the supremacy of the seas, which was employed to
put down piracy, for the code of mercantile law, by which the commerce of
later times was regulated, and for the legislative enactments, framed almost
in the spirit of Christianity, for the protection of the poor.’ This is fol-
lowed by the Roman period, when the faithful ally, which had aided by
her naval power in subduing the East, was honoured by the Senate and
1 Plin, 3 Plin. See Forbiger, p. 244.
3 From the British Museum. There was a notion that the island had emerged from
the sea under the influence of the sun. (See Pindar. Olymp. vii.) The flower on most
of the Rhodian coins (as here) was like a tulip; and Spanheim thought that it was
that of the Malu: punicum, which was used for dyeing ; but there is no doubt that
it was the rose conventially represented : and sometimes it appears in a form exactly
similar to the heraldic roses in our own Tudor architecture. There are Rhodian coins
of Nero’s reign in which the emperor is himself represented as the sun, with the inscrip-
tion KAIZAP AYTOKPATQP ΝΈΡΩΝ, and the device of a Victory on the rostrum
of a ship, with a rose-flower in the field. See Eckhel, p. 605.
4 Forbiger, 245.
5. The Colossus was in ruins even in Strabo’s time (xiv.). It had been overthrown
by an earthquake according to Polybius (v. 88,1). 170 seems to be a popular mistake
that this immense statue stood across the entrance of one of the harbours. The only
parallel in modern times is the statue of San Carlo Borromeo [which has been alluded
to before in reference to Athens, Vol. 1. p. 376]; and in height they were nearly iden-
tical, the latter being 106 feet, the former 105 (70 cubits). Sce the paper referred to,
p. 222, n. 5.
* Strabo xiv. See Potyb.v. Cic. de Rep. and Sallust. Compare Miuller’s Doriana
32; THE Lik AND EPISTLES OF 51. PAUL.
the Emperors with the name and privileges of freedom :’ and this by the
Byzantine, during which Christianity was established in the Levant, and
the city of the Rhodians, as the metropolis of a province of islands, if no
longer holding the Empire of the Mediterranean, was at least recognised
as the Queen of the ANgean.* During the earlier portion of the middle
ages, while mosques were gradually taking the place of Byzantine churches,
Rhodes was the last Christian city to make a stand against the advancing
Saracens ; and again during their later portion, she reappears as a city
ennobled by the deeds of Christian chivalry ; so that, ever since the suc-
cessful stege of Solyman the Magnificent,* her fortifications and her stately
harbour, and the houses in her streets, continue to be the memorials of the
knights of St. John. Yet no point of Rhodian history ought to move our
spirits with so much exultation as that day, when the vessel that conveyed
St. Paul came round the low northern point‘ of the island to her moor-
ings before the city. We do not know that he landed, like other great
conquerors who have visited Rhodes. It would not be necessary even to
enter the harbour: for a safe anchorage would be found for the night in
the openroadstead*® ‘The kingdom of God cometh not with observation ;”
and the vessel which was seen by the people of the’ city to weigh anchor in
the morning, was probably undistinguished from the other coasting craft
with which they were daily familiar.
No view in the Levant is more celebrated than that from Rhodes
towards the opposite shore of Asia Minor. The last ranges of Mount
Taurus ® come down in magnificent forms to the sea; and a long line of
snowy summits is seen along the Lycian coast, while the sea between is
1 After the defeat of Antiochus, Rhodes received from the Roman senate some
valuable possessions on the mainland, including part of Caria and the whole of Lycia.
Liv. xxxviii. 89. Polyb. xxii. 7, 7, 27, 8. [See what has been said on the province
of Asia, Vol. I. pp. 239, 240, comparing p. 243.] These continental possessions were
afterwards withdrawn; but the Rhodians were still regarded as among the allies of
Rome. Liv. xlv. xlvi. They rendered valuable aid in the war against Mithridates,
and were not reduced to the form of a province til the reign of Vespasian. Sueton.
Vesp.c. 8. Tac. Ann. xii. 58. n.this interval, the island was plundered by Cassius
(App. B. C. iv. 72), and Tiberius resided here during part of the reign of Augustus
(Tac. Ann. i. 4, iv. 15).
* It appears as the metropolis of the Provincia Imsularum in Hierocles, pp. 685, 686.
3 For a curious account of this siege, see Fontani, Libri tres de Bello Rhodio,
Reme, 1524.
4 Compare Purdy’s Sailing Directory with the Admiralty Chart (No. 1639), attached
to which is an excellent view of Rhodes.
5. See Purdy, p. 231. Von Hammer gives a plan of the harbour of Rhodes as it waa
In the siege of Solyman. Topogr. Ansichten, Vienna, 1811.
8 Compare Vol. I. p. 20. For the appearance of this magnificent ccast on a nearer
epproach, see Dr. Clarke. For a description of these south-western mountains of Asia
Minor the travels of Spratt and Forbes may be consulted,
PATARA. 245
often an unruffled expanse of water under a blue and brilliant sky.
Across this expanse, and towards a harbour near the further edge of these
Lycian mountains, the Apostle’s course was now directed (Acts xxi. 1).
To the eastward of Mount Cragus,—the steep sea-front of which is known
to the pilots of the Levant by the name of the “Seven Capes,” *—the
river Xanthus winds through a rich and magnificent valley, and past the
ruins of an ancient city, the monuments of which, after a long concealment,
have lately been made familiar to the British public. The harbour of the
city of Xanthus was situated a short distance from the left bank of the
river. Pataia was to Xanthus what the Pireus was to Athens ;‘ and,
though this comparison might seem to convey the idea of an importance
which never belonged to the Lycian sea-port, yet ruins still remain to show
that it was once a place of some magnitude and splendour. ‘The bay, into
which the river Xanthus flowed, is now a ‘desert of moving sand,” which
is blown by the westerly wind into ridges along the shore, and is gradually
hiding the remains of the ancient city ;° but a triple archway and a vast
theatre have been described by travellers. Some have even thought tuat
1 See the description in Von Hammer.
2 “These capes (called in Italian, the usual language of the pilots, sette capi) are
the extremities of high and rugged mountains, occupying a space of ten miles.” Pur-
dy, p. 236.
3 The allusion is of course to the Xanthian room in the British Museum.
4 Thus Appian speaks of Patara as the port of Xanthus: Βροῦτος ἐς Ildrapa ἀπὸ
Ξανθου κατήει, πόλιν ἐοικυῖαν ἐπινείῳ Ξανθίων. B.C.iv. 81. In the following chap-
ter he says that Andriace had the same relation to Myra. (Acts xxvii. 5.)
5 Admiral Beaufort was the first to describe Patara. Karamania, chap.i. It wag
also visited by the Dilettanti Society. (See two views in vol. ii. of the Ionian Anti-
quities.) It is described by Sir C. Fellows both in his “ Lycia’’ and his “ Asia Minor.”
See especially the former work, pp. 222-224. In the travels of Spratt and Forbes the
destruction of the harbour and the great increase of sand are attributed to the rising
of the coast, 1. 32, m. 189, 196. The following passage is transcribed at length from
this work. 1, 30 :—“ A day was devoted to an excursion to Patara, whicu iies on the
coast at some distance from the left bank of the river, about ten miles from Xanthus,
‘We rode along the river side to the sand-hills, passing large straw-thatched villages
of gipsies on the way, and then crossed the sand-hills to the sea-side. ... At Patara
is the triple arch which formed the gate of the city, the baths, and the theatre, ad-
mirably described long ago by Captain Beaufort. The latter is scooped out of the
side of a hill, and is remarkable for the completeness of the proscenium and the steep-
ness and narrowness of the marble seats. Above it is the singular pit excavated cn
the summit of the same hill, with its central square column, conjectured, with pro-
bability, by Captain Beaufort, to have been the seat of the oracle of Apollo Patareus.
The stones of which the column is built are displaced from each other in a singular
manner, as if by the revolving motion of an earthquake. A fine group of palm trees
rises among the ruins, and the aspect of the city when it was flourishing must have
been very beautiful. Now its port isan inland marsh, generating poisonous malaria;
and the mariner sailing along the coast would never guess that the sand-hills before
bim blocked up the harbour into which St. Paul sailed of old.”
* A drawing of the gateway is given by Beaufort, p. 1. Views of the theatre, de
vor. 1.—15
226 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF §T. PAUL.
they have discovered the seat of the oracle of Apolla, who was worshipped
here as his sister Diana was worshipped at Ephesus or Perga ;' and the
COM OF PATARA.®
city walls can be traced among the sand-hills, with the castle* that com-
manded the harbour. In’ the war against Antiochus, this harbour was
protected by a sudden storm from the Roman fleet, when Livius sailed
from Rhodes. Now we find the Apostie Paul entering it with a fair
wind, after a short sail from the same island.
t seems that the vessel in which St. Paul had been hitherto sailing
either finished its voyage at Patara, or was proceeding further eastward
‘along the southern coast of Asia Minor, and not to the ports of Phcenicia.
St. Paul could not know in advance whether it would be “possible” for
him to arrive in Palestine in time for Pentecost (xx. 16) ; but an oppor-
tunity presented itself unexpectedly at Patara. Providential circumstances
conspired with his own convictions to forward his journey, notwithstanding
the discouragement which the fears of others had thrown across his path. In
the harbour of Patara they found a vessel which was on the point of
of Patara will be found in the first volume of the Ionian Antiquities, published by the
Dilettanti Society.
1 See Vol. 1. pp. 161, 162, and Vol. II. p. 74, &e.
2 From the British Museum. For the oracle of the Patarean Apollo, see Herod, i.
182. Cf. Hor. Od. iii. 4, 64. Sir C. Fellows says (Asia Minor, pp. 179-183) that the
coins of all the district show the ascendancy of Apollo.
3 Beaufort. p. 3.
4 The Roman fleet had followed nearly the same course as the Apostle from the
neighbourhood of Ephesus. “ Civitates, quas preetervectus est, Miletus. . . . Cnidus,
Cous. Rhodum ut est ventum.. .navigat Patara. Primo secundus ventus ad ip-
sam urbem ferebat eos: postquam, circumagente se vento, fluctibus dubiis volvi ccep-
tum est mare, pervicerunt quidem remis, ut tenerent terram; sed neque circa urbem
tuta statio erat, nec ante hostium portus in salo stare poterant, aspero mari, et nocte
imminente.”? Liv. xxxvii. 16. We may add another illustration from Roman history,
in Pompey’s voyage, whete the same places are mentioned in a similar order. After
describing his departure from .Witylene, and his passing by Asta and Chios, Lucan
proceeds :
Ephesonque relinquens
Radit saxa Sami: Spirat de littore Coe
Aura fluens: Cnidon inde fugit, claramque relinquit
Sole Rhodon.—Phars. viii.
~
VOYAGE TO PHCNICIA. 227
trossing the open sea to Phoenicia (xxi. 2). They went on board without
a moment’s delay ; and it seems evident, from the mode of expression, that
they saiied the very day of their arrival. Since the voyage lay across
the open sea,” with no shoals or rocks to be dreaded, and since the north-
westerly winds often blow steadily for several days in the Levant during
spring,’ there could be no reason why the vessel should not weigh anchor
in the evening, and sail through the night.
We have now to think of St. Paul as no longer passing through nar-
row channels, or coasting along in the shadow of great mountains, but as
sailing continuously through the midnight hours, with a prosperous breeze
filling the canvass, and the waves curling and sounding round the bows. of
the vessel. There is a peculiar freshness and cheerfulness in the prosecu-
tion of a prosperous voyage with a fair wind by night. The sailors on the
watch, and the passengers also, feel it, and the feeling is often expressed
in songs or in long-continued conversation. Such cheerfulness might be
felt by the Apostle and his companions, not without thankfulness to that
God “who giveth songs in the night” (Job xxxv. 10), and who:
hearkeneth to those who fear Him, and speak often to one another, and
think upon His name (Mal. iii, 16). If we remember, too, that a month
had now elapsed since the moon was shining on the snows of Hwmus,‘ and
that the full moonlight would now be resting on the great sail® of the
ship, we are not without an expressive imagery, which we may allowably
throw round the Apostle’s progress over the waters between Patara and
Tyre. .
The distance between these two points is three hundred and forty ἢ
geographical miles ; and if we bear in mind that the north-westerly winds
in April often blow like monsoons in the Levant,® and that the rig of
ancient sailing-vessels was peculiarly favourable to a quick run before the
wind,’ we come at once to the conclusion that the voyage might&easily be
accomplished in forty-eight hours. Hverything in St. Luke’s account
1 This is shown not only by the participle ἐπιβάντες, but by the omission of any
such phrase as τῇ ἐπιούσῃ, τῇ ἑτερᾳ, or τῇ ἐχομένῃ. Compare xx. 15.
? Observe the word διαπερῶν. ἡ
3 See above. 4 See above, p. 203.
° See Smith’s “ Voyage and Shipwreck,” p. 151.
6 See above. 7 Smith, p. 180.
5. ἃ. ε. the rate would be rather more than seven knots an hour. The writer once
asked the captain of a vessel engaged in the Mediterranean trade, how long it would
take to sail with a fair wind from the Seven Capes to Tyre; and the answer was,
“About thirty hours, or perhaps it would be safer to say forty-eight.” Now, vessels
rigged like those of the ancients, with one large main-sail, would run before the wind
more quickly than our own merchantmen. Those who have sailed before the mon-
s0ons in the China seas have seen junks (which are rigged in this respect like Greek
and Roman merchantmen) behind them in the horizon in the morbing, and before
them in the horizon in the evening.
928 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 851. PAUL.
gives a strong impression that the weather was in the highest degree
favourable ; and there is one picturesque phrase employed by the narrator,
which sets vividly before us“some of the phenomena of a rapid voyage.
That which is said in the English version concerning the “ discovering” of
Cyprus, and “leaving it on the left hand,” is, in the original, a nautical
expression, implying that the land appeared to rise quickly,’ as they
sailed past it to the southward.? It would be in the course of the second
day (probably in the evening) that “the high blue eastern land appeared.”
The highest mountain of Cyprus is a rounded summit, and there would
be snow upon it at that season of the year. After the second night, the
first land in sight would be the high range of Lebanon ® in Syria (xxi. 3),
and they would easily arrive at Tyre before the evening.
So much has been written concerning the past history and present
condition of Tyre, that these subjects are familiar to every reader, and it is
unnecessary to dwell upon them here.6 When St. Paul came to this city,
it was neither in the glorious state described in the prophecies of Ezekiel
and Isaiah,? when “its merchants were princes, and its traffickers the
honourable of the earth,” nor in the abject desolation in which it now
fulfils those prophecies, being ‘‘a place to spread nets upon,” and showing
only the traces of its maritime supremacy in its ruined mole, and a port
hardly deep enough for boats.’ It was in the condition in which it had
1 ’"Avagavévtec τὴν Κύπρον καὶ καταλιπόντες αὐτὴν εὐώνυμον. The word ἀναφαίνε:ν,
in reference to sea voyages, means “ to see land, to bring land into view,” by a similar
figure of speech to that in which our sailors speak of “making land.” The correspond-
ing word for losing sight of land is ἀποκρύπτειν. See the commentators on Plat. Protag.
xxiv., and Thucyd. vy. 65. The terms in Latin are aperire and abscondere.” Virg.
fin. iii. 205, 275, 291. Heyne says “Terra aperit montes, dum in conspectum eos
admovet.’’? (Compare the use of the verb “open’’ by our own sailors.) As to the
construction, De Wet# compares πεπίστευμαι τὸ εὐαγγέλιον ; but the cases are not
quite parallel. Confusions of grammar are common in the language of sailors. Thus
an English seaman speaks of “rising the land,” which is exactly what is meant here
by dvagavévtec, One of the Byzantine writers uses the same phrase in reference to
an expedition in the same sea. ᾿Ελθόντες ἑως τὰ Mipa οἱ στρατηγοὶ εἰσῆλθον ἐπὶ τὸν
κόλπον τῆς Ατταλεΐας" οἱ δὲ "Αραθες κινήσαντες ἀπὸ τῆς Κυπρου, καὶ εὐδίας αὐτοὺς
καταλαθούσης, περιεφέροντο ἐν τῷ πελάγει" ἀναφανέντων δὲ αὐτῶν τὴν γῆν, εἶδον
αὐτοὺς οἱ στρατηγοί. Theophanes, i. p. 721., Ed. Bonn.
2 Mr. Smith says in a MS. note: “The term ἀναφανέντες indicates both the rapid
approach to land, and that it was seen at a distance by daylight.”
3 We shall hereafter point out the contrast between this voyage and that which
mentioned afterwards in Acts xxvii. 4.
4 The island is traversed by two chains, running nearly east and west: and they
are covered with snow in winter. Norie, p. 144. See the map of Cyprus in Vol. L
The writer has been informed by Captain Graves, R. N., that the highest part is of a
rounded form.
5 Compare Vol. I. pp. 20, 52.
6 One of the fullest accounts of Tyre will be found in Dr. Robinson’s third volume
7 Ezek. xxvi. xxvii. Isa, xxiii. 8 Suiling Directory, p. 259.
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TYRE. 929
been left ,by the successors of Alexander,—the island, which ounce held
the city, being joined to the mainland by a causeway,—with a harbout
gn the north, and another on the south.! In honour of its ancient great-
ness, the Romans gave it the name of a free city ;? and it still commanded
some commerce, for its manufactures of glass and purple were not yet
decayed,’ and the narrow belt of the Pheenician coast between the moun-
tains and the sea required that the food for its population should be
partly brought from without.‘ It is allowable to conjecture that the ship,
which we have just seen crossing from Patara, may have brought grain
from the Black Sea, or wine from the Archipelago,,—with the purpose οἱ
taking on from Tyre a cargo of Phcenician manufactures. We know that,
whatever were the goods she brought, they were unladed at Tyre (vy. 3) ;
and that the vessel was afterwards to proceed*® to Ptolemais (v. 1). For
this purpose some days would be required. She would be taken into the
inner dock ;7 and St. Paul had thus some time at his disposal, which he
could spend in the active service of his Master. He and his companions
Jost no time in “seeking out the disciples.” It is probable that the
Christians at Tyre were not numerous ;* but a Church had existed there
vever since the dispersion consequent upon the death of Stephen (Vol. I.
pp. 81, 117), and St. Paul had himself visited it, if not on his mission of
charity from Antioch to Jerusalem (ib. p. 127), yet doubtless on his way
1 Strabo, xvi. Old Tyre (IlaAa:tupoc) was destroyed. WVew Tyre was built on a
small island, separated by a very narrow channel from the mainland (See Diod. Sic
xvii. 60, Plin. v. 19, 17, Q. Curt. iv. 2), with which it was united by a dam in Alexan
der’s siege: aud thenceforward Tyre was on a peninsula.
3 Strabo, l.c. The Emperor Severus made it a Roman colonia with the Jus Itali
cum. (See Vol. 1. p, 282, n. 2.) For the general notion of a free city (libera civitas)
under the empire, see p. 333. Tyre seems to have been honoured, like Athens, for the
sake of the past.
3 For the manufactures of Tyre at a much later period, see Vol. I. p. 212, n. 3.
4 The dependence of Pheenicia on other countries -for grain is alluded to in Acts,
xii. 206. (See Vol. I. p. 128, note.)
5 For the wine trade of the Archipelago, see what has been said in reference to
Rhodes, We need not suppose that the vessel bound for Pheenicia sailed in the first
instance from Patara. St. Paul afterwards found a westward-bound Alexandrian ship
in one of the harbours of Lycia. Acts xxvii. 5.
6 We infer that St. Paul proceeded in the same vessel to Ptolemais, partly from the
phrase τὸ πλοῖον (v. 6), and partly because it is not said that the vessel was bound
for Tyre, but simply that she was to unlade there (ἐκεῖσε ἦν τὸ πλοῖον ἀποφορτιζόμενον
τὸν youov, v. 3). With regard to ἐκεῖσε, it seems best to consider it simply to mean
“she was to go thither and unlade there.’ The explanation of De Wette and Meyer,
who distinguish between the harbour and the town, is too elaborate.
7 Scylax, p. 24, mentions a harbour within the walls.
8 Observe the article in τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς. The word ἀνευρόντες implies that some
search was required before the Christians were found. Perhaps the first enquiries
would be made at the synagogue. [See Vol. I. p. 407.] For anotice of the Jews af
Tyve in later times, we may again refer to p. 212, n. 3.
230 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
to the Council (ib. p. 212). There were not only disciples at Tyre, bat
prophets. Some of those who had the prophetical power foresaw the
danger which was hanging over St. Paul, and endeavoured to persuade
aim to desist from his purpose of going to Jerusalem.’ We see that dif-
ferent views of duty might be taken by those who had the same spiritual
knowledge, though that knowledge were supernatural. St. Paul looked
on the coming danger from a higher point. What to others was an over-
whelming darkness, to him appeared only as a passing storm. And he
resolved to face it, in the faith that He who had protected him hitherto,
would still give him shelter and safety.
The time spent at Tyre in unlading the vessel, and probably taking in
a new cargo, and possibly, also, waiting for a fair wind,* was “seven _
days,” including a Sunday. St. Paul “broke bread” with the disciples,
and discoursed as he had done at Troas (p. 206) ; and the week days,
too, would afford many precious opportunities of confirming those who
were already Christians, and in making the Gospel known to others, both
Jews and Gentiles. When the time came for the ship to sail, a scene was
witnessed on the Pheenician shore, like that which had made the Apostle’s
departure from Miletus so impressive and affecting.‘ There attended him |
through the city gate,> as he and his companions went out to join the
vessel now ready to receive them, all the Christians of Tyre, and even
their “wives and children.” And there they knelt down and prayed
together on the level shore. We are not to imagine here any Jewish
place of worship, like the proseucha at Philippi ;7 but simply that they
were on their way to the ship. The last few moments were precious, and
could not be so well employed as in praying to Him, who alone can give
true comfort and protection. The time spent in this prayer was soon
passed. And then they tore themselves from each others’ embrace ;° the
1T6 Παύλῳ ἔλεγον διὰ τοῦ Πνεύματος μὴ ἐπιβαίνειν εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα, v. 4.
3 These suppositions, however, are not necessary ; for the work of taking the cargo
from the hold of a merchant-vessel might easily occupy six or seven days.
3 Ἡμέρας ἕπτα, ν. 4. We may observe, however, that this need not mean more
than “six days.” 45 to the phrase ἐξαρτίσα: τὰς ἡμέρας, Meyer and Olshausen take it
to mean “employed the time in making ready for the journey,” comparing 2 Tim. iii
17. [See on v. 15.]
4 See above, p. 219.
5 Observe ἐξελθόντες and ἕως ἔξω τῆς πόζεως. There is a dramatic force, too, tn
the imperfect ἐπορευόμεθα.
6 "Ἐπὶ rey αἰγιαλόν, the word used in Acts xxvii. 39, 40, and denoting a sandy or
pebbly beach, as opposed to ἄκτη.
7 Hammond supposes that there was a proseucha near the place of embarkation.
But we need not suppose any reference to a Jewish place of worship either here or at
Miletus, though it is interesting to bear in mind the orationes littorales of the Jews
See Vol. I. p. 294.
8 The MSS. vary here. Lachmann and Tischendorf have προσευξάμενοι ἀπησπασώ-
μεθα instead of the common reading, ποοσηυξάμεθα καὶ doracdumm, See v. 1, *
PTOLEMAIS. 23)
strangers went on board,! and the Tyrian believers retuned home sorrow
1ul and anxious, while the ship sailed southwards on her way to Ptolemais.
There is a singular contrast in tlie history of those three cities on the
Pheenician shore, which are mentioned in close sucression in the conclud-
ing part of the narrative of this apostolic journey. Tyre, the city from
which St. Paul had just sailed, had been the seaport whose destiny formed
the burden of the sublimest prophecies in the last days of the Hebrew
monarchy. Cesarea, the city to which he was ultimately bound, was the
work of the family of Herod, and rose with the rise of Christianity.
Both are fallen now into utter decay. Ptolemais, which was the interme-
diate stage between them, is an older city than either, and has outlived
them both. It has never been withdrawn from the field of history ; and
its interest has seemed to increase (at least in the eyes of Englishmen)
with the progress of centuries. Under the ancient name of Acco it appears
in the Book of Judges (i. 31) as one of the towns of the tribe of Assher.
It was the pivot of the contests between Persia and Hgypt.? Not un-
known in the Macedonian and Roman periods, it reappears with brilliant
distinction in the middle ages, when the Crusaders called it St. Jean d’ Acre.
It is needless to allude to the events which have fixed on this sea-fortress,
more than once, the attention of our own generation. At the particular
time when the Apostle Paul visited this place, it bore the name of Ptole-
mais,i—most probably given to it by Ptolemy Lagi, who was long in pos-
session of this part of Syria,°—and it had recently been made a Roman
colony by the emperor Claudius.’ It shared with Tyre and Sidon,’ Aunti-
och and Cxsarea, the trade of the eastern coast of the Mediterranean
Sea. With a fair wind, a short day’s voyage separates it from Tyre. To
speak in the language of our own sailors, there are thirteen miles from
Tyre to Cape Blanco, and fifteen from thence to Cape Carmel; and Acre—
the Ancient Ptolemais—is situated on the further extremity of that bay,
which sweeps with a wide curvature of sand to the northwards, from the
headland of Carmel.’ It is evident that St. Paul’s company sailed from
Tyre to Ptolemais within the day.2 At the latter city, as at the former,
1 See on τὸ πλοῖον, above. ? Forbiger, 672.
3 The events at the close of the last century and others still more recent. It ia
surely well that we should be able to associate this place with the Apostle of the Gen-
tiles as much as with Sir Sidney Smith and Sir Charles Napier.
4 So it is called in 1 Mae. v. 15, x. i., &e.
5 See his life in Smith’s Dictionary of Biography.
6 Pliny, v.19, 17.
7 In the Acts of the Apostles, we find Tyre mentioned in connection with the
voyages of merchantmen, xxi. 3, and Sidon, xxvii. 3.
8 For a nautical delineation of this bay, with the anchorage Kaifa, &c., see the Ad-
miralty Chart. The travellers who have described the Bib of this bay from Carme]
are so numerous, that they need rot be specified.
* VY 7 Instead of the words οἱ περὶ τὸν Παῦλον, the best MSS. have simply ἡμεῖς.
932 THE LIFE AND EPIPTLES OF ST. PAUL
there were Christian disciples,! who had probably been converted at the
same time, and under the same circumstances, as those of Tyre. Another
opportunity was afforded for the salutations* and encouragement of bro
therly love ; but the missionary party staid here only one day. Though
they had accomplished the voyage in abundant time to reach Jerusalem at
Pentecost, they hastened onwards, that they might linger some days at
Ceesarea.4
One day’s travelling by land*® was sufficient for this part of their jour-
ney. The distance is between thirty and forty miles. At Caesarea there
was a Christian family, already known to us in the earlier passages of the
Acts of the Apostles, with whom they were sure of receiving a welcome.
The last time we made mention of Philip the Evangelist (Vol. I. p. 80),
was when he was engaged in making the Gospel known on the road which
leads southwards by Gaza towards Egypt, about the time when St. Paul
himself was converted on the northern road, when travelling to Damascus.
Now, after many years, the Apostle and the Evangelist are brought to-
gether under one roof. On the former occasion, we saw that Czsarea
was the place where the labours of Philip on that journey ended.’
Thenceforward it’ became his residence if his life was stationary, or it
was the centre from which he made other missionary circuits through Ju-
dea. He is found, at least, residing in this city by the sea, when St. Paul
arrives in the year 58 from Achaia and Macedonia. His family consisted
of four daughters, who were an example of the fulfilment of that predic-
tion of Joel, quoted by St. Peter, which said that at the opening of the
new dispensation, God’s spirit should come on His “ handmaidens” as well
as His bondsmen, and that the ‘‘ daughters,” as well as the sons, should
which seems to have been altered into the longer phrase, as being the opening of a
separate section for reading in churches. The meaning of τὸν πλοῦν διανύσαντες
seems to be “‘ thus accomplishing our voyage.” The rest of the journey was by land
1 Tove ἀδελφοὺς, with the article as above, v. 4.
2 "Ασπασάμενοι. 3 ᾿Ἐμείναμεν ἡμέραν μίαν.
4 See ἐπιμενόντων ἡμέρας πλείους below, v. 10.
5 Τῇ ἐπαύοιον ἤλθ. εἰς K., v. 8. We may observe, that the word ἐξελθόντες is far
more suitable to a departure by land than by sea.
6 The Jerusalem Itinerary gives the distance as thirty-one miles, and the stages
from “ Civitas Ptolemaida” as follows :—Mutatio Calamon. M. xu.; Mansio Sica-
menos, M. ut. (ἰδὲ est mons Carmelus, ἰδὲ Helias sacrificium faciebat) ; Mutatio
certa, M. vu. (fines Syria et Palestine) ; Civitas Cesarea Palestina, M. vi. The
Antonine Itinerary makes the distance greater, viz. twenty-four miles to Sycamina,
and twenty from thence to Cesarea. See Wess. pp. 149, 584, Compare our itinerary
map of Palcstine in the first volume, p. 84.
7 Acts viii. 40. See Vol. I. p. 80, n. 5.
8. The term “ Evangelist” seems to have been almost synonymous with our word
“Missionary.” It is applied to Philip and to Timothy. See Vol. 1. Ρ. 426; alse
p. 435. ἢ, 2.
EVENTS AT OASAREA. 283
prophesy.! The prophetic power was granted to these four women at
Cxsarea, who seem to have been living that life of single devotedness
which is commended by St. Paul in his letter to the Corinthians (1
Cor. vii.), and to have exercised their gift in concert for the benefit of the
Church.
It is not improbable that these inspired women gave St. Paul some
intimation of the sorrows which were hanging over him.3 But soon a
more explicit voice declared the very nature of the trial he was to expect.
The stay of the Apostle at Cxsarea lasted some days (v.10). 116 had
arrived in Juda in good time before the festival, and haste was now un-
necessary. Thus news reached Jerusalem of his arrival ; and a prophet
named Agabus—whom we have seen before (Vol. I. p. 127) coming from
the same place on a similar errand—went down to Cesarea, and commun
cated to St. Paul and the company of Christians by whom he was sur-
rounded, a clear knowledge of the impending danger. His revelation was
made.in that dramatic form which impresses the mind with a stronger
sense of reality than mere words can do, and which was made familiar to
the Jews of old by the practice of the Hebrew prophets. As Isaiah (ch.
xx.) loosed the sackcloth from his loins, and put off his shoes from his
feet, to declare how the Egyptian captives should be led away into Assy-
ria naked and barefoot,-—or as the girdle of Jeremiah (ch. xiii.), in its
strength and its decay, was made a type of the people of Israel in their
privilege and their fall,—Agabus, in like manner using the imagery of ac-
tion,‘ took the girdle of St. Paul, and fastened it round his own? hands
and feet, and said, ‘‘ Thus saith the Holy Ghost: so shall the Jews at Je
rusalem bind the man to whom this girdle belongs, and they shall deliver
him into the hands of the Gentiles.”
The effect of this emphatic prophecy, both on Luke, Aristarchus, and
Trophimus,® the companions of St. Paul’s journey, and those Christians of
Cxsarea,’? who, though they had not travelled with him, had learnt to love
i Joel ii. 28, 29. Acts ii. 17,18. Compare 1 Cor. xiv. 34. 1 Tim. ii. 12; and see
Vol. I. p. 431.
? Meyer sees only in v. 9 “eine gelegentliche Reminiscenz fur den Leser an eine
damals bekanute merkwurdige Erscheinung in jener Familie.” But it is difficult not
% see more emphasis in παρθένοι. See Matt. xix. 12.
3 Perhaps the force of προφητεύουσαι (v. 9) is to be found in the fact, that they did
foretell what was to come. The word, however, has not necessarily any relation to
the future. See Vol. I. p. 429.
4 Sce another striking instance in Ezek. iv. Compare what has been said before in
reference to the gestures of Paul and Barnabas when they departed frora Antioch in
Pisidia, Vol. 1. p. 181.
5 It would be a mistake to suppose that Agabus bound Paul’s hanes and fxt The
correct reading is ἑαυτοῦ. Besides, Agabus says, not “the man whom I bind,’’ bua
the man whose girdle this is.”
For the companions of St. Paul at this moment, see p. 202 with p. 203, n. 2.
“Ἡμεῖς te καὶ οἱ ἐντόπιοι, ν. 12
984 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 851. PAUL.
him, was very great. They wept,' and implored him not to go to Jerusw
‘em.? But the Apostle himself could not so interpret the supernatural in
timation. He was placed in a position of peculiar trial. A voice of
authentic prophecy had been so uttered, that, had he been timid and
wavering, it might easily have been construed into a warning to deter him,
Nor was that temptation unfelt which arises from the sympathetic grief of
loving friends. His affectionate heart was almost broken? when he heard
their earnest supplications, and saw the sorrow that was caused by the
prospect of his danger. But the mind of the Spirit had been so revealed
to him in his own inward convictions, that he could see the Divine counsel
through apparent hindrances. His resolution was “no wavering between
yea and nay, but was yea in Jesus Christ.”4 His deliberate purpose did
not falter for a moment. He declared that he was “ready not only to be
bound, but to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” And
then they desisted from their entreaties. Their respect for the Apostle
made them silent.6 They recognised the will of God in the steady purpose
of his servant ; and gave their acquiescence in those words in which Chris-
tian resignation is best expressed : “‘ Z'he will of the Lord be done.”
The time was now come for the completion of the journey. The festi-
val was close at hand. Having made the arrangements that were neces-
sary with regard to their luggage,’7—and such notices in Holy Scripture ὃ
should receive their due attention, for they help to set before us all the
reality of the Apostle’s journeys,—he and the companions who had attend-
ed him from Macedonia proceeded to the Holy City. Some of the Chris-
tians of Cesarea went along with them, not merely, as it would seem, to
1 Τί ποιεῖτε κλαίοντες, v. 13. ἜΝ lio:
3 Συνθρύπτοντές pov τὴν καρδίαν, ν. 13.
42 Cor. i. See above, p. 99.
5 Observe how this is implied in the present tense (μὴ πειθομένου δὲ αὐτοῦ, ν. 14).
8 ‘Hovydcauev. Ib. .
7 'Αποσκευασώμενοι. “Sublatis sarcinis.”’ Erasmus. ‘“ Preeparati.”’? Vulg. “ We
weran made redi.””? Wiclif. , “We made oure selfes redy.” Tyndale. “ We toke up
oure burthens.” Cranmer. ** We trussed up our fardeles.” Geneva. ‘“ Being pre
pared.” Rheims. The word “carriage” in the authorised version is used as in Judg.
xviii, 21, 1 Sam. xvii. 22. The correct reading, however, is probably ἐπισκευασάμενοι
(Tisch.). So Chrys. ἐπισκευασώμενοι" τούτεστι, τὰ πρὸς τὴν ὀδοιπορίαν λαβόντες.
“Qui profiscuntur, non deponunt sarcinas, sed instruunt se necessariis ad iter.’ Ro
kenmuller. The former word would mean, “ Having stowed away our luggage,
‘weggepackt,’ sarcinis, impedimentis quippe itineris, depositis :”’ the latter, “ Having
packed up our luggage, ‘ aufgepackt,’ quum accepissemus res ad iter necessarias.”
In answer to Olshausen, who retains d7oox., and supposes the bulk of the luggage to
have been left at Caesarea in order to lighten the land-journey,—it must be remarked,
that, in that case, it would have been left at Ptolemais. But we may very well sup-
pose that St. Paul hoped to stay only a short time in Jerusalem, and to sail soon from
Caesarea to Rome. Greswell sees, in the allusion to the baggage, some indication of
baste; but the contrary seems rather implied.
% See for instance 2 Tim. iv, 1s.
JOURNEY TO JERUSALEM. 938
show their respect and sympathy for the Apostolic company,' but to
secure their comfort on arriving, by taking him to the house of Muason, a
native of Cyprus, who had been long ago converted to Christianity,*—
possibly during the life of our Lord Himself,,—and who may have been
one of those Cyprian Jews who first made the Gospel known to the Greeks
at Antioch (see Vol. 1. p. 116).
Thus we have accompanied St. Paul on his last recorded journey to
Jerusalem. It was a journey full of incident; and it is related more
minutely than any other portion of his travels. We know all the places
by which he passed, or at which he stayed ; and we are able to connect
them all with familiar recollections of history. We know, too, all the
uspect of the scenery. He sailed along those coasts of Western Asia, and
among those famous islands, the beauty of which is proverbial. The very
time of the year is known to us. It was when the advancing season was
clothing every low shore, and the edge of every broken cliff, with a beau-
tiful and refreshing verdure; when the winter storms had ceased to be
dangerous, and the small vessels could ply safely in shade and sunshine
between neighbouring ports. Even the state of the weather and the direc-
tion of the wind are known. We can point to the places on the map
where the vessel anchored for the night ;+ and trace across the chart the
track that was followed, when the moon was full.6 Yet more than this,
We are made fully aware of the state of the Apostle’s mind, and of the
burdened feeling under which this journey was accomplished, The expres-
sion of this feeling strikes us the more, from its contrast with all the out-
ward circumstances of the voyage. He sailed in the finest season, by the
brightest coasts, and in the fairest weather ; and yet his mind was occu-
pied with forebodings of evil from first to last ;—so that a peculiar shade
of sadness is thrown over the whole narration. If this be true, we should
expect to find some indications of this pervading sadness in the letters
written about this time ; for we know how the deeper tones of feeling
make themselves known in the correspondence of any man with his friends.
Accordingly, we do find in The Epistle writien to the Romans shortly before
leaving Corinth, a remarkable indication of discouragement, and almost
1 The frequent use of the word προπέμπειν in the accounts of the movements of the
Apostles and their companions, is worthy of observation. See Acts xv. 3. xx. 38.
Rom. xv. 24, &e.
3 "Αρχαίῳ μαθῃτῇ. Compare ἐν ἀρχῇ. Acts xi. 15.
3 He can hardly have been converted by St. Paul during his journey through
Cyprus, or St. Paul would have been acquainted with him, which does not appear to
have been the case. He may have been converted by Barnabas. (See Acts xy. 39.)
But he was most probably one of the earliest disciples of Christ. With regard to the
words ἄγοντες παρ᾽ ᾧ ξενισθῶμεν Μνάσωνι, we may remark, that the Envlish versien
introduces a new difficulty without overcoming that which relates to the grammatical
construction. [See Vol. I. p. 117, and Chap. V.)
See pp. 217, 218. 5 See p. 227.
236 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ΚΤ. PAUL.
despondency, when he asked the Christians at Rome to pray that, on [8
arrival in Jerusalem, he might be delivered from the Jews who hated him,
and be well received by those Christians who disregarded his authority.:
The depressing anxiety with which he thus looked forward to the journey
would not be diminished, when the very moment of his departure from
Corinth was beset by a Jewish plot against his life? And we find the
cloud of gloom, which thus gathered at the first, increasing and becoming
darker as we advance. At Philippi and at Troas, indeed, no direct inti-
matior is given of coming calamities ; but it is surely no fancy which sees
a foreboding shadow thrown over that midnight meeting, where death so
suddenly appeared among those that were assembled there with many
lights in the upper chamber, while the Apostle seemed unable to intermit
his discourse, as ‘ready to depart on the morrow.” For indeed at Miletus
he said, that already “in every coty”® the Spirit had admonished him that
bonds and imprisonment were before him. At Miletus it is clear that the
heaviness of spirit, under which he started, had become a confirmed antici-
pation of evil. When he wrote to Rome, he hoped to be delivered from
the danger he had too much reason to fear. Now his fear predominates
over hope ;‘ and he looks forward, sadly but calmly, to some imprison-
ment not far distant. At Tyre, the first sounds that he hears on landing
are the echo of his own thoughts. He is met by the same voice of warn-
ing, and the same bitter trial for himself and his friends. At Cesarea his
vague forebodings of captivity are finally made decisive and distinct, and
he has a last struggle with the .remonstrances of those whom he loved
Never had he gone to Jerusalem without a heart full of emotion,—neither
in those carly years, when he came an enthusiastic boy from Tarsus to the
school of Gamaliel,—nor on his return from Damascus, after the greatest
change that could have passed over an inquisitor’s mind,—nor when he
went with Barnabas from Antioch to the council, which was to decide an
anxious controversy. Now he had much new experience of the insidious
progress of error, and of the sinfulness even of the converted. Yet his
trust in God did not depend on the faithfulness of man ; and he went to
Jerusalem calmly and resolutely, though doubtful of his reception among
the Christian brethren, and not knowing what would happen on the
morrow.
1 Rom. xv. 31. We should remember that he had two causes of apprehension,—one
arising from the Jews, who persecuted him everywhere,—the other from the J udaising
Christians, who sought to depreciate his apostolic authority.
3 See p. 202.
3 See p. 217.
4 Acts xx. 23 should be closely compared with Rom. xv. 30, 31. See also the note
above on deSeuevog τῷ πνεύματι. St. Paul seems to have suffered extremely loth
from the anticipation and the experience of imprisonment
RECEPTION AT JERUSALEM. rBye
CHAPTER ΧΣΙ.
Τὸν ἄνδρα δήσουσιν εἰς Ἱερουσαλὴμ οἱ ’lovdaios kai παραδώσουσιν εἰς χεῖρας ἐθνῶν ---
Acts xxi. 11.
RECEPTION AT JERUSALEM.—ASSEMBLING OF THE PRESBYTERS.—ADVICE GIVEN TO ST
PAUL.—THE FOUR NAZARITES.—ST. PAUL SEIZED AT THE FESTIVAL.—THE TEMPLE AND
THE GARRISON.—HEBREW SPEECH ON THE STAIRS.—THE CENTURION AND THE CHIEF
CAPTAIN.—ST. PAUL BEFORE THE SANHEDRIN.—THE PHARISEES AND SADDUCEES.—VISION
IN THE CASTLE.—CONSPIRACY.—ST. PAUL’S NEPHEW.—LETTER OF CLAUDIUS LYSIAS TO
FELIX.—NIGHT JOURNEY TO ANTIPATRIS.—CHSAREA.
“Wuen we were come to Jerusalem, the Brethren received us gladly.”
Such is St. Luke’s description of the welcome which met the Apostle of
the Gentiles on his arrival in the metropolis of Judaism. So we shall find
afterwards ' “ the brethren” hailing his approach to Rome, and ‘ coming
to meet him as far as Appii Forum.” ‘Thus, wherever he went, or what-
ever might be the strength of hostility and persecution which dogged his -
footsteps, he found some Christian hearts who loved the Glad-tidings
which he preached, and loved himself as the messenger of the Grace of
God.
The Apostle’s spirit, which was much depressed, as we have seen,” by
anticipations of coldness and distrust on the part of the Church at Jerusa-
lem, must have been lightened by his kind reception. He seems to have
spent the evening of his arrival with these sympathising brethren ; but on
the morrow, a more formidable ordeal awaited him. He must encounter
the assembled Presbyters of the Church; and he might well doubt
‘whether even the substantial proof of loving interest in their welfare, of
which he was the bearer, would overcome the antipathy with which (as
he was fully aware) too many of them regarded him. The experiment,
however, must be tried ; for this was the very end of his coming to Jeru-
salem at all, at a time when his heart called him to Rome.? His purpose
was to endeavour to set himself right with the Church of Jerusalem, to
overcome the hostile prejudices which had already so much impeded his
jabours, and to endeavour, by the force of Christian love and forbearance,
1 Οἱ ἀδελφοί (Acts xxviii. 15), the same expression in both cases. This is sufficient
to refute the cavils which have been made, as though this verse (xxi. 17) implied 8
unanimous cordiality on the part of the Church at Jerusalem.
* See the preceding chapter.
* See Acts xix. 21. Rom. i. 10-15. xv, 22-29.
|
238 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
to win the hearts of those whom he regarded, in spite of all their weak
nesses and errors, as brethren in Christ Jesus. Accordingly, when the
morning came,' the Presbyters or Elders of the Church were called
together by James,” (who, as we have before mentioned, presided ovet the
Church of Jerusalem), to receive Paul and his fellow-travellers, the mes
sengers of the Gentile Churches. We have already seen how carefully St
Paul had guarded himself from the possibility of suspicion in the adminis-
tration of his trust, by causing deputies to be elected by the several
Churches whose alms he bore, as joint trustees with himself of the fund
collected, ‘These deputies now entered together with him® inio the
assembly of the Elders, and the offering was presented,—a proof of love
from the Churches of the Gentiles to the mother Church, whence their
spiritual blessings had been derived.
The travellers were received with that touching symbol of brotherhood,
the kiss of peace,* which was exchanged between the Christians of those
days on every occasion of public as well as private meeting. There the
main business of the assembly was commenced by an address from St. Paul.
This was not the first occasion on which he had been called to take a
similar part, in the same city, and before the same audience. Our thoughts
are naturally carried back. to the days of the Apostolic Council, when he
. first declared to the Church of Jerusalem the Gospel which he preached
among the Gentiles, and the great things which God had wrought there-
by.» The majority of the Church had then, under the influence of the
Spirit of God, been brought over to his side, and had ratified his views by
their decree. But the battle was not yet won ; he had still to contend
against the same foes with the same weapons.
We are told that he now gave a detailed account ® of all that “ God
had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry ” since he last parted from
Jerusalem four years before.7 The foundation of the great and flourishing
Church of Ephesus doubtless furnished the main interest of his narrative ;
but he would also dwell on the progress of the several Churches in Phrygia,
Galatia, and other parts of Asia Minor, and likewise those in Macedonia
and Achaia, from whence he was just returned. In such a discourse, he
eould scarcely avoid touching on subjects which would excite painful
feclings, and rouse bitter prejudice in many of his audience. He could
hardly speak of Galatia without mentioning the attempted perversion of
1 Τῇ ἐπιούσῃ, v. 18. 2 See Vol. I. p. 215.
3 9 Παῦλος σὺν ἡμῖν. ib.
4 So we understand ἀσπασάμενος αὐτούς, v.19. See 1 Thess. v. 26, and /he note
Vol. 1. p. 397.
5 See Vol. I. p. 214, &e. 6 Καθ᾿ ἕν ἕκαστον, v. 19.
" He had then endeavoured to reach Jerusalem by the feast of Pentecost
21, and see Wieseler), as on the'present occasion.
ADVICE GIVEN TO ST. PAUL. 935
his converts there. He could not enter into the sta.e of Corinth without
alluding to the emissaries from Palestine, who had introduced confusion
and strife among the Christians of that city. Yet we cannot doubt that
St. Paul, with that graceful courtesy which distinguished both his writings
and his speeches, softened all that was disagreeable, and avoided what was
personally offensive to his audience, and dwelt, as far as se could, on topics
in which all present would agree. Accordingly, we find that the majority
of the assembled Elders were favourably impressed by his address, and by
the tidings which he brought of the progress of the Gospel. The first
act of the assembly was to glorify God for the wonders He had wrought.'
They joined in solemn thanksgiving with one accord ; and the Amen (1Cor.
xiv. 16), which followed the utterance of thanks and praise from apostolic
lips, was swelled by many voices.
Thus the hope expressed by St. Paul on a former occasion,’ concerning
the result of this visit to Jerusalem, was in a measure fulfilled. But
beneath this superficial show of harmony there lurked elements of discord,
which threatened to disturb it too soon. We have already had occasion
to remark upon the peculiar composition of the Church at Jerusalem, and
we have seen that a Pharasaic faction was sheltered in its bosom, which
continually strove to turn Christianity into a sect of Judaism. We have
seen that this faction had recently sent emissaries into the Gentile Churches,
and had endeavovred to alienate the minds of St. Paul’s converts from
their converter. These men were restless agitators, animated by the
bitterest sectarian spirit, and although they were numerically a small
party, yet we know the power of a turbulent minority. But besides these
Judaizing zealots, there was a large proportion of the Christians at Jeru-
salem, whose Christianity, though more sincere than that of those just
mentioned, was yet very weak and imperfect. The ‘many thousands of
Jews which believed,” had by no means all attained to the fulness of Chris-
tian faith, Many of them still knew only a Christ after the flesh,—a
Saviour of Israel,—a Jewish Messiah. Their minds were in a state of
transition between the Law and the Gospel, and it was of great consequence
not to shock their prejudices too rudely, lest they should be tempted to
make shipwreck of their faith, and renounce their Christianity altogether. ἡ
Their prejudices were most wisely consulted in things indifferent by St.
James ; who accommodated himself in all points to the strict requirements
of the law, and thus disarmed the hostility of the Judaizing bigots. He
was, indeed, divinely ordained to be the Apostle of this transition- Church.
Had its councils been less wisely guided, had the Gospel of St. Paul been
really repudiated by the Church of Jerusalem, it is difficult to estimate the
evil which might have resulted. This class of Christians was naturally
1 Ol δὲ ἀκουσαντες ἐδοξαζον τὸν" Θεύν, v. 20. 5.2 Cor. ix. 12.
240 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 501. PAUL.
very much influenced by the declamation of the more violent pariizans of
Judaism. Their feelings would be easily excited by an appeal to their
Jewish patriotism. They might without difficulty be roused to fury
against one whom they were taught to regard as a despiser of the Law,
and a reviler of the customs of their forefathers. Against St. Paul their
dislike had been long and artfully fostered ; and they would from the first
have looked on him perhaps with some suspicion, as not being, like them-
selves, a Hebrew of the Holy City, but only a Hellenist of the Dispersion.
Such being the composition of the great body of the Church, we
cannot doubt that the same elements were to be found amongst the Elders
also. And this will explain the resolution to which the assembly came, at
the close of their discussion on the matters brought before them. They
began by calling St. Paul’s attention to the strength of the Judaical party
among the Christians of Jerusalem. They told him thai the majority even
of the Christian Church had been taught to hate his very name, and to
believe that he went about the world “teaching the Jews to forsake
Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to
walk after the customs.” They further observed that it was impossible
his arrival should remain unknown; his renown was too great to allow
him to be concealed: his public appearance in the streets of Jerusalem
would attract a crowd’ of curious spectators, most of whom would be
violently hostile. It was therefore of importance that he should do
something to disarm this hostility, and to refute the calumnies which had
been circulated concerning him. The plan they recommended was, that
he should take charge of four Jewish Christians,? who were under a Naza-
ritic vow, accompany them to the Temple, and pay for them the neces-
sary expenses attending the termination of their vow. Agrippa 1., not
long before, had given the same public expression of his sympathy with the
Jews, on his arrival from Rome to take possession of his throne? And
what the King had done for popularity, it was felt that the Apostle might
do for the sake of truth and peace. His friends thought that he would thus.
in the most public manner, exhibit himself as an observer of the Mosaic
ceremonies, and refute the accusations of his enemies. They added that,
by so doing, he would not countenance the errors of those who sought to
impose the Law upon Gentile converts; because it had been already
decided by the church of Jerusalem, that the ceremonial observances of the
Law were not obligatory on the Gentiles.
1 Πλῆθος, v. 22. Not “ the multitude,” nor the laity of the Church, as some have
imagined. Were such the meaning, we should have had τὸ πλῆθος. There seems to
be some doubt about the genuineness of the clause. See Tischendorf.
2 That these Nazarites were Christians is evident from the words εἰσὶν ἡμῖν.
3 Ἐς Ἱεροσόλυμα ἐλθὼν χαριστηρίους ἐξεπλήρωσε ϑυσίας, οὐδὲν τῶν κατὰ νόμον
παραλιπών" διὸ καὶ Ναζιραίΐων ξυρᾶσθαι διέταξε μάλα συχνούς. Joseph. Ant. xix. 6, 1
4 y. 25, comparing xv. 28.
THE FOUR NAZARITES. 241
It is remarkable that this conclusion is attributed expressly, in the
Scriptural narrative, not to James (who presided over the meeting), but
to the assembly itself. The lurking shade of distrust implied in the terms
of the admonition, was certainly not shared by that great Apostle, whe
kad long ago given to St. Paul the right hand of fellowship. We have
already scen indications that, however strict might be the Judaical obser-
vances of St. James, they did not satisfy the Judaizing party at Jerusalem,
who attempted, under the sanction of his name,! to teach doctrines and
enforce practices of which he disapproved. ‘The partizans of this faction,
indeed, are called by St. Paul (while anticipating this very visit to Jerusa-
lem), “the disobedient party.”* It would seem that their influence was not
unfelt in the discussion which terminated in the resolution recorded. And
though St. James acquiesced (as did St. Paul) in the advice given, it
appears not to have originated with himself.
The counsel, however, though it may have been suggested by suspicious
prejudice, or even by designing enmity, was not in itself unwise. St.
Paul’s great object (as we have seen) in this visit to’ Jerusalem, was to
zonciliate the Church of Palestine. If he could win over that Church to
the truth, or even could avert its open hostility to himself, he would be doing
more for the diffusion of Christianity than even by the conversion of
Ephesus. Every lawful means for such an end he was ready gladly to
adopt. His own principles, stated by himself in his Epistles, required this
of him. He had recently declared that every compliance in ceremonial
observances should be made, rather than cast a stumbling-block in a
brother’s way. He had laid it down as his principle of action, to become
a Jew to Jews that he might gain the Jews; as willingly as he became a
Gentile to Gentiles, that he might gain the Gentiles* He had given it as
a rule, that no man should change his external observances because he
became a Christian ; that the Jew should remain a Jew in things outward.
Nay more, he himself observed the Jewish festivals, had previously counte-
nanced his friends in the practice of Nazaritic vows,° and had circumcised
Timothy the son of a Jewess. So false was the charge that he had for-
bidden the Jews to circumcise their children.’ In fact, the great doctrine
1 Actsxy. See Gal. ii. 12. 7 Rom. xv. 81. τῶν ἀπειθούντων.
3 Rom. xiv.
4 1 Cor. vii. 17-19. Such passages are the best refutation of Baur, who endeavours
to represent the conduct here assigned to St. Paul as inconsistent with his teaching, ,
5 See the discussion in Vol. I. pp. 267-269.
® Acts xviii. 18, which we conceive to refer to Aquila. (See Vol. I. p. 422.) But
many interpreters of the passage think that St. Paul himself made the vow. We
cannot possibly assent to Mr. Lewin’s view, that St. Paul was still, on his arrival at
Jerusalem, under the obligation of a vow taken in consequence of his escape at
Ephesus,
7 Baur argues that this charge was true, because the logical inference from St. Paul’a
949 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
of St. Paul concerning the worthlessness of ceremonial observances,
rendered him equally ready to practise as to forsake them. A mind so
truly Catholic as his, was necessarily free from any repugnance to mere
outward observances ; a repugnance equally superstitious with the formalism
which clings to ritual. In his view, circumcision was nothing, and uneir
cumcision was nothing ; but faith, which worketh by love. And this love
rendered him willing to adopt the most burdensome ceremonies, if by so
doing he could save a brother from stumbling. Hence he willingly com:
plied with the advice of the assembly, and thereby, while he removed the
prejudices of its more ingenuous members, doubtless exasperated the factious
partizans who had hoped for his refusal.
Thus the meeting ended amicably, with no open manifestation of that
hostile feeling towards St. Paul which lurked in the bosoms of some who
were present. On the next day, which was the great feast of Pentecost,!
St. Paul proceeded with the four Christian Nazarites to the temple. It
is necessary here to explain the nature of their vow, and of the office
which he was to perform for them. It was customary among the Jews
for those who had received deliverance from any great peril, or who from
other causes desired publicly to testify their dedication to God, to take
upon themselves the vow of a Nazarite, the regulations of which are pre-
scribed in the sixth chapter of the book of Numbers.’ In that book no
rule is laid down as to the time during which this life of ascetic rigour was
to continue :* but we learn from the Talmud‘ and Josephus that thirty
doctrines was the uselessness of circumcision. But he might as well say that the
logical inference from the decree of the council of Jerusalem was the uselessness of
circumcision, The continued observance of the law was of course only transitional.
1 Τῇ ἐχομένῃ ἡμέρᾳ, ν. 26. We here adopt Wieseler’s view of the vexata questio
concerning the ἑπτὰ ἡμέραι (Vv. 27). His arguments will be found in his Cirronologic,
pp. 99-113. This view entirely removes the difficulty arising out of the “ twelve days,”
of which St. Paul speaks (xxiv. 11) in his speech before Felix. Yetit cannot be denied
that, on reading consecutively the twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh verses of the
twenty-first chapter, it is difficult (whether or not we identify τῶν ἡμέρων τοῦ dyvisuov
with ai ἑπτὰ ἡμέραι) to believe that the same day is referred to in each verse. And
when we come to xxiv, 11 we shall see that other modes of reckoning the time are
admissible.
2 « When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazariie,
to separate themselves unto the Lord; he shall separate himself from wine and strong
ΠΡΙΠΙ All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon
his head: until the days be fulfilled, in the which he separateth himself unto the Lord,
he shall be holy and shall jet the locks of the hair of his head grow.” Numb. vi. 2-5.
3 Sometimes the obligation was for life, as in the cases of Sampson, Samuel, and
John the Baptist. That “seven days” in the instance before us was the whole dura-
tion of the vow, seems impossible, for this simple reason, that so short a time could
produce no perceptible effect on the hair. Hemsen makes a mistake here in referring
to the “seven days” in Numb. vi. 6, which contempiates only the exceptional case of
defilement in the course of the vow.
4 Tract. Nazir, (Vol iii pp. 148, 149 of the translation of the Mischna by Suren-
husius,)
THE FOUR NAZARITES. 244
days was at least a customary period.’ During this time the Nuzarite was
bound to abstain from wine, and to suffer his hair to grow uncut. At
the termination of the period, he was bound to present himself in the
temple, with certain offerings, and his hair was then cut off and burnt
upon the altar. The offerings required * were beyond the means of the
very poor, and consequently it wag thought an act of piety for a rich
man* to pay the necessary expenses, and thus enable his poorer country-
men to complete their vow. St. Paul was far from rich ; he gained his
daily bread by the work of his own hands ; and we may therefore natu-
rally ask how he was able to take upon himself the expenses of these four
Nazarites. The answer probably is, that the assembled Elders had
requested him to apply to this purpose a portion of the fund which he had
placed at their disposal. However this may be, he now made himsclf
responsible for these expenses, and accompanied the Nazarites to the
temple, after having first performed the necessary purifications together
with them. On entering the temple, he announced to the priests tha‘
the period of the Nazaritic vow which his friends had taken was accom
plished, and he waited® within the sacred enclosure till the necessary
1 After mentioning Berenice’s vow (B. J. ii. 15, 1) Josephus continues, Τοὺς γὰρ ἢ
νόσῳ καταπονουμένους ἤ τισιν ἄλλαις ἀνάγκαις ἔθος εὔχεσθαι πρὸ τριάκοντα ἡμερῶν
ἧς ἀποδώσειν μέλλοιεν ϑυσίας οἴνου τε ἀφέξεσθαι καὶ ξυρήσεσθαι τὰς κόμας.
2 « And this is the law of the Nazarite, when the days of his separation are fulfilled :
he shall be brought unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation ; and he shall
offer his offering unto the Lord, one he lamb of the first year without blemish for a
burnt offering, and one ewe lamb of the first year without blemish for a sin offering,
and one ram without blemish for peace offerings, and a basket of unleavened bread,
cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, and wafers of unleavened bread anointed with oil,
and theiremeat offering, and their drink offerings. And the priest shall bring them
before the Lord, and shall offer his sin offering and his burnt offering: and he shall’
ofier the ram for a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the Lord, with the basket of un-
leavened bread: the priest shall offer also his meat offering, and his drink offering.
_And the Nazarite shall shave the head of his separation at the door of the tabernacle
of the congregation, and shall take the hair of the head of his separation, and put it in
the fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace offerings.”? Numb. yi. 13-18.
3 Compare the case of Agrippa mentioned above.
4 'Αγνίσθητι σὺν αὐτοῖς (24), ἁγνισθεὶς εἰσήει (26), εὖρόν με ἡγνισμένον (xxiv. 18).
We do not agree with those commentators who interpret the expression ἁγνίσθητι te
mean “dedicate thyself as a Nazarite along with them.”” We doubt whether it could
bear this meaning. At all events the other is by far the most natural and obvious.
Compare the use of ἁγνέίζομαι in Numbers xix. 12, (LXX.)
> The obvious translation of v. 26 seems to be “He entered into the temple, giving
public notice that the days of purification were fulfilled, [and staid there] till the
offering for each one of the Nazarites was brought.”” The emphatic force of évd,
ἑκάστον should be noticed. Publicity is implied in διαγγέλλων. The persons to whom
notice was given were the priests.
This interpretation harmonises with Wiescler’s view of the whole subject. If we
believe that several days were yet-to elapse before the expiration of the Nazaritic cere
monies, we must translate with Mr. Humphrey -“‘making it known that the days of
244 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF §8T. PAUL.
offerings were made for each of them, and their hair cut off and burnt in
the sacred fire.
He might well have hoped, by thus complying with the legal ceremo
nial, to conciliate those, at least, who were only hostile to him because
they believed him hostile to their national worship. And, so far as the
great body of the Church at Jerusalem was concerned, he probably suc-
ceeded. But the celebration of the festival had attracted multitudes to
the Holy City, and the temple was thronged with worshippers from every
land ; and amongst these were some of those Asiatic Jews who had been
defeated by his arguments in the Synagogue of Ephesus, and irritated
against him during the last few years daily more and more, by the con-
tinual growth of a Christian Church in that city, formed in great part of
converts from among the Jewish proselytes. These men, whom a zealous
feeling of nationality had attracted from their distant home to the metro-
polis of their faith, now beheld, where they least expected to find him, the
apostate Israelite, who had opposed their teaching and seduced their con-
verts. An opportunity of revenge which they could not have hoped for
in the Gentile city where they dwelt, had suddenly presented itself. They
sprang upon their enemy, and shouted while they held him fast, ‘‘ Men of
Israel, help. This is the man that teacheth all men every where against
the People and the Law, and this Place.’! . Then as the crowd rushed
tumuituously towards the spot, they excited them yet further by accusing
Paul of introducing Greeks into the Holy Place, which was profaned by
the presence of a Gentile. The vast multitude which was assembled on
the spot, and in the immediate neighbourhood, was excited to madness by
these tidings, which spread rapidly through the crowd. The pilgrims who
flocked at such seasons to Jerusalem were of course the most zealous of
their nation; very Hebrews of the Hebrews. We may imagine the
horror and indignation which would fill their minds when they heard that
an apostate from the faith of Israel had been seized in the very act of
profaning the Temple at this holy season. A furious multitude rushed
upon the Apostle ; and it was only their reverence for the holy place
which preserved him from being torn to pieces on the spot. They hurried
him out of the sacred enclosure, and assailed him with violent blows.”
separation which must be fulfilled before the offering should be made, were in the
course of completion.” So it is taken by De Wette, who acknowledges the solecism in
προσηνέχθη. :
1“ This place,”—tov τόπου τούτου, v. 28. “'This holy place,”—rov ἅγιον τῦπον
τοῦτον, ib. We should compare here the accusation against Stephen, vi. 13. Οὐ
παύεται ῥήματα λαλῶν κατὰ Tod τόπου τοῦ ἁγίου. The two cases are in many respects
parallel. We cannot but believe that Paul must have remembered Stephen, and felt
as though this attack on himself were a retribution. See belew cn xxii. 20. Cf. Vol
I. p. 69, also p. 196.
2 See Acts xxi. 31, 32.
THE TEMPLE-AREA. Q45
Their next course might have been to stone him or to hurl him over the
precipice into the valley below. They were already in the Court of the
Gentiles, and the heavy gates! which separated the inner from the outer
enclosure were shut by the Levites,—when an unexpected interruption
prevented the murderous purpose.
It becomes desirable here to give a more particular description than
we have yet done of the Temple-area and the sanctuary which it enclosed
Some reference has been made to this subject in the account of St.
_ Stephen’s martyrdom (Vol. I. p. 69), especially to that “Stone Chamber”
—the Hall Gazith—where the Sanhedrin held their solemn conclave.
Soon we shall see St. Paul himself summoned before this tribunal, and
hear his voice in that hall where he had listened to the eloquence of the
first martyr. But meantime other events came in rapid succession : for
the better understanding of which it is well to form to ourselves a clear
notion of the localities in which they occurred.
The position of the Temple on the eastern side of Jerusalem, the rela
tion of Mount Moriah to the other eminences on which the city was built,
the valley which separated it from the higher summit of Mount Zion, and
the deeper ravine which formed a chasm between the whole city and the
Mount of Olives,—these facts of general topography are too well known
to require elucidation.” On the other hand, when we turn to the descrip-
tion of the Temple-area itself and that which it contained, we are met with
considerable difficulties. It does not, however, belong to our present task
to reconcile the statements in Josephus* and the Talmud‘ with each other
and with present appearances. Nor shall we attempt to trace the archi-
tectural changes by which the scene has been modified, in the long inter-
val between the time when the Patriarch built the altar on Moriah for his
mysterious sacrifice,® and our own day, when the same spot® is the “ wail-
1 For an account of these gates see below.
2 Jn our account of the Temple, we have used Dr. Robinson’s Researches (vol. i.),
the Memoir of Jerusalem, with the plan of the Ordnance Survey, by Mr. Williams, pub-
lished separately, 1849. (We have not had th¢ opportunity of consulting the Second
Edition of “ The Holy City,” of which this Memoir properly forms a-part.) Schulz’s
“ Jerusalem,” with Kiepert’s Map, Berlin, 1845 (from which Map our own is taken,
Vol. I. p. 74. Compare the notes, pp. 138, 140); also the Articles on the Temple in
Winer’s Realworterbuch and Kitto’s Cyclopedia, with Lightfoot’s treatise on the
subject.
3 The two places in Josephus were Herod’s temple is described at length are Ant.
xv. 11, and B. J. v. 5. See also Ant. xx. 9, 7.
4 The tract Middoth (Measures) in the Mischna treats entirely of this subject. It
will be found in the fifth volume of the Latin translation by Surenhusius. It was also
published with notes by L’Empereur (small quarto, Leyden, 1630). This work is re-
ferred to below. When we quote the tract itself, the references are to the pages in
Surenhusius.
5 (yen. xxii.
* The situation of the place is marked (17° on the Map. Sce Robinson, 1. 350. “It
246 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ΒΤ. PAUL.
ing-place” of those who are his children after the flesh, but not yet the
heirs of his faith, Keeping aloof from all difficult details, and withdraw-
ing ourselves from the consideration of those events which have invested
this hill with an interest unknown to any other spot on the earth, we con-
fine ourselves to the simple task of depicting the Temple of Herod, as it
was when St. Paul was arrested by the infuriated Jews.
That rocky summit, which was wide enough for the threshing-floor of
Araunah,' was levelled after David’s death, and enlarged by means of las
borious substructions, till it presented the appearance of one broad uniform
area. On this level space the temples of Solomon and Zerubbabel
were successively built: and in the time of the Apostles there were
remains of the former work in the vast stones which formed the support-
ing wall on the side of the valley of Jehosaphat,’ and of the latter in the
eastern gate, which in its name and its appearance continued to be a mon-
ument of the Persian power.t The architectural arrangements of Herod’s
temple were, in their general form, similar to the two which had preceded
it. When we think of the Jewish sanctuary, whether in its earlier or later
periods, our impulse is to imagine to ourselves some building like a syna-
gogue or achurch : but the first effort of our imagination should be to real-
ize the appearance of that wide open space, which is spoken of by the
prophets as the “ Outward Court” or the “ Court of the Lord’s House ;”*
and is named by Josephus the ‘‘ Outer Temple,” and both in the Apocry-
pha and the Talmud, the “Mountain of the House.”* That which was
the ‘“‘ House” itself, or the temple, properly so called,’ was erected on the
highest of a series of successive terraces, which rose in an isolated mass
is the nearest point in which the Jews can venture to approach their ancient temple ;
and, fortunately for them, it is sheltered from observation by the narrowness of the
lane and the dead walls around.’ It seems that the custom is mentioned even by
Benjamin of Tudela in the twelfth century.
1 1 Chron. xxi. 18. 2 Chron. iii. 1.
2 See the description of this work in Josephus, B. J. v.5.1. Ant, xv. 11. ὃ.
3 The lower courses of these immense stones still remain, and are described by all
travellers. .
4 The Shushan Gate, which had a sculptured representation of the city of Susa, and
was preserved from the time of Zerubbabel. Middoth, p. 326. That which is now
called the Golden Gate, “a highly ornamental double gateway of Roman construc-
tion,” is doubtless on the same spot. See the Map.
& Ezek. xiv. 17. Jer. xix. 12. xxvi.2. In 2 Chron. iv. 9, it is called the Great
Court.
6 The term with which we are most familiar,—the Court of the Gentiles,—is never
applied to this space by Jewish writers.
7 In the LXX. we find oiko¢ and ναὸς sed for that which was properly the Temple,
The expression τὸ ἱερὸν, in the N.T., is a general term, inclusive of the whole series of
courts. So it is used by Josephus, wie speaks of the outer court as τὸ ποῶτον ἱερὸν
τὸ ἔξωθεν ἱερόν, while he uses ναὸς for the Temple itself.
THE TEMPLE-ARBA. Q47
from the centre of the Court, or rather nearer to its north-western
corner."
In form the Outer Court was a square ; a strong wall enclosed it ; the
kides corresponded to the four quarters of the heavens, and each was a
stadium or a furlong in length.’ Its pavement of stone was of various
colours :* and it was surrounded by a covered colonnade, the roof of
which was of costly cedar, and was supported on lofty and massive columns
of the Corinthian order, and of the whitest marble.4 On three sides there
were two rows of columns: but on the southern side the cloister deep-
ened into a fourfold colonnade, the innermost supports of the roof being
pilasters in the enclosing wall. About the south-eastern angle, where the
valley was most depressed below the plateau of the Temple, we are to
look for that ‘‘ Porch of Solomon” (John x. 3, Acts iii. 11) which is familiar
to us in the New Testament : ὅ and under the colonnades, or on the open
area in the midst, were the “tables of the money-changers and the seats
of them who sold doves,” which turned that which was intended for a
house of prayer into a “house of merchandise” (John ii. 16), and “ἃ den
of thieves” (Matt. xxi. 13). Free access was afforded into this wide en-
closure by gates ® on each of the four sides, one of which on the east was
the Royal Gate, and was perhaps identical with the ‘ Beautiful Gate” of
Sacred History,?7 while another on the west was connected with the
crowded streets of Mount Zion by a bridge over the intervening valley.®
Nearer (as we have seen) to the north-western corner than the centre
of the square, arose that series of enclosed terraces on the summit of
which was the sanctuary. These more sacred limits were fenced off by a
1 In Middoth it is distinctly said that the space from the east and south is greater
than that from the west and north. “Mons dis erat quadratus, ita ut singula latera
essent cubitorum quingentorum. Maximum spatium erat ab austro; proximum ei ab
oriente ; tertium ab aquilone ; minumum vero ab occidente. Lo loco, ubi majus erat
spatium, major erat ejus usus,’”’ p. 334. It appears that Hirt (whose work on the
Temple we have not been able to consult) erroneously places the Temple in the centre.
3 We do not venture to touch the difficulties connected with the dimensions of the
Temple. Josephus is inconsistent both with the Talmud and himself. In one of his
estimates of the size of the whole area, the ground on which Antonia stood is included.
3 Τὸ δὲ ὕπαιθρον ἅπαν πεποίκιλτο παντοδαπῶν λίθων κατεστρωμένον. B. J. v. 5, 2.
4 Διπλαὶ μὲν αἱ στοαὶ πᾶσαι, κιόνες δ᾽ αὐταῖς μονόλιθοι λευκοτάτης μαρμάρου, KEdpé-
νοις δὲ φατνώμασιν ὠρόφωντο. Ibid. Κιονοκράνων αὐτοῖς κατὰ τὸν Κορίνθιον τρόπο»
ἐπεξειργασμένων γλυφαῖς, ἔμπληξιν ἐμποιούσαις διὰ τὴν τοῦ παντὸς μεγαλουργίαν
Ant. xv. 11,5. He adds that the height of the columns was 25 cubits (2), and their
number 162, while each column was so wide that it required three men with out
stretched arms to embrace it.
5 See Jos. Ant. xx. 9, 7.
6 The statements of Josephus and Middoth with regard to the gates into the otter
court are absolutely irreconcileable.
7 The Shushan Gate, mentioned above.
§ The supposed remains of this bridge, with some of the different theories respecting
them, have been alluded to before, See Vol. I. pp. 27, 28, and the engraving.
948 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL,
low balustrade of stone, with columns at intervals, on which inscriptions
in Greek and Latin warned all Gentiles against advancing beyond them
on pain of death,t’ It was within this boundary that St. Paul was accused
of having brought his Heathen companions. Besides this balustrade, a
separation was formed by a flight of fourteen steps leading up to the first
platform,” which in its western portion was a narrow terrace of fifteen
feet wide round the walls of the innermost sanctuary,—while the eastern
portion expanded into a second court, called the Court of the Women.
By this term we are not to understand that it was exclusively devoted to
that sex, but that no women were allowed to advance beyond it. This
court seems to have contained the Treasury‘ (Mark xii, 41, Luke xxi. 1)
and various chambers, of which that at the south-eastern corner should be
mentioned here, for there the Nazarites performed their vows ;* and the
whole Court was surrounded by a wall of its own, with gates on each
side,—the easternmost of which was of Corinthian brass, with folding-
doors and strong bolts and bars, requiring the force of twenty men to
1 Δρύφακτος περιβέβλητο AiOivoc, τρίπηχυς μὲν ὕψος, πάνυ δὲ χαριέντως διειργασ-
μένος " ἐν αὐτῷ δ᾽ εἱστήκεσαν ἐξ ἴσου διαστήματος στῆλαι, τὸν τῆς ἁγνείας προσημαίνου-
σαι νόμον, αἱ pev “Ἑλληνικοῖς, αἱ δὲ Ῥωμαικοῖς γράμμασι, μὴ δεῖν ἀλλόφυλον ἐντὸς
τοῦ ἁγίου παριέναι" τὸ γὰρ δεύτερον ἱερὸν, ἅγιον ἐκαλεῖτο. Joseph. B. J. ν. ὅ, 2. In
the Antiquities (xv. 11,7) he does not say that the inscription was in different lan-
guages, but he adds that it announced death as the penalty of transgression. [Tov
δεύτερον περίβολον) περιεῖχε ἑρκίον λιθίνον δρυφάκτον, γραφῇ κώλυον εἰσιέναι τὸν
ἀλλοεθνῇ, θανατικῆς ἀπειλουμένης τῆς ζημίας. A similar statement occurs in Philo de
γι. Θάνατος ἀπαραΐτητος ὥρισται κατὰ τῶν εἰς τοὺς ἐντὸς περιβόλους παρελθόντων
(δέχονται γὰρ εἰς τοὺς ἐξωτέρω τοὺς πανταχόθεν πάντας) τῶν οὐχ ὁμοεθνῶν. Vol. II.
p. 577. Ed. Mangey. This fence is mentioned again by Josephus in a striking pas-
sage, where Titus says to the Jews: "Ap’ οὐχ ὑμεῖς, ὦ μιαρώτατοι, τὸν δρύφακτον τοῦτον
προὐβάλεσθε τῶν ἁγίων; οὐχ ὑμεῖς δὲ τὰς ἐν αὐτῷ στήλας διεστήσατε γράμμασιν ‘EAAn-
νικοῖς καὶ ἡμετέροις κεχαραγμένας, ἃ μηδένα τὸ γείσιον ὑπερβαίνειν παραγγέλλει; οὐχ
ἡμεὶς δὲ τοὺς ὑπερύάντας ὑμῖν ἀναιρεῖν ἐπετρέψαμεν, κἂν Ῥωμαίων τις ἡ ; Β. J. vi. 2,
4, From this it appears that the Jews had full permission from the Romans to kill
even a Roman, if he went beyond the boundary. [These inscriptions have been
alluded to before in this work, Vol. §. p. 3.]
? With this platform begins what is called τὸ δεύτερον ἱερὸν by Josephus. Kai
τεσπαρεσκαίδεκα μὲν βαθμοῖς ἣν ἀναβατὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ πρώτου" μετὰ δὲ τοὺς δεκατέσσαρας
βαθμοὺς τὸ μέχρι τοῦ τείχους διάστημα πηχῶν ἦν δέκα, πᾶν ἱσάπεδον. Β. 4. ν. 5,2.
In Middoth we find the following: “ Ab interiori parte erat cancellata sepes, altitu-
dine decem palmarum, cui inerant effracture tredecim quas effregerunt reges Gracia.
.... Citra illam erat intermurale decem cubitorum latitudine, ubi duodecim gradus,”
$35. Leaving aside the discordance as to numbers, we may remark that we are left
in doubt as to whether the balustrade was above or below the steps.
3 Ἢ γυναικωνῖτις. B.J.v. 5,2. See Ant. xv. 11, 5.
4 In Joseph. B. J. v. 5, 2, we find γαζοφυλάκια in the plural. Compare vi. 5. 2.
L’Empereur (p. 47) places the treasury, or treasuries, in the wall of the Court of the
Women, but facing the Outer Court.
5 “Ad ortum brumalem erat atrium Nazyreorum: quod ibi Nazyrei coquerent
eucharistica sua, et detonderent capillos suos, eosque oll submitterent.”? Middoth
p. 341.
THE TEMPLE. ἘΞ)
efose them for the night.! We conceive that it was the closing of these
doors by the Levites, which is so pointedly mentioned by Luke (Acts xxi
30): and we must suppose that St. Paul had been first seized within them,
and was then dragged down the flight of steps into the Outer Court.
The interest, then, of this particular moment is to be associated with
the eastern entrance of the Inner from the Outer Temple. But to com-
plete our description, we must now cross the Court of the Women to its
western gate. The Holy Place and the Holy of Holies were still within
and above the spaces we have mentioned. Two courts yet intervened be
tween the court last described and the Holy House itself. The first was
the Court of Israel, the ascent to which was by a flight of fifteen semi-
circular steps ;7 the second, the Court of the Priests, separated from the
former by alow balustrade. Where these spaces bordered on each other,
to the south, was the hall Gazith,* the meeting-place of the Sanhedrin
partly in one court, and partly in the other. Joseph. Ant. xx 5,2. Β. 7. 11. 12,1. In this narrative the tower of Antonia and
its guards are particularly mentioned.
SBeS. 51.9.9;
5. The passages in Josephus, which relate to this Egyptian, are Ant. xx. 8,6. B.d
9.13 ὃ.
251 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
‘vefore us, on which the events we are now to relate occurred in rapid
succession. We left St. Paul at the moment when the Levites had closed
the gates, lest the Holy Place should be polluted by murder,—and when
the infuriated mob were violently beating the Apostle, with the full inten-
tion of putting him to death. The beginning and rapid progress of the
commotion must have been seen by the sentries on the cloisters and the
tower : and news was sent up! immediately to Claudius Lysias, the com-
mandant of the garrisor, that “all Jerusalem was in an uproar” (vy. 31).
The spark had fallen on materials the most inflammable, and not a mo-
ment was to be lost, if a conflagration was to be averted. Liysias himself
rushed down instantly, with some of his subordinate officers, and a strong
body of men,” into the Temple court. At the sight of fhe flashing arms
and disciplined movements of the Imperial soldiers, the Jewish mob
desisted from their murderous violence. ‘ They left off beating of Paul.”
They had for a moment forgotten that the eyes of the sentries were upon
them : but this sudden invasion by their hatred and dreaded tyrants, re-
minded them that they were “in danger to be called in question for that
day’s uproar.” (Acts xix. 40.)
Claudius Lysias proceeded with the soldiers promptly and directly to
St. Paul,? whom he perceived to be the central object of all the excite-
ment in the Temple court : and in the first place he ordered him to be
chained by each hand to a soldier: for he suspected that he might be
the Egyptian rebel,? who had himself baffled the pursuit of the Roman
force, though his followers were dispersed. This being done, he proceeded
to question the bystanders, who were watching this summary proceeding,
half in disappointed rage at the loss of their victim, and haif in satisfac-
tion that they saw him at least in captivity. But “when Lysias de-
manded who he was and what he had done, some cried one thing, and
some another, among the multitude” (v. 33, 34) ; and when he found
that he could obtain no certain information in consequence of the tumult,
he gave orders that the prisoner should be conveyed into the barracks
within the fortress. The multitude pressed and crowded on the soldiers,
as they proceeded to execute this order: so that the Apostle was actually
“carried up” the staircase, in consequence of the violent pressure from
1 ῬΑνέθη. Compare this with κατέδραμεν in the next verse, and the ἀναθαθμοί mene
tioned below.
* Παραλαθὼν στρατιώτας καὶ ἑκατοντάρχας, ν. 32. The full complement of centu
rions in the castle would be ten.
3 Tore ἐγγίσας ὁ χιλίαρχος. k.T.A.
4 '᾿Αλύσεσιν δυσίν. So St. Peter was bound. Acts xii.
ὃ This is evident from his question below, v. 38, Οὐκ dpa σὺ et ὁ Αἰγύπτιος ;
6 El¢ τὴν παρεμβολήν, v. 34. So below. xxii. 24, xxiii. 16. The word denotes not
“ the castle,”’ but soldiers’ barracks within it. It is the word used of the samp of the
Israelites in the Wilderness. (LXCX.)
8T. PAUL TAKEN INTO THE BARRACKS. 255
velow.! And meanwhile deafening shouts arose from the stairs and from
the court,—the same shouts whick, nearly thirty years before, surrounded
the pretorium of Pilate,?—- Away with him, away with him.”
At this moment,’ the Apostle, with the utmost presence of mind,
turned to the commanding officer who was near him,—and, addressing him
in Greek, said respectfully, “‘ May I speak with thee ?” Claudius Lysias
was startled when he found himself addressed by his prisoner in Greek,
and asked him whether he was then mistaken in supposing he was the
Egyptian ringleader of the late rebellion. St. Paul replied calmly that
le was no Egyptian, but a Jew ; and he readily explained his knowledge
of Greek, and at the same time asserted his claim to respectful treat-
ment,‘ by saying that he was a native of “Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of
no mean city :” and he proceeded to request that he might be allowed to
address the people. The request was a bold one: and we are almost
surprised that Lysias should have granted it: but there seems to have
been something in St. Paul’s aspect and manner, which from the first
gained an influence over the mind of the Roman officer: and his consent
was not refused. And now the whole scene was changed in a moment.
St. Paul stood upon the stairs and turned to the people, and made a mo-
tion with the hand,° as about to address them. And they too felt the in-
fluence of his presence. Tranquillity came on the sea of heads below ;
there was “ἃ great silence ;” and he began, saying,
' Brethren and Fathers,’ hear me, and let me now defend my-
self before you.
The language which he spoke was Hebrew. Had he spoken in Greek,
the majerity of those who heard him would have understood his words.
But the sound of the holy tongue in that holy place fell like a calm on
“1 "Ore δὲ ἐγένετο ἐπὶ τοὺς ἀναβαθμούς, συνέβη βαστάζεσθαι αὐτὸν ὑπὸ τῶν στρα-
τιωτῶν διὰ τὴν βίαν τοῦ ὄχλου, ν. 35.
? Compare Luke xxiii. 18, John xix. 15.
3 Μέλλων εἰσάγεσθαι εἰς τὴν παρεμβολήν.
4 We need not repeat all that has been said before concerning the importance of
Tarsus. See Vol. 1. pp. 22, 48-50, 105, 106, 255, 256. We may refer, however, to the
History of the place by the Abbé Belley in the twenty-seventh volume of the Ac. des
* Inscriptions.
5 Ἑστώς ἐπὶ τῶν ἀναβαθμῶν κατέσεισε τῇ χειρί, v.40. Compare xiii. 16. xxvi. 1,
also xx. 34.
6 To account for this peculiar mode of address, we must suppose that mixed with
the crowd were men of venerable age and dignity, perhaps members of the Sanhedrin,
ancient Scribes and Doctors of the Law, who were stirring up the people against the
heretic. "Avdpe¢ ἀδελφοὶ generally translated in A. V. “Men and brethren” literally
Men who are my brethren, may be equally translated Brethren ; just as "Avdoy
Αθηνᾶιοι Athenians.
256 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
the troubled waters. The silence became universal and breathless: and
the Apostle proceeded to address his countrymen as follows :—
SR a Aas I am myself! an Israelite, born indeed at Tarsus in
education. —- Qjlicia, yet brought up in this city, and taught at the
feet of Gamaliel, in the strictest doctrine of the law of our
fathers ; and was zealous? in the cause of God, as ye all are this
His persecution day. And I persecuted this sect unto the death, bind-
ians. ing with chains and casting into prison both men and
women. And of this the High Priest is my witness, and all the?
Sanhedrin ; from whom I received letters to the brethren,‘ and
went® to Damascus, to bring those also who were there to Jeru-
salem, in chains, that they might be punished.
But it came to pass that as I journeyed, when I
drew nigh to Damascus, about mid-day, suddenly there
shone from heaven a great light round about me. And I fell to
the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Sawl, Saul, why
persecutest thou me? And I answered, Who art thou, Lord?
and he said unto me, J am Jesus of Nazareth,» whom thou per-
secutest. And the men who were with me saw the light, and
were terrified ;7 but they heard not the voice of Him that spake
unto me. AndI said, What shall 7 do, Lord? And the Lord
said unto me, Arise, and go into Damascus, and there thou shalt
be told of all things which are appointed for thee to do.
His conversion.
His blindness, And when I could not see, from the brightness of
cure, and bap- 5 .
Τίσι. that light, my companions led me by the hand, and
so I entered into Damascus. And a certain Ananias, a devout’
man according to the law, well reported of by all the Jews who
dwelt there, came and stood beside me, and said to me, Lrother
Saul, receive thy sight ; and in that instant I received my sight
1 The ἐγὼ is emphatic. 2 Ζηλωτής. See the note on Gal. i. 14.
3 IIpec6urepiov. Compare Luke xxii. 66. The high priest here appealed to was the
person who held that office at the time of St. Paul’s conversion, probably Theophilus,
who was high priest in 37 and 38, a. pb.
4 i.e. the Jews resident at Damascus.
5 ’"Eopevouny, literally, I was on my road (imperf.). ᾿
6 Literally, Jesus the Wazarene. Saul was going to cast the Wazarenes (so the
Christians were called, see Acts xxiv. 5) intu cuains and dungeons, when be was
stopped by the Lord, announcing himself from heaven te be Jesus the Wazarene.
7 The clause καὶ ἔμφοβοι ἐγένοντο is omitted in some of the best MSS.
8 Εὐσεθής. This word is omitted in some of the best MSS., probably because the
copyists were perplexed at finding it not here used in its usual technical sense of a
Jewish proselyte.
9 ᾿Δναθλέπω has the double meaning of to recover sight and to look up; in the
HEBREW SPEECH ON THE STAIRS. 257
and saw him. And he said, The God of our fathers hath or-
dained thee to know His will, and to behold the Just One, and to
hear the voice of His mouth. For thou shalt be His witness to
all the world of what thou hast seen and heard. And now, why
dost thou delay? Arise and be baptized* and wash away thy
sins, calling on the name of Jesus.
And it came to pass, after I had returned to Jeru- gis τοίασα to
salem, and while I was praying in the Temple, that I τον
was in a trance, and saw Him saying unto me, Dake 4, :< sommand
haste and go forth quickly from Jerusalem ; for they or pre
will not receive thy testimony concerning me. And I “'**
said,‘ Lord, they themselves know that I continually 5 imprisoned
and scourged in every synagogue the believers in Thee. And
when the blood of thy martyr® Stephen was shed, I also myscif
was standing by and consenting gladly’ to his death,’ and keeping
the raiment of them who slew him. And He said unto me, De-
part; for 7 will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles.
At these words St. Paul’s address to his countrymen was suddenly in-
terrupted. Up to this point he had riveted their attention.» They lis-
tened, while he spoke to them of his early life, his persecution of the
Church, his mission to Damascus. Many were present who could testify,
on their own evidence, to the truth of what he said. Even when he told
them of his miraculous conversion, his interview with Ananias, and his
vision in the Temple, they listened stiil. With admirable judgment he
deferred till the last all mention of the Gentiles.°. He spoke of Ananias
former of which it is used in the accounts of blind men healed in the gospels. Here
the A. Y. translates the same verb by two different words.
1 Πάντας ἀνθρώπους, rather stronger than ali men.
? Βάπτισαι, literally, cause thyself to be baptized (mid.). With the following
_ ἀπόλουσαι, compare 1 Cor. vi. 11.
3 The best MSS. read αὐτοῦ, and not τοῦ Κυρίον. The reference is to the confession
of faith in Jesus, which preceded baptism,
4 St. Paul expected at first that the Jews at Jerusalem (the members of his own
party) would listen to him readily, because they could not be more violent against
the Nazarenes than they knew him to have been: and he therefore thought that they
must fevl that nothing short of irresistible truth conld have made him join the sect
which be had hated.
5 Ἤμην φυλακίζον. Iwas imprisoning, I kept on imprisoning.
6 Μάρτυς had not yet acquired its technical sense, but here it may be translated
‘Martyr, because the mode in which Stephen bore testimony was by his death.
7 Σνυ"ευδοκεῖν, to consent gladly. Compare Rom. i. 32.
8 Τῇ ἀναιρέσει αὐτοῦ, though omitted in the best MSS., is implied in the sense.
9 Notice the imperfect ἤκουον» as contrasted with éxgjpav which follows. See the
remarks on Stephen’s speech. Vol. 1. p. 71.
1 As an illustration of St. Paul’s wisdom, it is instructive to observe that in xxvi
Vou, 11.-—17
258 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
as a “ devout mar/according to the law” (v.12), as one “ well reported
of by all the Jews” (16), as one who addressed him in the name of “ the
God of their Fathers” (v.14). In his vision he showed how he had
pleaded before that God the energy of his former persecution, as a proof
that his countrymen must surely be convinced by his conversion ἢ and
when he alluded to the death of Stephen, and the part which he had taken
himself in that cruel martyrdom (vy. 20), all the associations of the place
there they stood' must (we should have thought) have brought the
memory of that scene with pathetic force before their minds. But when
his mission to the Gentiles was announced,—though the words quoted were
the words of Jehovah spoken in the Temple itself, even as the Lord had
once spoken to Samuel,’—one outburst of frantic indignation rose from
the Temple-area and silenced the speaker on the stairs. Their national
pride bore down every argument which could influence their reason or
their reverence. They could not bear the thought of uncircumcised Hea-
thens being made equal to the sons of Abraham. They cried out that
such a wretch ought not to poliute the earth with his presence,?—that it
was a shame to have preserved his life:4 and in their rage and impa-
tience they tossed off their outer garments (as on that other occasion,
when the garments were laid at the feet of Saul himself’), and threw up
dust into the air with frantic violence. This commotion threw Lysias into
new perplexity. He had not been able to understand the Apostle’s He-
brew speech : and, when he saw its results, he concluded that his prisoner
must be guilty of some enormous crime. He ordered him therefore to be
17, it is distinctly said that Jesus himself announced from heaven Paul’s mission to
the Gentiles; and that in ix. 15, the same announcement is made to. Ananias ;—
whereas in the address to the Jews this is kept out of view for the moment, and re-
served till after the vision in the Temple is mentioned. And again we should observe
that while in ix. 10, Ananias is spoken of as a Christian (see 13), here he is described
as a strict and pious Jew. He was, in fact, both the one and the other. But for the
purposes of persuasion, St. Paul lays stress here on the latter point.
1 See above, p. 244, n. 1.
3.1 Sam. iii. 3 Alpe ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς τὸν τοιοῦτον.
4 The correct reading appears to be καθῆκεν. It will be remembered that they were
vo the point of killing St. Paul, when Claudius Lysias rescued him, xxi. 31.
* ῬῬιπτούντων τὰ ἱμάτια, xxii. 23. Καὶ οἱ μάρτυρες ἀπέθεντο τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτῶν παρὰ
τοὺς πόδας νεανίου καλουμένου Σαύλου καὶ ἐλιθοβόλουν τὸν Στέφανον, vi.58. We need
not, however, suppose, with Meyer, that this tossing of the garments and throwing of
Gust, was precisely symbolical of their desire to stone Paul. It denoted simply im-
patience and disgust. So in Lucian we find: τὸ ϑέατρον ἅπαν συνεμεμήνει, Kal ἐπή-
bai, καὶ ἐβίων, καὶ τὰς ἐσθῆτας ἀπέῤῥίπτουν. De Salt. 83. See the next note.
6 “Sir John Chardin, as quoted by Harmer (Obs. iv. 203) says that it is common for
the peasarts in Persia, when they have a complaint to lay before their governors, to
repair to them by hundreds, or a thousand, at once. They place themselves near the
gate of the palace, where they suppose they are most likely to be seen and heard, and
then set up a horrid outcry, rend their garments, and throw dust into the air, at the
sue time demanding justice.” Hackett.
THE CENTURION AND THE CHIEF CAPTAIN. 259
caken immediately from the stairs into the barracks ;! and to be examined
by torture,’ in order to elicit a confession of his guilt. Whatever instru:
ments were necessary for this kind of scrutiny would be in readiness
within a Roman fortress : and before long the body? of the Apostle was
“ stretched out,” like that of a common malefactor, “to receive the
lashes,” with the officer standing by,‘ to whom Lysias had entrusted the
superintendence of this harsh examination.
Thus St. Paul was on the verge of adding another suffering and dis-
grace to that long catalogue of afflictions, which he gave in the last letter
he wrote to Corinth, before his recent visit to that city (2 Cor. xi. 23-25).
Five times scourged by the Jews, once beaten with rods at Philippi, and
twice on other unknown occasions, he had indeed been “in stripes above
measure.” And now he was ina Roman barrack, among rude soldiers,
with a similar indignity ὃ in prospect ; when he rescued himself, and at the
same time gained a vantage-ground for the Gospel, by that appeal to his
rights as a Roman citizen, under which he had before sheltered his sacred
cause at Philippi. He said these few words to the centurion who stood
by: “Is it lawful to put to the rack one who isa Roman citizen and
uncondemned?” The magic of the Roman law produced its effect in a
moment. ‘The centurion immediately reported the words to his command-
ing officer, and said significantly, ‘Take heed what thou doest: for this
man is a Roman citizen.” J.ysias was both astonished and alarmed. He
knew full well that no man would dare assume the right of citizenship, if
it did not really belong to him : 7 and he hastened in person ὃ to his prisoner.
A hurried dialogue took piace, from which it appeared, not only that St.
Paul was indeed a Roman citizen, but that he held this privilege under
circumstances far more honourable than his interrogator : for while Claudius
Lysias had purchased 9 the right for “a great sum,” Paul was “ free-born.”
1 Exédevoev αὐτὸν ἄγεσθαι εἰς τὴν παρεμθολὴν. See above, pp. 253, 4, 5.
3 Μάστιξιν ἀνέταζεσθαι.
3 The correct reading appears to be προέτειναν. We take τοῖς ἱμᾶσιν to mean “ for
the thongs,” ὁ. 6. the straps (νεύροις) of which the μάστιγες were made. Others con-
sider the words to denote the thongs or straps with which the offender was fastened te
the post or pillar. In either case, the use of the article is explained.
4 We see this from v. 25, εἶπε πρὸς τὸν ἑστῶτα ἑκατόνταρχον. Claudius Lysias
himself was not on the spot (see v. 26), but had handed over the Apostle to a centu-
ion, who “stood by,” as in the case of a military flogging with us.
5 We must distinguish between μάστιγες, μαστίζειν here (24, 25) and ῥαβόΐζειν,
ἐῤῥαβδίσθην (Acts xxvi 22. 2 Cor. xi. 25). In the present instance the object was
not punishment, but examination.
6 See Vol. I. p. 510.
7 Such pretensions were liable to capital punishment. “Civitatem Romanam usur
pantes in Campo Esguilino securi percussit.” Suet. Claud. 25.
8 ΤΙιροσελθὼν ὁ χιλιάοχος κ. τ. ἢ.
9 We learn from Dio Cassius, that the civitas of Rome was, in the early part of the
200 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
Orders were instantly given' for the removal of the instruments of torture :
and those who had been about to conduct the examination retired. LL.ysias
was compelled to keep the Apostle still in custody : for he was ignorant of
the nature of his offence :, and indeed this was evidently the only sure
method of saving him from destruction by the Jews. But the Roman
officer was full of alarm: for in his treatmewt of the prisoner? he had
already been guilty of a flagrant violation of the law.
On the following day * the commandant of the garrison adopted a milder
method of ascertaining the nature of his prisoner’s offence. He summon-
ed a meeting of the Jewish Sanhedrin with the high-priests, and brought
St. Paul down from the fortress and set him before them,—doubtless
taking due precautions to prevent the consequences which might result
from a sudden attack upon his safety. Only a narrow space of the Great.
Temple Court intervened‘ between the steps which led down from the
tower of Antonia, and those which led up to the hall Gazith, the Sanhedrin’s
accustomed place of meeting. If that hall was used on this occasion no
heathen soldiers would be allowed to enter it: for it was within the balus-
trade which separated the sanctuary from the Court. But the fear of
pollution would keep the Apostle’s life in safety within that enclosure.
There is good reason for believing that the Sanhedrin met at that period
in a place less sacred,® to which the soldiers would be admitted ; but this.
is a question into which we need not enter. Wherever the council sat, we
are suddenly transferred from the interior of a Roman barrack to a scene
entirely Jewish.
reign of Claudius, sold at a high rate (ἡ πολίτεια μεγάλων τὸ πρῶτον χρηματων
πραθεῖσα) and afterwards for a mere triffe.
1 This is not expressed, but it isimplied by what follows: εὐθέως ἀπέστησαν. K.T.2.
It is unnecessary to repeat here what has been said concerning the citizenship of
Paul and his father. See Vol. I. pp. 45,46. For the laws relating to the privileges
of citizens, see again Vol. I. p. 310.
2 "Εφοβήθη ὅτι ἣν αὐτὸν δεδεκώς. We cannct agree with Bottger in referring the
last word to προέτειναν τοῖς ἱμᾶσι (vy. 25). Nor can we see any ground for De Wetie’s
notion of an inconsistency between this word and what follows. Lys‘as was afraid,
because he had so “bound” the Apostle, as he could not have ventured to do, had he
known he was a Roman citizen. It seems, that in any case it would have been illegat
to have had immediate recourse to torture. “Non esse a tormentis incipiendum, Diy.
Augustus constituit.” Digest. L. 48, tit. 18. Certainly it was contrary to the Roman law
to put any Roman citizen to the torture, either by scourging or in any other way. Under
the Imperial regime, however, so early as the time of Tiberius, this ruie was viclated ;
znd torture was applied to citizens of the highest rank, more acd more freely. See
Geib (Geschichte des romischen Criminalprocesses bis zum Tode Justinians) p. 615,
and the instances which he quotes from Tacitus, Suetonius, Dio, and Seneca.
3 Τῇ ἐπαύριον. 4 See above.
5 The Rabbinical way of expressing this was as follows: *‘ Migravit supremus senae
fis oranimodo ab exedra lapidum cxsorum ad tabernas, et a tabernis ad Jerusalem.”
L’Empereur on Middoth, p. 48. See Vol. I. p. 69.
᾿
81. PAUL BEFORE THE SANHEDRIN, 261
Paul was now in presence of that council, before which, when he was
simself a member of it, Stephen had been judged. That moment could
hardly he forgotten by him: but he looked steadily at his inquisitors ;
among whom he would recognize many who had been his fellow-pupils in
the school of Gamaliel, and his associates in the persecution of the Chris
tians. That unflinching look of conscious integrity offended them,—and his
confident words—“ Brethren,’ I have always lived a conscientious? life
before God, up to this very day,’—so enraged the high-priest, that he
commanded those who stood near to strike him on the mouth. This bretal
insult roused the Apostle’s feelings, and he exclaimed, “God shall smite
thee, thou whited wall : 4 sittest thou to judge me according to the law, and
then in defiance of the law dost thou command me to be struck.” If we
consider these words as an outburst of natural indignation, we cannot
severely blame them, when we remember St. Paul’s temperament,> and how
they were provoked. If we regard them as a prophetic denunciation, they
were terribly fulfilled, when this hypocritical president of the Sanhedrin
was murdered by the assassins in the Jewish war. In whatever light we
view them now, those who were present in the Sanhedrin treated them
as profane and rebellious. ‘ Revilest thou God’s high-priest?” was the
indignant exclamation of the bystanders. And then Paul recovered him-
self, and said, with Christian meekness and forbearance, that he did not
consider? that Ananias was high-priest ; otherwise he would not so have
spoken, seeing that it is written in the Law® “‘thow shalt not revile the
1 *Arevicac τῷ συνεδρίῳ. See Vol. I. p. 148, n. 2.
2 Tt should be observed that, both here and below (vv. 5, 6) he addresses the Sanhe
drin as equals,—dvdpe¢ ddeApot,—whereas in xxii. 1, he says ἀδελφοὶ καὶ πατέρες.
3 This assertion of habitual conscientiousness is peculiarly characteristic of St. Paul
See 2 Tim. i. 3, where there is also a reference to his forefathers, as in v. 6, below.
Compare and he would
be glad to have his perplexity removed by the results of a new inquiry.®
The danger to which the Apostle was exposed was most imminent: and
there has seldom been a more horrible example of crime masked under
ες the show of religious zeal.
The plot was ready:? and the next day® it would have been carried
into effect, when God was pleased to confound the schemes of the conspi-
1 So we are told by Josephus that ten Jews bound themselves by a solemn oath to
assassinate Herod, and that before their execution they maintained καλῶς καὶ σὺν
εὐσεβεία τὴν συνωμοσίαν αὐτοῖς γενέσθαι, Ant. xv. 8, 3, 4.. Hackett quotes from
Philo a formal justification of such assassinations of apostates. In illustration of the
form of the oath, Wetstein cites the following from a Rabbinical authority: “ Post
jusjurandum non edam nec bibam, qui edit et bibit dupliciter reus est.” Lightfoot,
however, shows from the Talmud (Hor. Heb.) that those who were implicated in such
an oath could obtain absolution,
ἢ ΠΙροσελθόντες τοῖς ἀρχιερεῦσιν καὶ τοῖς πρεσβυτέροις, v.14. Most of the com-
mentators are of opinion that only the Sadducean party is contemplated here, the
Pharisees having espoused St. Paul’s cause. But it is far more natural to suppose that
their enthusiasm in his behalf had been only momentary, and that the temporary
schism had been healed in the common wish to destroy him. The Pharisees really
hated him the most. It would seem, moreover, from xxiv. 15, that Pharisees appeared
as accusers before Felix.
3 Ὡς μέλλοντας διαγινώσκειν ἀκριθέστερον τὰ περὶ αὐτοῦ. See the next note but
two.
4 Karaydyy, v.15; καταγάγῃς, v.20. So καταβάν, γ. 10, and καταγαγὼν, xxii. 30.
The accurate use of these words should be compared with what is said by Josephus and
by St. Luke himself of the stairs between the temple and the fortress, They preseat
us with an undesigned consistency in a matter of topography ; and they show that the
writer was familiar with the place he is describing.
5 See above.
6 We believe, with Meyer, that in v. 20 the correct reading is that adopted by Lach-
mann and Tischendorf, μέλλων, not μέλλοντες. If the Sanhedrin were about to inves:
tigate (see v. 15), it would be in order that Claudius Lysias might obtain more infor:
mation: and it would be more natural for the young man to put the matter befora
him in this point of view.
7 Observe the young man’s words, v. 21: Καὶ νῦν εἰσὶν ἕτοιμοι προσδεχόμενοι τὴν
ἀπὸ σοῦ ἐπαγγελίον.
8. Αὔριον. ν. 20. Τὸ 15 1ὴ the young man’s statement that this precise reference ἐς
tirae occurs. in vy. 15 the word appears to be an interpolation.
CONSPIRACY. 265
. cators. The instrument of St. Paul’s safety was one of his own relations,
the son of that sister whom we have before mentioned (Vol. I. p. 49) as
the companion of his childhood at Tarsus. It is useless to attempt te
draw that veil aside, which screens the history of this relationship from
our view: though the narrative seems to give us hints of domestic inter-
course at Jerusalem,’ of which, if it were permitted to us, we would
gladly know more. Enough is told to us to give a favourable impression
both of the affection and discretion of the Apostle’s nephew: nor is he
the only person, the traits of whose character are visible in the artless
simplicity of the narrative. The young man came into the barracks, and
related what he knew of the conspiracy to his uncle ; to whom he seems
to have had perfect liberty of access.* Paul, with his usual prompti-
tude and prudence, called one of the centurions to him, and requested him
to take the youth‘ to-the commandant, saying that he had a communica-
tion to make to him.*. The officer complied at once, and took the young
man with this message from ‘the prisoner Paul,” to Claudius Lysias ;
who—partly from the interest he felt in the prisoner, and partly, we need
not doubt, from the natural justice and benevolence of his disposition,—
received the stranger kindly, “took him by the hand, and led him aside,
and asked him in private” to tell him what he had to say. He related
the story of the conspiracy in full detail, and with much feeling. Lysias
listened to his statement and earnest entreaties ;° then, with a soldier’s
promptitude, and yet with the caution of one who felt the difficulty of the
situation, he decided at once on what he would do, but without communi-
cating the plan to his informant. He simply dismissed him,’ with a sig-
nificant admonition,—“ Be careful that thou tell no man that thou hast
laid this information before me.”
When the young man was gone, Claudius Lysias summoned one or two
of his subordinate officers,? and ordered them to have in readiness two
huadred of the legionary soldiers, with seventy of the cavalry, and two
1 Vy. 16-22.
? Two questions easily asked, but not easily answered, suggest themselves—whether
St. Paul's sister and nephew resided at Jerusalem, and, if so, why he lodged not with
them but with Mnason (above, p. 235).
3 So afterwards at Cesarea xxiv. 23, διαταξάμενος ἔχειν ἄνεσιν καὶ μηδένα κωλύειν
τῶν ἰδιων αὐτοῦ ὑπηρετεῖν αὐτῷ. See the next chapter for a description of the na
ture of the Custodia, in which St. Paul was kept, both at Jerusalem and Cesarea.
4 The word νεανίας is indeterminate, but the whole narrative givee the impression
that he wasa very young man. See Vol. I. p. 106, n. 2,
&§ Vv. 17, 18.
6 Σὺ ovr μὴ πεισθῇς αὐτοῖς, ν. 21.
7'O μὲν οὖν x. ἀπέλυσεν τὸν veaviay παραγγείλας. κ. τ. A.
8 Δύο τινὰς τῶν ἑκατονταρχῶν, ν. 23. The full complement of centyrions would
a ten. See below, p. 270, n. 2.
266 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
hundred spearmen ;? so as to depart for Caesarea at nine in the evening,
and take Paul in safety to Felix the governor. The journey was long,
and it would be requisite to accomplish it as rapidly as possible. He
therefore gave directions that more than one horse should be provided fo:
the prisoner. We may be surprised that so large a force was sent to se
cure the safety of one man ; but we must remember that this man was a
Roman citizen, while the garrison in Antonia, consisting of more than a
thousand men,* could easily spare such a number foi one day on such a
service ; and further, that assassinations, robberies, and rebellious were
frequent occurrences at that time in Judwa,° and that a conspiracy always
wears a formidable aspect to those who are responsible for the public
peace. The utmost secrecy, as well as promptitude, was evidently required;
and therefore an hour was chosen, when the earliest part of the night
would be already past. At the time appointed, the troops, with St. Paul
in the midst of them, marched out of the fortress, and at a rapid pace
took the road to Ceesarea.
It is to the quick journey and energetic researches of an American
traveller, that we owe the power of following the exact course of this
night march from Jerusalem to Czesarea.? In an earlier part of this work,
we have endeavoured to give an approximate representation of the Roman
! The rendering in the English version is probably as near as any other to the true
meaning of the singular word δεξιολώβους, which is evidently distinguished here from
legionery soldiers and from cavalry, and therefore doubtless means light-armed
troops. Again, it is distinguished from bowmen and targeteers in the following pas-
sage, which is the only other place where it occurs: Oi δὲ λεγόμενοι τουρμάρχαι εἰς
ὑπουργίαν τῶν στρατηγῶν ἐτάχθησαν" σημαίνει δὲ τοιοῦτον ἀξίωμα τὸν ἔχοντα ὑφ᾽
ἑαυτὸν στρατιῶτας τοξοφόρους πεντακοσίους, καὶ πελταστὰς τριακοσίους καὶ δεξιο- ᾿
λάβους ἑκατόν. Constant. Porphyr. Moreover the word δεξιόλαβος (or δεξιόβολος,
as it is in manuscript A.) seems to imply the use of some weapon simply carried in the
right hand. As to to the mixture of troops in the escort sent by Claudius Lysias, we
may remark that he sent forces adapted to act on all kinds of ground, and from the
imperfect nature of his information he could not be sure that an ambuscade might not
be laid in the way ; and at least banditti were to be feared.
3 ᾿Απὸ τρίτης ὥρας τῆς νῦκτός.
3 Διασώσωσιν. 4 Κτήνη τε παραστῆσαι.
5. The σπεῖρα was acohort. There were ten cohorts in a legion ; and each legion
contained more than 6000 men, besides an equal number of auxiliaries and a squadron
of horse. See the next chapter.
6 See the next chapter
7 See “A Visit to Antipatris,” by the Rev. Eli Smith, missionary in Palestine, in
the Biblictheca Sacra, vol. i. p. 478-496. The journey was expressly taken (on the way
from Jerusalem to Joppa) for the purpose of ascertaining St. Paul’s route to Antipatris ;
and the whole of this circuitous route to Joppa was accomplished in two days. The
article is followed by some valuable remarks by Dr. Robinson, who entirely agrees with
Mr. Τὶ, Smith, though he had previously assumed (Bibl. Res. iii. 46, 60) that St. Paul’s
escort had gone by the pass of Bethoron, a route sometimes used, as by Cestius Gallus
on his march from Cesarea by Lydda to Jerusalem. Joseph. B. J. ii. 19, 1.
NIGHT JOURNEY. 967
roads, as they existed in Palestine :1 and we have had occasion more
than once to allude to the route which lay between the religious and politi-
cal capitals of the country.? To the roads delineated on the map (Vol. I
p. 92) we must add another, which passes, not by Lydda? (or Diospolis),
but more directly across the intermediate space from Gophna to Antipatris,
We have thus the whole route to Cesarea before us ; and we are enabled
to picture to ourselves the entire progress of the little army, which took
St. Paul in safety from the conspiracies of the Jews, and placed him under
the protection of Felix the governor.
The road lay first, for about three hours, northwards,‘ along the high
mountainous region which divides the valley of the Jordan from the great
western plain of Judea. About midnight they would reach Gophna.»
Here, after ἃ short halt, they quitted the northern road which leads te
Neapolis? and Damascus,—once travelled by St. Paul under widely differ-
ert circumstances,—and turned towards the coast on the left. Presently
they began to descend among the western eminences and valleys of the
mountain-country,® startling the shepherd on the. hills of Ephraim, and
rousing the village peasant, who woke only to curse his oppressor, as he
» Chap. III. and the map, Vol. I. p. 84.
? Vol. I. pp. 53, 104, 424. Vol. ΤΙ. p. 234.
3 See Acts ix. 32. For geographical illustration, we may refer to the movements
of Peter in reference to Lydda, Joppa, Cesarea, and Jerusalem (ix. 38. x. 23, 24.
xi. 2), and also those of Philip in reference to Sebaste (?) in Samaria, Azotus, Gaza,
and Ceesarea (viii.).
4 This part of the road has been mentioned before (Vol. I. p. 85) as one wheke Dr.
Robinson followed the line of a Roman pavement. With the very full description in
his third volume, pp. 75-80, the map in the first volume should be compared. Mr. Ἐς
’ Smith mentions this part of the route briefly. B.S. pp. 478, 479.
5 Vol. I. p. 85.
6 “We rode hastily to Bireh. ... reached Bireh in 2 ἢ. 20 m.... 35 m. from
Bireh, we came to ruins. Here we found we had mistaken our path... . 30 τὴ. from
hence we took the following bearings, &c.... reached Jufna in 30m.” B.S. 479.
Compare the time in Dr. Robinson’s account.
7 Vol. 1. p. 84.
8 We started [from Jufna] by the oldest road to Kefr Saba... . In 20 τη. reached
Bir Zeit. In this distance, we found evident remains of the pavement of a Roman road,
affording satisfactory proof that we had not mistaken our route.” B.5. 480. “The
whole of our way down the mountain was a very practicable, and, for the most part, a
very easy descent. It seemed formed by nature for a road, and we had not descended
far from the point where our observations were made, before we came again upon the
Roman pavement. This we continued to find at intervals during the remainder of the
day. In some places, for a considerable distance, it was nearly perfect ; and then,
again, it was entirely broken up, or a turn in our path made us lose sight of it. Yet
we travelled hardly half an hour at any time without finding distinct traces of it,
I do not remember observing anywhere before so extensive remains of a Roman road.”
p. 482. “ A few minutes beyond the village [Um Sufah], a branch of the road led off
te the right, where, according to our guides, it furnishes a more direct route to Keft
Baba. But just at this point the Roman road was fortunately seen following the path
268 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF SY. PAUL.
heard the hoofs of the horses on the pavement, and the well-known tramp
of the Roman soldiers. A second resting-place might perhaps be found at
Thamna,' a city mentioned by Josephus in the Jewish wars, and possibly
he “'Timnath Heres,” where Joshua * was buried “in Mount Ephraim, in
the border of his inheritance.” And then they proceeded, still descending
over a rocky and thinly cultivated tract,’ till about daybreak they came to
the ridge of the last hill,* and overlooked “the great plain of Sharon,
coming quite up to its base on the west.” The road now turned north-
wards,® across the rich land of the plain of Sharon, through fields of wheat
and barley,® just then almost ready for the harvest. ‘‘On the east were
the mountains of Samaria, rising gradually above each other, and bounding
the plain in that direction : on the left lay a line of low wooded hills, shutting
on the left; and thus informed us very distinctly that this was the direction for us to
take.” p. 483.
1 One of the collateral results of Mr. Eli Smith’s journey is the identification of the
site of this city—not the Timnath of Josh. xv. 10—but a place mentioned in the fol-
lowing passages of Josephus, Ant. xiv. 11,2. B.J.iii.3,5. iv. 8,15 also 1 Mac. ix. 50.
It would appear that in our map, p. 84, this city ought to be placed considerably to
the northward, though still between ESN and Diospolis. The ruins are now called
Tibneh.
3 Josh. xix. 49,50. xxiv. 30. Judg. ii. 8,9. Mr. ἘΠ. Smith observed some remark
able sepulchres at Tibneh.
3 B. 5. 486, 487. The traveller was still guided by the same indications of the
ancient road. “ Hastening on [from Tibnch] and passing occasionally portions of the
Roman road, we reached in 40 m. the large town of Abud.... To the left of our
road we passed several sepulchral excavations, marking this as an ancient place. Out
path led us for a considerable distance down a gentle but very rocky descent, which
was the beginning of a Wady. Through nearly the whole of it, we either rode upon
or by the side of the Roman road. At length the Wady became broader, and with its
declivities was chiefly occupied with fields of grain and other cultivation. ... After
clearing the cultivation in the neighbourhood, we passed over a hilly tract, with little
cultivation, and thinly sprinkled with shrubbery. . . . In our descent, which was not
great, we thought we could discern further traces of the Roman road. But it was
nearly dark, and we may possibly have been mistaken.”
4 At this point is the village of Mejdel Yaba in the province of Nablous. “It stands
on the top of a hill, with the valley of Belat on the south, a branch Wady running into
it on the east, and the great plain of Sharon coming quite up to its base on the west,”
p. 488. Mr. E. Smith arrived there at eight in the evening, having ridden about
thirty miles since the morning. The next day he says: “I was disappointed in not
procuring so many bearings from Mejdel Yaba as I had hoped. The rising sun shoot-
ing his rays down the side of the mountain, prevented our seeing much in that diree-
tion.” p. 490.
5 From Mejdel Yaba Mr. E. Smith did not take the direct road to Kefr Saba, “which
would have led northward, probably in the direction of the Roman road,’ but went
more to the west, by Ras-el-Ain, and across the river Anjeh near its source, and then
by Jiljulieh.
6 ‘“Tts soil is an inexhaustible black loam, and nearly the whole of it was now under
cultivation, presenting a scene of fertility and rural beauty rarely equalled. Immense
fields of wheat and barley waving’in the breeze, were advancing rapidly to maturity,
Ρ. 491. This was on the 27th of April, almost the exact time of St. Paul’s journey.
ANTIPATRIS. 269
it in from the sea.” Between this higher and lower range, but on the
level ground, in a place well watered and richly wooded, was the town of
Antipatris. Both its history and situation are described to us by Josephus.
The ancient Caphar-Saba, from which one of the Asmonean princes had
dug a trench and built a wall to Joppa, to protect the country from inva.
sion,! was afterwards rebuilt by Herod, and named in honour of his
father Antipater.? It is described in one passage as being near the
mountains ;* and in another, as in the richest plain of his dominions, with
abundance both of water and wood.‘ In the narrative of the Jewish war,
Antipatris is mentioned as one of the scenes of Vespasian’s first military
proceedings.® It afterwards disappears from history ;* but the ancient
name is still familiarly used by the peasantry, and remains with the physi-
cal features of the neighbourhood to identify the site.7
The foot-soldiers proceeded no further than Antipatris, but returned
from thence to Jerusalem (xxii. 32). They were no longer necessary to
secure St. Paul’s safety ; for no plot by the way was now to be apprehen-
|
1 Δείσας δὲ ᾿Αλέξανδρος τὴν ἔφοδον Αντιόχου, τάφρον ὀρύττει βαθεῖαν, ἀπὸ τῆς
Χαθαρζαβᾷ καταρξάμενος, ἣ νῦν Αντιπατρὶς καλεῖται, ἀχρὶ τῆς εἰς Ἰύπην θαλάσσης, ἡ
καὶ μόνον ἣν ἐπίμαχον. Joseph. Ant. xiii. 15,1. Τοῦτον δείσας στρατεύεσθαι ἐπὶ τοὺς
"Apabac ὡρμημένον, τὸ μὲν μεταξὺ τῆς ὑπὲρ Αντιπατρίδος παρορείου καὶ τῶν Lorne
ἀιγιαλῶν διαταφρεύει φάραγγι βαθείᾳ. B. 4. 1. 4,1.
2 Πόλιν ἄλλην ἀνήγειρεν ἐν τῷ πεδίῳ τῷ λεγομένῳ Καφαρσαβᾷ, τόπον ἔνυδρον καὶ
χώραν ἀρίστην φυτοῖς ἐκλέξας, ποταμοῦ τε περιρρέοντος τὴν πόλιν αὐτὴν, καὶ καλλίστου
κατὰ μέγεθος τῶν φυτῶν περιειληφότος ἄλσους. 'άυτην απὸ ᾿Αντιπάτρου τοῦ πατρὸς
᾿Αντιπατρίδα προσηγόρευσεν. Ant. xvi. ὅ, 2. Φιλοπάτωρ γε μὴν [Ἣρώδης], εἰ καί τις
, ἕτερος" καὶ γὰρ τῷ πατρὶ μνημεῖον κατέστησε πόλιν, ἣν ἐν τῷ καλλίστῳ τῆς βασιλείας
πεδίῳ κτίσας ποταμοῖς τε καὶ δένδρεσι πλουσίαν ὡνόμασεν Ἀντιπατρίδα. B. J. i. 21,9.
ΕΣ ide 4 Ant. xvi. δ. εν B.J.i. 21, 9.
5 Hearing of the revolt of Vindex from Nero, ὑπὸ τὴν ἀρχὴν τοῦ ἔαρος ἀναλαβὼν τὸ
πλέον τῆς δυνάμεως, ἤγαγεν and τῆς Καισαρεΐας ἐπὶ Αντιπατρίδος. B. J. iv. 8, 1.
6 It is mentioned by Jerome as “ Semirutum oppidulum.” Its name appears in the
Syecdemus and in the Jerusalem Itinerary, where the distances from Jerusalem are os
follows: Civitas Nicopoli, M. XXII; Civitas Lidda, M. X.; Mutatio Antipetrida,
‘M. X.; Mutatio Betthar, M. X.; Civitas Caesarea, M. XVI. Dr. Robinson thinks
the distance between Lydda and Antipatris ought to be XX. instead of X. Bib. Res.
ui. 46, note. ͵
7 The existence of a place called Kafar Saba in this part of the plain was known to
Prokesch, and its identity with Antipatris was suggested by Raumer, Rob. Bib. Res.
iii. 45-47. This may be considered now as proved beyond a doubt. There are some
minor difficulties connected with distances, and especially with the trench of Alexan-
der Balas,—which at first sight would lead us to look for Antipatris further south than
the modern Caphar Saba. B.S. 493, 494. But here we may remark (what appears
to have escaped tne notice both of Mr. E. Smith and Dr. Robinson) that the trench is
not said to have been dug from Antipatris itself, but weragd τῆς ὑπὲρ Αντ. παρορείου;
and, again, that the plain and not the town is said to have been called Caphar Saba:
so that we may well place it further south, towards Mejdel Yaba. Even if the town
had been so called, it might possibly have moved its place without changing its nama
just as Capua has done,
270 ‘THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
ded ; but they might very probably be required in the fortress of Antonia.
It would be in the course of the afternoon that the remaining soldiers with
their weary horses entered the streets of Caesarea. The centurion who
remained in command of them’ proceeded at once to the governor, and
gave up his prisoner; and at the same time presented the dispatch,® with
which he was charged by the commandant of the garrison at Jerusalem.
We have no record of the personal appearance of Felix ; but if we
may yield to the impression naturally left by what we know of his sensual
and ferocious character, we can imagine the countenance with which he
read the following dispatch. ‘‘ Claudius Lysias sends greeting to the most
Excellent*® Felix the governor. This man was apprehended by the Jews, and
on the point of being killed by them, when I came and rescued him with my
miltary guard:® for I learnt that he was a Roman citizen.7 And when 1
wished to ascertain the charge which they had to allege against him, I took
him down® to their Sanhedrin: and there I fownd that the charge had refer-
ence to certain questions of their law, and that he was accused of no offence
worthy of death or imprisonment. And now, having received information,
that a plot is about to be formed against the man’s life, I send® him to thee
forthwith, and I have told his accusers that they must bring their charge
before thee.” EF arewell.” »
1 Tt is explicitly stated that they came back to their quarters at Jerusalem (εἰς τὴν
παρεμθολήν).
3 One centurion would remain, while the others returned. Possibly he is the sama
officer who is mentioned. xxiv. 23.
3 ᾿Αναδόντες τὴν ἐπιστολὴν τῷ ἡγέμονι, παρέστησαν καὶ τὸν Παῦλον αὐτῷ, V. 33.
4 See next chapter.
5 Τῷ κρατίστῳ ἡγεμόνι, v.26. “His Excellency the Governor.” This is evidently
an Official title. Tertullus uses the same style, κράτιστε Φῆλιξ, xxiv. 3, and Paul him-
self, κράτιστε Φῆστε, xxvi. 25.
6 Σὺν τῷ στρατέυματι, Which is unfortunately translated in the English version
“with an army.”’
7 This statement was dexterously inserted by Claudius Lysias to save himself from
disgrace. But it was false: for it is impossible not to see that μαθών intends to con-
vey the impression that Paul’s Roman citizenship was the cause of the rescue, whereas
this fact did not come to his knowledge till afterwards. Some of the commentators
have justly observed that this dexterous falsehood is an incidental proof of the genuine-
ness of the document.
8 Κατήγαγον. Mere we may repeat what has been said above concerning the topo-
graphy of Antonia and the Temple.
9 This is the natural English translation of ἔπεμψα. Our letters are expressed as
from the writer’s point of view, those of the ancients were adapted to the position of
the reader. i |
10 ᾿Ἐπὲ σοῦ, at the termination, emphatic.
11 ᾿Βῤῥωσο. The MSS. vary as to the genuineness cf this word. If the evidence ia
equally balanced, we should decide in its favour; for it is exactly the Latin “ Vale.”
Such dispatches from a subordinate to a commanding officer would naturally be in
Latin. See Vol. I. p. 3, where however it ought to be added that L/ogium is rather
a report from a lower to a higher court, upon appeal.
HEROD’S PRETORIUM. ΟἿΑ
Felix raised his eyes from the paper, and said, “ΤῸ what province
does he belong?” It was the first question which a Roman governor
wvuld naturally ask in such a case. So Pilate had formerly paused,
when he found he was likely to trespass on “ Herod’s jurisdiction.” Be-
sides the delicacy required by etiquette, the Roman law laid down strict
Tules for all inter-provincial communications. In the present case there
could be no great difficulty for the moment. A Roman citizen with cer-
tain vague charges brought against him, was placed under the protection
of a provincial governor, who was bound to keep him in safe custody till
the cause should be heard. Having therefore ascertained that Paul was
a native of the province of Cilicia,' Felix simply ordered him to be kept
in “ Herod’s preetorium,” and said to Paul himself, “I will hear and
decide thy cause,* when thy accusers are come.” Here then we leave the
Apostle for a time. A relation of what befel him at Czxsarea will be
given in another chapter, to which an account of the political state of
Palestine, and a description of Herod’s city, will form a suitable intro-
duction.
ι Ἔκ ποίας ἐπαρχίας ... καὶ πυθόμενος ὅτι ἀπὸ Κιλικίας, v. 34. It has already
been observed (Vol. I. p. 143) that ἐπαρχία is a general term for both the emperor’s
and the senate’s provinces, just as ἡγεμών is a general term for the government of
either. For the province of Cilicia see pp. 249, 250.
3 δισχούσυμαι cov, κ. 7, A. V. 3d. Compare διαγνώσομαι, xxiv 22.
273 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 8T. PAUIn
CHAPTER XXII.
Παραδώσουσιν ὑμᾶς εἰς SYNEAPIA* καὶ ἐπὶ HTEMONAS δὲ καὶ "5. 2Σ΄Δε Σ
ἀγθήσεσθε ἕνεκεν ἐμοῦ εἰς μαρτύριον αὐτοῖς καὶ τοῖς ἔθνεσιν. “Ὅταν δὲ πὰρασῶσιν
ὑμᾶς, μὴ μεριμνήσητε πῶς ἢ τί λαλήσετε" δοθήσεται γὼρ ὑμῖν ἐν ἐκείνῃ 14 ὥρᾳ τί
λαλήσετε" οὐ γὰρ ὑμεῖς ἐστὲ οἱ λαλοῦντες, ἀλλὰ τὸ Πνεῦμα τοῦ Πατρὸς ὑμῶν τὸ λαλοῦν
ἐν ὑμῖν. Matt. x. 17-20.
HISTORY OF JUDHA RESUMED.—ROMAN GOVERNORS.—FELIX.—TROOPS QUARZERED IN
PALESTINE.—DESCRIPTION OF C.2SAREA.—ST. PAUL ACCUSED THERE.—SPEECH BEFORH
FELLY.—CONTINUED IMPRISONMENT.—ACCESSION OF FESTUS.—APPEAL TO THE EMPE-
ROR.—SPEECH BEFORE AGRIPPA.
We have pursued a long and varied narrative, since we last took a gene-
ral view of the political history of Juda. The state of this part of the
Empire in the year 44 was briefly summed up in a previous chapter (Vol
I. Ch. IV.). It was then remarked that this year and the year 60 were
the two only points which we can regard as fixed in the annals of the
earliest Church, and, therefore, the two best chronological pivots of the
Apostolic history. We have followed the life of the Apostle Paul
through a space of fourteen years from the former of these dates: and
now we are rapidly approaching the second. Then we recounted the mis
erable end of King Agrippa I. Now we are to speak of Agrippa IJ.,
who, like his father, had the title of King, though his kingdom was not
identically the same.”
The life of the second Agrippa ranges over the last period of national
Jewish history, and the first age of the Christian Church : and both. his
life and that of his sisters Drusilla and Berenice? are curiously connected,
1 We assume that Festus succeeded Felix in the year 60. In support of this opinion
we must refer to the note (C) upon the Chronological Table in the Appendix.
2 Acrippa II. was made king of Chalcis a. p. 48—he received a further accession of
territory A.D. 53, and died, at the age of 70, a.p. 99. He was intimate with Josephus,
and was the last prince of the Herodian house.
3 Titus seems to have been only preventecd from marrying this beautiful and profli-
gate princess by the indignant feeling of the Romans. See Dio Cass, Ixvi. 15. Bepe-
νίκη ἐς τὴν Ῥώμην μετὰ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ τοῦ ᾿Αγρίππα ἦλθε... ἡ δὲ ᾿" τῷ παλατίῳ
ἤκησε, καὶ τῷ Τίτῳ συνεγίγνετο" προσεδοκᾶτο δὲ γαμηθήσεσθαι αὐτῷ, καὶ πάντα ἤδη
ὡς καὶ γυνὴ αὐτοῦ οὖσα ἐποίει" ὥστ᾽ ἐκεῖνον, δυσχεραίνοντας τοῦς Ρωμαίους ἐπὶ τούτοις
ἠσθημένον, ἀποπέμψασθαι αὐτήν. The name of Berenice is so mixed up with the his
tory vf the times, and she is so often mentioned, both by Josephus and by Roman
ROMAN GOVERNORS IN SUDHA. 273
by manifold links, with the general history of the times. Agrippa saw
the destruction of Jerusalem, and lived till the first century was closed iz
the old age of St. John,—the last of a dynasty eminent for magnificence
and intrigue. Berenice concluded a life of profligacy by a criminal cor
nection with Titus the conqueror of Jerusalem. Drusilla became the wife
of Felix, and perished with the child of that union in the eruption of Ve-
suvius.
COIN OF HEROD AGRIPPA u.!
We have said that the kingdom of this Agrippa was not coincident
with that of his father. He was never, in fact, Aung of Judea. The
‘three years, during which Agrippa I. reigned at Cwsarea, were only an
interpolation in the long series of Roman procurators, who ruled «πα τὰ
in subordination to the governors of Syria, from the death of Herod the
Great to the final destruction of Jerusalem. In the year 44, the second
Agrippa was only sixteen years old, and he was detained about the court
f Claudius, whilst Cuspius Fadus was sent out to direct the provincial
writers, that it is desirable to put together here some of the principal notices of her
life and character. She was first married to her uncle, Herod, King of Chalcis; and
efter his death she lived with her brother, Agrippa, not without suspicion of the most
criminal intimacy (φήμης ἐπισχούσης ὅτι TH ἀδελφῷ συνήει. Joseph. Ant. xx. 7, 3.)
Compare Juvenal, vi. 155 :—
‘“ Adamas notissimus et Berenices
In digito factus pretiosior : hune dedit olim
Barbarus incestx, dedit hune Agrippa sorori.”
It was during this period of her life that she made that marriage with Polemo, king
of Cilicia, which has been alluded to in the earlier part of this work. (Vol. I. p. 25.)
Soon she left Polemo and returned to her brother: and then it was that St. Paul was
brought before them at Cesarea. After this time, she became a partisan of Vespasian.
(Berenice partes juvabat, florens xtate formaque, et seni quoque Vespasiano magnifi
centia munerum grata, Tac. Hist. ii. 81.) Her connection with Vespasian’s son is
mentioned by Suetonius (Tit. 7) and by Tacitus (Hist. ii. 2), as well as by Dio Cassius
The one redeeming passage in her life is the patriotic feeling she displayed on the
oveasion alluded to Vol. II. p. 243. (See Joseph. B. J. Π. 15, 16.)
1 From the British Museum. “This prince, notwithstanding the troubles which
now began to afflict his ill-fated country, spent large sums in improving and beautify-
ing Jerusalem, Berytus, and Cesarea Philippi. Of the latter there is a coin extant,
bearing the head of Nero: reverse ἘΠῚ BANIAE, ΑΤΡΙΠΠᾺ NEPQNIE, within a
laurel garland, confirming the account of Josephus (Ant. xx. 9, 8), who says Herod
enlarged and called the city Neronias, in honour of the Emperor.’? Akerman, Num.
Ill. p.57. There seems to be some doubt about the coins, one of which Mr. Akerman
gives, bearing the name of Agrippa, with the umbrella or tabernaculum (the Oriental
symbol of power) on one side, and on the other some ears of corn (perhaps having a
symbolical reference to the oblation of the first-fruits, or perhaps only a substitute for
the representations which were repugnants to the Jews).
VoL. 17 —18
214 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ΒΊ, PAUL.
affairs at Cesurea.' It was under the administration of Fadns that those
religious movements took place, which ended (as we have seen above, p.
253) in placing under the care of the Jews the sacred vestments kept in
the tower of Antonia, and which gave to Herod king of Chalcis the
management of the temple and its treasury, and the appointment of the
high priests. And in other respects the Jews had reason to remember his
administration with gratitude ; for he put down the banditti which had
been the pest of the country under Agrippa ; aud the slavish compliment
of Tertullus to Felix (Acts xxiv. 2, 3) might have been addressed to him
with truth,—that ‘by him the Jews enjoyed great quietness, and that
very worthy deeds had been done to the nation by his providence.” He
was succeeded by Tiberius Alexander, a renegade Alexandrian Jew, and
the nephew of the celebrated Philo.* In relation to the life of this offi-
cial in Judza, there are no incidents worth recording: at a later period
we see him at the siege of Jerusalem in command of Roman forces under
Titus :? and the consequent inscriptions in his honour at Rome served to
point the sarcasm of the Roman satirist.‘ Soon after the arrival of Ven-
tidius Cumanus to succeed him as governor ὃ in the year 48, Herod King
of Chalcis died, and Agrippa II. was placed on his throne, with the same
privileges in reference to the temple and its worship, which had been pos-
sessed by his uncle. ‘‘ During the government of Cumanus, the low and
sullen murmurs which announced the approaching eruption of the dark
volcano now gathering its strength in Palestine, became more distinct.
The people and the Roman soldiery began to display mutual animosity.” 5
One indication of this animosity has been alluded to before,7—the dread-
ful loss of life in the temple, which resulted from the wanton insolence of
one of the soldiers in Antonia at the time of a festival. Another was the
excitement which ensued after the burning of the Scriptures by the Ro
man troops at Beth-Horon, on the road between Jerusalem and Cexsarea.
An attack made by the Samaritans on some Jews who were proceeding
through their country to a festival, led to wider results.s Appeal was
made to Quadratus, governor of Syria : and Cumanus was sent to Rome
to answer for his conduct to the emperor. In the end he wes deposed,
and Felix, the brother of Pallas the freedman and favourite of Claudius,
1 Joseph. Ant. xix.9. xx.5.1. B.J. ii. 11, 6.
δ Joseph. Ant. xx. 5, 2.
4B, J. v. 1, 6. Compare ii. 18, 7; and iv. 10, 6.
‘ _ Atque triumphales inter quos ausus habere
Nescio quis titulos Aigyptius ataue Alabarches.
Juy. i, 129.
δ᾽ Ant. xx. 5,2. B. J. ii. 12,1.
5 Milman’s History of the Jews, ii. 203.
7 See the preceding chapter, p. 253. For Beth-Horon see p. 266, n. 7.
® Ant. xx. 6. B. J. ii. 12.
FELIX. 275
was (partly bythe influence of Jonathan the high priest) appointed ta
succeed him.'
The mention of this governor, who was brought into such intimate re
lations with St. Paul, demands that we should enter now more closely inte
details. The origin of Felix and the mode of his elevation would prepare
us to expect in him sucha character as that which is condensed into a few
words by Tacitus,*—that “in the practice of all kinds of lust and cra-
elty he exercised the power of a king with the temper of a slave.” The
Jews had, indeed, to thank him for some good services tc their nation.
He cleared various parts of the country from robbers ;? and he pursued
and drove away that Egyptian fanatic,‘ with whom Claudius Lysias too
hastily identified St. Paul.® But the same historian, from whom we
derive this information, gives us a terrible illustration of his cruelty in the
story of the murder of Jonathan, to whom Felix was partly indebted for
his own elevation. The high priest had presumed to expostulate with the
governor on some of his practices, and assassins were forthwith employed
to murder him in the sanctuary of the temple. And as this crime illus-
trates one part of the sentence, in which Tacitus describes his character,
so we may see the other parts of it justified and elucidated in the narra-
tive of St. Luke ;—that which speaks of him as ἃ voluptuary, by his
union with Drusilla, whom he had enticed from her husband by aid of a
magician, who is not unreasonably identified by some with Simon Magus,’
—and that which speaks of his servile meanness, by his trembiing with-
out repentance at the preaching of Paul, and by his detentipn of him in
prison from the hope of a bribe. When he finally left the Apostle in
bonds at Ceesarea, this also (as we shall see) was done from a mean de-
sire to conciliate those who were about to accuse him at Rome of mal-
administration of the province. The final breach between him and the
provincials seems to have arisen from a quarrel at Cesarea, between the
1 Josephus and Tacitus differ as to the circumstances of his first coming into the
East. According to one account he was joint-procurator for a time with Cumanus, the
latter holding Galilee, the former Samaria. From the circumstance of his being called
Antonius Felix, it has been supposed that he was manumitted by Antonia, the mother
of Claudius.
* “Claudius, defunctis regibus aut ad modicum redactis, Judeam provinciam equi-
tibus Romanis aut libertis permisit; e quibus Antonius Felix per omnem sevitiam
ας libidinem jus regium servili ingenio exercuit.” Hist. v.9. In another place,
he says, comparing him with his brother Pallas :—“ At non frater ejus, cognomenta
Felix, pari moderatione agebat, jam pridem Jude impositus et cuncta malefacta sibi
impune ratus tanta potentia subnixo.”” Ann. xii. 54.
2 B. J. ii. 13, 2. 4 Ant. xx. 8,6. B. J. ii. 13, 5.
» See the preceding Chapter.
5 Ant. xx. 8,5. His treachery to Eleazar the arch-robber, mentioned by Josephus
in the same section, should not be unnoticed.
* See Vol. 1. p. 80, n. 1. By Suetonius (Claud. 28) Felix is called “Trium reging-
rum Maritus.”? One of these was another Drusilla.
76 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
Jewish and Heathen population, which grew so serious, that the troops
were called out into the streets, and both slaughter and plunder was the
result.
The mention of this circumstance leads us to give some account of the
troops quartered in Palestine, and of the general distribution of the Roman
army: without some notion of which no adequate idea can be obtained of
the empire and the provinces. Moreover, St. Paul is brought, about this
part of his life, into such close relations with different parts of that mili-
tary service, from which he draws some of his most forcible imagery,' that
our narrative would be incomplete without some account both of the
Pretorian guards and the legionary soldiers. The latter force may be
fidy described in connection with Czesarea, and we shall see that it is not
out of place to allude here to the former alu, though its natural associa-
tion is with the city of Rome.
That division between the armed and wnarmed provinces, to which
attention has been called before (Vol. I. pp. 141-145),’ will serve to
direct us to the principle on which the Roman legions were distributed.
They were chiefly posted in the outer provinces or along the frontier, the
immediate neighbourhood of the Mediterranean being completely subdued
under the sway of Rome The military force required in Gaul and Spain
was much smaller than it had been in the early days of Augustus. Even in
Africa the frontier was easily maintained :° for the Romans do not seem to
have been engaged there in that interminable war with native tribes, which
occupies the French in Algeria. The greatest accumulation of legions was
on the northern and eastern boundaries of the empire,—along the courses
of the three frontier rivers, the Rhine, the Danube, and the Euphrates ;*
and, finally, three legions were stationed in Britain and three in Judea.
We know the very names of these legions. Just as we find memorials of
1 See especially Eph. vi. 10-18: also 1 Thess, v. 8; and 2 Tim. ii. 3, 4.
2 We may add here, that the division of the provinces under the Emperors arose out
of an earlier division under the republic, when a Proconsul with a large military force
was sent to some provinces, and a Propretor with a smaller force to others. See
Hoeck’s Rom. Gesch. I. ii. 180, 181.
3 It is enough here to refer to secondary authorities. Hoeck (I. ii. 183) enumerates
the legions and their stations in the time of Augustus: Gibbon (Ch. i.) deseribes the
peace establishment of Hadrian,” a hundred years later. The original sources of in-
fermation are Tac. Ann. iv. 5; Dio Cass. lv. 23; and Joseph. B. J. ii. 16. ‘
4 “ Hispanie recens perdomite tribus [legionibus} habebantur.” Tac. l.c. At the
later period Gibbon assigns only one legion to the whole of Spain.
5 Tacitus (1. 0.) assigns two legions to Africa: but Loth before and afterwards only
one was required there. See Ann.ii.52. Hist. ii. 97, iv. 23. It must be remembered
that Egypt is not included.
6 At the earlier period we find four legions in the neighbourhood of the Euphrates,
eight on the Rhine-frontier, and six along the Danube (two in Meesia, two in Panno-
nia, and two in Dalmatia). At the later period the force on each of these rivers waa
vonsiderably greater. See Hoeck and Gibbon.
TROOPS QUARTERED IN PALESTINE. 911
the second, the ninth, and the twentieth in connection with Chester! or
York, so by the aid of historians or historic monuments we can trace the
presence of the fifth, the tenth, and the fifteenth in Czesarea, Ptolemais, Οἱ
Jerusalem.* And here two principles must be borne in mind which regu:
iated the stations of the legions. They did not move from province tc
province, as our troops are taken in succession from one colony to another ;
put they remained on one station for a vast number of years. And they
were recruited, for the most part, from the provinces where they were
posted : for the time had long passed away when every legionary soldier
was an Italian and a freeborn Roman citizen. Thus Josephus tells us
repeatedly that the troops quartered in his native country were reinforced
from thence ;‘ πού, indeed, from the Jews,—for they were exempt from
the duty of serving,-—but from the Greek and Syrian population.
But what were these legions? We must beware of comparing them
too exactly with our own regiments of a few hundred men ; for they ought
rather to be called brigades, each consisting of more than 6,000 infantry,
with a regiment of cavalry attached. Here we see the explanation of
one part of the force sent down by Claudius Lysias to Antipatris. Within
the fortress of Antonia were stables for the horses of the troopers, as well
as quarters for a cohort of infantry. But, moreover, every legion had
attached to it a body of auxiliaries levied in the province, of almost equal
number ; and here, perhaps, we find the true account of the 200 ‘ spear-
men,” who formed a part of St. Paul’s escort, with the 200 legionary
soldiers. Thus we can form to ourselves some notion of those troops
(amounting, perhaps, to 35,000 men), the presence of. which was so
familiar a thing in Judea, that the mention of them appears in the most
1 Antiquarians acquainted with the monuments of Chester are familiar with the
letters LEG. xx. v. v. Valens Victrix).
* In the History of Tacitus (v. 1) these three legions are expressly mentioned.
“Tres Titum in Judxa legiones, quinta et decuma et quinta decuma, vetus Vespasiani
‘miles, excepere.” Compare i. 10, ii. 4. The same legions are mentioned by Josephus.
See, for instance, B. J.'v. 1, 6, v. 2, 3. Orelli says that they were the V. Macedonica,
X. Fretensis, and XV. Apollinaris. The fifth is mentioned in one of his Inscriptions
(No. 1170) in connection with the names of Vespasian and Titus. The same legion is
mentioned on coins of Berytus and Heiiopolis in Syria; and the tenth on a coin of
Ptolemais. See Mionnet, as referred to by Akerman, p. 35.
3 At first under the Republic all Roman soldiers were Roman citizens. “But in
proportion as the public freedom was lost in extent of conquest, war was gradually
improved into an art and degraded into a trade.” The change began with Marius.
The alauda of Cxsar was formed of strangers: but these troops afterwards received
the Roman citizenship. With the distinction between the Pretorian and legionary
soldiers, all necessary connection between citizenship and military service ceased te
exist. In strict conformity with this state of things we find that Claudius pei ia wag
a citizen by purchase, not because he was a military officer.
“ΑΗ xiv. 155,105) ΒΕ 17. 1:
6 Jas, Ant. xiy. 10, 11-19.
278 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL,
solemn passages of the Evangelic and Apostolic history,' while a Jewisk
historian gives us one of the best accounts of their discipline and
exercises.”
But the legionary soldiers, with their cavalry and auxiliaries, were not
the only military force in the empire, and, as it seems, not the only one
in Judiea itself. The great body of troops at Rome (as we shall see when
we have followed St. Paul to the metropolis) were the Praetorian Guards,
amounting at this period to 10,000 men? These favoured forces were
entirely recruited from Italy ;4 their pay was higher, and their time of
service shorter; and, for the most part, they were not called out on
foreign service. Yet there is much weight in the opinion which regards
the Augustan Cohort of Acts xxvii. 1, as a part of this Imperial Guard.‘
Possibly it\ was identical? with the Jtale Cohort of Acts x.1. It might
well be that the same corps might be called “Italic,” because its men
were exclusively Italians; and ‘“ Augustan,” because they were properly
part of the Emperor’s guard, though a part of them might occasionally be
attached to the person of a provincial governor. And we observe that,
1 It must be borne in mind that some of the soldiers mentioned in the Gospels be-
lenged to Herod’s military force: but since his troops were disciplined on the Roman
model, we need hardly make this distinction.
ΞΡ Jails
3 Under Augustus there were nine cohorts. Tac. Ann. iv. 5. Under Tiberius they
were raised to ten. Dio Ὁ. lv. 24. ‘The number was not increased again till after St. -
Paul’s time.
4 “¥Ftruria ferme Umbriaque delecte aut vetere Latio et coloniis antiquitus Ro-
manis.” Tac.1l.c. Hence Otho compliments them with the titles ‘Italie alumni,
Romana vere juventus.”
5 Such a general rule would have exceptions—as when our own Guards were at
Waterloo.
6 This is a question of some difficulty.. Two opinions held by various commentators
may, we think, readily be dismissed. 1. This cohors 4dugusta was nota part of any
legio .Jugusta: for though three legions at least had this designation, it does not
appear that any of them ever served in Syria or Judwa. 2. It was not identical with
the Sebasteni (so named from Sebaste in Samaria) mentioned by Josephus. Ant. xix.
9,2. Χχ. 8, 7. xx.6,1. B.J. ii. 12,55 for, in the first place, this was ἃ troop of
horse (ἔλη ἱππέων καλουμένη Σεθαστηνῶν), and secondly, we should expect a different
term to be used, such as σπεῖρα kad. eb. Wieseler’s view may be seen in a long and
valuable note, p. 389. He thinks this cohort was a special corps enrolled by Nero under
the name of Augustani (Tac. Ann. xiv.15). Augustiani (Suet, Nero, 20,25). ’Avyove-
τεῖοι. (Dio. xi. 20. 1xiii. 8). They were the é/ite of the Pratorians and accompanied
Nero to Greece. The date of their enrolment constitutes a difficulty. But might not
the cohort in question be some other detachment of the Praetorian guards?
7 If this is so, we must mocify what has been said in Vol. I. p. 28,n.2. The subject
has been alluded to again, in the account of Cornelius, p. 116, ἢ. 2. It is there shown
that this corps cannot have been a cohort of Nero’s Legio prima Italica. One objeo-
tion to the view of Meyer, who identifies the two, is that Juda was not under procu-
rators at the time of the conversion of Cornelius. But there is great obscurity about
the early dates ia the Acts. If the Augustan cohort is identical with the Augustani
uf Nero, it is clear that the Italic cohort is not the same.
CAESAREA. 279
while Cornelius (x. 1) and Julius (xxvii. 1) are both Roman names, it is
wt Caesarea, that each of these cohorts is said to have been stationed. As
regards the Augustan cohort, if the view above given 15 correct, one result
of it is singularly interesting : for it seems that Julius, the centurion, who
zonducted the Apostle Paul to Rome, can be identified with a high degree
of probability with Julius Priscus, who was afterwards prefect of the
Praetorian Guards under the Emperor Vitellius.'
This brief notice may suffice, concerning the troops quartered in
Palestine, and especially at Czesarea. The city itself remains to be de-
ee
{OODLE Co.
AI
o>
COIN OF C/SAREA Ξ
scribed. Little now survives on the spot to aid us in the restoraticn of
this handsome metropolis. On the wide area once occupied by its busy
population there is silence, interrupted only by the monotonous washing of
the sea ; and no signs of human life, save the occasional encampment of
Bedouin Arabs, or the accident of a smail coasting vessel anchoring off
the shore. The best of the ruins are engulphed by the sand, or concealed
by the encroaching sea, The nearest road passes at some distance, so
that comparatively few travellers have visited Czsarea.* Its glory was
short-lived. Its decay has been complete, as its rise was arbitrary and
sudden. Strabo, in the reign of Augustus, describes at this part of the
inhospitable coast of Palestine nothing but a landing-place, with a castle
called Strato’s tower.‘ Less than eighty years afterwards we read in
Tacitus and Pliny of a city here, which was in possession of honourable
privileges, and which was the “ Head of Judea,” as Antioch was of Syria.’
1 See Wieseler’3 argument, p. 393, and the Addenda at the end of his Chronologie.
The passages on which it is based are Tac. Hist. ii. 92, iv. 11.
4 From the British Museum. For the coins of Cxsarea see Sestini, 149. LEckhel
iii. 428. Mionnet v. 486. Supp. viii. 354.
3 Thus Dr. Robinson was prevented from visiting or describing what remains. The
fullest account is perhaps that in Buckingham’s Travels (I. 197-215). See also Irby
ang Mangles, and Lamartine. There is an excellent description of the place, with
itlustrations, at the end of the first volume of Dr. Traill’s Josephus. Woodcuts will
be found in Kitto’s Cyclopedia, and in the first volume of Scripture Topography pub-
lished by the Chr. Kn. Society: but the sources are not given. Our illustration, at
the close of this chapter, is from Bartlett’s Footsteps of Our Lord and His Apostles.
4 Μετὰ δὲ τὴν ΓἌκην, Στράτωνος πύργος πρόσορμον ἔχων" μεταξὺ δὲ Κώρμηλος τὲ
ὕμος. Strab. xvi. 2.
5 “Stratonis turris, eadem Ceesarea, ab Herode rege condita: nunc Colonia prima
Flavia, a Vespasiano imperatore deducta.”’ Plin. H.N.v.14. ‘“Mucianus Antiochiam
Vespasianus Cvesaream: illa Suri, hac Judie caput est.” Tac. Hist. ii. 79.
280 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ΕἸ. PAUL.
Josephus explains to us the change which took place in so short an im
terval, by describing the work which Herod the Great began and com-
pleted in twelve years.' Before building Antipatris in honour of his
father (see p. 269), he built on the shore between Dora and Joppa, where
Strato’s castle stood near the boundary of Galilee and Samaria, a city of
sumptuous palaces? in honour of Augustus Cesar, The city was provided
with everything that could contribute to magnificence,* amusement,‘ and
health.» But its great boast was its harbour, which provided for the
ships which visited that dangerous coast, a safe basin, equal in extent to
the Pireus. Vast stones were sunk in the sea to the depth of twenty
fathoms,’ and thus a stupendous breakwater* was formed, curving round
so as to afford complete protection from the south-westerly winds,’ and
open only on the north. Such is an imperfect description of that city,
which in its rise and greatest eminence is exactly contemporaneous with
the events of which we read in the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles.
It has, indeed, some connection with later history. Vespasian was here
declared Emperor, and he conferred on it the title of a colony, with the
additional honour of being called by his own name." Here Eusebius ” and
Procopius were born, and thus it is linked with the recollections of Con-
stantine and Justinian. Arter this time its annals are obscured, though
the character of its remains—which have been aptly termed “ruins ef
ruins,”—show that it must have long been a city of note under the succes-
1 Antig. xv. 9,6. B. J. i. 21, 5-8.
2 Λαμπροτάτοις ἐκόσμησε βασιλείοις. B. J. Below he says of the harbour :— ὃ
κάλλος ὡς ἐπὶ μηδενὶ δυσκόλῳ κεκοσμῆσθαι. ;
3 It contained both a theatre and an amphitheatre. The former possesses great in-
terest for us, as being the scene of the death of Agrippa. (Vol. Ip. 128.) Some
traces of it are said to remain.
4 The buildings were of white stone. Of the harbour it is said: ἐπεισάκτοις καὶ
πολλαῖς ἐξετελεώθη ταῖς δαπάναις. Ant.
5 The arrangement of the sewers is particularly mentioned by Josephus. The re-
mains of aqueducts are still visible.
ὁ Μέγεθος μὲν κατὰ τὸν Περαιᾶ. x. τ. A. Ant. In the “ War” he says it was greater
than tne Pireeus.
7 Most of the stones were 50 feet long, 18 feet broad, and 9 feet deep. Josephus,
however, is not quite consistent with himself in his statement of the dimensions.
8 ΤΠΙροκυμία. This breakwater has been compared to that of Plymouth: but it was
more like that of Cherbourg, and the whole harbour may more fitly be compared to
the harbours of refuge now (1852) in construction at Holyhead and Portland.
9 Josephus particularly says that the places on this part of the coast were dicopua
διὰ τὰς κατὰ Aiéa mpoolordc,—a passage which deserves careful attention, as illus
trating Acts xxvii. 12.
10 Ὁ dé εἴσπλους Kal τὸ στόμα πεποιῆται πρὸς βοῤῥᾶν, ὃς ἀνεμων αἰθριώτατος,
1 See Plin. quoted above.
1 He was the first biblical geographer (as Forbiger remarks, in his account of Casa
rea), and to him we owe the Onomasticon, translated by Jerome. This place was als.
one of the scenes of Origen’s theological labours.
CESAREA. 281
sive occupants of Palestine.' Its chief association, however, must always
be with the age of which we are writing. Its two great features were its
close connection with Rome and the Emperors, and the large admixture of
heathen strangers in its population. Not only do we see here the resi-
dence of Roman procurators,* the quarters of imperial troops,’ and the
port by which Juda was entered from the west, but a Roman impress
was osten-atiously given to everything that belonged to Cresarea. The
conspicuous object to those who approached from the sea was
temple dedicated to Caesar and to Rome:‘ the harbour was called
the “ Augustan harbour :”* the city itself was “ Augustan Ομ δα ἃ.)
And, finally, the foreign influence here was so great, that the Septua-
gint translation of the Scriptures was read in the Synagogues.’
There was a standing quarrel between the Greeks and the Jews, as to
whether it was a Greek city or a Jewish city. The Jews appealed to the
fact that it was built by a Jewish prince. The Greeks pointed to the
temples and statues. This quarrel was never appeased till the great war
1 See the appendix to Dr. Traill’s Josephus. Vol. 1. xlix—lvi., where a very copious
account is given of the existing state of Cxsarea. Its ruins are described as ‘‘ remains
from which obtrude the costly materials of a succession of structures, and which fur-
nish a sort of condensed commentary upon that series of historical evidence which we
derive from books.” Of late years they have been used as a quarry, furnishing shafts
and ready-wrought blocks, &c. for public buildings at Acre and elsewhere. A marked
vhange seems to have taken place since the visit of Count Forbin in 1817, who says,
“ Césarée renforme encore des colonnes superbes, et en grand nombre, dout quelqu’unes
sont parfaitement entiéres; plusieurs, dans le moyen age, furent employées a la con-
struction du mole ; cet édifice s’avangait trés loin dans la mer ; lea matériaux les plus
riches servirent & former sa base.” Voy. dans le Levant, p. 77. This last circun-
stance—the appearance of rich materials in the lowest courses of the present ruins—
is shown in Mr. Tipping’s third plate. He visited Caesarea in 1842, approaching trom
the south, whence the point of the ruins appears “stretching into the sea and backed by
the sweep of Carmel.” On leaving it, and advancing towards Carmel, he found evi-
dences of the former existence of a great popuiation,—“ the face of the limestone rock,
which for the most part walls in the shore, being hewn into innumerable tombs.”
? We are inclined to think that the “ praetorium’’ or “ palace” of Herod (Acts xxviii.
35) was a different building from the official residence of Felix and Festus. See how
παραγενόμενος is used xxiv. 24, and compare xxv. 23. We shall have occasion again
to refer to the word πραιτώριον.
3 See above on the Augustan cohort.
4 This temple has been alluded to before, Vol. I. p. 115. The words of Josephus
are: Περίκειντα ἐν κύκλῳ τὸν λιμένα λειοτάτου λίθου κατασκευῇ συνεχεῖς οἰκήσεις,
κἀν τῷ μέσῳ κολωνός τις, ἐφ᾽’ οὗ νεὼς Καίσαρος ἄποπτος τοῖς εἰσπλέουσιν, ἔχων
ἀγάλματα, τὸ μὲν Ῥώμης, τὸ δὲ Καίσαρος. Ant. In B. J. he says that the statues
were colossal, that of Ceesar equal in size to the Olympian Jupiter, and that of Rome
to the Argive Juno.
5 We may refer here to the inscription on the coin of Agrippa I., given in p. 2 of
the first volume: KAICAPIA H IIPOC TQ C€BACTQ ΛΙΜΈΝΙ,
6 So it is called by Josephus. Ant. xvi. 51: Περὶ δὲ tov χρόνον τοῦτον συντέλειων
Yabev ἡ Καισάρεια Lebvor7.
~ Lightfoot on Acts vi. 1. See Vol. 1. p. 36, ἢ. 3.
© Ants XX.10, 0: 8 ΠΠ 15. ods
282 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
broke out, the first act of which was the slaughter of 20,000 Jews in the
streets οἵ Cisarea.!
Such was the city in which St. Paul was kept in detention among the
Roman soldiers, till the time should come for his trial before that unscru
pulous governor, whose character has been above described. His accusers
were not long in arriving. The law required that causes should be heard
speedily ; and the Apostle’s enemies at Jerusalem were not wanting in zeal.
Thus, “after five days,”* the high priest Ananias and certain members of
the Sanhedrin? appeared, with one of those advocates, who practised in
the law courts of the provinces, where the forms of Roman law were im.
perfectly known, and the Latin language imperfectly understood. The
man whose professional services were engaged on this occasion, was called
Tertullus. The name is Roman, and there is little doubt that he was an
Italian, and spoke on this occasion in Latin.» The criminal information
was formally laid before the governor.’ The prisoner was summoned,’ and
Tertullus brought forward the charges against him in a set speech, which
we need not quote at length. He began by loading Felix with unmerited
praises,’ and then proceeded to allege three distinct heads of accusation
against St. Paul,—charging him, first, with causing factious disturbances
among all the Jews throughout the Empire ® (which was an offence against
the Roman Government, and amounted to Mayestas or treason against the
Emperor),—secondly, with being a ringleader of “the sect of the Naza-
renes”” (which involved heresy against the Law of Moses),—and thirdly,
ἀν οΣ ition Sele
Ὁ It is most natural to reckon these five days from the time of Paal’s departure from
Jerusalem,
3 Μετὰ τῶν πρεσθυτέρων" by which we are to understand representatives or depu-
ties from the Sanhedrin.
4 The accuser and the accused could plead in person, as St. Paul did here: but
advocati (ῥήτορες) were often employed. Geib. p. 002. It was a common practice
for young Roman lawyers to go with consuls and pretors to the provinces, and te
“qualify themscives by this provincial practice for the sharper struggles of the forum
at home.” We have an instance in the case of Calius, who spent his youth in this
way in Africa (in qua provincia cum res erant et possessiones paternz, tum usus,
quidam provincialis non sine causa a magistratibus huic etati tributus. Cic. pr
Cel. 30). It must be remembered that Latin was the proper language of the law
courts in every part of the empire. See the quotation from Valerius Maximus in
Vol. I. p. 3, n. 2.
5 See again Vol. I. p. 3 and 4 for remarks on Tertullus and the peculiarly Latin
character of the speech here given.
6 Eveddvicav τῷ ἡγεμόνι κατὰ tud ἸΙαύλου.
7 Ἀληθέντος αὐτοῦ. The presence of the accused was required by the Roman law.
8 See above. It is worth while to notice here one phrase, διὰ τῆς σῆς προνοῖας
which is exactly the Latin ἐμ providentid. Τὸ may be illustrated by the inscription:
PROVID. AUG. On the coin of Commodus in the next chapter.
9 Κινοῦντα στάσιν πῶσι τοῖς ᾿Ιουδαΐοις τοῖς κατα τὴν οἰκουμένην.
10 ἸΙορωτοστάτην τῆς τῶν Ναζωραίων αἱρέσεως, See the note on aipecce below, om
TERTULLUS. 283
with an attempt to profane the temple at Jerusalem,’ (an offence nut only
against the Jewish, but also against the Roman Law, which protected the
Jews in the exercise of their worship). He concluded by asserting (witt
serious deviations from the truth) that Lysias, the commandant of the
garrison, had forcibly taken the prisoner away, when the Jews were about
to judge him by their own ecclesiastical law, and had thus improperly
brought the matter before Felix.? The drift of this representation, was
evidently to persuade Felix to give up St. Paul to the Jewish courts, in
which, case his assassination would have been easily accomplished.’ 4 nd
the Jews, who were present, gave a vehement assent to the statements of
Tertullus, making no secret of their animosity against St. Paul, and‘ as-
serting that these things were indeed so.
The governor now made a gesture® to the prisoner to signify that he
might make his defence. The Jews were silent: and the Apostle, after
briefly expressing his satisfaction that he had to plead his cause before one
so well acquainted with Jewish customs, refuted Tertullus step by step.
He said that on his recent visit to Jerusalem at the festival (and he added
that it was only “twelve days” since he had left Cesarea for that pur-
pose),® he had caused no disturbance in any part of Jerusalem,—that, as
to heresy, he had never swerved from his belief in the Law and the
Prophets, and that in conformity with that belief, he held the doctrine of a
resurrection, and sought to live conscientiously before the God of Lis
fathers,-—and, as to the Temple, so far from profaning it, he had been
vy. 14. The authorised version unfortunately renders the same Greek word, in one
case by “sect,’”’ in the other “ heresy,” and thus conceals the link of connection. Ag
regards Ναζωραῖος, this is the only place where it occurs in this sense. See Vol. I.
p. 119. In the mouth of Ananias it was a term of reproach, as Χριστίανος below
(xxvi. 28) in that of Agrippa.
1°O¢ καὶ τὸ ἱερὸν ἐπείρασε βεθηλῶσαι.
2 We have before observed that the Sanhedrin was still allowed to exercise Criminal
Jurisdiction over Ecclesiastical offenders.
3 Compare the two attempts xxiii. 15 and xxv. 3.
4 Συνεπέθεντο appears to be the correct reading.
5 Νεύσαντος αὐτῷ τοῦ ἡγεμόνος λέγειν, ν. 10. It is some help towards our real-
ising the scene in our imagination, if we remember that Felix was seated on the tribu-
nal (βῆμα) like Gallio (xviii. 12) and Festus (xxv. 6).
6 In reckoning these twelve days (v. 11) it would be possible to begin with the are
rival in Jerusalem instead of the departure for Cxsarea,—or we might exclude the
days after the return to Casarea. Wieseler’s arrangement of the time is as follows
lat day: Departure from Caesarea, 2nd: Arrival at Jerusalem. 3rd: Meeting of
the Elders. 4th (Pentecost): Arrest in the Temple. 5th: Trial before the Sanhe
drin. 6th (at night): Departure to Cesarea. 7th: Arrival. 12th (five days after) .
Ananias leaves Jerusalem, 13th: Ananias reaches Cesarea. Trial before Felix.
7 1t has been well observed that the classical phrase τῷ πατρώῳ Θεῷ (Vv. 14) was ju
diciously en:ployed before Felix. ‘The Apostle asserts that, according to the Romaa
law which allowed all men to worship the gods of their own nation, he is not open te
apy charge of irreligion.” Humphry,
984 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ΒΤ. PAUL
found in it deliberately observing the very strictest ceremonies. The
Asiatic Jews, he added, who had been his first accusers, ought to have
been present as witnesses now. Those who were present knew full well
that no other charge was brought home to him before the Sanhedrin,
except what related to the belief that he held in common with the Phari-
sees. But, without further introduction, we quote St. Luke’s summary of
his own words.
He denies the Knowing, as I do, that thou hast been judge over
charges agains ‘ τ Ξ .
him. this nation for many years, I defend myself in the
matters brought against me with greater confidence. For' it is
in thy power to learn, that only twelve days have passed since
1 went up to Jerusalem to worship. And neither in the temple,
nor in the synagogues, nor in the streets, did they find me disput-
ing with any man, or causing any disorderly concourse’ of
people; nor can they prove against me the things whereof they
now accuse me.
His own state- But this I acknowledge to thee, that I follow the
ment of his
case. opinion,’ which they call a sect,‘ and thus worship the
God of my fathers. And I believe all things which-are written
in the law and in* the Prophets; and I hold a hope towards God,
which my accusers themselves® entertain, that there will be a
resurrection of the dead, both of the just and of the unjust.’
1 The connexion of this with the preceding is that Felix, having so long governed
the province, would know that Paul had not been resident there before, during several
years ; besides which he could easily ascertain the date of his recent arrival.
3 "Exvovoracrc is a Pauline word found nowhere else in N. T. except 2 Cor. xi. 28.
ἐπισύστασις ὄχλου would be literally translated a mob.
3 Ὅδον, a religious opinion or sect. (See chap. xxii. 4.)
4 'Αἵρεσιν, properly a sect or religious party ; not used in a bad sense. See Acts
v. 17, and xv. 5, and especially xxvi. 5. κατὰ τὴν ἀκριδεστάτην αἵρεσιν τῆς ἡμέτερας
ϑρησκείας. St. Paul means to say (or rather did say in the argument of which St.
Luke here gives the outline): “ Our nation is divided into religious parties, which
are called sects (αἱρέσεις) ; thus there is the sect of the Pharisees, and the sect of the
Sadducees, and so now we are called the sect of the Nazarenes. I do not deny that I
belong to the latter sect ; but I claim for it the same toleration which is extended by
the Rorhan law to the others. Iclaim the right which you allow to 411 the nations
under your government, of worshipping their national Gods (τῷ πατρώῳ Oed).”
5 The MSS. vary here. Our translation follows the reading of the Vatican MS.
6 This shows that the Pharisees were the principal accusers of St. Paul; and that
the effect produced upon them by his speech before the Sanhedrin was only momentary,
7 Compare 2 Cor. v. 9 (διὸ καὶ x. τ. 2.) where the same conclusion is derived fron
tke same premises. ’
FELIX AND DRUSILLA. 285
Wherefore also' 1 myself strive earnestly to keep a conscience
always void of offence’* towards God and man.
Now after several* years I came‘ hither, to bring alms* to my
nation, and offerings to the Temple.* And they found me so
doing in the Temple, after I had undergone purification; not
gathering together a multitude, nor causing a tumult; but certain
Jews from Asia discovered me, who ought to have been here
before thee to accuse me, if they had anything to object against
me.
Or let these my accusers themselves say whether τς ὙΠ τὴν
his recent ac-
they found me guilty of any offence, when I was Jit by the
brought before the Sanhedrin; except it be for these όταν
words only which I cried out as I stood in the midst’ of them:
“ Concerning the resurrection of the dead, I am called in question
before you this day.” 5
There was all the appearance of truthfulness in St. Paul’s words: and
they harmonised entirely with the statement contained in the dispatch of
Claudius Lysias. Moreover, Felix had resided so long in Cesarea,? where
the Christian religion had been known for many years,'° and had penetrated
even among the troops," that he had a more accurate knowledge of their
religion” (vy. 22) than to be easily deceived by the misrepresentations of
the Jews."* Thusa strong impression was made on the mind of this wicked
1 The best MSS. read καὶ not δὲ, but De Wette is surely wrong in joining it with
αὐτὸς (auch ich wie andere). Compare the διὸ καὶ quoted in last note.
* ᾿Απρύσκοπον, literally containing no cause of stumbling. This alsc is a Pauline
word occurring only 1 Cor. x. 32 and Phil. i. 10 in N. T.
3 Πλειόνων, not so strong as “ many.”
4 Παρεγενόμην, I came into this country.
5 This is the only mention of this collection in the Acts, and its occurrence heie is a
- striking undesigned coincidence between the Acts and Epistles.
6 Προσφοράς. We need not infer that St. Paul brought offerings to the temple with
him from foreign parts; this in itself would have been not unlikely, but it seems in-
consistent with St. James’s remarks (Acts xxi. 23, 24). The present is only a conden-
sation for “I came to Jerusalem to bring alms to my nation, and I entered the temple
to make offerings to the temple.”
7 We read τινὲς δὲ with the best MSS.
* The best MSS. read ἐφ᾽ not ὑφ᾽ here.
9. If these events took place in the year 58 a. Ὁ. he had heen governor-six years,
W See Acts viii. 40.
1 Acts x. Besides other means of information, we must remember that Drusilla, his
present wife, was a Jewess.
1? Such is the turn given by Wieseler and Meyer to the words ἀκριθέστερον εἰδὼς τὰ
περὶ τῆς ὁδοῦ. Or they may be taken to denote that he was too well informed con-
cerning the Christian religion to require any further information that might be elicited
by the trial: it was only needful to wait for the coming of Lysias,
286 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
man. But his was one of those characters, which are easily affected by
feelings, but always drawn away from right action by the overpowering
motive of self-interest. He could not make up his mind to acquit St.
Paul. He deferred all inquiry into the case for the present. ‘“ When
Lysias comes down,” he said, “I will decide finally’ between you.”
Meanwhile he placed him under the charge of the centurion who had
brought him to Cesarea,’ with directions that he should be treated with
kindness and consideration. Close confinement was indeed necessary, both
to keep him in safety from the Jews, and because he was not yet acquit-
ted : but orders were given that he should have every relaxation which
could be allowed in such a case, and that any of his friends should be
allowed to visit him, and to minister to his comfort.‘
We read nothing, however, of Lysias coming to Ceesarea, or of any
further judicial proceedings. Some few days afterwards* Felix came into
the audience-chamber ὁ with his wife Drusilla, and the prisoner was sum-
moned before them. Drusilla, “being a Jewess” (v. 24), took a lively
interest in what Felix told her of Paul, and was curious to hear something
of this faith which had “Christ” for its object.7 Thus Paul had an op-
portunity in his bonds of preaching the Gospel, and such an opportunity
as he could hardly otherwise have obtained. His audience consisted of a
Roman libertine and a profligate Jewish princess : and he so preached, as
a faithful Apostle must needs have preached to such hearers. | In speaking
of Christ, he spoke of ‘righteousness and temperance and judgment to
come,” and while he was so discoursing, “ Felix trembled.” Yet still we
hear of no decisive result. ‘Go thy way for this time: when I have a
convenient season, I will send for thee,”’—was the response of the con-
science-stricken but impenitent sinner,—the response which the Divine
Word has received ever since, when listened to in a like spirit.
1 Διαγνώσομαι
7 T6 éxatovr.—not “a centurion”’—as in A. V. A natural inference from the use
of the article is, that it was the same centurion who had brought St. Paul from Anti-
patris (see above) and Mr. Birks traces here an undesigned coincidence. But no stress
can be laid on this view. The officer might be simply the centurion who was present
and on duty at the time.
3 *Eyew te ἄνεσιν. See below.
4 Kei μηδένα κωλύειν τῶν ἰδίων αὑτοῦ ὑπηρετεῖν αὐτῷ.
5 Meta ἡμέρας τινάς.
6 By παραγενύμενος we must understand that Felix and Drusilla came to some
place convenient for an audience, probably the ἀκροατήριον mentioned below (xxv. 23)
where the Apostle spoke before Festus with Drusilla’s brother and sister, Agrippa and
Berenice.
7 Observe the force of ὄυσῃ Ιουδαίᾳ. We should also notice the phrase by which
the Gqspel is here described, τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν πίστεως, i.e. the faith in Christ or the
Messiah. The name “Christian” was doubtless familiarly known at Cwesarea. And
a Jewish princess must necessarily have been curious to hear some account of what
professed to be the fulfilment of Jewish prophecy. Compare xxv. 22.
CONTINUED IMPRISONMENT. 237
We are explicitly informed why this governor shut his ears to convie
tion, and even neglected his official duty, and kept his prisoner in crue:
suspense. “ΗΔ hopec that he might receive from Paul a bribe for his
tiberation.” He was not the only governor of Judea, against whom a
similar accusation is brought:! and Felix, well knowing how the Chris-
tians aided one another in distress, and possibly having some information
of the funds with which St. Paul had recently been entrusted,* and igno-
rant of those principles which make it impossible for a true Christian te
tamper by bribes with the course of law,—might naturally suppose that he
had here a good prospect of enriching himself. ‘Hence he frequently
sent for Paul, and had many conversations? with him.” But his hopes
were unfulfilled. Paul, who was ever ready to claim the protection of the
law, would not seek to evade it by dishonourable means :4 and the Chris-
tians who knew how to pray for an Apostle m bonds (Acts xii.), would
not forget the duty of “rendering unto Cesar the things that are Ceesar’s.”
Thus Paul remained in the Preetorium ; and the suspense continued ‘“ two
years.”
Such a pause in a career of such activity,—such an arrest of the Apos-
tle’s labours at so critical a time,—two years taken from the best part of
a life of such importance to the world,—would seem to us a mysterious
dispensation of Providence, if we did not know that God has an inner
work to accomplish in those, who are the chosen instruments for effecting
His greatést purposes. As Paul might need the repose of preparation in
Arabia, before he entered on his career,’ so his prison at Czesarea might
be consecrated to the calm meditation, the less interrupted prayer,—
which resulted in a deeper experience and knowledge of the power of the
Gospel.© Nor need we assume that his active exertions for others were
entirely suspended. ‘The care of all the churches” might still be resting
on him: many messages, and even letters,’ of which we know nothing,
may have been sent from Ceesarea to brethren at a distance. And a plau-
1 Albinus, who succeeded Festus, is said to have released many prisoners, but those
only from whom he received a bribe. Joseph. Ant. xx. 8,5. B. J. ii. 14, 1.
2 This suggestion is made by Mr. Birks. For the contributions which St. Paul had
recent)y brought to Jerusalem, see above.
3 We may contrast ὡμίλει (γ. 26) with διαλεγομένου (vy. 25) as we have done before
in the narrative of the night-service at Troas, xx. 9. 11.
4 It is allowable here to refer to the words in which Socrates refused the aid of his
friends, who urged him to escape from prison: while in comparing the two cases we
cannot but contrast the vague though overpowering sense of moral duty in the heathen
philosopher, with the clear and lofty perceptior of eternal realities in the inspired
Apostle.
® See Vol. I. pp. 96, 97.
5 See Olshausen’s excellent remarks. Komm. p. 898.
7 It is well known that some have thought that the Ephesians, Colossians, end
Philemon, were written here This question will be considered hereafter.
288 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
sible, conjecture fixes this period and place for the writing of St. Luke’s
Gospel under the superintendence of the Apostle of the Gentiles.'
All positive information, however, is denied as concerning the employ:
ments of St. Paul, while imprisoned at Caesarea. We are the more dis-
posed, therefore, to turn our thoughts to the consideration of the nature
and outward circumstances of his confnement: and this inquiry is indeed
necessary for the due elucidation of the narrative.
When an accusation was brought against a Roman citizen, the magis-
trate, who had criminal jurisdiction in the case, appointed the time for
hearing the cause and detained the accused in custody during the interval.
He was not bound to fix any definite time for the trial, but might defer it
at his own arbitrary pleasure ; and he might also commit the prisoner at
his discretion to any of the several kinds of custody recognised by the Ro-
man law. These were as follows : *—first, confinement in the public gaol
(custedia publica) which was the most severe kind ; the common gaols
throughout the empire being dungeons of the worst description, where the
prisoners were kept in chains, or even bound in positions of torture. Of
this we have seen an example in the confinement of Paul and Silas at
Philippi. Secondly, free custody (custedia hbera), which was the mildest
kind. Here the accused party was committed to the charge of a magis-
trate or senator, who became responsible for his appearance on the day of
trial ; but this species of detention was only employed in the case of men
of high rank. ‘Thirdly, military custody (cwstodia miltaris), which was
introduced at the beginning of the Imperial? regime. In this last species
of custody the accused person was given in charge to a soldier, who was
responsible with his own life for the safe keeping of his prisoner. This
was further secured by chaining the prisoner’s right hand‘ to the soldier’s
left. The soldiers of course relieved one another® in this duty. Their
prisoner was usually kept in their barracks, but sometimes allowed to reside
in a private house under their charge.
It was under this latter species of custody that St. Paul was now
placed by Felix, who ‘gave him in charge to the centurion, that he should
be kept in custody” (Acts xxiv. 23) ; but (as we have seen) he added
the direction, that he should be treated with such indulgence ® as thiz kind
1 See some good observations on this subject in Appendix E. of Tate’s Continuous
History. Compare Mr. Humphry’s note on vy. 27.
3. The authorities for the following statements will be found in Geib, pp. 561-569.
9 Tac. Ann. iii. 2. xiv. 60.
4 Seneca de Tranquill. ο. 10. Alligati sunt etiam qui alligaverunt, nisi tu forte
leviorem in sinistra catenam putas. ᾿
5 See Wieseler, Chron. p. 306.
6 Ἔχειν ἄνεσιν (Acts xxiv. 23). Meyer and De Wette have understood this as
though St. Paul was committed to the custodia Libera; but we have seen that this
kind of detention was only employed in the case of men of rank ; and, moreover, the
ACCESSION OF FESTUS. 284
of detention permitted. Josephus tells us that, when the severity of
Agrippa’s ireprisonment at Rome was mitigated, his chain was relaxed at
mealtimes.’ This illustrates the nature of the alleviations which such con
finement admitted ; and it is obvious that the centurion might render it
more or less galling, according to his inclination, or the commands he had
received. The most important alleviation of St. Paul’s imprisonment con-
sisted in the order, which Felix added, that his friends should be allowed
free access to him.
Meantime, the political state of Judeea grew more embarrassing. The
exasperation of the people under the mal-administration of Felix became
more implacable ; and the crisis was rapidly approaching. It was during
the two years of St. Panl’s imprisonment that the disturbances to which
allusion has been made before, took place in the streets of Caesarea. The
troops, who were chiefly recruited in the province, fraternised with the
heathen population, while the Jews trusted chiefly to the influence of
their weaith. In the end Felix was summoned to Rome, and the Jews
followed him with their accusations. Thus it was that he was anxious,
even at his departure, “to confer obligations upon them” (vy. 27), and one
effort to diminish his unpopularity was “to leave Paul in bonds.” In so
doing, he doubtless violated the law, and trifled with the rights of a Roman
citizen ; but the favour of the provincial Jews was that which he needed,
and the Christians were weak in comparison with them; nor were such
delays in the administration of justice unprecedented, either at Rome or in
the provinces. Thus it was, that as another governor of Judea? opened
the prisons that he might make himself popular, Felix, for the same motive,
rivcted the chains of an innocent man. The same enmity of the world
against the Gospel, which set Barabbas free, left Paul a prisoner.
No change seems to have taken place in the outward cir¢umstances of
mention of the centurion excludes it. But besides this, it is expressly stated (Acta
xxiv. 27) that Felix left Paul chained (δεδεμένον). The same word ἄνεσις (relaxa-
tion) is applied to the mitigation of Agrippa’s imprisonment (Jos. Ant. xviii. 6, 10)
on the accession of Caligula although Agrippa was still left under custodia militaris,
and still bound with a chain. (See Wieseler, p. 381, note 2.) We shall have occasion
to refer again to this relaxation of Agrippa’s imprisonment, as illustrating that of
St. Paul at Rome. There was, indeed, a lighter form of cwstodia militaris sometimea
employed, under the name of observatio, when the soldier kept guard over his prisoner,
and accompanied him wherever he went, but was not chained to him. (Tac. Ann. iv,
€0-67.) Τὸ this we might have supposed St. Paul subjected, both at Ceesarea and at
Rome, were not such an hypothesis excluded as to Cxsarea by the δεδεμένον (A.
xxiv. 27) and δεσμῶν (A. xxvi. 29), and as to Rome by πρεσθεύω ἐν ἁλύσει (Eph. vi
20), and τοὺς δεσμούς μου (Phil. i. 13), Compare Acts xxviii. 16, 21.
1 Such seems the meaning of ἀνέσεως τῆς εἰς τὴν διαίταν in the passage referred
to in the preceding note.
7 Albinus. See above, p. 287. Josephus says that, though he received bribes for
opening the prisons, he wished by this act to make himself popular, when ke found he
was to be superseded by Gessius Florus,
VOL. 1—i9
900 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 81; PAUL.
the Apostle, when Festus came to take command of the province. He
was still in confinement as before. But immediately on the accession of
the new governor, the unsleeping hatred of the Jews made a fresk attempt
upon his life ; and the course o their proceedings presently charged the
whole aspect of his case, and led to unexpected results.
When a Roman governor came to his province—whether his character
was coarse and cruel, like that of Felix, or reasonable and just, as that of
Festus seems to have been,—his first step would be to make himself ac-
quainted with the habits and prevalent feelings of the people he was come
to rule, and to visit such places as might seem to be more peculiarly asso-
ciated with national interests. The Jews were the most remarkable people
in the whole extent of the Jewish provinces : and no city was to any other
people what Jerusalem was to the Jews. We are not surprised, therefore,
to learn that “three days” after his arrival at the political metropolis,
Festus ‘‘went up to Jerusalem.” Here he was immediately met by an
urgent request against St. Paul,’ preferred by the chief priests and leading
men among the Jews,’ and seconded, as it seems, by a general con-
course of the people, who came round him with no little vehemence and
clamour. They asked as a favour‘ (and they had good reason to hope
that the new governor ® on his accession would not refuse it), that he would
allow St. Paul to be brought up to Jerusalem. The plea, doubtless, was,
that he should be tried again before the Sanhedrin. But the real purpose
was to assassinate him® on some part of the road, over which he had been
safely brought by the escort two years before. So bitter and so enduring
was their hatred against the Apostate Pharisee. The answer of Festus
was dignified and just, and worthy of his office. He said that Paul was
in custody’ at Cesarea, and that he himself was shortly to return thither
(v. 4), adding that it was not the custom of the Romans to give up an
uncondemned person as a mere favour’ (v.16). The accused must have
the accuser face to face,® and full opportunity must be given for a defence
1 Ἐνεφάνισαν, v. ἃ. Αἰτούμενοι κατ’ αὐτοῦ δίκην, v.15. We should compare St.
Luke’s statement with the two accounts given by Festus himself to Agrippa, below.
2 Οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς καὶ of πρῶτοι των ’lovdaiwy κατὰ τοῦ Παύλου, v. 2. οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς καὶ
οἱ τοεσβύτεροι τῶν I. v.15. Thus the accusers were again representatives of the
Sanhedrin.
3 See the second account given by Festus himself to Agrippa, below, v. 24. ‘Aap
τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ᾿Ιουδαίων ἐνέτυχόν μοι ἔν τε Ἱεροσολυμοις καὶ ἐνθάδε, ἐπιθοῶντες μὴ
daly Civ αὐτὸν μηκέτι.
4 Αἰτούμενοι χάριν κατ αὐτοῦ. ν. 16.
5 Compare the conduct of Albinus and Agrippa I., alluded to before.
6 ᾿Ἐνέδραν ποιοῦντες ἀνελεῖν αὐτὸν κατὰ την ὁδόν.
7 Τηρεῖσθαι. The English version ‘should be kept” is rather too peremptory.
Festus doubtless expresses this decision, but in the most conciliating form.
& Χαρίζεσθαι. See above, v.11. Compare the case of Pilate and Barabbas.
9 Ποὶν ἢ ὁ karyyopotuevog κατὰ πρόσωπον ἔχο τοὺς κατηγόρους, See Geib. p. 508
APPEAL TO THE EMPEROR. 291
{ib) Those, therefore, who were competent to undertake the task of
accusers,' should come down with him to Cwsarea, and there prefer the
accusation (v. 5).
Festus remained “ eight or ten days” in Jerusalem, and then returned
to Czsarea ; and the accusers went down the same day.” No time was
lost after their arrival. The very next day? Festus took his seat on the
judicial tribunal,‘ with his assessors near him (vy. 12), and ordered Paul
to be brought before him. ‘The Jews who had come down from Jeru-
salem” stood round, bringing various heavy accusations against him
(which, however, they could not establish*), and clamorously asserting
that he was worthy of death.6 We must not suppose that the charges
now brought were different in substance from those urged by Tertullus.
The Prosecutors were in fact the same now as then, namely, delegates
from the Sanhedrin; and the prisoner was still lying under the former
accusation, which had never been withdrawn.?7 We see from what is
said of Paul’s defence, that the charges were still classed under the same
three heads as before ; viz. Heresy, Sacrilege, and Treason.? But Festus
saw very plainly that St. Paul’s offence was really connected with the
religious opinions of the Jews, instead of relating, as he at first suspected, to
some political movement (vv. 18, 19) ; and he was soon convinced that he
had done nothing worthy of death (v. 25). Being, therefore, in per-
plexity (v. 20), and at the same time desirous of ingratiating himself with
the provincials (v. 9), he proposed to St. Paul that he should go up to
Jerusalem, and be tried there in his presence, or at least under his pro-
tection. But the Apostle knew full well the danger that lurked in this
proposal, and conscious of the rights which he possessed as a Roman
citizen, he refused to accede to it, and said boldly to Festus :
I stand before Cesar’s tribunal, and there ought my trial
to be. To the Jews I have done no wrong, as thou knowest
p. 595, and p. 689. Compare the following passages: Acts xxiii, 30. xxiv. 19.
xxv. 5.
1 Οἱ οὖν ἐν ὑμῖν δυνατοὶ συγκαταβάντες. κ. τ. Δ. ν. 5.
5 The course of the narrative shows that they went immediately. This is also as
serted in the word ovyxara@dvrec, which does not necessarily imply that they went
down in the same company with Festus,
3 Τῇ ἐπαύριον, v. 6. τῇ ἑξῆς, V. 17.
4 Καθίσας ἐπὶ τοῦ βήματος, vv. 6, 17. 5 V.7.
6 See v. 24, where the ἐπιβοῶντες μὴ δεῖν ζῆν αὐτὸν μηκέτι is said to have taken
place both at Jerusalem and Czxsarea.
7 At this period, an accused person might be kept in prison indefinitely, by the
delay of the accuser, or the procrastination of the magistrate. See our note on this
subject, at the beginning of Chap. XXIV.
§ Acts xxv. 8. (1) εἰς τὸν νόμον ; (2) εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν ; (3) εἰς Καίσαρα.
ε ’Rin’ ἐμοῦ. γ. 6. In ν. 2 this is omitted.
999 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
full well. If I am guilty of bresking the law, and have done
anything worthy of death, I refuse not to die: but if the things
whereof these men accuse me ere nought, no man can give me
up to them. I APPEAL UNTO CASAR.
Festus was probably surprised by this termination of the proceedings,
put no choice was open to him. Paul had urged his prerogative as a
Roman citizen, to be tried, not by the Jewish but by the Roman law ;" a
claim which, indeed, was already admitted by the words of Festus, who
only proposed to transfer him to the jurisdiction of the Sanhedrin with his
own consent.” He ended by availing himself of one of the most important
privileges of Roman citizenship, the right of appeal. By the mere pro-
nunciation of those potent words “J appeal unto Cesar,”* he instantly
removed his cause from the jurisdiction of the magistrate before whom
he stood, and transferred it to the supreme tribunal of the Emperor at
Rome.
To explain the full effect of this proceeding, we must observe that in
the provinces of Rome, the supreme criminal jurisdiction (both under the
Republic and the Empire) was exercised by the Governors, whether they
were Proconsuls, Propreetors, or (as in the case of Juda) Procurators.
To this jurisdiction the provincials were subject without appeal, and it is
neediess to say that it was often exercised in the most arbitrary manner.
But the Roman citizens in the provinces, though also liable to be brought
before the judgment-seat of the Governor, were protected from the abuse
of his authority ; for they had the right of stopping his proceedings against
them by appealing to the Tribunes, whose intervention at once transferred
the cognizance of the cause to the ordinary tribunals at Rome.t This
power was @nly one branch of that prerogative of intercession (as it was
called) by which the Tribunes could stop the execution of the sentences
of all other magistrates. Under the Imperial regime, the Emperor stood
Οὐ δε: μὲ κρίνεσθαι. 3 Θέλεις. KT. A.
3 Καίσαρα ἐπικαλοῦμαι. This was the regular technical phrase for lodging an ap
peal: ἐτικαλεῖσθαι being used for the Latin appellare. Compare ἐπικαλέσασθαι
τοὺς δημάρχους, Plutarch, Casar,c. 4. The Roman law did not require any written
appeal to be lodged in the hands of the Court; pronunciation of the single word
Appello was sufficient to suspend all further proceedings. (See Geib, p. 686.)
4 We must not confound this right of 4ppellatio to the Tribunes with the right of
appeal (Provocatio) to the Comitia which belonged to every Roman citizen, This
latter right was restricted, even in the Republican era, by the institution of the
Questiones Perpetue; because the judices appointed for those Questiones being re-
garded as representatives of the Comitia, there was no appeal from their decisions,
In the time of the Emperors, the Comitia themselves being soon discontinued, thig
right of Provocatio could be no longer exercised. On this subject see Geib, p. 152--168
and 387-392.
AGRIPPA AND BERENICE. 293
in the place of the Tribunes ; Augustus and his successors being invested
with the Tribunician power, as the most important of the many Republican
offices which were concentrated in their persons. Hence the Emperors
constitutionally exercised the right of intercesseon, by which they might
stop the proceedings of inferior authorities, But they extended this
prerogative much beyond the limits which had confined it during the Re-
publican epoch. They not only arrested the execution of the sentences of
other magistrates, but claimed and exercised the right of reversing or
altering them, and of re-hearing' the causes themselves. In short, the
Inperial tribunal was erected into a suprenie court of appeal from all
inferior courts either in Rome or in the provinces.
Such was the state of things, when St. Paul appealed from Festus to
Cesar. If the appeal was admissible, it at once suspended all further
proceedings on the part of Festus. There were, however, a few cases in
which the right of appeal was disallowed ; a bandit or a pirate, for ex-
ample, taken in the fact, might be condemned and executed by the Pro-
consul, notwithstanding his appeal to the Emperor, Accordingly, we read
that Festus took counsel with his Assessors, concerning the admissibility
of Paul’s appeal. But no doubt could be entertained on this head ; and
he immediately pronounced the decision of the Court. ‘Thou hast
appealed unto Caesar ; to Cesar thou shalt be sent,”
Thus the hearing of the cause, as far as Festus was concerned, had
terminated, There only remained for him the office of remitting to the
supreme tribunal, before which it was to be carried, his official report
upon its previous progress, He was bound to forward to Rome all the
acts and documents bearing upon the trial, the depositions of the wit-
nesses on both sides, and the record of his own judgment on the case
And it was his further duty to keep the person of the accused in safe
custody, and to send him to Rome for trial at the earliest opportunity.
Festus, however, was still in some perplexity. Though the appeal
had been allowed, yet the information elicited on the trial was so vague,
! According to Dio, this was already the case so early as the time of Augustus ; who
(he says) established the principle μήτ᾽ αὐτόδικος μήτ᾽ αὐτοτελὴς οὕτω τις τὸ παράπαν
ἔστω, ὥστε μὴ οὐκ ἐφέσιμον ἀπ’ αὐτοῦ δίκην γίγνεσθαι. (Dio 52-33.) It may be
doubted whether the Emperor at first claimed the right of reversing the sentences prox
nounced by the judices of the Questiones Perpetuz, which were exempt from the In-
tercessio of the Tribune (Geib, 289-290). But this question is of less importance,
because the system of Quastiones Perpetue was soon superseded under the Empire, as
we shall afterwards have an opportunity of remarking.
? For a notice of such consiliarii in a province, see Sueton. Tib. 33. Their office
was called assessura. Sueton. 10. 14. Compare Juvenal’s “ Quando in consilie
est wdilibus?”
3 The sentence is not interrogative, as in A. V., but the words expreas a selems
decision of the Procurator and his Assessors,
4 This report was termed Ap stoli, or litere dimaissorie. See Geib, p. 689
994 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 51. PAUL.
that he hardly knew what statement to ixsert in his dispatch to *he
Emperor: and it seemed ‘a foolish thing to him to send a prisoner tc
Rome without at the same time specifying the charges against him”
(v.27). It happened about this time that Herod Agrippa 11., King of
Chalcis, with his sister Berenice, came on a complimentary visit to the
new governor, and staid “some days” at Caesarea. This prince had been
familiarly acquainted from his youth with all that related to the Jewish
law, and moreover was at this time (as we have seen’) superintendent of
the Temple, with the power of appointing the high-priest. Festus took
advantage of this opportunity of consulting one better informed than him-
self on the points in question. He recounted to Agrippa what has been
summarily related above :? confessing his ignorance of Jewish theology,
and alluding especially to Paul’s reiterated assertion’ concerning “ one
Jesus who had died’ and was alive again.” ‘This cannot have been the
first time that Agrippa had heard of the resurrection of Jesus or of the
Apostle Paul.‘ His curiosity was aroused, and he expressed a wish to see
the prisoner. Festus readily acceded to the request, and fixed the next
day for the interview.
At the time appointed Agrippa and Berenice came with great pomp
and display and entered into the audience-chamber, with a suite of mili-
tary officers and the chief men of Cesarea:* and at the command of
Festus, Paul was brought before them. The proceedings were opened by
a ceremonious speech from Festus himself,* describing the circumstances
under which the prisoner had been brought under his notice, and ending
with a statement of his perplexity as to what he should write to “his
Lord”? the Emperor. This being concluded, Agrippa said condescend-
ingly to St. Paul, that he was now permitted to speak for himself. And
the Apostle, ‘stretching out the hand” which was chained to the soldier
who guarded him, spoke thus :—
Compliment. , I think myself happy, King Agrippa, that I shall
ary address to
Agrippa. defend myself to-day, before thee, against all the
1 See above. 3 V. 14-21. 3 *Edaokev.
4 The tense of ἐδουλόμην (v. 22) might seem to imply that he had long wished to
see St. Paul.
5 Μετὰ πολλῆς φαντασίας. .. εἰς τὸ ἀκροατήριον σύν τε χιλιάρχοις καὶ ἀνδράσιν
τοῖς Kar’ ἐξοχὴν τῆς πόλεως. For ἀκροατήριον see above. We may remark that the
presence of several χιλιώρχοι implies that the military force at Ceesarea was very large.
6 Vy. 24-27.
7 The title κύριος (Dominus) applied here to the Emperor should be noticed. Au-
gustus and Tiberius declined a title, which implied the relation of master and slave
(domini appellationem ut maiedictum et opprobrium semper exhorruit. Suet. Aug.
53. Dominus appellatus a quodam denunciavit, ne se amplius contumeliz causa no-
minaret. Tib. 27), but their successors sanctioned the use of it, aud Julian tried in
vain to break through the custom.
SPEECH BEFORE ΑΘΕΙΡΡΑ. 995
charges of my Jewish accusers; especially because thou art
expert in all Jewish customs and questions. Wherefore I pray
thee to hear me patiently.
My' life and conduct from my youth, as it was at | He defends
himself against
first among my own nation at Jerusalem, is known to the, ian
all the Jews. They knew me of old? (I szy) from the
beginning, and can testify (if they would) that following the
strictest sect of our religion, I lived a Pharisee. And now I
stand here to be judged, for the hope of the promise* made by
God unto our fathers. Which promise is the end whereto, in all
their zealous worship,‘ night and day, our twelve tribes hope to
come. Yet this hope, O king Agrip Ppa is charged against me as
a crime, and that by Jews.» What!* is it judged among youa
thing incredible that God should raise the dead ?7
Now 1 myself* determined, in my own mind, that _ fe describes
his former per-
I ought exceedingly to oppose the name of Jesus the Ee
Nazarene. And this I did in Jerusalem, and many of
the holy people® I myself shut up in prison, having received from
the chief priests authority so to do; and when they were con-
demned" to death, I gave my vote against them. And in every
synagogue I continually punished them, and endeavoured” to
compel them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against,
them, I went even to foreign cities to persecute them.
1 Μὲν οὐν here is rightly left untranslated in A. V. It is a conjunction denoting
that the speaker is beginning a new subject, used where no conjunction would be ex-
pressed in English.
? Προγινώσκοντες is present.
3 The promise meant is that of the Messiah. Compare what St. Paul says in the
speech at Antioch in Pisidia. Acts xiii. 32. Compare also Rom. xv. 8.
4 Aatpevw preperly means to perform the outward rites of worship, see note on
Rom. i. 19,
5 Here again the best MSS. read ‘lovdaiwy without τῶν.
6 The punctuation adopted is, a note of interrogation after τῇ.
7 This is an argumentum ad homines to the Jews, whose own Scriptures furnished
them with cases where the dead had been raised, as for example by Elisha.
8 The ἐγώ from its position must be emphatic.
® This speech should be carefully compared with that in Ch. xxii., with the view of
observirg St. Paul’s judicious adaptation of his statements to his audience. Thus,
nere he calls the Christians ἅγιοι, which the Jews in the Temple would not have tole
rated. See some useful remarks on this subject by Mr. Birks. Hor. Ap. vii. viii.
— 10 Thy,
Ἢ ΓΑναιρουμένων literally when they were being destroyed. On the sarjveyxe
νῆφον see Vol. I. p. 78.
1 "ηνάγκαζον, For this well known signification of the imperfect sec Winer,
§ 41, 3.
296 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
His conversion With this purpose I was on my road to Dantaseus,
and divine com- Δ 4 ane .
mission. bearing my authority and commission from the chief
priests, when I saw in the way, O King, at midday’ a light from
heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me
and those who journeyed with me. And when we all were fallen
to the earth, I heard a voice speaking to me, and saying in the
Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persccutest thou me?-it is hard ᾿
Jor thee to kick against the goad. AndI said, Who art thou,
Lord? And the Lord* said, Zam Jesus whom thou persecutest.
But vise and stand upon thy feet; for to this end I have ap-
peared unto thee, to ordain‘ thee a minister and a witness both
of those things which thou hast seen, and of those things where —
LI shall appear unto thee. And thee have I chosen*® from the
house of Israel,’ and from among the Gentiles ; unto whom now
I send thee, to open their eyes, that they may turn’ from dark-
ness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God ; that by
Suith in me, they may receive forgiveness of sins, and an inherit-
ance among the sanctified.
His execution Whereupon, O King Agrippa, I was not disobe-
whereof had
broughtonhim dient to the heavenly vision. But first® to those at
the hatred of
Le ated Damascus and Jerusalem, and throughout all the land
of Juda,’ and also to the Gentiles, I proclaimed the tidings that
1 By ἀρχιερεῖς here, and above, verse 10, is maant (as in Luke xxii. 52. Acts v. 24)
the presidents of the 24 classes (ἐφημερίαι) into which the priests were divided. These
were ex officio members of the Sanhedrin, see Winer’s Real-Worterbuch, p. 271. In
the speech on the stairs accordingly St. Paul states that he had received his commis-
sion to Damascus from the high priest and Sanhedrin (Acts xxii. 5).
2 The circumstance of the light overpowering even the blaze of the mid-day sun is
mentioned before (Acts xxii. 6).
3 All the best MSS. read ὁ δὲ κύριος ; this also agrees better with what follows, where
St. Paul relates all which the Lord had revealed to him, both at the moment of hig
conversion, and, subsequently, by the voice of Ananias, and by the vision at Jeru-
salem. See Acts xxii. 12-21. ν
4 We have here the very words of Ananias (Acts xxii. 14, 15); observe especially
the unusual word προχειρίζομαι.
© Ἑξαιρούμενος, not “delivering” (A. V.).
6 Tov λαοῦ. See Vol. 1. p. 177, note 2.
7 ᾿Ἐπιστρέψαι, neuter, not active, as in A.V. Compare, for the use of this word by
St. Paul (to signify the conversion of the Gentiles) 1 Thess. i. 9, and Acts xiv. 15,
Also below, verse 20.
8 This does not at all prove, as has sometimes been supposed, that Saul did not
preach in Arabia when he went there soon after his conversion; see Vol. I. pp. 55 97.
9 How are we to reconcile this with St. Paul’s statement (Gal. i. 22) that he con-
tinued personally unknown to the Churches of Judea for many years after his conver-
sion? We must either suppose that, in the present passage, he means to speak not in
the order of time, but of ali which he had done up to the present date; or else we
SPEECH BEFORE AGRIPPA. 297
they should repent and turn to God, and do works worthy of their
repentance.
For these causes the Jews, when they caught me in the
temple, endeavoured to kill me.
Therefore,’ through the succour which I have re- vet nis teach.
ceived from God, I stand firm unto this day, and bear cin no τς
my testimony both to small and great; but I declare ae ἢ
nothing else than what the Prophets and Moses foretold, That? the
Messiah should suffer, and that He should be the first* to rise
from the dead, and should be the messenger ‘ of light to the house
of Israel, and also to the Gentiles.
Here Festus broke out into a loud exclamation,® expressive of ridicule
and surprise. ΤῸ the cold man of the world, as to the inquisitive A the-
nians, the doctrine of the resurrection was foolishness : and he said, “ Paul,
thou art mad: thy incessant study ® is turning thee to madness.” ‘The
Apostle had alluded in his speech to writings which had a mysterious
sound, to the Prophets and to Moses? (vv. 22, 23): andit is reasonable to
believe that in his imprisonment, such “books and parchments,” as he
afterwards wrote for in his second letter to Timotheus,* were brought to
him by his friends. Thus Festus adopted the conclusion that he had
before him a mad enthusiast, whose head had been turned by pormg over
strange learning. The Apostle’s reply was courteous and self-possessed,
but intensely earnest F
Tam not mad, most noble Festus, but speak forth the words
of truth and soberness: For the king has knowledge of these
may perhaps suppose that St. Luke did not think it necessary to attend to a minute
. detail of this kind, relating to a period of St. Paul’s life with which he was himself
not personally acquainted, in giving the general outline of this speech.
1 Odv here cannot mean “ however.”” See Winer’s remarks, ὃ 57, p. 425.
2 Ei occurs here when. we should expect 671; because the doctrines mentioned were
subjects of dispute and discussion.
3 Compare Col. i. 18, πρωτότοκος ἐκ νεκρῶν. Also ἀπαρχὴ τῶν κεκοιμημένων. 1
Cor. xv. 20.
4 Καταγγέλλειν.
> Observe μεγώλῃ τῇ φωνῇ and ἀπολογουμένού, Both expressions show ixat he waa
gsucdenly interrupted in the midst of his discourse.
6 Ta πόλλα γράμματα, Observe the article.
7 See again v. 27, where St. Paul appeals again to the prophets, the writings (τὰ
γράμματα) to which he had alluded before:
8 2 Tim. iv. 12. These, we may well believe, would especially be the Old Testa-
ment Scriptures,— perhaps Jewish commentaries on them, and possibly also the work
of heathen poets and philosephers.
298 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 51. PAUL.
matters; and moreover I speak to him with boldness; because
{am persuaded that none of these things is unknown to him,—
for this has not been done in a corner
Then, turning to the Jewish voluptuary who sat beside the governor,
he made this solemn appeal to him :
King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that
thou believest.
The King’s reply was: “Thou wilt soon' persuade me to be a
Christian.” The words were doubtless spoken ironically and in contempt ;
but Paul took them as though they had been spoken in earnest, and made
that noble answer, which expresses, as no other words ever expressed
them, that union of enthusiastic zea] with genuine courtesy, which is the
true characteristic of ‘a Christian.”
I would to God, that whether soon or late,? not only thon,
but also all who hear me to-day, were such as I am, excepting
these chains.
This concluded the interview. King Agrippa had no desire to hear
more: and he rose from his seat,3 with the Governor and Berenice and
those who sat with them. As they retired, they discussed the case with
one another‘ and agreed that Paul was guilty of nothing worthy of death
or even imprisonment. Agrippa said positively to Festus, ‘This man®
might have been set at liberty, if he had not appealed to the Emperor.”
But the appeal had been made. There was no retreat either for Festus or
Paul. On the new Governor’s part there was no wish to continue the
procrastination of Felix; and nothing now remained but to wait for a
convenient opportunity of sending his prisoner to Rome.
1 ἘἜΝὲξνᾳὀλίγῳ cannot mean “ almest’’ (as it is in the Authorised version) which would
be παρ᾽ ὄλιγον. It might mean either “in few words” (Eph. iii. 3), or “in « small
measure,” or “in a small time.”’ The latter meaning agrees best with the following,
ἐν ὀλίγῳ καὶ ἐν πολλῳ (or μεγάλῳ as the best MSS. read). We might render the pas-
sage thus: “Thou thinkest to make me a Christian with little persuasion.” We
should observe that πείΐθεις is in the present tense, and that the title “Christian”? was
one of contempt. See 1 Pet. iv. 16.
3 The best MSS. have μεγάλῳ, not πολλῷ.
3 ’Avéotn ὁ βασιλεύς, κ. τ. A. ν. 30.
4 ᾿Αναχωρήσαντες ἐλάλουν πρὸς ἀλλῆλους, ν. 31.
3 'O ἀνθρωπος οὗτος, which again is contemptuous. See the remarks on τοὺς ἀνθρώ-
πους ἐκείνους, Acts xvi. 39. (Vol. I. p. 309.) Claudius Lysias uses the expression
τὸν ἄνδρα τοῦτον; in his letter to Felix, xxiii. 27.
6 Compare xxviii. 18.
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NAVIGATION OF THE ANCIENTS. 299
CHAPTER XXIL.
Immer, immer nach West! Dort muss die Kuste sich zeigen.
Traue dem leitenden Gott. ScuILLER.
BHIPS AND NAVIGATION OF THE ANCIENTS.—ROMAN COMMERCE IN THE MEDI
TERRANEAN.—CORN TRADE BETWEEN ALEXAND3.A AND PUTEOLI.—TRAVEI+
LERS BY SEA.—ST. PAUL’S VOYAGE FROM CSAREA, BY SIDON, TO MYRA.—
FROM MYRA, BY CNIDUS AND CAPE SALMONE, TO FAIR HAVENS.—PHENICE.—
ANCHOR=
THE STORM.—SEAMANSHIP DURING THE GALE.—ST. PAUL’S VISION.
ING IN THE NIGHT.—SHIPWRECK.—PROOF THAT If TOOK PLACE IN MALTA.—
WINTER IN THE ISLAND.—OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED.—YVOYAGE, BY SYRACUSE
AND RHEGIUM, TO PUTEOLI.
Berore entering on the narrative of that voyage! which brought the
Apostle Paul, through manifold and imminent dangers, from Cesarea to
Rome, it will be convenient to make a few introductory remarks concern-
ing the ships and navigation of the ancients. By fixing clearly in the
mind some of the principal facts relating to the form and structure of
Greek and Roman vessels, the manner in which these vegsels were worked,
the prevalent lines of traffic in the Mediterranean, and the opportunities
afforded to travellers of reaching their destination by sea,—we shall be
better able to follow this voyage without distractions or explanations, and
with a clearer perception of each event as it occurred.
With regard to the vessels and seamanship of the Greeks and Ro-
mans, many popular mistakes have prevailed, to which it is hardly neces-
1 The nautical difficulties of this narrative have been successfully explained by
two independent inquirers; and so far as we are aware, by no one else. which remains
at the base of the cliffs, and the traces of ruins to some distance across the
plain, we should conclude that Myra once held a considerable population :
while the Lycian tombs, still conspicuous in the rocks, seem to cornect it
with a remote period of Asiatic history. We trace it, on the other hand,
in a later though hardly less obscure period of history ; for in the middle
ages it was called the port of the Adriatic, and was visited by Anglo-Saxon
travellers? This was the period when St. Nicholas, the saint of the
modern Greek sailors,—born at Patara, and buried at Myra,—had usurped
the honour which those two cities might more naturally have given to the
Apostle who anchored in their harbours.’ In the seclusion of the deep
1 The two best accounts of Myra will be found in Fellows’s Asia Minor, pp. 194, ἄο.
and Spratt and Forbes’s Lycia, vol. i. ch. iii. In the former work is a view: in the
latter sketches of sculpture, &c. A view is also given in Texier’s Asie Mineure. The
port was visited by Admiral Beaufort (Karamania, pp. 26-31), but he did not explore
the ruins of Myra itself. For Myra (and also Patara), see vol. iii. of the Trans. of the
Dilettanti Society.
2 This gorge ig described in striking language, both by Sir C. Fellows and by Spratt
and Forbes.
3 See note 7. 4 From the British Museum.
5 Mr. Cockerell remarks that we may infer something in reference to the population
of an ancient city from the size of its theatre. A plan of this theatre is given in
Leake’s Asia Minor, and also in Texier’s Asie Mineure.
6 It is well known that there is much difference of opinion concerning the history uf
Lycian civilisation, and the date of the existing remains.
7 Early Travels in Palestine, quoted by Mr. Lewin, vol. ii. p. 716. It ix erroneously
said there that Myra was at that time the metropolis of Lycia, on the authority of the
Synecdemus (Μητρόπολις τῆς Λυκίας Mipa), which belongs to a period much later.
The river Andriaki is also incorrectly identified with the Limyrus, though Str: bo’s
own words are quoted: Eira Μύρα ἐν εἴκοσι σταδίοις ὑπὲρ τῆς ϑαλάττης ἐπί
μετεώρου λόφου. ΕΪθ᾽ ἡ ἐκβυλη τοῦ Λιμυροῦ τοταμοῦ, Xiv. 3.
° The relies of St. Nicholas were taken to St. Petersburg by a Russian frigate during
the Greek revolution, and a gaudy picture sent instead. Sp.&F. Compare Fellows
΄
816 THE LIFE AND *EPISTLES OF ΒΤ. PAUL.
gorge of Dembra is a magnificent Byzantine church,'—probably the cathe
dral of tie diocese, when Myra was tne ecclesiastical and political metropo
lis of Lycra? Another building, hardly less conspicuous, is a granary
erected by Trajan near the mouth ot the little river Andraki? ‘This is the
ancient Andriace, which Pliny mentions as the port of Myra, and which is
described to us by Appian, in his narrative of the civil wars of Rome, as
closed and protected by a chain.‘
Andriace, the port of Myra, was one of the many excellent harbours
which abound in the south-western part of Asia Minor. From this cir:
cumstance, and from the fact that the coast is high and visible to a great
distance,—in addition to the local advantages which we haye mentioned
above, the westerly current and the off-shore wind,—it was common for
ships bound from Egypt to the westward to be found in this neighbourhood
when the winds were contrary. It was therefore a natural occurrence,
and one which could have caused no surprise, when the centurion met in
the harbour at Myra with an Alexandrian corn-ship on her voyage to
Italy (v. 6). Even if business had not brought her to this coust, she was
not really out of her track in a harbour in the same meridian as that of
her own port.’ Itis probable that the same westerly winds which had
hindered St. Paul's progress from Czesarea to Myra, had caused the Alex-
andrian ship to stand to the North.
Thus the expectation was fulfilled, which had induced the centurion ἐς
place his prisoners on board the vessel of Adramyttium,? That vessel pro:
ceeded on her homeward route up the coast of the Avgean, if the weather
permitted : and we now follow the Apostle through a more eventful part
of his voyage, ina ship which was probably much larger than those that
were simply engaged in the coasting trade. From the total number of souls
1 See the description of this grand and solitary building, and the vignette, in Spratt
and Forbes. They remark that “as Myra was the capital of the bishopric of Lycia
for many centuries afterwards, and as there are no remains at Myra itself indicating
the existence of a cathedral, we probably behold in this ruin the head-church of the
diocese, planted here from motives of seclusion and security,’’ vol. i. p. 107
3. Hierocl. Synecd. See Wesseling’s note, p. 684.
3 The inscription on the granary is given by Beaufort.
4 App. Β. C. iv. 82. Λέντλος, ἐπι τεμφθεὶς Ανδριάκῃ, Μυρέων ἐπινείῳ, τήν τε ἅλυσιν,
ἔῤῥηξε τοῦ λιμένος, καὶ ἐς Μύρα ἀν"γε". See above, p. 225, n. 4.
5 See the references to Socrates, Sozomen, and Philo, in Wetstein. It is possible, as
Kuincel suggests, that the ship might have brought goods from Alexandria to Lycia,
and then taken in a fresh cargo for Italy: but not very probable, since she was full
of wheat when the gale caught her. [A captain in the merchant service told the
writer that in coming from Alexandria in August he has stood to the north towards
Asia Minor, for the sake of the current, and that this is a very common cuurse.]
6 Mr. Lewin supposes ‘that the pan of Julius was changed, in consequence of this
thip being found in harbour here. ‘“ At Myra the centurion most unluckily changed
ais plan,” &c., vol. ii. p. 716.
See above, p. 310.
MYRA. 517
on euid (v. 81), and the known fact that the Egyptian merchantmen
were among the largest in the Mediterranean,’ we conclude that she was a
vessel of considerable size. Hverything that relates to her construction is
interesting to us, from the minute account which is given of her misfortunes,
from the moment of her leaving Myra, The weather was unfavourable
from the first. They were “‘ many days” before reaching Cnidus (v. 7):
and since the distance from Myra to this place is only a hundred and thirty
miles, it is certain that they must have sailed ‘“ slowly” (ib.). The delay
was of course occasioned by one of two causes, by calms or by contrary
winds. There can be no doubt that the latter was the real cause, not only
because the sacred narrative states that they reached Cnidus? “ with diffi-
culty,” but because we are informed that, when Cnidus was reached, they
could not mak@good their course® any further, “the wind not suffering them”
(ibid.). At this point they lost the advantages of a favouring current, a
weather shore and smooth water, and were met by all the force of the
sea from the westward : and it was judged the most prudent course, instead
of contending with a head sea and contrary winds, to run down to the
southward, and, after rounding Cape Salmone, the easternmost point of
Crete, to pursue the voyage under the lee 4 of that island.
Knowing, as we do, the consequences which followed this step, we are
inclined to blame it as imprudent, unless indeed it was absolutely necessary,
Four while the south coast of Crete was deficient in good harbours, that of
Cuidus was excellent,—well sheltered from the north-westerly winds, fully
1 See the Scholiast on Aristides, quoted by Wetstein. Α νῆες τῶν Αἰγυπτίων μείζους
εἰσι TOV ἄλλων, ὡς ἄπειρον πλῆθος χωρεῖν.
2 The Greek word is μόλες, which is only imperfectly rendered by “scarce” in the
English version. It is the same word which is translated “hardly” in y. 8, and it
occurs again in v. 10. .
3 Their direct course was about W. by S.: and, when they opened the point, they
were uader very unfavourable circumstances even for beating. The words μὴ προ-
σεῶντος ἡμᾶς τοῦ ἀνέμου Mr. Smith understands to mean that the wind would not
allow the vessel to hold on her course towards Italy, after Cnidus was passed. So Sir
C. Penrose, in whose MS. we find the following: “The course from Myra towards
Italy was to pass close to the Island of Cythera (Cerigo), or the south point of the
Morea; the island of Rhodes lying in the direct track. It appears that the ship
passed to the northward of that island, having sailed slowly many days from the light
and baffling winds, usual in those seas and at that season. Having at last got over
against Cnidus (C. Crio.), the wind not suffering them to get on in the direct course,
it having become steady from the west or north-west, they sailed southwards, til)
coming near to the east end of Crete, they passed, ὅτ.)
The words may, however, mean that the wind would not allow them to put into the
harbour of Cnidus. So they are understood by Meyer, De Wette, Humphry, and
Hackett ; and it must be confessed that this seems the most natural view. But even’
if this be the correct interpretation, it is equally evident that the wind must hays beea
nearly north-west.
a tw
¥ nen A sucapev
318 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
supplied with all kinds of stores, and in every way commodious, if needful,
for wintering.’
And here, according to our custom, we pause again in the narrative,
that we may devote a few lines to the history and description of the place.
In early times it was the metropolis of the Asiatic Dorians, who worship.
ped Apollo, their national Deity, on the rugged headland,’ called the
Triopian * promontory (the modern Cape Crio), which juts ovt beyond the
city to the West. From these heights the people of Cnidus saw that en-
gagement between the fleets of Pisander and Conon, which resulted in the
maritime supremacy of Athens.‘ ‘To the north-west is seen the island of
Cos (p. 219) : to the south-east, across a wider reach of sea, is the larger
island of Rhodes (p. 223), with which, in their weaker and more voluptu-
ous days,’ Cnidus was united in alliance with Rome, at the beginning of
the struggle between Italy and the East.6 The position of the city of
Cnidus is to the east of the Triopian headland, where a narrow isthmug
uuites the premontory with the continent, and separates the two harbours
which Strabo has described.? ‘‘ Few places bear more incontestable proofs
of former magnificence ; and fewer still of the ruffian industry of their
destroyers. The whole area of the city is one promiscuous mass of ruins ;
among which may be traced streets and gateways, porticoes and theatres.”
But the remais which are the most worthy to arrest our attention are
those of the harbours ; not only because Cnidus was a city peculiarly asso-
ciated with maritime enterprise,? but because these remains have been less
obliterated by violence or decay. ‘The smallest harbour has a narrow
entrance between high piers, and was evidently the closed basin for
1 Tf the words μὴ προσεῶντος τοῦ ἀνέμου really mean that the wind would not allow
them to enter the harbour of Cnidus, these remarks become unnecessary.
3 Herod, i. 174.
3 For a view of this remarkable promontory, which is the more worthy of notice,
since St. Paul passed it twice (Acts xxi. 1. xxvii. 7), see the engraving in the Admi-
ralty Chart, No. 1604.
4 Xen. Hell, iv. 3, 6. See above, p. 222.
5 We can hardly avoid making some allusion here to the celebrated Venus of Praxi-
teles (quam ut viderent multi navigaverunt Cnidum. Plin. Η. Ν. xxxvi. 5,4). This
object of universal admiration was there when St. Paul passed by ; for it is mentioned
by Lucian (Amor. c. 11), and by Philostratus, in the life of Apollonius of Tyana.
6 Dio. xxvii. 6. It was afterwards made “a free city.” Plin. H. N. v. 38.
7 Strabo xiv. 6. The ruins are chiefly on the east side of the Isthmus (see Hamil-
ton, as referred to below). Pausanias says that the city was divided into two parts by
en Euripus, over which a bridge was thrown; one half being towards the Triopian
promontory, the other towards the east. Eliac.i, 24. Arcad. 30.
8 Beaufort’s Karamania, p. 81. \The fullest account of the ruins will be found ip.
the third volume of the Transactions of the Dilettanti Society, and in Hamilton’s Asia
Minor, vol. i. pp. 39-45.
9 Τὸ was Sostratus of Cnidus who built the Pharos of Alexandria. The same place
gave birth to Ctesias and Agatharchides, and others who have contributed much to
geographical knowledge.
CNIDUS. 319
triremes, whicn Strabo mentions.” But it was the southern and larger
port which lay in St. Paul’s course from Myra, and in which the Alexan:
drian ship must necessarily have come to anchor, if she had touched at
Cnidus. ‘This port is formed by two transverse moles ; these noble works
were carried into the sea to a depth of nearly a hundred feet ; one of them
is almost perfect ; the other, which is more exposed to the south-west swell,
can only be seen under water.”' And we may conclude our description,
by quoting from another traveller, who speaks of “the remains ef an
ancient quay on the 8. W., supported by Cyclopian walls, and in some
places cut out of the steep limestone rocks, which rise abruptly from the
water’s edge.” ?
This excellent harbour then, from choice or from necessity, was left
behind by the seamen of the Alexandrian vessel. Instead of putting back
there for shelter, they yielded to the expectation of being able to pursue
their voyage under the lee of Crete, and ran down to Cape Salmone: after
rounding which, the same “ difficulty” would indeed recur (y. 8), but still
with the advantage of a weather shore. The statements at this particular
point of St. Luke’s narrative enable us to ascertain, with singular minute-
ness, the direction of the wind: and it is deeply interesting to observe how
this direction, once ascertained, harmonizes all the inferences which we
should naturally draw from other parts of the context. But the argument
has been so well stated by the first writer who has called attention to this
question, that we will present it in his words rather than our own “The
course of a ship cn her voyage from Myra to Italy, after she has reached
Cnidus, is by the north side of Crete, through the Archipelago, W. by 8.
Hence a ship which can make good a course of less than seven points from
the wind, would not have been prevented from proceeding on her course,
unless the wind had been to the west of N. N. W. But we are told that
she ‘ran under Crete, over against Salmone,’ which implies that she was
able to fetch that cape, which bears about 8. W. by 8S. from Cnidus ; but,
unless the wind had been to the north of W.N.W., she could not have
done so. The middle point between N.N.W. and W.N.W. is north-west,
which cannot be more than two points, and is probably not more than one,
from the true direction, The wind, therefore, would in common language
1 Here and above we quote from Beaufort. See his Sketch of the Harbour. The
same may be seen in the Admiralty chart, No. 1533. Another chart gives a larger
plan of the ruins, ἄρ. Fora similar plan, with views on a large scale, see the third
volume of the Trans. of the Dilettanti Society. See also the illustrated works of La-
borde and Texier. A rude plan is given in Clarke’s Travels, ii. 216. Perhaps thera
is no city in Asia Minor which has been more clearly displayed, both by description
and engravings.
? Hamilton, p. 39.
3 For wat may be necessary to explain the nautical terms, see the compass og
p. 304.
820 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 51. PAUL.
have been termed north-west.”! And then the author proceeds to quote
what we have quoted elsewhere (Vol. II. p. 221, n. 2), a statement from
the English Sailing Directions regarding the prevalence of north-westeriy
winds in these seas during the summer months ; and to poiat out that the
statement is in complete harmony with what Pliny says of the Etesian
monsoons.”
Under these circumstances of weather, a reconsideration of what has
been said above, with the chart of Crete before us, will show that the
voyage could have been continued some distance from Cape Salmone
under the lee of the island, as it had been from Myra to Cnidus,?—but
that at a certain point (now called Cape Matala), where the coast trends
suddenly to the north, and where the full force of the wind and sea from
«he westward must have been met, this possibility must have ceased once
more, as it had ceased at the south-western corner of the Peninsula. At
a short distance to the east of Cape Matala is a roadstead, which was
then called “ Fair Havens,” and still retains the same name,‘ and which
the voyagers successfully reached and came to anchor, ‘There seems to
have been no town at Fair Havens ; out there was a town near it called
Lasea,® a circumstance which St. Luke mentions (if we may presume to
say so), not with any view of fixing the locality of the roadstead, but
simply because the fact was impressed on his memory.’ If the vessel was
detained long at this anchorage, the sailors must have had frequent inter-
course with Laszea, and the soldiers too might obtain leave to visit it ;
and possibly also the prisoners, each with a soldier chained to his arm.
We are not informed of the length of the delay at Fair Havens: but: be-
fore they left the place, a “considerable time” had elapsed since they
! Smith, p. 35. 2H. N. ii. 4. See Aristot. De Mundo, ec. 4.
3 See above. It is of importance to observe here that the pronoun in μόλις παρα-
λεγόμενοι ἀυτὴν refers, not to Salmone, but to Crete. With the wind from the N.W.
they would easily round the point: but after this they would “beat up with difficulty
along the coast” to the neighbourhood of Cape Matala.
4 It is no doubt the same place which is mentioned by Pococke (ii. 250) under the
name of Λιμέονες Κάλους, and also the Calismene spoken of in the voyage of Rauwolf
(in Ray’s Collection), and the Calis Miniones of Fynes Morison. In ancient sailing
directions, Dutch and French, it is described as “een schoone bay, une belle baie.”
See all these references in Smith, pp. 30, 38,44. The place was visited by Mr. Pashley,
but is not described by him. Meyer considers the name euphemistic. As regards
wintering, the place was certainly ἀνεύθετος ; but as regards shelter from some winds
(including N.W.), it was a good anchorage.
5 Mr. Smith says that Lasea is not mentioned by any ancient writer. It is, however,
probably the Lasia of the Peutingerian Tables, stated there to be sixteen miles to the
east of Gortyna. [See the short Appendix on the “ Paraplus des Ap. Paulus,” at the
end of the first volume of Hoeck’s Kreta, p. 439, and compare p. 412.] Some MSS.
have Lasea, others Alassa. The Vulgate has Thalassa, and Cramer mentions coins of
a Cretan town so called.—Ancient Greece, iii. 374.
6 The allusion is, in truth, an instance of the autoptic style of St. Luke, on which
we have remarked in the narrative of what took place at Philippi.
FAIR HAVENS.
FAIR HAVENS. $21
had suiled from Caesarea! (vy. 9) ; and they had arrived at that season of
the year when it was considered imprudent to try the open sea. This is
expressed by St. Luke by saying that “the fast was already past ;” a
proverbial phrase among the Jews, employed as we should employ the
phrase “ about Michaelmas,” and indicating precisely that period of the
year.” The fast of expiation was on the tenth of Tisri, and corresponded
to the close of September or the beginning of October;* and is exactly
the time when seafaring is pronounced to be dangerous by Greek and
Roman writers. It became then a very serious matter of consultation
whether they should remain at Fair Havens for the winter, or seek some
better harbour. St. Paul’s advice was very strongly given that they
should remain where they were. He warned them that if they ventured
to pursue their voyage, they would meet with violent weather,’ with great
injury to the cargo and the ship, and much risk to the lives of those on
board. It is sufficient if we trace in this warning rather the natural prus
dence aid judgment of St. Paul than the result of any supernatural reve-
lation ; though it is possible that a prophetic power was acting δ in combi-
nation with the insight derived from long experience of “ perils in the sea”
(2 Cor. xi. 26). He addressed such arguments to his fellow-voyagers as
would be likely to influence all : the master? would naturally avoid what
might endanger the ship : the owner® (who was also on board) would be
anxious for the cargo: to the centurion and to all, the risk of perilling
their lives was a prospect that could not lightly be regarded. That St.
Paul was allowed to give advice at all, implies that he was already held
in a consideration very unusual for a prisoner in the custody of soldiers ;
and the time came when his words held a commanding sway over the
1 Ἱκανοῦ δὲ χρόνου διαγενομένου καὶ ὄντος ἤδη, κ. τ. A. When they left Cxesarea
they had every reascuable prospect of reaching Italy before the stormy season.
? Just so Theophrastus reckons from a Heathen festival, when he says τὴν ϑάλατταν
ἐκ Διονυσίων πλώϊμον εἶναι.
3 Levit. xvi. 29. xxiii. 27. See Philo. Vit. Mos. ii. 657, c.
4 See what the Alexandrian Philo says: Διαγγελείσης οὖν τῆς ὅτι νοσεῖ φήμης,
ἔτι πλοΐίμων ὄντων" ἀρχὴ γὰρ ἦν μετοπώρου, τελευταῖος πλοῦς τοῖς ϑαλαττεύουσιν,
ἀπὸ τῶν πανταχόθεν ἐμπορίων εἰς τοὺς οἰκείους λιμένας καὶ ὑποδρόμους ἐπανιοῦσι,
καὶ μάλιστα οἷς πρόνοια τοῦ μὴ διαχειμάζειν Ext ξένην eotiv. De Virtut. Opp. it
ὅ48, 14. Compare Hesiod. Op. et Di. 671, and Aristoph. Av. 709 (καὶ πηδάλιον τέτε
ναυκλήρῳ φράζει κρεμάσαντι καθεύδειν), and Vegetius (v. 9), as quoted by Mr. Smith,
“Ex die tertio Idaum Novembris, usque in diem sextum iduum Martiarum, maria
clauduntur, Nam lux minima noxque prolixa, nubium densitas, aéris obscuritas, ven-
torum imbrium vel nivium geminata sevitia.”’
5 "YGpews, v. 10. See again, y. 21. Compare Hor. Od. 1. xi. 14. Ventis debes
ludibrium.
6 Observe the vagueness of the words νήσιον τι.
7 Χυβερνήτης, translated “shipmaster”’ in Rey. xviii. 11
8 NavxAnpoc. He might be the skipper, or little more than supercarge. For the
proper relation of the κυβερνήτης to the vav«2npoc, see Xen. Mem. π. vi, 8, mL, ix 11
von, u.—2l
«22 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ΒΥ. PAUL.
whole crew : yet we cannot be surprised that on this occasion the centu-
rion was more influenced! by the words of the owner and the master than
those of the Apostle. There could be no doubt that their present anchar-
age was “ incommodious to winter in” (v. 12), and the decision of “ the
majority” was to leave it, so soon as the weather should permit.
On the south coast of the islard, somewhat further to the west, was a
harbour called Phcenix,? with which it seems that some of the sailors
‘were familiar. They spoke of it in their conversation, during the delay at
Γ
J
Ji=
ANAPOLIS7 1) PHOENICE
se ΞΕ:
The Soundings are in fathoms.
| Variation of Compass 13° W.
SOUNDINGS, FIC., OF LUTRO.3
i En ἴίθετο. Imperf.
3 doi So the name is written by St. Luke and by Strabo. See below. The
name was probably derived from the palm-trees, which are said by Theophrastus and
Pliny to be indigenous in Crete. See H eck’s Kreta, i. 38, 388.
3 The writer was kindly permitted to trace this portion of the south coast of Crete
from the drawing by Capt. Spratt, R.N., just arrived at the Admiralty (April, 1852).
On comparing it with what is said by Mr. Smith, p. 50, it will be seen to bear out his
conclusions in all main points. At the time when his work was published, our infor-
mation regarding the coast of Crete was very imperfect: and he found it to be the
general impression of several officers acquainted with the navigation of those seas [and
the writer of this note may add that he has received the same impression from persons
sngaged in the merchant service, and familiar with that part of the Levant], that there
are no ship-harbours on the south side of the island. The soundings, however, of
“Lutro, as here exhibited, settle the question.
In further corfrmation of the point, Mr. Smith allows us to quote part of a letter
he received, after the publication of his work, from Mr. Urquhart, Μ.Ρ., who is alluding
to what occurred to him, when on board a Greek ship of war and chasing a pirate.
“Tutro isan admirable harbour. You open it likea box; unexpectedly, the rocks stand
apart, and the town appears within. ... We thought we had cut him off, and that we
PHCEINTA. 82%
Fair Havens, and they described it as “looking! toward the south-west
wind and north-west wind.” If they meant to recommend a harbour, intc
which these winds blew dead on shore, it would appear to have been up
sailorlike advice : and we are tempted to examine more closely whether
;
ΞΞ λῳ VN
A ς Νὴ
N νὴ
e aaa*
2 Τῶν
i |
S42
va
oe
ACG
τῇ
a
δ) .
ΠΝ
Ξ ὶ a
-: ἊΝ
:
=
το
Si ᾿ ΝᾺ δ
δ Phi Py, i :
(i ΓΙ ἘΞ :
y i Se A
xz oO be
rs Vs ᾿
a [ἢ
bia
ΕἸ
2}
a
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9
5:
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= 2
]
SUFFERINGS DURING THE GALI. 892
points (147¢) with the direction of the wind. If the wind was E.N.B,
the course of the vessel would be W. by N.
We have becn minute in describing the circumstances of the ship ἃ.
this moment ; for it is the point upon which all our subsequent conclusions
must turn.” Assuming now that the vessel was, as we have said, laid-to
on the starboard tack, with the boat on board and the hull undergirded,
drifting from Clauda in a direction W. by N. at the rate of thirty-six
miles in twenty-four hours, we pursue the narrative of the voyage, without
anticipating the results to which we shall be brought. ‘The more marked
incidents of the second and third days of the gale are related to us (vv.
18,19). The violence of the storm continued without any intermission.?
On “the day after” they left Clauda, ‘they began to lighten‘ the ship”
by throwing overboard whatever could be most easily spared. From this
we should infer that the precaution of undergirding had been only par-
tially successful, and that the vessel had already sprung a leak. This is
made still more probable by what occurred on the “third day.” Both
sailors and passengers united * in throwing out all the “spare gear” into
the sea. Then followed “several days” of continued hardship and anxie-
ἐγ. No one who has never been in a leaking ship ina long continued
1 Again, our two authorities are in substantial agroement. ‘ Supposing the Le-
vanter (as is the most probable, it being the most usual) after the heavy Gregalia,
which first drove the ship off the coast of Crete, and under the lee of Clauda, took
upon the average the direction of Hast,—the mean direction of the drift of such a ship,
lying-to, as before described, would be between W.N.W. and W. by N.; and such is
nearly the bearing of the North coast of Malta from the South side of Clauda.”’ Pen-
rose MS. Compare Smith.
7 It is at this point especially that we feel the importance of having St. Paul’s voy-
age examined in the light of practical seamanship. The two investigators, who have
so examined it, have now enabled us to understand it clearly, though all previous
commentators were at fault, and while the ordinary charts are still full of error and
confusion. The sinuosities in this part of the voyage, as exhibited in the common
maps of St. Paul’s Travels, are only an indication of the perplexity of the compilers.
The course from Clauda to Malta did not deviate far from a straight line.
3 Σφοδρῶς χειμαζομένων ἡμῶν.
4 Observe the imperfect ἐκβολὴν ἐποιῦυντο, as contrasted with the aorist ἐῤῥιψαμεν
in the next verse.
5 'Αυτόχειρες ἐῤῥίψαμεν. Observe the change from the third person to the first. St.
Luke’s hands, and probably St. Paul’s, aided in this work.
6 We cannot determine precisely what is meant here by τὴν σκεύην τοῦ πλοίου. Mr.
bmith thinks the mainyard is meant, “an immense spar, probably as long as the ship,
and which would require the united efforts of passengers and crew to launch over-
board,”—adding that “the relief which a ship would experience by this, would be of
the same kind as in a modern ship when the guns are thrown overboard.’”’? But would
sailors in danger of foundering willingly lose sight of such a spar as this, which would
he capable of supporting thirty or forty men in the water?
7 The narrative of the loss of the Ramillies supplies a very good illustration of tha
state of things on board St. Paul’s vessel during these two days. “At this time she
bad six feet of water in her hold, and the pumps would not free her, the water having
worked out all the oakum The admiral therefore gave orders for all the buckets to
332 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUT.
gaie' can know what is suffered under such circumstances. The stram
both of mind and body—the incessant demand for the labour of all the
crew—the terror of the passengers—the hopeless working at the pumps-—
the labouring of the ship’s frame and cordage—the driving of the storm—
the benumbing effect of the cold and wet,—make up a scene of no ordina
ty confusion, anxiety, and fatigue. But in the present case these evils were
much aggravated by the continued overclouding of the sky (a circumstance
not unusual during a Levanter) which prevented the navigators from
taking the necessary observations of the heavenly bodies. In a modern
ship, however dark the weather might be, there would always be a light
in the binnacle, and the sbip’s course would always be known: but in an
ancient vessel, “when neither sun nor stars were seen for many days,” the
case would be far more hopeless. It was impossible to know how near
they might be to the most dangerous coast. And yet the worst danger
was that which arose from the leaky state of the vessel. This was so bad,
that at length they gave up all hope of being saved, thinking that nothing
could prevent her foundering.* To this despair was added a further suffer-
ing from want of food,? in consequence of the injury done to the provisions,
be remanned, and every officer to help towards freeing the ship: this enabled her to
sailon....... In the evening it was found necessary to dispose of the forecastle and
aftermost quarter-deck guns, together with some of the shot and other articles of very
great weight; and the frame of the ship having opened during the night, the admi-
ral was next morning prevailed upon, by the renewed and pressing remonstrances of
his officers, to allow ten guns more to be thrown overboard. The ship still continuing
to open very much, the admiral ordered tarred canvass and-hides to be nailed fore and
aft, from under the cills of the ports on the main deck and on the lower deck. Her
increasing damage requiring still more to be done, the admiral directed all the guna
on the upper deck, fhe shot, both on that and the lower deck, with various heavy
stores, to be thrown overboard.”
1 Χειμῶνος οὐκ ὀλίγου ἐπικειμένου.
3 Λοιπὸν περιῃρεῖτο ἐλπὶς πᾶσα τοῦ σώζεσθαι ἡμᾶς.
3 Mr. Smith illustrates this by several examples. We may quote an instance from
a very ordinary modern voyage between Alexandria and Malta, which presents some
points of close resemblance in a very mitigated form.
“The commander came down, saying the night was pitch dark and rainy, with
symptoms of a regular gale of wind. This prediction was very speedily verified. A
violent shower of hail was the precursor, followed by loud peals of thunder, with vivid
flashes of forked lightning, which played up and down the iron rigging with fearful
rapidity..... She presently was struck by a sea which came over the paddle-boxes,
soon followed by another, which coming over the forocastle, effected an entrance
through the skylights, and left four feet of water in the officers’ cabin. The vessei
seemed disabled by this stunning blow; the bowsprit and fore part of the ship were
for some moments under water, and the officer stationed at that part of the ship de-
scribed her as appearing during that time to be evidently sinking, and declared that
for many soconas he saw only the sea. The natural buoyancy of the ship at last al-
lowed her to right herself, and during the short lull (of three minutes) her head tous
turned, to avoid the danger of running too near the coast of Lybia, which to the
more experienced was the principal cause of alarm; for had the wheels given way
which was not improbable from the strain they had undergone, nothing could have
ΒΤ. PAULS VISION 998
and the impossibility of preparing any regular meal. Hence we see the
force of the phrase! which alludes to what a casual reader might suppose
an unimportant part of the suffering, the fact that there was “ much absti-
nence.” It was in this time of utter weariness and despair that to the
Apostle there rose up “light in the darkness :” and that light was made
the means of encouraging and saving the rest. While the heathen sailors
were vainly struggling to subdue the leak, Paul was praying ; and God
granted to him the lives of all who sailed with him. A vision was vouch-
safed to him in the night, as formerly, when he was on the eve of convey-
ing the Gospel from Asia to Europe, and more recently in the midst of
those harassing events, which resulted in his voyage from Jerusalem to
Rome. When the cheerless day came, he gathered the sailors round him *
on the deck of the labouring vessel, and, raising his voice above the storm,
said :
Sirs, ye should have hearkened to my counsel, and not have
set sail from Crete: thus would you have been spared 3 this harm ‘
and loss. ,
And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall
be no loss of any man’s life among you, but only of the ship.
For there stood by me this night an angel of God, whose I am,
and whom I serve,’ saying, “ Fear not, Paul, thou must stand
before Cesar: and, lo! God hath given thee all who sail with
thee.” Wherefore, Sirs, be of good cheer; for I believe God,
that what hath been declared unto me shall come to pass. Never-
theless, we must be cast upon a certain island.
saved us, though we had been spared all other causes for apprehension....... With
daylight the fearful part of the hurricane gave way, and we were now in the direction
of Candia, no longer indeed contending against the wind, but the sea still surging and
impetuous, and no lull taking place during twelve hours, to afford the opportunity of
regaining our tack, from which we had deviated about 150 miles. The sea had so
completely deluged the lower part of the ship, that it was with difficulty that suffi-
cient fire could be made to afford us even coffee for breakfast. Dinner was not to
be thought of.’—Mrs. Damer’s Diary in the Holy Land, vol. ii.
1 Πολλῆς ἀσιτίας ὑπαρχούσης. See below, the narrative of the meal at daybreak,
vy. 33, 34. The commentators have done little to elucidate this, which is in fact no
difficulty to those who are acquainted with sea-voyages. The strangest comment is in
& book, which devotionally is very useful,—Lectures on St. Paul, by the late Rev. Ἡ,
Blunt, of Chelsea,—who supposes that a religious fast was observed by the crew
Juring the storm.
3 Σταθεὶς ἐν μέσῳ αὐτῶν.
3 Κερδῆσαι means “to be spared,’’ not “to gain.” (A.V.) We should observe that
St. Paul’s object in a luding to the correctness of bis former advice, is not to taunt
those who had rejected it, but to induce them to give credit to his present assertions,
4 The ὕβριν was to their persons, the ζημίαν to their property.
3 Aatpedw. Compare Rom. i. 9, and note.
5a4 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ΒΊ. PAUL.
We are not told how this address was received. But sailors, however
reckless they may be in the absence of danger, are peculiarly open to re
ligious impressions : and we cannot doubt that they gathered anxiously
round the Apostle, and heard his words as an admonition and encourage-
ment from the other world ; that they were nerved for the toil and difficul-
ty which was immediately before them, and prepared thenceforward to
listen to the Jewish prisoner as to a teacher sent with a divine commission.
The gale still continued without abatement. Day and night succeeded,
and the danger seemed only to increase; till fourteen days had elapse
during which they had been “ drifting through the sea of Adria”! (v.27).
A gale of such duration, though not very frequent, is by no means unpre-
cedented in that part of the Mediterranean, especially towards winter.*> At
the close of the fourteenth day, about the middle of the night the sailors
suspected that they were nearing land? There is little doubt as to what
were the indications of land. The roar of breakers is a peculiar sound,
which can be detected by a practised ear,‘ though not distinguishable from
the other sounds of astorm by those who have not “‘ their senses exercised”
by experience of the sea. When it was reported that this sound was
heard by some of the crew, orders were immediately given to heave the
lead, and they found that the depth of the water was ‘‘ twenty fathoms.”
After a short interval, they sounded again, and found “fifteen fathoms.”
Though the vicinity of land could not but inspire some hope, as hoiding
out the prospect of running the ship ashore® and so being saved, yet the
1 By this is meant, as we shall see’ presently, that division of the Mediterranean
which lies between Sicily and Malta on the west, and Greece with Crete on the east
See above, p. 302, n. 3, and p. 306, n. 4.
2 The writer has heard of easterly and north-easterly gales lasting for a still longer
period, both in the neighbourhood of Gibraltar and to the eastward of Malta. A cap-
tain in the merchant service mentions a fruit vessel near Smyrna hindered for a fort-
night from loading by a gale from the N.E. She was two days in beating up a little
bay a mile deep. He adds, that such gales are prevalent there towards winter. An-
other case is that of a vessel bound for Odessa, which was kept three weeks at Milo
with an easterly gale. This, also, was late in the year (October). A naval officer
writes thus: “‘ About the same time of the year, in 1839, I left Malta for the Levant in
the ‘Hydra,’ a powerful steam-frigate, and encountered Ewroclydon (or, as we call it,
a Levanter) in full force. I think we were four days without being able to sit down
at table to a meal; during which time we saw ‘neither sun nor stars.’ Happily she
was a powerful vessel, and we forced her through it, being charged with dispatches,
though with much injury to the vessel. Had we been a mere log on the water, like
ot. Paul’s ship, we should have drifted many days.
3 Ὑπενοοῦν οἱ ναῦται προσάγειν τινὰ αὐτοῖς χώοαν. Mr. Smith (p. 78) truly re-
marks, that this is an instance of “the graphic language of seamen, to whom the ship
is the principal object.”
4 It is hardly likely that they saw the breakers. To suppose that they became
aware of the land by the smell of fragrant gardens (an error found in a recent work)
is absurd; for the wind blew from the ship towards the land.
s “They can now adopt the last resource for a sinking ship and run her ashore:
ANCHORING IN THE NIGHT. δῦ
alarm of the sailors was great when they perceived how rapidly they were
shoaling the water. It scems also that they now heard breakers ahead.
However this might be, there was the utmost danger lest the vessel should
strike and go to pieces. No time was to be lost. Orders were immedi
utely given to clear the anchors. But, if they had anchored by the bow,
there was good ground for apprehending that the vessel would have swung
round and gone upon the rocks. They therefore let go ‘four anchors by
the stern.” For a time, the vessel’s way was arrested: but there was too
much reason to fear that she might part from her anchors and go ashore,
if indeed she did not founder in the night: and “they waited anxiously
for the day.”
The reasons are obvious why: she anchored by the stern, rather than in
the usual way. Besides what has been said above, her way would be
more easily arrested, and she would be in a better position for being ran
ashore’? next day. But since this mode of anchoring has raised some ques-
tions, it may be desirable, in passing, to make a remark on the subject.
That a vessel can anchor by the stern is sufficiently proved (if proof were
needed) by the history of some of our own naval engagements. So it was
at the battle of the Nile. And when ships are about to attack batteries,
it is customary for them to go into action prepared to anchor in this way.
This was the case at Algiers. There is still greater interest in quoting
the instance of Copenhagen, not only from the accounts we have of the
precision with which each ship let go her anchors astern as she arrived
nearly opposite her appointed station,’ but because it is said that Nelson
stated after the battle, that he had that morning been reading the twenty-
seventh chapter of the Acts of the Apostles But, though it will be
granted that this manceuvre is possible with due preparation, it may be
doubted whether it could be accomplished in a gale of wind on a 166 shore,
but to do so before it was day would have been to have rushed on certain destruction -
they must bring the ship, if it be possible, to anchor, and hold on till day-break, &e.”’
—Smith, p. 88.
1 Mr. Smith (p. 91) seems to infer this from the words φοβούμενοι μήπως εἰς τραχεῖς
τόπους ἐκπέσωσιν. But the word μήπως (or μήπου, according to Tischendorf’s read-
ing) would rather imply that the fear was a general one. We should observe that the
correct reading (and the more natural one) is ἐκπέσωμεν.
* We must carefully observe that, in anchoring,—besides the proximate cause, viz
the fear of falling on rocks to leeward,—* they had also an ulterior object in view,
which was to run the ship ashore as soon .as daylight enabled them to select a spot
where it could be done with a prospect of safety: for this purpose the very best posi-
tion in which the ship could be was to be anchored by the stern.”—Smith, p. 92.
1 See Southey’s Life of Nelson: “All the line-of-battle ships were to anchor by the
stern, abreast of the different vessels composing the enemy’s line; and for this purpose
they had already prepared themselves with cables out of their stern-ports.”
4 This anecdote is from a private source, and docs not appear in any of the printed
rarratives of the battle.
836 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ΒΤ. PAUT.
without any previous notice. The question in fact is, whether ancient ships
in the Mcditerranean were always prepared to anchor in this way. Some
answer to this doubt is supplied by the present practice of the Levantine
eaiques, which preserve in great measure the traditionary build and rig
οἵ ancient merchantmen. ‘These modern Greek vessels may still be seen
anchoring by the stern in the Golden Horn at Constantinople, or on the
coast of Patmos.‘ But the best illustration is afforded by one of the paint
ings of Herculaneum, which represents ‘‘aship so strictly contemporancons
with that of St. Paul, that there is nothing impossible in the supposition,
that the artist had taken his subject from that very ship, on loosing from
the pier at Puteoli.”? There is this additional advantage to be obtained
from an inspection of this rude drawing, that we see very clearly how the
rudders would be in danger of interfering with this mode of anchoring,—
a subject to which our attention will presently be required. Our supposed
objector, if he had a keen sense of practical difficulties, might still insist
that to have anchored in this way (or indeed in the ordinary way) would
have been of little avail in St. Paul’s ship: since it-could not be supposed
that the anchors would have held in such a gale of wind. To this we can
only reply, that this course was adopted to meet a dangerous emergency.
The sailors could not have been certain of the result. They might indeed
1 The first of these instances is supplied by a naval officer ; the second by a captain
who has spent a long life in the merchaut service.
> Smith, p. 94. 3 See ν΄ 40.
WAITING FOR THE DAY. 337
Lave had confidence in their cables: but they could not be sure of their
holding ground.
This is one of the circumstances which must be taken into account,
when we sum up the evidence in proof that the place of shipwreck was
Malta. At present we make no such assumption. We will net anticipate
the conclusion, till we have proceeded somewhat farther with the narra-
tive. We may, however, ask the reader to pause for a moment, and re-
consider what was said of the circumstances of the vessel, when we described
what was done under the lee of Clauda. We then saw that the direction
in which sbe was drifting was W. by N. Now an inspection of the chart
will show us that this is exactly the bearing of the northern part of Malta
from the south of Clauda. We saw, moreover, that she was drifting at
the rate of about a mile and a half in every hour, or thirty-six miles in the
twenty-four hours. Since that time thirteen days had elapsed : for the
first of the ‘‘fourteen days” would be taken up on the way from Fab
Havens to Clauda.'’ The ship therefure had passed over a distance of
about 468 miles. The distance between Clauda and Malta is rather lex
than 480 miles. The coincidence? is so remarkable, that it seems hardly
possible to believe that the land, to which the sailors on the fourteenth
night “deemed that they drew nigh,”—the “certain island,” on which it
was prophesied that they should be cast,—could be any other place than
Malta. The probability is overwhelming. But we must not yet assume
the fact as certain: for we shall find, as we proceed, that the conditions
are very numerous, which the true place of shipwreck will be required to
satisfy.
We return then to the ship, which we left labouring at her four anchors.
The coast was invisible, but the breakers were heard in every pause of
the storm. The rain was falling in torrents ;? and all hands were weak-
ened by want of food. But the greatest danger was lest the vessel should
founder before daybreak. The leak was rapidly gaining, and it was ex-
1 All that happened after leaving Fair Havens before the ship was undergirded and
laid-to, must evidently have occupied a great part of a day.
® In the general calculation Mr. Smith and Sir C. Penrose agree with one another;
and the argument derives great force from the slight difference between them. Mr.
Smith (pp. 83-89) makes the distance 476-6 miles, and the time occupied thirteen days
one hour and twenty-one minutes. With this compare the following: ‘Now, with
respect to the distance, allowing the degree of strength of the gale to vary a little oc
casionally, I consider that a ship would drift at the rate of about one mile and a half
per hour, which, at the end of fourteen complete days, would amount to 504 miles ;
but it does not appear that the calculation is to be made for fourteen entire ‘lays: it
was on the fourteenth night that the anchors were cast off the shores of Melita. The
distance frory the S. of Clauda to the N. of Malta, measured on the best chart I have,
is ahout 490 miles; and is it possible for coincident calculations, of such a nature, to
he more exact? In fact, on one chart, after I had calculated the supposed drift, as 8
seaman, to be 504 miles, I measured the distance to be 503.”
2 See xxviii. 2, διὰ τον ὑετὸν τὸν ἐφεστῶτα.
VUL, 11.-.-92
8238 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 51. PAUL.
pected that cach moment might be the last. Under these circumstances
we find the sailors making a selfish attempt to save themselves, and leave
the ship and the passengers to their fate. Under the pretence of carrying
out some anchors from the bow, they lowered the boat over the ship’s side
‘y. 80). The excuse was very plausible, for there is no doubt that the
vessel would have been more steady if this had been done ; and, in order
to effect it, it would be necessary to take out anchors in the boat. But
their real intention was to save their own lives and leave the passengers.'
St. Paul penetrated their design, and either from some divine intimation
of the instruments which were to be providentially employed for the
safety of all on board,—or from an intuitive judgment, which shewed him
that those who would be thus left behind, the passengers and soldiers,
would not be able to work the ship in any emergency that might arise,
—he saw that, if the sailors accomplished their purpose, all hope of
deing saved would be gone.? With his usual tact, he addressed not a
word to the sailors, but spoke to the soldiers and his friend the centu-
rion ;* and they, with military promptitude held no discussion on the
subject, but decided the question by immediate action. With that short
sword, with which the Roman legions cleft their way through every ob-
stacle to universal victory, they “cut the ropes ;”'and the boat fell off,
and, if not instantly swamped, drifted off to leeward into the darkness,
and was dashed to pieces on the rocks.
Thus the prudent counsel of the Apostle, seconded by the prompt
action of the soldiers, had been the means of saving all on board. Each
successive incident tended to raise him, more and more, into a position of
overpowering influences Not the captain or the ship’s crew, but the
passenger and the prisoner, is looked to now as the source of wisdom and
safety. We find him using this influence for the renewal of their bodily
strength, while at the same time he turned their thoughts to the providen-
tial care of God. By this time the dawn of day was approaching.® a
ro pea
m
wo 8 o
the vessel’s drift (W. by N.) from the twenty fathom depth, the coinci-
dence is startling.? But at this point we observe, on looking at the chart,
that now there would be breakers ahead,—and yet at such a distance
1 Reduced from the Admiralty Chart.
2 Smith, p. 91.
ST. ῬΑΌΙ, Κ BAY. 48
ahead, that there would be teme for the vessel to anchor, before actually
striking on the rocks.!. All these conditions must necessarily be fulfilled
and we see that they are fulfilled without any attempt at ingenious expla
nation. But we may proceed farther. The character of the coast on the
farther side of the bay is such, that though the greater part of it is
fronted with mural precipices, there are one or two indentations,’ which
exhibit the appearance of “a creek with a [sandy or pebbly} share.” And
again we observe that the island of Salmonetta is so placed, that the
sailors, looking from the deck when the vessel was at anchor, could not
possibly be aware that it was not a continuous part of the mainland ;
whereas, while they were running her aground, they could not help ob-
serving the opening of the channel, which would thus appear (like the
Bosphorus*) ‘‘a place between two seas,” and would be more likely to
attract their attention, if some current resulting from this juxtaposition of
the island and the coast interfered with the accuracy of their steering.‘
And finally, to revert to the fact of the anchors holding through the
night (a result which could not confidently be predicted), we find it stated,
in our English Sailing Directions,® that the ground in St. Paul’s Bay is so
good, that, “whale the cables hold, there 1s no danger, as the anchors will
sever start.” Ἴ
Malta was not then the densely crowded island which it has become
during the last half century.© Though it was well known to the Ro-
mans as a dependency of the province of Sicily,?7 and though the harbour
now called Valetta must have been familiar to the Greek mariners who
1 Smith, p. 91.
3 One place, at the opening of the Mestara Valley (see Chart) has still this character.
At another place there has been a beach, though it is now obliterated. See the re-
marks of Mr. Smith, who has carefully examined the bay, and whose authority in any
question relating to the geology of coasts is of great weight.
3 This illustration is from Strabo, who uses the very word διθώλασσος of the Bos-
phorus. It would, of course, be equally applicable to a neck of land between two
seas, like the Isthmus of Corinth.
4 Though we are not to suppose that by “ two seas” two moving bodies of water, or
two opposite currents, are meant, yet it is very possible that there might be a currert
between Salmonetta and the coast, and that this affected the steering of the vessel.
5 Purdy, p.180. In reference to what happened to the ship when she came aground
(ver. 4), Mr. Smith lays stress upon the character uf the deposits on the Maltese coast.
The ship “ would strike a bottom of mud, graduating into tenacious clay, into which
the forepart would fix itself, and be held fast, whilst the stern was exposed to the force
of the waves.”’—p. 104.
6 The density of the Maltese population, at the present day, is extraordinary ; but
this state of things is quite recent. In Boisgelin (Ancient and Modern Malta, 1805)
we find it stated that in 1530 the island did not contain quite 15,000 inhabitants, and
that they were reduced to 10,000 at the raising of the siege in the grand mastership of
La Valeita. Notwithstanding the subsequent wars, and the plagues of 1592 and 1676
the numbers in 1798 were 90.000. (Vol. I. pp. 107, 108.) Similar statements are in
Miége. Histoire de Malte.
? The mention of it in Cicero’s Verrine orations (II. iv. 46) is well known.
.
344 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 8ST. PAUL.
traded between the East ard the West,'—much of the island was dcubt
less uncultivated and overrun with wood. Its population was of Pheeni-
cian origin,—speaking a language which, as regards social intercourse,
had the same relation to Latin and Greek, which modern Maltese has to
English and Italian.2 The inhabitants, however, though in this sense
“barbarians,” were favourably contrasted with many Christian wreckers
in their reception of those who had been cast on their coast. . They
shewed them no “ordinary kindness ;” for they lighted a fire and welcomed
them all to the warmth, drenched and shivering as they were in the rain
and the cold. The whole scene is brought very vividly before us ™ the
sacred narrative. One incident has become a picture in St. Paul’s life,
with which every Christian child is familiar. The Apostle had gathered
with his own hands a heap of sticks and placed them on the fire, when a
viper came “out of the heat” and fastened on his hand. The poor super-
stitious people, when they saw this, said to one another, “This man must
be a murderer: he has escaped from the sea: but still vengeance suffers
him not to live.” But Paul threw off tho animal into the fire and suffered
noharm. ‘Then they watched him, expecting that his body would become
swollen, or thatfhe would suddenly fall down dead. At length, after they
had watched for along time in vain, and saw nothing happen to him,
their feelings changed as violently as those of the Lystrians had done in
an opposite direction ;4 and they said that he wasa God. We are not
told of the results to which this occurrence led, but we cannot doubt that
while Paul repudiated, as formerly at Lystra,> all the homage which
idolatry would pay to him, he would make use of the influence acquired
by this miracle, for making the Saviour known to his uncivilised bene-
factors.
St. Paul was enabled to work many miracles during his stay at Malta.
The first which is recorded is the healing of the father of Publius, the
governor of the island,® who had some possessions’? neay the place where
1 Diodorus Siculus (vy. 12) speaks of the manufactures of Malta, of the wealth of its
inhabitants, and of its nandsome buildings, such as those which are now characteristic
of the place. As to the ancient manufactures, see Cicero, as quoted above, and Sil.
Ital. Punic. xiv. 251. Compare Ov. Fast. iii. 567.
* See the essay on Mr. Smith’s work in the North British Review (p. 208) for some
remarks on the Maltese language, especially on the Arabic name of what is still called
the Apostle’s fountain, (4yn-tal-Ruzzul.)
3 It is sufficient to refer to Rom i 14. 1 Cor. xiv. 11. Col. iii. 11 for the meaning
of the word in the N. T.
4 VioleLiup. 190. δ Th. p. 193.
3 We observe that the name is Roman. In the phrase τῷ πρώτῳ τῆς νήσου there
is every appearance of an official title, more especially as the father of the person called
“first of the island” was alive, A Greek and Latin inseription, with tne words
ΠΡΩΤῸΣ MEAITAIQN and MEL. PRIMUS, are adduced by Ciantar ; but Mr. Smith
was unable to find them.
-
7 Ἔν τοῖς περὶ τὸν τύπον éxévov ὑπσύργε χώρια τῷ π. τῆς. v. These possessions
ST. PAUL'S BAY.
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OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 345
the vessel was lost, and who had given a hospitable reception tu the ship-
wrecked strangers, and supplied their wants for three days. The diséase
ander which the father of Publius was suffering was dysentery in an
ageravated form.' St. Paul went in to him and prayed, and laid his
rands on him: and he recovered. This being noised through the island,
other sufferers came to the Apostle and were healed. Thus was he em-
powered to repay the kindness of these islanders by temporal services in-
tended to lead their minds to blessings of a still higher kind. And they
were not wanting in gratitude to those, whose unexpected visit had
brought so much good among them. They loaded them with every honour
in their power, and, when they put to sea again, supplied them with
everything that was needful for their wants (ver. 10).
Before we pursue thg concluding part of the voyage, which was so
prosperous that hardly any incident in the course of it is recorded, it may
be useful to complete the argument by which Malta is proved to be the
scene of St. Paul’s shipwreck, by briefly noticing some objections which
have been brought against this view. It is true that the positive evidence
already adduced is the strongest refutation of mere objections ; but it is
desirable not to leave unnoticed any of the arguments which appear to
have weight on the other side. Some of them have been carelessly
brought together by a great writer, to whom, on many subjects, we might
be glad to yield our assent. Thus it is argued, that, because the vessel
is said to have been drifting in the Adriatic, the place of sh.pwreck must
have been, not Malta to the south of Sicily, but Meleda in the Gulf of
Venice. It is no wonder that the Benedictine of Ragusa* should have
must therefore have been very near the present country residence of the English gov-
ernor, near Citta Verchia.
1 Πυρετοῖς καὶ δυσεντερίᾳ συνεχόμενον.
? “ The belief that Malta is the island on which St. Paul was wrecked is so rooted in
the common Maltese, and is cherished with such a superstitious nationality, that the
government would run the chance of exciting a tumult, if it, or its representatives,
unwarily ridiculed it. The supposition itself is quite absurd. Not to argue the matter
at length, consider these few conclusive facts :—The narrative speaks of the ‘ barbarous
people,’ and ‘barbarians,’ of the island. Now, our Malta was at that time fully |
peopled and highly civilized, as we may surely infer from Cicero and other writers.
A viper comes out from the sticks upon the fire being lighted: the men are not sur-
prised at the appearance of the snake, but imagine first a murderer, and then a god,
from the harmless attack. New, in our Malta, there are, I may say, no snakes at all;
which, to be sure, the Maltese attribute to St. Paul’s having cursed them away. Me
lita in the Adriatic was a perfectly barbarous island as to its native population, and
was, and is now, infested with serpents. Besides, the context shews that the scene is in
the Adriatic.”—Coleridge’s Table Talk, pp. 185.
3 We have not been able to see the treatise of Padre Georgi. It is entitled “ Paulus
Apostolus in mari, quod nune Venetus sinus dicitur, naufragus.’? Ven. 1730. Other
treatises followed, on the two sides of the question by Ciantar 1738, 8. Caspare 1739,
Bciugliaga 1757, and De Soldanis 1753, all published at Venice. Georgi, however, waa
not the first who suggested that the Apostle was wrecked on Melida in the Adriatio
840 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
been jealous of the honour of his order, which had a conv at on that
small island. But it is more surprising, that the view should have been
maintained by other writers since.!’ For not only do the classical poets "
use the name “ Adria” for all that natural division of the Mediterranean
which lies between Sicily and Greece, but the same phrascology is found
in historians and geographers. Thus Ptolemy*® distinguishes clearly be
tween the Adriatic Sea and the Adriatic Gulf. Pausanias‘ says that the
Straits of Messene unite the Tyrrhene Sea with the Adriatic Sea ; and
Procopius® considers Malta as lying on the boundary of the latter. Nor
are the other objections more successful. It is argued that Alexandrian
sailors could not possibly have been ignorant of an island so well known
as Malta was then. But surely they might have becn very familiar with
the harbour of Valetta, without being able to yecognise that part of the
coast on which they came during the storm. A modern sailor who had
made many passages between New York and Liverpool might yet be
perplexed if he found himself in hazy weather on some part of the coust of
Wales. Besides, we are told that the seamen did recognize the island as
soon as they were ashore.? It is contended also that the people of Malta
would not have been called barbarians. But, if the sailors were Greeks
(as they probably were), they would have employed this term, as a
matter of course, of those who spoke a different language from their own.®
Again it is argued that there are no vipers—that there is hardly any
wood—in Malta. But who does not recognize here the natural changes
which result from the increase of inhabitants® and cultivation? Within
We find in Const. Porphyrog. de Adm. imp. c. 36, mentioned among the islands of this
gulf, Νῆσος ἑτέρα μεγάλη τὰ Μέλετα ἤτοι τὸ Μαλοζείται, ἣν ἐν ταῖς πράξεσι τῶν
ἀποστύλων ὁ ἅγιος Λούκας μέμνηται, Μελίτην ταύτην προσαγορεύων ἐν ἡ καὶ ἔχις
τὸν ἅγιον Παῦλον ἀπὸ τοῦ δακτύλου προσήψατο, ἣν καὶ τῷ πίύρι ὁ ἅγιος ἸΙαὔλος
κατέφλεξε : 111. p. 164, ed. Bonn. Compare p. 140.
\ Mr. Smith has effectually disposed of all Bryant’s arguments, if such they can be
called. See especially his dissertation on the island Melita. Among those who have
adopted Bryant’s view, we have referred by name only to Falconer.
* See Ovid, Fast. iv. Trist.i.12. Hor. Ep.
3 See various passages in the third book. 4 Eliac. v.
5 The passage from the Vandal War has been quoted above. See again the Gothic
War, iii. 40. Thucydides speaks of the Adriatic sea in the same way. We should
also bear in mind the shipwreck of Josephus, which took place in “ Adria.” Some (οι
g. Mr. Sharpe, the author of the History of Egypt) have identified the two shipwrecks:
but it is difficult to harmonise the narratives.
6 Even with charts he might have a difficulty in recognising a part of the coast,
which he had never seen before. And we must recollect that the ancient mariner had
no charts.
7 xxviii. 1. _ 8 See above.
9 See above, note on the population of Malta. Sir C. Penrose adds a circumstance,
which it is important to take into account in considering this question, viz. that, in the
time of the Knights, the bulk of the population was at the east end of the island, and
SYRACUSE. 34}
a very tew years there was wood close to St. Paul’s Bay ;' and it is well
known how the Fauna of any country varies with the vegetation? An
argument has even been built on the supposed fact, that the discase of
Publius is unknown in the island. To this it is sufficient to reply by a
simple denial. Nor can we close this rapid survey of objections without
noticing the insuperable difficulties: which lie against the hypothesis of the
Venetian Meleda, from the impossibility of reaching it, except by a
miracle, under the above-related circumstances of weather,‘—from the dis
agreement of its soundings with what is required by the narrative of the
shipwreck,*—and by the inconsistency of its position with what is related
of the subsequent voyage.®
To this part of the voyage we must now proceed. After three months
they sailed again for Italy in a ship called the Castor and Pollux.?7 Syrar
cuse was in their track, and the ship put into that famous harbour, and
staid there three days. Thus St. Paul was in a great historic city of th.
that the neighbourhood of St. Paul’s Bay was separated off by a line of fortification
built for fear of descents from Barbary cruizers.
1 This statement rests on the authority of an English resident on the island.
? Some instances are given by Mr. Smith.
3 It happens that the writer once spent an anxious night in Malta with a fellow
traveller, who was suffering previscly in the same way.
4 “Tf Euroclydon blew in such a direction as to make the pilots afraid of being
driven on the quicksands (and there were no such dangers to the south-west of them),
how could it be supposed that they could be driven north towards the Adriatic? In
truth, it is very difficult for a well appointed ship of modern days to get from Crete
into and up the Adriatic at the season named in the narrative, the north winds being
then prevalent, and strong. We find the ship certainly driven from the south coast
of Crete, from the Fair Havens towards Clauda (now Gozzi), on the south-west, and
during the fourteen days’ continuance of the gale, we are never told that Euroclydon
ceased to blow, and with either a Gregalia or Levanter blowing hard. St. Paul's ship
could not possibly have proceeded up the Adriatic.”—Penrose, MS. He says again:
“ How is it possible that a ship at that time, and so circumstanced, could have got up
the difficult navigation of the Adriatic? To have drifted up the Adriatic to the island
of Melita or Melida, in the requisite curve, and to have passed so many islands and
other dangers in the route, would, humanly speaking, have been impossible. The
distance from Clauda to this Melita is not less than 780 geographical miles, and the
wind must have long been from the south to make this voyage in fourteen days. Now,
from Clauda to Malta, there is not any one danger in a direct line, and we see that
the distance and direction of drift will both agree.”
> This is clearly shown on the Austrian chart of that part of the Adriatic.
6 From the Adriatic Melida it would have been more natural to have gone to Brun-
dusium or Ancona, and thence by land to Rome; and, even in going by sea, Syracuse
would have been out of the course, whereas it is in the dircct track from Malta.
~ It is natural to assume that such was its name, if such was its παρώσημον, i. 6. the
sculptured or painted figures at the prow. It was natural to dedicate ships to the
Dioscuri, who were the hero-patrons of sailors. They were supposed to appear in
those lights which are called by modern sailors the fires of St. Elmo; and in art they
are represeited as stars. See these stars (lucida sidera, Hor. Od. i. iii. 2; alba stella,
{b. viii. 27) on the cvin of Rhegium engraved below.
348 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ΕἸ. PAUL.
corn oF syracusn.)
West, after spending much time in those of greatest note in the Hast,
We are able to associate the Apostle of the Gentiles and the thougl.ts of
Christianity with the scenes of that disastrous expedition which closed the
progress of the Athenians towards/our part of Europe,—and with. those
Punic Wars, which ended in bringing Africa under the yoke of Rome.
We are not told whether St. Paul was permitted to go on shore at
Syracuse ; but from the courtesy shewn him by Julius, it is probable that
this permission was not refused. If he landed, he would doubtless find
Jews and Jewish proselytes in abundance, in so great a mercantile
emporium ; and would announce to them the glad tidings which he was
commissioned to proclaim “to the Jew first and also to the Gentile.”
Hence we may without difficulty give credit to the local tradition, which
regards St. Paul as the first founder of the Sicilian church,
Sailing out of that beautiful land-locked basin, and past Ortygia, once
an island,’ but then united in one continuous town with the buildings
under the ridge of Epipole,—the ship which carried St. Paul to Rome
shaped her course northwards towards the straits of Messina. The weather
was not favourable at first: they were compelled to take an indirect
course,* and they put into Rhegium, a city whose patron divinities were,
by a curious coincidence, the same hero-protectors of seafaring men, “ the
Great Twin Brethren,” to whom the ship itself was dedicated.
1 From the British Museum. In earlier types of this magnificent coin, the fish are
seen moving in the same direction round the head. An ingenious theory suggesta
that this was the case so long as the old city on Ortygia was an island, and that the
change in the coins symbolised the joining of Ortygia to the mainland.
? See note on the coin. The city has now shrunk to its old limit.
3 Mr. Smith’s view that περιελθόντες means simply “ beating ”’ is more likely to be
correct than that of Mr. Lewin, who supposes that “as the wind was westerly, and
they were under shelter of the high mountainous range of Etna on their left, they
were obliged to stand out to sea in order to fill their sails, and so come to Rhegium
by a circuitous sweep.” ΠΕ adds in a note, that he “was informed |y a friend that
when he made the voyage from Syracuse to Rhegium, the vessel in which he sailed
took a similar circuit for a similar reason.”
4 Macaulay’s Lays of Rome (Battle of Lake Regillus). See the coin, which ex:
hibits the heads of the twin-divinities with the stars.
RHEGIUM. 349
Here they remained one day (ver. 13), evidently waiting for a ἴ ἢ}
wind to take them through the Faro; for the springing up of a wind
from the south is expressly mentioned in the following words. This wind
would be favourable not only for carrying the ship through the straits,
but for all the remainder of the voyage. If the vessel was single masted,.
this wind was the best that could blow: for to such a vessel the most
2
COLIN OF RHWGIUM.
advantageous point of sailing is to run right before the wind 15 and
Puteoli lies nearly due north from Rhegitm. The distance is about 182
miles. If then we assume, in accordance with what has been stated
above (p. 806), that she sailed at the rate of seven knots an hour,’ the
passage would be accomplished in. about twenty-six hours, which agrees
perfectly with the account of St. Luke, who says that, after leaving
Rhegium, they came “ the next day” to Puteoli.
Before the close of the first day’ they would see on the left the
volcanic cone and smoke of Stromboli,’ the nearest of the Liparian islands.
In the course of the night they would have neared that projecting part of
the mainland, which forms the southern limit of the bay of Salerno.’
Sailing across the wide opening of this gulf, they would, ina few hours,
enter that other bay, the bay of Naples, in the northern part of which
Puteoli was sitvated. No long description need be given of that bay,
which has been made familiar, by every kind of illustration, even to
those who have never seen it. Its southeastern limit is the promontory of
Minerva,’ with the island of Capres opposite, which is so associated with
1 We cannot assume this to have been the case, but it is highly probable. Sce above.
We may refer here to the representation of the harbour of Ostia on the coin of Nero,
given below. It will be observed that all the ships in the harbour are single-masted.
* Trom the British Museum. 3 Smith, p. 180.
4 We cannot agree with the N. Brit. Reviewer in doubting the correctness of Mr.
Smith’s conclusion on this point. i
6 The ancient Στρογγυλη, the most conspicuous island of the Lips: ian islands, called
also the Vulcanian and Afolian islands. “The sea about them is frequently agitated
by sudden storms.”—Purdy, p. 134. They are described in Captain Smyth’s work on
Sicily.
6 See the Sailing Dircctions, 129-133, with the Admiralty charts, for the appear-
ance of the coast between Cape Spartivento (Pr. Palinurum) and Cape Campanella
(Pr. Minerva).
7 Sce the quotation from Sencea’s letters below. The early writers say that Ulysses
raised there a temple to the goddess. Strabo, v. The point was also called the Cape
of Surrentum and the Cape of the Sirens. The beauty of this part of the coast Ul
Aencribed by Satius. ἔχιν. ii. 12
850 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 8ST. PAUL.
the memory of Tiberius, that its cliffs still seem to rise from the blue
waters as a monument of hideous vice in the midst of the fairest scenes of
nature. The opposite boundary was the promontory of Misenum, where
one of the imperial fleets’ lay at anchor under the shelter of the islands of
Ischia and Procida. In the intermediate space tke Campanian coast
curves round in the loveliest forms, with Vesuvius as the prominent feature
of the view. But here one difference must be marked between St. Paul’s
day and our own. The angry neighbour of Naples was not then an un
sleeping volcano, but a green and sunny background io the bay, with its
westward slope covered with vines.* No one could have suspected that
the time was so near, when the admiral of the fleet at Misenum would be
lost in its fiery eruption ;* and little did the Apostle dream, when he
looked from the vessel’s deck across the bay to the right, that a puin,
like that of Sodom and Gomorrah, hung over the fair cities at the base of
the mountain, and that the Jewish princess, who had so lately conversed
with him in his prison at Ceesarea, would find her tomb in that ruin, with
the child she had borne to Felix.‘
By this time the vessel was well within the island of Caprese and the
promontory of Minerva, and the idlers of Puteoli were already crowding
to the pier to watch the arrival of the Alexandrian corn-ship. So we may
safely infer from a vivid and descriptive letter preserved among the cor-
respondence of the philosopher Seneca.’ He says that all ships, on round-
ing into the bay within the above-mentioned island and promontory, were
obliged to strike their topsail, with the exception of the Alexandrian
corn-vessels, which were thus easily recognised, as soon as they hove in
sight ; and then he proceeds to moralise on the gathering and crowding of
the people of Puteoli, to watch these vessels coming in. Thus we are fur-
1 The fleet of the “Upper Sea”? was stationed at Ravenna, of the “ Lower” at
Misenum.
2 “Hic est pampineis viridis modo Vesuvius umbris.’’—Mart. iv. 44. “ Vesvia
rura.”’—Colum. x. ‘‘ Vineta Vesevi.”—Auson. Idyll. x. See Lucr. vi. 747. Virg.
Georg. ii. 224. Strabo (v. 24) describes the mountain as very fertile at its base,
though its summit was barren, and full of apertures, which shewed the traces of earlier
voleanic action. ,
3 See the younger Pliny’s description of his uncle’s death. Ep. vi. 16.
4 Josephus. See above, p. 273.
5 “Suhito hodie nobis Alexandrine nayes apparuerunt, que premitti solunt et nun-
tiare secuture classis adventum. Tabellarias vocant. -Gratus illarum Campanie
adspectus est. Omnis in pilis Puteolorum turba consistit, et ex ipso genere velorum
Alexandrinas, quamvis in magna turba navium, intelligit. Solis enim licet supparem
intendere, quod in alto omnes habent naves..... Cum intravere Capreas et promon-
torium, ex quo
Alta procelloso speculatur vertice Pallas,
ceteree velo jubentur esse content: supparum Alexandrinarum insigne est. In hoe
omnium discursu properantium ad litus, magnam ex pigritia mea sensi voluptatem,’
&c.—Senee. Ep. 77.
PUTEOLI. 901
nished with new circumstances to aid our efforts to realise the arrival οἱ
the Castor and Pollux, on the coast of Italy, with St. Paul on board
And if we wish still further to associate this event with the history and
the feelings of the times, we may turn to an anecdote of the Emperor
Augustus, which is preserved to us by Suetonius.!. The Emperor had been
seized with a feverish attack—it was the beginning of his last illness—and
was cruising about the bay for the benefit of his health, when an Alexan-
drian corn-ship was coming to her moorings, and passed close by. The
sailors recognised the old man, whom the civilised world obeyed as master,
and was learning to worship as God: and they brought forth garlands
and incense, that they might pay him divine honours, saying that it was
by his providence that their voyages were made safe and that their trade
was prosperous. Augustus was so gratified by this worship, that he im-
mediately distributed an immense sum of gold among his suite, exacting
from them the promise that they weuld expend it all in the purchase of
Alexandrian goods. Such was the interest connected in the first century
with the trade between Alexandria and Puteoli. Such was the idolatrous
homage paid to the Roman Emperor. The only difference, when the
Apostle of Christ came, was that the vice and corruption of the Empire
had increased with the growth of its trade, and that the Emperor now was
not Augustus but Nero.
Jn this wide and sunny expanse of blue waters, no part was calmer or
more beautiful than the recess in the northern part of the bay, between
Baie and Puteoli. It was naturally sheitered by the surrounding coasts,
and seemed of itself to invite both the gratification of luxurious ease, and
the formation of a mercantile harbour. Baise was, devoted to the former
purpose : it was to the invalids and fashionable idlers of Rome like a com-
bination of Brighton and Cheltenham. Puteoli, on the opposite side of
this inner bay, was the Liverpool of Italy. Between them was that in-
closed reach of water, called the Lucrine Lake, which contained the
oyster-beds for the luxurious tables of Rome, and on the surface of which
the small yachts of fashionable visitors displayed their coloured sails.
Still further inland was that other calm basin, the Lacus Avernus, which
an artificial passage connected with the former, and thus converted into a
harbour. Not far beyond was Cume, once a flourishing Greek city, but
when the Apostle visited this coast, a decayed country town, famous only
for the recollections of the Sibyl?
1 “Forte Puteolanum sinum pretervehenti, vectores nauteque de navi Alexandrina, _
que tantum quod appulerat, candidati, coronatique et thura libantur, fausta omina et
eximias laudes congesserant : Per illum vivere: per illum navigare : libertate atque
fortunis per illum frui. Qua re admodum exhilaratus, quadragenos aureos comitibua
divisit, jusquejurandum et cautionem exegit a singulis, non alic datam summam, quam
τῷ ermptionem Alexandrinarum mercium absumpturos.’’—Suet. Aug. 98.
2 « Quamvis digressu veteris confusus amici
852 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
We must return to Puteoli. We have seen above (p. 309) bow it
divided with Ostia! the chief commerce by sea between Rome and the
provinces. Its early name, when the Campanian shore was Greek rather
than Italian, was Dicwarchia. Under its new appellation (which seems
to have had reference to the mineral springs of the neighbourhood? (it
first began to have an important connection with Rome in the second
Punic war. It was the place of embarkation for armies proceeding to
Spain, and the landing-place of ambassadors from Carthage. Ever after-
wards it was an Italian town of the first rank. In ine time of Vespasian
it became the Flavian Colony,‘ like the city in Palestine from which St.
Paul had sailed:* but even from an earlier period it had colonial privi-
leges, avd these had just been renewed under Nero.’ It was intimately
associated both with this emperor and with two others who preceded him
in power and in crime. Close by Baia, across the bay, was Bauli, where
the plot was laid for the raurder of Agrippina.? Across these waters
Caligula built bis fantastic bridge ; and the remains of ἐξ were probably
visible when St. Paul landed. Tiberius had a more honvurable monu-
ment in a statue (cf which a fragment is still seen by English travellers
at Pozzuoli), erected during St. Paul’s life to commemorate the restitu-
tion of the Asiatic cities overthrown by an earthquake.® But the ruins
which are the most interesting to us are the seventeen piers of the ancient
mole, on which the lighthouse ’ stood, and within which the merchantmen
were moored. Such is the proverbial tenacity of the concrete which was
used in this structure," that it is the most perfect ruin existing of any
Laudo tamen vacuis quod sedem figere Camis
Destinet, atque wnwm civem donare Sibyllia.’—Juv. iii. 1.
1 See Suet. Claud. 25, for a notice of the troops quartered at Ostia and Puteoli.
2 Tt was named either from the springs (@ putezs), or from their stench (a putendv),
Strabo says, after describing Baia: 'Ἑξῆς δ᾽ εἰσὶν ai περὶ Δικαιαρχίωαν ἀκταὶ, καὶ αὐτὴ
ἡ πόλις. Ἦν δὲ πρότεοον μὲν ἐπίνειον Ἑξυμαΐων, ἐπ’ ὄφ,υος ἱδρυμενον" κατὰ δὲ τὴν
Ἀννίβα στρατείαν, Ovy- cay ‘Femaiot, καὶ μετονόμασαν ἹΠοτιόλους, ἀπὸ τῶν ὠὀρεατω»"
οἱ δ᾽ ἀπὸ τῆς δυσωδίας τὼν ὑδάτων, ἅπαν τὸ χώριον ἐκεῖ μέχρι Βαΐων, καὶ τῆς Κυμαίας,
ὅτι θείου πλῆρές ἐστι καὶ πυρὸς, καὶ θεύμῶν ὑδάτων.---τ. iv.
3 hiv xxty. 4 See Orelii’s Inscriptions, No. 3698.
5 See above on Cesarea, p. 279, n. 5.
6 “Tn Italia vetus oppidum Puteoli jus colonize ef cognomentum a Nerone apiscun
tur.’—Tac. Hist. xiv. 27. It appears, however, that this was a renewed privilege,
Sce Liv. xxxiv. 42. Vell. Pat.i.15. Val. Max. ix. 3, 8.
7 Nero had murdered his mother about two years before St. Paul’s coming. Tac,
Ann. xiv. 1-9.
8 Some travellers have mistaken the remains of the mole for those of Caligula’s
bridge. But that was only a wooden structure. See Suet. Calig. 19.
® The pedestal of this statue, with the allegorical representations of the towns, is
still extant. This “ Marmorea basis” is described in the seventh volume of Grono
vius, pp. 433-503.
10 See Cramer. There is, however, some inaccuracy in his reference to Pliny.
1 The well-known Pozzolana which is mentioned also by Pliny, H. N. xxxv. 13, 47
PUTEOLI. 353
ancient Roman harbour. In the early part of this chapter, we spoke of
the close mercantile relationship which subsisted between Egypt and this
city. And this remains on our minds as the prominent and significant fact
of its history,—whether we look upon the ruins of the mole and think of
such voyages as those of Titus and Vespasian,’ or wander among the
broken columns of the Temple of Serapis,? or read the account which
Philo gives of the singular interview of the Emperor Caligula with the
Jewish ambassadors from Alexandria.*
Puteoli, from its trade with Alexandria and the East, must necessa-
rily have contained a colony of Jews, and they must have had a close con-
nection with the Jews of Rome. What was true of the Jews, would pro-
bably find its parallel in the Christians. St. Paul met with disciples here 54
and, as soon as he was among them, they were in prompt communication
on the subject with their brethren in Rome.? The Italian Christians had
long been looking for a visit from the famous Apostle, though they had
not expected to see him arrive thus, a prisoner in chains, hardly saved
from shipwreck. But these sufferings would only draw their hearts more
closely towards him. They earnestly besought him to stay some days
with them, and Julius was able to allow this request to be complied with.¢
Even when the voyage began, we saw that he was courteous and kind
towards his prisoner ; and, after all the varied and impressive incidents
which have been recounted in this chapter, we should indeed be surprised
if we found him unwilling to contribute to the comfort of one by whom
his own life had been preserved.
οὐ
COIN OF MELITA. (From the British Museum.)
See Strabo, l. c. Ἢ δὲ πόλις ἐμπορεῖον γεγένηται μέγιστον, χειροποιήτους ἔχουσα
tppoug διὰ τὴν εὐφυΐαν τοῦ ἅμμου" σύμμετρος γάρ ἐστι τῇ τιτάνῳ, καὶ κόλλησιν
ἰσχυοὰν καὶ πῆξιν λαμθάνει. διόπερ τῇ χάλικι καταμίξαντες τὴν ἀμμοκονίαν, προβώλ-
λουσι χώματα ἐς τὴν θάλατταν, καὶ κολποῦσι τὰς ἀναπεπταμένας ἠϊόνας, ὥστ᾽ ἀσφαλῶς
ἐνορμίζεσθαι τᾶς μεγίστας ὁλκάδας.
1 See p. 309.
3 This is one of the most remarkable ruins at Pozzuoli. It is described in the guide
books.
3 Philo Leg. ad Caium. 4 Οὗ εὑρόντες ἀδελφοὺς. κ. τ. A.
δ See ver. 15. Κἀκεῖθεν οἱ ἀδελφοὶ ἀκούσαντες.
6 Παρεκλήθημεν ἐπ’ αὐτοῖς ἐπιμεῖναι ἡμέρας ἑπτά. It is not clearly stated who
urged this stay. Possibly it was Julius himself. It is at all events evident from ver.
15, that they did stay ; otherwise there would not have been time for the intelligence
of St. Paul’s landing to reach Rome so long before his own arrival there.
VOL. 11.—23
354 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 8T. PAUL.
CHAPTER XXIV.
In Tiberim defluxit Orontes.—Jvv. iii. 62.
He APPIAN WAY. —APPII FORUM AND THE THREE TAVERNS.—ENTRANSE INTO
ROME.—TIUHE PRATORIAN PREZFECT.--DESCRIPTION OF THE CITY.—Iis
POPULATIUN.— THE JEWS IN ROME.—THE ROMAN CHURCH.—ST. PAUL'S
INTERVIEW WIYH THE JEWS.—HIS RESIDENCE IN ROME.
Tne last chapter began with a description of the facilities possessed by
the ancients for travelling by sea: this must begin with a reference to
their best opportunities of travelling by land. We have before spoken of
some of the most important roads through the provinces of the Empire :+
now we are about to trace the Apostle’s footsteps along that road, which
was at once the oldest and most frequented in Italy,? and which was
called, in comparison with all others, the “ Queen of Roads.” We are no
longer following the narrow line of compact pavement across Macedonian
plains and mountains,’ or through the varied scenery in the interior of
Asia Minor :4 but we are on the most crowded approach to the metro-
polis of the world, in the midst of prators and proconsuls, embassies,
legions, and turms of horse, ‘‘to their provinces hasting or on return,”
which Milton,'—-in his description of the City enriched with the spoils
of nations,—has called us to behold “in various habits on the Appian
road.”
Leaving then all consideration of Puteoli, as it was related to the
sea, and to the various places on the coast, we proceed to consider its
1 An animated description of one of the post stations on one of the roads in Asia
Minor is given by Gregory of Nazianzus. (De Vita sua, 32.) Ile is describing hig
own parish, and says:
Κόνις τὰ πάντα, καὶ ψόφοι σὺν ἅρμασι,
Θρῆνοι, στεναγμοὶ, πρώκτορες, στρεβλαι, πέδαε.
Λαὺς δ' ὅσοι ξένοι τε καὶ πλαγώμενο:.
Attn Σασίμων τῶν ἐμῶν ἐκκλησία.
“ Appia longarum teritur Regina viarum.”
Stat. Silv. 11, 2. See below.
3 For the Via Egnatia. see Vol. I. pp. 316, 317.
4 In making our last allusion to Asia Minor, we may refer to the description which
Basil gives of the scenery round his residence, a little to the east ef the inland region
thrice traversed by St. Paul. See Humboldt’s Kosmos, vol. ii. p. 26. (Sabine’s Eng,
Trans.)
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communications by land with the towns of Campania and Latium. The
great line of communication between Rome and the southern part of the
peninsula was the Way constructed by Appius Claudius, which passed
through Capua,! and thence to Brundusium on the shore of the Adriatic.’
Puteoii and its neighbourhood lay some miles to the westward of this
main road: but communicated with it easily by well-travelled cross-roads.
One of them followed the coast from Puteoli northwards, till it joineu the’
Appian Way at Sinuessa, on the borders of Latium and Campania? It
appears, however, that this road was not constructed till the reign of
Domitian.* Our attention, therefore, is called to the other cross-road
which led directly to Capua. One branch of it left the coast at Cume,
another at Puteoli. It was called the ‘Campanian Way,”® and also the
“Consular Way.”® It seems to have been constructed during the Re-
public, and was doubtless the road which is mentioned, in an animated
passage of Horace’s Epistles, as communicating with the baths and villas
of Baize.’
1 The Via Appia, the oldest and most celebrated of Roman roads, was constructed
as far as Capua, A. τ. c. 442, by the censor Appius Claudius. (Liv. ix. 29.) Eight
hundred years afterwards, Procopius was astonished at its appearance. He describes
it as broad enough for two carriages to pass each other, and as made of stones brought
from some distant quarry, and so fitted to each other, that they seemed to be thus
formed by nature, rather than cemented by art. He adds that, notwithstanding the
traffic of so many ages, the stones were not displaced, nor had they lost their original
smoothness. (Bell. Got. i. 14.) There is great doubt as to the date of the continua-
tion by Beneventum to Brundusium, ner is the course of it absolutely ascertained.
Bergier, in his great work on Roman roads (in the tenth volume of Grevius) makes
little reference to the Appian Way. We have used chiefly Romanelli and Pratilli, ag
referred to below, with Cramer’s Ancient Italy.
5. Here it came to the customary ferry between the Greek and Italian peninsulas,
and was succeeded on the other side by the Via Egnatia. Strabo, v.3. vi. 3. Com-
pare Vol. I. p. 317.
3 The stages of this road from Sinuessa appear as follows in the Peutingerian Table :
—Savonem Fi. ΠΙ. ; Vulturnum, VII.; Liternum, VII.; Cumas, VI.; Lacum Aver-
num, II.; Puteolos, II. Thence it proceeds by Naples to Herculaneum, Pompeii,
Stabie, and Surrentum. In the Antonine Itinerary it is entitled, “Iter a Terracina
Neapolim,’”’ and the distances are slightly different. A direct road from Capua to
Neapolis, by Atella, is mentioned in the Tab. Peut.
4 This is the road wkich is the subject of the pompous yet very interesting poem of
Statius, Silv. iv.
5 Suet. Aug. 94. ;
6 Pliny says, after speaking of the District called Laboria, “Finiuntur Laborie via
ab utroque latere consulari, que a Puteolis et que a Cumis Capuam ducit.” HH. N,
xviii. 29.
7 See the vivid passage in the beginning of Ep. 1. xv., where we see that the road
was well-travelled at that period, and where its turning out of the Via Appia ia
searly indicated :
“ Mutandus locus est, et diversoria not
Prateragendus eques. Quo tendis? Non mihi Baias
Est iter aut Cumas, Jeva stomachosus habena
Dicet eques.”?
856 ὙΠῈ LIFE ΑΝΙ, EPISTLES OF 571. PAUL.
The first part then of the route which Julias took with his prisoners
was probably from Puteoli to Capua. All the region near the coast, how-
ever transformed in the course of ages by the volcanic forces, which are
still at work, is recognised as the scene of the earliest Italian mythology,
and must ever be impressive from the poetic images, partly of this world
and partly of the next, with which Virgil has filled it. From Cume to
Capua, the road traverses a more prosaic district:' the “ Phlegrean
fields” are left behind, and we pass from the scene of Italy’s dim mytho-
logy tu the theatre of the most exciting passages of her history. The
whole line of the road? can be traced at intervals, not only in the close
neighbourhood of Puteoli and Capua, but through the intermediate villages,
by fragmeuts of pavements, tombs, and ancient milestones.
Capua, after a time of disgrace had expiated its friendship with Han-
nibal,4 was raised by Julius Cesar to the rank of a colony :5 in the reign
of Augustus it had resumed all its former splendour :* and about the
very time of which we are writing, it received accessions of dignity from
the emperor ΝΌΤΟΣ It was the most important city on the whole line
of the Appian Way, between Rome and Brundusium. That part of the
\ine with which we are concerned, is the northerly and most ancient por-
gon. The distance is about 125 miles; and it may be naturally divided
into two equal parts. The division is appropriate, whether in regard to
the physical configuration of the country, or the modern political bounda- .
ries. The point of division is where Terracina is built at the base of
those cliffs, on which the city of Anxur was of old proudly situated, and
where a narrow pass, between the mountain and the sea, unites the Papal
States to the kingdom of Naples.
The distance from Capua to Terracina? is about seventy Roman miles,
1 On the left was a district of pine woods, notorious for banditti (Gallinaria pinus),
Juv. iii. 305 ; now Pineta di Castel Volturno.
2 This road is noticed by Romanelli in the Diatriba Seconda on the Appian Way
and its branches, at the end of the second volume of his Antica Topografia istorica del
Regno di Napoli (1819). But the fullest details are given by Pratilli, in book ii. ch.
viii. of his work Della Via Appia (1745). After mentioning some of the milestones
found at Giugliano and Aversa, he says: “Per questa strada l’Apostolo S. Paolo,
dappoiché fu approdato in Pozzuoli, dovette con centurione suo custode passare a
Capoa, 6 di 1a poi a Roma.”
3 The road seems to have left Puteoli by the Solfatara, where Romanelli says that
the old pavement is visible.
4 Liv. xxii. 5 Cas. B.C. i. 14. Vell. Pat. ii. 44
6 Appian, B. C. iv. 3. Dio Cass. xlix. Strabo, v.
7 Plin. H. N. xiv. 6. Tac. Ann. xiii. 31.
8 The molern Terracina is by the sea at the base of the cliffs, and the present το
passes that way. The ancient road ascended to Anxur, which was on the summit.
(“ Subimus impositum saxis Anxur.”’—Hor. Ep. 1. v. 25.) A characteristic view is
given in Milman’s Horace. See below.
9 The stages are as follows (reckoning from Terracina) in the Antonine Itinerary
THE APPIAN WAY. aot
At the third mile, the road crossed the river Vulturnus at Casilinum, a
vown then falling into decay.! Fifteen miles further it crossed the Sava
by what was then called the Campanian Bridge.* Thence, after three
miles, it came to Sinuessa on the sea,? which in St. Paul’s day was
reckoned the first town in Latium. But the old rich Campania extended
further to the northward, including the vine-clad hills of the famous
Falernian district through which we pass, after crossing the Savo.t The
last of these hills (where the vines may be seen trained on elms, as of
old) is the range of Massicus, which stretches from the coast towards
the Apennines, and finally shuts out from the traveller, as he de
scends on the farther side, all the prospect of Vesuvius and the
coast near Puteoli At that season, both vines and elms would have
a winterly appearance. But the traces of spring would be visible in
the willows ;* among which the Liris’ flows in many silent windings—
from the birthplace of Marius in the mountains*—to the city and the
swamps by the sea, which the ferocity of his mature life has rendered illus-
trious.? After leaving Minturne, the Appian Way passes on to another
place, which has different associations with the later years of the republic.
We speak of Formie, with its long street by the shore of its beautiful
FUNDIS. XVI. F'ORMIS. XIII. MINTURNIS. IX. SINUESSA. IX. CAPUA. xxvI. The dis-
tances are rather smaller in the Jerusalem Itinerary, where a mutatio Ponte Campano
and a mutatio ad octavum are inserted between Sinuessa and Capua. Casilinum is
mentioned only in the Peutingerian Table.
1 Morientis Casilini reliquix.” (Plin. iii. 5.) For notices of its more eminent days
see Liv. xxii. 15. xxiii. 17, 18, &c. Casilinnm is “New Capua,” which rose on ita
ruins in the ninth century, and which appears under the name of Casilino in medieval
chronicles. (Romanelli, iii. 586.)
3 Campano Ponti. Hor. Sat. 1. v. 45.
3 Plotius et Varius Sinuesse, Virgiliusque Occurrunt.””—Ib. 40.
4 Pliny extends Campania to the Liris. “Hine felix illa Campania est. Ab hoo
sinu incipiunt vitiferi colles, et temulentia nobilis succo per omnes terras inclyto, atque
ut veteres dixere: Summum Liberi patris cum Cerere certamen.”’? (H.N. iii. 5.) It
is difficult to fix the limits of the Falernus ager, which extended from the Massic
Hills towards the Volturnus. See Virg. Georg. ii. 95. Hor. Od.1.xx. Propert. iv. 6.
Sil. Ital. vii. 159.
5 See Eustace. The ancient road, however, seems to have followed the coast.
6 “March 22. We cross the Liris by a suspension bridge. It is a large stream—
truly a taciturnus amnis—winding like the Trent among willow-trees, which showed
nearly the first symptoms of spring we had seen.”? (Extract from a private jourzal.)
We have already scen that St. Paul’s journey through Campania and Latium was very
early in spring.
7
τ Rura, que Liris quieta
Mordet aqua taciturnus amnis.”’
Hor. Od. 1. 31.
C Liris nutritus aquis, qui fonte quieto
Dissimulat cursum.’’—Sil. Ital. iv. 350.
No description of the Garigliano could be more exact.
* The Garigliano rises near Arpinum, which was also the birthplace of Horace,
® The Marmurrarum urbs of Horace, Sat. 1, v. 37.
358 THE LIFE ANL £PISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
bay, and with its villas on the sea side and above it ; among which was
one of Cicero’s favourite retreats from the turmoil of the political world,
and where at last he fell by the hand of assassins... Many a lectica,? or
palanquin, such as that in which he was reclining when overtaken by his
murderers, may have been ret by St. Paul in his progress,—with other
carriages, with which the road would become more and more crowdcd,—
the cesewm,* or light cabriolet, of some gay reveller, on his way to Baie,—
or the four-wheeled rheda,‘ full of the family of some wealthy senator quit-
ting the town for the country. At no great distance from Formie the
road left the sea again, and passed, where the substructions of it still re-
main, through the defiles* of the Czecuban hills, with their stony but pro-
ductive vineyards. Thence the traveller looked down upon the plain of
Fundi, which retreats like a bay into the mountains, with the low lake of
Amycle between the town and the sea. Through the capritious care,
with which time has preserved in one place what is lost in another, the
pavement of the ancient way is still the street of this, the most northerly
town of the Neapolitan kingdom in this direction. We have now in front
of us the mountain line, which is both the frontier of the Papal States,
aud the natural division of the Apostle’s journey from Capua to Rome.
Whiere it reaches the coast, in bold limestone precipices, there Anxur was
situated, with its houses and temples high above the sea.‘
1 See Plutarch’s description of his death.
3 The /ectice, or couches carried by bearers, were in constant use both for men and
women ; and a traveller could hardly go from Puteoli to Rome without seeing many
of them. For a description of the lectica and other Roman carriages, see the Excursus
in Becker’s Gallus, Eng. Trans. p. 257.
3 For the cisium see two passages in Cicero: “ Inde cisio celeriter ad urbem advectus
domum venit capite involuto.” (Phil. ii. 31.) “ Decem horis nocturnis sex et quin-
quaginta millia passuum cisiis pervolavit.” (Rose. Am.7.) From what Seneca says
(“ Quadam sunt, que possis et in cisio scribere.’’ Ep. 72), we must infer that such
carriages were often as comfortable as those of modern times. See Ginzrot, Wagen
u. Fahrwerke der Griechen u. Romer, i. p. 218.
4 “Tota domus rheda componitur una.” (Juv. iii. 10.) Cf. Mart. iii. 47. The re-
mark just made on the cisium is equally applicable to the larger carriage. Cicero
says in one of his Cilician letters (Att. v. 17): “ Hane epistolam dictavi sedens in
rheda.” Ginzrot gives, from a painting at Constantinople, a representation of a state-
carriage or rbeda containing prisoners. [Did Julius and his prisoners travel in this way
from Puteoli?] The rheda meritoria used by Horace (Sat. i. v. 36) was the common
hack-carriage. We may allude to another well-known scene on the Appian Way,
where the rheda is mentioned, Cic. Mil. 10.
5 Itri is in one of these defiles. The substructions of the ancient way show that it
nearly followed the line of the modern road between Rome and Naples.
6 “Tmpositum saxis late candentibus Anxur.” (Hor. Sat. Lv. 26.) ‘“ Superbus
Anxur.”? Mart vi. 42.) “ Arces superbi Anxuris.” (Stat. Silv. i. 3.) “ Praecipites
Anxuris arces.”? (Lucan, iii. 64.) ‘“Scopulosi verticis Anxur. (Sil. Ital. viii. 392.)
There are still the substructions of large temples, one of them probably that of Jupiter,
to whom the town was dedicated.
ΑΡΡΙΙ FORUM AND THREE 'TAVERNS. 3859
After leaving Anxur,' the traveller observes the high land retreating
again from the coast, and presently finds himself in a wide and remarka-
ble plain, enclosed towards the interior by the sweep of the blue Volscian
mountains, and separated by a belt of forest from the sea. Here are the
Pomptine marshes,—“ the only marshes ever dignified by classic celebrity.”
The descriptive lines of the Roman satirist have wonderfully concurred
with the continued unhealthiness of the half-drained morass, in preserving
a living commentary on that fifteenth verse in the last chapter of the
Acts, which exhibits to us one of the most touching passages in the
Apostle’s life. A few miles beyond Terracina, where a fountain, grateful
to travellers, welled up near the sanctuary of Feronia,’ was the termina-
tion of a canal, which was formed by Augustus for the purpose of drain-
ing the marshes, and which continued for twenty miles by the side of the
road. Over this distance, travellers had their choice, whether to proceed
by barges dragged by mules, or on the pavement of the way itself! It
is impossible to know which plan was adopted by Julius and his prisoners.
If we suppose the former to have been chosen, we have the aid of
Horace’s Epistle to enable us to imagine the incidents and the company,
in the midst of which the Apostle came, unknown and unfriended, to the
corrupt metropolis of the world. And yet he was not so unfriended as
he may possibly have thought himself that day, in his progress from
Anxur across the watery, unhealthy plain. On the arrival of the party
at Appii Forum, which was a town where the mules were unfastened, at
the other end of the canal, and is described by the satirist as full of low
1 The stages during the latter half of the journey, reckoning from Rome, appear
thus in the Antonine Itinerary: ARICIAM. XVI. TRES TABERNAS. XVU. APPI FORO. X.
TARRACINA. Xv. In the Peutingerian Table Boville intervenes between Rome and
Aricia, and Sublanuvio between Aricia and Tres Taberne. The Jerusalem Itinerary
has a Mutatio ad nono corresponding nearly to Bovilla, and a Mutatio ad medias
between Appii Forum and Terracina: it makes no mention of Tres Tabernz, but haa
instead a Mutatio sponsas, for which Wesseling and Romanelli would read ad pontes.
2 “ Ora manusque tua lavimus Feronia lympha,
Millia tum pransi tria repimus,” ὅσο.
Hor. Sat. I. 24.
3 “Qua Pomptinas via dividit uda paludes.” (Lucan, iii. 85.) The length of the
canal was nineteen miles. See Procop. de Bell. Got. i. 11: Πεδία πολλὰ ἐνταῦθά ἐστιν
ἱππόβοτα' pet δὲ καὶ ποταμὸς, ὃν Δεκαννόβιον (Decennovium) τῇ Λατίνων φωνῇ
καλοῦσιν οἱ ἐπιχώριοι, ὅτι δὴ ἐννεακαίδεκα περιιών σημεῖα (milliaria), ὅπερ ξύνεισιν
ke τρεῖς καὶ δέκα καὶ ἑκατὸν σταδίους, οὕτω δὴ ἐκβάλλει ἐς θάλασσαν ἀμφὶ πόλιν
Ταρακίνην.
4 With Horace’s account of his night-journey on the canal, compare Strabo, v. 8.
Πλησίον τῆς Ταῤῥακινῆς βαδίζοντι ἐπὶ τῆς Ῥώμης παραβέβληται τῇ ὁδῷ TH ᾿Αππίᾳ
διῶουξ ἐπὶ πολλοὺς τόπους πληρουμένη τοῖς ἐλείοις τε καὶ τοῖς ποταμίοις ἴδασᾳ
πλεῖται δὲ μάλιστα νύκτωρ, dor’ ἐμβάντας ἐφ᾽ ἑσπέρας ἐκβαίνειν πρωΐας καὶ βαδίζειν
τὸ λοιπὸν τῇ ὁδῷ τῇ ᾿Λππία" ἀλλὰ καὶ μεθ᾽ ἡμέραν ῥεμουλκεῖται δι’ ἡυ:όνων.
860 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
tavern-keepers and bargemen,'—at that meeting-place whore travellers
from all parts of the empire had often crossed one another's path,——on
that day, in the motley and vulgar crowd, some of the few Christians
who were then in the world, suddenly recognised one another, and emo-
tions of holy joy ard thanksgiving sanctified the place of coarse vice and
vulgar traffic. The disciples at Rome had heard of the Apostle’s arrival
at Puteoli, and hastened to meet him on the way ; and the prisoner was
startled to recognise some of those among whom he had laboured, and
whom he had loved, in the distant cities of the East. Whether Aquila
and Priscilla were there it is needless to speculate. Whoever might be
the persons, they were brethren in Christ, and their presence would be an
instantaneous source of comfort and strength. We have already seen, on
other occasions of his life? how the Apostle’s heart was lightened by the
presence of his friends.
About tén miles farther he received a second welcome from a singulat
group of Christian brethren. Two independent companies had gone to
meet him: or the zeal and strength of one party had outstripped the
other. At a place called the Three Taverns,’ where a cross road from
the coast at Antium came in from the left, another party of Christians
was waiting to welcome and to honour “the ambassador in bonds.”
With a lighter heart, and a more cheerful countenance, he travelled the
remaining seventeen miles, which brought him along the base of the
Alban Hills, in the midst of places well known and famous in early Ro-
man legends, to the town of Aricia. The Great Apostle had the sympa-
thies of human nature ; he was dejected and encouraged by the same
causes which act on our spirits ; he too saw all outward objects in “hues
borrowed from the heart.” The diminution of fatigue—the more hopeful
prospect of the future—the renewed elasticity of religious trust—the sense
of a brighter light on all the scenery round him—on the foliage which
overshadowed the road—on the wide expanse of the plain to the left—on
the high summit to the Alban Mount,—all this, and more than this, is in-
volved in St. Luke’s sentence,—‘‘ when Paul saw the brethvea, he thanked
Ged, axd took courage.”
The mention of the Alban Mount reminds us that we are approaching
the end of our journey. The isolated group of hills, which is called by
this collective name, stands between the plain which has just been tra
1 “Jnde Forum Appi,
Differtum nautis cauponibus atque malignis.”’
This place is also mentioned by Cicero ad Div. ii. 10. Its situation was near the pre-
sent Treponti.
2 See especially Vol. 1. p. 362.
3 This place is mentioned by Cicero when on a journey from Antium to Rome. Att
11. 12. From the distances in the Itineraries it seems to have been not very far from
ghe modern Cisterna,
APPROACH TO ROME. 361
versed and that other plain which is the Campagna of Rome. All the
pases of the mountain were then (as indeed they are partially now) clus
vered round with the villas and gardens of wealthy citizens. The Appian
Way climbs and then descends along its southern slope. After passing
Lanuvium' it crossed a crater-like valley on immense substructions, which
still remain.? Here is Aricia, an easy stage from Rome? The town was
above the road ; and on the hill side swarms of beggars beset travellers
as they passed.# On the summit of the next rise, Paul of Tarsus would
obtain his first view of Rome. There is no doubt that the prospect was,
in many respects, very different from the view which is now obtained from
the same spot. It is true that the natural features of the scene are un-
altered. The long wall of blue Sabine mountains, with Soracte in the
distance, closed in the Campagna, which stretched far across to the sea
and round the base of the Alban hills. But ancient Rome was not, like
modern Rome, impressive from its solitude, standing alone, with its one
conspicuous cupola, in the midst of a desolate though beautiful waste.
St Paul would see a vast city, covering the Campagna, and almost con-
tinuously conneeted by its suburbs with the villas on the hill where he
stood, and with the bright towns which clustered on the sides of the
mountains opposite. Over all the intermediate space were the houses and
gardens, through which aqueducts and roads might be traced in converg-
ing lines towards the confused mass of edifices which formed the city of
Rome. Here no conspicuous building, elevated above the r st, attracted
the eye or the imagination. Ancient Rome had neither cupola® nor cam-
panile. Still less had it any of those spires, which give life to all the
landscapes of Northern Christendom. It was a wide-spread aggregate of
buildings, which, though separated by narrow streets and open squares,
appeared, when seen from near Aricia, blended into one indiscriminate
mass: for distance concealed the contrasts which divided the crowded
1 Sub Lanuvio is one of the stations in the Tab. Peut. (See above.) The ancient
Lanuvium was on a hill on the teft, near where the Via Appia (which can be traced
here, by means of the tombs, as it ascends from the plain) strikes the modern road by
Velletri.
2 The present road is carried through the modern town of Laricia, which occupies
the site of the citadel of ancient Aricia. The Appian Way went across the valley,
below. Sec Sir W. Gell’s Campagna, under Aricia and Laricia: see also an article,
entitled “ Excursions from Rome in 1843,” in the first volume of the Classical Museum,
p. 322. The magnificent causeway or viaduct, mentioned in the text, is 700 fect long,
and in some places 70 feet high. It is built of enormous squared blocks of peperino,
with arches for the water of the torrents to pass through.
3 “ Heressum magna me excipit Aricia Roma.” Compare Epictetus as quoted bere
by Orelli: οὐκοὺν ἐν ᾿Αρικίᾳ ἀριστήσομεν. The distance from Rome was sixteen milea
4 The cavus Aricinus is repeatedly mentioned as swarming with beggars. Juv,
Sat. iv. 117. Pers. Sat. vi. 56. Mart. Epig. xii. 32.
5 The Pantheon was indeed built; but the world had not seen any instance of ar
nlevated dome, like that of St. Sophia, St. Peter’s, or St. Paul’s.
862 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
habitations of the poor and the dark haunts of filth and misery—frum
he theatres and colonnades, the baths, the temples and palaces with
gilded roofs, flashing back the sun.
The road descended ito the plain of Bovillz, six miles from Aricia : Ὁ
and thence it procceded in a straight line,? with the sepulchres of illustri-
ous families on either hand.? One of these was the burial-place of the
Julian gens,‘ with which the centurion who had charge of the prisoners
was in some way connected. As they proceeded over the old pavement,
among gardens and modern houses,® and approached nearer the busy me
tropolis—the “ conflux issuing forth or entering in”? in varicus costumes
and on various errands,—vehicles, horsemen and foot-passengers, soldiers
and labourers, Romans and foreigners,—became more crowded and con-
fusing. The houses grew closer. They were already in Rome. It was
impossible to define the commencement of the city. Its populous portions
extended far beyond the limits marked out by Servius. The ancient wall,
with its once sacred pomeerium, was rather an object for antiquarian inte-
rest, like the walls of York or Chester, than any protection against the
enemies, who were kept far aloof by the legions on the frontier.
Yet the Porta Capena is a spot which we can hardly leave without
lingering for a moment. Under this arch—which was perpetually drip-
ping ® with the water of the aqueduct® that went over it—had passed all
1 Bovillee (not far from Fratocchie) is memorable as the place where Clodius was killed.
3 The modern road deviates slightly from the Via Appia; but by aid of the tombs
the eye can easily trace the course of the ancient way, which was, as Nibby says,
“Vandicalmente distrutta anno 1791 per resarcire la strada moderna, che a sinistra
se vede.” (Viaggio, p. 146.)
3 The sentence in Cicero is well known: “ An tu egressus porta Capena, cum Cala-
tini, Scipionum, Serviliorum, Metellorum, sepulchra vides, miseros putes iiios?”” For
an account of the tombs of the Scipios, see the Beschreibung Roms, iii. 612. That of
Cecilia Metella is engraved on our map of Rome. Pompey’s tomb was also on the
Appian Way, but nearer to Aricia.
4 Sir W. Gell, on what appears to be a memorial of the burying-place of the Gens
Julia, near Boville. See Tac. Ann. ii. 41. xv. 33.
5 Ile might be a freeborn Italian (like Cornelius, see Vol. I. p. 115), or he might be
a freed man, or the descendant of a freed man, manumitted by some member of the
Julian house.
6 Much building must have been continually going on. Juvenal mentions the car-
rying of building materials as one of the annoyances of Rome,
7 Paradise Regained, iv. 62.
8 “ Capena grandi porta que pluit gutta.” (Mart. iii. 47.) Hence valled the moist, .
gate by Juvenal, iii. 10. Compare Mart. iv. 18. It was doubtless called Capena, as
being the gate of Capua. Its position is fully ascertained to have been at the point of
union of the valleys dividing the Aventine, Ceelian, and Palatine. See Becker’s
Romische Alterthiimer, 167; also 121,210. Both the Via Latina and Via Appia
issued from this gate. The first milestone on the latter was found in the first vine-
yard beyond the Porta S. Sebastiano (see map).
9 This was a branch of the Marcian aqueduct. “ Marcia autem parte sui post hortoa
Pallantianos in rivum, qui vocatur Herculaneus, dejecit se per Celium. Fuctus
THE PRETORIAN PRAFECT. 368
those who, since a remote period of the republic, had travelled by the
Appian Way,—victorious generals with their legions, returning from
foreign scrvice,—emperors and courtiers, vagrant representatives of every
form of heathenism, Greeks and Asiatics, Jews and Christians.’ From
this point entering within the city, Julius and his prisoners moved on, with
the Aventine on their left, close round the base of the Ccelian, and
through the hollow ground which lay between this hill and the Palatine :
thence over the low ridge called Velia,? where afterwards was built the
arch of Titus, to commemorate the destruction of Jerusalem ; and then
descending,? by the Sacra Via,‘ into that space which was the centre of
imperial power and imperial magnificence, and associated also with the
most glorious recollections of the republic. The Forum was to Rome,
what the Acropolis® was to Athens, the heart of all the characteristic
interest of the place® Here was the Milliartwm Awrewm, to which the
roads of all the provinces converged. All around were the stately build-
ings, which were raised in the closing years of the republic, and by the
earlier emperors.’ In front was the Capitoline Hill, illustrious long before
the invasion of the Gauls. Close on the left, covering that hill, whose
name is associated in every modern European language with the notion of
imperial spiendour,’ were the vast ranges of the palace—the “ house of
Cesar” (Phil. iv. 22). Here were the household troops quartered in a
preatorium® attached to the palace. And here (unless, indeed, it was in
ipsius montis usibus nihil ut inferior subministrans, finitur supra portam Capenam.”’
(Frontinus de Aquieductibus, in the fourth volume of Greevius, 1644.)
1 We must not forget that close by this gate was the old sanctuary of Egeria, which
in Juvenal’s time was occupied by Jewish beggars. See Sat. iii. 13, vi. 542, which we
have already quoted (Vol. I. p. 147).
3 “The ridge on which the arch of Titus stands, was much more considerable than
the modern traveller would suppose: the pavement, which has been excavated at this
point, is firty-three feet above the level of the pavement in the Forum. This ridge ran
from the Palatine to the Esquiline, dividing the basin in which the Colosseum stands,
from that which contained the Forum: it was called Velia. Publicola excited popular
suspicion and alarm by building his house on the elevated part of this ridge.” Com-
panion-Volume to Mr. Cookesley’s Map of Rome, p. 30. (See Liv. ii. 7. Cic. de Rep.
ii. 81. Dionys. Hal. v. 19.)
3 This slope, from the arch of Titus down to the Forum, was called the Sacer Clivus,
Hor. Od. rv. ii. 33. Mart. 1. Ixxi. 5. rv. Ixxix. 7.
4 So the name ought to be written. Becker, 1, 219.
5 See Vol. 1. p. 356.
6 See a fine passage on the Forum in Becker’s Alterthumer, i. 215.
7 We must not enter into any discussion concerning the relative positions of the
Fora of Julius Cesar and Augustus. See Chevalier Bunson’s Treatises, ‘Les Forum
fle Rome,” 1837. His general plan is attached to the third of Mr. Bunbury’s articles
on the Topography of Rome, in the Classical Museum, voi. iv. p. 116,
8 See Becker, i. 415.
9 We think that Wieseler has proved that the πραιτώριον in Phil. i. 13 denotes the
quarters of the household troops attached to the Emperor's residence on the Pa‘atine
864 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 8T. PAUL.
the g.eat Pretortan camp ' outside the city wall) Julius gave up his pri
aoner to Burrus, the Pratorian Prefect,’ whose official duty it was te
keep in custody ail accused persons who were to be tried before the Em-
peror.® 3
This doubt, which of two places, somewhat distant from each other,
was the scene of St. Paul’s meeting with the commander-in-chief of the
Praetorian guards, gives us the occasion for entering on a general descrip-
uon of the different parts of the city of Rome. It would be nugatory
to lay great stress, as is too often done, on its “ seven hills :” for a great
city at length obliterates the -original features of the ground, especially
where those features were naturally not very strongly marked. The
description, which is easy in reference to Athens or Edinburgh, is hard in
the instance of modern London or ancient Rome. Nor is it easy, in the
case of one of the larger cities of the world, to draw any marked lines of
distinction among the different classes of buildings. It is true, the con-
trasts are really great ; but details are lost in a distant view of so vast an
ageregate. The two scourges to which ancient Rome was most exposed,
revealed very palpably the contrast, both of the natural ground and the
human streetures, which by the general observer might be unnoticed or
forgotten. When the Tiber was flooded, and the muddy waters converted
all the streets and open places of the lower part of the city into lakes and
canals,‘ it would be seen very clearly how much lower were the Forum
and the Campus Martius, than those three detached hills (the Capitoline,
the Palatine, and the Aventine) which rose near the river ; and those
four ridges (the Ccelian, the Esquiline, the Viminal, and the Quirinal)
which ascended and united together in the higher ground on which the
Pretorian camp was situated. And when fires swept rapidly from roof to
roof,> and vast ranges of buildings were buried in the ruins of one night,
1 The establishment of this camp was the work of Tiberius. Its place is still clearly
visible in the great rectangular projection in the walls, on the north of the city. Jn
St. Panl’s time it was strictly outside the city. The inner wall was pulled down by
Constantine. Zos. ii. 17.
? This is the accurate translation of τῷ στρατοπεδάρχῃ (Acts xxviii. 16). The
Prefectus Pretorio was already the most important subject of the Emperor, though
he had not yet acquired all that extensive jurisdiction which was subsequently con-
ferred upon him. At this time (a. p. 61) Burrus, one of the best of Nero’s advisers,
was Prectorian Pracfect.
3 Trajan says (Plin. Ep. x. 65) of such a prisoner, “vinctus mitti ad Praefectoa
Pretorii mei debet.”” Compare also Joseph. Ant. xviii. 6 quoted by Wieseler, p. 393.
4 The writer has known visits paid in the Ripetta (in the Campus Martius) by means
of boats brought to the windows of the first story. Dio Cassius makes three distinet
references to a similar state of things. ‘O Τίβερις πελαγίσας πᾶσαν τὴν ἐν τοῖς
πεδίοις Ῥώμην κατέλαβεν, ὥστε πλεῖσθαι, 1111. 20. Compare 1111, 33. Ilvii. 14.
5 Suetonius mentions floods and fires together. ‘“ Urbem inundationibus incendiisque
obnoxiam, excoluit adeo, ut jure sit gloriatus, marmoream se relinquere, quam lateri-
ciam accepisset.” Aug. 29. ‘ Adversus incendia excubias nocturnas vigilesyue com
ΣΕΒΟΕΙΡΤΙΟΝ OF ROME. 368
that cortrast between the dwellings of the poor and the palaces of the
ric, which has supplied the Apostle with one of his most forcible images,
would be clearly revealed,—the difference between structures of ‘“ sump:
tuous marbles, with silver and gold,” which abide after the fire, and the
bovels of “ wood, hay, stubble,” which are burnt (1 Cor. iii. 10-15).
If we look at a map of modern Rome, with a desire of realising to
ourselves the appearance of the city of Augustus and Nero, we must in
the first place obliterate from our view that circuit of waiis, which is due
in various proportions, to Aurelian, Belisarius, and Pope Leo 1V.' The
wall, through which the Porta Capena gave admission, was the old Ser:
vian euclosure, which embraced a much smaller area: though we must
bear in mind, as we have remarked above, that the city had extended it-
self beyond this limit, and spread through various suburbs, far into the
country. In the next place we must observe that the hilly part of Rome,
which is now half occupicd by gardens, was then the most populous,
_while the Campus Martius, now covered with crowded streets, was compas
ratively open. It was only about the close of the republic that many builde
ings were raised on the Campus Martius, and these were chiefly of a
public or decorative character. One of these, the Pantheon, still remains,
as ἃ monument of the reign of Augustus. This, indeed, is the period
from which we must trace the beginning of all the grandeur of Roman
buildings. ‘Till the civil war between Pompey and Ceesar, the private
houses of the citizens had been mean, and the only public structures of
note were the cloacee and the aqueducts. But in proportion as the an-
cient fabric of the constitution broke down, and while successful gene-
rals brought home wealth from provinces conquered and plundered on
every shore of the Mediterranean, the city began to assume the appearance
of a new and imperial magnificence. ΤῸ leave out of view the luxurious
and splendid residences which wealthy citizens raised for their own uses,’
Pompey erected the first theatre of stone,* and Julius Cesar surrounded
the great Circus with a portico.s From this time the change went on
rapidly and incessantly. oe increase of public business led to the crec-
mentus est. Ad coercendas inundationes, alveum Tiberis laxavit et repurgavit.”
Ib. 30. The jire-police of Augustus seems to have been organized with great care.
The care of the river, as we learn from inscriptions, was committed to a Curator alvei
Tiberis.
1 The wall of Leo IY. is that which encloses the Borgo (said to be so called from
the word burgh, used by Anglo-Saxon pilgrims) where St. Peter’s and the Vatican are
situated.
? Till the reign of Augustus, the houses of private citizans bad been for the most
part of sun-dried bricks, on a basement of stone. The houses of Crassus and Lepidus
were amoug the earlier exceptions.
3 This theatre was one of the principal ornaments of the Campus Martius. Some
parts of it still remain.
4 Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 24,1. Suet. Cars. 39
366 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
tion of enormous Basilicas.!. The Forum was embellished on all sidea
The Temple of Apollo on the Palatine,s and those other temples the re
mains of which are still conspicuous at the base of the Capitoline,* were
only a small part of similar buildings raised by Augustus. The triumphal!
arch raised by Tiberius near the same place * was only one of many struc-
tures, which rose in rapid succession to decorate that busy neighbourhood.
And if we wish to take a wider view, we have only to think of the aque-
ducts, which rose in succession between the private enterprises of Agrippa
in the reign of Augustus, and the recent structures of the Emperor Clau-
dius, just before the arrival of the Aposile Paul.6 We may not go fur-
ther in the order of chronology. We must remember that the Colosseum,
the Basilica of Constantine, and the baths of other emperors, and many
other buildings which are now regarded as the conspicuous features of
ancient Rome, did not then exist. We are describing a period which is
anterior to the time of Nero’s fire. Even after the opportunity which
that calamity afforded for reconstructing the city, Juvenal complains of
the narrowness of the strects.? Were we to attempt to extend our de-
scription to any of these streets,—whether the old Vicus Tuscus,® with its
cheating shopkeepers,’ which led round the base of the Palatine, from the
Forum to the Cireus,—or the aristocratic Curine along the slope of the
Esquiline,'’°—or the noisy Suburra, in the hollow between the Viminal and
Quirinal, which had sunk into disrepute,’ thow;h once the residence of
Julius Cxsar,'*—we should only wander into ew uess perplexity. And we
1 The Roman Basilica is peculiarly interesting to us, since it contains the germ of
the Christian cathedral. Originally they were rather open colonnades than enclosed
halls; but, before the reign of Nero, they had assumed their ultimate form of a nave
with aisles. We shall refer again to the Basilicas in our account of St. Paul’s last
trial.
2 Three well known Corinthian columns, of the best period of art under the Empe-
rors, remain near the base of the Palatine. They are popularly called the remains of
the Temple of Jupiter Stator: perhaps they are part of the Temple of Castor and Pol-
lux. Sce the Beschreibung Roms, iii. 272; also Bunsen’s “Les Forum,’ ἄρ. ; and
Bunbury’s second article in the Classical Museum, p. 19.
3 Suet. Aug. c. 29. Dio Cass. liii. 1. :
4 For the true names of these temples, see Bunsen and Bunbury. The larger rnin,
on the lower side of the Clivus Capitolinus, is believed to be the Temple of Vespasian,
and was not built till after St. Paul’s death. The temples of Concord and of Saturn
were of earlier date.
5 It was built in commemoration of the recovery of the standards of Varus.
6 See Frontinus.
7 Juv. Sat. iii. 193, 199, 225, 236. vi. 78.
8 See Liv. xxvii 37. In another place (ii. 14) he says it was so called from the
Etruscans, who settled there.
9 Hor. Sat. π. iii, 228. 10 Virg. Ain. viii. 36. Hor. Ep. 1. vii. 48.
1 Juv. wi. 5. x. 156, xi. 50), Pers. v.32. Mart. v. xxii. 5: x: xix. 5.
12 ὦ TJabitait primo in Suburra modicis edibus ; post autem pontificatum maximum,
In Sacra Via, lomo publica.” (Suet. Cas. c. 46.)
POPULATION OF ROME. 367
should be equally lost, if we were to attempt to discriminate’ihe mixed
multitude, which were crowded on the various landings of those inswe,
or piles of lodging houses, which are perhaps best described by comparing
them to the houses in the old town of Edinburgh.
If it is difficult to.describe the outward appearances of the city, it is
stil more dificult to trace the distinctive features of all the parts of that
colossal population which filled it. Within a circuit of little more than
twelve miles* more than two millions? of inhabitants were crowded. It
is evident that this fact is only explicable by the narrowness of the
streets, with that peculiarity of the houses which has been alluded to
above. In this prodigious collection of human beings, there were of
course all the contrasts whi¢h are seen in a modern city,—all the painful
lines of separation between luxury and squalor, wealth and want. But in
Rome all these differences were on an exaggerated scale, and the institue
tion of slavery modified further all social relations. The free citizens
were more than a million :4 of these, the senators were so few in number,
as to be hardly appreciable : > the knights, who filled a great proportion
of the public offices, were not more than 10,000: the troops quartered in
the city may be reckoned at 15,000: the rest were the Plebs urbana
That a vast number of these would be poor, is an obvious result of the
most ordinary causes. Dut, in ancient Rome, the luxury of the wealthier
classes did not produce a general diffusion of trade, as it does in a modern
city. The handicraft employments, and many of what we should call
professions,° were in the hands of slaves ; and the consequence was, that
a vast propertion of the Plebs urbana lived on public or private charity.’
Yet were these pauper citizens proud of their citizenship, though many
of them had no better sleeping-place for the night than the public por.
ticos or the vestibules of temples. They cared for nothing beyond bread
for the day, the games of the Circus,’ and the savage delight of gladiato-
1 A decree was issued by Augustus, defining the height to which these insula
might be raised. :
? This is of course a much wider circuit than that of the Servian wall. The preseni
wall, as we have said above, did not then exist.
3 This is Hoeck’s calculation, 1. ii. 131. Bunsen, in the Beschreibung Roms, i. 183,
makes a somewhat lower calculation. Each estimate is based, though in different
ways, on the Monumentum Ancyranum. For remarks on the very low estimate of M
Dureau de la MaJle, in his Economie Politique des Romains, see Hoeck in the ἔχου»
mis at the end of the second part of his first volume, and Milman’s note on Gibbon’s
thirty-first chapter.
4 Hoeck.
5 Before Augustus there were 1000 senaters; he reduced them to about 700. Die
Cass. 111. 42, liv. 14.
6 Some were physicians, others were engaged in education, Xe.
7 See, on this whole subject, Hoeck’s Romische Geschichte, book v chap. ii.
8 “Panem et Circenses;” such is the satirist’s account of the only two things fos
which the Roman populace was really anxious.
868 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
rial shows.’ Manufactures and trade they regarded as the business of the
slave and the foreigner. ‘The number of slaves was perhaps about a mil-
lion. ‘The number of the strangers or peregrint was much smaller ; but it
is impossible to describe their varieties. Every kind of nationality and
religion found its representative in Rome. But it is needless to pursue
these details. The most obvious comparison is better than an elaborate
description. Rome was like London with all its miseries, vices, and fol:
lies exaggerated, and without Christianity.
One part of Rome still remains to be described, the “ Trastevere,” or
district beyond the river.!| This portion of the city has been known in
modern times for the energetic and intractable character of its population.
In earlier times it was equally notorious, though not quite for the same
reason. It was the residence of a low rabble, and the place of the
meanest merchandise.? There is, however, one reason why our attention
is particularly called to it. It was the ordinary residence of the Jews—
the “ Ghetto” of ancient Rome:? and great part of it was doubtless
squalid and miserable, like the Ghetto of modern Rome,‘ though the Jews
were often less oppressed under the Cesars than undcr the Popes. Here
. then—on the level ground, between the windings of the muddy river and
the base of that hill* from the brow of which Porsena, looked down on
early Rome, and where the French within these few years have planted
their cannon—we must place the home of those Israelitish families among
whom the Gospel bore its first-fruits in the metropolis of the world : and it
was on these bridges,°—-which formed an immediate communication from
the district beyond the Tiber to the Emperor’s household and the guards
on the Palatine,—that those despised Jewish beggars took their stand, te
1 Whether the wall of Servius included any portion of the opposite side of the river
or not (a question which is disputed among the topographers of the Italian and Ger-
man schools), a suburb existed there under the imperial régime.
2 “Mercis ablegande Tiberim ultra.” (Juv. xiv. 202.) ‘ Transtiberinus ambula-
tor, Qui pallentia sulfurata fractis Permutat vitreis.” (Mart. 1. 42, Compare i. 109.
vi. 93.)
3 Philo says of Augustus: Πῶς οὖν ἀπεδέχετο; τὴν πέραν τοῦ Τιβέρεως ποταμοὺ
μεγάλην τῆς Ῥώμης ἀποτομὴν, ἣν οὐκ ἠγνόει κατεχομένην καὶ οἰκουμένην πρὸς
πουδαίων. (ii. ὅθ8, ed. Mangey.) The remembrance of the fact may, perhaps, elucidate
ἃ difficult passage of Horace. The exclamation, “ Hodie tricesima sabbata’’ (Sat. τ.
ix. 69) is more explicable if supposed to be made in the midst of the Jewish popula-
tion, and near some synagogue; and Horace just above (18) represents himself as
going to see a friend, who is lying ill “trans Tiverim.”
4 The modern Ghetio is the filthy quarter between the Capitoline Hill and the old
Fabrician Bridge, which leads to the island, and thence to the Trastevere. It is sur-
rounded by walls, and the gates are closed every night hy the police. The number of
Jews is about 8000, in’a total population of 150,000.
3 The Janiculum.
9 “Pontis exul.” Mart. x. 5. See Juv. iv. 116. v.8 xiv. 134.
THK JEWS IN ROME. 3869
whom in the place of their exile had come the hopes of a better citizen
ship than that which they had lost.
The Jewish community thus established in Rome, had its first begin
nings in the captives brought by Pompey after his eastern campaign.
Many of them were manumitted ; and thus a great proportion of the Jews
in Rome were freedmen.? Frequent accession to their numbers were
made as years went on—chiefly from the mercantile relations which sub-
sisted between, Rome and the East. Many of them were wealthy, and
large sums were sent annually for religious purposes from Italy to the
mother country.2. Even the proselytes contributed to these sacred funds.‘
It is difficult to estimate the amount of the religious influence exerted by the
Roman Jews upon the various Heathens around them; but all our sources
of information lead us to conclude that it was very considerable.6 Se
long as this influence was purely religious, we have no reason to suppose
that any persecution from the civil power resulted. It was when commo-
tions took place in consequence of expectations of a temporal Messiah, or
when vague suspicions of this mysterious people were more than usually
excited, that the Jews of Rome were cruelly treated, or peremptorily
banished. Yet from all these cruelties they recovered with elastic force,
and from all these exiles they returned ; and in the early years of Nero,
which were distinguished for a mild and lenient government of the empire,‘
1 See Vol. I. p. 18, and Remond’s Geschichte der Ausbreitung des Judenthums,
referred to there. The first introduction of the Jews to Rome was probably the em-
bassy of the Maccabees.
2 "Ῥωμαῖοι ἧσαν οἱ πλείους ἀπελευθερωθέντες " αἰχμαλωτοί γὰρ ἀχθέντες εἰς Ἰταλίαν
ὑπὸ τῶν κτησαμένων ἠλευθερώθησαν οὐδὲν τῶν πατρίων παραχαράξαι βιασθέντες
Philo. Ib.
3 “Cum aurum, Judzorum nomine, quotannis ex Italia, et ex omnibus provinciis
Hierosolyma exportari soleret, Flaccus sanxit edicto, ne ex Asia exportari liceret’
(Cic. pro Flacco, ὁ. 28.) Again, Philo says, in the passage quoted above, Ἠπίέστατο
καὶ χρήματα ovvaydyovtag ἀπὸ τῶν ἀπαρχῶν ἱερὰ, καὶ πέμποντας εἰς ᾿Ιεοουσόλυμα
διὰ τῶν τᾶς θυσιάς ἀναξόντων.
4 See Tac. Hist. v. 5. ‘‘Ceetera instituta sinistra foeda pravitate valuere. Nam
pessimus quisque, spretis religionibus patriis, tributa et stipes illuc gerebat: unde
aucta Judorum res.”
5 The very passages which express hatred of the Jews imply a sense of their influence.
See Juv. xiv. and Cic. pro Flacco; and compare Hor Sat. 1. vy. 100 with 1. iv. 142
Many Jews were Roman citizens, like Josephus and St. Paul : and there were numerous
proselytes at Rome, especially among the women (see for instance Joseph. Ant. xviii.
3,5). Asin the case of Greece, the conquest of Judea brought Rome under the in-
fuence of her captive. Hence Seneca’s remark in reference to the Jews: Victi vie
toribus leges dederunt. And Rutilius says, grouping together the campaigns of
Pompey and Titus:
Atque utinam nunquam Judza subacta fuisset
Pompeii bellis imperioque Titi.
Latius excise pestis contagia serpunt
Victoresne suos natio victa premat.
© The good ae of Nero’s reign— the first guinguennium—had not yet expired
WoL. 11.---
“
370 THE LIFZ AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
the Jews in Rome seem to have enjoyed complete toleration, and to Lave
been a numerous, wealthy, and influential community.
The Christians doubtless shared the protection which was extended to
the Jews. They were hardly yet sufficiently distinguished as a self-existent
community, to provoke any independent hostility. It is even possible that
the Christians, so far as they were known as separate, were more toler-
ated than the Jews ; for, not having the same expectation of an earthly
hero to deliver them, they had no political ends in view, and would not
be in the same danger of exciting the suspicion of the government. Yet
we should fall into a serious error, if we were to suppose that all the
Christians in Rome, or the majority of them, had formerly been Jews or
Proselytes ; though this was doubtless true of its earliest members, who
may have been of the number that were dispersed after the first Pente-
eost, or, possibly, disciples of our Lord Himself. It is impossible to arrive
at any certain conclusion concerning the first origin and early growth of
the Church in Rome ;! though, from the manifold links between the city
and the provinces, it is easy to account for the formation of a large and
flourishing community. Its history before the year 61 might be divided
into three periods, separated from each other by the banishment of the
Jews from Rome in the reign of Claudius,’ and the writing of St. Paul’s
letter from Corinth. Even in the first of these periods there might be
points of connection between the Roman Church and St. Paul; for
some of those whom he salutes (Rom. xvi. 7, 11) as ‘‘ kinsmen,” are also
said to have been “ Christians before him.” In the second period it can-
not well be doubted that a very close connection began between St. Paul
and some of the conspicuous members and principai teachers of the Roman
Church. The expulsion of the Jews in consequence of the edict of Clau-
dius, brought them in large numbers to the chief towns of the Levant ;
and there St. Paul met them in the synagogues. We have seen what
results followed from his meeting with Aquila and Priscilla at Corinth,
They returned to Rome with all the stores of spiritual instruction which
he had given them ; and in the Epistle to the Romans we find him, as is
natural, saluting them thus :—‘ Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers
in Jesus Christ : who have for my sake laid down their own necks ; unto
whom not only I give thanks, but also all the Churches of the Gentiles.
Likewise greet the Church that is in their house.” All this reveals to us
The fuli toleration of the Jews in Rome is implied in the narration of S4. Paul’s meet
ing with the elders, and in the lines of Persius :
Herodis venere dies unctaque fenestra
Disposite pinguem nebulam vomuere lucerns,
1 A very good discussion of this subject, and of the tradition concerning St. Peter’s
first visit to Rome, will be found in Hemsen’s Paulus, pp 400-404. Sve above. iv
this Volume, pp. 155, 156
* VoL L p. 385. 3 Vol. IL. p. 155
THE ROMAN CHURCH. 37)
a great amount of devoted exertion on behalf of one large congregation ia
Rome ; and all of it distinctly connected with St. Paul. And this is per:
haps only a specimen of other cases of the like kind. Thus he sends u
greeting to Epsnetus, whom he names “‘ the first-fruits of Asia’! (ver. 5),
and who may have had the same close relation to him during his long
ministration at Ephesus (Acts xix.), which Aquila and Priscilla had at
Corinth. Nor must we forget those women, whom he singles out for.
special mention,—‘ Mary, who bestowed much labour on him” (ver. 6) ;
‘the beloved Persis, who laboured much in the Lord” (ver. 12) ; with
fryphxna and Tryphosa, and the unknown mother of Rufus (ver. 18).
We cannot doubt, that, though the Church of Rome may have received
its growth and instruction through various channels, many of them were
connected, directly or indirectly, with St. Paul; and accordingly he
writes, in the whole of the letter, as one already in intimate relation with
a Church which he has never seen.*, And whatever bonds subsisted be-
tween this Apostle and the Roman Christians, must have been drawn
still closer when the letter had been received ; for from that time they
were looking forward to a personal visit from him, in his projected journey
to the West. Thenceforward they must have taken the deepest interest
in all his movements, and received with eager anxiety the news of his
imprisonment at Cesarea, and waited (as we have already seen) for his
arrival in Italy. It is indeed but too true that there were parties among
the Christians in Rome, and that some had a hostile feeling against St.
Paul himself ;* yet it is probable that the animosity of the Judaizers was
less developed, than it was in those regions which he had personally
visited, and to which they had actually followed him. As to the un
converted Jews, the name of St. Paul was doubtless known to them ;
yet were they comparatively little interested in his movements. Their
proud contempt of the Christian heresy would make them indifferent.
The leaven of the Gospel was working around them to an extent of
which they were hardly aware. The very magnitude of the population
of Rome had a tendency to neutralise the currents of party feeling. For
these reasons the hostility of the Jews was probably less violent than in
any other part of the empire.
Yet St. Paul could not possibly be aware of the exact extent of their
enmity against himself. Independently, therefore, of his general principle
of preaching, first to the Jew and then to the Gentile, he had an addi-
tior.al reason for losing no time in addressing himself to his countrymen.
Thus, after the mention of St. Paul’s being delivered up to Burrus, and
allowed by kim to be separate from the other prisoners,‘ the next scene te
1 For the reading here, see p. 193, n. 1.
* See Hemsen, p. 404. 3 See Phil i. 15.
‘ Ka ἑαυτὸν ; an indulgence probably due to the influence of Sulina
372 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 81. PAUL.
which the sacred historian introduces us is among the Jews. After
three days! he sent for the principal men among them to his lodging,
and endeavoured to conciliate their feelings towards himself and the
Gospel.
It was highly probable that the prejudices of these Roman Jews were
already roused against the Apostle of the Gentiles ; or if they had not yet
conceived an unfavourable opinion of him, there was a danger that they
would now look upon him as a traitor to his country, from the mere fact
that he had appealed to the Roman power He might even have beep
represented to them in the odious light of one who had come to Rome as
an accuser of the Sanhedrin before the Emperor. St. Paul, therefore, ad-
dressed his auditors on this point at once, and shewed that his enemies
were guilty of this very appeal to a foreign power, of which he had him-
self been suspected. He had committed no offence against the holy
nation, and the customs of their fathers; yet his enemies at Jerusalem
had delivered him,—one of their brethren—of the seed of Abraham—of
the tribe of Benjamin—a Hebrew of the Hebrews—into the hands of the
Romans. So unfounded was the accusation, that even the Roman
sovernor had been ready to liberate the prisoner ; but his Jewish enemies
opposed his liberation, They strove to keep a child of Israel in Roman
chains. So that he was compelled, as his only hope of safety, to appeal
unto Cesar. He brought no accusation against his countrymen before the
tribunal of the stranger: that was the deed of his antagonists. In fact,
his only crime had been his firm faith in God’s deliverance of his people
through the Messiah promised by the Prophets. “‘ For the hope of Israel,”
he concluded, “ I am bound with this chain.” 4
Their answer to this address was reassuring. They said that they
had received no written communication from Judea concerning St. Paul,
and that none of “the brethren” who had arrived from the East had
spoken any evil of him. They further expressed a wish to hear from him-
self a statement of his religious sentiments, adding that the Christian sect
was everywhere spoken against.s There was perhaps something hardly
honest in this answer; for it seems to imply a greater ignorance with
regard to Christianity than we can suppose to have prevailed among the
1 Μετὰ ἡμέρας τρεῖς, Which need not mean three complete days.
2 ᾿Ἐγένετο συγκαλέσασθαι αὐτὸν τοὺς ὄντας τῶν "lovdaiwy πρώτους. With regard
to εἰς τὴν ξενίαν, we are convinced, with Wieseler, that it is to be distinguished from
τὸ ἴδιον μίσθωμα mentioned below. The latter was a hired lodging, which he took
for his permanent residence; and the mention of the money he received from the
Philippians (Phil. iv.) serves to shew that he would not need the means of hiring a
lodging. The fevia (hospitium) implies the temporary residence of a guest with
friends, as in Philemon 22. Nothing is more likely than that Aquila and Priscilla
were his hosts at Rome, as formerly at Corinth.
3 See Wieseler, p. 397. 4 Ver. 17-20 5 Ver. 21 22.
INTERVIEW WITH THE JEWS. 818
Roman Jews. But with regard to Paul himself, it might well be true
that they had little information concerning him. Though he had bees
imprisoned long at Cesarea, his appeal had been made only a short time
before winter. After that time (to use the popular expression), the sea
was shut ; and the winter had been a stormy one ; so that it was natural
enough that his case should be first made known to the Jews by himself.
All these circumstances gave a favourable opening for the preaching of the
Gospel, and Paul hastened to take advantage of it. A day was fixed
for a meeting at his own private lodging.’
They came in great numbers? at the appointed time. Then followed
an impressive scene, like that at Troas (Acts xxi.)—the Apostle pleading
long and earnestly,—bearing testimony concerning the kingdom of God,
and endeavouring to persuade them by arguments drawn from their own .
Scriptures,—“ from morning till evening.”* The result was a division
among the auditors (—“ not peace but a sword,”—the division which has
resulted ever since, when the Truth of God has encountered, side by side,
earnest conviction with worldly indifference, honest investigation with
bigoted prejudice, trustful faith with the pride of scepticism. After ἃ
long and stormy discussion, the unbelieving portion departed ; but not
until St. Paul had warned them, in one last address, that they were bring-
‘ng upon themselves that awful doom of judicial blindness, which was de-
nounced in their own Scriptures against obstinate unbelievers ; that the
salvation which they rejected would be withdrawn from them, and the
inheritance they renounced would be given to the Gentiles.* The sentence
with which he gave emphasis to this warning was the passage in Isaiah,
which is more often quoted in the New Testament than any other words
from the Old,—which recurring thus with solemn force at the very close
of the Apostolic history, seems to bring very strikingly together the Old
Dispensation and the New, and to connect the ministry of Our Lorp with
that of His Apostles :—‘ Go wnto this people and say: Hearing ye shall
hear and shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see and shall not perceive :
for the heart of this people 1s waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hear-
ing, and their eyes have they closed ; lest they should see with their eyes, and
hear with their ears, and wnderstand with their heart, and should be con-
verted, and I should heal them.” 5
A formal separation was now made between the Apostle of the Gen-
tiles and the Jews of Rome. They withdrew, to dispute concerning the
1 Taldusvoe αὐτῷ ἡλέραν. 3 "Hrov πλείονες. a Vers 20.
4 Καὶ of μὲν ἐπείθοντο τοῖς λεγομένοις, οἱ δὲ innatovy' ἀσύμφωνοι δὲ ὄντες πρὸς
ἐλλήλους, kK. τ. 2.
» Ver, 24-28.
ὁ Isa. vi. 9,10. (LXX.) Quoted also by Our Lorp (Mat. xiii. 15), and referred to
hy St. John (John xii. 10).
814 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
“ sect” which was making such inroads on their prejudices (ver. 29), He
remained in his own hired house,' where the indulgence of Burrus per
mitted him to reside, instead of confining him within the walls the Praeto-
tian barrack. We must not forget, however, that he was still a pri-
soner under military custody,—chained by the arm,’ both day and night,
to one of the imperial bodyguard,—and thus subjected to the rudeness
and caprice of an insolent soldiery. This severity, however, was indis-
pensable, according to the Roman law ; and he received every indulgence
which it was in the power of the Prefect to grant. He was allowed to
receive all who came to him (ver. 30), and was permitted, without hind-
rance, to preach boldly the kingdom of God, and teach the things of the
Lorp Jesus Curist (ver. 31).
Thus was fulfilled his long cherished desire ‘‘ to proclaim the Gospel
to them that were in Rome also (Rom. i. 15). Thus ends the Apostolic
History, so far as it has been directly revealed. Here the thread of sa-
cred narrative, which we have followed so long, is suddenly broken. Our
knowledge of the incidents of his residence in Rome, and of his subse-
quent history, must be gathered almost exclusively from the letters of the
Apostle himself.
1 Ἐν ἰδίῳ μισθώματι. See above on εἰς τὴν ξενίαν.
3 Σὺν τῷ φυλάσσοντι αὐτὸν στρατιώτῃ. Acts xxviii. 16. Sce above, pp. 288, 289,
and compare Eph. vi. 20 (πρεσβεύω ἐν ἁλύσει), Col. iv. 18. Ph‘l.i. 13. Possibly twe
soldiers guarded him by night, according to the sentence of the Roman law— nox
custodiam geminat,’”’—quoted by Wieseler.
DELAY OF 51. PAUL’S TRIAL. 3Té
CHAPTER ΧΧΥ.
TIAYAOZ Ὁ AEXMIOS TOY XPIZTOY. (Eph. iii. 1.)
DELAY OF Si. PAUL'S TRIAL.—HIS OCCUPATIONS AND COMPANIONS DURING HIS IMPRISON
MENT.—HE WRITES THE EPISTLE 10 PHILEMON, THE EPISTLE 70 THE COLOSSIANS
AND THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS (SO CALLED).
We have seen that St. Paul’s accusers had not yet arrived from Pales-
tine, and that their coming was not even expected by the Roman Jews.
This proves that they had not left Syria before the preceding winter, and
consequently that they could not have set out on their journey till the fol
lowing spring, when the navigation of the Mediterranean was again oper
Thus, they would not reach Rome till the summer or autumn of the yea.
61 4.p.!. Meanwhile, the progress of the trial was necessarily suspended,
for the Roman courts required? the personal presence of the prosecutor.
It would seem that, at this time,* an accused person might be thus kept in
prison for an indefinite period, merely by the delay of the prosecutor tc
proceed with his accusation ; nor need this surprise us, if we consider
how harshly the law has dealt with supposed offenders, and with what in-
difference it has treated the rights of the accused, even in periods whose
1 About this period (as we learn from Josephus) there were two embassies sent from
Jerusalem to Rome; viz., that which was charged to conduct the impeachment of
Felix, and that which was sent to intercede with Nero on the subject of Agrippa’s
palace, which overlooked the Temple. The former seems to have arrived in Rome in
A.D. 60, the latter in a.p. 61. (See note on the Chronological table in Appendix.) It
is not impossible that the latter embassy, in which was included Ishmael the High
Priest, may have been intrusted with the prosecution of St. Paul, in addition to their
other business,
2 See Geib, Romisch. Criminal-Process, pp. 508, 511, 595, 689. It should be ob-
served that the prosecutor on a criminal charge, under the Roman law, was not the
state (as with us the Crown), but any private individual who chose to bring an accusa-
tion. (Geib, p. 515.)
3 Ata later period the suspension on the part of the prosecutor of the proceedings
during a year, was made equivalent to an abandonment of it, and amounted to an
abolitio of the process. See Geib, Romisch. Criminal-Process, p. 586. In the time of
Nero the prosecutors on a public charge were liable to punishment if they abandoned
t from corrupt motives, by the Senatus Consultum Turpilianum. See Tacitus, Ann.
xiv. 41: “Qui talem operam emptitasset vendidissetve, perinde poena teneretur, ac si
publico judicio calumnie condemnatus.”’ This law was passed 4.D. 61, and was after:
wards interpreted by the jurisconsults as forbidding an accuser to withdraw his aceu
sation (Geib, pp. 582-586, and 690.)
810 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 8T. PAUL.
civilization was not only more advanced than that of the Roman empire,
but also imbued with the merciful spirit of Christianity. And even when
the prosecutors were present, and no ground alleged for the delay of the
trial, a corrupt judge might postpone it, as Felix did, for months and
years, to gratify the enemies of the prisoner. And if a provincial Gover-
nor, though responsible for such abuse of power to his master, might ven-
ture to act in this arbitrary manner, much more might the Emperor him-
self, who was responsible tu no man. Thus we find that Tiberius was in
the habit of delaying the hearing of causes, and retaining the accused in
prison unheard, merely out of procrastination.' So that, even after St.
Paul’s prosecutors had arrived, and though we were to suppose them
anxious for the progress of the trial, it might still have been long delayed
by the Emperor’s caprice. But there is no reason to think that, when
they came, they would have wished to press on the cause. From what
had already occurred they had every reason to expect the failure of the
prosecution. In fact it had already broken down at its first stage, and
Festus had strongly pronounced his opinion of the innocence? of the ac-
cused. ‘Their hope of success at Rome must have been grounded either
on influencing the Emperor’s judgment by private intrigue, or on produc-
ing farther evidence in support of their accusation, For both these ob-
jects delay would be necessary. Moreover, it was quite in accordance
with the regular course of Roman jurisprudence, that the Court should
grant a long suspension of the cause, on the petition of the prosecutor,
that he might be allowed time to procure the attendance of witnesses?
from a distance. The length of time thus granted would depend upon
the remoteness of the place where the alleged crimes had been committed.
We read of an interval of twelve months permitted during Nero’s reign,
in the case of an accusation against Suilius,‘ for misdemeanours committed
during his government of Proconsular Asia. The accusers of St. Paul
might fairly demand a longer suspension ; for they accused him of offences
committed not only in Palestine (which was far more remote than Pro-
consular Asia from Rome), but also over the whole*® empire. Their wit-
nesses must be summoned from Judea, from Syria, from Cilicia, from Pi-
sidia, from Macedonia ; in all cities from Damascus to Corinth, in all
1 Ti6épiog . . . εἶχεν αὐτὸν δέσμιον, μελλήτης εἰ Kai τις ἑτέρων βασιλέων γενόμενος
oe ee ὅθεν καὶ δεσμωτῶν ἀκροάσεως ἀπερίοπτος ἦν (Joseph. Ant. 18, quoted by Wie
seler).
* Acts xxv. 25, and xxvi. 32.
3 “Silvanum magna vis accusatornm circumsteterat, poscebatque tempus evocan-
dorum testium.” (Tacitus, Ann. xiii. 52.) This was in a case where the accused had
been proconsul in Africa. We may observe that the attendance of the witnesses fox
the prosecution could be legally enforced. (Geib, p. 630.)
4 Tac. Ann. xiii. 43: “ Inquisitionem annuam impetraverant.”
£ Κινοῦντα στάσιν πῶσι τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις κατὼ τὴν οἰκουμένην, Acts xxiv. 5.
HIS OCCUPATIONS DURING HIS IMPRISONMENT. 377
ountries, from Jerusalem round about unto Illyricum, must testimony be
sought to prove the seditious turbulence of the ringleader of the Naza-
renes. The interval granted them for such a purpose could not be less
than a year, and might well be more.'' Supposing it to be the shortest
possible, and assuming that the prosecutors reached Rome in August,
a.D. ΕἸ, the first stage of the trial would be appointed to commence not
before August a.p. 62. And when this period arrived, the prosecutors
and the accused, with their witnesses, must have been heard on each of
the charges separately (according to Nero’s regulations),? and sentence
pronounced on the first charge before the second was entered into. Now,
the charges against St, Paul were divided (as we have seen) into three
separate heads of accusation. Consequently, the proceedings, which
would of course be adjourned from time to time to suit the Emperor’s
convenience, may well have lasted till the beginning of 63, at which time
St. Luke’s narrative would lead us to fix their termination.
During the long delay of his trial, St. Paul was not reduced, as he
had been at Caesarea, to a forced inactivity. On the contrary, he was
permitted the freest intercourse with his friends, and was allowed to re-
side in a house of sufficient size to accommodate the congregation which
flocked together to listen to his teaching. The freest scope was given to
his labours, consistent with the military custody under which he was
placed. We are told, in language peculiarly emphatic, that his preaching
was subjected to no restraint whatever.» And that which sesmed at first
to impede, must really have deepened the impression of his eloquence ;
for who could see without emotion that venerable form subjected by iron
links to the coarse control of the soldier who stood beside him? how
often must the tears of the assembly have been called forth by the up
raising of that fettered hand, and the clanking of the chain which checked
its energetic action |
We shall see hereafter that these labours of the imprisoned Confessor
were not fruitless; in his own words, he begot many children in his
1 Another cause of delay, even if the prosecutors did not make the demand for sus-
pension, would have been the loss of the official notice of the case forwarded by
Festus. No appeal (as we have before observed) could be tried without a rescript
(called Apostoli or litere dimissorie) from the inferior to the superior judge, stating
full particulars of the case. See Geib, p. 689. Such documents could scarcely have
been saved in the wreck at Malta.
* It was Nero’s practice, as Suetonius tells us, “Ut continuis actionibus omissis
singillatim queque per vices ageret.’”’? (Suet. Nero, 15.)
3 See above, p. 282.
4 We need not notice the hypothesis of Bottger, that St. Paul’s imprisonment af
Rome only lasted five days. It has already been refuted by Neander (1. 428) and by
Wieseler, pp. 411-415.
* Acts xxviii. 31: Κηρύσε ov , μετὰ πάσης παρρησίας ἀκωλύτως.
378 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
chains.- Meanwhile, he had a wider sphere of action than even the me
tropolis of the world. Not only “the crowd which pressed apon bim.
daily,”? but also “the care of all the churches,” demanded his constant
vigilance and exertion. Though himself tied down to a single spot, he
kept up a constant intercourse, by his delegates, with his converts
throughout the empire ; and not only with his own converts, but with the
other Gentile Churches, who, as yet, had not seen his face in the flesh.
To enable him to maintain this superintendence, he manifestly needed
many faithful messengers ; men who (as he says of one of them) ren-
dered him profitable service ;* and by some of whom he seems to have
been constantly accompanied, wheresoever* he went. Accordingly we
find him, during this Roman imprisonment, surrounded by many of his
oldest and most valued attendants. Luke,® his fellow-traveller, remained
with him during his bondage ; Timotheus,® his beloved son in the faith,
ministered to him at Rome, as he had done in Asia, in Macedonia, and in
* Achaia. Tychicus,7 who had formerly borne him company from Corinth
to Ephesus, is now at hand to carry his letters to the shores which they
had visited together. But there are two names amongst his Roman com-
panions which excite a peculiar interest, though from opposite reasons,—
the names of Demas and of Mark. The latter, when last we heard of
him, was the unhappy cause of the separation of Barnabas and Paul.
He was rejected by Paul, as unworthy to attend him, because he had
previously abandoned the work of the Gospel out of timidity or indo-
lence.’ It is delightful to find him now ministering obediently to the
very Apostle who had then repudiated his services ; still more, to know
that he persevered in this fidelity even to the end,® and was sent for by
St. Paul to cheer his dying hours. Demas, on the other hand, is now a
faithful “ fellow-labourer” of the Apostle ; but in a few years we shall
find that he had “ forsaken” him, ‘having loved this present world.”
Perhaps we may be allowed to hope, that as the fault of Demas was the
same with that of Mark, so the repentance of Mark may have been pa-
ralleled by that of Demas.
Amongst the rest of St. Paul’s companions at this time, there were
1 Philem. 10. ? 2 Cor. xi. 28.
3 2 Tim. iv. 11.
4 Comp. Acts xix. 22, Ato τῶν διακονούντων αὐτῷ.
5 Col. iv. 14. Philem. 24. Luke seems, however, to have been absent from Rome
when the Epistle to the Philippians was written.
6 Philem. 1. Col. i. 1. Philip. i. 1.
7 Col.iv. 7. Eph. vi. 21; cf. Acts xx. 4; and Tit. iii, 12,
8 Voi. I. pp. 162 and 251.
92 Tim. iv. 11: Mapxov ἀναλαθὼν dye μετὼ σεαυτοῦ" ἐστὶ γάρ pot εὔγρηστος τῷ
διακονίαν.
10 Σύνεργος, Philem. 24; cf. Col. iv. 14.
HIS COMPANIONSHIP DURING HIS IMPRISONMENT. 37$
two whom he distinguishes by the honourable title of his ‘ fellow-prisom
ers.” One of these is Aristarchus,' the other Epaphras.?” With regard
to the former, we know that he was a Macedonian of Thessalonica, one of
“ Paul’s companions in travel,” whose life was endangered by the mob at
Ephesus, and who embarked with St. Paul at Caesarea when he set sail
for Rome. ‘The other, Epaphras, was a Colossian, who must not be iden-
tified with the Philippian Epaphroditus, another of St. Paul’s fellow-la.
bourers during this time. It is not easy to say what was the exact sense
in which these two disciples were peculiarly fellow-prisoners® of St. Paul.
Perhaps it only implics that they dwelt in his house, which was alsa his
prison.
But of all the disciples now ministering to St. Paul at Rome, none has
for us a greater interest than the fugitive Asiatic slave Onesimus. He
belonged to a Christian named Philemon, a member of the Colossian +
Church. But he had robbed * his master, and fled from Colossx, and at
last found his way to Rome. It is difficult to imagine any portion of
mankind more utterly depraved than the associates among whom a runa-
way pagan slave must have found himself in the capital. Profligate and
unprincipled as we know even the highest and most educated society tc
have then been, what must have been its dregs and offal? Yet from this
lowest depth Onesimus was dragged forth by the hand of Christian love.
Perhaps some Asiatic Christian, who had seen him formerly at his mas-
ter’s house, recognised him in the streets of Rome destitute and starving,
and had compassion on him ; and thus he might have been brought te
hear the preaching of the illustrious prisoner. Or it is not impossible
that he may have already known St. Paul at Ephesus, where his master
Philemon had fermerly been himself converted ® by the Apostle. However
this may be, it is certain that Onesimus was led by the providence of God
to listen to that preaching now which he had formerly despised. He was
converted to the faith of Christ, and therefore to the morality of Christ.
He confessed to St. Paul his sins against his master. The Apostle seems
to have been peculiarly attracted by the character of Onesimus ; and he
perceived in him the indications of gifts which fitted him for a more im-
portant post than any which he could hold as the slave of Philemon, He
wished? to keep him at Rome, and employ him in the service of the Gos
pel. . Yet he would not transgress the law, nor violate the rights of Phi.
lemon, by acting in this matter without his consent. He therefore decided
1 Col. iv. 10; ef. Acts xix. 29, and Acts xxvii. 2, and Philem. 23.
Ὁ CoLi.7. Philem. 23.
3 The same expression is used of Andronicus and Junias (Rom. xvi. 7), but of ne
sthers except these four.
¢ For the proof of this see Paley’s Hors Paulina on Philemon (10-12).
5 Philem. 18.
“ Philem. 10 appears to state this. (See Vol. If. p. 21.) 7 Poilem. 13.
380 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ΒΤ. PAUL.
that Onesimus must immediately return to his master ; and, to make this
duty less painful, he undertook himself to discharge the sum of which
Philemon had been defrauded. An opportunity now offered itself ta
Onesimus to return in good company ; for St. Paul was sending Tychicus
to Asia Minor, charged, amongst other commissions, with an epistle to
Colosse, the home of Philemon. Under his care, therefore, he placed
the penitent slave, who was now willing to surrender himself to his
offended master. Nevertheless, he did not give up the hope of placing
his new convert in a position wherein he might minister no longer to a
private individual, but to the Church at large. He intimated his wishes
on the subject to Philemon himself, with characteristic delicacy, in a letter
which he charged Onesimus to deliver on his arrival at Colosse. This
letter is not only a beautiful illustration of the character of St. Paul, but
also a practical commentary upon the precepts concerning the mutual
relations of slaves! and masters given in his cotemporary epistles. We
see here one of the earliest examples of the mode in which Christianity
operated upon these relations ; not by any violent disruption of the or-
ganisation of socicty, such as could only have produced another Servile
War, but by gradually leavening and interpenetrating society with the
spirit of a religion which recognised the equality of all men in the sight
of God. The letter was as follows :—
THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON.’?
Salutation Pav, A PRISONER oF Curist JEsUs, AND TrrorHEvs 1
THE BROTHER, TO PHILEMON OUR BELOVED FRIEND
AND FELLOW LABOURER; AND TO APPIA? OUR BE- 2
1 See Col. iii. 22, and Eph. vi. 5. St, Paul’s attention seems to have been especially
drawn to this subject at the present time; and he might well feel the need there was
for a fundamental change in this part of the social system of antiquity, such as the
spirit of Christ alone could give. In the very year of his arrival at Rome, » most
frightful exainple was given of the atrocity of the laws which regulated the relations
of slave to master. The prefeat of the city (Pedanius Secundus) was killed by one of
his slaves; and in accordance with the ancient law, the whole body of slaves belong-
ing to Pedanius at Rome, amounting to a vast multitude, and including many women
and children, were executed together, although confessedly innocent of all participa
tion in the crime. Tac. Ann. xiv, 42-45.
5. With respect to the date of this epistle, the fact that it was conveyed by Onesimus
(compare Col. iv. 9), and the person mentioned as with St. Paul at the time (Philem.
23, 24, compared with Col. iv. 12-14), prove that it was sent to Asia Minor, together
with the epistle to the Colossians, the date of which is discussed in a note on the be-
ginning of that epistle.
3 ᾿Απρία is a Greek form of the Latin name Appia; we are told by Chrysostom that
she was the wife of Philemon, which seems probable from the juxtaposition of their
names,
EPISTLE TO PHILEMON. 38]
LOVED! SISTER, AND TO ARCHIPPUS” OUR FELLOW
SOLDIER, AND TO THE CHURCH AT THY HOUSE.
3s Grace be to you and peace, from God our Father and our
Lord Jesus Christ.
4 I thank my God, making mention of thee always Thanksgivings
prayers
5 in my prayers, because I Hear of thy love and faith far Philewiont
6 towards our Lord Jesus, and towards all God’s people, while I
pray * that thy faith may communicate itself to others, and may
become workful, in causing in true knowledge of all the good
7 which is in us, for Christ’s service. For I have great joy and
consolation in thy love, because the hearts of God’s people
have been comforted by thee, brother.
3 Wherefore, although in the authority of Christ I Request for the
favourable re-
might boldly enjoin upon thee that which is befit- ception of One
simus,
y ting, yet for love’s sake I rather beseech thee, as
10 Paul the aged, and now also prisoner of Jesus Christ. I beseech
thee for my son, whom 1 have begotten in my chains, Onesi-
11 mus; who formerly was to thee ‘ unprofitable, but now is pro-
12 fitable both to thee and me. Whom 1 have sent back to
thee;* but do thou receive him as my own® flesh and blood.
i3For I would gladly’ retain him with myself, that he might
1 ’AdeAdq is added in many of the best MSS.
? Archippus was apparently a presbyter of the church at Colosse, or perhaps an
evangelist resident there on a special mission (compare Col. iv. 17); from the present
passage he seems to have lived in the house of Philemon.
3 “Ὅπως is to be joined with verse 4, as stating the object of the prayer there men-
tioned, while verse 5 gives the subject of the thanksgiving. This is Chrysostom’s
view, against which Meyer’s objections appear inconclusive. The literal English of
verse 6 is as follows, that the communication of thy faith may become workful, in
true knowledge of all good which isin us, for Christ. The latter words are very
obscure, but the rendering adopted in the text appears to make the best sense. The
best MSS. are divided between χριστὸν and χριστὸν ἰησοῦν ; but agree in reading ἡμῖν,
not ὑμῖν.
4 Most modern commentators suppose a play on the name Onesimus, which means
useful ; but there seems scarcely sufficient ground for this, and it was never remarked
by the ancient Greek commentators, whose judgment on such a point would be en-
titled to most deference.
5 Many of the best MSS. add σοι. The omission of προσλαδοῦ at the end of the
verse makes no difference in the sense ; but it is characteristic of St. Paul’s abrupt and
rapid dictation.
* Children were called the σπλάγχνα of their parents.
‘E6ovAdunv. The imperfect here, and aorist in the preceding and following versa
are used, according to classical idiom, from the position of the reader of the letter.
382 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ΒΤ. PAUL.
render service to me in thy stead, while I am a prisoner for de-
elaring the Glad-tidings; but Iam unwilling to do anything
without thy decision, that thy kindness may not be constrain-14
ed, but voluntary. For perhaps to this very end he was parted 15
from thee for a time, that thou mightest possess him for ever};
no longer as a bondsman, but above a bondsman, a brother 16
beloved; very dear to me, but how much more to thee, being
thine both in the flesh and in the Lord. If, then, thou count 17
me in fellowship with thee, receive him as myself. But what-18
soever he has wronged thee of, or owes thee, reckon it to my 19
account (I, Paul, write! this with my own hand); I will repay 20
it; for I would not say to thee that thou owest me even thine
own self besides. Yea, brother, let me have joy of thee in the
Lord; comfort my heart in Christ.’
Announcement I write to thee with full confidence in thy obedi- 21
ef a visit from
Paul to Asia ence, knowing that thou wilt do even more than I
Minor on _ his 5
acquittal. say. But, moreover, prepare to receive me as thy 22
guest; for I trust that through yours prayers I shall be given
to you.
-cnlutations There salute thee Epaphras my fellow-prisoner ¢ 23
in Christ Jesus, Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, Lucas, 24
my fellow-labourers.
Concluding be- The Grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ be with 25
nediction.
your spirits.’
While Onesimus, on the arrival of the two companions at Colosse,®
hurried to the house of his master with the letter which we have just
1 Ἔγραψα, see note above. 2 Χριστῷ is the reading of the best MSS.
3 Observe the change from singular to plural here, and in verse 25.
4 Συναιχμάλωτος, as we have before remarked, perhaps means only that Epaphras
had voluntarily shared Paul’s imprisonment at Rome by taking up his residence with
him, in the lodging where he was guarded by the ‘soldier that kept him.”
5. The ἀμήν as usual is interpolated.
6 Though we have come to the conclusion that St. Paul had not himself (at this
time) visited Colossi, yet it is hardly possible to read these Epistles without feeling an
interest in the scenery and topography of its vicinity. The upper part of the valley
of the Mwxander, where this city, with ite neighbour-cities Hierapolis and Laodicea
(Col. ii. 1. iv. 13. Rev. iii. 14), was situated, has been described by many travellers;
and the illustrated works on Asia Minor contain several views, especially of the vast
and singular petrifactions of Hierapolis (Pambouk Kalessi). Colosse was older than
either Laodicea or Hicrapolis, and it fell into comparative insignificance as they ros
into importance. Herodotus (vii. 30) describes it 8---Πόλιν μεγάλην φρυγίης ἐν τῇ
Αύκος ποταμὸς ἐς χάσμα γῆς ἐσβάλλων ἀφανίζεται ; and Xenophon (Anab. 1. ii. 6) calls
it πόλιν οἰκουμένην καὶ μεγάλην. Strabo (xii. 8) reckone it among the πολίσματα, not
HE WRITES TO THE COLOSSIANS. 3883
wad, Tychicus proceeded to discharge his commission likewise by deliver.
ing to the Presbyters the Epistle with which he was charged, that it
might be read to the whole Colossian Church at their next meeting. The
letter to the Colossians itvelf gives us distinct information as to the cause
which induced St. Paul to write it. Epaphras, the founder of that
Church (Col. i. 7), was now at Rome, and he had communicated to the
Apostle the unwelcome tidings, that the faith of the Colossians was in
danger of being perverted by false teaching. It has been questioned
whether several different systems of error had been introduced among
them, or whether the several errors combatted in the Epistle were parts
of one system, and taught by the same teachers. On the one side we
find that in the Epistle St. Paul warns the Colossians separately against
the following different errors:—First, a combination of angel-worship and
asceticism ; Secondly, A self-styled philosophy or gnosis, which depreciated
Christ ; Thirdly, A rigid observance of Jewish festivals and Sabbaths.
On the other side, First, the Epistle seems distinctly (though with an in-
directness caused by obvious motives) to point to a single source, and
even a single individual, as the origin of the errors introduced ; and,
secondly, we know that at any rate the two first of these errors, and
apparently the third also, were combined by some of the early Gnostics.
The most probable view, therefore, seems to be, that some Alexandrian
Jew had appeared at Coloss, professing a belief in Christianity, and im-
bued with the Greek “ philosophy” of the school of Philo, but combining
with it the Rabbinical theosophy and angelogy which afterwards was
embodied in the Kabbala, and an extravagant asceticism, which also after-
wards distinguished several sects of the Guostics.!. In short, one of the
first heresiarchs of the incipient Gnosticism had begun to pervert the
Colossiazs from the simplicity of their faith, We have seen in a former
chapter how great was the danger to be apprehended from this source, at
the stage at which the Church had now reached ; especially in a church
which consisted, as that at Colosse did, principally of Gentiles (Col. i. 25-
27. Col. ii. 11) ; and that, too, in Phrygia,’ where the national character
was so prone to a mystic fanaticism. We need not wonder, therefore,
the πόλεις, of Phrygia; and Pliny (v. 41), among its ‘‘celeberrima oppida.’’ In the
Middle Ages it became a place of some consequence, and was the birthplace of the
Byzantine writer Nivetas Choniates, who tells us that Χώναι and Κολασσαὶ were the
same piace (Xwvac, πόλιν εὐδαίμονα καὶ μεγάλην, πάλαι τὰς Kodaoodc, τὴν ἐμοῦ
τοῦ συγγραφέως πατρίδα, p. 230, ed. Bonn). A village called Chonas stiil remains,
the proximity of which to the ancient Colosse is proved by the correspondence of the
observed phenomena with what Herodotus says of the river Lycus. The neighbour
hood was explored by Mr. Arundel (Seven Churches, p. 158. Asia Minor, u. 160),
but Mr. Hamilton was the first to determine the actual site of the ancient city. (Re
searches, I. 508.)
‘Sce Val I. pp 36 and 451. 2 See Vol. I pp. 236-9.
3884 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 51. PAUL.
that St. Paul, acting under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, should have
thought it needful to use every effort to counteract the growing evil.
This he does, both by contradicting the doctrinal errors of the new
system, and by inculcating, as essential to Christianity, that pure morality
which these early heretics despised. Such appears to have been the main
purpose of the following Epistle.
THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS.
i
Salutation. PAUL, AN APOSTLE oF JESUS CHRIST BY THE WILL 1
or Gop, AND TIMOTHEUS THE BROTHER, TO THE 2
HOLY AND FAITHFUL BRETHREN IN CHRIST WHO
ARE AT CoLoss#,?
Grace be to you, and peace from God our Father.
Thanksgiving I‘ give continual thanks to God* the Father of 3
for their con- . . .
version. Our Lord Jesus Christ, in my prayers for you (since 4
I heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and your love to all His
people ),° because? of the hope laid up for you in the heavens, 5
whereof you heard the promise in the truthful Word of the
Glad-tidings; which is come to you, as it is through all the 6
world, where it bears fruit and® grows, as it does also among
' The following are the grounds for the date assigned to this Epistle.
(1) It was written in prison at the same time as Philemon, and sent by the same
messenger (iv. 7-9.)
2) It was not written in Cxsarea—
(4) Because while writing St. Paul was labouring for the Gospel (iv. 3, 4),
which he did not at Cesarea (Acts xxviii. 31).
(B) Because he could not have expected at Ceesarea to be soon coming to Phry-
gia (Acts xxiii. 11. xix. 21, Rom. i. 13. Acts xx. 25), whereas while
writing this he expected soon to visit Phrygia (Philem. 22).
(3) The indications above mentioned all correspond with Rome. Moreover Timo-
theus was with him, as we know he was at Rome, from Phil. i. 1.
7 Many of the best MSS. have Κολασκαῖς, and this is the form in later writers, as in
the Synecdemus. See the quotation above given from Nicetas.
3 The words καὶ κυοίου ἴησου Χριστοῦ, with which St. Paul in all other cases con-
cludes this formula of benediction, are omitted here in the bost MSS. Chrysostom
remarks on the omission.
4 Sce note on 1 Thess, i. 2. 5 Τῷ θεῷ πατρὶ is the reading of the best MSS.
6 Sce note on 1 Cor. i. 2, p. 33.
7 It seems more natural to take dia here in the same sense as in verse 9, than (with
De Wette and others) to connect it with the preceding verse, as if the sentiment wers
σὴν ἐκ τῆς ἐλπίδος.
The MSS. add καὶ αὐξανόμενον to the R. T.
ἘΡΙΒΤΙ ὦ TO THE COLOSSIANS. 385
you, since the day when first you heard it, and learned to know
truly the grace of God. And thus you were taught by
Epaphras my beloved fellow-bondsman,' who is a faithtul ser:
ἃ vant of Christ on your behalf. And it is he who has declared
to me your love for me? in the fellowship of the Spirit.
9 Wherefore I also, since the day when first [I Prayers for theis
lreard it, cease not to pray for you, and to ask of etd.
God that you may fully attain to the knowledge of His will;
10 that* in all wisdom and spiritual understanding you may walk
worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all things; that you may
bear fruit in all good works, and grow continually in‘ the
11 knowledge of God; that you may be strengthened to the utter-
most in the strength of His. glorious power, to bear all suffer-
12ings with stedfast endurance and with joy, giving thanks5 to
the Father who has enabled us to share the portion of His
people in the light.
13 For He has delivered us. from the dominion of Atonement and
darkness, and transplanted us into the kingdom of Ghnsen δ Ν
1415 beloved Son, in whom we have our redemption,® the for-
15 giveness of our sins. Who is a visible’ image of the invisible
i6 God, the firstborn of all creation; for * in Him were all things
created, both in the heavens and on the earth, both visible and
invisible, whether they be Thrones, or Dominations, or Prin-
cipalities, or Powers;* by Him and for Him were all crea-
1 Epaphras is the same name with Epaphroditus ; but this can scarcely be the
same person with that Epaphroditus who brought the contributions from Philippi to
Rome about this time. This was a native of Colosse (see iv. 12), the other was
settled at Philippi, and held office in the Philippian Church.
2 This interpretation (which is Chrysostom’s) seems the most natural. Their love for
St. Paul was ἐν πνεύματι because they had never seen him ἐν σάρκι.
3 The punctuation here adopted is ἐν πάσῃ κ. τ. A. περιπατῆσαι κ. τ. A.
4 The best MSS. read τῇ ἐπιγνώσει.
5 The εὐχαριστοῦντες here seems parallel to the preceding participles, and conse-
quently the ἡμᾶς is used, not with reference to the writer, but generally, as including
both writer and readers; and the particular case of the readers (as formerly heathens)
referred to in verse 21 (καὶ ὑμᾶς).
6 Ata τ. au. avt. has been introduced here by mistake from Eph. i. 7, and is not
found in the best MSS.
7 Εἰκὼν, It is important to observe here that St. Paul says not merely that our
Lord was when on earth the visible image of God, but that he zs so still. In Him
only God manifests himself to man, and he is still visible to the eye of faith.
8. Ἔν here must not be confounded with διὰ, The existence of Christ, the Aoyoc,
is the condition of all Creation ; ry Him the Godhead is manifested.
® St. Paul here appears to allude io the doctrines of the Colossian heretics, whe
taught a system of angel worship, based upon a systematic ¢lassification of the angelig
VOL 11.--2Ὁ
886 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
ted. And He is before all things, and in Him all things subsist. 1
And 1[ὁ is the head of the body, the Church; whereof He is 18
the beginning, as firstborn from the dead; that in all things
His place might be the first.
For He willed® that in Himself all the Fulness of the
universe ὁ should dwell; and by Himself He willed to reconcile 19
all things to Himself, having made peace by the blood of is 20
cross; by Himself (I say) to reconcile all that exists, whether
on the earth, or in the heavens.
The Colossians ikewl 7D r ane
The Colossians And you, likewise, who once were estranged 21
δ finia yipas from Him, and with your mind at war with Lim,
thenism a
peel ἐς when you lived in wickedness, yet now He has re- 22
conciled in the body of His flesh*® through death,
hierarchy (probably similar to that found in the Kabbala), and who seem to have re-
presented our Lord as only one (and perhaps not the highest) of this hierarchy. Other
allusions to a hierarchy of angels (which was taught in the Rabbinical theology) may
be found Rom. viii. 38. Eph.i. 21. iii. 10. 1 Pet. iii. 22, joined with the assertion
of their subjection to Christ.
1 Compare Rom. xi. 36, where exactly the same thing is said concerning God ; from
which the inference is plain. it appears evident that St. Paul insists here thus
strongly on the creation by Jesus Christ, in opposition to some erroneous systera
which ascribed the creation to some other source; and this was the case with the
early Gnosticism, which ascribed the creation of the world to a Demiurge, who was
distinct from the man Jesus.
3 Συνέστηκε, i. 6. the life of the universe is conditioned by His existence. See the
previous note on év.
3 Eiddxyce. Most commentators suppose an ellipsis οἵ ὁ Θεός; but the instances
adduced by De Wette and others to justify this seem insufficient; and there seems no
reason to seek a new subject for the verb, when there is one already expressed in the
preceding verse. It appears better therefore to read αὑτῷ and αὑτοῦ, not αὐτῷ and
αὐτοῦ, in this and the next verse.
4 The word πλήρωμα is here used by St. Paul in a technical sense, with a manifest
allusion to the errors against which he is writing. The early Gnostics used the same
word to represent the assemblage of emanations (conceived as angelic powers) pra-
ceeding from the Deity. St. Paul therefore appears to say, that the true Fulness of
the universe (or, as he calls it, chap. ii. 9, Fudness of the godhead), is to be found,
not in any angelic hierarchy (see the remarks introductory to this Epistle, page 383),
but in Christ alone.
5 This statement of the infinite extent of the results of Christ’s redemption (which
may well fill us with reverential awe), has been a sore stumbling block to many com:
mentators, who have devised various (and some very ingenious) modes of explaining
it away. Into these this is not the place to enter. ‘It is sufficient to observe that St,
Paul is still led to set forth the true greatness of Christ in opposition to the angelolae
try of the Colossian heretics; intimating that far from Christ being one only of tha
angelic hierarchy, the heavenly hosts themselves stood in need of His atonement
Co.npare Heb. ix. 23.
8 Here again is perhaps a reference to the Gnostic element in the Colossian theoso
phy. it was Christ himself who suffered death, in the body of his flesh; He was per
fect man ; and not (as the Docetw taught) an angelic emanation, whe withdrew from
the man Jesus before he suffered.
EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. 387
that He might bring you to His presence in holiness, without
23 blemish and without reproach; if, indeed, you be stedfast ir
your faith, with your foundation firmly grounded and immovea-
bly fixed, and not suffering yourselves to be shifted away from
the hope of the Glad-tidings which first you heard, which has
been published throughout all the earth,: whereof I, Paul, have
been made a ministering servant.
w# And even now I rejoice in the afflictions which st Paul's com
mission to re-
I bear for your? sake, and I fill up* what yet is veal the Chris.
. 2 δἰ ον Ξ tian mystery of
lacking of the sufferings‘ of Christ in my flesh, on universal sal-
5 Θ , vation.
25 behalf of ILis body, which is the Church; whereof
I was: made a servant, to minister in the stewardship which
God gave me for you [Gentiles], that I might fulfil it by de
26 claring the Word of God, the mystery which has been hid for
countless ages and generations,* but has now been shown openly
27to His people; to whom God willed to manifest how rich,
among the Gentiles, is the glory of this mystery, which® is
Curist IN YOU, THE HOPE OF GLORY.
28 Him, therefore, I proclaim, warning every man, and
teaching every man, in all wisdom; that I may bring every
29 man into His presence full grown in Christ.7_ And to this end
I labour in earnest conflict, according to Lis inward working
ΤΠ. which works in me with mighty power.
1 For I would have you know how great’ a con- He prays that
they may grow
flict I sustain for you, and for those at Laodicea, and in true wis
om ;
1 Literally, throughout all the creation under the sky, which is exactly equivalent
to througheut all the earth. St. Paul of course speaks here hyperbolically, meaning,
the teaching which you heard from Epaphras is the same which has been published
universally by the Apostles.
* St. Paul’s sufferings were caused by his zeal on behalf of the Gentile converts,
3 The ἀντί is introduced into ἀνταναπληρῶ by the antithesis between the notions of
πληροῦσθαι and ὑστερεῖσθαι.
4 Compare 2 Cor.i.5. Περισσεύει τὰ παθήματα τοῦ Χριστοῦ εἰς ἡμᾶς, and also Acta
ix. 4, “ΜῊ Υ persecutest thou me.” St. Paul doubtless recollected these words when
he called his sufferings ‘“‘ the sufferings of Christ in his flesh.”
5. Literally, from (i. 6. since) the ages and the generations, meaning, from the
remotest times, with special reference to the times of the Mosaic Dispensation. Com-
pare Rom. xvi. 25: μυστ. χρόνοις αἰωνίοις σεσιγ., and Titus i. 2.
6 The best MSS. are here civided between ὃς and 6; if we read ὅ it refers to μυστη»
piov, if ὃς, to πλοῦτος ; in either case the sense is the same, since πλεῦτος is the rick
abundance contained in the μυστήριον.
7 ᾿Ιησοῦ is omitted here in the best MSS. Τέλειος, grown te the ripeness ef ima
turity.
® Aijuding to ἀγωνιζόμενος above,
388 HE LIKE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
for all! who have not seen my face in the flesh; ihat their
hearts may be comforted, and that they may be knit to-
gether in love, and may gain in all its richness the full assur-
ance of understanding,’ truly to know the mystery of God,
wherein are all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge‘ 3
hidden.
andwarnsthen Ὲ[ say this, lest any man should mislead you with 4
against those eur. 6 d
who would mis enticing words. For though I am absent from you 5
lead them
in the flesh, yet 1 am present with you in tne spirit,
rejoicing when I behold your good order, and the firmness of
your faith in Christ. As, therefore, you first received Christ ¢
Jesus the Lord, so continue to live in Dim; having in Llim 7
your root, and in Him the foundation whereon you are con-
tinually * built up; persevering steadfastly in your faith, as
you were taught; and abounding ® in thanksgiving.
by a system of Beware? lest there be any man who leads you ἃ
misnamed phi-
losophy whieh captive® by his philosophy, which is a vain deceit,
1 Viz. all Christians. By the plain natural sense of this passage, the Colossians
are classed among those personally unknown to St. Paul.
3 Συνέσεως, compare σύνεσις πνευματικὴ (i. 9).
3 The reading of the MSS. here is very doubtful. The reading adopteu above is
that of Tischendorf’s 2d edition.
4 St. Paul here alludes, as we see from the next verse, to those who (like the Colos-
sian false teachers) professed to be in possession of a higher γνῶσις. In opposition to
them he asserts that the depths of γνῶσις are to be found only in the “ Mystery of
God,”’ viz. the Gospel, or (as he defines it above) Χριστὸς ἐν ὑμῖν.
5 ᾿Εποικοδυμούμει"οι, observe the.present tense, and compare 1 Cor, iii. 10.
6 "Ἔν αὐτῇ is omitted here, as in Tischendorf’s text.
7 The following paraphrase of this part of the Epistle is given by Neander (Denb-
wurdigkeiten, p. 12), “ How can you still fear evil spirits, when the Father himself has
delivered you from the kingdom of darkness, and transplanted you into the kingdom
of his dear Son, who has victoriously ascended to heaven to share the divine might of
his Father, with whom he now works in man; when, moreover, he by bis sudferings has
united you with the Father, and freed you from the dominion of all the powers of dark-
ness, Whom he exhibits (as it were) as captives in his triumphal pomp, and shows their
impotence to harm his kingdom established among men. How can you still let the
doubts and fears of your conscience bring you into slavery to superstition, when Christ
has nailed to his cross, and blotted out the record of guilt which testified against you
in your conscience, and has assured to you the forgiveness of all your sins. Again, how
can you fear to be polluted by outward things, how can you suffer yourselves to be in
captivity to outward ordinances, when you bave died with Christ to all earthly things,
and are risen with Christ, and live (according to your true, inward life) with Christ in
heaven. Your faith must be fixed on things above, where Christ is, at the right band
of God. Your life is hid with Christ in God, and belongs no more to earth.”
8 'O συλαγωγῶν, literally, who drags you away as his spoil. The peculiar form of
expression employed (similar to τινές εἰσιν οἱ ταράσσοντες, Gal. i. 7), shows that St
Paul alludes to some particular individual at Colosse, who prcfessed to teach a
“ Philosophy.”
EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. 389
following the tradition of men,' the outward lessons *
9 of childhood, not the teaching of Christ. For in Him
10 dwells all the Fulness* of the Godhead in bodily form, and ix
Him‘ you have your fulness; for He is the head of all the Prin-
lcipalities and Powers. In Him, also, you were circumcised
with a circumcision not made by hands, even the off-casting ΟἹ
12 the 5 whole body of the flesh, the circumcision of Christ; fox
with Him you were buried in your baptism, wherein also you
were made partakers of His resurrection, through the faith
13 wrought in you by God, who raised Him from the dead; and
you also, when you were dead in the transgressions and uncir-
cumcision of your flesh, God raised to share His life. Jfor He
14 forgave us® all our transgressions, and blotted out the Writing
against us, which opposed us with its decrees,’ having taken
15it out of our way, and nailed it to the cross. And Ile dis-
armed the Principalities and the Powers® which fought against
Him, and put them to open shame, leading them captive in His
triumph, which He won? in Christ.
i¢ ©. Therefore, suffer not any man to condemn you andunitesJew-
ἢ i ish observances
for what you eat or drink,’ nor in respect of feast- with angel-wor
ship and asceti-
17 days, or new moons," or sabbaths; for these are a “™-
igshadow of things to come, but the body is Christ’s. Let no
man succeed in his wish” to defraud you of your prize, per-
depreciatos
Christ,
1 Τὴν παράδοσιν τῶν ἀνθρώπων is applied to the Rabbinical theology (Mark vii. 8).
3 Στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου (cf. Gal. iv. 3), referring to the Jewish ordinances, as σκιὰ
τῶν μελλόντων (Vv. 17).
3 See note oni. 19.
4 J. e. by union with him alone, you can partake of the Pleroma of the Godhead,
and not (as the Gnostics taught), by initiation into an esoteric system of theosophy,
whereby men might attain to closer connection with some of the “ Principalities and
Powers” of the angelic hierarchy.
5 The casting off, not (as in outward circumcision) of a part, but of the whole body
of the flesh, the whole carnal nature. The τῶν duapridy of the R. T. is an interpola-
tion.
6 Ἡμῖν is the reading of the best MSS.
7 The parallel passage (Eph. ii. 15) is more explicit, τὸν νόμον των ἐντολῶν ἐν
δόγμασιν. On the grammatical difficulties of both passages, see Winer, Gram
eect. 31, 6.
8 Cf. Eph. vi. 12; and see Neander’s paraphrase quoted above.
® Ἔν αὐτῷ scilicet Χριστῷ ; the subject is ὁ Θεύς.
10 Compare Rom. xiv. 1-17,
11 The same three Mosaic observances are joined together, 1 Chron. xxiii. 81,
Compare also Gal. iv. 10.
13 Μηδεὶς. . . . ϑέλων, let no man though he wishes it; this seems the most natu:
ral explanation of this difficult expression ; it is that adopted by Theodoret aud Theo
phylact. We observe again the reference to some individual false teacher.
390 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
suading you to self-humiliation,’ and worship of the angels,’ in-
truding? rashly into things which he has not seen, puffed up by
his fleshly mind, and not holding fast the Head, from whom "13
the whole body, by the joints which bind it, draws full sup-
plies > for all its needs, and is knit together, and increases in
godly growth.
If, then, when you died with Christ,* you put away the 20
childish lessons of outward things, why, as though you still
lived in outward things, do you’ submit yourself to decrees
(“hold? not, taste not, touch not”—forbidding the use of21
things which are all made to be consumed in the using‘) 22
founded on the precepts and doctrines of men? For these 23
precepts, though they have a show of wisdom, in a self-chosen
worship, and in humiliation, and chastening of the body, are
of no yalue to check ® the indulgence of fleshly passions.
1 Tazewvodpootvn is joined with ἰφειδία σώματος in verse 23, whence it seems to
mean an exaggerated self-humiliation, like that which has often been joined with
ascetic practices, and has shown itself by the devotee wearing rags, exposing himself
to insult, living by beggary, &c. ’
2 Mr. Hartley mentions a fact in the later Christian history of Colossx, which is at
least curious when considered in connection with St. Paul's warning concerning angels,
and the statement of Herodotus regarding the river Lycus. The modern Greeks have
a legend to this effect:—‘‘An overwhelming inundation threatened to destroy the
Christian population of that city. They were fleeing before it in the utmost consterna-
tion, and imploring superior succour for their deliverance. At this critical moment,
the archangel Michael descended from heaven, opened the chasm in the earth to which
they still point, and at this opening the waters of the inundation were swallowed up
and the multitude was saved.” (Res. in Greece, p. 52.) A church in honour of the
archangel was built at the entrance of the chasm. This ναός ἀρχαγγελικὸς is men-
tioned by Nicetas in the passage quoted before (p. 382, note). See also the notes in
the Bonn ed. of Codinus Curopalates, where it is said that on the 6th of September,
τὸ ἐν Χώναις τοῦ ἀρχιστρατήγου Μιχάηλ θαῦμα τερατουργεῖται. A council held at
the neighbouring town of Laodicea, in the 4th century, condemned this Angel worship ;
and Theodoret speaks of it as existing in the same region.
3 ’Evx7 is here jained to ἐμθατεύων.
4 Οὗ, not ἧς, asin A. V. For we need not suppose that ἐξ od is used adverbially
here, as at Phil. iii, 20.
5 Επιχορηγούμενον, literally, furnished with all things necessary to its support.
6 The reference is to verse 12. The literal translation is if you died with Christ,
putting away ὅτε.
7 "Aw is distinguished from iyyc, the former, cor.veying (according to its original
sense) the notion of close contact and retention, the latter of only momentary con-
tact, compare 1 Cor. vii. 1, and also John xx. 17, where μή μου ἅπτου should probably
be translated ‘ hold me not,” or “cling not to me.”
8 This appears to be the best view of this very difficult passage, on a comparison
with 1 Cor. vi. 13, and with St. Paul’s general use of φθείρω.
9 Πρὸς πλησμονὴν τῆς σαρκύς, literally, in reference to the indulgence of the flesh.
Yhe difficulty of this verse is well known: no commentator (so far as we are aware!
EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS 391
1 [δ then,’ you were made partakers of Chirist’s Fxhortation te
heavenward af
resurrection, scek those things which are above, ‘ections.
2 where Christ abides,? seated on the right hand of God. Set
3 your heart on things above, not on things earthly; for ye arg
4 dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ,
who is our life, shall be made manifest, then shall ye be made
manifest*® with Him in glory.
5 Give, therefore, unto death your earthly mem- Against _hea-
then impurity
bers; fornication, uncleanness,‘ shameful appetites, andother vices.
6 unnatural desires, and the lust of coneupiscence,? which is
idolatry. For these things bring the wrath of God upon the
7 children of disobedience; among whom you also walked in
8 former times, when you lived therein; but now, with us,° you
likewise must renounce them all. Anger, passion, and malice
must be cast away, evil-speaking and reviling put Exhortation to
put on the
5 . | ea
9 out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, but? Christian cha-
racter in all its
10 put off the old man with his deeds, and put on the yarieus rerfec-
tions.
new *man, who grows continually to a more perfect
11 knowledge and likeness of his Creator.2 Wherein there is not
Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian,
has suggested the interpretation adopted above. De Wette’s objections to the view of
Meyer, Olshausen, and others (who explain σαρκός here by τοῦ νοὸς τῆς σαρκός in
verse 18) seem conclusive ; but his own interpretation, which leavesethe verse a mere
statement of the favourable side of this Colossian asceticism, unbalanced by any con-
trary conclusion, and with nothing to answer to λόγον μέν, appears still more uns
tenable.
1 The reference is to ii. 12. 2 »Εστὲν is not the mere copula here.
3 So also Rom. viii. 19, the coming of Christ in glory is identified with the ἀποκα-
λυψις τῶν υἱῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ. St. Paul declares, that the real nature and glory of Christ’s
people (which is now hidden) will be manifested to all mankind when Christ shall
come again, and force the world to recognise him, by an open display of his majesty.
The authorised version (though so beautiful in this passage that it is impossible to
deviate from it without regret), yet does not adequately represent the original;
“appear” not being equivalent to φανερωθῆναι.
4 Viz. of word as well as deed.
5 Τὴν πλεονεξίαν, whence the before-named special sins spring, as branches from tha
root. For the meaning of the word see note on 2 Cor. y.11. Lust is called idolatry,
either because impurity was so closely connected with the heathen idol-worship, or
because it alienates the heart from God.
6 Kai ὑμεῖς, you as well as other Christians. There should be a comma after
αὐτοῖς [or τούτοις, according to Tischendorf’s reading], and a full stop at πάντα,
Then the exhortation beginning ὀργὴν, &c., follows abruptly, a repetition of ἀπόθε 504
being understood from the sense.
7 ’Arexdvoauevor is here equivalent to ἀπεκδύσασθε δὲ ; compare ἐνδύσασθε (ν. 12).
8 For this use of νέος compare Heb. xii. 24.
® Literaily, who is continually renewed [present participle] to the utainmenl
[εἰς of a true knowledge according to the likeness of his Creator.
392 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PaUl.
Scythian, bondsman, freeman; but Christ is all, and in all.
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and beloved, put on14
tenderness of heart, kindness, self-humiliation,' gentleness,
long-suffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one13
another, if any thinks himself agerieved by his neighbour;
even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And over all the14
rest put on the? robe of love, which binds together and com-
pletes the whole Let the peace of Christ‘ rule in your1s5
hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be
thankful one*® to another. Let the Word of Christ dwell in16
you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom.®
Festive meet- Let your singing be of psalms, and hymns, and
ings, how to be Aa ; oe 4 °
-lebrated. — spiritual songs,’ sung in thanksgiving, with your
neart, unto® God. And whatsoever you do, in word or deed, 17
do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God
our Father through Him.
Extortion ἐσ Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as18
Θ fulhimen
pits duties ot it 1s ΠΡ τ the’ Lord:
Husbands, love your wives, and deal not harshly 19
with them.
Children, obey your parents in all things; for this is ac- 20
ceptable in the Lord.”
1 It is remarkable that the very same quality which is condemned in the false
t2achers, is here enjoined ; showing that it was not their self-humiliation which waa
condemned, but their exaggerated way of showing it, and the false system on which it
was engretted.
3 ’'Eal πᾶσι τούτοις ἐνδύσασθε.
3 Literally, which is the bond of completeness.
4 The great majority of MSS. read Χριστοῦ.
5 Evyaooro is most naturally understood of gratitude towards one another, espe
cially as the context treats of their love towards their brethren; for ingratitude
destroys mutual love.
6 The punctuation here adopted is ὁ λόγος κ. τ. Δ. πλουσίως. ’Ev πάσῃ κ. τ. >
ἑαυτοὺς. The participles διδάσκοντες, &c., are used imperatively, as in Rom. xii. 9-16.
7 The reading adopted is ψαλμοῖς ὕμνοις ᾧδαῖς πνευματικαῖς ἐν τῇ χάριτι ἄδοντες,
which is 'l'ischendorf’s, a stop being put after the preceding ἑαυτούς. St. Paul appears
to intend (as in Eph. v. 18, 19, which throws light on the present passage) to contrast
the songs which the Christians were to employ at their meetings, with those impure or
bacchanalian strains which they formerly sung at their heathen revels. It should be
remembered that singing always formed a part of the entertainment at the banquet
of the Greeks, Compare also James v. 13, εὐθυμεὶ τις; ψαλλέτω, For the meaning
of χάριτι compare χάριτι μετέχω. 1 Cor. x. 30.
8 Θεῷ is the reading of the best MSS.
9 For the imperfect ἀνῆκεν see Winer, Gram. sect. 41, 3.
© άρεστον ἐν Κυρὶῳ is the reading of MSS.
EPISTLE ΤῸ THE COLOSSIANS. 393
21 +Fathers, vex not your children, lest their spivit should ba
broken.
22 Bondsmen, obey in all things your earthly mas- Of staves and
ters; not in eye-service, as men-pleasers, but in
23singleness of heart, fearing the Lord.!. And whatsoever you
24 do, do it heartily, as for the Lord, and not for men; knowing
that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inherit-
ance ; for you are the bondsmen of Christ, our Lord and? Mas-
25ter. But he who wrongs another will be requited for the
wrong which he has done, and [in that judgment] there is no
IV respect of persons.’
1 Masters, deal rightly and justly with your bondsmen, know-
ing that you also have a Master in heaven.
2 Persevere in prayer, and join thanksgiving with we asks for
eet ‘ their prayers.
3 your watchfulness therein; and pray for me like-
wise, that God would open to me a door of entrance‘ for His
Word, that I may declare the mystery of Christ,’ which is the
4 very cause of my imprisonment; pray for me that I may de-
clare it openly, as I ought to speak.
5 Conduct yourselves with wisdom towards those Conduct -to-
Wards unbe-
6 without the Church,’ and forestall opportunity.? Let lievers.
your speech be always gracious, with a seasoning of salt,’ un-
derstanding how to give to every man a fitting answer.
7 All that concerns me will be made known to _,, Nision of
veleus an
you by Tychicus, my beloved brother and faithful oneizus.
ἢ servant and fellow-bondsman in the Lord, whom I have sent
to you for this very end, that he might learn your state, and
9 comfort your hearts; with Onesimus, the faithful and beloved
brother, your fellow countryman ; they will tell you all which
has happened here.
! Κύριον is the reading of the MSS.
* The correlative meanings of κύριος ἀπᾷ δοῦλος give a force to this in Greck, which
cannot be fully expressed in English.
3 J. e. slaves and masters are equal at Christ’s judgment scat.
4 Compare 2 Cor, ii. 12. 5 See above, i. 27.
6 Τοὺς ἔξω, compare 1 Thess, iv. 12, and 1 Cor. v. 12.
7 'Efayopatouevor is translated literally above ; like the English forestall, the verb
means tu buy up an article out of the market, in order to make the largest possible
profit from it.
5.10 ὁ. free from insipidity. It would be well if religious speakers and writers
bad always kept this precept in mind.
804 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 8f. PAUL.
Greetings from Aristarchus, my fellow-prisoner, salutes you, and 10
‘hristians in - A
Rome. Marcus, the cousin! of Barnabas, concerning whom
you received instructions (if he come to you receive him), ard 1]
Jesus surnamed Justus. Of the circumcision’ these only are
my fellow-labourers for the kingdom of God, who have been a
comfort to me.
Epaphras your fellow-countryman salutes you ; a bondsman 12
of Christ, who is ever contending on your behalf in his pray
ers, that in ripeness of understanding and full assurance of be-
lief) you may abide stedfast in all the will of God; for 1 bear 12
him witness that he is filled with zeal for you, and for those in
Laodicea and Hierapolis.
Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas, salute you. 14
;
Messages to Salute the brethren in Laodicea, and Nymphas, 15
Colossia d . . .
Iaodieean With the Church at his house. And when this letter 16
Christians. : §
has been read among you, provide that it be read
also in the Church of the Laodiceans, and that you also read 1%
the letter from Laodicea. And say to Archippus, ‘Take
heed to the ministration which thou hast received in the
Lord’s service, that thou fulfil it.”
Autograph sa. The salutation of me, Paul, with my own hand. τὲ
lutation an
benediction. TYemember my chains. Grace be with you.
We have seen that the above epistle to the Colossians, and that to
Philemon, were conveyed by Tychicus and Onesimus, who travelled to-
gether from Rome to Asia Minor. But these two were not the only let-
ters with which Tychicus was charged. We know that he carried a third
letter also ; but it is not equally certain to whom it was addressed. This
third letter was that which is now entitled the Epistle to the Ephesians ;7
concerning the destination of which (disputed as it is) the least disputa-
ble fact is, that it was not addressed to the Church of Ephesus.
1 ᾿Ανεψιὸς has the meaning of cousin (not nephew) both in classical and Iellenistie
Greck. See Tob. vii. 2 (LX X.) and Hesychius and Pollux.
3. We adopt the punctuation of Lachmann and Meyer.
3 We read πετληροφορήμενοι, with Lachmann and Tischendorf, and the best MSS
For the meaning of the word, see Rom. iv. 21.
4 If, with some MSS. we read zrovov here, it will not materially aiter the sense.
5 We have before remarked that the right hand, with which he wrote these words
was fastened by a chain to the left hand of the soldier who was on guard over him.
6 The ἀμὴν (as usual) was added by the copyists, and is absent from the best MSS.
? See Eph. vi. 21, 22.
EPISTLE TO HE EPHESIANS (SO CALLED) oe
This point is established by strong evidence, both internal and exter.
nal, Το begin with the former, we remark, First, that it would be inex
plicable that St. Paul, when he wrote to the Ephesians, amongst whom he
had spent so long a time, and to whom he was bound by ties of such close
affection (Acts xx. 17, &c.), should not have a single message of per
sonal grecting to send. Yet none such are found in this Epistle. Se
condly, He could not have described the Ephesians as a Church whose
conversion he knew only by report (i. 15). Thirdly, He could not speak
to them, as only knowing himself (the founder of their Church) to be an
Apostle by hearsay (iii. 2), so as to need credentials to accredit him with
them (iii. 4). Fourthly, he could not describe the Ephesians as so exclusive-
ly Gentiles (ii. 11, iv. 17), and so recently converted (v. 8, i. 18, ii. 13)
This internal evidence is confirmed by the following external evidence
also. .
(1) St. Basil? distinctly asserts, that the early writers whom he had
consulted declared that the manuscripts of this Epistle in their time did
not contain the name of Ephesus, but left out altogether the name of the
Church to which the Epistle was addressed. He adds, that the most an-
cient manuscripts which he had himself seen gave the same testimony.
This assertion of Basil’s is confirmed by Jerome,? Epiphanius,? and Ter-
tullian.‘
(2) The most ancient manuscript now known to exist, namely that of
the Vatican Library, fully bears out Basil’s words ; for in its text it does
not contain the words ‘‘in Ephesus” at all ; and ne are only added in
its margin by a much later hand.
(3) We know, from the testimony of Marcion, that this Epistle was
entitled in his collection the Epistle to the Laodiceans. And his autho-
rity on this point is entitled to greater weight from the fact, that he was
himself a native of the district where we should expect the earlier copies
of the Epistle to exist.’ —
1 The words of Basil are (Basil cont. Eunom. Opp. i. 254), ᾿Εφεσίοις ἐπιστέλλων...
ὌΝΤΑΣ αὐτοὺς ἰδιαζόντως ὠνόμασεν, εἰπῶν ΤΟΙ͂Σ ἍΤΙΟΙΣ ΤΟΙΣ OYE! KAI ΠΙΣ-
ΤΟΙ͂Σ ΕΝ XPIZTQ IHZOY. Οὐτω γὰρ οἱ πρὸ ἡμῶν παραδεδώκασι, καὶ ἡμεῖς ἐν
τοῖς παλαιοῖς Taw ἀντιγράφων εὑρήκαμεν.
2 (Hieron. ad Eph. i. 1) : “Quidam putant, &c. alii vero simpliciter non ad eos gui
sunt sed qui Ephesit sancti et fideles swnt ecriptum arbitrantur.”
3 Epiphanius quotes Eph. iv. 5, 6, from Marcion’s Πρὸς Λαοδικέας. It is scarcely
necessary here to notice the apocryphal Epistola ad Laodicenses, which only exists in
Latin MSS. It is a mere cento compiled from the Epistles to the Galatians and
Philippians; and was evidently a forgery of a very late date, originating from the
wish to represent the epistle mentioned Col. iv. 16, as not lost.
4 Tertullian accuses Marcion of adding the title Πρὸς Λαοδικέας, but not of altering
the salutation ; whence it is clear that the MSS. used by Tertullian did not centain
the words ἐν ᾿Εφέσῳ (Tert. adv. Mare. ii. 17).
6 Many critics object to receive Marcion’s evidence, on the ground that he ofteu
890 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ΒΤ. PAUL.
The above arguments have convinced the ablest of modern trities that
this Epistle was not addressed to the Ephesians. But there has nat been
by any means the same unanimity on the question, who were its intended
readers. In the most ancient manuscripts of it (as we have seen) no
Church is mentioned by name, except in those consulted by Marcion, ac
cording to which it was addressed to the Laodiceans. Now the internal
evidence above mentioned proves that the Epistle was addressed to some
particular church or churches, who were to receive intelligence of St
Paul through Tychicus, and that it was not a treatise addressed to the
whole Christian world ; and the form of the salutation shows that the
name of some place! must originally have been inserted in it. Again -
the very passages in the Epistle which have been above referred to, as
proving that it could not have been directed to the Ephesians, agree per-
fectly with the hypothesis that it was addressed to the Laodiceans.
Lastly, we know from the Epistle to the Colossians, that St. Paul did
write a letter to Laodicea (Col. iv. 16) about the same time with that to
Colosse.? On these grounds, then, it appears the safest course to assume
(with Paley, in the Hore Pauline) that the testimony of Marcion (un-
contradicted by any other positive evidence) is correct, and that Laodicea
was one at least of the Churches to which this Epistle was addressed.
And, consequently, as we know not the name of any other Church to
which it was written, that of Laodicea should be inserted in the place
which the most ancient manuscripts leave vacant.
made arbitrary alterations in the text of the New Testament. But this he did on doo
trinal grounds, which could not induce him to alter the ¢it/e of an epistle.
1 Τοῖς ἁγίοις τοῖς οὖσιν καὶ πιστοῖς ἐν Χριστῷ ᾿Ιησοῦ, compare the salutations at
Rom.i.7. 2Cor.i.1. Phil. i. 1; the analogy of which renders it impossible to sup-
pose οὖσιν used emphatically (‘those who are really ἅγιοι") as some commentators
mentioned by Jerome took it. It is true that this (the oldest known form of the text)
might be translated “to God’s people who are also faithful in Christ Jesus ;”’ but this
would make the Epistle addressed (like the 2nd of Peter) to the whole Christian
world; which is inconsistent with its contents, as above remarked.
2 De Wette argues that the letter to Laodicea, mentioned Col. iv. 16, must have
been written some time before that to Colosse, and not sent by the same messenger,
because St. Paul in the Colossian Epistle sends greetings to Laodieca (Col. iv. 15)
which he would have sent directly if he had written to Laodicea at the same time.
But there is not much weight in this objection, for it was agreeable to St. Paul’s man-
ner to charge one part of the Church to salute the other ;; see Rom. xvi. 3, where he
says ἀσπάσασθε not ἀσπάζομαι. Moreover it seems most: probable that Col. iv. 16-18
was a postscript, added to the Epistle after the Epistle to Laodicea was written. It is
difficult to imagine that the τὴν ἐκ Λαοδικείας (Col. iv. 16) could have been received
much before that to the Colossians, from the manner in which it is mentioned, and the
frequent intercourse which must have occurred between such neighbouring churches.
The hypothesis of Wieseler, that the Laodicean Epistle was that to Philemon, is quite
arbitrary, and appears irreconcileable with the fact that Onesimus is expressly called
a Colossian, and was sent to Colosse on this very occasion. See also Hore Pauline
(ὧν loco),
UPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS (SO CALLED). 397
Still, it must be obvious, that this does not remove all the difficulties
of the question. For, first it will be asked, how came the name of Lar
dicea (if originally inserted) to have slipped out of these ancient manu-
scripts ? and again, how came it that the majority of more recent manu-
scripts inserted the name of Ephesus? These perplexing questions are in
some measure answered by the hypothesis originated by Archbishop
Usher, that this Epistle was a circular letter addressed not to one only,
but to several Churches, in the same way as the Epistle to the Galatians
was addressed to all the Churches in Galatia, and those to Corinth were
addressed to the Christians “in the whole province of Achaia.”' On
this view, Tychicus would bave carried several copies of it, differently
superscribed, one for Laodicea, another, perhaps, for Hierapolis, another
for Philadelphia, and so on. Hence the early copyists, perplexed by this
diversity in their copies, might many of them be led to omit the words in
which the variation consisted ; and thus the state of the earliest known
text? of the Epistle would be explained. Afterwards, however, as copics
of the Epistle became spread over the world, all imported from Ephesus
(the commercial capital of the district where the Epistle was originally
circulated, ) it would be called (in default of any other name) the Lpzstle
from Ephesus ; and the manuscripts of it would be so entitled ; and thence
the next step, of inserting the name of Ephesus into the text, in a place
where some local designation was plainly wanted, would be a very easy
one. And this designation of the Epistle would the more readily prevail,
from the natural feeling that St. Paul must have written? some Hpistle te
so great a Church of his own founding as Ephesus.
Thus the most plausible account of the origin of this Epistle seems to
be as follows. Tychicus was about to take his departure from Rome for
Asia Minor. St. Paul had already written‘ his Hpistle to the Colossians
1 See 2 Cor. i. 1, and p. 96, above.
2 That of the Codex Vaticanus, above described ag agreeing with the most ancient
MSS. seen by Basil.
3 We cannot doubt that St. Paul did write many epistles which are now lost. He
himself mentions one such to the Corinthians, as we have seen (page 29); and it isa
mysterious dispensation of Providence that his Epistles to the two great metropolitan
churches of Antioch and Ephesus, with which he was himself so peculiarly connected,
should not have been preserved to us.
4 Tt is here assumed that the Epistle to the Colossians was written before that
(so called) to the Ephesians. This appears probable from a close examination of the
parallel passages in the two Epistles ; the passages in Ephesians bear marks of being
expanded from those in Colossians; and the passages in Colossians could not be sa
well explained on the converse hypothesis, that they were a condensation of those in
Ephesians. We have remarked, however, in a previous note, that we must assume the
reference in Colossians to the other epistle (Col. iv. 16), to have been added as a post
script; unless we suppose that St. Paul there refers to the τὴν ἐκ Λαοδικείας before it
was actually written (as intending to write it, and send it by the same messenger)
which he might very well have done
808 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 81. PAUL.
at the request of Epaphras, who had informed him of their danger. But
Tychicus was about to visit other places, which, though not requiring the
same warning with Colosse, yet abounded in Christian converts. Most
of these had been heathens, and their hearts might be cheered and
strengthened by words addressed directly to themselves from the great
Apostle of the Gentiles, whose face they had never seen, but whose name
they had learned to reverence, and whose sufferings had endeared Lim to
their love. These scattered Churches (one of which was Laodicea-) had
very much in common, and would all be benefitted by the same instruction
and exhortation. Since it was not necessary to meet the individual case
of any one of them, as distinct from the rest, St. Paul wrote the same
letter to them all, but sent to each a separate copy authenticated by the
precious stamp of his own autograph benediction. And the contents of
this circular epistle naturally bore a strong resemblance to those of the
letter which he had just concluded to the Colossians, because the thoughts
which filled his heart at the time would necessarily find utterance in simi-
lar language, and because the circumstances of these Churches were in
themselves very similar to those of the Colossian Church, except that
they were not infected with the peculiar errors which had crept in at
Colosse. The Epistle which he thus wrote consists of two parts: first, a
doctrinal, and, secondly, a hortatory portion. The first part contains a
summary, very indirectly conveyed (chiefly in the form of thanksgiving),
of the Christian doctrines taught by St. Paul, and is especially remarka-
ble for the great prominence given to the abolition of the Mosaic Law.
The hortatory part, which has been so dear to Christians of every age and
country enjoins unity (especially between Jewish and Gentile Christians),
the renunciation of heathen vices, and the practice of Christian purity.
It lays down rules (the same as those in the Epistle to Colossi, only in an
expanded form) for the performance of the duties of domestic life, and
urges these new converts, in the midst of the perils which surrounded
them, to continue steadfast in watchfulness and prayer. Such is the
substance, and such was most probably the history of the following
Epistle.
1 It has been objected to the circular hypothesis, that the Epistle, if meant as a cir-
cular, would have been addressed τοῖς οὖσιν ἐν ᾿Ασιᾷ. But to this it may be replied
that on our hypothesis the Epistle was not addressed to αἱ] the churches in Proconsu:
lar Asia, and that it was addressed to some churches of in that province.
.
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS (SO CALLED). 399
THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS (SO CALLED).
Ι. /
1 Paut, an Aposttr or Jesus Curist, BY THE WILL _ Salutction
or Gop, To Gop’s’ propLe wHo are [IN Laopr
ΕΑ], AND WHO HAVE FairH ΙΝ Ourisr Jesus.
2 Grace be to you and peace, from God our Father, and from
our Lord Jesus Christ.
3 Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus _ Thanksgiving
for redemption
Christ, who has given‘ us in Christ all spiritual] and knowledge
of the Christ-
4 blessings in the heavens. Even as He chose us in is» mystery
given to the
Him, before the foundation of the world, that we reste:
§ should be holy and spotless in his sight. For in His lovee He
predestined us to be adopted among His children through
6 Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His will, that
1 In the above introductory remarks it is assumed that this Epistle was cotem-
porary with that to the Colossians, which is stated in the Epistle itself (vi. 21,
Compare Col. iv. 7). Its date, therefore, is fixed by the arguments in p. 384.
We may here shortly nctice the arguments which have been advanced by some
German critics, for rejecting the Epistle altogether as a forgery. Their objections
against its authenticity are principally the following. First, The difficulties re-
specting its destination, which have been already noticed. Secondly, The want
of originality in its matter, the substance of its contents being found also in the
Colossians, or others of St. Paul’s Epistles. This phenomenon has been accounted
for above (p. 398), and is well explained by Paley (Hore Pauline), Thirdly, Certain
portions of the doctrinal contents are thought to indicate a later origin e. g., the De-
monology (ii. 2 and vi. 12). Fourthly, Some portions of the style are considered un-
Pauline. Fifthly, Several words are used in a sense different from that which they
bear in St. Paul’s other writings. These three last classes of difficulties we cannot
pretend fully to explain, nor is this the place for their discussion; but as a general
answer to them we may remark; First, That if we had a feller knowledge of the per-
sons to whom, and especially of the amanuensis by whom, the letter was written, they
would prcbably vanish. Secondly, that no objector has yet suggested a satisfactory
explanation of the origin of the Epistle, if it were a forgery ; no motive for forgery
can be detected in it; it contains’no attack on post-apostolic forms of heresy, no indi-
cation of a later development of church government. The very want of originality
alleged against it would not leave any motive for its forgery. Thirdly, It was unani-
mously received as St. Paul’s Epistle by the early church, and is quoted by Polycarp
and Ireneus.
* For the translation of ἁγζοις see note on 1 Cor. i. 2.
3 Sce the preceding remarks, p. 396.
4 Ἡμᾶς (here) includes both the writer and (apparently) the other Apostles ; while
καὶ ὑμεῖς (v. 13) addresses the readers as distinguished from the writer.
5. Ἔν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις. This expression is peculiar to the present Wpistle, in which
tt occurs five times.
‘ 6 We join ἐν ἀγαπῇ with v. 5.
400 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ΒΤ. PAUL.
we inight praise and glorify His grace, wherewith He favoured !
us in Ilis beloved. For in Him we have our redemption 7
through His blood, even the forgiveness of our sins, in the
richness of His grace,” which he bestowed upon us above mea-
sure; and He made known’ to us, in the fulness of wisdom 8
and understanding, the mystery of His will, according to Ilis 9
good pleasure, which He had purposed in Himself to fulfil,
that it should be dispensed‘ in the fulness of time ;* to make 19
all things one* in Christ as head, yea, both things in heaven
and things on earth in Him; in whom we also received the11
portion of our lot,’ having been predestined thereto according
to His purpose, whose working makes all fulfil the counsel of
His own will; that unto His praise and glory*® we might live, 12
who have® hoped in Christ before you.
Thanks ἴον And you, likewise, have hoped in Him, since 13
their conver-
sion, and pray- you heard the message of the truth, the Glad-
er for their en-
lightenment. tidings of your salvation; and you believed in Him,
and received His seal, the Holy Spirit of promise ; who is an14
earnest of our inheritance, given" to redeem that which Ho
hath purchased,” to the praise of His glory.
1 Observe χάριτος, ἐχαρίτωσεν, which would be more literally translated His favour
wherewith he favoured us.
? Comma at the end of verse 7, colon at ἡμᾶς (v. 8), and no stop at the end of verse
8, taking ἐπερίσσευσεν transitively.
3 This is referred to (iii. 3). Compare yrwpicag ἡμῖν τὸ μυστήριον with ἐγνωρίσθῃ
plot τὸ μυστήριον, which proves ἡμῖν here to correspond with oz there.
4 Οἰκονομῖαν. According to most interpreters this expression is used in this Epistle
in the. sense of adjustment, or preparation ; but as the meaning it bears elsewhere in
St. Paul’s writings (viz. the office of a steward in dispensing his master’s goods, sce
1 Cor. ix. 17, and ef. Col. i. 25) gives a very intelligible sense to the passages im this
Epistle. it seems needless to depart from it, The meaning of the present passage is
best illustrated by iii. 2, 3. ,
5 Literally for a dispensation [of it], which belongs to the fulness of time.
6 ’Avaked. τ. π. ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ, literally to unite all things undcr onc head, in
union with Christ: so Chrysostom explains it, μίαν κεφαλὴν ἐπιθεῖναι πᾶσι τὸν
Χριστόν. For the doctrine, compare 1 Cor. xv. 24.
1 ᾿Ἐκληρώθημεν, “in hereditatem adsciti sumus.”
8 Ei¢ ἔπαινον δόξης may be considered as a Hebraism; literally. that we should be
Sor the glory-praise of Hiin ; compare verse 6 (the best MSS. omit the τῆς).
® Προελπίζειν might mean, as some take it, to look forward with hope: but the
other meaning appears most obvious, and best suits the context. Compare προελθόν-
tec, Acts xx. 13.
10 Compare Rom. viii. 23.
1 Bic, not wntil (A. V.).
Y Τῆς περιποιησέως, used in the same sense here as ἐκκλησία ἣν περιεποιήσατο (Acts
xx. 28). The metaphor is that the gift of the Holy Spirit was an earnest (tLat is, a
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS (Sv CALLED). 401
15 Wherefore I, also, since 1 heard of your faith in our Lora
16 Jusus, and your love to all God’s people, give thanks for you
17 without ceasing, and make mention of you in my prayers, be-
seeching the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory,
to give you a spirit of wisdom and of insight, in the true know-
1s ledge of Himself; the eyes of your’ understanding being filled
with light, that you may know what is the hope of His call.
19 ing, and how rich is the glory of His inheritance, in His people.
and how surpassing is the power which He has shewn toward
us who believe; [for he has dealt with us] in the strength of
20 that might wherewith He wrought in Christ, when Ones alate:
He raised Him from the dead; and set Him on His
210wn right hand in the heavens, far above every? Principality
and Power, and Might, and Domination, and every name which
is named, not only in this present time, but also in that which
22is to come. And “Le put all things under Ils feet,”? and
gave Him to be sovereign head of the Church, which is His
23 body; the+ Fulness of Him who fills all things everywhere
U.with Himself. And you, likewise, He raised from they had been
awakened from
1 death * to life, when you were dead in transgressions ee?
2 and sins; wherein once you walked according to
the course of this* world, and obeyed the Ruler of the Powers
of the Air,’ even the Spirit who is now working in the children
3 of disobedience; amongst whom we also, in times past, lived,
part payment in advance) of the price required for the full deliverance of those who
had been slaves of sin, but now were purchased for the service of God.
1 The majority of MSS. read καρδίας, which would yive the less usual sense, the eyes
of your heart.
2 See Col. i. 16 and note.
3 Ps. viii. 6. (LXX.), quoted in the same Messianic sense, 1 Cor. xv. 27, and Heb.
fi. 8. Compare also Ps. cx. 1.
4 We see here again the same allusion to the technical use of the word πλήρωμα by
false teachers, as in Col. ii. 9,10. St. Paul there asserts that, not the angelic hier-
archy, but Christ himself is the true fulness of the Godhead; and here that the
Church is the fulness of Christ, that is, the full manifestation of his being, because
penetrated by His life, and living only in Him. It should be observed that the Church
is here spoken of so far forth as it corresponds to its ideal. For the translation of
πληρουμένου, see Winer, Gram. sect. 39, 6.
5. The sentence (in the original) is left unfinished in the rapidity of dictation ; wut
the verb is easily supplied from the context.
6 Αἰῶνα τοῦ κόσμου τούτου is equivalent to αἰῶνα τοῦτον. Compare 2 Cor. iv 4.
« Cor. i. 20, ὅσ.
7 In the Rabbinical theology evil spirits were designated as the “Power? of the
air”? St. Paul is here again probably alluding to the language of those teachers
against whom he wrote to the Colossians,
VOL. 11.—26
402 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 51. PAUL.
all of us, in fleshly lusts, fulfilling the desires of our flesh, and
of our imagination, and were by nature children of wrath, no
less than others.!. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of 4
the great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were 5
dead in sin, caused us to share the life of Christ—(by grace you
are saved),—and in* Christ Jesus, He raised us up with Ilim 6
from the dead, and seated us with Him in the heavens; that, 7
in the ages which are coming,’ He might manifest the surpass-
ing riches of Ilis grace, by kindness towards us in Christ Jesus,
For by grace you are saved, through faith; and that not ofs
yourselves; it is the gift of God; not won by works, lest any 9
man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in1¢
Christ Jesus to do good works, which God has prepared* that
we should walk therein.
and incorpo- Wherefore remember that you, who once were ll
rated into God’s ᾿
Israel. reckoned among carnal Gentiles, who are called the
Uncireumcision by that which calls itself the Circumcision (a
circumcision of the flesh,’ made by the hands of man)—that ἴῃ 19
those times you were shut out from Christ, aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants® of
the promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.
But now, in Christ Jesus, ye, who were once far off, have been13
brought near throngh the blood of Christ. For He is our 14
The law which peace, who has made both one,’ and has broken
divided Jews
from Gentiles down the wall which parted us; for, in Hiss flesh, 15
He destroyed the ground of unr enmity, the law of
enacted ordinances; that so, making peace between us, out of 16
both He might create® in Himself one new man; and that, by
1 Οἱ λοιποὶ, literally, the rest of mankind, i.e. unbelievers. Compare 1 Thesa
iv. 13.
2 The meaning is, that Christians share in their Lord’s glorification, and dwell with
Him in heaven, in so far as they are united with Him.
3 Viz. the time of Christ’s perfect triumph over evil, always contemplated in the
New Testament as near at hand,
4 J.e. God, by the laws of His Providence, has prepared opportunities of doing good
for every Christian.
5 Meaning α circumcision of the flesh, not of the spirit,—made by man’s hands,
not by God's.
ὁ Ava. τῆς ἐτ. Compare Gal. iii. 16 and Rom. ix. 4
7 Both, viz., Jews and Gentiles.
8 I. 6. by his death, as explained by the parallel passage, Col. i. 22.
® Christians are created in Christ, (see above, verse 10) i. e. their union with Christ
is the essential condition of their Christian existence.
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS (SO CALLED) 408
17 His cross, He might reconcile both, in one body, unto God,
having slain their enmity thereby. And when He came, He
published the Glad-tidings of peace to you that were far otk
igand to them that were near. For through [im we both have
power to approach the Father in the fellowship’ of one Spirit.
19 Now, therefore, you are no more strangers and eee
sojourners, but fellow-citizens with God’s people, of¢ou.
20and members of God’s household. You are built upon the
foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself
21 being the chief corner-stone; in whom all the building, titly
framed together, grows into a temple hallowed by the? in-
22 dwelling of the Lord. And in Him, not others only,? but you
also, are built up together, to make a house wherein God may
Im. dwell by the+ presence of Iis Spirit.
1 Wherefore I, Paul, who, for maintaining the The mystery of
2 cause of you Gentiles, am the prisoner of Jesus tion procaine
Christ \—for® I suppose that you have heard how δόμον tor it.
God’s grace was given me, that I might dispense it among you;
3 and how, by revelation, was? made known to me the mys-
4 tery (as I have already shortly* written to you; so that,
when you read, you may perceive my understanding in the
5 mystery of Christ), which, in\the generations of old, was not
made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed
by the indwelling® of the Spirit, to Ilis holy Apostles and
6 Prophets; to wit, that the Gentiles are heirs of the same in-
heritance, and members of the same body, and partakers of
the * same promise in Christ, by means of the Glad-tidings.
7 And of this Glad-tidings I was made a ministering servant,
according to the gift of the grace of God, which was given me
8 in the full measure of Ilis mighty working; to me, I say, who
1 It is sometimes impossible to translate ἐν accurately, except by a periphrasis of
this kind.
2 “Ἅγιον ἐν κυρίῳ. Sce the preceding note.
3 Καὶ ὑμεῖς. You as weil as others,
4 "Ev πνεύματι. Compare 1 Cor. iii. 163 and see note 1.
δ The sentence is abruptly broken off here, but carried on again at v. 13. The
whole passage bears evident marks of the rapidity of dictation.
6 Literally, if, as I suppose (εἴγε) you have heard of the office of dispensing
pixovouiay, see note on i. 10) the grace of God which was given me for ycu.
7 ῬἘΠ γνωρίσθη is the reading of the MSS.
8 The reference is to chap. i. 9, 10.
S Ἔν πνεύματι. See notes on verses 18 and 21 above.
4 Αὐτοῦ, ig omitted by the best MSS.
404 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
am less than the least of all God’s people, this grace was
given, to bear among the Gentiles the Glad-tidings of the un-
searchable riches of Christ, and to bring light to all, whereby 9
they might understand the! dispensation of the mystery which,
from the ages of old, has been hid in God, the maker of all
things ;* that now, by the Church, the manifold wisdom of 106
God might be made known to the Principalities and Powers in
the heavens, according to His eternal purpose, which he ful-11
filled in Christ Jesus our Lord; in whom we can approach 12
without fear to God, in trustful confidence, through faith in
Him.
He prays for Wherefore I pray that I may not faint under my 13
himself and
them, thatthey sufferings for you, which are your glory. For this14
may be
strengthened cause I bend my knees betore the Father;+ whose 15
and enlighten-
os children® all are called in heaven and in earth, be-16
seeching Him, that, in the richness of His glory, He would
grant you strength by the entrance of His Spirit into your in-
ner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that17
having your root and your foundation in love, you may be en-18
abled, with all God’s people, to comprehend the breadth and
length, and depth and height thereof; and to know the love of 1g
Christ which passeth knowledge,® that you may be filled there-
with, even to the measure of? the Fulness of God. Now unto 20
Doxology. Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly, above
all that we ask or think, in the power of his might which 21
works within us,—unto Him, in Christ Jesus, be glory in the
Church, even to all the generations of the age of ages.
Amen.
1 The best MSS. read οἰκονομία not κοινωνία. See note oni. 10.
3 Acad ᾿Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ is not in the best MSS.
11. e. by the union of all mankind in the Church. That which cals torth the ex-
pressions of rapturous admiration here, and in the similar passage in Romans (xi. 33),
is the divine plan of including all mankind in a universal redemption.
4 The words τοῦ to Χριστοῦ are not in the best MSS.
5 The sense depends on the paronomasia between πατέρα and πατρία, the latter word
meaning a race descended from a common. ancestor. Compare ἐκ πατρίας Δαβὶδ
(Luke ii. 4). If fatherhood had this meaning in English (as it might have had, a2-
cording to the analogy of “a brotherhood”), the verse might be literally rendered
from whom every fatherhood in heaven and earth is named ; i. e. the very name of
fatherhood refers us back to God as the father of all. The A. Y. is incorrect, and
would require ἡ πατρία.
6 Again we ubserve an apparent allusion to the technical employment of the words
γνῶσις and πλήρωμα.
" Εἰς not with (A. VY.)
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS (SO CALLED). 405
LY.
{ I, therefore, the Lord’s prisoner, exhort you to Ext rtation to
unity. iffer:
walk worthy of the calling wherewith you were eat gifts and
offices must
2 called ; in all lowliness,! and gentleness, and long- combine as
3 suffering, forbearing one another in love, striving to Church.
maintain the unity of the Spirit, bound together with the bond
4 of peace. You are one body and one spirit, even as you were
5 called to share one common hope; you have one Lord, you
6 have one faith, you have one baptism ; you have one God and
Father of all, who is over all, and works through all, and dwells
τ in all? But each one of us received the gift of grace which —
he possesses according to the measure? wherein it was given by
8 Christ. Wherefore it ist written: “ When 716 went up on
9 high, Ie led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.” Now
that word “ Ze went wp,’ what saith it, but that He first
10 came down to the earth below? Yea, He who came down is
the same who is gone up, far above all the heavens, that He
1 might fill all things.» And He gave some to be apostles,’ and
some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and
12 teachers; for the perfecting of God’s people, to labour? in
13 their appointed service, to build up the body of Christ ; till we
all attain the same® faith and knowledge of the Son of God,
and reach the stature of manhood,’ and be of ripe age to re-
14ceive the Fulness of Christ; that we should no longer be
children in understanding, tossed to and fro, and blown round
by every shifting current of teaching, tricked by the sleight
15 of men, and led astray into the snares" of the cunning; but
that we should live in truth and love, and should grow up in
‘ Larewvogpoctvy. See note on Col. iii. 12,
3. “Ὑμῖν, omitted in best MSS.
3 This verse is parallel to Rom. xii. 6, ἔχοντες χαρίσματα κατὰ τὴν χάριν τὴν δοθεῖ
σαν ἡμῖν διάφορα. The whole context of the two passages also throws lignt on both.
4 Λέγει (se. ἡ γραφὴ), see note on Rom. ix. 25. The quotation is from Ps. Ixviii.
19, but slightly altered, so as to correspond neither with the Hebrew nor with the
Septuagint. Ourtwo authorised versions of the Psalms have here departed from the
original, in order to follow the present passage; probably on the supposition that St
Paul quoted from some older reading.
5 Again we remark-an allusion to the doctrine οὐ the πλήρωμα. Compare i. 23,
6 On this classification of church offices, see Vol. 1. p. 436.
7 Διωκονίας does not mean “ the ministry” (A. V.).
8 Literally, the oneness of the faith and of the knowledge
9 "Avdpa τέλειον, literally, a man of mature age. .
10 TlAnpduaroc. See note on iii. 19.
u Literally, led cunningly (ἐν πανουργίᾳ) towards the snares of ‘nisieading erres
fmAavic).
400 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 8T. PAUL.
every part’ to the measure of Ilis* growth, who is our head,
even Christ. From whom? the whole body (being knit to- 16
gether, and compacted by all its joints) derives its continued
growth in the working of His bounty, which supplies its needs,
according to the measure of each several part, that it may
build itself up in love.
Exhortation to This I say, therefore, and adjure you in the1)
the rejection of
heathen vice Lord, to live no longer like other Gentiles, whose
and to moral
renewal. minds are filled with folly, whose understanding is 18
darkened, who are estranged from the life of God because of
the ignorance which is in them, through the hardness of their
hearts ; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to 19
lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness in lust.« But you have 20
not so learned Christ; if, indeed, you have heard Mis voice, 21
and been taught in Him, as the truth is in Jesus; to forsake 22
your former life, and put off the old man, whose way is* de-
struction, following the desires which deceive; and to be re-23
newed in the spirit of your mind, and to put on the new man, 24
created after God’s likeness, in the righteousness and _ holiness
Against several Of the Truth. Wherefore, putting away lying, 25
specified vices, ‘ ς ε
speak every man truth with his neighbour; for we
are members one of another. “ Be ye angry, and sin not.’® 26
Let not the sun go down upon your wrath, nor give way to27
the Devil. Let the robber? rob no more, but rather let him 28
1 Ta πάντα. See following verse.
2 Αὐζξάνειν εἰς αὐτὸν is to grow to the standard of his growth.
3 Ἐξ οὐ πᾶν τὸ σῶμα (συναρμολογούμενον καὶ συμθιθαζόμενον διὰ πάσης ἁφῆς),
τῆς ἐπιχορηγίας κατ᾽ ἐνεργείαν, ἐν μέτρῳ ἑνὸς ἑκάστου μέρους, τὴν αὔξησιν τοῦ
σώματος ποιεῖται, literally rendered, from whom all the body (being knit together
and compacted by every joint), according to the working of his bounteous pro-
viding, in the measure of each several part, continues the growth of the body.
-Compare the parallel passage, Col. ii. 19, ἐξ οὐ πᾶν τὸ σῶμα διὰ τῶν ἁφῶν καὶ συν-
δέσμων ἐπιχορηγούμενον καὶ συμθιθαζόμενον αὔξει. De Wette remarks “ Das nebenein-
ander des αὖξ. εἰς αὐτὸν und des avé. ἐξ αὐτοῦ ist nicht wenig paradox :” but why is it
more paradoxical than to say that a child derives its life (ἐξ) from its father, and
grows up (εἰς) to the standard of its father’s growth? That interpretation which
takes ἁφή as equivalent to αἴσθησις (a view which Meyer advocates) can scarcely be
reconciled with the parallel passage in Colossians.
4 Πλεονεζίᾳ, See note on 2 (Οἱ <. v. 11; and compare chap. v. 3.
5. Φθειρύμενον; not “ corrupt” (A. V.), but going on in the way of φθορά.
6 Paslmiv. 4. (LXX.).
7 Κλέπτων. The A. V. would require κλέψας. It should be remembered that the
«Ἰέπται of the N. T. were not what we should now call thieves (as the word is gence
rally rendered in A. V.), but bandits; and there is nothing strange in finding such
persons numerous in the provincial towns among the mountains of Asiu Minor. Sce
Vol Lp. 182.
.
EPISTLE TO TH EPHESIANS (SO CALLED.) £07
labour, working to good purpose with his hands, that lie may
29 have somewhat to share with the needy. From your mouth
let no filthy words proceed, but such as may build up? the
Church according to its need, and give a blessing to the hear
goers. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, who was given
31 to seal you? for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and
passion, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking be put away
32from you, with all malice; and be? kind one to another, ten-
VY. der-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God ἴῃ Extortation te
Christ-like for-
1 Christ has aren you. Therefore be followers of siveness and
2 God’s example as the children of his love. And
walk in love, as Christ also loved us, and gave Himself for us,
a sacrifice of sweet odour, to be offered up to God.
3 Lut as betits God’s people, let not fornication or against impu-
Ν rity and other
any kind of uncleanness or lust® be so much as rus of heathen
Garkness 5
4 named among you; nor filthiness, or buffoonery, or
ribald jesting, for such speech beseems you not, but rather
5 thanksgiving. Yea, this you know;* for you have learned
that no fornicator, or impure or lustful man, who is nothing
less than an’ idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of
6 Christ and God. Let no man mislead you by empty ® reason-
-ings; for these are the deeds® which bring the wrath of God
7 upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye, therefore,
8 partakers with them ; for you once were darkness, but now
g are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light; for the
fruits of light’ are in all goodness, and righteousness, and
1 Literally, such as is good for needful building up (οἰκοδομή always implies τῆς
ἐκκλησίας) that it may give a blessing (for this meaning of χάριν δίδοναι see Olshau-
sa and Meyer, in loco) to the hearers.
3 ᾿Εσφραγίσθητε, the tense is mistranslated in A. V. The meaning is rendered evi-
dent by i. 13, 14. It is the constant doctrine of St. Paul that the gift of the Holy
Spirit is a seal or mark of Christ’s redeemed, which was given them at their conver-
sion and reception into the Church, as a foretaste of their full redemption. Compare
Rom. viii. 23.
3 Τίνεσθε. This word is sometimes used as simply equivalent to “be ye.” Ceom-
pare v. 17
4 Literally, a sacrifice offered up to God (προσφορὰν καὶ ϑυσίαν---ϑυσίαν προσῴε-
pouévnv) to make a sweet odour.
5 It has been before remarked that this passage is conclusive as to the use οὗ
πλεονεξία by St. Paul ; for what intelligible sense is there in saying that ‘ covetousnese™
nust not be so much as named ?
6 The MSS. read ἔστε not ἐστέ. 7 See note on Col. iii. 5.
8 See 1 Cor, vi. 12-20, and the note.
8 Viz., the sins of impurity. Compare Rom. i. 24-27.
5. φωτὸς, not πνεύματος, is the reading of the best MSS
408 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL
which must be truth. Examine well what is acceptable to the lord, 10
Baas ond and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works 11
watchfulness
of Christians. of darkness, yea, rather expose their foulness.! For, 13
concerning the secret deeds of the heathen,’ it is shameful
even to speak; yet all these things, when exposed, are made 13
manifest by the shining of the light; for whatseever is shone
upon and made manifest becomes light. Wherefore it is14
written, “ Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, 15
and Christ shall shine upon thee.” ®
See, then, that you walk without stumbling, not in folly but
in wisdom, forestalling*® opportunity, because the times are 16
evil. Therefore, be not without understanding, but learn to17
know what the will of the Lord is.
Festive meet- Be not drunk with wine, like those? who live1s
ings how to be
celebrated. rlotously ; but be filled with the indwelling of the1g
Spirit, when you speak one to another. Let your singing be
of psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, and make melody
with the music of your hearts, to the Lord.* And at all times, 20
for all things which befal you, give thanks to our God and Fa-
ther, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 ΣΕ λέγχετε. Nhe verb means to lay bare the real character of a thing by ex
posing it to open scrutiny.
3 «Αὐτῶν, den Heiden: constr. ad sens.” De Wette.
3 Such appears to be the meaning of this difficult verse, viz., that when the light
falls on any object, the object itself reflects the rays; implying that moral evil will
be recognised as evil by the conscience, if it is shown in its true colours by being
brought into contrast with the laws of pure morality. The preceding φανεροῦται does
not allow us to translate φανερούμενον active (as A. V.).
4 Λέγει. See note on iv. 8.
5 There is no verse exactly corresponding with this in the O. T. But Isaiah lx. 1 is
perhaps referred to, φωτίζου, φωτίζου, "Ἱερουσαλὴμ, ἥκει γάρ σου τὸ φῶς, καὶ ἡ δόξα Κυ-
ρίον ἐπί σε ἀνατέταλκεν (1,ΧΧ.). We must remember, however, that there is no proot
that St. Paul intends (either here, or 1 Cor. ii. 9) to quote the Old Testament. Some
have supposed that he is quoting a Christian hymn; others, a saying of our Lord (as
at Acta xx. 35).
8 See Col. iv. 5 and note.
7 Ἔν ᾧ ἐστιν dowria, literally, in doing which is riotous living.
8 We put a fuli stop after 'Ἑαυτδις, to one another (here), as Col. iii. 16.
* Throughout the whole passage there is a contrast implied between the heathen
and the Christian practice, e.g. When you meet, let your enjoyment consist not in
Sulness of wine, but fulness of the Spirit ; let your songs be, not the drinking-songa
of heathen feasts, but psalms and hymns; and their accompaniment, not the musié
of the lyre, but the melody of the heart ; while you sing them to the praise not of
Buccnus or Venus, but of the Lord Jesus Christ. For the coastruction and punctua
tion see Col. iii. 16,
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS (SO CALLED). 409
21 Submit yourselves one to another in the fear of Duties of wives
22 Christ.!. Wives, submit yourselves to your hus- apa ΒΟΥ
23 bands, as unto the Lord; for the husband is head of the wife,
even as Christ is head of the Church,’ His body, which He
24saves from harm. But,‘ as the Church submits itself to
Christ, so let the wives submit themselves to their husbands in
all things.
25 Ilusbands, love your wives, as Christ also loved the Church,
26 and gave Iimself for it, that having purified it by the water
wherein it is washed,’ He might hallow it by the indwelling
27 of the word of God; that he might Himself* present unto Him-
self’ the Church in stainless glory, not having spot or wrinkle,
or any such thing; but that it should be holy and unblemish-
gged. In like manner, husbands ought to love their wives as
they love their own bodies; for he that loves his wife does but
29love himself: and no man ever hated his own flesh, but
nourishes. and cherishes it, as Christ® also nourishes and
30 cherishes the Church; for we are members of Ilis body, por-
3itions of His flesh.» ‘“ Hor this cause shall a man leave his
father and his mother, and shalt cleave unto his wife, and they
32 two shall be one flesh.” This mystery is great; but 1" speak
1 Χριστοῦ is the reading of the best MSS. That this comprehends all the special
1elations of subjection which follow (and should be joined with what follows), is shewn
by the omission of ὑποτάσσεσθε (in the next verse) by the best MSS.
3 This statement occurs 1 Cor. ii. 3 almost verbatim.
3 The best MSS. omit καὶ and ἐστὲ in this clause: the literal English is he saves his
body from harm; and an analogy is implied to the conjugal relation, in which the
husband maintains and cherishes the wife.
4 7AAAd can scarcely be translated “ therefore” (A. V.).
5 Τοῦ ὕδατος (not simply ὕδατος ); literally by the laver of the water, equivalent to
λδιτροῦ παλιγγενεσίας (Titus iii. 5). The following ἐν ῥήματι is exceedingly difficult,
Chrysostom and the patristic commentators generally take it as if it were τῷ ἐν p. and
explain it of the formula of baptism; De Wette takes the same view. But St. Paul
elsewhere explains τὸ ῥῆμα to be equivalent to τὸ ῥῆμα τῆς πίστεως ὃ κηρύσσομεν
(Rom. x. 8), and to ῥῆμα θεοῦ (Rom. x. 17), (compare also Eph. vi. 17) ; and more
over, as Winer and Meyer have remarked, the junction of év ῥήματι with ἀγιάσῃ better
suits the Greck. On this view, the meaning is that the Church, baving been purified
by the waters of baptism. is hallowed by the revelation of the mind of God impaited
to it, whether mediately or immediately, Compare Heb. iv. 12, 13.
6 The best MSS. read αὐτὸς, not αὐτήν.
7 The Church is compared to a bride, as 2 Cor. xi. 2.
8 The best MSS. read Χριστός.
® Tne words “and of his bones” are an interpolation not found in the best MSS.
10 Gen. ii. 24. (LXX.).
The ἔγω is emphatic ; J, while I quote these words out of the Scriptures, use
Ue in a higher sense.
410 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 51. PAUL.
of Christ and of the Church. Nevertheless, let every one of 33
you individually? so love his wife even as himself, and let the
wife sce that she reverence her husband. VI.
Duties of chil- Children, obey your parents in the Lord; for 1
dren and pa- Ae tae 7 2
rents. this isright. “ Z/onour thy father and thy mother,” ? 2
which is the first commandment with promise: “ Zhat it ma, 3
be well with thee, and thou shalt live long upon the earth.”
And ye, fathers, vex not your children; but bring them 4
up in such training and correction as befits the servau s of the
Lord.
Daties of slaves Bondsmen, obey your earthly masters with 5
nd masters. ἵ ᾿ Η Σ -
anxiety and self-distrust,> in singleness of heart, as
unto Christ; not with eye-service, as men-pleasers, but as ὃ
bondsmen of Christ, doing the will of God from the soul.
With good will fulfilling your service, as to the Lord our 7
Master,’ and not to men. For you know that whatever good 8
any man does, the same shall he receive from the Lord,
whether he be bond or free.
And ye, masters, do in like manner by them, and abstain 9
from threats; knowing that your own Master is in heaven,
and that with Him is no respect of persons.
Exhortation to Finally, my brethren, let your hearts be strength- 10
ght in the : : : ᾿
Christian ar- ened in the Lord,’ and in the conquering power of
lis might. Put on the whole armour of God, that1
you may be able to stand firm against the wiles of the Devil.
For the adversaries with whom we wrestle are not flesh andi
blood, but they are® the Principalities, the Powers, and the
Sovereigns of this® present darkness, the company of evil
spirits in the heavens. Wherefore, take up with you to thea
battle» the whole armour of God, that you may be able to with-
stand them in the evil day, and having" overthrown them all,
1 Οἱ καθ᾽ ἕνα, in your individual capacity, contrasted with the previous collective
siew of tue members of the Church as the bride of Christ.
* Wxodus xx. 12, and Deut. v.16. (LXX.).
3 Exodus xx. 12, and Deut. v. 16. (LXX. not exactly verbatim)
4 The word κύριος, Jord, always implies the idea of servants.
δ Μετὰ φόῤθυυ καὶ τρόμου has this meaning in St. Paul’s language. Compare 1 Cor
li, 3; and see Meyer’s observations on both passages (Krit. Exeg. Comm. in locc),
6 See note on Col. iii. 25.
7 This is the literal meaning of ἐνδυναμοῦσθε ἐν Κυρίω
8 Compare Col. ii. 15 and the nete ; also John xii. 31.
8 Tod αἰῶνος is omitted in best MSS. WW ᾽Αναλάθετε.
N Κατεργασάμενοι, not “done” (A. V.).
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS (SO CALLED). 411
14 ἴο stand unshaken. Stand, therefore, girt with the Delt of
15 truth, and wearing the breastplate of righteousness, and shod
16 as ready messengers of the Glad-tidings of peace: and take up
to cover you! the shield of faith, wherewith you shall be able
17 to quench all the fiery darts of the Evil One. Take, likewise,
the helmet of salvation,? and the sword of the Spirit, which is
the word of God.
.8 Continue to pray at every season with all ear- To pray for
nestness of supplication in the Spirit; and to this Paul.
end be watchful with all perseverance in prayer for all Christ’s
19 people, and for me, that utterance may be given me, to
200pen my mouth and make known with boldness the mys-
tery of the Glad-tidings, for which I am an ambassador in‘
fetters. Pray that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to
speak.
21. But that you, as well as* others, may be inform- Tyehicus the
ed of my concerns, and how I fare, Tychicus, my ° pr i
beloved brother, and faithful servant in the Lord, will make all
2zzknown to you. And 1 have sent him to you for this very
end, that you may learn what eoncerns me, and that he may
comfort your hearts.
aq Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, Cycuaing ben:
from God our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ. ar
24 Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ in’
sincerity.®
1 πὲ mdoww=to cover all.
* The head of the Christian is defended against hostile weapons by his knowledge
of the salvation won for him by Christ.
3 For the meaning of “ word of God,” see note on chap. v. 26. It is here represented
as the only offensive weapon of Christian warfare. The Roman pilum (λόγχη, Joh.
xix. 34) is not mentioned. For a commentary on this military imagery, and the cir-
cumstances which naturally suggested it, see the beginning of the next chapter.
4 '᾿Αλύσει. See Paley’s observations (Hore Paulinx, in loco), and our preceding
-emarks on Custodia Militaris.
5 Καὶ ὑμεῖς.
6 See the parallel passage, Col. iv. 7.
7 The difficulty of the concluding words is well known: ἐν ἀφθαρσίᾳ might also be
translated in immortality, with the meaning whose love endures immortally. Ols
dausen supposes the expression elliptical, for iva ζωὴν ἔγωσιν ἐν ἀφθαρσίᾳ; hut this
yan ecarcely be justified.
8 Ap7v as usual is omitted in the best manuscripts,
419
NOTE.
To complete the view of the two preceding Epistles, the following tables are
added: the first of which gives a comparative outline of their contents; the
secoud shows the verbal correspondence between the parallel passages in each :—
Epistle to Colossians.
1-2. Salutation.
3-6. Thanksgiving for their con-
version (7-8. Epaphras).
9-14. Prayer for their enlighten-
ment, and thankfulness
for redemption.
15-20. Christ’s work, nature, and
dignity.
21-22. He had called them from
heathenism and _ recon-
ciled them to God.
L
23-29. Paul a prisoner and minis-
ter of the mystery of uni-
versal salvation.
Π. 1-4. Prayer for their constancy
and growth in Christian
wisdom.
4-23, Warning against a false
philosophy, which depre-
ciated Christ, and united
Jewish observances (abo-
lished by Christ) with
angel worship and asceti-
cism.
1-4. Exhortation to heavenward
affections.
IIT.
δ- 9. Against heathen impurity,
anger, malice, falsehood.
10-16. Exhortation to moral re-
newal, including meek-
ness, forbearance, forgive-
ness, charity, and mutual
exhortation.
16-17. Festive meetings how to be
celebrated.
Epistle
THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL
to Ephesians (so called).
1, 1-2. Salutation.
1.
ΠΣ
TV;
3-12.
13-19.
20-23.
1-10.
11-13.
14-18.
19-22.
1-12.
13-17.
18-19.
20-21.
1-16.
17-24.
25-31.
32.-V.
3-10.
11-17.
18-20.
Thanksgiving for redemp-
tion and knowledge of
Christian mystery.
Thanksgiving for their con-
version, and prayer for
their enlightenment.
Work and dignity
Christ.
They had been awakened
from heathenism by God’s
grace.
And — incorporated
God’s Israel.
Law which divided Jews
from Gentiles abolished.
They are built into the
temple of God.
Mystery of universal salva-
tion proclaimed by Paul,
a prisoner for it.
He prays for himself and
them that they may 290
strengthened.
And enlightened.
Doxology.
of
into
Exhortation to unity. Dif
ferent gifts and offices
combine [Col. ii. 19] to
build up the Church.
Exhortation to reject hea-
then vice and to moral
renewal.
Against lying, anger, rob-
bery, impure words,
malice.
2 Exhortation to Christ-
like forgiveness and love.
Against impurity and other
sins of heathen darkness.
Which are to be rebuked
by the exainple and
watchfulness of Chris
tians [Col. iv. 5-6].
Festive meetings how to be
celebrated.
PARALLELISM BETWEEN THE COLOSSIANS AND “ EPHESIANS.” 418
ΠῚ, 18-19. Duties of wives and hus- V. 21-33. Duties of wives and hus
bands.
20-21. Duties ofchildren and pa- IV. 1-4. Duties of children and pa
bands.
rents.
DL 22-IV. 1. Duties of slaves and
masters.
ΓΝ. 2-4. Exhortation to pray for
themselves and Paul.
5- 6. Watchfulness in conduct
towards unbelievers [Eph
y. 11-17].
7- 9. Tychicus and Onesimus, the
messengers.
10-14. Salutations from Rome.
15-17. Messages concerning Lao-
dicea and Archippus.
18. Autograph salutation and
benediction.
rents.
5-9. Duties of slaves and masters.
10-17. Exhortation to fight in the
Christian armour.
18-20. To pray for others and for
Paul.
21-22. Tychicus the messenger.
23-24. Concluding benediction.
Verbal resemblances between the so-called Epistle to the Ephesians and the
Epistle to the Colossians,
11 -- Col. i.
1: 10} 18; 19..21-
ii. 13.
20 --
21 --
22 —} Col. |
23 —
LES 1:
ὙΡΝ 12::
19:
ios
15 UCorap | a
Vere
ill.
20 --
uv. 1— Col. iv. 3.
414 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
mine) [iF Ra a
π Col. iii. 4 7 4, : “16 τῇ Col. iv. 5.
10. 11 --
8 - 18 --
6 -- Col. iii. 11. rh Ps a 8
“Ἢ mae ct Col. iii. 1 ΤΊ,
8 - 21 =
“yu 22 — Col. iii. 18.
10 -- 28 -
11 -- 24 -
12 -- 25 -- Col. iii. 19.
13 - 93 —
14 -- 27 --
15 - as 28 —
iG τι Col. ii. 19. 50 -
117 -- 80 .
18 -- ΘΙ.
19 — Coli 11τ|: ὃς Ses
20 -- 32 --
21 -- 33 —
22 = me Eph. vi. 1 -- Col. iii. 20.
oa 10: os 9. “oe
Of 10. 4 — Col. iii. 21.
26 -- bea iii. 22
ae παν,
εξ 1 ol. 24.
99.-- Col. iv. 6. 8." 20:
80 - 9ῳ - TV, 1.
31 -- (ΟἹ. 111. 8. 10 --
99, τ Coli ao: 11 =
aa 12 —Col. ii. 15.
2 — 13 —
3= 5 let =
4—\ Col. iii. 8 τον
yes 6 10᾽-
: = i
= iis} = ΟΣ
8=Col. 1 13: 10 Ξ (ον. wes
ἣν - “20 - 4
7 Pall = 1 . ibe
11: 257 Col.iv. | 3
12 -- 23 —
13 -- OV
From the first of the above tables it will be seen, that there is scarcely a
single topic in the Ephesian Epistle which is not also to be found it the Epistle
to the Colossians; but, on the other hand, that there is an important section οἱ
— Colossians (ii. 8-23) which has no parallel in Ephesians. From the second
table it appears, that out of the 155 verses contained in the so-called Epistle to
the Ephesians, 78 verses contain expressions identical with those in the Epistle to
the Colossians.
The kind of resemblance here traced is not that which would be found in the
work of a forger, servilely copying the Epistle to Colossee. On the contrary, it is
just what we might expect to find in the work of a man whose mind wag
thoroughly imbued with the ideas and expressions of the Hpistle to the Colossians
when he wrote the other Kpistle.
THE ΡῈ ἙΤΟΕΙΓΜ. 418
CHAPTER XXVL.
OI ἘΚ ἸῊΣ KAIZAPOZ OIKIAS.—Phil. iv. 22
fHE FRETORIUM AND THE PALATINE—ARRIVAL OF EPAPHRODITUS—!OLITICAL EVENTS
AT ROME.--OCTAVIA AND POPPZA.—ST, PAUL WRITES THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIP
PIANS.—HE MAKES CONVERTS IN THE IMPERIAL HOUSEHOLD.
Tue close of the Epistle, to which our attention has just been turned,
contains a remarkable example of the forcible imagery of St. Paul.! Con-
sidered simply in itself, this description of the Christian’s armour is one of
the most striking passages in the Sacred Volume. But if we view it in
connection with the circumstances with which the Apostle was sur-
rounded, we find a new and living emphasis in his enumeration of all the
parts of the heavenly panoply,*—the belt of sincerity and truth, with
which the loins? are girded for the spiritual war,—the breastplate of that -
righteousness,‘ the inseparable links whereof are faith and love,*—the
strong sandals,° with which the feet of Christ’s soldiers are made ready,’
not for such errands of death and despair as those on which the Preeto-
rian soldiers were daily sent, but for the universal message of the Gospel
of peace,—the large shield * of confident trust,? wherewith the whole man
1 Eph. vi. 14-17.
_7 Τὴν πανοπλίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ. For authentic information regarding the actual Roman
armour of the time, we may refer to Piranesi’s fine illustrations of the columns of
Trajan and Marcus Aurelius. There are also many useful engravings in Smith’s Dic-
tionary of Antiquities.
3 Περιζωσάμενοι τὴν ὀσφὺν ὑμῶν ἐν ἀληθείᾳ. The belt or zona (ζωστῆρ) passed
round the lower part of the body, below the ϑώοαξ, and is to be distinguished from the
balteus, which went over the shoulder.
4 ’Evdvoduevor τὸν ϑώρακα τῆς δικαιοσύνης. The ϑώραξ was a cuirass or corslet,
reaching nearly to the loins. Its form may be seen in the statue of Caligula, engraved
in Vol. I. p. 110.
5 In the parallel passage (1 Thess. v. 8), the breastplate is described as ϑώρακα
πίστεως καὶ ἀγάπης.
6 The Roman Calige were not greaves, which in fact would not harmonise with
the context, but strong and heavy sandals.- See Juvenal, iii. 232, 306, xvi. 25, and the
anecdote of the death of the centurion Julian in the Temple at Jerusalem. Joseph. B.
Je VEL, 8:
7 Ὕποδησάμενοι τοὺς πόδας ἐν ἑτοιμασίᾳ κ. τ. 2. . «
8 The ϑυρεὸς here is the large oblong or oval Roman shield—the seztum not the
clipeus,—specimens of which may be seen in Piranesi. See especially the pedestal of
Trajan’s column.
9 Tov ϑυρεὸν τῆς πίστεως.
416 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 8ST. PAUL.
is protected,: and whereon the fiery arrows of the Wicked One fall harm-
less and dead,—the close-fitting helmet,’ with which the hope of salva.
tion® invests the head of the believer,—and finally the sword of the
Spirit, the Word of God,‘ which, when wielded by the Great Captain of
our Salvation, turned the tempter in the wilderness to flight, while in the
hands of His chosen Apostle (with whose memory the sword seems insepa-
rably associated®), it became the means of establishing Christianity on
the earth,
All this imagery becomes doubly forcible, if we remember that when
St. Paul wrote the words he was chained to a soldier, and in the close
neighbourhood of military sights and sounds. The appearance of the
Pretorian guards was daily familiar to him ;—as his “chains” on the
other hand (so he tells us in the succeeding Epistle), became “ well known
throughout the whole Pretorium.” (Phili.13.) A difference of epinion
has existed as to the precise meaning of the word in this passage. Some
have identified it, as in the authorised version, with the “house of Ceesar”
on the Palatine :* more commonly it has been supposed to mean that
permanent camp of the Praetorian guards, which Tiberius established on
the north of the city, outside the walls.7 As regards the former opinion,
it is true that the word came to be used, almost as we use the word
“‘nalace,” for royal residences generally, or for any residences of a princely
splendour,® and that thus we read, in other parts of the New Testament,
of the Pretorium of Pilate at Jerusalem,? and the Pretorium of Herod at
Cesarea.”” Yet we never find the word employed for the Imperial house
at Rome: and we believe the truer view to be that which has been
recently advocated," namely, that it denotes here, not the palace itself,
1 Observe me πᾶσιν, Which is not clearly translated in the authorised version.
One of these compact Roman helmets, preserved in England, at Goodrich Court.
is engraved in Smith’s Dictionary. (See under Galea.)
3 With τὴν περικεφαλαίαν τοῦ σωτηρίου (Eph. vi. 17) we should compare περικεῴα:
Aaiav ἐλπίδα σωτηριάς (1 Thess. v. 8).
4 Τὴν μάχαιραν τοῦ Πνεύματος, 6 ἐστιν ῥῆμα Θεοῦ. See note on the passage.
5. It is the emblem of his martyrdom: and we can hardly help associating it also
with this passage. The small short sword of the Romans was worn like a dagger on
the right side. Specimens may be seen in Piranesi. Those readers who have been in
Rome will remember that Pope Sixtus V. dedicated the column of Aurelius (ab omni
impietate purgatam) to St. Paul, and that a statue of the Apostle, bearing the sword,
is on the summit. ᾿
6 With Phil. i. 13 we should compare iv. 22 in the authorised version.
7 See above, in the description of Rome, and compare the map.
8 We find the word used for the Imperial castles out of Rome in Suet. Aug. 72,
Tib. 39. Calig. 37. Tit. 8 For its application to the palaces of foreign princes
and even private persons, see Juvenal,i.10. x. 161. These instances are given hy
Wiescler, who also refers to the apocryphal “ Acta Thome.”
* Sec above, p. 252. 30 See above, p. 281, ἢ. 2.
' In Wieseler’s note, p. 403.
TUE ΡΕΖΙΓΟΒΙ͂ΠΜ.. 417
but the quarters of that part of the Imperial guards, which was in imme
diate attendance upon the Emperor. Such a military establishment is
mentioned in the fullest account which we possess of the first residence of
Augustus on the Palatine :' and it isin harmony with the general ideas
on which the monarchy was founded. The Emperor was praetor? or com-
mander-in-chief of the troops, and it was natural that his immediate guard
should be in a pretorium near him. It might, indeed, be argued that
this military establishment on the Palatine would cease to be necessary,
when the Pretorian camp was established: but the purpose of that
establishment was to concentrate near the city those cohorts, which had
previously been dispersed in other parts of Italy :3 a local body-guard
rear the palace would not cease to be necessary : and Josephus, in his
account of the imprisonment of Agrippa,‘ speaks of a “camp” in connec-
tion with the “royal house.” Such we conceive to have been the bar-
rack immediately alluded to by St. Paul: though the connection of these
smaller quarters with the general camp was such, that he would
naturally become known to “all the rest” 5 of the guards, as well as those
who might for the time be connected with the Imperial househol¢.
What has just been said of the word “ pretorium,” applied still more
extensively to the word “ palatium.” Originally denoting the hili on
which the twin-brothers were left by the retreating river, it grew to be,
and it still remains, the symbol of Imperial power. Augustus was born
on the Palatine ® and he fixed his official residence there when the civii
wars were terminated. Thus it may be truly said that “ after the Capi-
tol and the Forum, no locality in the ancient city claims so much of our
interest as the Palatine hill—at once the birth-place of the infant city,
and the abode of her rulers during the days of her greatest splendour,—
where the reed-thatched cottage of Romulus was still preserved in the
midst of the gorgeous structures of Caligula and Nero.”7 About the
1 Καλεῖται δὲ τὰ βασίλεια παλάτιον (Palatium), οὐχ ὅτι καὶ ἔδοξέ ποτε οὕτως
αὐτὰ ὀνομάζεσθαι, ἀλλ᾽ ὅτι ἐν τε τῷ Παλατίῳ (in monte Palatino) ὁ Καῖσαρ ᾧκει καὶ
ἐκεῖ τὸ στρατήγιον (Pretorium) εἶχε, καὶ τίνα καὶ πρὸς τὴν τοῦ Ῥωμύλου προενοίκησιν
φήμην ἡ οἰκία αὐτοῦ (domus Ceesaris) ἀπὸ τοῦ πάντος ὄρους ἔλαβε" καὶ διὰ τοῦτο κἂν
ἀλλόθι που ὁ αὐτοκράτωρ καταλύῃ, τὴν τοῦ παλατίου ἐπίκλησιν ἡ καταγώγῃ αὐτοῦ
ἴσχει. Dio Cass. liii. 16.
2 See what has been said (Vol. I. p. 142) in reference to the term propretor in the
provinces.
3 Compare Suet. Aug. 49 with Tib. 37, and see Dio C. lvii.19. Tac. Ann. iv. 2.
Hist. 1. 31,
4 Joseph. Ant. xviii. 6. He uses στρατόπεδον for the pretorium, and βασίλειον for
the palatium. Compare what is said of Drusus, Suet. Tib, 54.
5 Thid.
6 Natus est Augustus .... regione Palatii ad Capita Bubula. Suet. Aug. δ.
7 Bunbury in the Classical Museum, vol. v. p. 229. We learn from Plutarch and
Dionysius that this “wooden hut thatched with reeds, which was preserved as a me
ῬΏΏ τς δὲ
415 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 8ST. PAUL.
close of the Republic, it was still the residence of many distinguished citi
zens, such as Crassus, Cicero, Cati‘ine, Clodius, and Antony.. Augustus
himself simply bought the house of Hortensius and lived there in modest
state? But the new era was begun for the Palatine, when the first Em-
peror, soon after the battle of Actium, raised the temple of Apollo with
its celebrated Greek and Latin libraries,? on the side near the Forum.
Tiberius erected a new palace, or an addition to the old one, on the oppo-
site side of the hill, immediately above the Circus Maximus.‘ It remained
for subsequent Emperors to cover the whole area of the hill with struc-
tures connected with the palace. Caligula extended the Imperial build-
ings by a bridge (as fantastic as that at Βαΐδ 5), which joined the Pala-
tine with the Capitol.6 Nero made a similar extension in the direction of
the Esquiline :7 and this is the point at which we must arrest our series
of historical notices ; for the burning of Rome and the erection of the
Golden House intervened between the first and second imprisonments of
the Apostle Paul. The fire, moreover, which is so closely associated with
the first sufferings of the Church, has made it impossible to identify any
of the existing ruins on the Palatine with buildings that were standing
when the Apostle was among the Preetorian guards. Nor indeed is it pos-
sible to assign the ruins to their proper epochs. All is now confusion on’
the hill of Romulus and Augustus. Palace after palace succeeded, till
the Empire was lost in the midst of the Middle Ages. As we explore the
subterraneous chambers, where classical paintings are still visible on the
plaster, or look out through broken arches over the Campagna and its
aqueducts, the mind is filled with blending recollections, not merely of ἃ
long line of Roman Cesars, but of Ravenna and Constantinople, Char.
lemagne and Rienzi. This Royal part of the Western Babylon has al-
most shared the fate of the city of the Huphrates. The Palatine con-
tains gardens and vineyards,’ and half cultivated spaces of ground, where
morial of the simpie habitation of the Shepherd-king,” was on the side of the hill
towards the Circus, p. 232. :
1 See Cic.ad Fam. ν. 6. ProDomo,c.44. Suet. 46 Π]. ασαπι. 17. Dio Cass. liii. 27.
* Habitavit postea in Palatio, sed nihilominus «dibus modicis Hortensianis neque
laxitate neque cultu conspicuis. Suet. Aug. 72.
3 See Hor. Ep. 1. iii. 17. Suet. Aug. 29. For the date of this temple see Becker's
Alterthumer, p. 425.
4 The position of the “ Domus Tiberiana”’ is determined by the notices of it in the
account of the murder of Galba. Tac. Hist. i. 27. Suet. Oth. 6. Plat. Galb. 24.
δ See above, p. 352.
6 Super templum Divi Augusti ponte transmisso Palatium Capitoliumque cenjunxit.
Suet. Calig. 22.
7 Dommum a Palatio Esquilias usque fecit ; quam primo Transitoriam, mox incendia
absumptam restitutamque Auream nominavit. Suet. Ner. 31. Sce Plin. H. N.
Xxxvii. 15,
8 The Farnese gardens and the Villa Mills (formerly Villa Spada) are well known
to travellers. Some of the finest arches are in the Vigna del Collegio Inglese.
τ ὯΝ
i) γι
Y
ir Νὴ
ν᾿ οι
nag
᾿; i i) Ϊ ν
THE PALACE OF THE CAISARS.
otal owe ᾿
in actoaneg na ae
enbaaespeapirni /
᾿ ον ταν
ἊΣ
νῶν
POLITICAL EVENTS AT ROME. 419
the acanthus-weed grows in wild luxuriance: but its population has
shrunk to one small convent ;! and the unhealthy air seems to brood like
a curse over the scene of Nero’s tyranny and crime.’
St. Paul was at Rome precisely at that time when the Palatine was thy
most conspicuous spot on the earth, not merely for crime, but for splen-
dour and power. ‘This was the centre of all the movements of the Em-
pire.’ Here were heard the causes of all Roman citizens who had ap-
pealed to Cesar.‘ Hence were issued the orders to the governors of
provinces, and to the legions on the frontier. From the “ Golden Mile-
stone” (Milliarium Aureum 5) below the palace, the roads radiated in all
directions to the remotest verge of civilization. ‘The official messages of
the Emperor were communicated along them by means of posts estab-
lished by the government :* but these roads afforded also the means of
transmitting the letters of private citizens, whether sent by means of
tabellaru,’ or by the voluntary aid of accidental travellers. To such com-
munications between the metropolis and the provinces others were now
added of a kind hitherto unknown in the world,—not different indeed in
outward appearance® from common letters,—but containing commands
more powerful in their effects than the despatches of Nero,—touching
more closely the private relations of life than all the correspondence of
1 The Franciscan convent of St. Bonaventura, facing the Forum.
? See an impressive paragraph in the third volume of the Beschreibung Roms.
Einleitung, p. 7.
3 Compare the language of Tacitus: “ Vitcllium in Palatium, in ipsam imperif
arcem regressum.” Hist. iii. 70.
4 See the account of St. Paul’s trial in the next chapter.
δ The Milliarium Aureum (afterwards called the Umbilicus Rome) is believed to
have been discovered at the base of the Capitol, near the Temples of Saturn and Con-
cord. Class. Mus. iv. 24.
6 See Ginzrot’s thirty-seventh chapter (von den Hilboten und Posten). So far as
related to government dispatches, Augustus established posts similar to those of King
Ahasuerus. Compare Suet. Aug. 49 with Hsther viii. 13, 14,
7 See Becker’s Gallus, p. 250 (Eng. Trans.).
8 In Vol. I. p. 409, a general reference was made to the interest connected even
with the writing materials employed by St. Paul. There is little doubt that these
were reed-pens, Egyptian paper, and black ink. All these are mentioned by St. John
(διὰ γάρτου καὶ μέλανος, 2 Joh. 125 διὰ μέλανος καὶ καλάμου, 3 Joh. 13); and St
Puul himself, in a passage where there is a blended allusion to inscriptions on stone
and to letter writing (2 Cor. iii. 3), speaks of ink (μέλαν). Representations of ancient
inkstands found at Pompeii, with reed-pens, may be seen in Smith’s Dictionary, under
Atramentum. Allusion has been made before (p. 308) to the paper trade of Egypt.
Parchment (Pergamentum : Meu6pdvac, 2 Tim. iv. 13) was of course used for the
secondary MSS. in which the Epistles were preserved. See Jerome, Ep. 141; Euseb.
Vit. Const. iv. 36; also Joseph, Ant. xii. 2,10. [We must distinguish between thesa
materials and πινακίδιον (Luke i. 63), which corresponds to the Latin pugiliares.]
Letters were written in the large or uncial character, though of course the hansé
writing of diferent persons would vary. See Gal. vi. 11.
420 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 51. PAUL.
Seneca’ or Pliny, and proclaiming, in the very form of their salutations,
the nerpetual union of the Jew, the Greek, and the Roman.” ?
It seems probable that the three letters which we have last read
were despatched from Rome when St. Paul had been resident there
about a year,’ that is, in the spring of the year 62 av. After the depart-
ure of Tychicus and Onesimus, the Apostle’s prison was cheered by the
arrival of Epaphroditus, who bore a contribution from the Christians
of Philippi. We have before seen instances‘ of the noble liberality of
that church, and now once more we find them ministering to the necessities
of their beloved teacher. Epaphroditus, apparently a leading presbyter
among the Philippians, had brought on himself, by the fatigues or perils
of his journey, a dangerous illness. St. Paul speaks of him with touching
affection. He calls him his “ brother, and companion in labour, and fel-
low-soldier” (ii. 25) ; declares “ that his labour in the cause of Christ had '
brought him near to death” (ii, 30), and that he had “ hazarded his life ”
in order. to supply the means of communication between the Philippians
and himself. And, when speaking of his recovery, he says, ‘‘ God had
compassion on him, and not on him only, but on me also, that I might not
have sorrow upon sorrow” (ii. 27). We must suppose, from these expres-
sions, that Epaphroditus had exposed himself to some unusual risk in his
journey. Perhaps his health was already feeble when he set out, so that
he showed self-devotion in encountering fatigues which were certain to
injure him.
Meanwhile St. Paul continued to preach, and his converts to multiply.
We shall find that when he wrote to the Philippians, either towards the
close of this year, or at the beginning of the next, great effects had already
been produced ; and that the Church of Rome was not only enlarged, but
1 We must not pass by the name of Seneca without some allusion to the so-called
correspondence between him and St. Paul: but a mere allusion is enough for so vapid
and meaningless a forgery. These Epistles (with that which is called the Ep. to the
Laodiceans, described p. 395, note 3) will be found in the Codex Apoc. N. T. of Fabri-
cius Vol. II.), and in Jones on the Canon (Vol. II.).
2 We allude to the combination of the Oriental εἰρήνη with the Greek χώρις in the
opening salutations of all St. Paul’s Epistles. See Buxtorf’s Institutio Epistolaris
Hebraica (Basle, 1629). ‘“Grzeci salutationem significabant per χαΐρειν, quod Hora-
tius Grecizans expressit (Celso gaudere, &c. Ep. I. viii.). In Historia Sacra N. T.
(KA. Λυσίας τῷ Kp. ἡγεμόν: Φήλικι yaipev, Acts xxiii. 26)... . Romani salutem dice-
bant..... Hebri, Chaldzi, Syri Pacis nomine in salutantando usi sunt, quod ubi pax
est, ibi omnia se prospere habere dicantur,”’ pp. 10, 11. There are some good remarks
on this subject in Koch’s Commentary on 1 Thess. i. 1.
3 The state of things described in the 4th chapter of Colossians, the conversion of
Onesimus and his usefulness to St. Paul (Philem. 11-13), imply the continuance of
St. Paul’s ministry at Rome during a period which can hardly have been less than a
year. Nor would St. Paul, at the beginning of his imprisonment, have written as he
oes (Philem. 22) of his captivity as verging towards its termination.
4 See the account of the Macedonian collection, pp. 92. 93.
OCTAVIA AND ΡΟΡΡΩ͂Α. 421
encouraged to act with greater boldness upon the surrounding masses of
heathenism,' by the successful energy of the apostolic prisoner. Yet thg
pelitical occurrences of the year might well have alarmed him for his
safety, and counselled a more timid course. We have seen that prisoners
in St. Paul’s position were under the charge of the Praetorian Prefect ;
and in this year oceurred the death of the virtuous Burrus,’ under whose
authority his imprisonment had been so unusually mild. Upon this
event the prefecture was put into commission, and bestowed, on Fenius
Rufus and Sofonius Tigellinus. The former was respectable,? but wanting
sn force of character, and quite unable to cope with his colleague, who was
already notorious for that energetic wickedness which has since made his
name proverbial. St. Paul’s Christian friends in Rome must have trem-
bled to think of him as subject to the caprice of this most detestable of
Nero’s satellites. It does not seem, however, that his situation was altered
for the worse ; possibly he was never brought under the special notice of
Tigellinus, who was too intent on court intrigues, at this period, to attend
to so trifling a matter as the concerns of a Jewish prisoner.
Another circumstance occurred about the same time, which seemed to
threaten still graver mischief to the cause of Paul. This was the marriage
of Nero to his adulterous mistress Poppza, who had become a proselyte
to Judaism. This infamous woman, not content with inducing her para-
mour to divorce his young wife Ovtavia, had demanded and obtained the
death of her rival ; and had gloated over the head of the murdered vie-
tim,‘ which was forwarded from Pandataria to Rome for her inspection.
Her power seemed now to have reached its zenith, but rose still higher at
the beginning of the following year, upon the birth of a daughter, when
temples were erected to her and her infant,’ and divine honors paid them.
1 Phil. 1. 12-14,
* “Concessit vita Burrus, [so the name is spelt in the best MSS., not Burrhus] incer-
tam valetudine an veneno.... Civitati grande desiderium ejus mansit, per memoriam
virtutis, et successorum alterius segnem innocentiam, alterius flagrantissima flagitia
et adulteria. Quippe Caesar duos Pretoriis cohortibus imposuerat, Fenium Rufum ex
vulgi favyore,..... Sofonium Tigellinum veterem impudicitiam atque infamiam in eo
secutus.”’ (Tac, Ann. xiy.51.) The death of Burrus was an important epoch in Nero’s
reign. Tacitus tells us in the following chapter that it broke the power of Seneca
(Mors Burri infregit Senecz potentiam) and established the influence of Tigellinus ;
and from this period, Nero’s public administration became gradually worse and worse,
till at length its infamy rivalled that of his private life.
3 Fenius Rufus was afterwards executed for his share in Piso’s conspiracy (Tac.
Ann. xv. 66, 68), in which he showed lamentable imbecility.
4 “ Additur atrocior sevitia, quod caput amputatum latumque in urbem Poppa
vidit.” (Tac. Ann. xiv. 64.) The account of Octavia’s fate in Tacitus is given with
peculiar feeling.
6 “ Natam sibi ex Poppa filiam Nero ultra mortale gaudium accepit” Tac. Ann
xv 23). The temples to Popnwa are mentioned in a fragment of Dio.
\
422 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST PAUL.
We know from Josephus! that she exerted her influence over Nero in
favour of the Jews, and that she patronised their emissaries at Rome;
and assuredly no scruples of humanity would prevent her from seconding
their demand for the punishment of their most detested antagonist.
These changed circumstances fully account for the anticipations of an
unfavourable issue to his trial, which we shall find St. Paul now express-
ing ;7 and which contrast remarkably with the confident expectation of
release entertained by him when he wrote the letter* to Philemon.
When we come to discuss the trial of St. Paul, we shall see reason to be
lieve that the providence of God did in fact avert this danger; but at
present all things seemed to wear a most threatening aspect. Perhaps
the death of Pallas‘ (which also happened this year) may be considered,
on the other hand, as removing an unfavourable influence ; for, as the
brother of Felix, he would have been willing to soften the Jewish accus-
ers of that profligate governor, by co-operating with their designs against
St. Paul. But his power had ceased to be formidable, either for good or
evil, some time before his death.
Meanwhile Epaphroditus was fully recovered from his sickness, and
able once more to travel ; and he willingly prepared to comply with St.
Paul’s request that he would return to Philippi. We are told that he
was “ filled with longing” to see his friends again, and the more so when
he heard that great anxiety had been caused among them by the news of
his sickness.> Probably he occupied an influential post in the Philippian
Church, and St. Paul was unwilling to detain him any longer from his
duties there. He took the occasion of his return, to send a letter of
orateful acknowledgment to his Philippian converts.
It has been often remarked that this Epistle contains less of censure
and more of praise than any other of St. Paul’s extant letters. It gives
us a very high idea of the Christian state of the Philippians, as shown by
the firmness of their faith under persecution,® their constant obedience
and attachment to St. Paul,? and the liberality which distinguished them
above all other Churches. They were also free from doctrinal errors, and
no schism had as yet been created among them by the Judaizing party.
They are warned, however, against these active propagandists, who were
probably busy in their neighbourhood, or (at least) might at any time
appear among them. The only blemish resorded as existing in the Church
1 Josephus, Antig. xx. 7, speaks of Nero ty γυναικὶ Ποππαίᾳ, ϑεοσεθὴς γὰρ ἦν,
υπὲρ των Ιουδαίων χαριζόμενος. This was on the occasion of the wall which the Jews
puilt to intercept Agrippa’s view of the temple. They sent ambassadors to Rome, wha
succeeded by Poppzea’s intercession in carrying their point.
? Phil. ii. 17, and iii. 11. 3 Philem. 22, 23,
4 Pallas was put to death by poison soon after the marriage of Poppaa, and “eodem
anno.”’ Tac. xiv. 65.
5 Phil. ii. 26 6 Phil. i. 28. 29. 7 Phil 15.121 & Phil. iv. 15,
EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 494
of Philippi is, that certain of its members were deficient in lowlincss of
mind, and were thus led into disputes and altercations with their brethren.
Two women of consideration amongst the converts, Euodia and Syntych
by name, had been especially guilty of this fault ; and their variance was
the more to be regretted, because they had both laboured earnestly for
the propagation of the faith, St. Paul exhorts the Church with great
solemnity and earnestness,! to let these disgraceful bickerings cease, and to
be all “of one soul and one mind.” He also gives them very full particu-
lars about his own condition, and the spread of the Gospel at Rome. He
writes in a tone of most affectionate remembrance, and, while anticipat-
ing the speedily approaching crisis of his fate, he expresses his faith, hope,
and joy with peculiar fervency.
THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS:.'
I.
1 Paci anp TrMorHEus, BONDSMEN OF JESUS CHRIST, TO Salutation.
ALL Gop’s PEOPLE? IN Curist JESUS WHO ARE AT
PHILIPPI, WITH THE BISHOPS 4 AND DEACONS.®
2 Grace be to you and Peace, from God our Father, and
from our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Phil. ii. 1, 2 and iv. 2.
3 The following are the grounds of the date assigned to this Epistle :—
(1) It was written during an imprisonment at Rome, because (A) the Pretorium
(i. 13) was at Rome; (B) So was the emperor’s household (iv. 22); (c) He expected
the immediate decision of his cause (i. 19. ii. 27), which could only have been given
at Rome.
(2) It was written during the first imprisonment at Rome, because (A) the mention
_ of the Pretorium agrees with the fact that, during his first imprisonment, he was in
the custody of the Pratorian Prefect; (8) His situation described (i. 12-14) agrees
with his situation in the first two years of his imprisonment (Acts xxviii. 30, 31).
(3) It was written towards the conclusion of this first imprisonment, because (A) he
expects the immediate decision of his cause; (B) Enough time had elapsed for the
Philippians to hear of his imprisonment, send Epaphroditus to him, hear of Epaphro-
ditus’s arrival and sickness, and send back word to Rome of their distress (ii. 26).
(4) It was written after Colossians and Philemon; both for the preceding reason
and because Luke was no bonger at Rome, as he was when those were written ; other
wise he would have saluted a Church in which he had laboured, and would have
“ cared in earnest for their concerns ” (see ii. 20),
3 For the translation of ἁγίοις, see note on 1 Cor. i. 2.
4 "Επισκόποις. This term was at this early period applied to all the presbyters: see
Vol. 1. p. 434.
5 Διακόνοις : see Vol. I. p. 436. It is singular that the presbyters and deacona
should be mentioned separately in the address of this Epistle only. It has been sug:
gested that they had collected and forwarded the contribution sent by Epaphreditus.
494 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF §1. PAUL.
Thanksgivings I' thank my God upon every remembrance of 3
and prayers for . . .
them. you, (continually in all my prayers making my 4
supplication for you all? with joy), for your fellowship in for- 5
warding the Glad-tidings, from the first day untilnow. And 6
Iam confident accordingly,‘ that He who has begun a good
work in you will perfect it, even until the day of Jesus Christ.
And it is just that I should be thus mindful 5 of you all, because 7
you have me in your hearts, and both in my imprisonment
and in my defence and confirmation ὁ of the Glad-tidings, you
all share in the grace’ bestowed upon me. God is my witness 8
how I long after you all, in the affections of Christ Jesus.
And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and 9
more, in true knowledge, and in all understanding, teaching
you to distinguish 5 good from evil; that you may be pure, and 16
may walk without? stumbling until the day of Christ ; being 11
filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus
Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.
Intelligence of I would have you know, brethren, that the things 12
his condition at " 7
Rome, which have befallen me have tended rather to the
furtherance than hindrance of the Glad-tidings. So that my 18
chains have become well-known in the name of Christ, through-
out the whole Pretorium,” and to all the" rest. And thus14
most " of the brethren in the Lord, rendered confident by my
1 Observe “ Paul and Timotheus” followed immediately by “I,” in confirmation of
4he remarks in the note on 1 Thess. i. 2.
2 The constant repetition of πάντες in connection with ὑμεῖς in this Epistle is re-
markable. It seems as if St. Paul implied that he (at least) would not recognise any
divisions among them. See above.
3 Bic τὸ ev., not “in the Gospel” (A. V.).
4 Αὐτὸ τοῦτο, accordingly ; compare 2 Cor. ii. ὃ and Gal. ii. 10.
5 ΠΡοῦτο φρονεῖν ὑπὲρ refers to the preceding mention of his prayers for them.
6 St. Paul defended his doctrine by his words, and confirmed it by his life.
7 The grace or gift bestowed on St. Paul, and also on the Philippians, was the power
of confirming the Gospel by their sufferings: compare χάριτος here with ἐχαρίσθη,
verse 29.
8 Compare Rom. ii. 18.
® ᾿Απροσκοποὶ seems used here intransitively ; at 1 Cor. x. 32 it is active.
10 Τῷ πραιτωρίῳ. For the explanation of this, see above, p. 416. We have sevn
that St Paul was committed to the custody of the Prefectus Pretorio, and guarded
by different Praetorian soldiers, who relieved one another. Hence his condition would
be soon known throughout the Preetorian quarters.
11 This expression is very obscure ; it may mean either to the Pretorian soldiers
who guard me, and to all the rest of those who visit me; or to all the rest of the
Pretorian Guards. The latter view gives the best sense,
"5 ποὺς πλείονας, not “many” (A. V.).
car
EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 42
chains, are very much emboldened to speak the Word fearless
t5ly. Some, indeed, proclaim! Christ even out of envy and con
tention :? but some, also, out of goodwill. These do it from
16 love, knowing that I am appointed to defend the Glad-tidings ;
17 but those declare Christ from a spirit of intrigue,‘ not sincerely,
thinking to stir® up persecution against me in my imprison-
igment. What then? nevertheless, every way, whether in pre-
tence or in truth, the tidings of Christ are published; and
19 herein I rejoice now, yea, and I shall rejoice hereafter. For I
know that “these things® shall fall out to ηὺν salvation,” 1
through your prayers, and through the supply of all my needs *
20 by the spirit of Jesus Christ ; according to my earnest expec-
tation and hope, that I shall in no wise be put to shame,® but
that with all boldness, as at all other times, so now also, Christ
will be magnified in my body, whether by my life or by my
21death. For to me life is Christ, and death is gain. But whe-
22 ther this life 10 in the flesh shall be the fruit of my labour, and
1 Tov Χριστόν (observe the article, which seems to indicate that they were Jews,
wko proclaimed Jesus as the Messiah). Κηρύσσειν is to proclaim (as a herald),
καταγγέλλειν to declare tidings of (as a messenger).
2 These were probably Judaizers.
3 The order of verses 16 and 17 (as given in the best MSS.) is transposed in the
Received Text.
4 ᾿Εριθείας. See note on Rom. ii. 8.
5 ᾿Βγείρειν, not ἐπιφέρειν, is the reading of the best MSS. The Judaizers probably,
by professing to teach the true version of Christianity, and accusing Paul of teaching
a false and anti-national doctrine, excited odium against him among the Christians of
Jewish birth at Rome.
6 Tooro, viz. the sufferings resulting from the conduct of these Judaizers.
7 The words are quoted verbatim from Job xiii. 16 (LXX.). Yet perhaps St. Paul
did not so much deliberately quote them, as use an expression which floated in his
memory.
8 Ἢ ἐπιχορηγία τοῦ χορηγοῦ would mean the supplying of all needs [of the chorus]
by the Choregus. So 7 ἐπιχορηγία τοῦ πνεύματος means the suppiying of all needs
[of the Christian] by the Spirit. Compare Eph. iy. 16, and Col. ii. 19.
9 St. Paul was confident that his faith and hope would not fail him in the day of
trial. Corapare Rom. v. 5 (ἡ ἐλπὶς οὐ καταισχύνει). He was looking forward to hia
final hearing, as we have already seen, page 422. ᾿
i0 We punctuate this very difficult verse thus, εἰ δὲ τὸ ζὴν ἐν σαρκὶ τοῦτό μοι καρπὸς
ἔργου, καὶ τὶ αἱρήσομαι, οὐ γνωρίζω, Literally, but whether this life in the flesh (com
pare τὸ ϑνητὸν τοῦτο, 1 Cor. xv. 54, and 6 viv ζῶ ἐν σαρκὶ, Gal. il. 20) be my labour’s
fruit, and what I shall choose, I know not. The A. VY. assumes an ellipsis after
σαρκὶ of μοι προκεῖται, or something equivalent, and gives no inte!) gible meaning to
καρπὸς ἔργου. On the other hand, De Wette’s translation, if life in the flesh —if this
he my labour’s fruit, what I shall choose I know not, makes the καὶ redundant
(which is not justified by the »xample he quotes, 2 Cor. ii. 2, where καὶ τίς is an em.
whatic question, equivalent te quis tandem, who, I pray), and also supposes τοῦτ
΄
£26 THE LIFE AND ZPISTLES OF sT. PAUL.
what I should choose, I know not. For between the two I ain 93
in perplexity ; having the desire to depart and be with Christ,
which is far better; yet to remain in the flesh is more needful, 24
for your sake. And in this confidence, I know that I shall re- 25
main,’ and shall continue with you all, to your furtherance and
joy in faith; that you may have more. abundant cause for 26
your boasting’ in Christ Jesus on my account, by my presence
again among you.
Exhortationsto Only live worthy of the Glad-tidings of Christ, 27
ance, concord, that whether I come and see you, οἱ be absent, I may
hear concerning you, that you stand tirmly in one spi- 28
rit, contending together with one mind for the faith of the Glad-
tidings, and nowise terrified by its enemies ;‘ for their enmity
is to them an evidence of perdition, but to you of salvation,
and that from God. For to you it has been given, on behalf 29
of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His
sake; having the same conflict which once you saw® in me, 30
and which now you hear that I endure. Il.
If, then, you can be entreated*® in Christ, if you can be 1
persuaded by love, if you have any fellowship in the Spirit, if
you have any tenderness or compassion, I pray you make my 2
joy full,7 be of one accord, filled with the same love, of one
soul, of one mind. Do nothing in a spirit of intrigue * or van- 3
ity, but in lowliness of mind let each account others above him-
self. Seek not your private ends alone, but let every man seek 4
likewise his neighbour’s good.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus; 5
used in a way for which there is no analogy; because the instance quoted by him
(Mark vii. 15) is not analogous, éxeiva there being exceedingly emphatic, “ these (I
say),”” whereas in the τοῦτο here there is no special emphasis. Meyer’s interpretation
is still more unsatisfactory, and equally fails to explain the τοῦτο and the kai. Beza’s
translation “an vero vivere in carne mihi opere pretium sit, et quid eligam ignoro”
comes nearest to that which we adopt; but he leaves out the 7 ὕτο, and there is ne
analogy for rendering καρπὸς ἔργου by opere pretium.
1 Μενῶ, shall remain, t. e. alive.
3 Compare ἐν Χριστῷ καυχώμενοι (iii. 3). 3 See note on iii. 20.
4 Compare ἀντικείμενοι πολλοὶ, 1 Cor. xvi. 9.
5 They had seen him sent to prison, Acts xvi. 23.
6 For παρακαλεῖν, meaning to entreat, see Matt. xviii. 32, and for παράμυθεισθαι,
meaning to urge by persuasion or entreaty, see 1 Thess. ii. 11.
7 The extreme earnestness of this exhortation ¢o unity shows that the Philippians
were guilty of dissension; perhaps Euodia and Syntyche, whose opposition to each
other is mentioned iv. 2, had partizans who shared their quarrel.
8 "Ἐριεθεία, see above, i. 17.
EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 427
6 who, being in the form of God, thought it sot robbery to be
7 equal with God, yet stripped,* Himself [of His glory) and
took upon Him the torm of a slave,’ being changed‘ into the
8 likeness of man. And having appeared in the guise of men,
He abased himself and shewed obedience,’ even unto death,
9 yea, death upon the cross. Wherefore God also exalted Him
above measure, and gave Him the* name which is above every
loname ; that in the name of Jesus, “every knee should bow,” τ of
all who dwell in heaven, in earth, or under the earth, and every
11 tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of
God the Father.
12 Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed me, not
as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence,
‘3 work out your own salvation with fear and trembling ;8 for it
1415 God who works in you both will and deed. Do all things
1 Οὐχ ἀρπαγμὸν ἡγήσατο. This very difficult expression clearly admits of the trans
lation adopted ia the authorised version, from which therefore we have not thought it
right to deviate. The majority of modern interpreters, however, take ἁρπαγμὸν
ἡγεῖσθαι as equivalent to ἅρπαγμα ἡγεῖσθαι, a phrase which was used by some Greek
writers (referred to by Wetstein), with the meaning to reckon a thing as a booty, to
look on a thing as a robber would look on spoil. It is a considerable objection to
this view, that it makes ἁρπαγμός (properly, the act of seizing) identical with dpray-
μα (the thing seized); see Meyer, in loco. The authorised version is free from this
objection, but it is liable to the charge of rendering the connection with the following
verse less natural than the other interpretation. If the latter be correct, the transla-
tion would be, He thought not equality with God a thing to be seized upon, i.e.
though, essentially, even while on earth, He was in the form of God, yet He did
not think fit to claim equality with God until He had accomplished His mission.
2 Literally, emptied himself.
3 The likeness of man was the form of a slave to Him, contrasted with the form
of God which essentially belonged to Him.
4 Literally, having become in the likeness, which in English is expressed by being
changed into the likeness.
5 He “showed obedience” to the laws of human society, to His parents, and to the
civil magistrate ; and carried that self-humiliating obedience even to the point of sub-
mitting to death, when He might have summoned “ twelve legions of angels” to His
rescue.
6 The best MSS. read τὸ ὑπέρ.
7 Isaiah xly. 23 (LXX.), quoted Rom. xiv. 11. It is strange that this verse should
often have been quoted as commanding the practice of bowing the head at the name
of Jesus ; a practice most proper in itself, but not here referred to: what it really pre-
scribes is, Xneeling in adoration of Him.
8 We have already remarked that with anxiety and self-distrust is a nearer repre-
sentation of the Pauline phrase, μετὰ φόθου καὶ τρόμου, than the literal English of the
words with fear and trembling, as appears by the use of the same phrase, 1 Cor,
ii, 3. 2 Cor. vii. 15. Eph. vi.5. The φόβος is a fear of Jailure, the τρόμος an
rager anxiety.
.
$28 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 51. PAUL.
for the sake of goodwill,' without murmurings and disputings,
that you may be blameless and guileless, the sons of God with- 14
out rebuke, in the midst of “ὦ crooked and perverse genera-
tion,” ? among whom ye shine like stars* in the world; holding 16
fast the Word of Life; that you may give me ground of boast- -
ing, even to the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, nor
laboured in vain.
St. Paul’s ex- But‘ though my blood* be poured forth upon17
pectations and aoe is ae ν᾿
intentions. the ministration of the sacrifice of your faith, I re-
joice for myself, and rejoice with you all; and do ye likewise1s
rejoice, both for yourselves and with me. But I hope in [8619
Lord Jesus to send Timotheus to you® shortly, that I also may
be cheered, by learning your state; for I have no other like- 20
minded with me, who would care in earnest for your concerns ;
for all seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ. But you 21
know? the trials which have proved his worth, and that, as ἃ 29
son with a father, he has shared my servitude, to proclaim the
Glad-tidings. Him, then, I hope to send without delay, as svon 23
as I see how it will go with me; but I trust in the Lord that I 24
also myself shall come shortly.
Beier Dem. Epaphroditus, who is my brother and companion 25
in labour and fellow-soldier, and your messenger to
minister’ to my wants, I have thought it needful to send to you.
For he was filled with longing for you all} and with sadness, 26
because you had heard that he was sick. And, indeed, he had 27
a sickness which brought him almost to death, but God had
compassion on him; and not on him only but on me, that I
1 Ὑπὲρ τῆς εὐδοκίας ‘has perplexed the interpreters, because they have all joined it
with the preceding words. We put a stop after ἐνεργεῖν, and take εὐδοκία in the same
sense as at i. 15 above and Luke ii. 14. It is strange that so clear and simple a con-
struction, involving no alteration in the text, should not have been before suggested.
3 Τέκνα μωμητὰ, γενεὰ σκολιὰ καὶ διεστραμμένη. Deut. xxxii. 5 (LXX.). The
preceding ἀμώμητα alludes to this μωμητὰ.
3 Φωστῆρες. Compare Gen.i.14. (LXX.)
4 This but sees to connect what follows with i. 25, 26.
5 Literally, I be poured forth. The metaphor is probably from the Jewish drink-
offerings (Numbers xxviii. 7), rather than from the heathen libations. The heather
converts are spoken of as a sacrifice offered up by St. Paul as the ministering priest
in Rom. xv. 16. ν᾿
6 Ὕμῖν may be used for πρὸς ὑμᾶς. Cf. 1 Cor. iv. 17.
τ Timotheus had laboured among them at the first. See Acts xvi.
8 Δειτουργόν. Compare verse 30, λειτουργία:
«
EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 4920
28 might not have sorrow upon sorrow. Therefore I have been -
the more anxious to send him, that you may have the joy of
seeing him again, and that I may have one sorrow the less
29 Receive him, therefore, in the Lord, with all gladness, and hold
30such men in honour; because his labour in the cause of Christ
brought him near to death; for he hazarded? his life that he
might supply all which you could not do,’ in ministering
to me.
III. Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord.
1 ‘To repeat the same‘ warnings is not wearisome Warning
against Judai-
2 to me, and it is safe for you. Beware of the Dogs,> zers, and ex-
hortation ta
beware of the Evil Workmen, beware of the Conci- perseverance in
the Christian
3sion. For we are the Circumcision, who worship ‘ce.
God* with the spirit, whose boasting’? is in Christ Jesus, and
4 whose confidence is not in the flesh. Although I might have
confidence in the flesh also. If any other man thinks that he
5 has ground of confidence in the flesh, [have more. Circum-
cised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Ben
6 jamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; As to the Law, a Pharisee;
as to zeal a persecutor of the Church ; as to the righteousness
7 of the Law, unblameable. But what once was gain to me, that
8 I have counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all
things but loss, because all are nothing-worth in comparison ὃ
1"Exewpa. The aorist used from the position of the reader, according to classical
usage.
3 TlapaboAevcduevog is the reading of the best MSS.
3 The same expression is used of the messengers of the Corinthian Church. 1 Cor.
xvi. 17. The English reader must not understand the A. V. “lack of service” to ccn-
vey areproach. From this verse we learn that the illness of Epaphroditus was caused
by some casualty of his journey, or perhaps by over-fatigue.
4 Literally, to write the same to you. St. Paul must here refer either to some pre-
vious Epistle to the Philippians (now lost), or to his former conversations with them.
5 The Judaizers are here described by three epithets: “the dogs” because of their
uncleanness (of which that animal was the type: compare 2 Pet. ii. 22); “the evil
workmen” (not equivalent to ‘ evil workers’’) for the same reason that they are called
“ deceitful workmen” in 2 Cor. xi. 13 ; and “the concision”’ to distinguish them from
the true circumcision, the spiritual Israel.
6 We retain Θεῷ here, with the Textus Receptus, and a minority of MSS., because
of the analogy of Rom. i. 9 (see note there). The true Christians are here described
by contrast with the Judaizers, whose worship was the carnal worship of the temple,
whose boasting was in the law, and whose confidence was in the circumcision of their
fiesh.
Apparently alluding to Jer. ix. 24, “ He that boasteth let him boast in the Lord,’
which is quoted 1 Cor. i. $1, and 2 Cor. x. 7.
5. Literally, because of the supereminence vs the knowledge of Christ, i e. t2rause
‘ne knowledge of Christ surpasses all things else.
480 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
with the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord ; for whom I have
suffered the loss of all things, and count them but as dung, that
I may gain Christ, and be found in Him; not havint my own ¢
righteousness of the Law, but the righteousness of faith in
Christ, the righteousness which God bestows on Faith ;: that 116
may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the
fellowship of Ilis sufferings, sharing the likeness of His death ;
if by any means I might attain to the resurrection from the 11
dead.
Not that I have already won,’ or am already perfect; but12
I press onward, if, indeed, I might lay hold on that, for which
Christ also laid hold on me.?' Brethren, I count not myself to12
have laid hold thereon ; but this one thing I do—forgetting that
which is behind, and reaching‘ forth to that which is before, 114
press onward towards the mark, for the prize of God's heavenly
zalling in Christ Jesus.
Let us all, then, who are ripe® in understanding, be thus 15
minded ; and if in anything you are otherwise minded, that
also shall be revealed to you by God [in due time]. Neverthe- 16
less, let us walk according to that which we have attained.®
Brethren, be imitators of me with one consent, and mark 17
those who walk according to my example. Jor many walk, ofig
whom I told you often in times’ past, and now tell you even
weeping, that they are “the enemies® of the cross of Christ ;
ι Ἔκ Θεοῦ, which God bestows, ἐπὶ τῇ πίστει, on condition of faith. Compare
ἐπὶ τῇ πίστει, Acts iii. 16.
2*EAabov sc. τὸ βραβεῖον (v. 14). Compare 1 Cor ix. 24, Οὕτω τρέχετε ἵνα κατα-
λάβητε. It is unfortunate that in A. V. this is translated by the same verb attain,
which is used for καταντήσω in the preceding verse, so as to make it seem to refer toa
that.
3 Our Lord had “ laid hold on” Paul, in order to bring him to the attainment of
“the prize of God's heavenly calling.” ᾿Ιησοῦ is omitted by the best MSS.
4 The image is that of the runner in a foot race, whose body is bent forward in the
direction towards which he runs. See beginning of Chap. XX.
5 The translation in A. V. of τετελείωμαι (verse 12) and τέλειοι by the same word,
makes St. Paul seem to contradict himself. Τέλειος is the antithesis of νήπιος. Com-
pare 1 Cor. xiv. 20.
6 See Winer, ὃ 45,7. The precept is the same given Rom. xiv. 5. The words
κανόνι τὸ αὐτὸ φρονεῖν are omitted in the best MSS.
1 "Ἔλεγον. Literally, I used to tell you.
8 For the construction of τοὺς ἐχθρούς, compare τὴν ζωήν, 1 John ii. 25. The per-
sons meant were men who led licentious lives (like the Corinthian free-thinkers), and
they are called ‘ enemies of the cross’? because the cross was the symbol of mortifica
tion.
EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 431
19 whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose
glory is in their shame; whose mind is set on earthly things.
20 For my life? abides in heaven, from whence also I look for a
21Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; who shall change my vile‘
body into the likeness of His glorious body; according to the
Iv working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto
1 Himself. Therefore my brethren, dearly beloved and longed
for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly
beloved.
2 Iexhort Euodia, and I exhort Syntyche,* to be Euoaia ana
Syntyche must
3 of one mind in the Lord. Yea, and I beseech thee νὰ reconciled.
also, my true yoke-fellow,® to help them [to be reconciled] ; for
they strove earnestly in the work of the Glad-tidings with me,
together with Clemens? and my other fellow-labourers, whose
names are in the Book® of Life.
4 Rejoice in the Lord at all times. Again will® I Exhortation to
ae . rejoice in tri-
5 say, rejoice. Let your forbearance be known to all bulation, ana
to loye and fok
6 men. The" Lord is at hand. Let no care trouble low goodness.
you, but in all things, by prayer and supplication with thanks-
1 Cf. Rom. xvi, 18.
3 TloAcrevua must not be translated citizenship (as has been proposed), which would
be πολιτεία (cf. Acts xxii. 28). Πολιτεύεσθαι means to perform the functions of
civil life, and is used simply for ¢o live; see Acts xxiii. 1, and Phil. i. 27. Hence
πολίτευμα means the tenor of life. It should be also observed that dzdpyer is more
than ἐστί.
3 Ἔξ od. See Winer xxi. 2.
4 Literally, the body of my humiliation.
5 These were two women (see αὐταῖς, verse 3, which is mistranslated in A. V.) who
were at variance. a
6 We have no means of knowing who was the person thus addressed. Apparently
some eminent Christian at Philippi, to whom the Epistle was to be presented in the
irst instance. The old hypothesis (mentioned by Chrysostom) uhat Σύζυγος is a proper
name, is not without plausibility ; “quiet re et nomine Σύζυγος es.’”? (Gomarus, in
Poli Synops.)
7 We learn from Origen (Comm. on John i. 29) that this Clemens (commonly called
Clement) was the same who was afterwards Bishop of Rome, and who wrote the Epis-
tles to the Corinthians which we have before referred to (p. 155). Eusebius quotes the
following statement concerning him from Irenseus: Τρίτῳ τύπῳ ἀπὸ τῶν ἀποστόλων
τὴν ἐπισκόπην κληροῦται Κλήμης, ὁ καὶ ἑωρακὼς τοὺς μακαρίους ἀποστόλους καὶ συμῦε-
δληκὼς [ (2) συμϑεθιωκὼς αὐτοῖς. (Hist. Eccl. v. 6.) It appears from the present
passage that he had formerly laboured successfully at Philippi.
8 Compare βίβλου ζώντων, Ps. lxix. 28. (LXX.), and also Luke x. 20 and Heb
xii. 23.
9 ’Epo is future. He refers to iii. 1.
10 They are exhorted to be joyful under persecution, and show gentleness to their
persecutors, because the Lord’s coming would soon deliver them from all their affie
tions. Compare note on 1 Cor. xvi. 22
439 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF Β1. PAUL.
giving, let your requests be made known to God. And the ἢ
peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep ' your
hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatso- 8
ever is true, whatsoever is venerable, whatsoever is just, what-
soever is pure, whatsoever is endearing, whatsoever is of good
report,—if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise—be
‘such the objects of your? esteem. _ That which you were taught 9
and learned, and which you heard and saw in me,—be that
your practice. So shall the God of peace be with you.
Liberality of | I rejoiced in the Lord greatly when I found that1
the Philippian ἢ
Chureh. now, after so long a time, your care for me had borne
fruit again ;* though your care indeed never failed, but you
lacked opportunity. Not that I speak as if I were in want; for11
I+ have learnt, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be con-
tent. I can bear either abasement or abundance. In all2
things, and amongst all men, I have been taught the lesson, to
be full or to be hungry, to want or to abound. I can do all
things, in Him® who strengthens my heart. Nevertheless, you1s
have done well, in contributing to the help of my affliction. 14
And you know yourselves, Philippians, that,in the beginning 15
of the Glad-tidings, after I had left Macedonia,’ no Church
communicated with me on account of giving and receiving,
but you alone. For even while I was still in Thessalonica,$ 10
you sent once and again to relieve my need. Not that I seek 17
your gifts, but I seek the fruit which accrues therefrom, to your
account. But I have all which I require, and more than I re-18
quire. Iam fully supplied, having received from Epaphrodi-
tus your gifts, “An odour of sweetness,” » an acceptable sacrifice
well pleasing to God. And your own needs” shall be all sup-19
plied by my God, in the fulness of His glorious riches in Christ
Jesus. Now to our God and Father be glory unto the ages of 20
ages. Amen.
1 Φρουρήσει, literally, garrison.
* Λογίζεσθε. Literally, reckun these things in account. Compare οὐ λογίξεται τὸ
κακόν, 1 Cor. xiii. 5.
3 The literal meaning of ἀναθάλλω is to put forth fresh shoots,
4 This “1” is emphatic (ἔγω). 5 Μεμύημαι, initiatus sum.
6 Χριστῷ is omitted in the best MSS. For ἐνδυναμ. ef. Rom. iy. 20.
7 Compare 2 Cor. xi. 9 and Vol. I. p. 389. 8 See Vol. I. p. 329.
9 Gen. viii. 21. (LXX.). ᾿Ωσφράνθη ὁ θεὸς ὌΣΜΗΝ ’EYQAIAZ: compare alse
‘Levit. i. 9 and Eph. v. 2.
μὴ The ὑμῶν is emphatic.
CONVERTS IN THE IMPERIAL HOUSEHOLD. 452
1 Salute all God’s people in Christ Jesus. The salutations.
brethren who are with! me salute you.
22 All God’s people here salute you, especially those who be
long to the house of Ceesar.’
23 “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your Autograph
auf . benediction.
spirits.®
The above Epistle gives us an unusual. amount of information con-
cerning the personal situation of its writer, which we have already endea
voured to incorporate into our narrative. But nothing in it is more sug-
gestive than St. Paul’s allusion to the Praetorian guards, and to the
converts he had gained in the household of Nero. He tells us (as we
have just read) that throughout the Praetorian quarters he was well
known as a prisoner for the cause of Christ,‘ and he sends special saluta-
tions to the Philippian Church from the Christians in the Imperial house-
hold. These notices bring before us very vividly the moral contrasts by
which the Apostle was surrounded. The soldier to whom he was chained
to-day might have been in Nero’s body-guard yesterday ; his comrade
who next relieved guard upon the prisoner, might have been one of the
executioners of Octavia, and might have carried her head to Poppxa a
few weeks before. Such were the ordinary employments of the fierce
and blood-stained veterans who were daily present, like wolves in the
midst of sheep, at the meetings of the Christian brotherhood. If there
were any of these soldiers not utterly hardened by a life of cruelty, their
hearts must surely have been touched by the character of their prisoner,
brought as they were into so close a contact with him. They must have
been at least astonished to see a man, under such circumstances, so utterly
careless of selfish interests, and devoting himself with an energy so unae-
countable to the teaching of others. Strange indeed to their ears, fresh
from the brutality of a Roman barrack, must have been the sound of
Christian exhortation, of prayers, and of hymns ; stranger still, perhaps,
the tender love which bound the converts to their teacher and to one
another, and showed itself in every look and tone.
1 This of σὺν ἐμοὶ, distinguished from πάντες οἱ ἅγιοι in the next verse, seems to de-
note St. Paul’s special attendants, such as Aristarchus, Epaphras, Demas, Timotheua,
ἄς. Cf. Gal. i. 2.
2 These members of the imperial household were probably slaves; so the same ex-
pression is used by Josephus (Ant. xviii. 5, 8). If St. Paul was at this time confined
in the neighbourhood of the Praetorian quarters attached to the palace, we can more
readily account for the conversion of some of those who lived in the buildings imme-
diately contiguous.
3 The majority of the uncial MSS. read πνεύματος, and omit the ἀμήν,
45 5 iv. 22,
ΤΌΣ 11 Ὁ
484 THE (LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 851. PAUL.
But if the agents of Nero’s tyranny scem out of place in such a scene,
atill more repugnant to the assembled worshippers must have been the in-
struments of his pleasures the ministers of his lust, Yet some even among
these, the depraved servants of the palace, were redeemed from their de-
gradation by the Spirit of Christ, which spoke to them in the words of
Paul. How deep their degradation was, we know from authentic records,
We are not left to conjecture the services required from the attendants of
Nevo. The ancient historians have polluted their pages’ with details of
infamy which no writer in the languages of Christendom may dare to re-
peat. Thus, the very immensity of moral amelioration wrought, operates
to disguise its own extent ; and hides from inexperienced eyes the gulf
which separates heathenism from Christianity. Suffice it to say that the
courtiers of Nero were the spectators, and the members of his household
the instruments, of vices so monstrous and so unnatural, that they shocked
even the men of that generation, steeped as it was in every species of ob-
scenity. But we must remember that many of those who took part in
such abominations were involuntary agents, forced by the compulsion of
slavery to do their master’s bidding. And the very depth of vileness in
which they were plunged, must have excited in some of them an indignant
disgust and revulsion against vice. Under such feelings, if curiosity led
them to visit the Apostle’s prison, they were well qualified to appreciate
the purity of its moral atmosphere. And there it was that some of these
unhappy bondsmen first tasted of spiritual freedom ; and were prepared
to brave with patient heroism the tortures under which they soon? were
destined to expire in the gardens of the Vatican. ᾿
History has few stranger contrasts than when it shows us Paul
preaching Christ under the walls of Nero’s palace. Thenceforward, there
were but two religions in the Roman world ; the worship of the Emperor
and the worship of the Saviour. The old superstitious had been long
worn out ; they had lost all hold on educated minds. There remained to
civilised heathens no other worship possible but the worship of power ;
and the incarnation of power which they chose was, very naturally, the
Sovereign of the world. This, then, was the ultimate result of the noble
intuitions of Plato, the methodical reasonings of Aristotle, the pure mo-
rality of Socrates. All had failed, for want of external sanction and
authority. The residuum they left was the philosophy of Epicurus, and
the religion of Nerolatry. But anew doctrine was already taught in the
Forum, and believed even on the Palatine. Over against the altars of
Nero and Poppea, the voice of a prisoner was daily heard, and daily woke
> See Tacitus Ann. xv. 37. Dio xiii. 13, and especially Suetonius, Nero, 28, 29.
? The Neronian persecution, in which such vast multitudes of Christians perished,
occurred in the summer of 64 Ap., that is, within less than two years of the time when
the Epistle to Philippi was written. See the next Chanter.
CONVERTS IN THE IMPERIAL HOUSEHOLD. 488
in grovelling souls the consciousness of their divine destiny. Mea listered,
and knew that self-sacrifice was better than ease, humiliation more vx:
alted than pride, to suffer nobler than to reign. They felt that the only
religion which satisfied the needs of man was the religion of sorrow, the
religion of sclf-devotion, the religion of the cross.
There are some amongst us now who think that the doctrine whiek
Paul preached was a retrograde movement in the course of humanity ;
there are others who, with greater plausibility, acknowledge that it was
useful in its season, but tell us that it is now worn out and obsolete. The
former are far more consistent than the latter ; for both schools of infi-
delity agree in virtually advising us to return to that effete philosophy
which had been already tried and found wanting, when Christianity was
winning the first triumphs of its immortal youth. This might well surprise
us, did we not know that the progress of human reason in the paths ot
ethical dizcovery is merely the progress of a man in a treadmill, doomed
for ever to retrace his own steps. Had it been otherwise, we might have
hoped that mankind could not again be duped by an old and useless re-
medy, which was compounded and recompounded in every possible shape
and combination, two thousand years ago, and at last utterly rejected by
a nauseated world. Yet for this antiquated anodyne, disguised under a
new lahel, many are once more bartering the only true medicine that can
heal the diseases of the soul.
For such mistakes there is, indeed, no real cure, except prayer to Him
who giveth sight to the blind ; but a partial antidote may be supplied by
the history of the Imperial Commonwealth. The trae wants of the
Apostolic age can best be learned from the annals of Tacitus. There
men may still see the picture of that Rome to which Paul preached ; and
thence they may comprehend the results of civilisation without Christi-
anity, and the impotence of a moral philosophy destitute of supernatural
attestation.!
1 Had Arnold lived to complete his task, how nobly would his history of the Em-
pire have worked out this great argument! His indignant abhorrence of wickedness
and his ent)usiastic love of moral beauty, made him worthy of such a theme.
426 "HE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 8ST. PAUT.
CHAPTER XXVIL.
Ἐπὶ «τὸ τέρμα τῆς δυσεως ἐλθὼν, καὶ μαρτυρήσας ἐπὶ τῶν ἡγουμένων, οὗ" wf
ἀπηλλάγη τοῦ κόσμου. (Clem. Rom. i. cap. 5.)
AVTHORITIES FOR ST. PAUL’S SUBSEQUENT HISTORY.—HIS APPEAL IS HEARD.—HIS AUQUII-
TAL.—HE GOES FROM ROME TO ASIA MINOR.—THENCE TO SPAIN, WHERE HE RESIDES
TWO YEARS.—HE RETURNS TO ASIA MINOR AND MACEDONIA.—WRITES 7HE FIRS?
EPISTLE TO TIMOTHEUS.—VISITS CRETE.—WRITES THE EPISTLE TO TITUS.—HE WIN
TERS AT NICOPOLIS.—HE IS AGAIN IMPRISONED AT ROME.—PROGRESS OF HIS TRIAL.—
HE WRITES THE SECOND EPISTLE TO TIMOTHEUS.—HIS CONDEMNATION AND DEATH,
We have already remarked that the light concentrated upon that portion
of St. Paul’s life which is related in the latter chapters of the Acts,
makes darker by contrast the obscurity which rests upon the remainder of
his course ‘The progress of the historian who attempts to trace the
footsteps of the Apostles beyond the limits of the Scriptural narrative
must, at best, be hesitating and uncertain. It has heen compared! to
the descent of one who passes from thé clear sunshine which rests upon a
mountain’s top into the mist which wraps its side. But this is an inade-
quate comparison ; for such a wayfarer loses the daylight gradually, and
experiences no abrupt transition, from the bright prospect and the dis-
tinctness of the onward path, into darkness and bewilderment. Our case
should rather be compared with that of the traveller on the Chinese fron-
tier, who has just reached a turn in the valley along which his course has
led him, and has come to a point whence he expected to enjoy the view of
a new and brilliant landscape ; when he suddenly finds all farther pros-
pect cut off by an enormous wall, filling up all the space between preci-
pices on either hand, and opposing a blank and insuperable barrier to his
onward progress. And if a chink here and there should allow some
glimpses of the rich territory beyond, they are only enough to tantalise,
without gratifying his curiosity.
Doubtless, however, it was a Providential design which has thus limited
ut knowledge. The wall of separation, which for ever cuts off the
Apostolic age from that which followed it, was built by the hand of God,
That age of miracles was not to be revealed to us as passing by any gra-
dual transition into the common life of the Church ; it was intentionally
1 The comparison occurs somewhere in Arnold’s works.
EVIDENCE IN FAVOUR OF HIS LIBERATION. 437
isoka ed from all succeeding time, that we might learn to appreciate more
rully its extraordinary character, and see, by the sharpness of the ab-
ruptest contrast, the difference between the human and the divine.
A few faint rays of light, however, have been permitted to penetrate
beyond the dividing barrier, and of these we must make the best use we
ean: for it is now our task to trace the history of St. Paul beyond the
period where the narrative of his fellow-traveller so suddenly terminates.
The only cotemporary materials for this purpose are his own letters to
Titus and Timotheus, and a single sentence of his disciple, Clement of
Rome ; and during the three centuries which followed we can gather but
a few scattered and unsatisfactory notices from the writers who have
handed down to us the traditions of the Church.
The great question which we have to answer concerns the termination
of that long imprisonment whose history has occupied the preceding
Chapters. St. Luke tells us that St. Paul remained under military
custody in Rome for ‘‘two whole years” (Acts xxviii. 16 and 30) ; but
he does not say what followed, at the close of that period. Was it ended,
we are left to ask, by the Apostle’s condemnation and death, or by his
acquittal and liberation? Although the answer to this question has been
a subject of dispute in modern times, no doubt was entertained about it by
the ancient church.* It was universally believed that St. Paul’s appeal to
Cesar terminated successfully ; that he was acquitted of the charges laid
against him ; and that he spent some years in freedom before he was again
imprisoned and condemned. ‘The evidence on this subject, though (as we
have said) not copious, is yet conclusive so far as it goes, and it is all one
way.
The most important portion of it is supplied by Clement, the diseiple
of St. Paul, mentioned Phil. iv. 3,5 who was afterwards Bishop of Rome.
1 Numerous explanations have been attempted of the sudden and abrupt termination
of the Acts, which breaks off the narrative of St. Paul’s appeal to Cwxsar (up to that
point so minutely detailed) just as we are expecting its conclusion. The most plau-
sible explanations are (1) That Theophilus a/ready knew of the conclusion of the
Roman imprisonment ; whether it was ended by St. Paul’s death or by his liberation.
(2) That St. Luke wrote before the conclusion of the imprisonment, and carried his
narrative up to the point at which he wrote. But neither of these theories is fully
satisfactory. We may take this opportunity to remark that the ἔμεινε and ἀπεδέχετο
(Acts xxviii. 30) by no means imply (as Wieseler asserts, p. 398, 399) that a changed
state of things had succeeeled to that there described. In writing historically, the his
torical tenses would be used by an ancient writer, even though (when he wrote) the
events described by him were still going on.
* If the Epistle to the Hebrews was written by St. Paul, it proves conclusively that
he was liberated from his Roman imprisonment; for its writer is in Jtaly, and at
liberty. (Heb. xiii. 23, 24.) But we are precluded from using this as an argumert,
in consequence of the doubts concerning the authorship of that Epistle. See the next
Chapter.
9 Jor the identity of St. Paui’s disciple Clemens, with Clemens Romanus, sce tb:
438 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
This author, writing from Rome to Corinth, expressly asserts that Paul
had preached the Gospel “IN THE EAST AND IN THE weEsT ;” that “he hae
instructed the wholz world. [i.e. the Roman Empire, which was commonly
go called] in righteousness ;” and that he “had gone to ΤῊΒ EXTREMITY OF
tue west” before his martyrdom.'
Now, in a Roman author, the extremity of the West could mean nothing
short of Spain, and the expression is often used by Roman writers to de
note Spain. Here, then, we have the express testimony of St. Paul’s owr
disciple that he fulfilled his original intention (mentioned Pom. xv. 24-
28) of visiting the Spanish peninsula ; and consequently that he was
liberated from his first imprisonment at Rome.
The next piece ef evidence which we possess on the «ject is con-
tained in the canon of the New Testament, compiled by an unknown
Christian about the year a.p. 170, which is known as Muratori’s Canon.
In this document i+ is said, in the account of the Acts of the Apostles, that
“ Luke relates to Theophilus events of which he was an eye-witness, as also, in
a separate place (semote) | viz. Luke xxii. 31-83], he evadently Ceclares the
martyrdom of Peter, but [omits] THE sourNEY or PavL FRom RoME To
Spain.” ?
In the next place, Eusebius tells us, “after defending himself success-
fully it is currently reported that the Apostle agavn went forth to proclarm
the Gospel, and afterwards came to Rome a second tvme, and was martyred
under Nero.
Next we have the statement of Chrysostom, who mentions it as an
undoubted historical fact, that “‘ St. Paul after his residence in Rome
departed to Spain.” 4
note on Phil. iv. 3. We may add that even those who doubt this identity achuowledge
that Clemens Romanus wrote in the first century.
1 Παῦλος. . . κῆρυξ γενόμενος ἐν τῇ ἀνατολῇ καὶ ἐν TH δύσει, τὸ γένναιον τῆς
πίστεως αὐτοῦ κλέος ἔλαζεν' δικαιοσύνην διδάξας ὅλον τὸν κόσμον καὶ [ἐπὶ] τὸ τέρμα
τῆς δύσεως ἐλθὼν καὶ μαρτυρήσας ἐπὶ τῶν ἡγουμένων, οὕτως ἀπηλλάγη τοῦ κόσμου.
(Clem. Rom. i. chap. v.) We need scarcely remark upon Wieseler’s proposal to trans-
late τὸ τέρμα τῆς δύσεως the Sovereign of Rome! Thatingenious writer has been here
evidently misled by his desire to wrest the passage (quocunque modo) into conformity
with his theory. Schrader translates μαρτυρήσας “having been martyred there,” and
then argues that the extremity of the West cannot mean Spain, because St. Paul waa
not martyred in Spain; but his “there ” is a mere interpolation of his own.
2 The words of this fragment are as follows: Acta autem omnium apostolorum sub
uno libro scripta sunt. Lucas optime Theophilo conprindit [comprehendit] quia
[que] sub presentia ejus singula gerebantur, sicuti et semote passionem Petri eviden-
ter declarat, sed profectionem Pauli ab urbe ad Spaniam proficiscentis [cmittit].
For an account of this fragment, see Routh’s Reliquiw Sacra, vol. iv. p. 1-12.
3 The words of Eusebius are, τότε μὲν οὖν ἀπολογησώμενον αὖθις ἐπὶ τὴν τοῦ κηρυγ-
ματος διακονίαν λόγος ἔχει στείλασθαι τὸν ἀπόστολον, δεύτερον δ᾽ ἐπίθαντα τῇ αὐτ
πύλει τῷ κατ᾽ αὐτὸν [Νέρωνα] τελειωθῆναι μαρτυρίῳ. (Hist. Eccl. ii. 22.)
4 Μετὰ τὸ γένεσθαι ἐν ‘Popp, πάλιν εἰς τὴν Σπανίαν ἀπῆλθεν. Ei δὲ ἐκεῖθε,
EVIDENCE IN FAVOUR OF HIS LIBERATION. 439
About the same time St. Jerome bears the same testimony, saying
that “Paul was dismissed by Nero, that he might preach Christ's Gospel ia
the West.” }
Against this unanimous testimony of the primitive Church there is ne
external evidence* whatever to oppose. ‘Those who doubt the liberation
of St Paul from his imprisonment are obliged to resort to a gratuitous
hypothesis, or te inconclusive arguments from probability. Thus they try
to account for the tradition of the Spanish journey, by the arbitrary sup-
position that it arose from a wish to represent St. Paul as having fulfilled
his expressed intentions (Rom. xv. 19) of visiting Spain. Or they say
that it is improbable Nero would have liberated St. Paul after he haé
fallen under the influence of Poppa, the Jewish proselyte, Or, lastly,
they urge, that, if St. Paul had really been liberated, we must have had
some account of his subsequent labours. The first argument needs no
answer, being a mere hypothesis. The second, as to the probability of
the matter, may be met by the remark that we know far too little of the
circumstances, and of the motives which weighed with Nero, to judge how
he would have been likely to act in the case. To the third argument we
may oppose the fact, that we have no account whatever of St. Paul’s
labours, toils, and sufferings, during several, of the most active years of
his life, and only learn their existence by a casual allusion in a letter to
the Corinthians (2 Cor. xi. 24, 25). Moreover, if this argument be worth
any thing, it would prove that none of the Apostles except St. Paul took
any part whatever in the propagation of the Gospel after the first few
years ; since we have no testimony to their subsequent labours at all more
definite than that which we have above quoted concerning the work of
St. Paul after his liberation.
πάλιν εἰς ταῦτα τὰ μέρη [viz. to the eastern part of the empire; it does not imply a
doubt of his return to Rome], οὐκ ἴσμεν. (Chrysost. on 2 Tim. iv. 20.)
1 Sciendum est .... Paulum a Nerone dimissum, ut evangelium Christi in Oeci-
dentis quoque partibus preedicaret. (Hieron. Catal. Script.)
? It has indeed been urged that Origen knew nothing of the journey to Spain, be-
cause Eusebius tells us that he speaks of Paul “ preaching from Jerusalem to Tlyri-
cum,”’—a manifest allusion to Rom. xv.19. It is strange that those who use this argu-
ment should not have perceived that they might, with equal justice, infer that Origen
was ignorant of St. Paul’s preaching at Malta. Still more extraordinary is it to find
Wieseler relying on the testimony of Pope Innocent I., who asserts (in the true spirit
of the Papacy) that “all the churches in Italy, Gaul, Spain, Africa, Sicily, and the
interjacent islands, were founded by emissaries of St. Peter or his successors :” an
assertion manifestly contradicting the Acts of the Apostles, and the known history of
the Gallican Church, and made by a writer of the fifth century! It has been alsa
argued by Wieseler that Eusebius and Chrysostom were led to the hypothesis of a
second imprisonment by their mistaken view of 2 Tim. iv. 20. But it is equally
probable that they were led to that view of the passage by their previous belief in the
tradition of the second imprisonment. Nor is their view of that passage untenable
thongh we think it mistaken.
440 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
But farther, unless we are prepared to dispute the genuineness of the
Pastoral Epistles,! we must admit not only that St. Paul was liberated
‘from his Roman imprisonment, but also that he continued his Apostolic
labours for at least some years afterwards. It is now admitted, by nearly
all those who are competent to decide on such a question,’ first, that the
historical facts mentioned in the Epistles to Timotheus and Titus, cannot
be placed in any portion of St. Paul’s life before or during his first impri-
sonment in Rome ; and, secondly) that the style in which those Epistles
are written, and the condition of the Church described in them, forbids the
supposition of such a date. Consequently, we must acknowledge (unless
we deny the authenticity of the Pastoral Epistles) that after St. Paul’s
Roman imprisonment he was travelling at liberty in Ephesus,’ Crete,‘
Macedonia,’ Miletus,* and Nicopolis,’ and that he was afterwards a second
time in prison at Rome.®
But, when we have suid this, we have told nearly all that we know οἱ
the Apostle’s personal history, from his liberation to his death. We can-
not fix with certainty the length of the time which intervened, nor the
order in which he visited the different places where he is recorded to have
laboured. The following data, however, we have. In the first place his
martyrdom is universally said to have occurred® in the reign of Nero.
Secondly, Timotheus was still a young man (i. 6. young for the charge
committed to him) 15 at the time of Paul’s second imprisonment at Rome.
Thirdly, the three Pastoral Episties were written within afew months of
one another." Fourthly, their style differs so much from the style of the
earlier Epistles, that we must suppose as long an interval between their
date and that of the Epistle to Philippi as is consistent with the preceding
conditions.
These reasons concur in leading us to fix the last year of Nero as that
of St. Paul’s martyrdom. And this is the very year assigned to it by
Jerome, and the next to that assigned by Eusebius ; the two earliest
writers who mention the date of St. Paul’s death at all. We have already
seen that St. Paul first arrived in Rome in the Spring of a.v. 61: we
therefore have, on our hypothesis, an interval of five years, between the
period with which St. Luke concludes (a.p. 68), and the Apostle’s mar-
1 For the proof of this date of the Pastoral Epistles, see the note on the subject in
the Appendix.
? Dr. Davidson is an exception, and has summed up all that can be said on the
opposite side of the question with his usual ability and fairness. With regard to
Wieseler, see the note in the Appendix, above referred to.
2.1 Tim, i. 3. 4 Titus i. 5. $1 Tim: 13.
© 2 Tim. iv. 20. 7 Titus iii. 12. Bix “Tims 1. 10. 17.
® See the references to Tertullian, Eusebius, Jerome, &c., given below, ir a note
near the close of this chapter.
10 1 Tim. iii, 2. 2 Tim. ii. 22.
1 See the note on the date of the Pastoral Epistles, in the Appendix.
HIS TRIAL. 441
tyrdom.! And the grounds above mentioned lead us to the conclusion
that this interval was occupied in the following manner.
In the first place, after the long delay, which we have before endea
voured to explain, St. Paul’s appeal came on for hearing before the
Emperor. The appeals from the provinces in civil causes were heard,
not by the Emperor himself, but by his delegates, who were persons of
consular rank: Augustus had appointed one such delegate to hear appeals
from each province respectively.” But criminal appeals appear gencrally
to have'been heard by the Emperor in person,’ assisted by his council of
assessors, ‘Tiberius and Claudius had usually sat for this purpose in the
Forum ;‘ but Nero, after the example of Augustus, heard these causes in
the Imperial Palace,> whose ruins still crown the Palatine. Here, at one
end of a splendid hall,’ lined with the precious marbies? of Egypt and of
Lybia, we must imagine the Cesar seated, in the midst of his Assessors.
These councillors, twenty in number, were men of the highest rank and
greatest influence. Among them were the two Consuils,* and selected
representatives of each of the other great magistracies of Rome2 The
remainder consisted of senators chosen by lot. Over this distinguished
bench of judges presided the representative of the most powerful monarchy
which has ever existed,—the absolute ruler of the whole civilized world.
But the reverential awe which his position naturally suggested, was
1 The above data show us the necessity of supposing as long an interval as possible
between St. Paul’s liberation and las second imprisonment. Therefore we must as-
sume that his appeal was finally decided at the end of the “two years” mentioned in
Acts xxviii. 30,—that is, in the Spring of A.p. 63.
* Sueton. Oct. 33; but Geib (p. 680) thinks this arrangement was not of long dura-
tion.
3 Τὰ μὲν ἄλλα αὐτὸς μετὰ τῶν συνέδρων καὶ διεσκέψατο καὶ ἐδίκαζεν, ἐν τῷ Παλατίφι
ἐπὶ βηματος προκαθήμενος. (Dio, ly. 27.) This 15 said of Augustus.
4 As to Tiberius, see Dio, lvii. 7; and as to Claudius, Dio, Ix. 4.
’ Tiberius built a tribunal on the Palatine (Dio, lvii, 7). See also Geib, p. 536.
6 Dio mentions that the ceilings of the Halls of Justice in the Palatine were painted
py Severus to represent the starry sky: καὶ γὰρ αὐτοὺς [τοὺς dorepac] ἐς τὰς dpodag
τῶν οἴκων τῶν ἐν τῷ παλατίῳ ἐν οἷς ἐδίκαζεν ἐνέγραψεν (Dio, Ixxvi. 11). The old
Roman practice was for the magistrate to sit under the open sky, which probably sug-
gested this kind of ceiling. Even the Basilicas were not roofed over (as to their cen-
tral nave) till a late period.
7 Those who are acquainted with Rome will remember how the interior of many of
the ruined buildings is lined with a coating of these precious marbles.
8 Memmius Regulus and Virginius Rufus were the consuls of the year A.n. 63 (A.0.G
816). Under some of the emperors, the consuls were often changed several times
during the year; but Nero allowed them to hold office for six months, (‘‘Consulatum
in senos plerumque menses dedit.”” Sueton. Nero, 15.) So that these consuls would
still be in office till July.
9 Such, at least, was the constitution of the council of assessors, according to tha
ordinance of Augustus, which appeirs to have remained unaltered. See Dio, liii 21
Teds ὑπάτους, κἀκ τῶν ἄλλων ὀρχόντων ἕνα map’ ἑκάστων, ἔκ Te τοῦ λοιποὺ Tin
442 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF sT. PAUL.
COIN OF NERO (WITH THE HARBOUR oF osTiA).}
changed into contempt and loathing by the character of the Scvereign
who now presided over that supreme tribunal. For Nero was a man
whom even the awful attribute of “power equal to the gods”? could not
render august, except in title. The fear and horror excited by his omni-
potence and his cruelty, was blended with contempt for his ignoble lust of
praise, and his shameless licentiousness. He had not as yet plunged into
that extravagance of tyranny which, at a later period, exhausted the
patience of his subjects, and brought him to destruction. Hitherto his
public measures had been guided by sage advisers, and his cruelty had
injured his own family rather than the state. But already, at the age of
twenty-five, he had murdered his innocent wife and his adopted brother,
and had dyed his hands in the blood of his mother. Yet even these enor-
mities seem to have disgusted the Romans less than his prostitution of
the Imperial purple, by publicly performing as a musician on the stage and
a charioteer in the circus. His degrading want of dignity and insatiable
appetite for vulgar applause, drew tears from the councillors and servants
of his house, who could see him slaughter his nearest relatives without
remonstrance,
Before the tribunal of this blood-stained adulterer, Paul the Apostle
was now brought in fetters, under the custody of his military guard. We
may be sure that he, who had so often stood undaunted before the dele-
gates of the Imperial throne, did not quail when he was at last confronted
with their master. His life was not in the hands of Nero; he knew
that while his Lord had work for him on earth, He would shield him from
the tyrant’s sword ; and if his work was over, how gladly would he “de
part and be with Christ, which was far better.”* To him all the majesty
of Roman despotism was nothing more than an empty pageant ; the Im
ϑουλευτῶν πλήθους πεντεκαίδεκα τοὺς κλήρῳ λάχοντας, συμβούλους ἐς ἑξάμηνον
παρελάμβανεν. Also see Sueton. Tiber. 55, and the passages of Dio referred to in the
notes above.
1 From the British Museum. This is one of the large brass coins of Nero’s reign,
which exhibit admirable portraits of the emperor. We notice here that peculiar rig
of ancient ships which was mentioned above, pp. 301 and 349.
2 “ Diis wqua potestas ” was the attribute of the emperors (Juv. iv.).
2 Sce his anticipatiors of his trial. Phil. i. 20-25, and Phil. ii. 17.
HIS TRIAL. 443
.
perial demigod himself was but one of “ the princes of this world, that
come to nought.”'! Thus he stood, calm and collected, ready to answer
the charges of his accusers, and knowing that in the hour of his need it
should be given him what to speak.
The prosecutors and their witnesses were now called forward, to sup
vort their accusation ;* for although the subject-matter for decision wag
contained in the written depositions forwarded from Judvea by Festus, yet
{as* we have before observed) the Roman law required the personal
presence of the accusers and the witnesses, whenever it could be obtained.
We already know the charges‘ brought against the Apostle. He was
accused of disturbing the Jews in the exercise of their worship, which
was secured to them by law ; of desecrating their Temple ; and, above
all, of violating the public peace of the Empire by perpetual agitation, as
the ringleader of a new and factious sect. This charge* was the most
serious in the view of a Roman statesman ; for the crime alleged amounted
to mayjestas, or treason against the Commonwealth, and was punishable with
death.
These accusations were supported by the emissaries of the Sanhedrin,
and probably by the testimony of witnesses from Juda, Ephesus, Cor-
inth, and the other scenes of Paul’s activity. The foreign accusers, how-
ever, did not rely on the support of their own unaided eloquence. They
doubtless hired the rhetoric of some accomplished Roman pleader (as
they had done even before the provincial tribunal of Felix) to set off their
cause to the best advantage, and paint the dangerous character of their
antagonist in the darkest colours. Nor would it have been difficult to re-
present the missionary labours of Paul as dangerous to the security of the
1 1 Cor. ii. 6. Φ
* The order of the proceedings was (1) Speech of the prosecutor; (2) Examma-
tion and cross-examination of the witnesses for the prosecution; (3) Speech of the
prisoner ; (4) Examination and cross-examination of the witnesses for the defence.
See Geib, p. 601-643. The introduction of cross-examination was an innovation upon
the old republican procedure. Geib, p. 631.
3 As to the accusers, see above, p. 290, note 9. As to the witnesses, see Geib.
p. 629. Written depositions were received at this period by the Roman Courts, but
not where the personal presence of the witnesses could be obtained. Geib, 624. Sea
also Acts xxiv. 19, οὖς édei ἐπὶ σοῦ παρεῖναι.
4 See Acts xxiv. 5, 6, and xxv. 7, 8, and pages 282 and 291.
5 Jt must be remembered that the old Republican system of criminal procedure had
undergone a great change before the time of Nero. Under the old law (the system of
Questiones Perpetuz) different charges were tried in distinct courts, and by different
magistrates. In modern language, a criminal indictment cculd then only contain one
count. But this was altered under the emperors; “ut si quis sacrilegii simul et homi-
tidii accusetur ; quod nunc in publicis judiciis [ἡ. 6. those of the Questiones Perpetua,
which were still not entirely obsolete] non accidit, quoniam Pretor certa lege sortitar }
Principum autem et Senatis cognitionibus frequens est’ ‘Quintil. Inst Orat ini. 19.)
Bee Geib, p. 654.
444 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 8T. PAUL.
Roman state, when1ve remember how ill-informed the Roman magistrates
who listened, must have been concerning the questions really at issue be-
tween Paul and his opponents ; and when we consider how easily the
Jews were excited against the government by any fanatical leader whe
appealed to their nationality, and how readily the kingdom of the Messiah,
which Paul proclaimed, might be misrepresented as a temporal monarchy,
set up in opposition to the foreign domination of Rome.
We cannot suppose that St. Paul had secured the services of any pro-
fessional advocate to repel such false accusations,' and put the truth
clearly before his Roman judges. We know that he resorted +o no such
method on former occasions of a similar kind. And it seems more con-
sistent with his character, and his unwavering reliance on his Master’s
promised aid, to suppose that he answered? the elaborate harangue of the
hostile pleader by a plain and simple statement of facts, like that which
he addressed to Felix, Festus, and Agrippa. He could easily prove the
falsehood of the charge of sacrilege, by the testimony of those who were
present in the 'I'emple ; and perhaps the refutation of this more definite
accusation might incline his judges more readily to attribute the vaguer
charges to the malice of his opponents. He would then proceed to show
that, far from disturbing the exercise of the relzgio lata of Judaism, he
himself adhered to that religion, rightly understood. He would show
that far from being a seditious agitator against the state, he taught his
converts everywhere to honor the Imperial Government, ‘and submit to
the ordinances’ of the magistrate for conscience’ sake. And, though he
would admit the charge of belonging to the sect of the Nazarenvs, yet he
would remind his opponents that they themselves acknowledged the division
of their nation into various sects, which were equally gptitled to the protec-
tion of the law ; and that the sect of the Nazarenes had a right to the
same toleration τῆ was extended to those of the Pharisees and the
Sadducees.
We know not whether he entered on this oceasion into the pecuhar
doctrines of that “sect” to which he belonged ; basing them, as he ever
did, on the‘ resurrection of the dead; aud reasoning of righteousness,
temperance, and judgment to come. If so, he had one auditor at least
1 It was most usual, at this period, that both parties should be represented by adve
cates; but the parties were allowed to conduct their cause themselves, if they pre
ferred doing so. Geib, p. 602.
* Probably, all St. Paul’s judges, on this occasion, were familiar with Greek, an
therefore he might address them in his own native tongue, without the need of an
interpreter.
3 Compare Rom. xiii. 1-7.
4 Compare the prominence given to the Resurrection in the statement before the
Sanhedrin (Acts xxiii. 6), before Felix (Acts xxiy. 15), before Festus (Acts xxv. 19)
and befo-> Agrippa (Acts xxvi. 8).
PROGRESS OF THE TRIAL. 445
who had more need to tremble than even Felix. But doubtless a scared
conscience, and a universal frivolity of character, rendered Nero proof
against emotions which for a moment shook the nerves cf a less audacious
criminal,
When the parties on both sides had been hea:d,' and the witnesses all
2xamined and cross-examined (a process which perhaps cecupied several
days*), the judgment of the court was taken. THach of the assessors
gave his opinion in writing to the Emperor, who never discussed the
judgment with his assessors, as had been the practice of better emperors,
but after reading their opinions gave sentence according to his own plea-
sure,? without reference to the judgment of the majcrity. On this occa-
sion, it might have been expected that he would have pronounced the
zondemnation of the accused ; for the influence of Poppxa had now‘
reached its culminating point, and she was, as we have said, a Jewish
proselyte. We can scarcely doubt that the emissaries from Palestine
would have sought access to so powerful a protectress, and demanded her
aid® for the destruction of a traitor to the Jewish faith ; nor would any
scruples have prevented her from listening to their request, backed as it
probably was, according to the Roman usage, by a bribe. If such influ-
ence was exerted upon Nero, it might have been expected easily to pre-
vail. But we know not all the complicated “intrigues of the Imperial
Jourt. Perhaps some Christian freedman of Narcissus* may have coun-
seracted, through the interest of that powerful favourite, the devices of
St. Paul’s antagonists ; or possibly Nero may have been capricious:y iz
clined to act upon his own independent view of the law and justice of the
1 We are told by Suetonius, as we have mentioned before, that Nero heard both
parties on each of the counts of the indictment separately ; and gave his decision on
one count before he proceeded to the next. (Seuton. Nero, 15.) The proceedings,
therefore, which we have described in the text, must have been repeated as many
times as there were separate charges against St. Paul.
? Plin. Bpist. ii, 11. “In tertium diem probationes exierunt;’’ and again, Ep. iv.
9, “ Postero die egerunt pro Basso, Titius, Homullus, et Fronto, mirifice ; quartum
diem probationes occupaverunt.”
3 Suet. Nero, 15. “ Quoties ad consultandum secederet, neque in commune quid-
quam neque propalam deliberabat, sed et conscriptas ab unoquoque sententias tacitus
et secreto legens, quod ipsi libuisset, perinde atque pluribus idem videretur pronuntia-
bat.”” This judgment was not pronounced by Nero till the next day (“sequente die”),
The sentence of a magistrate was always given in writing at this period (Geib,
665), and generally delivered by the magistrate himself. But in the case of the em-
peror, he did not read his own sentence, but caused it to be read in his presence by his
queestor (Geib, 512). ;
4 Poppea’s influence was at its height from the birth to the death of her daughter
Claudia, who was born at the beginning of 63, and lived four months,
᾿ 8 See last Chapter, p. 422, n. 1.
. 6 This Narcissus must not be confounded with the more celebrated favourite of
Claudius. See Dio, lxiv. 3. The Narcissus here mentioned had Christian converte in
his establishment: see Rom. xvi. 11 and note.
446 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 8T. PAUL.
case, or to show his contempt for what he regarded as the petty squabblea
of a superstitious people, by ‘‘ driving the accusers from his judgment
seat” with the same feelings which Gallio had shown on a similar occa
sion.
However this may be, the trial resulted in the acquittal of St. Paul.
He was pronounced guiltless of the charges brought against him, his fet-
ters were struck off, and he was liberated from his lengthened captivity.
And now at last he was free to realise his long cherished purpose of evan-
gelising the west. But the immediate execution of this design was for
the present postponed, in order that he might first revisit some of his
earlier converts, who again needed his presence.
Immediately on his liberation it may reasonably be supposed that he
fulfilled the intention which he had lately expressed (Philem. 22, and Phil,
ii. 24), of travelling eastward through Macedonia, and seeking the
churches of Asia Minor, some of which, as yet, had not seen his face in
the flesh. We have already learnt, from the Epistle to the Colossians,
how much his influence and authority was required among those Asiatic
Churches. We must suppose him, therefore, to have gone from Rome by
the usual route, crossing the Adriatic from Brundisium to Apollonia, or
Dyrrachium, and proceeding by the great Egnatian road through Mace-
donia ; and we can imatine the joy wherewith he was welcomed by his
beloved children ut Philippi, when he thus gratified the expectation which
he had encouraged them to form. There is no reason to suppose, how-
ever, that he lingered in Macedonia. Itis more likely that he hastened
on to Ephesus, and made that city once more his centre of operations.
If he effected his purpose,’ he now for the first time visited Colosse, Lao-
dicea, and other churches in that region. \
Having accomplished the objects of his visit to Asia Minor, he was at
length enabled (perhaps in the year following that of his liberation) to
undertake his long meditated journey to Spain. By what route he went,
we know not ; he may either have travelled by way of Rome, which had
heen his original intention, or, more probably, avoiding the dangers which
at this period (in the height of the Neronian persecution) would have be-
set him there, he may have gone by sea. There was constant commercial
intercourse between the East and Massilia (the modern Marseilles) ; and
Massilia was in daily-communication with the Peninsula. We may sup-
pose him to have reached Spain in the year 64, and to have remained
there about two years ; which would allow him time to establish the
germs of Christian Churches among the Jewish proselytes who were to be
found in all the great cities, from Tarraco to Gades, along the Spanish
coast.’
1 See Philem. 22.
* See Remond’s Jusbreitung des Judenthums, ἃ 31.
ON His ACQUITTAL HE GOES TO ASIA AND TO SPAIN. 447
From Spain St. Paul seems to have returned, in a.p. 66,' to Ephesus ,
and here he found that the predictions which he had long ago uttered te
the Ephesian presbyters were already receiving their fulfilment. Hereti-
cal teachers had arisen in the very bosom of the Church, and were lead-
ing away the believers after themselves. Hymenzeus and Philetus were
sowing, in acongenial soil, the seed which was destined in another century
to bear so. ripe a crop of error. The East and West were infusing their
several elements of poison into the pure cup of Gospel truth. In Asia
Minor, as at Alexandria, Hellenic philosophism did not refuse to blend
with Oriental theosophy ; the Jewish superstitions of the Kabbala, and
the wild speculations of the Persian magi, were combined with the Greek
craving for an enlightened and esoteric religion. The outward forms of
superstition were ready for the vulgar multitude ; the interpretation was
confined to the aristocracy of knowledge, the self-styled Gnostics (1 Tim.
vi. 20) ; and we see the tendencies at work among the latter, when we
learn that, like their prototypes at Corinth, they denied the future resur-
rection of the dead, and taught that the only true resurrection was that
which took place when the soul awoke from the death of ignorance to the
life of knowledge. We recognise already the germ of those heresies
which convulsed the Church in the succeeding century ; and we may ima-
gine the grief and indignation aroused in the breast of St. Paul, when he
found the extent of the evil, and the number of Christian converts already
infected by the spreading plague.
Nevertheless, it is evident from the Epistles to Timotheus and Titus,
written about this time, that he was prevented by other duties from stay-
ing in this oriental region so long as his presence was required. He left
his disciples to do that which, had circumstances permitted, he would have
done himself. He was plainly hurried from one point to another. Per-
haps also he had lost some of his former energy. This might well be the
case, if we consider all he had endured during thirty years of labour.
The pnysical hardships which he had undergone were of themselves suffi-
cient to wear out the most robust constitution ; and we know that his
health was already broken many years before? But in addition to these
bodily trials, the moral conflicts which he continually encountered could
not fail to tire down the elasticity of his spirit. The hatred manifested
by so large and powerful a section even of the Christian Church ; the de-
struction of so many early friendships ; the faithless desertion of follow-
ers ; the crowd of anxieties which pressed upon him daily, and “‘ the care
' This hypothesis best explains the subsequent transactions recorded in the Pastora]
Epistles. See note in the Appendix on their date, and the Chronological Table given
in the Appendix.
2 See Vol. 1. p. 450.
3 See Gal. iv. 13-14, and 2 Cor. xii. 7-9.
448 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
of all the Churches,” must needs have preyed upon the mental cnergy of
any man, but especially of one whose temperament was so ardent and
impetuous. When approaching the age of seventy,’ he might well be
worn out both in body and mind. And this will account for the compa-
_ rative want of vigour and energy which has been attributed to the Pasto-
ral Epistles, if there be any such deficiency ; and may perhaps also be in
part the cause of his opposing those errors by deputy, which we might
rather have expected him to uproot by his own personal exertions.
However this may be, he seems not to have remained for any long
time together at Ephesus, but to have been called away from thence, first
to Macedonia,” and afterwards to Crete ;* and immediately on his return
from thence, he appears finally to liave left Ephesus for Rome, by way of
Corinth. But here we are anticipating our narrative ; we must return to
the first of these hurried journeys, when he departed from Ephesus to
Macedonia, leaving the care of the Ephesian Church to Timotheus, and
charging him especially with the duty of counteracting the efforts of those
heretical teachers whose dangerous character we have described,
When he arrived in Macedonia, he found that his absence might pos-
sibly be prolonged beyond what he had expected ; and he probably felt
that Timotheus might need some more exolicit credential from himself
than a mere verbal commission, to enable him for a longer period to exer-
cise that Apostolic authority over the Ephesian Church, wherewith he
had invested him. It would also be desirable that Timotheus should be
able. in his struggle with the heretical teachers, to exhibit documentary
proof of St. Paul’s agreement with himself, and condemnation of the op-
posing doctrines. Such seem to have been the principal motives which
led St. Paul to despatch from Macedonia that which is known as “the
First. Epistle to Timothy ;” in which are contained various rules for the
government of the Ephesian Church, such as would be received with sub-
mission when thus seen to proceed directly from its Apostolic founder,
while they would perhaps have been less readily obeyed, if seeming to be
the spontaneous injunctions of the youthful Timotheus. In the same
manner it abounds with impressive denunciations against the false teach-
ers at Ephesus, which might command the assent of some who turned ἃ
deaf car to the remonstrances of the Apostolic deputy. There are also
exhortations to Timotheus himself, some of which perhaps were rather
meant to bear an indirect application to others, at the time, as they have
ever since furnished a treasury of practical precepts for the Christian
Church,
! See Vol. I. p. 64, and compare Philem. 9 and the Chronological Takle in the
Appendix.
ἈΠ πὶ: 1 9: 3 Titus i. ὅ. 4 2 Tim. iv. 20.
FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHEUS. 449
THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHEUS.:
Ι.
1 Pavr, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, by command of ὠ Salutatiog
2 God our Saviour and Christ Jesus’ our hope, ro ‘Tint
OTHEUS MY TRUE SON IN? FAITH.
Grace, Mercy, and Peace, from God our Father and Christ
Jesus our Lord.
8 Church. See
Acts vi. 1.
8 Πρῶτον : i.e. before they pretend to make professions of godliness in other matters,
let them shew its fruits towards their own kindred.
® The best MSS. omit καλὸν καὶ,
10 His own would include his slaves and dependents. So Cyprian requires the
Christian masters to tend their sick slaves in a pestilence. (Cyp. de Mortalitate.)
456 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 81. PAUL.
4
especially for his kindred, he has denied the faith, and is worse
than an unbeliever.
Qualifications A widow, to be placed on the: list, must be not 8
δῖ widows o
thelist. Jess than sixty years of age, having been the wife
of one husband ;? she must be well reported of for her good 1
deeds, as one who has brought up children, received strangers
with hospitality, washed the feet of Christ’s people, relieved
the distressed, and diligently followed every good work. But
younger widows reject; for when they have become wanton —
against Christ, they desire to marry; and thereby incur con-12
demnation, because they have broken their former? promise.
Moreover, they learn‘ to be idle, wandering about from house 13
to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busy-bodies,
speaking things which ought not to be spoken. [ wish there-14
fore that younger widows should marry, bear children, rule
their households, and give no occasion to the adversary for re-
proach. For already some of them have gone astray after 15
Satan.
1 Jt is a disputed point, what list is referred to in this word καταλεγέσθω ; whether
(1) it means the list of widows to be supported out of the charitable fund, or (2) the
list of deaconesses (for which office the age of sixty seems too old), or (3) the τάγμα
χηρῶν or body of church-widows who are mentioned by Tertullian (de Veland. Virg.
c. 9), and by other writers, as a kind of female Presbyters, having a distinct ecclesias-
tical position and duties. The point is discussed by De Wette (in /oco), Huther p. 167,
and Wiesinger, p. 507-522. We are disposed to take a middle course between the
first and third hypotheses ; by supposing, viz., that the Zist here mentioned was that of
all the widows who were officially recognised as supported by the Church; but was
not confined to such persons, but included also richer widows, who were willing to
devote themselves to the offices assigned to the pauper widows. It has been argued
that we cannot suppose that needy widows who did not satisfy the conditions of verse
9, would be eaxc/uded from the benefit of the fand; nor need we suppose this ; but
since all could scarcely be supported, certain conditions were prescribed, which must
be satisfied before any one could be considered as officially entit/ed to a place on the
list. From the class of widows thus formed, the subsequent τάγμα χηρῶν would
naturally result. There is not the slightest ground for supposing that yypai here
means virgins, as Baur has imagined. His opinion is well refuted by Wiesinger,
p- 520-522, and by De Wette in loco.
? For the meaning of this, see note on iii. 2
3 Πίστιν ἀθετεῖν means to break a promise, and is so explained by Chrysostom, and
by Augustine (in Ps. 75). Hence we see that, when a widow was received into the
number of church-widows, a promise was required from her (or virtualiy understood}
that she would devote herself for life to the employments which these widows under-
took ; viz. the education of orphans, and superintendence of the younger women There
is no trace here of the subsequent ascetic disapprobation of second marriages, as is
evident from verse 14, where the younger widows are expressly desired to marry again
This also confirms our view of the ἑνὸς ἀνδρὸς γυνή. See note on iii. 2.
4’Apyai μανθάνουσι. A peculiar construction, but not unexampled in classical
Greek ; see Huther, p. 174. Winer explains *t in the same way.
FIRS£ EPISTLE TO TIMOTHEUS. 457
16 If there are widows dependent on any believer (whether
man or woman), let those on whom they depend relieve them,
and let not the Church be burdened with them; that it may
relieve the widows who are destitute.
7 Let the Presbytersewho perform their office well Government οι
e Presbyters.
be counted worthy of a twofold? honour, especially
18 those * who labour in speaking and teaching. For the Serip-
ture saith, “ Zhou shalt not muzeale the ox that treadeth out the
corn ;”? and “the labourer is worthy of his hire.” .
19 Against a Presbyter receive no accusation except on the
20 testimony * of two or three witnesses. Rebuke the offenders
21in the presence of all, that others also may fear. I adjure
thee, before God and*® Christ Jesus and the chosen? angels,
that thou observe these things without prejudice against any
man, and do nothing out of partiality.
22 Lay hands hastily on no man, nor make thyself® _oraination.
a partaker in the sins committed by another. Keep thyself
pure.
23. Drink no longer water only, but use a little wine, Particular ana
general cau
for the sake of thy stomach, and thy frequent mala-_ tions.
dies.
24 [In thy decisions remember that] the sins of some men are
manifest before-hand, and lead the way to their condemnation;
* Τιμῆς here seems (from the next verse) to imply the notion of reward. Compare
τιμᾶ in verse 3 above. Upon a carnal misinterpretation of this verse was founded the
disgusting practice, which prevailed in the third century, of setting a double portion
of meat before the Presbyters, in the feasts of love.
3 In Vol. I. p. 434 we observed that the offices of πρεσβύτερος and διδάσκαλος were
united, at the date of the Pastoral Epistles, in the same persons; which is shown by
διδακτικός being a qualification required in a Preshyter, 1 Tim. iii. 2. But though
this union must in all cases have been desirable, we find, from this passage, that there
were still some πρεσβύτεροι who were not διδάσκαλοι, i. 6. who did not perform the
office of public instruction in the congregation. This is another strong proof of the
early date of the Epistle.
3 This quotation (Deut. xxv. 4) is applied to the same purpose, 1 Cor. ix. 9 (where
he words are quoted in a reverse order). The LX-X. agrees with 1 Cor. ix. 9.
4 Luke x. 7.
5 This rule is founded on the Mosaic jurisprudence, Deut. xix. 5, and appealed ἐς by
St. Paul, 2 Cor. xiii. 1. :
6 Κυρίου is omitted by the best MSS.
7 By the chosen angels are probably meant those especially selected by God as His
messengers to the human race, such as Gabriel.
8 The meaning of the latter part of this verse is, that Timotheus, if he yx 55).
6 pdm peace.
7 ᾽᾿Αγενεαλύγητος. This explains the two preceding words; the meaning is, that
the priesthood of Melchisedec was not, like the Levitical priesthood, dependent on his
descent, through his parents, from a particular family, but was a personal office.
8. Here, asin the previous dzatwp and ὠμήτωρ, the silence of Scripture is inter
preted allegorically. Scripture mentions neither the father nor mother, neither the
birth nor death of Melchisedec.
9 Tor this meaning of ἀκροθίνια, see Bleek in loco.
10 Δεδεκάτωκε and εὐλόγηκε, present-perfect. MN Ποῦ φηείττονος, comparei 4
33 Viz. testified in Ῥβ. οχ. 4. “Thou art ἃ priest for ever’
4 τὦ ποὺ “25, (Α΄. Vals
510 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 8T. PAUL.
Now if all things! were perfected by the Levitical priest 11
hood (since under it? the people hath received the Law),
what further need was there that another priest should rise
“ after the order of Melchisedec” and not be called “ after the
order of Aaron.” For the priesthood being changed, there is13
made of necessity a change also of the Law. For He® of 13
whom these things are spoken belongeth to another tribe, of
which no man giveth attendance® at the altar; it being evi-14
dent that our Lord hath arisen? out of Judah, of which tribe
Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood. And this is15
far more evident when® another priest ariseth after the like-
ness of Melchisedec; who is made not under the law of a16
carnal commandment, but with the power of an:imperishabie
life ; for it is testified® of him, “ Zhou art a priest. FOR EVER17
after the order of Meichisedec.” On the one hand,” an old 18
commandment is annulled, because it was weak and _ protitless
(for the Law perfected" nothing); and on the other hand, a19
better hope is brought in, whereby we draw near unto God.
And inasmuch as this Priesthood hath the confirmation of 20
an oath—(for Those priests are made without an oath, but He 21
with an oath, by Him that said unto him, “ Zhe Lord sware
and will not repent, Thou art.a priest for ever,” *)—insomuch 22
Jesus is" surety of a better covenant.
And They, indeed, are'* many priests [one succeeding to 23
1 Τελείωσις, a word of very frequent occurrence and great significance in this
Epistle, is not fully represented by the English “Perfection.” Τελειόω is to make
τέλειος, i. 6. to bring a thing to the fulness of its designed development. Compare
vii. 19, and note on ii. 10.
2 En’ αὐτῇ, under its conditions and ordinances. Compare viii. 6.
3 Νενομοθέτηται is the reading of the best MSS.
4 Νόμος (as often), anarthral for the Law. Cf. note on nom. iii. 20.
5 Viz. the Messiah, predicted in Ps. ex. 4.
6 Προσέσχηκε is the reading of the best MSS., and is present-perfect here, as well
BE μετέσχηκε.
7 ᾽᾿Ανατέταλκεν. Compare the passage of Isaiah quoted Mat. iv. 16.
8 ἘΠ used like εἴπερ here.
9 The best MSS. read μαρτυρεῖται.
10 Mév answering to the following δὲ (in verse 19). The overlooking of this caused
the error in the A. V.
11 Compare τελείωσις, verse 11.
12 In this quotation (again repeated) from Ps. ex. 4, the words “after the order of
Melchisedec ”’ are not found here in the best MSS. ,
12 Téyovey, not “was made” (A. V.), but has become or 15.
4 Are, or have become, not “were” (A. V.); an important mistranslation, as the
EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 51)
another’s office], because death hindereth their continuance,
24 But 116, because He remaineth for ever, giveth not His priest:
25 hood to another.' Wherefore also He is able to save them ta
the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever
liveth to make intercession for them.
26 For such an High Priest became us, who is holy, harmless,
undefiled,’ separate? from sinners, and ascended above the hea-
27vens. Who needeth not daily,’ as those High Priests,‘ to offer
up sacrifice, first for His own sins and then for, the People’s;
for this He did once, when He offered up Himself. For the
98 Law maketh men High Priests, who have infirmity ; but the
word of the oath which was since the Law,’ maketh the Son,
who is consecrated * for evermore.
VIII.
1 Now of the things which we have spoken,’ this me Μοσαίο ταν,
. Ε Ε with its Temple,
is the sum. We have such an High Priest, who hierarchy. and
sacrifices, was
hath sat down on the right hand of the throne of any imperiect
5
1adow of the
2 the Majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanc- better covenant,
and the availing
tuary,® and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord ἘΝ το ἀρ λον
3 pitched, and not man. For every High Priest is
present tense shows that the Levitical Priesthood was still enduring while this Epistle
was written.
1 *ArapdBartoc, non transiens in alium (Wahl).
2 This seems to refer to the separation from all contact with the unclean, which was
required of the High Priest; who (according to the Talmud) abstained from inter-
course even with his own family, for seven days before the day of Atonement (Tract
Jomah i. 1, quoted by Ebrard).
3 This καθ᾽ ἡμέραν has occasioned much perplexity, for the High Priest only offered
the sin-offerings here referred to once a year on the day of Atonement. (Levit. xvi.
and Exod. xxx. 7-10.) We must either suppose (with Tholuck) that the καθ᾽ ἡμέραν
is used for διαπαντός perpetuaily, 1. 6. year after year; or we must suppose a refer-
ence to the High Priest as taking part in the occasional sacrifices made by all the
Priests, for sins of ignorance (Levit. iv.) ; or we must suppose that the regular acts of
the Priesthood are attributed to the High Priests, as representatives and heads of the
whole order; or finally, we must take οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς as at Mat. ii, 4, Acts v. 24, and
other places, for the heads of the twenty-four classes into which the Priests were
divided, who officiated in turn. This latter view is perhaps the most natural. The
Priests sacrificed a lamb every morning and evening, and offered an offering of flour
and wine besides. Philo regards the lambs as offered by the Priests for the peonle,
and the flour for themselves. (Philo, Opp. i. 497.) He also says the High Priest
offered εὐχὰς καὶ ϑυσίας καθ᾽ ἑκάστην ἡμέραν. (Opp. ii. 321.) See Winer, Realw.
(. 505.
4 Οἱ Apy. Literally, the [ordinary] High Priests.
5 Viz. the oath in Ps. ex. 4, so often referred to in this Epistle
6 'Τετελειωμένον, Compare ii. 10.
τ Τοῖς λεγομένοις, literally, the things which are being spoken.
* Τῶν ἁγίων. Compare ix.12. Τὶς τὰ ἅγια.
512 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 8T. PAUL.
ordained: to offer gifts and sacrifices; wherefore this High
Priest also must have somewhat? to offer. Now? if He were 4
on earth, He would not be a Priest at all,‘ since the Priests
are they that make the offerings according to the Law;* who 5
minister to that which is a figure* and shadow of heavenly
things, as Moses is admonished’? by God, when lie is about to
make the tabernacle; for “See,” saith He, “ that thow make
all things according to the pattern shewed thee in the mount.”s
But now He hath obtained a higher ministry, by so much as 6
He is the mediator ® of a better covenant, whereof the law is
given? under better promises.
For if that first covenant were faultless, no place would be 7
sought " for a second; whereas He findeth fault,” and saith 8
unto them, “ Behold the days come, saith the Lord, when I will
accomplish» for the house of Israel and for the house of Ju-
dah a new covenant. Not according to the covenant which I 9
gave"! unto their fathers, in the day when I took them by the hand to
lead them out of the laxd of Egypt ; because they continued not in
my covenant, and I also turned my face from them, suith the Lord.
For this is the covenant which I will make unto the house of Israel 10
after those days, saith the Lord: I will give® my laws unto their
mind, and write them upon their hearts ; and I will be to them a
God, and they shall be to me a people. And they shall not teach 11
1 The same thing issaidv. 1. _
? What the sacrifice was is not said here, but had been just before mentioned, vii. 27.
3 Μὲν οὖν (not μὲν γὰρ) is the reading of the best MSS.
4 Observe it is not οὐκ dv ἣν (as A.V. translates), but οὐδ᾽ dv ἦν.
5 Our Lord being of the tribe of Judah, could not have been one of the Levitical
Priesthood. So it was said before, vii. 14.
6 Viz. the Temple ritual.
7 Κεχρημάτιστα!, cf. Acts x. 22 and Heb. xi. 7. .
8 Exod. xxv. 40. (LXX.) ,
9 Moses was called by the Jews the Mediator of the Law. See Gal. iii. 19 and note.
Ὁ Ἥτις νενομοθέτηται, cf. vii. 11, not “was established” (A. V.), but hath been or 13.
1 Ei ἦν, οὐκ ἄν ἐζητεῖτο (two imperfects), hence the A. V. is incorrect.
15. Meudouevog refers to the preceding ἄμεμπτος. The αὐτοῖς should be joined with
λέγει.
12 Συντελέσω, here substituted for the διαθήσομαι of the LXX. ᾿Ἐπὶ is not “ with.”
(A. V.)
14 Tt must be remembered that διαθήκη does not (like the English covenant) imply
reciprocity. It properly means α Jegal disposition, and would perhaps be better
translated dispensation here. A covenant between two parties is συνθήκη. The
new dispensation is a gift from God, rather thun a covenant between God and man
(see Gal. iii. 15-20). Hence perhaps the alteration of ἐποίησα hore for the διεδέμην
of LXX. as well as that mentioned in the preceding note.
ih Λιδοὺς, not “ put.’ (A. V.)
EPISTLE ΤῸ THE HEBREWS. 513
every man his neighbour! and every man his brother, saying know
the Lord ; for all shall know me, from the least unto the greatest,
12 For I will be merciful unto their unrighteousness, and their sins
13 and their iniquities will I remember no more.” * In that He saith
“ Anew covenant,” He hath made the first old; and that which
ΙΧ. 15. old® and stricken in years, is ready to vanish away.
1 Now the first covenant also had ordinances of worship, and
2 its Holy Place was in this world. For a tabernacle was made
[in two portions] ; the first (wherein was the candlestick,’ and
the table,° and the shewbread,’y which is called the* sanctu-
3 ary; and behind the second veil, the tabernacle called the
4 Holy of Holies, having the golden altar of incense,® and the
ark of the covenant 10 overlaid round about with gold, where
in" was the golden pot* that had the manna, and Aaron’s
1 The best MSS. read πολίτην instead of πλήσιον, which does not, however, alter the
sense.
3 Jer. xxxi. 31-34. (LXX. with the above-mentioned variations.)
3 Παλαιούμενον refers to time (growing out of date), and yjpackov to the weakness
of old age.
4 Τό τε ἅγιον κοσμικόν, not “A sanctuary” (A, V.), and observe the tee of the
words, shewing that κοσμικόν is the predicate.
5 Exod. xxv. 31, and xxxvii. 17.
6 Exod. xxv. 23. and xxxvii. 10.
7 Exod. xxv. 30, and Levit. xxiv. 5.
8 See the note on ix. 24,
9 Θυμιατήριον. This has given rise to much perplexity. According to Exod. xxx
6, the Incense-altar was not in the Holy of Holies, but on the outer side of ‘the veil
which separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the Tabernacle. Several methods
of evading the difficulty have been suggested ; amongst others, to translate ϑυμιατή-
ρίον, censer, and understand it of the censer which the High Priest brought into the
Holy of Holies once a year; but this was not kept in the Holy of Holies. Moreover
ϑυμιατήριον is used for the Incense-altar by Philo ani J ean The best explanation
of the discrepancy is to consider that the Incense-altar, though not within the Holy
of Holies, was closely connected therewith, and was sprinkled on the day of Atone
ment with the same blood with which the High Priest made atonement in the Holy
of Holies. See Exod. xxx. 6-10, and Levit. xvi. 11, &c.
10 Exod. xxv. 11,
1 Here we have another difficulty ; for the pot of manna and Aaron’s rod were ποὶ
kept in the Ark, in Solomon’s time, when it contained nothing but the tables of the
Law. See 1 Kings viii. 9. 2 Chron. v.10. It is, however, probable that these were
originally kept in the Ark. Compare Exod. xvi. 33, and Numbers xvii. 10, where
they ore directed to be laid up “before the Lord,’ and “before the testimony, [i. e.
the tables of the Law],’’ which indicates, at least, a close juxta-position to the Ark.
More gencrally, we should observe that the intention of the present passage is not to
give us a minute and'accurate description of the furniture of the tabernacle, but te
allude to it rhetorically ; the only point insisted upon in the application of the descrip-
tion (see verse 8), is the symbolical character of the Holy of Holics. Hence the
extreme anxiety of commentators to explain away every minute inaccuracy is super-
fluous. 13 Exod. xvi. 32, &ce.
VOL 11.-- 99
514 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
rod! that budded, and the tables? of the covenant; and over §
it the cherubims* of g\ory shadowing the Mercy-seat.« Where-
of we cannot now speak particularly. Now these things being 6
thus ordered, unto the first tabernacle the priests go* in con-
tinually, accomplishing the offices* of their worship. But 7
into the second goeth the High Priest alone, once a year, not
without blood, which he offereth for himself and for the er-
rors? of the people. Whereby the Holy Spirit signifieth that 8
the way into the Holy Place is not yet made fully manitest,°
while still the outer® tabernacle standeth. But it is a figure 9
for the present time,” under» which gifts and sacrifices are of
fered that cannot perfect the purpose of the worshipper, accord-
ing to the conscience ; being carnal ordinances, commanding 10
1 Numbers xvii. 10.
3 Wxod. xxv. 16. 3 Exod. xxv. 18.
4 Exod. xxv. 17. Ἱλαστήριον is the LXX, translation of the Hebrew p4p5. (See
Wahl in voce.)
5 The writer of the Epistle here appears to speak as if the Tabernacle were still
atanding. Commentators have here again found or made a difficulty, because the
Temple of Herod was in many respects different from the Tabernacle, and especially
because its.Hu/y of Holies did not contain either the Ark, the Tables of the Law, the
Cherubim, or the Mercy-seat (all which had been burnt by Nebuchadnezzar with Solo-
mon’s Temple), but was empty. See above, p. 250. Of course, however, there was
no danger that the original readers of this Epistle should imagine that its writer spoke
of the Tabernacle as still standing, or that he was ignorant of the loss of its most pre-
cious contents. Manifestly he is speaking of the Sanctuary of the First Covenant
(see ix. 1) as originally designed. And he goes on to speak of the existing Temple-
worship, as the continuation of the Tabernacle-worship, which, in all essential points,
it was. The translators of the Authorised Version (perhaps in consequence of this
difficulty) have mistranslated many verbs in the following passage, which are in the
present tense, as though they were in the past tense, Thus εἰσίασιν is translated
“went,” προσφέρει “ offered,” προσφέρονται “were offered,’”’ προσφέρουσιν (x. 1)
“ they offered,” &c. ‘The English reader is thus led to suppose that the Epistle was
written after the cessation of the Tempie-worship.
ὃ Τὰς λατρείας, not τὴν λατρείαν (A. Y.).
7 ’Ayvonudtwv., Compare v. 2, and the note.
8. On the mistranslation of πεφανερῶσθαι in A. V., see note 5 above. It may be
asked, how could it be said, after Christ’s ascension, that the way into the Holy Place
was not made fully manifest. The explanation is, that while the Temple-worship,
with its exclusion of all but the High Priest from the Holy of Holies, still existed, the
way of salvation would not be fully manifest to those who adhered to the outware
and typical observances, instead of being thereby led to the Antitype.
9 That πρώτης has this meaning here is evident from ix. 2.
10 The A. V. here interpolates “then” in order to make this correspond with the
mistranslated tenses already referred to.
11 Καθ' ἣν, according to which figure. “Hv is the reading of the best MSS., and
adopted by Griesbach, Lachmann, and Tischendorf’s Ist edition; it suits better with
κατὰ than the other reading, ὃν, to which Tischendorf has returned in his 2nd edition.
4 Kara συνείδησιν τελειῶσαι τὸν λατρεύοντα. This is explained x. 2 as eqnivalent
EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 515
meats and drinks, and diverse washings, imposed until 4 time
of reformation.’
1 But when Christ appeared, as High Priest of the good
things to come, He passed through the greater and more _per-
fect tabernacle? not made with hands (that is, not of man’s
12 buildings), and entered, not by the blood of goats and calves,
but by His own blood, once for all into the Holy Place, having
13 obtained an everlasting redemption.‘ Tor if the blood of bulls
and goats, and the ashes of an heifer® sprinkling the unclean,
.Asanctifieth to the purification of the flesh; how much more
shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit
offered Himself without spot to God, purify our® conscience
from dead works, that we may worship the living God.
15 And for this cause Ie is the mediator of a new testament;
that when death had’ made redemption for the transgressions
under the first testament, they that are called might receive
16 the promise of the eternal inheritance. For where a testament
to “τὸ μηδεμίαν ἔχειν ἔτι συνείδησιν ἁμαρτιῶν τοὺς λατρεύοντας ἅπαξ κεκαθαρμένους.""
Τελειῶσαι τὸν λατ. is to bring him to the accomplishment of the τέλος of his wor-
ship, viz., remission of sins. It is not adequately represented by to make perfect, as
we have before remarked ; to consummate would be again the best translation, if it
were less unusual.
1 The reading of this verse is very doubtful. The best MSS. (which we follow) read
« κΚαιώματα instead of καὶ δικαιώμασιν ; but this reading perhaps originated from a
desire to correct the soleecism which otherwise is presented by ἐπικεΐμενα. Accord-
ingly, Tischendorf in his 2nd edition returns to the reading of the T. R., which is also
defended by De Wette. The construction is ἐπικείμενα ἐπὶ B. καὶ π. κ. τ. A.; literally,
unposed with conditions of (ἐπὶ) meats, &c., until a time of reformation.
* This greater Tabernacle is the visible heavens, which are here regarded as the
outer sanctuary.
3 Literally, this building. This parenthesis nas very much the appearance of
kaving been originally a marginal gloss upon οὐ χειροποιήτου.
4 There is nothing in the Greek corresponding to the words “ for us” (A.V.).
5 The uncleanness contracted by touching a corpse, was purified by sprinkling the
unclean person with the water of sprinkling (ὕδωρ ῥαντισμοῦ), which was made with
the ashes of a red heifer. See Numbers xix. (LXX.)
6 Ἡμῶν (not ὑμῶν) is the reading of the best MSS.
7 Literally, after death had occurred for the redemption of,” &c. ; γενομένου must
he joined with εἰς ἀπολύτρωσιν.
8 The Authorised Version is unquestionably correct, in translating διαθήκη testa-
ment in this passage. The attempts which have been made to avoid this meaning, are
irrecuncilabl: with any natural explanation of ὁ διαθέμενος. The simple and obvious
translation should not be departed from, in order to avoid a difficulty ; and the diffi.
culty vanishes when we consider the rhetorical character of the Epistle. The state
ment in this verse is not meant as a logical argument, but as a rhetorical illustration
which is suggested tu the writer by the ambiguity of the word διαθήκη
516 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 8T. PAUL.
is, the death of the testator must be declared ;' because a tes- 14
tament is made valid by death, for it hath no force at all
during the lifetime of the testator.
Wherefore * the first testament also hath its dedication ἡ not 18
without blood. Forwhen Moses had spoken to all the people1s
every precept according to the Law, he took‘ the blood of the
ealves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and
sprinkled both the book itself® and all the people, saying,
“ This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined 20
unto you.” 5 Moreover he sprinkled with blood the tabernacle? 21
also, and all the vessels of the ministry, in like manner. And 22
according to the Law, almost all things are purified with blood,
and without shedding of blood is no remission. It was, 23
therefore, necessary that the patterns of heavenly things should
thus be’ purified, but the heavenly things themselves with
better sacrifices than these. For Christ entered not into the 24
sanctuary ὃ made with hands, which is a figure of the true, but
into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for
us. Nor yet that He should offer [Himself often, as the [igh 25
Priest entereth the sanctuary every year with blood of others;
for then must He often have suffered since the foundation 26
of the world: but now once, in the end® of the ages, hath Ie
1 Φέρεσθαι is omitted in A.V. The legal maxim is the same as that of English
Law, /Vemo est hares viveniis.
2 This ὅθεν does not refer to the preceding illustration, concerning the death of the
testator, but to the reasoning from which that was only a momentary digression.
Compare verse 18 with verses 12-14.
3 ᾿Εγκαινίζειν is “to dedicate” in the sense of to inaugurate; cf. Heb. x. 205 86
the feast commemorating the opening or inauguration of the Temple by Judas Mae-
cabseus (after its pollution by Antiochus Epiphanes) was called éyxaivea. (John x. 22.)
4 See Exod. xxiv. 3-8. The sacrifice of goats (besides the cattle) and the sprinkling
of the book are not in the Mosaic account. It should be remembered that the Old
Testament is usually referred to memoriter by the writers of the New Testament
Moreover, the advocates of verbal inspiration would be justified in maintaining that
these circumstances actually occurred, though they are not mentioned in the books of
Moses. See, however, Vol. I. p. 176, note 1.
5 Αὐτὸ is not translated in A. V.
6 Exod. xxiv. 8 (LXX. but ἐνετείλατο, substituted for διέθετο),
7 Apparently referring to Levit. viii. verses 19, 24, and 30.
8 “Ἅγια, not “the holy places” (A.V.), but the holy place, or sanctuary. Com-
pare viii. 2. ix. 2. ix. 25. xiii. 11. It is witbout the article here, as is often the
case with words similarly used. See Winer Gram. § 18, 1.
8 Συντελεία τῶν αἰώνων means the termination of the period preceding Christ’a
* coming. It is a phrase frequent in St. Matthew, with aiwvog instead of αἰώνων, ut not
EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. SIT
27 appeared,' to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.2 And
as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judg:
28 ment, so Christ was once offered “to bear the sins of many,” *
and unto them that look for Him shall He appear a second
X. time, without sin,‘ unto salvation.
1 For the Law having ἃ shadow of the® good things to come,
and not the very image of the reality,s by the unchanging
2 sacrifices which year by year they offer continually,’ can
never perfect® the purpose of the offerers.2 For then, would
they not have ceased to be offered? because the worshippers,
once purified, would have had no more conscience of sins. But
3 in these sacrifices there #8 a remembrance of sins made every
4year. Tor it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats
5should take away sins. Wherefore, when He cometh into the
world, He saith, “ Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but
6 a body hast thou prepared me.” In burnt-offerings and. sacri-
ἢ fices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I
come (in the volume of the book it is written of me) to do thy
8 will, O God.”" When He had said before “Saertfice and
offering and burnt-offerings and sacrifices for sin thou wouldest
not, neither hadst pleasure therein” (which are offered under
9 the law); “ Zhen” (saith He), “ Zo, 7 come to do thy will, O
God.” Ile taketh away the first, that he may establish the
vecurring elsewhere. The A. V. translates αἰώνων here by the same word «s κόσμου
above.
1 Wedavépwrac; literally, He hath been made manifest to the sight of men.
3 The A. Y. is retained here, being justified by ἑαυτὸν προσήνεγκεν, verse 14.
3 Isaiah liii. 12 (LXX.), ἁμαρτίας πολλῶν ανήνεγκε.
4 Χωρὶς ἁμαρτίας. Tholuck compares κεχωρισμένος ἀπὸ τῶν ἁμαρτώλων» (VIL 28).
The thought is the same as Rom. vi. 10.
5 Τῶν is omitted in A.V.
6 Τῶν πραγμάτων, the real things.
7 Taic αὐταῖς is omitted in A. V.
8 Τελειῶσαι. Compare ix. 9, and note. The τέλος of the worshippers was entire
purification from sin; this they could not attain under the Law, as was manifest by
the perpetual iteration of the self-same sacrifices, required of them.
9 Τοὺς προσερχομένους, those who come to offer.
10 In the Hebrew original the words are, “ thou hast opened [or pierced] my ears.”
The LXX. (which is here quoted) translates this “ σῶμα κατηρτίσω μοι.) Perhaps the
reading of the Hebrew may formerly have been different from what it now is; or per
haps the σῶμα may have been an error for dria, which is the reading of some MSS.
1 Ps, xl. 6-8. (LXX. with some slight variations.)
13 Eipnxev, not “said he’’ (A. V.), but he hath said, or saith he.
Ὁ The first, viz. the sacrifices ; the second, viz. the will of God.
518 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
second. And in’ that “2d” we are sanctified, by the offering
of the “ody”? of Jesus Christ, once for all.
And every priest " standeth daily ministering, and offering 15
oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.
But O11, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins, for ever 12
sat down on the right hand of God; from henceforth expect-13
ing “tll his enemies be made his footstool.”+ For by one14
offering He hath perfected* for ever the purification of them
whom He sanctifieth. Whereof the Holy Spirit also is a wit-15
ness to us. Jor after He had said before, “ This ἐ8 the cov-16
enant that I will make with them after those days, saith the
Lord ; Iwill give my Laws upon their hearts, and write them
upon ther minds.”® He saith also “ Their sins and their iniqui-17
tres will [ remember no more.”? Now where remission of these 18
is, there is no more offering for sin.
Renewed warn- Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter 19
ing against
apostasy, the holy place through the blood of Jesus,’ by a20
new and living way which He hath opened» for us, passing
through the veil (that is to say, His flesh) ;'° and having an21
High Priest" over the house of God; let us draw near with 22
1 In (év) the will of God Christians are already sanctified as well as justified, and
even glorified (see Rom. viii. 30) ; ὁ. e. God wills their sanctification, and has done His
part to ensure it.
? Σῶμα, alluding to the σῶμα κατηρτίσω of the above quotation.
3 The MSS. are divided between ἱερεύς and ἀρχιερεύς ; if the latter reading be
correct, the same explanation must be given as in the note on vii. 27.
4 Ps. cx. 1 (LXX_), quoted above, i. 13. (See note there.)
5 Tereheiwkev . . . τοὺς ἁγιαζομένους. Literally, He hath consummated them that
are being sanctified. The verb to perfect does not, by itself, represent τελειόω. See
notes on x. 1, ix. 10, and ii. 10. We should also observe, that ἁγεαζομένους is not
equivalent to ἡγιασμένους.
6 Jer. xxxi. 33. (LXX.) The part of the quotation here omitted is given above,
viii. 10-12. It appears, from the ‘slight variations between the present quotation and
the quotation of the same passage in Chap. viii., that the writer is quoting frem
memory.
7 Jer. xxxi. 34. (LXX.), being the conclusion of the passage quoted before, viii. 12,
The omission of λέγει with the «ai which joins the two detached portions of the quotas
tion, though abrupt, is not unexampled ; compare 1 Tim. y. 18.
8 Ἔν τῷ αἵματι. Compare ix. 25.
9 ’Evexaivicev. See note on ix. 18.
10 The meaning of this is, that the flesh (or manhood) of Christ was a veil which bid
His true nature ; this veil he rent, when he gave up his body to death; and through
His incarnation, thus revealed under its true aspect, we must pass. if we would enter
into the presence of God. We can have no real knowledge of God but through Hie
mcarnation.
11 Ἱερέα μέγαν. The same expression is used for High Priest by Philo and LXX.
EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 519
a true heart, in full assurance of faith; as our hearts have been
« sprinkled” from the stain of an evil conscience, and our
23 bodies have been washed with pure water. Let us hold fast
the confession of our hope,? without wavering, for faithful is
24 Ue that gave the promise. And let us consider? the example
one of another, that we may be provoked unto love and to good
25 works. Let us not forsake the assembling‘ of ourselves toge-
ther, as the custom of some is, but let us exhort one another;
26and so much the more, as ye see The Day approaching.» For
if we sin wilfully,* after we have received the knowledge? of
27 the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain
fearful looking for of judgment, and “ a wrathful fire that shall
28 devour the adversaries.” * THe that hath despised the Law of
Moses dieth® without mercy, upon the testimony of two or
29 three witnesses. Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye,
shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the
Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant,
wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done
30 despite unto the Spirit of Grace. For we know Him that hath
1 ’Eppavriouévor (alluding to ix. 13 and 21), viz. with the blood of Christ; com-
pare αἵματι ῥαντισμοῦ, xii. 24. Observe the force of the perfect participle in this and
λελουμένοι ; both referring to accomplished facts. See x. 2.
3. °F Aridoc, not “ faith.” (A. V.)
3 Κατανοῶμεν. This is Chrysostom’s interpretation, which agrees with the use of
the verb iii. 1.
4 Jt was very natural that the more timid members of the Church should shrink
from frequenting the assembly of the congregation for worship, in a time of persecution.
5 “The Day” of Christ’s coming was seen approaching at this time by the threaten.
ing prelude of the great Jewish war, wherein He came to judge that nation.
6 'Exovciwc. This is opposed to the “ἐὰν ἁμάρτῃ ἀκουσίως ") (Levit. iv. 2. T.XX.}
the involuntary sins for which provision was made under the Law. The particular
sin here spoken of is that of apostasy from the Christian faith, to which these Hebrew
Christians were particularly tempted. See the whole of this passage from x. 26 to
xii. 29.
7 ’Extyvwow. Compare Rom. x. 2. Phil. i. 9, &e.
8. 15, xxvi. 11, Ζῆλος λήψεται λαὸν ἀπαίδευτον, καὶ viv nip τοὺς ὑπεναντίους
ἔδεται. (I.XX.) Those who look for this quotation in A. V. will be disappointed,
for the A. V., the Hebrew, and the LXX., all differ.
9 ᾿Αποθνήσκει, the present, translated as past in A. V. The reference is to Deut.
xvii. 2-7, which prescribes that an idolater should be put to death on the testimony of
two or three witnesses. The writer of the Epistle does not mean that idolatry was
actually thus punished at the time he wrote (for though the Sanhedrin was allowed to
judge charges of a religious nature, they could not inflict death without permission of
the Roman Procurator, which would probably have been refused, except under very
peculiar circumstances, to an enforcement of this part of the law); but he speaks of
te punishment prescribed by the Law.
590 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 51. PAUL
said, “ Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord;” and
again, “ The Lord shall judge his people.”* It is a fearful 3)
thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
and exhortation But call to remembrance the former days, in 32
not to let faith
be conquered by Which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured :
great fight of afflictions; for not only were yes3
made a gazing-stock by reproaches and tribulations, but ye
took part also in the sufferings of others who bore the ‘ike. 34
For ye showed compassion to the prisoners,’ and took, joytully
the spoiling of your goods, knowing that ye have ® in heaven a
better and an enduring substance. Cast not away, therefore, 35
your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. Tor 36
ye have need of stedfastness, that after ye have done the will of
God, re might receive the promise. For yet a little while 37
and “116 that cometh shall be come, and shall not tarry.”’ Now 38
“ By faith shall the righteous live ;*” and “If he® draw back
through fear, my soul hath no pleasure in him.” But we are 39
not men of fear unto perdition, but of faith unto salvation.”
1 Deut. xxxii. 35. This quotation is not exactly according to LXX. or Hebrew,
but is exactly in the words in which it is quoted by St. Paul, Rom. xii. 19. The LXX.
is ἐν ἡμερᾷ ἐκδικήσεως ἀνταποδώσω.
3 Deut. xxxii. 86. (LXX).
3 The preceding passage (from verse 26) and the similar passage, vi. 4-6, have
proved perplexing to many readers; and were sucb a stumbling-block to Luther, that
they caused him even to deny the canonical authority of the Epistle. Yet neither
passage asserts the impossibility of an apostate’s repentance. What is said, amounts
to this—that for the conversion of a deliberate apostate, God has (according to the
ordinary laws of His working) no further means in store than those which have been
already tried in vain. It should be remembered, also, that the parties addressed are
not those who had already apostatised, but those who were in danger of so doing, and
who needed the most earnest warning.
4 If this Epistle was addressed to the Church of Jerusalem, the afflictions referred
to would be the persecutions of the Sanhedrin (when Stephen was killed), of Herod
Agrippa (when James the Greater was put to death), and again the more recent out-
break of Ananus, when James the Less was slain. But sce the preceding remarks,
p. 494.
5 Τοῖς decuiotc (not δεσμοῖς pov) is the reading of all the best MSS.
6 Not “knowing in yourselves” (A. V.). The reading of the best MSS. is ἔχειν
ἑαντούς or ἑαυτοῖς, that ye have yourselves, or for yourselves, i. 6. as your own.
7 Wabak. ii. 3. (LXX.) Not fully translated in A. V.
8 Habak. ii. 4. (LXX.), quoted also Rom. i. 17 and Gal. iii. 11.
9. The “any man” of A. V. is not in the Greek. Ὑποστέλλομαι, me subduca
(Wahl). is exactly the English flinch.
10 Habak ii. 4. (LXX.) But this passage in the original precedes the last quota-
tion, which it here follows.
1 Tlepiroinaw ψυχῆς, properly gaining of the soul, vite conservatio, and thus
equivalent to salvation. See Wahl on πεοιποιυῦμαι and περιποίησις.
EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 591
ΧΙ.
1 Now faith is the substance’ of things hoped for, _ Faith defined
as that princi.
ἃ the evidence of things not seen. For therein the ple which ena
bles men ἰ4
Wt Ϊ . pt 2 refer things
elders obtained a good report. fave toe
3 By faith we understand that the universe? ig ‘nss visible.
framed * by the word of God, so that the world which we ithe-
hold 5 springs not from things that can be seen.
4 Jy faith Abel offered unto God a more excel- | Its operation
historically ex-
lent sacrifice than Cain, whereby he obtained testi- emplitiea.
mony that he was righteous, for God testified® unto his gifts;
and by it he being dead yet speaketh.’
5 By faith Enoch was translated, that he should not see
death, and “he was not found, because God translated
him.” * For before his translation he had this testimony, that
6 “he pleased God , 5 but without faith it is impossible to
please Him ; for whosoever cometh unto God must have faith»
that God is, and that Ie rewardeth them that diligently seek
Him.
7 + LBy faith Noah, being warned by God concerning things
not seen as yet, through fear of God" prepared an ark, to the
saving of his house. Whereby he condemned the world and
became heir of the righteousness of faith.
8 By faith, Abraham when he was called," obeyed the com-
mand to go forth into a place * which he should afterward re-
ceive for an inheritance; and he went forth, not knowing
9 whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of pro-
1 For the meaning of ὑπόστασις, see note on iii. 14.
* ᾿Εμαρτυρήθησαν, cf. Acts vi. 3. This verse is explained by the remainder of the
chapter. The faith of the Patriarchs was a type of Christian faith, because it was
fixed upon a future and unseen good.
3 ποὺς αἰῶνας, so i. 2.
4 Observe κατήρτισθαι and γεγονέναι are perfects, not aorists
5 Τὸ βλεπόμενον is the reading of the best MSS. The doctrine negatived is that
which teaches that each successive condition of the universe is generated (γεγονέναι)
from a preceding condition (as the plant from the seed) by a mere material develop
ment, which had no beginning in a Creator’s will.
6 Gen. iv. 4. The Jewish tradition was, that fire from heaven consumed Abel’s
offering.
7 This has been supposed (compare xii. 24) to refer to Gen. iv. 10, but it may be
taken more generally.
8 Gen. v. 24. (LXX.)
® Gen. ν. 14. (LXX.), εὐηρέστησεν ’Evdy τῳ Sed,
10 Πιστεῦσαι refers to the preceding πίστεως. 11 Compare Heb. v. 7.
15 If we read ὁ x. (with some of the best MSS.) the translation will be “ He that
was called Abraham [instead of Abram].”
* Some of the best MSS. read ὅπον without the article.
.ο
522 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
mise as in a strange country, dwelling in tents, with Isaac
and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. For he1e
looked for the city which hath sure' foundations, whose
builder and maker is God.
By faith also Sarah herself received power to conceivell
seed, even when? she was past age, because she judged Him
faithful who had promised. Therefore sprang there of one, 13
and him as good as dead, “So many as the stars of the sky in
multitude,” * and as the sand, which is by the sea-shore ‘ “nnu-
merable.
These all died in faith, not having received the promises, 13
bnt having seen them afar off, and embraced them,* and con-
fessed that they were strangers and pilgrims upon earth. For14
they that say such things, declare plainly that they seek a
country. And truly if they speak® of that country from15
whence they came ‘forth, they might have opportunity to ree
turn; but now they desire a better country, that is, an hea-16
venly. Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God;
for Ile hath prepared for them a city.
By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered’? up Isaac,17
and he that had believed 5 the promises offered up his only be-
gotten son, though it was said unto® him, “ Jn Lsaac shall thy 18
seed be called ;” accounting that God was able to raise him 19
up, even from the dead; from whence also (in a figure) he re-
ceivea him.
By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, CONCERNING THINGS 20
TO COME.
ΡΟ χι15.28: 3 Ἕτεκεν is not in the best MSS.
3 Exod. xxxii. 18. (LXX.)
4 The same comparison is found Is. x. 22, quoted Rom. ix. 27.
5 Ἰϊεισθέντες is an interpolation not found in the best MSS. It was originally a
marginal gloss on ἀσπασάμενοι. The latter word cannot be adequately translated in
English, so as to retain the full beauty of the metaphor.
6 "Eurnudvevov. Compare ἐμνημόνευσε, verse 22. The meaning is, “ If, in calling
fhemselves strangers and pilgrims, they ref.r to the fact of their having left their
aative land.” In other words, if Christians regret the world which they have re
nounced, there is nothing to prevent their returning to its enjoyments. Here again
we trace a reference to those who were tempted to apostatise. For the expianation
of the two imperfects, see Winer, § 43, 2.
7 Προσενήνοχεν, literally, hath offered.
8 ᾿Αναδεξάμενος is more than “ received.’ (A. V.) His belief in the promises te
his posterity enhanced the sacrifice which he made.
9 Πρὸς, not “of? (A. V.) Πρὸς ὃν is equivalent to καίπερ πρὸς αὐτόν.
10 Gen. xxi. 12. (LXX.) quoted also Rom. ix. 7
EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 523
2. ~=—C By faith Jacob, wen ue was py1ne, blessed both the son.
of Joseph; and “ He worshipped, leaning upon the top of his
staf.”
22 (By faith Joseph, in ΤῊΒ HOUR oF HIS DEATH, spake’ of the de
parting of the children of Israel; and gave commandment
concerning his bones.
23 Βγ faith Moses when he was born was hid three months
by his parents, because “ they saw that the child was goodly ;”*
24and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment. By
faith Moses, “ when he was come to years,’ refused to be called
25 the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer afflic-
tion with the People of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of
26sin for a season; esteeming the reproach® of Christ greater
riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he looked beyond®
27 unto the reward.? By faith he forsook*® Egypt, not fearing the
wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing Him who is invi-
agsible. By faith he hath established 5 the passover, and the
sprinkling of blood, that the destroyer of the first-born might
not touch the children of Israel.
29 Jy faith they passed through the Red Sea as through dry
land; which the Egyptians tried to pass, and were swallowed
up.
30 ‘By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were
compassed about for seven days.
31 ‘By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with the disobedi-
ent,"' because she had received the spies with peace.
32 And what shall [ more say? for the time would fail me to
tell of Gideon, and of Barak, of Sampson and of Jephthae, of
1 Gen. xlvii. 31. (LXX.) The present Hebrew text means not the top of his staff,
but the head of his bed ; but the LXX. followed a different reading. The “faith” of
Jacob consisted in fixing his hopes upon future blessings, and worshipping God, even
in the hour of death.
* "᾿Εμνημόνευσε. See verse 15. Joseph’s “faith” relied on the promise that the
seed of Abraham should return to the promised land. (Gen. xv. 16.)
3 Exod. ii. 2. (LXX.) ϊδοντες αὐτὸ ἀστεῖον. The Hebrew speaks of his mother
only.
4 Exod. ii. 11 (LXX.).
5 The reproach of Christ’s people is here called the reproach of Christ. Compare
Sol. i. 24 and 2 Cor. i. 5; also see 1 Cor. x, 4.
5 ᾿Απέβλεπε, literally, 2e looked away from that which was before his eyes.
7 Μισθαπ. Cf. verse 6. 8 See Exod. ii. 15. 9 Tleroinke, perfect.
10 Αὐτῶν. See Winer, Gram. § 22, 4.
1 Απειθήσασι, not “ them that believedynot.” (A. V.) They had heard the miracles
wrought in favour of the Israelites (Josh. ii, 10), and yet refused obedience.
824. THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
David, and Samuel, and the prophets; who through faith sub-33
dued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises,
stopped the mouths of lions,! quenched the violence of fire,” 34
escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness? were made
strong, waxed valiant in fight, tuned to flight the armies of
the aliens. Women‘ received their dead raised to life again ; 35
and others were tortured,* not accepting deliverance, that they
might obtain a better 5 resurrection. Others also had trials of 36
cruel mockings? and scourgings, with chains also and imprison-
ment. They were stoned,* were sawn® asunder, were tempt- 37
ed,” were slain with the sword. They wandered about in
sheep skins and goat skins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented.
They wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and 3g
caves of the earth; of whom™ the world was not worthy.
And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, 39
received not the promise. God having provided some better 49
thing for us, that they, without us, should not be made per-
fect.”
1 Referring to Daniel. (Dan. vi. 17.)
3 Referring to Dan. iii. 27.
3 This and the two following clauses may be most naturally referred to the Mac-
eaxbees.
4 Referring to the widow of Sarepta (1 Kings xvii.) and the Shunamite (2 Kings vi.).
5 This refers both to Eleazar (2 Mac. vi.), and to the seven brothers, whose torture
is described, 2 Mac. vii. The verb ἐτυμπανίσθησαν points especially to Eleazar, who
was bound to the τύμπανον, an instrument to which those who were to be tortured by
kcourging were bound. (2 Mac. vi. 19.) The “not accepting deliverance” refers tc
the mother of the seven brothers and her youngest son (2 Mac. vii.).
ὁ Better, viz. than that of those who (like the Shunamite’s son) were only raised to
return to this life. This reference is plain in the Greek, but cannot be rendered
equally obvious in English, because we cannot translate the first ἀναστάσεως in this
verse by resurrection.
7 ’Euraryyov.. Still referring to the seven brothers, concerning whose torments
this word is used. (2 Mac. vii. 7.)
8. Zechariah, the son of Jehoiadah, was stoned. (2 Chron. xxiv. 20.) But it is not
necessary (nor indeed possible) to fix each kind of death here mentioned on some person
in the Old Testament. It is more probable that the Epistle here speaks of the general
persecution under Antiochus Epiphanes.
® According to Jewish tradition this was the death of Isaiah ; but see the preceding
note.
10 The received text is here retained; but there can scarcely be a doubt that the
reading should be (as has been conjectured) either ἐπυράσθησαν or ἐπυρώθησαν, they
were buried. This was the death of the seven brothers,
" Literally, wandering—they of whom the world was not worthy—in deserts and
im mountains, &c.; i.e. They for whom all that the world could give would have
been too little, had not even a home wherein to lay their head,
1 “ελειωθῶσι, See notes on ii. 10, vii. 11, ix. 9; literally, attain their consumma
EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 325
ΧΙ].
1 Wherefore, seeing we are compassed about #xhortation to
imitate such
with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us! also examples, and
to follow Je-
tay aside every weight, and the sin which cling- sus in stedfast
endurance οἱ
eth closely round τι, and run with courage? svlerins.
2 the race that is set before us; looking onward: unto Jesus, the
forerunner® and the finisher of our faith; who for the joy that
was sect before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame,
3 and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Yea,
consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against
4 Ilimself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have
5 not yet resisted unto blood,’ in your conflict against sin; and
ye have forgotten the exhortation which reasoneth’? with you
as with sons, saying, “ My Son, despise not thou the chasten-
6 ing of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. For
whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he
7 receiveth.® If ye endure chastisement,? God dealeth with you as
8 with sons; for where is the son that is not chastened by his
father ? but if ye be without chastisement, whereof all [God’s
tion, including the attainment of the full maturity of their being, and the attain
ment of the full accomplishment of their faith ; which are indeed identical. They
were not to attain this χωρὶς ἡμῶν, ὃ. 6. not until we came to join them.
1 Kai ἡμεῖς, let us, as they did. The Agonistic metaphor here (see Vol. IT. p. 199)
would be more naturally addressed to the Church of Alexandria than to that of Jerte
salem.
3 Εὐπερίστατος occurs nowhere else. Sin seems here to be described under the
metaphor of a garment fitting closely to the limbs, which must be cast off (ἀποθεμ.) if
the race is to be won. A garment would be called εὐπερίστατος, which fitted well all
round.
3 Ὑπομονὴ (as it has been before remarked) is not accurately represented by
% patience ;’’ it means stedfast endurance, or fortitude.
4 ᾿Αφορῶντες. Compare ἀπέβλεπε (xi. 26.)
5 ’"Apynyov, literally, foremost leader. Compare ii. 10. Compare also πρόδρομον
vi. 20).
6 If this Epistle was addressed to the Christians of Jerusalem, the writer speaks here
only of the existing generation; for the Church of Jerusalem had “resisted uate
blood” formerly, in the persons of Stephen, James the Greater, and James the Less.
But see introductory remarks, p. 495.
7 Διαλέγεται.
8 Prov. iii, 11-12. (LXX. nearly verbatim.) Philo quotes the passage to the
same purpose as this Epistle.
9 Throughout this passage it appears that the Church addressed was exposed to per-
secution. The intense feeling of Jewish nationality called forth by the commencing
struggle with Rome, which produced the triumph of the zealot party, would amply
account for a persecution of the Christians at Jerusalem at this period; as is argued
by ‘use who suppose the Epistle addressed to them. But the same cause would pro
Βηδο the same effect in the great Jewish population of Alexandria.
526 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
children] have been’ partakers, then are ye bastards and not
sons. Moreover, we were chastened? by the fathers of our 9
flesh, and gave them reverence ; shall we not much rather sub-
mit ourselves to the Father of our? spirits, and live? For1¢
they, indeed, for a few days chastened us, after their own
pleasure; but He for our profit, that we might be partakers of
His holiness. Now no chastisement for the present seemeth 11
to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless afterward, unto them
that are exercised thereby, it yieldeth the fruit of righteous-
ness in peace.‘
Wherefore “ Lift up the hands which hang down and the fee-12
ble Ienees,”> and “ make even paths for your feet ;”°® that the halt-13
ing limb be not lamed,’ but rather healed.
Warning agatnst Follow peace with all men, and holiness without 14
which no man shall see the Lord. And look dili-15
gently lest any man fall® short of the grace of God; “ ἐσϑέ
any root of bitterness springing up trouble you,” 5 and thereby
many be defiled; lest there be any fornicator, or profane per-16
gon, as Esau, who for a single meal sold his birthright; for ye17
know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing,
1 Observe the perfect γεγόνασι, referring to the examples of God’s children men-
tioned in the preceding chapter.
3 Elyousy madevtdc, The A. V. does not render the article correctly.
3 Ἡμῶν is understood (without repetition) from the parallel σαρκὸς ἡμῶν,
4 Καρπὸν εἰρηνικὸν δικαιοσύνης. God’s chastisements lead men to conformity to
the will of God (which is δικαιοσύνη) ; and this effect (καρπός) of suffering is (εἰρηνι-
noc) full of peace. There can be no peace like that which follows upon the submission
of the soul to the chastisement of our heavenly Father ; if we receive it as inflicted by
infinite wisdom and perfect love.
5 This quotation is from Is. xxxv. 3, from LXX. (as appears by the words παρειμέ-
νας and παραλελυμένα), but quoted from memory and not verbatim. The LXX. has
ἰσχύσατε, χεῖρες ἀνειμέναι καὶ γόνατα παραλελυμένα. The quotation here approaches
more nearly than this to the Hebrew original, and might therefore (if not quoted me-
moriter) be considered an exception to the rule, which otherwise is universal through-
out this Epistle, of adhering to the LXX. in preference to the Hebrew.
6 Prov. iv. 26. (LXX. nearly verbatim.)
7 Ἐκτραπῇ, be dislocated. The meaning of this exhortation seems to be, that they
should abandon all appearance of Judaizing practices, which might lead the weaker
brethren into apostasy.
8 The most natural construction here is, to supply 7, as in verse 16.
9. Deut. xxix.18. This quotation is a strong instance in favour of Bleck’s view, that
the writer of this Epistle used the Alexandrian Text of the LXX. For tae Codex
Alexandrinus (which, however, is corrupt here) reads μή τις ἐστὶν ἐν ὑμῖν ῥίζα πικοῖας
ἄνω φύουσα ἐνοχλῇ, where the Codex Vaticanus has ἐν χολῇ (for ἐνοχλῇ), which cop
respcnds more closely with the Hebrew.
EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 621
he was rejected; finding no room for repentance, though he
sotght it! earnestly with tears.
is lor ye are not come to a mountain that may be Τὰ proportion
to the superi
touched* and that burneth with fire, nor to “ black- ority of the
Gospel over the
1g ness and darkness and tempest,”*® and “sound of 3, will
i the danger of
trumpet,”* and “voce of words” *—the hearers sPising it.
whereof entreated that no more might be spoxen unto them ;°
20 for they could not bear that which was commanded.’ (“ And
if so much as a beast touch the mountain it shall be stoned ; ”*
21 and so terrible was the sight that Moses said “JZ exceedingly
22 fear and quake.” *)\—But ye are come unto Mount Sion, and
23 to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,” and to
myriads" of angels in full assembly, and to the congregation
of the first-born? whose names are written in heaven, and to
! Although, with Chrysostom and De Wette, we refer this αὐτὴν grammatically to
ustavoiav, yet we think the view of Bleek substantially correct, in referring it to
τὴν εὐλογίαν. That is, in saying that Esau sought repentance with tears, the writer
obviously means that he sought to reverse the consequences of his fault, and whtain
the blessing. If we refer to Genesis, we find that it was, in fact, Jacob’s blessing (τὴν
εὐλογίαν Gen. xxvii. 35-38, LXX.), which Esau sought with tears.
Ὁ ψηλαφωμένῳ, present participle ; κεκαυμένῳ, perfect participle (not as A.V.). For
the particulars here mentioned, see Exod. xix.
3 Deat. iv. 11 σκότος, γνόφος, θύελλα. (LXX.)
4 Exod. xix. 16, φωνὴ τῆς σάλπιγγος ἤχει. (LXX.)
§ Deut. iv. 12, φωνὴν ῥημάτων. (LXX.)
ἡ 9 Deut. v. 25 (LXX.), where προσθώμεθα accounts for προστεθῆναι here.
7 We put a full stop after διαστελλόμενον, because that which the Israelites “ could
not bear’? was not the order for killing the beasts, but the utterance of the com-
mandments of God. See Ex. xx. 19.
8 Quoted from Ex. xix. 12 (LXX., but not verbatim). The words ἢ βόλιδι κατα-
τοξευθήσεται of the received text have been here interpolated from the Old Testament,
and are not in any of the uncial MSS.
9 Deut. ix. 19, ἔκφοβός εἰμι (LXX). This is the passage in the Old Testament
which comes nearest to the present. It was the remembrance of that terrible sight
which caused Moses to say this; much more must he have been terrified by the reality,
10 This is (see Gal. iv. 26) the Church of God, which has its μητρόπολις in heaven,
though some of its citizens are still pilgrims and strangers upon earth.
4 We cannot suppose (with most interpreters) that μυρίασιν is to be taken by itself,
as if it were ταῖς ἁγίαις μυρίασιν (cf. Jude 14,) and ἀγγέλων πανηγύρει put in appo-
sition to it; nor can we take πανηγύρει καὶ ἐκκλησίᾳ together, which would make
πανηγύρει redundant. But we take μυρίασιν ἀγγέλων πανηγύρει together, taking
πανηγύρει as in apposition to μυρίασιν ἀγγέλων, or else as equivalent to ἐν πανηγύρει,
which gives the same sense. Πανήγυρις properly means a festive assembly, which
reminds us of “the marriage supper of the lamb.”
12 Πρωτοτόκων. These appear to be the Christians already dead and entered into
their rest ; ἀπογεγραμμένων means registered or enrolled. Cf. Luke ii. 1, and
Phil. iv. 3.
528 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF 8T. PAUL.
God: the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men? made
perfect,? and to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to 24
the blood of sprinkling,s which speaketh better things than
that of Abel.
See that ye reject* not Him that speaketh. For if they 25
escaped not, who rejected Him that spake’ on earth, much
more shall not we escape, if we turn away from Him that
speaketh from heaven. Whose voice then shook the earth, but 26
now He hath promised, saying, “ Yet once more only® will I
shake® not the earth alone but also heaven.” And this “ Yet 27
once more only” signifieth the removal of those things that are
shaken, as being perishable," that the things unshaken may
remain immoveable. Wherefore, since we receive a kingdom 28
that cannot be shaken, let us be filled with thankfulness ; ”
whereby we may offer acceptable worship unto God, with reve- 29
rence "" and godly fear. For “ our God is a consuming fire.” XIII.
Exhortatio to _Let brotherly love continue. Be not forgetful to 1
several mora
duties, especi- entertain strangers, for thereby some have enter- 2
ally to courage-
ous profession tained angels unawares. Jtemember the prisoners 3
of the faith, 5
and obedience 7 τ τῇ . oA
gnd obedience as though ye shared their prison; and the afilicted,
1 The order of the Greek would lead us more naturally to translate to a judge,
who is God of ail; but we have retained the A.V. in deference to the opinion of
Chrysostom. é
3 These dixazoc (being distinguished from the πρωτότοκοι above) are probably the
worthies of the ancient dispensation, commemorated chap. xi.
3 Τετελειωμένων, literally, who have attained their consummation. This they had
not done until Christ’s coming. See xi. 40.
4 Contrasted with the ὕδωρ ῥαντισμοῦ of Numbers xix. (LXX.) Compare ix. 13-14
and x. 22.
5 Or, if we read κρεῖττον and τὸν (with the best MSS.), “better than Abel.” The
voice of Abel cried for vengeance (Gen. iv. 10). Compare xi. 4; the blood of Christ
called down forgiveness.
It is impossible to translate παραιτεῖσθαι by the same English word here and in verse
19th ; hence the reference of the one passage to the other is less plain. than in the
original.
7 Χρηματίζοντα, literally, “ that spake oracularly.”
8 "Arak, once, and once only. Cf. ix. 26, and x. 2.
9 Yeiow is the reading of the best MSS.
0 Hagg. ii. 6. (LXX., but not verbatim.)
Us Πεποιημένων, used here as χειροποιητός is (ix. 11. ix. 24), and as we often uae
“ things created” as equivalent to things perishable.
13 "Eyouey χάριν, Compare χάριν ἔχει, Luke xvii. 9. If the meaning were “ Let
us Dold fast [the] grace [which we have received],” it would be κατέχωμεν τὴν χάριν,
1. Εὐλαβείας καὶ δέους is the reading of the hest MSS.
44 Deut. iv. 24. (LXX. nearly verbatim.)
8 Viz, Abraham and Lot.
EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 529
4 as being yourselves also in the body. Let marriage ° teCburch.
be held honourable? in all things, and let the marriage-bed be
undefiled ; for? whoremongers and adulterers God will judge
5 Let your conduct be free from covetousness, and be content
6 with what ye have; for HE hath said “ Z will never leave thee
nor forsake thee.”3 So that we may boldly say, “Zhe Lord
ts my helper, and I will not fear. What can Man do unto
me 24
7 Remember them that were your leaders,’ who spoke to you
the Word of God; look upon® the end of their life, and follow
the example of their faith.
8 Jesus Christ? is the same yesterday and to-day and for
9 ever. De not carried away* with manifold and strange doc-
trines. For it is good that the heart be established by grace}
not by meats,? which profited not them that were occupied
10 therein. We have an altar whereof they that minister unto
11 the tabernacle have no right to eat. For” the bodies of those
beasts whose blood the High Priest bringeth" into the Holy
1 Τήμιος ὁ γάμος must be taken imperatively on the same grounds as ἀφιλάργυρος ὁ
τούπος, Which immediately follows.
* The MSS. A, D, and some others read ydp here, which is adopted by Lachmann
and Bleek.
3 Deut. xxxi. €. Κύριος ὁ ϑεὸς *** οὔτε μή ce ἀνῇ, οὔτε μή ce ἐγκαταλίπῃ
(LXX.). This is said by Moses. In Josh. i. 5 (Χ Χ.) we find a direct promise from
God, almost in the same words, οὐκ ἐγκατωλείψω σε, οὐδ' ὑπερόψομαίΐ σε, addressed to
Joshua. The citation here, being not verbatim, may be derived from either of these
places. Philo cites the same words as the text.
4 Ps. exvili. 6. (LXX)
5 Ἡγουμένους is not rulers, but leaders. Compare Acts xv. 22. "Avdpac ἡγουμένους
ἐν τοῖς ἀδέλφοις. The word is here (cf. verse 17 and 24) applied to the presbyters or
Dubone of the Church. See Vol. I. p. 434, note 7.
6 ’Avafewpodvtes, ἃ very graphic word, not to be fully rendered by any English
term. The meaning is “contemplate the final scene [ perhaps martyrdom], which
closed their life and labours (ἀναστοοφὴ).""
7 The A. VY. here gives an English reader the very erroneous impression that
‘Jesus Christ’ is in the objective case, and in apposition to “ the end of their conver
sation.”
8 Παραφέρεσθε is the reading of the best MSS.
9 Βρώμασιν, The connection here is very difficult. The reference seems to be, in
the first place, to Judaizing doctrines concerning clean and unclean meats; but thence
the thought passes on to the sacrificial meats, on which the priests were partly sup-
ported. Some think this verse addressed to those who had themselves been priests,
which would be an argument for supposing the epistle addressed to the Church at Je-
tusalem. (Compare Acts vi. 7.)
10 The connection seems to be, that the victims sacrificed on the day of Atonement
were commanded (Levit. xvi. 27) to be wholly burned, and therefore not eaten
“ Cremabantur, inquit ; non ergo comedebantur a sacerdotibus.”” (Gomarus.)
" Viz. on the day of Atonement. Compare Chaps, ix. and x.
VOL. 11.—34
530 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
Place,’ are burned “ without the camp.”? Wherefore Jesus also, 12
that He might sanctify the People by His own blood, suffered
without the gate. Therefore let us go forth unto Him “with-13
out the camp,” bearing His reproach. For here we have no14
continuing city, but we seek one to come.
By Him therefore let us offer unto God continually a saeri- 15
fice of praise,‘ that is, “the fruit of our lips” * making confes-
sion unto His name. And be not unmindful of benevolence 16
and liberality; for such are the sacrifices which are acceptable
unto God.
Render unto them that are your leaders obedience and sub- 17
mission ; for they on their part® watch for the good of your
souls, as those that must give account; that they may keep
their watch with joy and not with lamentation; for that would
be unprofitable for you.
The writer asks Pray for me; for I trust’ that I have a good1g
their prayers,
gives them his. conscience, desiring in all my conduct to live rightly.
own, and com-
municates in- But I the rather beseech you to do this, that I may 19
formation from
ala be restored to you the sooner. ὃ
Now the God of peace, who raised up* from the dead the 20
great “shepherd of the sheep,” * even our Lord Jesus, through
‘he bloud of an everlasting covenant,—make you perfect in 21
« The words περὶ ἁμαρτίας are omitted in the best MSS.
5 Levit. xvi. 27. (LXX. verbatim). The camp (παρεμβόλη) of the Israelites was
afterwards represented by the Holy City; so that the bodies of these victims were
burnt outside the gates of Jerusalem. See above, p. 254, note 6.
3 Τὴν, literally, the city which is to come. Compare x. 34 and the βασιλείαν
ἀσάλευτον, xii. 28.
4 The Christian sacrifice is a “sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving,” contrasted with
the propitiatory sacrifices of the old law, which were for ever consummated by Christ.
See x. 4-14,
.5 Hosea xiv. 2. (LXX.) (The present Hebrew text is different.)
6 Αὐτοΐ, emphatic.
7 This seems to be addressed to a party amongst these Hebrew Christians who had
taken offence at something in the writer’s conduct.
8 We have already observed that this implies that a personal connection existed
between the writer and the readers of this Epistle. The opinion of Ebrard, that this
verse is written by St. Luke in St. Paul’s person, and verse 23d in his own person,
appears quite untenable; no intimation of a change of person is given (compare Rom,
xvi. 22); nor is there any inconsistency in asking prayers for a prosperous journey,
and afterwards expressing a positive intention of making the journey.
9 λλνάγειν is not to bring again (A. Y.), but to bring up from below, to raise up.
(Rom. x. 7.)
10 This is an allusion to a passage in Isaiah (Is. Ixiii. 11. LXX.) where God ia
described as‘ He who brought up from the sea the shepherd of the sheep [viz.
Moses}.”
EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 53]
every good work to do His will, working in you that which is
well-pleasing in His sight, by Jesus Christ. To whom be glory
for ever.1 Amen.
22 I beseech you, brethren, to bear with these words of exhorta-
tion; for I have written shortly.
23 Know that our brother Timotheus is set at liberty; and with
him, if he come speedily, I will see you.
24 Salute all them that are your leaders, and all Christ’s
people.
2 They of Italy? salute you.
Grace be with you all. Amen. Ls
1 Tay αἰώνων is probably to be omitted both here and Rom. xi. 36, and xvi. 27,
3 They are asked to excuse the apparent harshness of some portions of the letter, on
the ground that the writer had not time for circumlocution.
3 Ol ἀπὸ τῆς ᾿Ιταλίας. We agree with Winer (Gram. sect. 63, p. 484) in thinking
that this ἀπὸ may be most naturally understood as used from the position of the
readers, This was the view of the earlier interpreters, and is agreeable to Greek
analogy. In fact, if we consider the origin in most languages of the gentilitial prepo-
sitions (von, de, of, &c.), we shall see that they conform to the same analogy. Henca
we infer from this passage that the writer was in Italy.
pes ane eh a poo Vertes ἌΣ mat
a aN eee eee Ohcerae walives
ae |
ΕΝ δ᾽. Pateiagh og ett abbas lian ol
“sds iM Sid sony γβόνονι feriie Ray hits rad Gua
δα Ὁ δὰ Canoe yD, Οὐ ποξοβρενμ δα
τ ΤΡ 5 δα μαμονα αὶ. “ely tong ἐμὲ νοὶ a 4
TOGO τ te) odin yr tt a
Ny 8 Cee a Ri vid Lean ἐτῶν
ig Ripe δ Ὁ 165.) ἥν. By: wali aif at i
ee ee ae,
Ure 2 Big é
ϊ : rth CHEE TEE) sabes Mai δ τὰ a gue
? - 4 fe ‘ cal a
Ri ere yg rine graeme om
; cides
J not ens t era
Va Ard Ares
Ze AIAS
vt fa! ee? At
d ᾿ Τὰ ait Σ ἢ ng ᾿
nes a>, 4 e yet 5 i hy ν Nat ω Ν
᾿ t sesh Ἢ Tet be ft a ᾿ δύ οἱ ἌΤΙ εὐ SA) inlet “ ἐγ"
. αϑο ὭΣ τ ΑΝ ΥΩ δ Pony Ut τών,
νἀ a Ὥ. ᾿ ἐ : te 1 hie >
r a
Ἶ ‘
Ἵ 2 7 x δ
Ges J
Ι ὃν ᾿Ὰ ee} . nee.
~*~, ᾿ le
4 es ‘ ;
'
- ἄν.
. Fm
aN ων
; re ᾿ ‘
-.
- p> ‘4
a :
pe
bY,
APPENDIX.
APPENDIX I.
ON THE DATE OF THE PASTORAL EPISILES,
BuForE we can fix the time at which these Epistles were written, we must take tas
following data into account.
1, The three Epistles were nearly cotemporaneous with one another. This is
proved by their resembling each other in language, matter, and style of composition,
and in the state of the Christian Church which they describe ; and by their differing
in all these three points from all the other Epistles of St. Paul. Of course the full
force of this argunient cannot be appreciated by those who have not carefully studied
these Epistles; but it is now almost universally admitted by all! who have done so,
both by the defenders and impugners of the autbenticity of the Pastoral Epistles.
Hence if we fix the date of one of the three, we fix approximately the date of all.
2. They were written after St. Paul became acquainted with Apollos, and there-
fore after St. Paul’s first visit to Ephesus. (See Acts xviii. 24, and Titus iii. 13.)
3. Hence they could not have been written till after the conclusion of that portion
of his life which is related in the Acts; because there is no part of his history, between
his first visit to Ephesus and his Roman imprisonment, which satisfies the historical
conditions implied in the statements of any one of these Epistles. Various attempts
have been made, with different degrees of ingenuity, to place the Epistles to Timothy
and Titus at different points in this interval of time ; but all have failed, even te
satisfy the conditions required for placing any single Epistle correctly.2— And no one
nas ever attempted to place all three together, at any period of St. Paul’s life before
the end of his first Roman imprisonment; yet this cotemporaneousness of the three
Epistles is, as we have seen, a necessary condition of the problem.
4, The Pastoral Epistles were written not merely after St. Paul’s first Roman im.
prisonment, but considerably after it. This is evident from the marked difference in
their style from the Epistle to the Philippians, which was the last written during that
imprisonment. So great a change of style (a change not merely in the use of single
words, but in phrases, in modes of thought, an€ in method of composition) must re
We have noticed Dr. Davidson’s contrary opinion before ; and we should add that Wieseler may
be considered another exception, only that he does not attempt to reply to the grounds stated by
other critics for the cotemporaneousness of the three Epistles, but altogether ignores the question
of internal evidence from style and Church organisation, which is the conclusive evidence here.
Subjoined to this appendix will be found an alphabetical list of the words and phrases peculiar to
the Pastoral Epistles.
4 Wieseler’s is the most ingenious theory which has been suggested for getting over this difficulty ;
but it has been shown by Huther that neither of the three Epistles can be placed as Wieseler places
them without involving some contradiction auf the facts mentioned in them respectively. (See
Huther’s Pastoralbriefe, pp. 12-25.)
534 APPENDIX I.
quire an interval of certainly not less than four or five years to account for it. And
even that interval might seem too short, unless accompanied by circumstances which
should further explain the alteration. Yet five years of exhausting labour, great
physical and moral sufferings, and bitter experience of human nature, might suffice to
account for the change.
5. The development of Church organisation 1mplied in the Pastoral Epistles leads
to the same conclusion as to the lateness of their date. The detailed rules for the
choice of presbyters and deacons, implying numcrous candidates for these offices; the
exclusion of new converts (νεόφυτοι 1) from the presbyterate; the regular catalogue
of Church widows ; are all examples of this.
6. The Heresies condemned in all three Epistles are likewise of a nature which
forbids the supposition of an early date. They are of the same class as those attacked
in the Epistle to the Colossians, but appear under a more matured form. They are
apparently the same heresies which we find condemned in other portions of Scripture
written in the later part of the Apostolic age, as for example, the Epistles of Peter and
Jude. We trace distinctly the beginnings of the Gnostic Heresy, which broke out
with such destructive power in the second century, and of which we have already
scen the germ in the Epistle to the Colossians.
7. The preceding conditions might lead us to place the Pastoral Epistles at anj
point after a. p. 66 (see condition 4, above), ἡ. 6. in the last thirty-three years of the
first century. But we have a limit assigned us in this direction, by a fact men-
tioned in the Epistles to Timothy, viz., that Timotheus was still a young man (1 Tim.
iv. 12, 2 Tim. ii, 22) when they were written. We must of course understand this
statement relatively to the circumstances under which it is used: Timotheus was
young for the authority entrusted to him; he was young to exercise supreme jurisdic-
ton over all the Presbyters (many of them old men) of the churches of Asia. Ac-
cording even to modern notions (and much more according to the feelings of anti-
quity on the subject), he would still have been very young for such a position at the
age of thirty-five. Now Timotheus was (as we have seen, Vol. I. pp. 197 and 265)
a youth still living with his parents when St. Paul first took him in a.p. 51 (Acts xvi,
1-3) as his companion. From the way in which he is then mentioned (Acts xvi. 1-3:
compare 2 Tim.i. 4), we cannot imagine him to have been more than seventeen or eighteen
at the most. Nor, again, could he be much younger than this, considering the part
he soon afterwards took in the conversion of Macedonia (2 Cor. i. 19). Hence we
may suppose him to have been eighteen years old in a.p. 51. Consequently, in 68
(the last year of Nero), he would be thirty-five? years old.
8.1 we are to believe the universal tradition of the early Church, St. Paul’s mar-
tyrdom occurred in the reign of Nero. Hence, we have another limit for the date of
the Pastoral Epistles, viz. that it could not have been later than a. p. 68, and this
agrees very well with the preceding datum.
It will be observed that all the above conditions are satisfied by the hypothesis
adopted in Chapter XXVII., that the Pastoral Epistles were written, the two first just
before, and the last during, St. Paul’s final imprisonment at Rome. Before examining
1 1 Tim. iii. 6.
3 No objection against the genuineness of the Pastoral Epistles has been more insisted on than
that furnished by the reference to the youth of Timotheus in the two passages above mentioned.
How groundless such objections are, we may best realise by considering the parallel case of those
young Colonial Bishops, who are almost annually leaving our shores. Several of these have been
not more than thirty-four or thirty-five years of age at the time of their appointment: and how
naturally might they be addressed, Ly an elderly friend, in the very language which St. Paul here
addresses to Timotheus.
3 See the authorities for this statement above, p. 487
DATE OF THE PASTORAL EPISTLES. δὸξ
fhe details which fix the order of these Epistles amongst themselves, we shall briefly
consider the arguments of those who, during the present century, have denied the
genuineness of these Epistles altogether. These objections, which were first suggested
by Schleiermacher (who rejected 1 Tim. only), have been recently supported by Baur
(with his usual unfairness and want of exegetical discrimination) and (much more
ably and candidly) by De Wette.
jecting the Epistles are as follows :--
Objection.
1. The Pastoral Epistles cannot, on his-
toric grounds, be placed in any portion
of St. Paul’s life before the end of his first
Roman imprisonment, from which he was
never liberated. :
2. The language is unlike that of St.
Paul’s other Epistles.
3. The mode of composition, the frequent
intreduction of hortatory commonpiaces,
and the want of connection, are un-Paul-
ine.
4 The Epistles are without a definite
object, or do not keep that object consis-
tently in view.
5. More importance is attached to exter-
nal morality, and to “soundness” of dog-
matic teaehing, than in St. Paul's other
Epistles. τ
The chief cause assigned by these writers for re-
Answer.
1. This rejection rests on the arbitrary
assumption, which we have already at-
tempted to refute in Chap. XXVIL., that
St. Paul was not liberated from his first
imprisonment.
2. The change of style is admitted ; but
it may be accounted for by change of cir-
cumstances and lapse of time. New
words very soon are employed, when new
ideas arise to require em. The growth
of new heresies, the development of Church
organisation, the rapid alteration of cir-
cumstances in a great moral revolution,
may fully account for the use of new
terms, or for the employment of old terms
in a new sense. Moreover the language
of letters to individual friends might be
expected to differ somewhat from that of
public letters to churches.
3. The change in these respects (such as
it is) is exactly what we might expect to
be caused by advancing age, the diminu-
tion of physical vigour, and the partial
failure of that inexhaustible energy which
had supported a feeble bodily frame
through years of such varied trials.
4, This objection we have sufficiently
answered in the preliminary remarks pre-
fixed to the translation of the several
Epistles. We may add that De Wette
fixes very arbitrarily on some one point
which he maintains to be the “ object”
of each Epistle, and then complains tha$
the point so selected is not properly kept
in view. On such a ground we might
equally reject the most undoubtedly genu-
ine Epistles.
5. This change is exactly what we
should expect, when the foundations of
Christian doctrine and Christian morality
were attacked by heretics.
586
Objection.
6. More importance is given to the hie-
rarchical element of the Church than in
St. Paul’s other Epistles.
7. The organisation of the Church de-
scribed is too mature for the date assign-
ed: especially, the exclusion of νεόφυτοι
(1 Tim. iii. 6) from the Presbyterate
shows ἃ long existence of the Church.
8. The institution ofan Order of Widow-
hood (1 Tim. ν. 9) is not probable at so
early ἃ period.
APPENDIX I.
Answer. ;
6. This again is what we should have
anticipated, in Epistles written towards
the close of the apostolic age, especially
when addressed to an ecclesiastical officer
We know that, in the succeeding period,
the Church was (humanly speaking) saved
from destruction by its admirable organi
sation, without which it would have fallen
to pieces under the disintegrating influ-
ences which were at work within it
When these influences first began to be
powerful, it was evidently requisite to
strengthen the organisation by which they
were to be opposed. Moreover, as the
time approached when the Apostles them-
selves were to be withdrawn, it was neces-
sary to take measures that the element
of order which their government had
hitherto supplied should not be lost to the
Church.
7. There is nothing in the church organ-
isation which might not have been ex-
pected at the period of 68 a. D., in churches
which had existed fifteen years, or perhaps
more. The πρεσβύτεροι and διώκονοι are
distinct orders as early as the Epistle tc
the Philippians. The ordaining of zpec-
βύτεροι in every city was a step always
taken by St. Paul immediately on the
foundation of a church (Acts xiy. 23).
On the other hand, there are some points
in the Church organisation described,
which seem clearly to negative the hy-
pothesis of a date later than the Apostolic
age ; especially the use of πρεσβύτερος
and ἐπίσκοπος as Synonymous,
8. The institution of such an order (so
far as it is at all implied in this Epistle)
is nothing more than what might be ex-
pected to arise immediately from the
establishment of a class of widows sup-
ported by the Church (as described Acts
vi. 1), such as existed from the very ear- ἢ
liest period of the Church. Baar (by a
mere arbitrary hypothesis) supposes that
the Widows of our Epistle were the same
with the order of Virgins (τὰς παρθένους
τὰς λεγομένας χήρας, Ig. Smyrn. c. 13)
which existed in the time of Ignatius
DATE OF THE PASTORAL EPISTLES.
Objection.
9 Timotheus could not have been con-
sidered young, after St. Paul’s first impri-
sonment,
10. The somewhat depreciatory tone in
which Timotheus is addressed, does not
agree with what we know of St. Paul’s
great value for him.
11. The Gnostic heresy is plainly at-
tacked in the Pastoral Epistles ; yet it did
not exist till towards the close of the first
century. (Baur adds that the peculiar
heresy of Marcion is distinctly attacked
in 1 Tim.; but this is allowed by De
Wette to be a mistake. See note on
1 Tim. vi. 20).
12. The heretics are vaguely described
as future, yet occasionally as present;
the present and future seeming to be
blended together.
13. Passages from the other Pauline
Epistles are interpolated into these.
537
Answer.
whereas this very passage is a provf of
the earlier date of our Epistle; because
the χήραι of 1 Tim. are especially to be
selected from among those who had borne
children. so that no virgin would have
been admissible.
9. This is fully answered above, p. 534.
10. We must remember that St. Paul
had witnessed the desertion of many of
his disciples and friends (2 Tim. iv. 10),
and it seems probable that Timotheus
himself had shown some reluctance to
encounter the great danger to which a
visit to Rome at the close of Nero’s reign
would have exposed every Christian. On
the other hand, what motive could have
induced a forger to represent Timotheus
in this manner ?
11. It is not the Gnostic heresy in its
full development which is attacked in
these Epistles, but the incipient form of
that heresy. We see the germ of it so
early as in the Epistle to the Colossians.
And even in the Epistles to Corinth, there
was a party which prided itself in γνῶσις
(1 Cor. viii. 1), and seems to have been
(in its denial of the resurrection, &c.)
very similar to the early Gnostics, and at
least to have contained the germ of the
Gentile element of that heresy. (See Vol.
I. p. 449.)
12. This suits very well with the fact
that the Gnostic heresy had as yet only
appeared in its incipient form. Worse
was still to come. Moreover, the same
phenomenon occurs in the description of
the μυστήριον τῆς ἀνομίας (2 Thess. ii.)
13. A writer very naturally expresses
the same thoughts in the same way, by
an unconscious self-repetition. So we
have seen in the Colossians and Ephesians,
and in the Romans and Gaiatians,
Having thus considered the objections which nave been made against the genuine
ness of these Epistles, we may add to this negative view of the case the positive rea
sons which may be given for believing them genuine.
1. The external evidence of their reception by the Universal Church is conclusive
538 APPENDIX I.
They are distinctly quoted by Irenzeus,! and some of their peculiar expressions are
employed in the same sense by Clement, St. Paul’s disciple.? They are included in
the Canon of Muratori, and in the Peschito, and are reckoned by Eusebius among the
Canonical Scriptures universally acknowledged. Their authenticity was never dis
puted in the early Church, except by Marcion; and that single exception counts for
nothing, because it is well known that he rejected other portions of Scripture, not on
grounds of critical evidence, but because he was dissatisfied with their contents.
2, The opponents of the genuineness of these Epistles have never been able to sug
gest any sufficient motive for their forgery. Had they been forged with a view to
refute the later form of the Gnostic heresy, this design would have been more clearly
apparent. As itis, the Epistles to the Colossians and Corinthians might have been
quoted against Marcion or Valentinus with as much effect as the Pastoral Epistles.
3. Their very early date is proved, as we have before remarked, by the Spread of, 371.
Phlegon, ii. 194.
Phoebe of Cenchre, ii, 154,
Pheenice, i. 212,
Phoenicians, the, i. 9.
Phoenix, harbor of, ii, 322.
Physicians among the ancients, i. 312, 313.
Pirzus, the, i. 346-349,
Pisidia, i. 162; robbers of, 1b. ; violence of its
flooded rivers, 163; mountain scenery of, 165-164
Plata, battle of, i. 160.
Plato, philosophy of, i. 366.
Pliny on the Conyentus, or assize-town, ij. 82.
Pnyx, the, i. 346, 354, 356.
Polemo, II., King of Pontus, i. 24, 25, 248,
Politarchs, the, of Thessalonica, i. 335,
Polycarp, martyrdom of, ii. 86 note.
Pompeiopolis, i. 21.
Pompey the Great, i, 21; in Damascus, 26; af
Jerusalem, 27.
Pomptme marshes, ii. 359,
Pontus, last king of, i. 25,
Pontus, description of, i. 248,
Poppea, ii. 422, 545,
Posidonium at the Isthmus of Corinth, ii. 196,
Posts established by Augustus, ii. 419,
Pretorian Guards, ii, 278,
Pretorium, ii. 416,
Praxiteles, 353.
‘* Presidents of the Games,” if. 83,
Priam, Palace of, ii. 206.
Prion, Mount, ii. 70, 89.
Priscilla, i. 387, 388, 423; ii. 19 33 note,
Proconsuls, 1. 142, et seq.
Procuratores, Asix, ii. $2 note,
Propretors, i. 142, et seq.
Proselytes, Jewish, i. 18.
Proselytes, female, at Damascus, i. 19, 172 megs,
at Antioch in Pisidia, 171, 181
Proseucha, at Lystra, i, 198,
Ptolemais, ii. 231.
Pudens, ii. 474.
Puteoli, ii, 349-355
INDEX.
Pydua, i. 342.
Pythagoras, philosophy of, {. 366.
Q.
Quadratus, governor of Syria, ii. 274,
Quartus, ii. 195.
R.
Rabbinism,”’ i. 56.
Record-heuse of Athens, i. 355°
Remond on the Jewish dispersions, i. 18.
Rhegium, ii. 348.
Rhodes, notice of, ii. 221.
Rhodian fleet at Phaselis, i, 160.
Rhyndacus river, i. 278.
Roman Church, of Gentile origin, ii. 155; name
᾿ of founder not known, ἐδ.
Roman Amphitheatre, i. 12; Army, the, ii. 276;
Commerce, ii, 307; fleet at Phaselis, i. 160;
power in the East, i. 11; growth and govern-
ment of, 12.
Rome, description of, ii. 361.
Rufus, ii. 194,
8.
Sadducees, the, i. 32.
Sadducees, i. 67.
Sagalassus, i. 163.
St. John. at Ephesus, ii. 89.
St. Paui’s Bay, view of, ii. 344,
Salamis, i. 134, 189; copper mines at, 140; de-
stroyed, 7b. ; sea fight at, tb. note; battle of, i.
160, 343.
Salonica, Gulf of, i. 343.
Samaria, ii. 268,
Samaritans, the, 1. 35, 79, 80.
Samian shipbuilders, i. 414.
Samos, ii. 18.
Samothrace, i. 282, 283, 286.
Sangarius river, i. 277.
Sanhedrin, the, i. 56, 69; its power over foreign
synagogues, 81; ii. 261.
Saronic Gulf, i. 345.
Sarus river, i. 260.
Say, village of, i. 164 note.
Say-Sou river, i. 164 note.
Saul. Sve Paul, St. “Saul,” and ‘ Paul,” the
words, i. 46.
Sceva, sons of, the exorcists, ii. 23.
Schools, Jewish, i. 60; customs in, 61.
S8chmmai, Jewish school of, i. 56.
Schoenus, port of, i. 413.
Scio, ii. 211.
8cylitzes Curopalates, i. 259 note.
Secundus of Thessalonica, i. 336.
Seleucia, foundation of, i. 122, 136 ; immense ex-
cavation at, 137 ; its excellent harbour, ἐδ.
Seleucus Nicator, i. 122.
Selge, i. 168 ; robbers of, ib.
Seneca, the philosopher, i. 871, 417, ᾿
Sergius Paulus, i. 141, 145, 146.
Serres, i. 314 note.
‘Seven Capes,” the, ii. 225,
Sharon, plain of, ii. 268.
Sheba, queen of, i. 19,
Shipbuilders of Samos, i. 414,
Ships of the ancients, ii, 300 e seq.
Bide, i. 160.
Zidon, notice of, ii. 312.
Bilas, i. 220, 222 ; accompanies St. Paul to Cilicia,
i, 264 ; scourged and cast into prison at Philippi, ,
i, 304; released from prison, 310; leaves Phi-
lippi, 318 ; visits the Synagogue at Thessalonica,
317 ; accompanies St. Paul to Bercea, 340 ; left
behind witn Timotheus, at Bercea, 341; joins
St. Paul at Corinth, 389 ; accompanies the Apos-
ue to Ephesus, Caesarea, and Jerusalem, 422--
425 ; remains at Jerusalem, ii. 10.
Silanus the proconsul, ii $1 note.
555
Silversmiths of Ephesus, ii, 85.
Simeon, father of Gamaliel, i. 57.
Simeon, son of Gamaliel, tb.
Simeon, surnamed, Niger, i, 181, 132.
Simon Magus, ii. 28 nole.
Sinuessa, ii. 857.
Slave-trade of Delos, i. 20,
Smyrna, ii. 18.
Socrates, character of, i. 365,
Soli, town of, i, 21.
Solomon, temple of, ii. 246.
Solon, statue of, i, 354.
Sopater of Beroea, i. 336,
Sorcery, Jewish, ii. 23,
Sosipater, ii. 195, 202.
Sosthenes, chief of the Corintnian Jewish syna
gogue, i. 419; beaten by the Greek mob, 420.
Spruner’s “ Atlas Antiquus,”’ i 286 note.
Stachys, ii. 193.
Stadium, Isthmian, Note on the, 1". 196,
Stadia, in Asia Minor, ii. 200,
Stagirus, i, 920,
Stephen, St., i. 66-68 ; his trial, 70; his martyr
dom, 73; his prayer, 74 ; his burial, 77.
Stoa Peecile, the, i. 860
Stocks, the, i. 805
Stoics, i. 860 ; their philosophy, 367.
Strabo on Pamphylia, i. 159,
Strato’s tower, ii. 280.
Stromboli, ii. 849.
Strymon river, i. 815.
Students, Jewish, i. 62.
Sulla at Athens, i. 851.
“Sultan Tareek ’? road, i. 168,
Sunium, Cape of, i. 845, 346.
“Synagogue of the Libertines,” i. 18; the first,
60; number of, in Jerusalem, 61, in Salami
140; in Antioch in Pisidia, 1712; ancient ax
modern, 172-174 ; the, at Thessalonica, 325 ; at
Athens, 363 ; at Corinth, 389.
Syntyche, ii. 423,
Syracuse, ii. 347.
ΠῚ
Talniud, the, i. 59
Tallith, the, i. 173.
Tarsus. i. 22; coin of, ἐδ. ; named ‘ Metropolis,’
τὸ. ; condition of, under the Romans, 23; not a
municipium, 45 ; scenery of, 48,
Taurus, Mount, i. 29, 161, 257.
“Taverns, The Three,’? ii. 360.
Tectosages, the, i. 244 note.
Tempe, Vale of, i. 848.
Temple, position of the, ii. 245; temple of Solo-
mon, 246; that of Zerubbabel, ib.; that of
Herod, ib.; the Outer Court, tb.; ‘ Porch of
Solomon, 247 ; the ‘‘ Beautiful Gate,” ἐδ. ; the
Sanctuary, ib.; Court of the Women,248; the
‘Treasury, tb.; the Court of Israel, 249; the
Court of the Priests, ib. ; the hall Gazith, t. ;
the Altar, ib. ; the Vestibule, 250; the Holy
Place, ib.; the Holy of Holies, 2. ; connexion of
the Temple with the fortress Antonia, 253
Teucer, kingdom of, i. 140.
Tertullus, ti. 282.
Tetrapolis, the, i. 123.
Thais, tomb of, ii. 196 note.
Thales, philosophy of, i. 366.
Thamna, ii. 268.
Thasos, 1. 287 note.
Theatre, the, of Athens, i. 356.
Thecla, St., of Iconium, i. 183 ; legend of, 184.
Themistocles, Tomb of, i. 348° his fortification ef
the Pireus, 349.
Therapeutz, the, i. 35.
Therma, i. $22.
Thermopylae, i. 345.
Thessalonian letters, the, i. 330
Thessalonians, First Epistle to the, i. 390 : Second,
402.
Thessaly, i. 315.
Thessalonica, i. 3U6 ; description of, 321.
Tiberias, i. 285 city of, 1. 55; sea of, 84,
556
Tiberius, i. 110, 147.
“berius Alexander, ii. 253 note, 274.
figranes, i. 136.
Timotheus, i. 197, 198, 264; becomes the compa-
nion cf St. Paul, 265; his 2ireumcision, 267 ;
reaches Iconium, 268 ; accompanies St. Paul to
Galatia and to the Aigean, 274, 277; sails from
Troas, 285 ; arrives at Samothrace, 286 ; at Phi-
lippi, 290; left behind at Philippi, 311; again
with St. Paul at Beroea, 340°; left behind at
Berea, 341; joins St. Paul at Corinth, 389;
accompanies St’ Paul in his subsequent jour-
neys, 421 et seq.; dispatched by St. Paul from
Ephesus to Macedonia, ii. 29; First Epistle to,
449 ; Second Epistle to, 475.
Titus, 1. 211, 214; 11, 11; visits St. Paul at Phi-
lippi, 94; his account of the state of the
Church of Corinth, 95 ; directed by St. Paul to
return to Corinth, 96; his character, 125; St.
Paul’s Epistle to, 461.
Troas, description of, ii. 205.
Troas.
Triopium, promontory of, ii, 222.
Trogyllium, ii. 212.
Trophimus, it. 91, 110 note.
™ryphena, ii. 193.
Tryphosa, .
Tullianum,”’ the; i. 305.
Tychicus, ii. 92, 380, 394.
Tyrannus, ii. 20.
Tyre, its situation and maritime supremacy, ii.
229, 231.
U.
Unknown Gods, altars of the, i 350 note; 364.
Urbanus, ii. 193,
See Alexandria
INDEX.
Urbs libera, constitution of, 1, 333 ; its privilegan
en
vot.
V .
Valentinus, the Gnostic, i. 458 note.
Ventidius Cumanus, ii. 253.
Vestments, the sacred, ii. 253, 274,
Via Appia, ii. 354, Egnatia, i. 316.
Vitellius, i. 81, 111.
Vulturnus river, ii. 357.
W.
‘Walls, Long,’? of Athens, i. 550.
Wines of Chios, ii. 218 note.
Women, intluence of, over the religious opinions
of the ancients, i. 181; their loly influence in
early Christianity, i. 297.
X.
Xanthus river, ii, 225 ; valley of the, 1. 166
YG
“Yailahs,’”? 1,165; that of Adalia, 16S.
Z.
Zabeans, the, ii. 13 note.
Zea, i. 350.
Zealots, the, i. 34.
Zeno, school of, i. 360+ his pnftfogzopky 821,
Zerubbabel, temple of, ii. 246
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--: GARDENER “Ὁ a "TANNER a
HIOUSEILOLD se ge UNDERWRITER id
ss HERON WORKER “ Mo VINE GRU ER id
κε JOURNEYMAN “ εξ WORKMAN us
as FL EEPER OF ACCOUNTS * τ ἐξ WOUNG MAN as
et LAWYER ae ZEALOUS, INDUSTRIOUS AND
¢ VEECH ANIC Ὁ Labor-Saving Man cannot afford to be without it,
It will be comprised in one large Octayo Volume, of over five hundred pages and two hundred
illustrations, and furnished in:
Extra English Cloth, Gilt Back, - - - - - $3.00
Embossed Morocco, Marbled Edges, - - - - - 3.50
Half Calf, Antique, - - - - - - - 5.00
Wanted Farmers, Mechanics, Teachers and Working Men and Women
Liverywhere, to Sell this Work.
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