PRINCETON, N. J. Shelf Diviiion . }^)^ .C^/^ ^\ Section ^^X^^XxlJ^ Number , u r THE NEW TESTAMENT ITS WRITERS THE NEW TESTAMENT ITS WRITERS BEING AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT Rev. J. A/M'CLYMONT, B.D., JOINT-TRANSLATOR OF DR J. T. beck's " PASTORAL THEOLOGY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. NEW YORK ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH & COMPANY (iNCORrORATF.n) LONDON : ADAM & CHARLES BLACK 1893 PREFACE. The favourable reception accorded to TJie New Testmnent and Its Writers in its original form, as one of the series of Guild and Bible-Class Text-books ^ issued by the Christian Life and Work Committee of the Church of Scotland, has encouraged the author to present it in a form more suitable for general readers. While serving other purposes, he be- lieves it may be specially helpful to ministers and other teachers who are using the small edition in their Bible- Classes. The author has to acknowledge the kindness of Mrs. Lewis of Cambridge in favouring him with the photograph of the Syriac Palimpsest recently discovered by her, that is here reproduced ; and he would also record his obligations to his friend the Rev. R. S. Kemp, B.D., for his valuable assistance in the revision of the proof-sheets. It may be well to add that in the Scripture quotations it is the Revised Version that is almost always followed. September 1893. ^ Edited by the Very Reverend Professor Charteris, D.D., and the writer. CONTENTS. Map^ showing nearly all the places mentioned in this volinnc. Facsimile specimens of the Sinaitic (k)) Vatican (B), and Alexandrine (A) MSS.\ of the Ephraemi Palimpsest (C), a7td of the Old Latin and Syriac Versions^ inchcding the newly-discovered Palimpsest of the Syriac Gospels. CHAPTER I, The New Testament .... Note A on the Canon Note B on MSS. and Versions Note C on Textual Criticism II. The Gospels ..... III. "The Gospel according to St. Matthew " IV. "The Gospel according to St. Mark " V. "The Gospel according to St. Luke" VI. " The Gospel according to St. John " VII. " The Acts of the Apostles " VIII. The Epistles ..... The Epistles of St. Paul IX. " The First Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Thessalonians " .... "The Second Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Thessalonians" X. " The First Epistle of Paul the Apostle to th Corinthians " . . . . XI. "The Second Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians" , . . . Undesigned Coincidences between the two EribTLEs Undesigned Coincidences between 2 Corinthians and the Book of Acts . . . • Page I 8 II IS 19 33 40 49 60 76 85 86 93 99 103 114 Vlll Contents. CHAPTER XII. " The Epistle of Paul to the Galatians " Note on South Galatian Theory . XIII. "The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans " . XIV. The Epistles of the Imprisonment "The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Philippians " . . . . XV. " The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the colossians" .... " The Epistle of Paul to Philemon " XVI. "The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Ephesians " . xvii. The Pastoral Epistles "The First Epistle of Paul the Apostle to Timothy" ..... xviii. "The Epistle of Paul to Titus " " The Second Epistle of Paul the Apostle to Timothy" ..... xix. "The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews" ..... XX. The Catholic Epistles . . • . " The General Epistle of James " . XXI. " The First Epistle General of Peter " . Note on Recent Discussion of its Date xxii. "The Second Epistle General of Peter " " The General Epistle OF JUDE " xxiii. " The First Epistle General of John " " The Second Epistle of John " " The Third Epistle of John " XXIV. " The Revelation of St. John the Divine " Appendix ..... Note on Patristic Writings .... Note on Undesigned Coincidences between the several Gospels ..... Page 125 138 142 156 164 172 178 186 190 196 200 206 2l8 218 229 240 244 251 257 262 265 268 279 279 287 Note. — The districts inarktd Asia and Phrygia constituted the Roman prnvi«-ce of\ those marked Galaiiay Lycaonia^ and Pisidia, the Roman province oj Galatia. CAN O lOcbeAAM01J5enenJ_ KAlAYTOC>4>AKI '""^^^ TOcereNeTOAnAT KAI6I n>KNnfocAX XHXOYCOTXIHK^ AlAH MCUN hCeOM^ NHMMeNMMiN UJ CGAAAe I H H I N e^NTHOAUJCUCAl H NyreN mm in TA C r p a4>>NC K A I A N A CTA N TecATTM TH (JJ pAYH ecTr YXHGici epoycA Codex Sinaiticus ({<). Luke xxiv. , 31-33. {After Tischeiidorf). See p. 11. Vy "^^ Y » o y o Y k a.o cue r «^^' r r>- ri'T'*- » ^m n tL> h oxi'^n ^^' n r f > ^T> H T~H I Aw o Y^^nocT*'^ 'AcpT ON A.r re kommoy n pon ro <"<»J'^fo ycoyoo K ^T^ >< c »i N 6ii~ c o Y > *^ '^ *"* ^ ^ ^'^ '^Too C Kl T "H e^P H M CU £/riOI M ^*-»^ n o I e I T'lE T V c T p y^ o ye^.y j-6y ereNenpoiajATisi He Codex Vaticanus (B). Mark i., 1-4. [From the original). See p. IT, ^f^ •T^'TiS^-i r;\rkrj<\iA Ts^)n/vayiV-\ Syriac. Peshito Version (Codex add. 14470), of the 5th or 6th century. Bl-iiiikii- ul .\I.i:k. {From lilt original). See p. 14. ►-^^ w^^pej^ ^"^1 --^Ttri:^ jiMiW*^kaiMaaaAHi*aMM» Palimpsest MS. of old Syriac Gospels discovered in tlie Convent of St. Callierine on Moiuit Sinai by Mrs. S. S. Lewis, in February, 1892. Tlie upper or later writing is a martyrology of women-saints, and is dated the year of the (ireeks 1090 (a.d. 778). The under-writing, which is in two columns, contains the text of the Four Gospels, in the usual order, complete with the exception of a few pages of .St. Jolin. 'I he material is fine vellum. The portion given above is the begmning of St. Luke's Gospel, [brom a pliotograph of the origiiijl). Seep. 14. THE NEW TESTAMENT AND ITS WRITERS. CHAPTER I.. THE NEW TESTAMENT, I. Its Name. The New Testament forms the second and concluding portion of the Revelation given to the world in the line of Jewish history. It derives its name from an expression used by the Lord Jesus Christ in the institution of the rite which was designed to commemorate His death — " This cup is the new testament in my blood " — more correctly, " This cup is the new covenant in my blood " (R.V.), in contrast with the old covenant made with Moses.^ The use of the word " testament " in this sense was due to the Latin testaiiientum, which was early adopted as an equiva- lent for the Greek word meaning "covenant."- 2. Its Langttage. A period of about four hundred years had elapsed after the last of the Old Testament Scriptures was written before the New Testament was commenced. In the interval the Jewish people, spreading far and wide in the pursuit of arts and commerce, had become familiar with the Grcck 1 Luke xxii. 20 ; Matt. xxvi. 28 ; the Lord hath made with you." I Cor. xi. 25 ; cf. Exod. xxiv. 8 : " Be- - AiadrjKT), hold the blood of the covenant, which 2 New Testament and Its Writers. i. tongue, which was the intellectual bond of the civilised world, as the Roman empire was its bond in a social and political sense. Into this language the Scriptures of the Old Testament had been translated from the Hebrew, about 200 B.C., at Alexandria, the great meeting-place of Rabbinical learning and Hellenic culture.^ From the amalgamation of these and other elements there resulted a form of Greek known as the " common " or Hellenistic Greek. It was in this language that the New Testament was written — a language marvellously fitted for the pur- pose, both because of the wide prevalence of Greek among the civilised nations of the time (resulting from the con- quests of Alexander the Great), and on account of its unrivalled clearness, richness, and flexibility. Hence the New Testament has been aptly described as having " a Greek body, a Hebrew soul, and a Christian spirit that animates them both." - 3. Its Contents. The New Testament Scriptures consist of twenty-seven different books, varying in their form and character — the first in order mainly historical, the next doctrinal, and the concluding portion relating to vision and prophecy. This is an order somewhat analogous to that found in the Old Testament, many of whose characteristics alike as regards thought and expression are reflected in the New Testa- ment. The twenty-seven books are the work of nine different authors (assuming the Epistle to the Hebrews to have been written by some other person than St. Paul), each book having its special characteristics corresponding to the personality of its writer and the circumstances in which it was written, but all forming part of one divine whole centred in the Lord Jesus Christ and essentially 1 The Septuagint, so called because very gradually and with varying de- said to have been executed by seventy grees of skill between 280 B.C. and Jews brought to Alexandria from Jeru- 150 B.C. salem for this purpose by Ptolemy 2 Yix. Ph. Schaff, Hist. Ap. Ch. , Philadelphus. The work was done p. 573. The Neiv Testament. related to an unseen world.^ They were written at various times, but all in the latter half of the first century — except perhaps the Epistle of James, which was probably written before 50 A.D.^ 4. Manuscripts. The original MSS. have all perished.^ If written on papyrus* for ordinary use they would not last, while those of a more durable substance would be in frequent danger of destruction at the hands of persecutors."' Hence the vast majority of extant MSS. are of a comparatively modern date — anterior, however, to the invention of printing in 1450, when the copying of MSS. practically ceased. A few precious copies written on vellum or parchment have come down to us from a very early period, the most important of which are (i) the Sinaitic (Codex n), and (2) the Vatican (Codex B) both of the fourth century ; (3) the Alexandrine (Codex A) of the fifth century ; (4) Codex Ephraemi (C), also of the fifth cen- tury, and Codex Bezae (D) of the sixth century. These and other ancient MSS. to the number of about a hundred are 1 " The books of Scripture are a series, not a congeries. This is true of the Bible as a whole, and is the most re- markable fact in literature as well as in religion." — Prof. Charteris, The New Testament Scriptures, p. 3. On the Canon see Note A at the end of this chapter. 2 Speaking generally, this may now be said to be the opinion of the great ma- jority of critics who are willing to be guided by evidence as they would in the case of any other books. "In recent years," says Prof. Ramsay in his preface to The Church in the Roman Empire, "as I came to understand Roman history better, 1 have realised that, in the case of almost all the books of the New Testament, it is as gi-oss an out- rage on criticism to hold them for second century forgeries as it would be to class the works of Horace and Virgil as for- geries of the time of Nero." ^ Even in the second century they had ceased to be available for reference, as we learn from Irentuus writing in the latter part of that century, and from Origen who li\ed about fifty )^ears later. ■^ Papyrus (with a pen of reed, not a metal pen or stylus), seems to be referred to in 2 John, ver. 12 (;^aproii, cf. koK- d/jLov, 3 John, ver. 13) ; but parchment in 2 Tim. iv. 13 (to. /3tj3Xta, yuaXtcrra ras /xe/j^^pdvas). The ICgyptian and other ])apyri to be found in museums owe their preservation to special circum- stances which saved them from exposure and from tear and wear. •'' For example, immense numbers of MSS. were destroyed by hnperial edict in the Diocletian persecution in the be- ginning of the fourth century : and even in Britain (as we learn from Gildas the historian) great piles were Imrned during the persecutions of the third century. A common way of avoiding punishment was to hand over the sacred books to the authorities, those who did so being known among their brethren by the name of tradi tores (traitors). New Testament and Its Writers. called Uncials/ because written with capital letters without any separation between the words, — the others of a more modern character being called Minuscules or Cursives, because written in a small running hand.-^ Of the latter there are about 2000 — an immense array of witnesses com- pared with the few MSS. of classical works preserved to us, which can frequently be counted on the ten fingers/^ Owing to the greater liability to error in copying with the hand than in the use of the printing press, about 200,000 Various Readings have been discovered in the extant MSS. of the New Testament.'* Happily the differences between the 1 From the Latin uncia, an inch, referring to the size of the letters. 2 For further information regarding MSS. see Note B at end of this chapter. " The MSS. of Horace amount to about 250 ; those of Virgil are also very numerous, one of them dating from the second centmy. But of Catullus, the earliest MS. is of the fourteenth century ; of Cornelius Nepos, of the twelfth ; of Thucydides, of the eleventh ; of Hero- dotus, of the tenth ; of Csesar's Com- mentaries, of the ninth ; while the six Books of Tacitus' Annals only exist in one MS., which was brought to light in the fifteenth century. ' ' The correspond- ence of Pliny with Trajan," Professor Ramsay remarks, " depends on a single manuscript of unknown age, found in Paris about 1500, apparently taken to Italy in the next few years, used by several persons before 1508, and never since seen or known. In spite of this suspicious history, the correspondence is indubitably genuine." ■* By 200,000 Various Readings, it must not be supposed to be meant that there are 200,000 passages of Scripture in which the text is variously represented. The Readings are ascertained by com- paring every MS. in turn with the standard text, and every instance in which a difference is found, even though it should affect nothing but a word, is reckoned as a Various Reading, the number of such instances in all the different MSS. (including Versions and quotations in the Fathers) being summed up to ascertain the whole. Moreover, many of the readings are plainly erron- eous and do not cause the slightest doubt or perplexity, while many others affect the form of expression only. Hence we find Westcott and Hort (Intro- duction, p. i) giving it as their opinion that ' 'the word^still subject to doubt only make up about one-sixtieth of the whole New Testament " ; and again they state that " the amount of what can in any sense be called substantial variation is but a small part of the whole residuary variation, and can hardly form more than a thousandth part of the entire text." As compared with other ancient books, it must be remembered that the large number of various readings in the New Testament is due, not to the ex- cessive corruption of the text, but to the immense number of copies that have been preserved for us. The process of copying was in eveiy case sure to be attended with more or less error, and every time acopybecameitselfa model for transcription, new errors were inevitably added to the old. Every addition to the number of MSS. thus brings an addition to the number of readings ; but instead of wishing to get rid of any MS. , critics find each one to be a wit- ness in some sort to the true text, and welcome every addition to their number. The result of a critical examination of the immense array of documentary evidence that is now at our disposal has been to give us a much purer text — adopted, with substantial unanimity by the greatest authorities of our day (Tischendorf, New Testament, 8th edition, Tregelles, and Westcott and Hort), — than that which was known and accepted by the scholars of the sixteenth century (Textus Receptus). Hence the famous words of Bentley have only been verified by time: "Make your thirty thousand (various readings) as many more, if numbers of copies can ever reach that sum : all the better to a knowing and serious reader, who is The New Testament. readings are for the most part so minute that they do not affect the substance of revealed truth. As it is the duty of the Church, however, to ascertain as far as possible, the exact words of the sacred writers, a special department of study has been instituted, commonly known as Textual Criticism, which has for its aim to adjudicate on the rival claims of the various readings, with due regard to the age and special characteristics of the several manuscripts, as well as to the common risks of misapprehension and in- advertence to which all copyists were liable.^ 5. Other Witnesses. In the performance of the difficult and delicate task just mentioned attention must be paid to two other valuable sources of information. (i) Those writings of Church Fathers — ranging from the end of the first century to the fourth or fifth century of the Christian era — which contain quotations from the New Testament.- The value of the Fathers as a help in determining the exact text of Scripture is a good deal impaired by the fact that, not having the advantage of a Concordance, or of our divisions into chapters and verses, they frequently quote from memory and not with strict accuracy.-' This is of less moment, thereby more richly furnished to select century after he wrote ; Thucydides for what he sees genuine. But even put two centuries after his death ; while them into the hands of a knave or a Herodotus is only quoted twice for two fool, and yet, with the most sinistrous hundred years after his death. A and absurd choice, he shall not extin- remarkable instance is the Roman guish the light of any one chapter, nor History of Velleius Paterculus, which so disguise Christianity but that every (Dr. Salmon remarks) " has come down feature of it will still be the same." to us in a single, very corrupt manu- 1 For fuller information regarding script, and the book is only once quoted the Sources and Methods of Textual by Priscian, a grammarian of the sixth Criticism see Note C at the end of century ; yet no one entertains the this chapter. smallest doubt of its genuineness." 2 In this respect, as well as in the =' The first Concordance was produced matter of MSS., the New Testament byAntoniusof Padua, followed by Car- books occupy a much better position dinal Hugo, in the thirteenth century, than most of the ancient classics. To the latter was also due the division For example, the Annals of Tacitus, of the Bible into the existing chapters ; above referred to, are not distinctly but the division into verses was the work mentioned till the fifteenth century, of Robert Stephens, the celebrated although there is what may possibly be editor and printer of the New Testa- .in allusion to them in a work of the ment, who did it in the course of a fifth century. Livy is not quoted for a journey from Paris to Lyons ("inter New Testament and Its ]\^ritcrs. however, when the object is not so much to ascertain the precise language of Scripture as to prove the exist- ence and general reception of the books of the New Testament at an early period in the history of the Church.^ (2) Ancient Versions or Translations, some of which (for example, the Syriac and Old Latin) were made within a century after the time of the apostles.- These, also, afford valuable evidence as to the canon icity of particular books — some of them having been current as early as the second century, and being still preserved in ancient MSS. dating, in some cases, from the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries. As regards readings, their testimony is often uncertain owing to the want of exact correspond- ence between their language and that of the original ; but where the translation is of a literal character, as it is, for example, in the case of the Old Latin Versions, the lang- uage of the original in a disputed passage may be inferred with a near approach to certainty. Even the errors of the translator sometimes indicate quite plainly what words he had before him in the Greek ; while, in a question of the omission or insertion of a clause, an ordinary version speaks equitandum," as his son informs us), in four parallel columns. In connec- which may account for the imperfect tion with this arrangement a plan was manner in which the task was exe- devised by Eusebius for enabling a cuted. reader to ascertain at once the cor- Other modes of di\ision, however, responding passages in the several existed from a very early period. The Gospels. He distributed the sections division into lines (crTiXot), known as under ten tables called Cano7ts, the stichometry, seems to have been in use first containing the numbers of the before the beginning of the Christian sections common to all the foui- Gos- era and was applied to Scripture by pels, the second those found in Mat- Euthalius, a deacon of Alexandria, thew, Mark, and Luke, and so on. about the middle of the fifth century. These Canons were frequently prefixed who prepared an edition of the Acts to MSS.; and in the margin of the and Epistles in which e\ery fiftieth text, under the number of the section, line was noted in the margin and the the number of the canon in which it text was divided into lections and was to be found was frequently marked chapters. Corresponding to these in red ink. KeipdXaia (chapters) of Euthalius are ^ For information regarding the the still earlier tItXol of the Gospels, Church Fathers whose citations are being a kind of summary of contents referred to in subsequent chapters see placed at the beginning of each Gos- Appendix, pp. 279-287. The citations pel or at the top or bottom of each themselves may be found in_Charteris page. With the name of Ammonius Cajmncify, or in \\ estcott s Ntstory (third century) is associated a system of the i\cu< Testament Ca?um. of division into sections, which was 2 Regarding the several \ersions see originally employed as a means of Note B at end of chapter, presenting a Harmony of the Gospels The Nezv Testament. as plainly as a MS. in the original. When the testimony of a version is clear and unmistakable, its confirmation of a reading may be even more valuable, especially if supported by another version, than if it were in Greek, owing to the improbability of a passage being corrupted in the same way in two or three languages. Although the New Testament has been translated into almost all tongues, it is only the earliest translations, represented by MSS. of sufficient age, that have testimony of any value to offer, either as regards the canonicity of books or the correctness of readings. Such versions are comparatively few in number, and many of the MSS. in which they are preserved have not yet been examined with sufficient care to put us in possession of a thoroughly reliable text and render their evidence fully available. 6. English Versions. The first English version was completed by John Wycliff in 1383. It was, however, only the translation of a translation (the Latin Vulgate of St. Jerome). The first English translation from the Greek was finished by William Tyndale in 1525, and put in print the following year at Worms. This was followed by Miles Coverdale's translation of the whole Bible in 1535, the Great Bible, usually called Cranmers (for use in Churches), in 1539, the Geneva Bible in 1557, the Bishop's Bible in 1568, and King James's Bible {t\\Q Authorised Version) in 161 1. The most recent and reliable results of Biblical criticism are embodied in the Revised Version of 1881, which has in this respect, as in regard to accuracy of translation, an unquestionable superiority over the Authorised Version, the latter having been made at a time when the science was still in its infancy, and before any of the three chief MSS. above referred to were available for reference. Possibly the next generation may see further improvements, as the result of a closer examination of MSS., Versions, New Testament and Its Writers. and other ancient writings, as well as through an enhanced appreciation of the language of the New Testament, in the light of the Greek translation of the Old Testament (the Septuagint) and other Hellenistic literature ; but, after all, any points in which our English Bible is capable of im- provement are infinitesimal compared with the general trustworthiness of its contents. Of its imperfections as a translation it may be said, with scarcely less truth than of obscurities in the original, that " like the spots upon the surface of the sun, they neither mar the symmetry nor impair the glory of the great Source of our Life and Light which is imaged in them."^ Note A on the Canon. The original meaning of the word canoft (Kavwp) is a rod, especially as a standard of measurement. As applied to the Scriptures it may either be taken in an active or a passive sense, as determining the Church's faith, or as itself approved and sanctioned by the Church ; but in actual use the two meanings can hardly be separated. Although the word occurs in the New Testament (2 Cor. x. 13-16, Gal. vi. 16), and in some of the early Fathers (in such expressions as rule of faith, of truth, of the Church), the first writer that clearly and directly applies the term to the Scriptures is Amphilochius, Bishop of Iconium, in the latter part of the fourth century. More than a hundred years earlier, however, we find in the writings of Origen the words canonical, cano7iized, in the sense of being acknowledged as authoritative, whence it would seem that the passive sense of the word was then dominant. The formation of the Canon was a very gradual process. As the New Testament writings only came into existence by degrees to meet the practical needs of the Church, so the collection of these writings and their setting apart for sacred uses was only accomplished by degrees, with the general consent of the Church, as its leading representatives in different parts of the world came to realize the insufficiency and uncertainty of oral tradition and the need for securing its faith and doctrine against invasion and corruption. 1 Westcott's Introduction to the Gospels, 7th edition, p. 399. I. The New Testament. 9 It is not easy to fix the precise date at which the Christian writings attained to a position of equahty with the Old Testament in the estimation of the Church. In the Epistle of Barnabas we find a quotation from St. Matthew's Gospel introduced with the usual formula of quotation from the Old Testament — viz., "as it is written." In the Epistle of Ignatius to the Philadelphians (§ 5) there is an allusion to "the gospel," "the apostles," and "the prophets," which is understood by some to refer to the several portions of Scripture bearing these names, although the words certainly admit of being taken in a more general sense. In the Apology of Aristides (§§ 15, 16) there are two direct allusions to Christian Writings, described in one case as " the sacred writing which among them (the Christians) is called Gospel " (literally, "evangelic," eua77eXt^'^s d7ias ypa.((>7}s). In the Apology of Justin Martyr (i. 67) it is stated that " the memoirs of the apostles " — which we may confidently identify with our Gospels — were read in church every Sunday like the writings of the prophets. A generation later we find Theophilus of Antioch (180 a.d.) putting the writings of the prophets and evangelists on the same level, as inspired by the one Spirit of God, and quoting from Paul's epistles as "the divine word" (6 deios X070S). Towards the end of the second century we find a canon recognised by Irena^us of Lyons, Clement of Alexandria, and Tertullian of Carthage, consisting of two definite portions — viz., "the gospel" [rh eOayyeXiov), and " the apostle " (6 d.7ro'crToXos), the latter including the Apocalypse. The canon was substantially the same in each case, and embraced almost all our New Testament books, the only ones questioned by any of these writers being Hebrews, James, Jude, i and 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John ; but it also included several other books as more or less authoritative — viz., the Shepherd of Hennas, the Epistle of Clement, the Epistle of Barnabas, and the Apocalypse of Peter. In the Scillitan Martyrs, however (about 180 A.D.), Paul's Epistles are distinguished from the Books^ — a circumstance which would seem to indicate that they had not yet attained to the same position as the Gospels, in some parts of the Church. The earliest list of the New Testament books that has come down to us is preserved in the Muratorian Fragment (about 170 A.D.). The only books of our New Testament that are not recognised in it, directly or indirectly, are i and 2 Peter, James, Hebrews, and one of John's Epistles, only two of his being mentioned. The Old Latin Version contains all but 2 Peter, Hebrews, and James ; the .Syriac all but 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, Jude, and Revelation. An important witness towards the middle of the third century is Origen, who seems to have divided the books into three classes : (i) authentic, (2) not authentic, and (3) intermediate, in which last class he placed James, Jude, 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, — all the rest of our New Testament being put among the authentic books. A somewhat similar I o The New Testament and Its Writers. i. division was followed by Eusebiiis, in the early part of the fourth century, who was commissioned by the Emperor Constantine to make a collection of the sacred books for the use of the Catholic Church. In the first class, those commonly accepted {hix.o\o~^ovyi.tva)^ Eusebius places all our New Testament books except James, Jude, 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, which he assigns to the second class, the disputed books (dj'rtXfYo/xej'a), recognised, however, by most. In the third class, the spurious books {v6da), he enumerates the Acts of Paul, the Shepherd (of Hermas), the Revelation of Peter, the Epistle of Barnabas, the Teaching of the Apostles, and also remarks that the Apocalypse of John must be included in the same class by those who reject it, as well as (in the opinion of some) the Gospel according to the Hebrews. As altogether beyond the pale of recognition, Eusebius mentions certain heretical books, put forward in the name of Apostles (such as the Gospels of Peter and Thomas and Matthias, and the Acts of Andrew and John), whose language and tone of thought convicted them of being forgeries, and which had received no recognition from the successive Church Fathers. Before the close of the fourth century, the extent of the Canon was formally settled by the collective wisdom of the Church expressed through her Councils, first at Laodicea in 364 (if the genuineness of the Decree on the subject be admitted), and at the third Council of Carthage in 397, when the very same books as are contained in our New Testament were declared to be canonical and the only ones that should be read in church. The history of the formation of the New Testament Canon has been conveniently summarized by Bishop Westcott, who divides it into three periods. " Of these the first extends to the time of Hegesippus (a.d. 70-170); the second to the persecution of Diocletian (a.d. 170-303); and the last to the third Council of Carthage (a.d. 303-397). . . . The first includes the area of the separate circulation and gradual collec- tion of the Sacred Writings ; the second completes the history of their separation from the mass of ecclesiastical literature ; the third com- prises the formal ratification of the current belief by the authority of councils " {The Canon of tJic Nczu Testament, p. 15). In connection with the history of the New Testament Canon, there are two points that may occasion difficulty : — (i) that a number of the books contained in our New Testament lay under suspicion for a time in some parts of the Church ; (2) that a number of books which are not in it were widely regarded, for a time, as more or less authorita- tive, and publicly read in church. The explanation in both cases is to be found in the general principle on which the Canon was determined by the Church, namely, that it should contain only the writings of apostles and of those who had written under the influence or direction of apostles. In the case of the three books outside of our New Testa- I. The Nezv Testament. 1 1 ment that were most revered — viz., the Epistle of Clement, the Epistle of Barnabas, and the Shepherd of Hernias, the author was identified with the person of the same name, mentioned in the New Testament in connection with the Apostle Paul (Phil. iv. 3 ; Acts xii. 25, &c. ; Rom. xvi. 14); while on the other hand it was because their genuineness was considered doubtful that the right of certain of our books to a place in the Canon was called in question. Ultimately, however, a decisive judgment was arrived at by the Church, and the same Council of Carthage which sanctioned the admission of disputed books excluded certain other books that had been regarded as more or less authoritative — the result being that the Canon was fixed precisely as it now stands in our English Version. Note B on MSS. and Versions. I. Manuscripts. 1. The SinaiticMS. (x) was discovered by Tischendorf in 1844, when he was on a visit to the Convent of St. Catherine at the foot of Mount Sinai. The monks had no idea of its value till they saw the importance attached by Tischendorf to some forty leaves of it which he picked out of a waste-paper basket. It was not till he made a third visit in 1859 under the patronage of the Czar, the temporal head of the Greek Church, that he succeeded in obtaining the whole existing MS., which now lies at St. Petersburg. It is written on the finest vellum on pages of more than a foot square, each sheet of two leaves representing the entire skin of an animal. The page is arranged in four columns, giving it the appearance of the old papyrus rolls. It is supposed to have been the work of four different scribes, two of whom were employed on the New Testament, but it bears traces of revision by perhaps no less than twelve correctors before the thirteenth century, and the characters seem to have been retraced in the eighth century. Besides the New Testament it contains part of the Septuagint and other writings. 2. The Vatican MS. (B), so called because it has lain for centuries in the Papal residence of that name at Rome, is also written on beautiful thin vellum. Its page and also the characters in which it is written are rather smaller than those of the Sinaitic^ to which it bears a general resemblance. There are three columns in each page. Like the Sinaitic it has been retraced by some scribe, probably of the tenth century, whose workmanship has a good deal impaired the beauty of the characters. It contains the Old Testament and most of the New. 3. The Alexandrine MS. (A) was presented to Charles I. by the Patri- arch of Constantinople in 1628, and now lies in the British Museum. It has two columns to the page of fifty lines each. It is usually assigned to the filth century. Both Old and New Testaments are nearly complete. 1 2 The New Testament and Its Writers. I. 4. Of about the same date is Codex Ephraemi (C), deposited in the National Library of Paris. The original writing was effaced in the twelfth century to make room for the writings of Ephraem Syrus. Hence the document is called z. palimpsest. It is very fragmentary. 5. Codex Bezae (D) is a MS. of the sixth century, containing the Gospels and Acts in Greek and Latin, the Greek occupying the left- hand page and the Latin the right, there being only one column to the page. It has evidently been corrected and largely interpolated at various times by many different hands, and bears traces especially of Syrian influence. It lies in the Cambridge University Library. Few of the MSS. are dated, but in general it is not difficult to deter- mine the age of a MS. from its handwriting, material, &c. "It may be laid down as a general rule that the more upright, square, and simple the uncial characters are, the earlier is the writing. Narrow, oblong, and leaning characters came in later, together with greater elaborateness in style. Absence of initial letters of larger size than the rest, is a mark of antiquity. In the earlier MSS., marks of breath- ing, accent, and punctuation are very rare, frequently absent altogether, or, if present, inserted on no apparent fixed principle, except that a dot to mark the division of sentences became pretty general about the beginning of the fifth century" (Hammond's Textual Criticism, p. 31). The Uncials range from the fourth to the tenth century, the Cur- sives from the ninth to the sixteenth or seventeenth century. One MS. (A. Tischendorfianus III. Oxoniensis) of the ninth century is written partly in uncials, partly in minuscules. The Uncials are now usually designated by the capital letters of the Latin, Greek, or Hebrew alphabet, the Cursives by Arabic numerals. These symbols, however, do not denote the whole New Testament in each case, but individual parts of which it is composed, forming originally, it may be, separate codices, and copied by different scribes — viz., (i) the Gospels ; (2) the Acts and Catholic Epistles ; (3) the Pauline Epistles ; and (4) the Apocalypse — usually arranged in this order. The same symbol is generally, but not always, assigned to the several parts of a MS. so far as they exist. This is the case with the Sinaitic (n), which is the only complete MS. of the New Testament, the Ale.xandrine (A), which is nearly complete, and the Codex Ephraemi (C), from v/hich none of the four sections is altogether wanting. Where one or more of the portions is wanting, the symbol is applied, in the case of a missing part, to some other MS.; e.g. B, which is the name of the great Vatican MS., represents in the Apocalypse (which is absent from the Vatican), quite a different and far inferior MS. (Cod. Basilianus). When the same letter is thus applied to more than one MS., its repeated use is indicated by a small numeral appended to it, as E^, Eo, E^. Many of the later Uncials are Lectionaries (denoted by numerals not capitals) composed of passages selected for reading in church, and consisting of I. The N'ezv Testament. 1 3 (i) Evangelistaria (from the Gospel), and (2) Praxapostoli or Apostoli (from Acts and Epistles). The oldest Lectionary in Greek is of the eighth century, in Syriac of the sixth century, but traces of their exist- ence at an earlier period may be found in the writings of Chrysostom (fourth century) and other Church Fathers. Many of the MSS. enumerated by critics are mere fragments, con- sisting in some cases of a few words or verses. The Gospels greatly predominate. II. Versions. The following are the most important : — (i) Vetus Latina or Old Latin. Evidence of its existence in the second century is afforded by the statements of Tertullian (200 A.D.), and of its character by the numerous quotations in the writings of Cyprian (250 A.D.). In its earliest form it seems to have originated in Africa, where these Church Fathers lived, and hence the oldest and rudest type of Latin text is called "African." In the third or fourth century a somewhat different text (possibly a revision of the other) seems to have come into use in Western Europe, especially in North Italy, — which critics now designate " European " ; and this in turn was succeeded by a new revision (made with the aid of the Greek text), to which the name of" Italian" is applied, as being identical with the im- proved version to which Augustine alludes under the name of Itala. So much error and confusion had by this time crept into the Latin text both of the Old and New Testaments, owing to the " interpretum numerositas," that at the request of Damasus, Bishop of Rome, Jerome, the greatest scholar of his day, undertook (383 a.d.) a new revision of the Latin Bible with the aid of the Greek and Hebrew originals. Bitterly opposed at first, this Version (which, so far as the New Testament is concerned, introduced few important changes ex- cept in the Gospels), became in course of time the accepted standard of the Church, and was recognised as such by the Council of Trent (1545 A.D.), which described it as " the ancient and commonly received edition" (vetus et vulgata editio — whence the name Vulgate). Efforts were subsequently made to purge the text from the corruptions that had crept into it since the days of Jerome ; and an authorized edition was issued by Clement VIII. in 1592, which still retains its position of supremacy in the Church of Rome. (2) Syriac or Aramaean. This translation is almost in the language spoken by the inhabitants of Palestine in our Lord's day. It can be traced to the first half of the second century ; but it may have existed even earlier. Its oldest form is represented by a MS. of the fifth century, containing fragments of the Gospels, which was brought from an Egyptian Monastery by Dr. Cureton in 1842, and now lies in the British Museum ; but, like the Old Latin, this Version underwent 1 4 The Neiu Testament and Its Writers. I. important revision about the end of the third century, resulting in the translation known as the Peshito {Simple), which was widely used in the most flourishing period of the Syrian Church (as the Vulgate was in the Churches of the West), and still holds a place of honour in the East. Its oldest MS. is Cod. Additionalis in the British Museum. It contains all the books of the New Testament except 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, Jude, and Revelation. Another Syriac Version called the Philoxenian, of a very literal character, was made by one Polycarp, under the auspices of Philoxenus, Bishop of Hierapolis, about 508 A.D. A century later it was revised, and enriched with valuable marginal notes from Greek MSS. by Thomas of Harkel — this edition being hence called Harklensian, or Harklean. Many copies of it are still extant. The Jerusalem Syriac (peculiar in its dialect), of which only a few meagre fragments remain, was probably made in the fifth or sixth century. In general the value of the Syriac testimony is greatly impaired by the paucity of ancient MSS. as well as of Patristic quota- tions. Quite recently a Palimpsest of the Gospels has been discovered, of which a facsimile specimen is prefixed to this volume. It is sup- posed to represent the oldest form of the Syriac text, but the examina- tion of it is not yet completed. (3) Egyptian. There are three versions to which this name may be applied — (i) Memphitic, the version of Lower Egypt, of which Mem- phis was the capital (sometimes erroneously called Coptic, which is a designation common to all) ; (2) Thebaic or Sahidic, of Upper Egypt, Thebes being the capital ; and (3) Bashmuric, a rude adaptation of the Thebaic for the huntsmen in the Delta of the Nile. The two former date as early as the second century, although perhaps not completed till the third ; and contain all the books of the New Testament — the Apocalypse, however, being kept apart in an appendix. The MSS. of the Thebaic are ancient, but few and fragmentary ; those of the Mem- phitic are numerous, but mostly as late as the twelfth century. The text varies ; but in the best MSS. it is wonderfully pure, being of the early Alexandrian type, and of great value for critical purposes. (4) Gothic. This version, which is said to have been at one time the vernacular translation of a large portion of Europe, was made from the Greek by Ulfilas, bishop of the Goths, about the middle of the fourth century, " written in an alphabet he constructed for the purpose out of Greek, Latin, and Runic characters." It is preserved in the beautiful Cod. Argenteus of Upsala, and other MSS. of the sixth century, and contains the Gospels and Pauline Epistles (without Hebrews) ; but it shows more departures from the true text than the Egyptian version. (5) .^thiopic. This version, which is considered to be on the whole an excellent rendering of the original, was probably made from the Greek in the fourth or fifth century, for the use of the Abyssinian The New Testament. 15 Church. It contains the whole New Testament ; but its surviving MSS. are very late (fifteenth century), and exhibit considerable diversity. (6) Armenian. The text of this version, which was made from the Greek about the middle of the fifth century, shows considerable traces of readings derived both from the Peshito and the Vulgate — the result, it is supposed, of revision in the sixth century, when the Armenian and Syrian Churches were brought into closer relations, and in the thirteenth century, when the Armenians came under the influence of the Church of Rome. It contains the whole New Testament ; but few of its MSS. are earlier than the thirteenth century. Note C on Textual Criticism. Textual Criticism is essentially of the nature of a judicial process. It is the work of the critic to collect and weigh all the evidence that can be obtained by the collation of MSS., Versions, and Patristic quotations, with the view of determining as far as possible the precise words of the original writer. This evidence is of two kinds : — I. External, being the testimony, on the passage in question, of the various extant documents. I I. Internal, relating to the probability attaching to various readings, having regard on the one hand to the mind of the author, and on the other to the work of the copyist or scribe. I. External Evidence. — Owing to the great diversity in the age and derivation of the various documents in which the text of the New Testament is contained, it becomes necessary to form some estimate of the general character of each before dealing with its evidence in a particular case. As in a court of justice the evidence of a number of witnesses who had obtained their information at second hand from a common source would be reckoned of little or no value if the original witness could be produced, and, in any case, would have far less weight than if it had been derived from several independent sources ; so, in Textual Criticism, it is essential for a right adjudication on the various readings to ascertain as far as possible the historical relations of the different MSS., and the sources from which they were derived. Not only may their age generally be inferred with confidence from their handwriting, &c., but it is also possible, by comparing their re- spective testimony in certain test-passages in which they have to range themselves on one side or another, to discover traits of family likeness among them which enable us to arrange them into groups. The first to employ this method of classification was Bengel (1752), who divided 1 6 The New Testament and Its Waiters. i. the more ancient MSS. into two groups, the African and the Asiatic. He was followed by Griesbach (1812), who made out three groups, the Alexandrian, the Western, and the Byzantine. More recently the same principle has been worked out by (among others) Lachmann, who divided MSS. into the African and the Byzantine ; and by Tischen- dorf, who sub-divided them into Alexandrian and Latin, Asiatic and Byzantine. This arrangement has been somewhat modified by Westcott and Hort, who distinguish the various groups as Neutral, Western, Alexandrian, and Syrian. The last named group (so called because its text can be distinctly traced in the New Testament quotations in Chrysostom and other Church Fathers trained at Antioch of Syria) corresponds to Griesbach's Byzantine, and represents the latest and most corrupt form of text. According to Westcott and Hort it was the result of successive Syrian recensions in the third and fourth centuries ; but perhaps it may have been due rather to the great demand in Con- stantinople for fresh copies of the Scriptures, in a smooth and poUshed style, which was occasioned by the adoption of Christianity as the rehgion of the Empire in the early part of the fourth century. This Syrian or Byzantine text finds no support in the most ancient MSS., nor in any Version or Church Father before the middle of the third century ; and it is characterized by what are called conflate readings, due to the amalgamation of readings derived from the other and older texts. Of the three remaining groups the Western is of least value for critical purposes (although supported by the Old Latin Version, and many Uncial MSS., as well as Patristic writings of the second century), because it bears evidence of great liberties having been taken with the original text, in the way of paraphrasing and interpolating, under the influence of oral tradition, before the canonical character of our New Testament books had been fully realized. Of the two others the Neutral is superior to the Alexandrian, the latter being marred by numerous trifling alterations in the supposed interests of grammar on which much attention was bestowed at Alexandria. A great drawback in the working out of this system of genealogical grouping is found in the fact that in most MSS. there is a considerable mixture of texts, many MSS. having been corrected and re-corrected with the help of other exemplars than those from which they were originally copied. Hence of the Neutral there is only one pure representative extant — viz., Codex Vaticanus (B) in the Gospels, Acts, and Catholic Epistles, its Pauline Epistles exhibiting a Western text. Of the Western the purest representatives are Cod. Bezae in the Gospel and Acts (D), Cod. Claromontanus (Do, Paul's Epistles), and Cod. Boernerianus (G.j, Paul's Epistles), with the addition perhaps of the African Latin Version. To compensate for the disadvantage arising from the prevailing I. The Nezv Testament. 1 7 mixture of texts, another means has been resorted to for ascertaining the collective value of evidence in any particular case. The several witnesses in favour of the reading in question are regarded as a separ- ate group, and the general value of their united testimony appraised by a series of experiments in disputed passages where the true reading has been already ascertained. As the result of this mode of examina- tion it has been found that any combination of documents in which B is found may generally be relied on, while j< and B together form a combination of the highest value. The collective value of a number of MSS. thus combined is called the Internal Evidence of Groups, just as the general character of an individual MS., when similarly ascertained by continuous experiments, is reckoned among Internal Evidence of Documents. II. With regard to Internal Evidence, properly so called, it is of two kinds — (i) Intnfisic,\\?LV\ng reference to the probability or improba- bility attaching to a reading, in view of what is otherwise known of the mind of the author, more especially in the light of the context ; and (2) Trajiscriptional, being the evidence afforded by the known habits or tendencies of the copyist. A careful examination of MSS. has brought to light certain forms of error into which copyists were more or less liable to fall ; and these liabilities have to be kept in view in judging of a various reading. In the case of Uncial MSS. the risk of error was particularly great, as the whole page presented the appearance of one solid block without any separation even between different words. Transcriptional errors may be roughly distinguished as Intentional or Unintentional. Of the latter the most common are : — {a) Mistaking of one word or syllable for another closely resembling it in sound (called Ihidstn). {b) Repetition, by mistake, of a letter or syllable or word. {c) Making one word into two, or two into one. {d) Omission of a clause — frequently of a line — owing to its having a similar ending to the one before it {Honwiotcleiiton) . (e) Failure of memory in the act of transcribing a number of words just seen or heard. (/) Unconscious assimilation of words to those of a parallel passage, or of one word to its neighbour — in its termination or other- wise. Among Intentional changes may be reckoned : — (a) Insertion of marginal glosses in the text. (b) Introduction of liturgical phrases. (c) Alteration of the text for the purpose of improving its language or doctrine. For general guidance the following Canons of Criticism are found useful, when applied with discretion : — (i) The shorter reading is to be preferred to the more verbose B 1 8 The New Testament and Its Writers. i. {Brevior lectio praferenda verbosiori, Griesbach). This is owing to the tendency of copyists to insert and expand. (2) A difficult reading is to be preferred to an easy one {ProcHvi lectioni prastat ardua, Bengel) — owing to the tendency of copyists to simplify and smooth. (3) A reading characteristic of the author or of the New Testament, is generally to be preferred to one of a more common or classical nature, owing to the tendency of copyists to remove solecisms or other peculiarities. (4) In a parallel passage the more independent reading is to be preferred, owing to the tendency of copyists to assimilate in such cases. (5) The true reading is that which will account for the origin of the other readings. This is a fundamental principle. (In this connection the reader may be referred to Scrivener's Introdnctioti to the Criticism of the New Testament as well as to the kindred works already mentioned.) CHAPTER II. THE GOSPELS. I. Their Najiie and Nature. At the head of the New Testament stand the four Gospels. This position has been fitly assigned to them, because, although by no means the earliest written of the New Testament Books, they contain a record of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ which forms the corner-stone of the whole fabric — Christianity being essentially a historical religion, basing its doctrines not on fancy but on fact. The name gospel, which is the Saxon equivalent for a word in the original meaning "good tidings," was originally applied to Christ's preaching and that of the apostles.^ In course of time it came to be applied also to the books con- taining a record of the great facts and truths which formed the substance of that preaching. One of the earliest writers to use the word in this sense is Justin Martyr, who wrote about the middle of the second century.- He frequently refers to Memoirs'^ composed by the apostles and their companions, which, as he tells us, were called *' Gospels " ; and he informs us that they were read along with the writings of the prophets at the meetings for Christian worship on the Lord's Day. 1 Matt. iv. 23: "And Jesus went 2 Basilides (125 A.D.), quoted by about in all Galilee, teaching in their Hippolytus, cites John i. 9 as "said in synagogues, and preaching the gospel the Gospels," but some think, without of the kingdom." Mark i. 15: "The much reason, that the words are to be time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of referred to one of Basilides' school God is at hand : repent ye, and believe merely. Another instance has been in the gospel." i Cor. ix. 16: "For if found in the Apology of Aristides, 1 preach the gospel, I have nothing to dating probably from the early part of glory of; for necessity is laid upon me ; the second century (see p. 9), and in the for woe is unto me, if I preach not the Didache, which is perhaps even earlier, gospel." •^'ATrojj.i'r]fioi'€v/j.aTa. 20 JVew Testament and Its Writers. ii. 2. Their Authenticity. That the Memoirs to which Justin refers are the same as the Gospels which we now possess may be inferred from the circumstance that ahnost all the facts concerning Christ's life which he mentions in about two hundred scattered passages of his writings are found in one or other of the four Gospels, while in all the express quotations — seven in number — which he makes from the Memoirs the words quoted are also to be found in our Gospels. This conclusion is strengthened by the fact that about twenty years later (170 A.D.) a disciple of Justin named Tatian, a well-informed and far-travelled man, drew up in the Syriac language a sort of harmony of the four Gospels (called Diatessaroii), which had a very large circulation in the East. An Arabic translation of this work and a Syriac commentary on it have recently been discovered, from which it is evident that the four Gospels on which Tatian's work was founded were identical with ours. In the Muratorian Fragment, also, there is a list of New Testament books, which most critics assign to about 170 A.D., where the Gospels of Luke and John are mentioned as third and fourth, the other two being apparently mentioned in a part of the MS. now lost. If further corroboration be needed, we have it in the universally- admitted fact that fifteen years later (185 A.D.) the four Gospels which we possess were circulated in all parts of Christendom — in Europe, Asia, and Africa — in thousands of copies for the use of the innumerable Christians who lieard them read at their weekly meetings for worship. For these reasons it seems to admit of no doubt that Justin Martyr's Gospels were the same as ours ; and it is easy to trace them back through a series of still earlier writers to the testimony of the apostles. We know that Marcion the Gnostic^ (140 A.D.) built his system 1 The Gnostics (who derived their the mysteries of religion than was pos- name from a Greek word meaning sessed by the ordinary believer. But knmvledge) claimed a deeper insight into they always professed to be indebted II. The Gospels. 21 largely on the Gospel of Luke, of which he published a mutilated edition known as Marcion's Luke. In contrast with Marcion, Tertullian places Valentinus, another Gnostic (140-160 A.D.), as one who used the canon in its entirety.^ A prominent witness is Papias (Bishop of Hierapolis), who wrote an Exposition of t lie Oracles of Our Lord about 135 A.D., when he was an old man. Among other things which he had gathered from personal intercourse with friends of the apostles and with two disciples of the Lord (one of whom was named John),- he tells us the circumstances under which Matthew wrote his Oracles and Mark his Oracles of the Lord. Still earlier, we find many quotations more or less exact from our Gospels in the lately-discovered " Teaching of the Twelve Apostles " (dating from the end of the first or the early part of the second century), in the language of Basilides (125 A.D.), who wrote twenty-four books on " the Gospel," and in the short extant writings of Polycarp (a disciple of the Apostle John, martyred 155 A.D.), of Hermas and "Barnabas" (early in the second century), and of Clement of Rome (close of first century).^ They are also found in all MSS. of the Syriac and Old Latin Versions — both of which are known to have existed in the second century. To this we may add that in the undisputed epistles of Paul, written within a generation after our Lord's death, there are numerous allusions to Christ's history, teaching, and example, which harmonise with the facts recorded in the four Gospels (see p. 88).'^ In these circumstances we may challenge those who for this knowledge to their fuller com- its close are mainly defences of Christ- prehension of the meaning of Scripture. ianity (Apologies) addressed to un- Hence the frequency of their appeals to believers, with fewer quotations from the the New Testament writings. For the New Testament tlian if they had been earliest distinct traces in the Christian intended for members of the Church. Church of the tendencies which after- But the substance, and even the Ian- wards developed into Gnosticism, see guage, of our (iospels arc woven into the pp. 94-5, 146, 148. earliest Christian writings that have 1 intcgro iiistnimcnto. come down to us. 2 .See on Papias, Appendix, p. 281. •• The genuineness of the fourth " The extant Christian writings of the Gospel is specially dealt with in chap. first century (other than the New Testa- vi., where additional evidence will be ment) are extremely meagre, while the found, specially applicable to that writings of the second century till near Gospel. 2 2 New Testament and Its Writers. ii. throw doubt on the credibility of the Gospels to show at what period it was even possible for forgery or falsification to be perpetrated, and perpetrated so successfully as to im- pose upon all branches of the Church, leaving its members and teachers utterly unconscious of the deception that had been practised on them — this, too, in matters affecting the most vital interests of the Church's faith, regarding which the apostles had been testifying ever since the day of Pentecost on which they began to preach in the name of their Risen Master. Of the estimation in which the Gospels were held we may judge from the words of Irenaeus, a disciple of Poly- carp, who, towards the close of the second century, speaks of the written Gospel as " the foundation and pillar of our faith " ; and says regarding the Scriptures — which he de- fines to be the writings both of prophet and evangelist — " the Scriptures, being spoken by the Word and Spirit of God, are perfect." 3. Their Origin. For many years, probably for more than a generation, after the death of Christ, there does not appear to have been any authorised record of His life and teaching in the Church. The charge which the apostles had received from their Master was to preach the Gospel, and the promise of the Spirit had been expressly connected with the bearing of oral testimony.^ As they had received nothing in writing from their Master's hands, it was not likely the}^ would see any necessity for a Avritten Word so long as they were able to fulfil their commission to preach the Gospel, especially as they were looking for a speedy return of their Lord, and had no idea that so many centuries were to elapse before the great event should take place. The preaching of the Gospel was enough to tax their energies to the utmost ; and the task of committing to writing 1 Matt. X. 19 : " But when they de- ye shall speak : for it shall be given you liveryou up, be not anxious how or what in that hour what ye shall speak." II. The Gospels. 23 was not more alien to the customs of their nation than it would be uncongenial to their own habits as uneducated Galilaeans. Hence we can readily understand how it was that the Old Testament Scriptures, to which the apostles constantly appealed for proof that Jesus was the Messiah, continued to be for many years the only inspired writings acknowledged by the Christian Church, A New Testament in our sense of the term was some- thing which the apostles never dreamt of; and it is not to the design of man, but to the inscrutable influence of the divine Spirit and the overruling working of divine Providence, that we owe the composition of our Gospels before the apostles and other eye-witnesses of the Saviour's ministry had passed away. Drawn up without concert and without the formal sanction of the Church, they contain in a simple form, suitable for all ages and for all classes, several independent records of Christ's life and teaching, of which it may be said with truth that they are better authenticated and more nearly contemporaneous with the events than almost any other record we possess in connection with any period of ancient history. Their dignity and truthfulness are only rendered the more conspicuous when they are contrasted with the apocryphal Gospels invented at a later period, which were designed not so much to meet the spiritual wants of the Church as to gratify an idle curiosity.^ It is a remarkable fact that two of our Gospels do not claim to have been written by apostles, but only by companions of apostles (Mark and Luke) ; and that of the 1 About fifty apocryphal Gospels are of the second century), which has known to us (besides Acts, Epistles, and been well described as an attempt to Apocalypses); but of many only the "embroider with legend the simpler names or brief fragments have been narrative of the earlier Evangelists." preserved. They usually abounded Among others extant are the Uospel in the strange and marvellous, more of Thomas, the Arabic Gospel of the especially in connection with the infancy Infancy, and the Gospel of Nicodenuis, and childhood of our Lord ; and traces comprising the Acts of Pilate and the of their influence may be seen in Christ- Descent of Christ into Hades. Part of ian art and poetry. One of the oldest the Gospel of Peter (previously known and best known is the Protevangelium of to us in little more than name) has been James (dating perhaps from the middle recently discovered in Egypt. It bears 24 New Testament and Its Writers. ii. other two only one bears the name of an apostle of eminence (John). This is, so far, a confirmation of their genuineness ; for if they had been forgeries claiming an authority to which they were not entitled, they would have been pretty sure to claim it in the highest form. The same circumstance shows that the apostles generally did not regard it as a duty to record their testimony in writing. In the discharge of their commission as preachers of the Gospel, they doubtless followed the practice which was common in the East of trusting to memory rather than to written documents ; and as the Church extended, and they were no longer able to minister personally to the wants of their converts or of those who required to have the Gospel preached to them, it would become their duty to train evangelists and catechists to assist them in the work. In preaching to the heathen, it would only be the leading facts of Christ's life that would require to be proclaimed, but in the instruction of those who had already accepted the message of salvation it would be necessary to go more into detail, and set Christ before them as a guide and pattern in their daily life. This instruction was doubtless given in an oral form, the scholars repeating the lesson again and again after their teachers.^ The history of Christ's life and teaching was thus originally set forth not in the form of a chronological narrative but rather as a series of lessons imparted by the apostles and their fellow-labourers as occasion required, or " to meet the needs of their hearers," as one of the early Church Fathers (Papias) says, referring to Peter's style of preaching. During the twelve years or more that elapsed before the dispersion of the apostles from Jerusalem, a traces of acquaintance with our Gospels, not have been much earlier nor much and has also some uncanonical matter later than 150 A. D. To support some in common with Tatian and Justin. It heresy was the purpose of many of the occasionally betrays sympathy with the apocryphal writings. Docetic heresy {cf. p. 261), for which (as ^ This is the meaning of KaTijxvGv^ Eusebius tells us) it was condemned by (" instructed ") in Luke i. 4 = taught by Serapion, bishop of Antioch, in the end word of mouth by dint of repetition. C/. of the second century ; at the same time Acts ii. 42 : "They continued stedfastly it is anti-Jewish. Its composition can- in the apostles' teaching." II. The Gospels. 25 recognised course of instruction had doubtless gained cur- rency in the Church, corresponding to St. Peter's definition of the period of the Hfe of Christ which was the proper subject for apostoHc testimony — " Beginning from the baptism of John unto the day that he (Jesus) was received up from us."i With this agree specimens of apostolic preaching contained in the Book of Acts,'^ as well as the allusions which the apostles make in their epistles to the Gospel preached by them and the knowledge of Christ's life acquired by their converts.^ A close examination of such passages makes it evident that, while Christ Jesus 1 Acts i. 22. 2 Acts X. 36-43 (Peter's Address at Caesarea) : "The word which he sent unto the children of Israel, preaching good tidings of peace by Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all) — that saying ye your- selves know, which was published throughout all Judosa, beginning from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached ; even Jesus of Nazareth, how that God anointed him with the Holy Ghost and with power : who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil ; for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the country of the Jews, and in Jerusalem ; whom also they slew, hanging him on a tree. Him God raised up the third day, and gave him to be made manifest, not to all the people, but vinto witnesses that were chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead. And he charged us to preach unto the people, and to testify that this is he which is ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead. To him bear all the prophets witness, that through his name every one that believeth on him shall receive remission of sins" ; xiii. 23-31 (Paul at Antioch) : "Of this man's seed hath t}od according to promise brought unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus ; when John had first preached before his coming the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. And as John was fulfilling his course, he said, What suppose ye that I am ? I am not he. But behold, there cometh one after me, the shoes of whose feet I am not worthy to unloose. Brethren, children of the stock of Abra- ham, and those among vou that fear God, to us is the word of this salvation sent forth. For they that dwell in Jerusalem, and their rulers, liecause they knew him not, nor the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him. And though they found no cause of death in him, \'et asked they of Pilate that he should be slain. And when they had fulfilled all things that were written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead : and he was seen for many days of them that came up with him from Galilee to Jeru- salem, who are now his witnesses unto the people " ; cf. iv. 19, 20 : " But Peter and John answered and said unto them. Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you rather than unto God, judge ye : for zve cannot but speak the things which ive saiv and heard." 'i I Cor. ii. 2 : " For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." i Cor. XV. 1-4: "Now I make known unto you, brethren, the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye received, wherein also ye stand, by which also ye are saved ; I make known, I say, in what words I preached it unto you, if ye hold it fast, except ye believed in vain. P'or I delivered unto you first of all that which also I received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the .scriptures ; and that he was buried ; and that he hath been raised on the third day according to the .scrip- tures." I Cor. xi. 23-27: "For I received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, how that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betravcd took bread ; and when he had 26 Neiv Testament and Its Writers. ii. was the constant theme of the apostles' preaching, they dwelt chiefly on the great facts that formed the consummation of His ministry — His sufferings, death, and resurrection ; and we may regard it as an evidence of the faithfulness with which our Gospels reflect the earliest preaching and teaching of the apostles that they give such prominence to the closing scenes of our Lord's history. We have another token of their authenticity in the fact that they narrate events not in the light shed upon them by the subsequent teaching of the Spirit, but as they were actually regarded by the disciples at the time of their occurrence, long before the publication of the Gospels. It would seem that before our Gospels were composed, attempts had been made by private persons to draw up a connected history of the Saviour's life, or at least of His ministry. Such attempts are referred to by St. Luke in the preface to his Gospel.^ It is evident that he is alluding to other documents than the Gospels we possess, both because he speaks of the writers as " many," in a tone scarcely consistent with the respect due to apostolic records, given thanks, he brake it, and said, world, but was manifested at the end This is my body, which is for you : this of the times for your sake, who througli do in remembrance of me. In like him are believers in God, which raised manner also the cup, after supper, say- him from the dead, and gave him glory ; ing, This cup is the new covenant in my so that your faith and hope might be in blood : this do, as oft as ye drink it, in God." i John iv. 2, 6 : " Hereby know remembrance of me. For as often as, ye the Spirit of God : every spirit which ye eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in proclaim the Lord's death till he come. the flesh is of God : . . . We are of God : Wherefore whosoever shall eat the bread he that knoweth God heareth us ; he or drink the cup of the Lord unworthily, who is not of God heareth us not. By shall be guilty of the body and the this we know the spirit of truth, and blood of the Lord." Gal. iii. i : "... the spirit of error," &c. Jesus Christ was openly set forth cruci- 1 Luke i. 1-4 : " Forasmuch as many fied?" Eph. iv. 20, 21 : " But ye did have taken in hand to draw up a nari-a- not so learn Christ ; if so be that ye tive concerning those matters which heard him, and were taught in him, even have been fulfilled among us, even as as truth is in Jesus." i Peter i. 18-21 : they delivered them unto us, which "knowing that ye were redeemed, not from the beginning were e) jwitnesses with corruptible things, with silver or and ministers of the word, it seemed gold, from your vain manner of life good to me also, having traced the handed down from )-our fathers ; but course of all things accurately from the with precious blood, as of a lamb with- first, to write unto thee in order, most out blemish and without spot, even the excellent Theophilus ; that thou mightest blood of Christ : who was foreknown know the certainty concerning the indeed before the foundation of the things wherein thou wast instructed." II. The Gospels. 27 and because a comparison of the four Gospels leads to the conclusion that he could not have had any of the three others before him when he drew up his narrative. What- ever part the previously-existing documents referred to by Luke may have had in determining the shape in which the oral Gospel was finally to be recorded, all of them were ultimately superseded by our present Gospels, in whose preservation and triumph we may see an illustra- tion, in the highest sense, of " the survival of the fittest." 4. T/ieir Diversity. On a comparison of the several Gospels, a marked difference is at once apparent between the fourth and the three preceding ones. The latter are called synoptical, because they give in one common view the same general outline of the ministry of Christ. This outline is almost entirely confined to His ministry in Galilee, and includes only one visit to Jerusalem ; whereas the fourth Gospel gives an account of no less than five visits to the capital, and lays the scene of the ministry chiefly in Judaea. A still more important distinction between them, with regard to the nature of their contents, has been briefly expressed by designating the synoptical Gospels as the bodily Gospels, and St. John's as the spiritual Gospel — by which it is meant that the former relate chiefly to outward events connected with the Saviour's visible presence, reported for the most part without note or comment, while the latter is designed to represent the ideal and heavenly side of His personality and work. Akin to this distinction is the fact that the first three Gospels report Christ's addresses to the inultitiide, consisting largely of parables, while '*'.he fourth Gospel contains discourses of a more sublime character, frequently expressed in the language of allegory and addressed to the in}icr circle of His followers. When we enter into a closer examination of the three synoptic Gospels and compare them with one another. 28 Neiv Testament and Its Writers. ii. we find an amount of similarity in detail, extending even to minute expressions and the connection of individual incidents, combined with a diversity of diction, arrange- ment, and contents, which it has hitherto baffled the ingen- uity of critics to explain fully.^ A general idea of their mutual relations may be gathered from the following comparison. If the contents of each Gospel be reckoned lOO, the relative proportion of those things in which a Gospel agrees with one or other of its fellows to those thines in which it stands alone would be as follows : — Peculiarities. Coincidences. St. Matthew 42 58 St. Mark 7 93 St. Luke 59 41 It is found that the coincidences in language are much fewer than they are in substance — which is only what might have been expected, if the several accounts are derived from independent witnesses. Reckoning the material coincidences in St. Matthew to be 58 as above, the verbal coincidences would only amount to 16 or 17 ; in St. Mark the former would be 93 as compared with 17 of the latter; in St. Luke 41 as compared with 10. It further appears that by far the greater number of these verbal coincidences are met with in the report of our Lord's discourses and other sayings, a circumstance which confirms us in the belief that the Gospel was handed down for a number of years in an oral form, as the preachers and 1 Numberless theories have been ad- (1778), with the idea of an Aramaic vanced since the time of Augustine, original (which might be identical who argued that Mark was the pedi- with the Gospel according to the sequus et abbreviator ( "follower and Hebrews), has led many critics to en- abbreviator") of Matthew, down to the tertain the idea of a double Greek present time, when critical opinion is source, designated as the Ur-Marcus taking the form, not so much of a and the Ur-Matthaus (the latter being theory of direct mutual dependence of perhaps the Logia mentioned by Papias), the synoptics upon one another, as of although there is a difference of opinion their dependence on some pre-existing as to which of the two had the priority, document or documents, or on a stereo- The Oral-Gospel theory, which was typed oral Gospel. The former of advocated by Gieseler early in this these two solutions, adopted by J. D. century, and has recently been more Michaelis in the beginning of last fully expounded by Westcott. has also century, and connected by Lessing a wide circle of adherents. II. The Gospels. 29 teachers would feel bound to adhere strictly to the very words in cases of reported speech, whereas they would be under no such obligation in the narration of events. As regards the latter a considerable modification of the oral Gospel would naturally take place during the long period that elapsed before it was committed to writing. The modification would vary in different parts of the Church ; and it is in this way, as well as by taking into account the possibilities of fresh lessons being added from time to time by those who had been " eyewitnesses and ministers of the word "^ that we can best account for differences, both in expression and in substance, which would otherwise seem unaccountable. If the apostles' teaching was originally given in Aramaic — the form of Hebrew then spoken in Palestine — and had to be translated into Greek by the catechists, this would help still further to account for the diversity we meet with in the Gospels.' 5. Thei}'- Harmony. It is possible that further study and investigation may shed more light on the historical and literary relations of the four Gospels, but meantime it is clear that the tnie way 1 Luke i. 2. both be accounted for by the Aramaic 2 An interesting contribution to the word IJ^J' which means (i) to " throw, settlement of this question has recently cast," (2) to "burn, consume." These been made by Prof. J. T. Marshall. ^nd similar instances do not require the On the supposition of an original Ara- assumption of a7i'/7V^t'« AramaicGospel; maic Gospel (perhaps the Logia of St. but Prof. Marshall finds that "the Matthew) he finds that a great many g^e^t majority of the Greek variants" of the verbal differences between the ,„ the synoptics can only be accounted synoptics, in parallel passages, may beac- fo,- t,y corruptions that had crept into an counted for by reference to the Aramaic original Aramaic text, in one or other word from which they have emanated. of the four following ways:— (i) "the For example the word o^ei\i\ixa.ra. in diverse vocalisation of the same con- Matt, vi, 12 ("Forgive us our debts") sonants, (2) the misreading of a letter, and afiaprlas in Luke xi. 4 (" Forgive (3) the omission of a letter, (4) the trans- us our sins") maybe divergent inter- position of two adjacent consonants." pretations of the Aramaic word niH Referring, by way of analog)', to the which means ( i ) a ,M/, (2) a sin or tres- Hebrew texts of certam parts of the Old pass ; or, again, the word dnoX^aai in Testament, Professor Marshall says : Matt. X. Ls t' • But rather fear him which ' ' These kmds of divergences arc always is able to d's/rov both soul and body in Present and what is more thc.e is a 1^ , , ' / . a > - ;„ 1 „l.-,. vli c to eraby constant ratio m the frequency Gehenna ) and e/^^aXe.. m Luke x 5 ^J^^^ ^^ respectively occur. This ("hath power tofrtJ^ into Gehenna )may j t- j 30 Neiv Testament and Its Writers, ii. to discern tJieir liai'inotty is not to attempt to piece them together in the vain hope of forming a complete chrono- logical history, but to study each from its own point of view and learn from it what it has to teach concerning the many-sided life and character of Jesus Christ. No one Gospel could possibly do justice to the infinite significance of the great theme ; and instead of causing perplexity, the existence of four different Gospels should rather be matter of thankfulness, as setting Christ before us in so many different aspects of His divinely human personality, much in the same way as various portions of the Old Testament set Him forth prophetically under the several aspects of prophet, priest, lawgiver, and king. From the nature of the case, the Gospels are necessarily fragmentary , as indicated by St. John when he says, " There are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that should be written." ^ The same writer gives us a key to the inter- pretation of his Gospel when he says, " These are written, that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God ; and that, believing, ye may have life in his name."^ In like manner each of the other Gospels, while historical in its character, is animated by a special purpose of its own with its appropriate grouping and selection of events. Owing to the frequent change of scene and audience in Christ's ministry, the historical sequence could not be strictly adhered to by anyone desirous to trace, from any point of view, the progress of His teaching. At the same time there was a gradual development in Christ's ministry, culminating in His death, resurrection, and ascension ; and this gradual advance we find reflected in each of the four Gospels. same ratio, we may add, is discernible Aramaic of any one period or literature, in the kinds of variation we claim and resorts to linguistic suppositions to have found in the Aramaic." It which are open to question. Moreover, has, however, been objected to Prof. it is at best but a partial solution of the Marshall's theory that in his attempts synoptical problem, to reproduce the words of the original ^ John xxi. 25. text he does not confine himself to the 2 John xx. 31. 11. The Gospels. 31 Unity amid diversity is what we have to look for in the Gospels, as in the Scriptures generally ; and of this we have a token in the time-honoured fancy of the Church, by which the four Gospels are likened to the four-visaged cherubim, having the faces of a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle. This comparison has been variously applied, but the interpretation followed in modern works of art, after St. Jerome, identifies the four faces with the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John respectively, as setting forth the human, the conquering, the sacrificial, and the heaven-regarding aspects of Christ's being. We shall probably be nearer the truth, however, if we say that while the first Gospel sets forth Christ's life and teaching with reference to \\\Qpast, as the fulfilment of the Old Testa- ment, the Gospel of Mark exhibits that life in ih^ present, as a manifestation of the activity and power so congenial to the Roman mind ; St. Luke, as a Greek, depicts it in its catholic and comprehensive character, as destined in the future to embrace within its saving influence all the kindreds of the Gentiles ; while the fourth Gospel represents it in its absolute perfection as it is related to the Father in eternity} While there is no such thing as uniformity in Scripture any more than in Nature or the Church, there is an essen- tial and deep-lying unity which cannot be broken without serious injury to the truth. The right way to use the Gospels is to combine their various testimony, allowing each to tell its story in its own Avay, and to contribute its 1 Recently an ingenious and laborious to meet "a widely prevailing desire to attempt has been made by the Rev. J. J. combine the three authorised histories Halcombe to reverse the traditional into a single composite whole " — a task view of the relations between the Synop- which had been attempted by the tics and the Fourth Gospel. According " many" to whom St. Luke refers in his to Mr. Halcombe's theory, St. John preface, and which we can see to have wrote his Gospel very soon after the been successfully accomplished by that Ascension, as " the original and founda- Evangelist himself, if we assume that tion title-deed of the Church and the Luke xi.14 — .\iii.21 was accidentally Christian faith"; St. Matthew's was transposed in the original MS., and that written after an interval of some six or its proper place is immediately after viii. eight years, or even longer, as a supple- 21. mental and companion volume, and was Mr Halcombe claims for this arrangc- followed almost immediately by St. ment of the Four Gospels that it is as Mark's as " an explanatory supi)lement superior in point of intelligibility to to St. Matthew's record"; while St. that which puts St. John's Gospel last Luke's was written much later, in order (cf. p. 72), as W O R D is to O R D W ! N'ew Testament and Its Writers. II. allotted part to a full and adequate conception of the Lord's personality and work. While each possesses a dis- tinct individuality of its own, they may and ought to be united in order to form a complete and grander whole. In this sense they have been likened to the four parts of music, which may be sung apart, but blend together to form a perfect harmony. A striking parallel has been drawn between the work of the first three evangelists and the threefold portrait of Charles I. (taken from three different points of view) which Vandyke prepared for the sculptor; ^ while a beautiful illustration has been furnished by an eloquent writer,- who says that " the first three evangelists give us diverse aspects of one glorious land- scape ; St. John pours over that landscape a flood of heavenly sunshine which seems to transform its very char- acter, though every feature of the landscape remains the same." ^^ 1 Westcott's Introduction to the Study of the Gospels, p. 251. '- Farrar's Messages of the Books, p. II. s With regard to the harmony of the four Gospels in matters of historical de- tail, while it is true that we meet with apparent discrepancies which it would require more complete information than we possess to explain fully (for example, as to the date of the Last Supper, whether on the night of the Jewish Passover, as the synoptical Gospels would lead us to suppose, or on the night previous, which is the impression we receive from St. John's narrative), yet, on the other hand, there are many cases of undesigned harmony which afford positive evidence of their histori- cal accuracy and truthfulness. (See Appendix, p. 287.) CHAPTER III. "THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW." I. Authorship. St. Matthew's Gospel has been described by one who can scarcely be accused of partiality (M. Renan) as " the most important book of Christendom — the most important book that has ever been written." Its importance is derived, not from the genius of the writer, but from the grandeur of the subject. According to the unanimous tradition of the ancient Church, as preserved in the title which this Gospel has borne ever since the second century and confirmed by the testimony of the early Church Fathers beginning with Papias in the first half of the second century, the writer of the book was Matthew, one of the twelve apostles. But for his authorship of this book, Matthew would have been one of the least-known of the apostles, as neither Scripture nor tradition gives us much information re- garding him. Not a single word or act of his after he became a disciple of our Lord is recorded in the Gospels ; and in the Book of Acts his name is never mentioned after the descent of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. He is evidently to be identified with Levi the publican,^ 1 ix. 9, lo : "And as Jesus passed by his house, and many pubhcans and sin- from thence, he saw a man, called Mat- ners sat down with Jesus and his dis- thew, sitting at the place of toll : and he ciples : for there were many, and they saith unto him, F"g11ow me. And he followed him." Luke v. 27-29: "And arose and followed him. And it came after these things he went forth, and be- to pass, as he sat at meat in the house, held a publican, named Levi, sitting at behold, many publicans and sinners the place of toll, and said unto him, came and sat down with Jesus and his Follow me. And he forsook all, and disciples." Mark ii. 14, 15: "And as rose up and followed him. And Levi he passed by, he saw Levi the son of made him a great feast in his house : Alphasus sitting at the place of toll, and and there was a great multitude of pub- he saith unto him, Follow me. And he licans and of others that were sitting at arose and followed him. And it came meat with them." to pass, that he was sitting at meat in 34 New Testament and Its tVriters. ill. although it is only in his own Gospel ^ that the despised term " publican " is associated with his apostolic name of Matthew (" the gift of God "), which was probably given to him when he was called to the apostleship, as Simon's name was changed to Peter. He seems to have been a man of worldly means and of a generous disposition, judg- ing from the fact that on the occasion of his apostolic call, when " he forsook all, and rose up and followed " Jesus, he made "a great feast" to which he invited a number of his old associates. It is noteworthy that he leaves it to the other evangelists to mention him as the giver of this feast, and to record his sacrifice of property in following Christ ; while we have a further token of his modesty in the fact that he puts the name of Thomas before his own in the list of apostles, reversing the order followed in the other Gospels.- Traces of the writer's profession as a tax- gatherer have been found in his use of the term " tribute money," where the other evangelists employ the more common word "penny" ;^ and in his use of the word " publicans," where Luke employs the word " sinners." * But perhaps the latter instance, like his use of the word " Gentiles " in the same passage, is an indication rather of his Jewish nationality. According to an ancient tradition derived from Papias, Matthew wrote his Gospel in Hebrew,'' — to which Irenaeus adds that he published it among the Jews "while Peter and Paul were preaching in Rome and founding the 1 X. 3: "Thomas, and Matthew the ^ 'Mardaios fxh ^vv'^^pa'tSi. StaXeKTip pubhcan." xa \6'yLa crvveypdtpaTo, i)p/j.7ji'€V(T€ 5' ^ X. 3 ; Mark iii. 18 ; Luke vi. 15. avrd cjs TjSvvaTO eVacrros. This state- 3 xxii. 19: "Shew me the tribute ment of Papias that "each one inter- raoney.' Mark xu. 15: "Bring me a preted them {i.e., oracles) as he could " penny, that I may see It." Luke xx. 24 : seems to imply that the case was Shew me a penny." different when he WTOte, there being ■*v. 46, 47: " For if ye love them that then an authoritative translation in love you, what reward have ye? do not general use. As a matter of fact, we even the publicans the same ? And if find no traces of any other Greek ver- ye salute your brethren only, what do sion of St. Matthew, at any time, to ye more than others? do not even the compete with the Gospel bearing his Gentiles the same?" Luke vi. 32-34: name, which is found in the New And if ye love them that love you, Testament canon. This is a very im- what thank have ye? for even sinners portant fact in any question affecting love those that love them," &c. the authority of our first Gospel. III. 5/ Matthezv. Church there." Euscbius, in the beginning of the fourth century, tells us that Matthew wrote it when he was about to leave the Jews and preach also to other nations, in order to " fill up the void about to be made in his absence." ^ If this tradition be correct, the Hebrew original must have been very soon superseded by the Greek Gospel which we now possess. This was only to be expected, considering the growing disuse of Hebrew, and the gradual lapse of the Jewish Christians into a heresy which alienated them from the rest of the Church." Whether the Gospel was written over again by Matthew in Greek, or translated, perhaps under his supervision, by some other writer, with additions from a Greek source, is a question which we cannot certainly answer.-^ That Matthew may have written 1 Eusebius mentions a tradition that when Pantnsnus of Alexandria (who lived in the latter part of the second century) went to preach to the Indians, he found the Gospel of Matthew in Hebrew already in their possession, they having received it from the Apostle Bartholomew when he preached among them. But the story is unsupported by any other evidence, and is not in itself probable, as Greek would be more likely to be known to the Indians than He- brew. Jerome, in the end of the fourth century, informs us that he found a Hebrew Gospel, which he believed to be the original of Matthew, in the library at Csesarea, and that he transcribed it and afterwards translated it into Greek. He gives extracts from it, but they are not such as to enable us to identify it with our first Gospel. The same may be said of the quotations from an Ebi- onite Gospel which are found in the writings of Epiphanius. This writer mentions another Gospel in Hebrew in use among the Nazarenes, who flour- ished, as he tells us, at Syrian Berrea (Aleppo), — the same place where Jerome had received permission to copy the Hebrew Gospel already mentioned. (For a full discussion of the subject see Salmon's Introduction, chap. x). 2 The Ebionite heresy, so named from a Hebrew word meaning /cw/-, the early Jewish Christians being noted for their poverty. Their heresy consisted for the most part in holding the continued ob- ligation of the Jewish Law, and denying the Divinity of the Saviour while admit- ting His Messiahship. The name of Nazarenes (originally given to Christians generally ; Acts xxiv. 5) was applied in the fourth century to a less heretical sect who continued to observe the Jewish Law. ^ It is now very generally admitted that in our Gospel of Matthew there are features inconsistent with the character of a translation from the Hebrew. These are [a] plays on Greek words (vi. 16; xxi. 41 ; .xxiv. 30) ; [b] explanations of Hebrew words (i. 23; xxvii. 33, 46); {c) statements regarding Jewish cus- toms, i&c, that could not have been intended for Jewish readers contem- porary with the apostle (xxii. 23 ; xxvii. 15 ; xxviii. 15). We can imagine [a] and (i^) to have possibly been intro- duced by a translator, but [c) can scarcely be thus accounted for. [d] In a number of passages common to this Gospel with the other synoptics, it is evi- dent that the author has drawn directly from a Greek source whether oral or written. It has also been noticed that while the greater part of the quotations in this Gospel are from the Septuagint (occurring chiefly in passages common to the synoptics), a considerable number are taken direct from the Hebrew. In this fact Westcott finds a strong confirma- tion of his theory that our Gospel of Matthew is the work of an unknown author who worked up the Hebrew or Aramaic record of St Matthew with the oral Greek Gospel. 36 New Testament and Its Writers. iii. the Gospel in both languages is in itself not unlikely, as we know that Josephus wrote his history both in Hebrew and in Greek ^ — these two languages being current in Pales- tine at that time, as English and Gaelic are now in the Highlands of Scotland. But it must be admitted to be a weak point in this theory that there is no trace of it in the writings of the Fathers. 2. Date of Composition. From evidence afforded by a study of the book itself (taken in connection with the tradition above mentioned), it has been reasonably inferred that the Gospel in its present form probably appeared before 66 A.D., when the war which was to issue in the destruction of the Jewish capital was on the eve of breaking out. Such evidence is found in the use of the expressions - " holy city," " the holy place," "the city of the great King," as well as in the mysterious nature of the language used by the Saviour in His prediction of the city's coming doom. In particular, the caution given by the writer in xxiv. 1 5 (" whoso readeth, let him understand,") would have had no force or meaning after the predicted calamity had occurred. 3. Character and Contents, The leading characteristic of St. Matthew's Gospel, as might be expected in a work intended for the Hebrews, consists in the representation of Jesus as tJie Messiah, in whom was fulfilled the Law and the Prophets. In this respect it is fitly placed immediately after the Old Testa- ment, as the uniting link between the old and the new covenants. The first verse strikes the keynote, " The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham " — son of David as the heir of the promised 1 Modern instances may also be found; an extended form under the title " De e.g. Bacon published a Latin translation Augmentis Scientiarum." of his "Advancement of Learning," in 2 iv. 5 ; v. 35; xxiv. 15; xxvii. 53. III. S^. Matthew. t^j kingdom, son of Abraham as the child of promise in whom alt the families of the earth were to be blessed. The whole book may be regarded as depicting the gradual realisation of these claims in a spiritual sense ; the culminating point being reached in the glorious de- claration by the risen Lord, " All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth. Go ye there- fore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost : teaching them to observe all things whatso- ever I commanded you : and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world," ^ In the course of the Gospel there are no less than sixty citations of Old Testament prophecy as fulfilled in Jesus, the usual formula of quotation being " that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by (the prophet)." Equally significant is the frequency of the ex- pression " kingdom of heaven " (literally " kingdom of the heavens," reflecting the Hebrew idiom), which occurs thirty- two times, and the designation "Son of David," which occurs seven times as applied to Jesus. The whole plan of the book is in harmony with its Messianic character. First we have the nativity of Him who was "born King of the Jews" and was, at the same time, to " save his people from their sins," with the strange mingling of light and shadow, of glory and suffer- ing, which was to be typical of the whole life.^' Then comes the Prelude to the Ministry, when the approach of the kingdom of heaven is announced by the predicted Fore- runner, and the Baptism of Jesus, as the fulfilment of all righteousness and the consecration to His public ministry, becomes the signal for a manifestation of the divine favour in the voice from heaven, " This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased," — followed by the Temptation, in which the decisive choice is made between the " kingdoms of this world " and the unseen kingdom of the Spirit.^ The way is thus cleared for successive representations of the Saviour ^xxviii. 18-20. -I., ii. ^jij. — iv, n. 38 New Testament and Its Writers. in. as Lawgiver, Prophet, and King. In the Sermon on the Mount,^ the Charter of the new kingdom, He proclaims the Law as from a second Sinai with new meaning and power, — a little later He charges the twelve apostles, whom He commissions to preach the Gospel in His name,^ — at another time He delivers the long series of parables in which the origin, progress, and final destiny of the king- dom are shown forth,^ — anon He lays down the principles that are to guide the members of the Church in their relations to one another, especially to their erring brethren.* Then as the conflict with hatred and unbelief grows ever fiercer, there break forth His prophetic warnings of the nation's impending doom and His denunciations against the Jewish priests and rulers, while He becomes more and more out-spoken in the assertion of His Messianic claims;^ till at last there comes the awful tragedy upon the Cross, com- pleting the sacrifice He has to offer as God's High Priest, and giving place in turn to the triumph of the Resurrec- tion.*^ Interspersed throughout the whole are mighty works and gracious words, spoken and wrought for the suffering and the sinful, which bespeak Him as the Sent of God. There is a wonderful symmetry in the whole narrative, and many subtle contrasts. In xvi. 21, " From that time began Jesus to shew unto his disciples how that he must go unto Jerusalem and suffer . . . and be killed," there is a striking contrast to iv. 17, " From that time began Jesus to preach, and to say. Repent ye : for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" — the one marking the commencement of His Passion, as the other of His active Ministry. There is a correspondence also between the voice from heaven at His Baptism,''' and that heard at His Transfiguration ^ when His ministry reached its climax and was sealed by the divine testimony in the presence of the two greatest prophets of |||,iv. — vii. -x. ■'xviii. s.xxi. — xxv. * xiii. (seven in number — like the "xxvi. — xxviii. Beatitudes in chap. v. — viz., the Sower, "iii. 17 : " This is my beloved Son, in the Tares, the Mustard-seed, the Leaven, whom 1 am well pleased." the hid Treasure, the goodly Pearl, and ^xvii. 5 : "This is my beloved Son, in the Draw-net). whom I am well pleased ; hear ye him." III. SL Matthew. 39 the old covenant, Moses and EHas, as it had just before been attested by the great confession of Peter. ^ That con- fession was a token that the ministry of power and love had done its work upon the hearts of the disciples, and it is fitly followed by the announcement of His appointed sufferings, the disciples being now ready to follow their Master through the valley of His humiliation, which was to conduct them at last from the blackness and darkness of death to the glories of divine life and immortality. A distinguishing feature of this Gospel is the large place assigned in it to the zuords'- of Jesus, arranged in a systematic form, not broken up into fragments as they are in the other Gospels. For this reason Godet compares Luke to " a botanist who prefers to contemplate a flower in the very place of its birth and in the midst of its natural surround- ings, while Matthew is like the gardener who for some special object puts together large and magnificent bouquets."^ To some extent this remark is applicable to Matthew's grouping of incidents in our Lord's life, as well as to his arrancfement of discourses. i.wi. i6: "And Simon Peter answered and said. Thou art the Christ, the Son of the hving God." - Forming about a fourth part of the whole book. •* Godet traces five such general dis- courses in Matthew's Gospel, viz., the Sermon on the Mount (v.-vii. ), the •official instructions to the twelve apostles (x.), the series of parables on the kingdom of heaven (xiii.), prin- ciples of Church discipline (xviii.), and utterances relating to Christ's exercise of judgment (xxiii.-xxv.) — all of them closing with similar words (vii. 28 ; xi. i; xiii. 53; xix. i; xxvi. i). These five discourses he regards as forming the Hebrew original of Matthew's Gospel, and finds in their number a correspondence with the five books of Papias on the Lord's Discourses. But it is now generally admitted that the Lord's Oracles is a more correct ren- dering of the title of Papias' work {KvpiaKQv \oyicov) ; and, besides, the structure of the Gospel is too subtle and complex to admit of such mechani- cal treatment. (Godet's Biblical Studies — English Translation, 8th edition, pp. 15-20.) CHAPTER IV. "THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK." I. Aittkorship. The testimony of the early Fathers, so far as it has reached us, unanimously ascribes the second Gospel to St. Mark ; but with equal unanimity they connect it with the preaching of the Apostle Peter. The earliest witness is Papias, the bishop already referred to, who makes the following statement on the authority of John, a contempo- rary of the apostles, if not the apostle of that name : "This also the elder used to say : Mark having become Peter's interpreter, wrote accurately whatever things he remem- bered that were either said or done by Christ ; but not in order. For he neither heard the Lord nor followed Him ; but subsequently, as I said, attached himself to Peter, who used to frame his teaching to meet the wants of his hearers, but not as making a connected narrative of the Lord's oracles (or discourses). So Mark committed no error in thus writing down particulars just as he remem- bered them ; for he took heed to one thing, to omit none of the things that he had heard, and to state nothing falsely in his account of them." ^ So little doubt seems to have been entertained regard- ing the Petrine authorship of this Gospel that we find 1 Kat 70VT0 6 irpea^vTepos eXeye. ewoieiTo rds didacTKoXias, a\\ ovx MdpKos fj.€i> epiJ.7]vevTr]% Yl^Tpov uxnrep crvvra^iv tQv KvpiaKwv ttol- yevo/ULefos, oaa efj.vrjix.6vevffev, dKpijiws ovfi€vo% \oy'i.wv (or \6yo3v) (bare ovdhv eypa^ev, ov /jJi'toi. rd^ei., to, inro toO ij/xapre MdpKos, ovtios evia yp6.\pas 'KpLOTou 7) Xex^^vTa 7) trpaxdivTa. Cos dirofii'ii/j.oi'evaev. 'TSvos yap eTroii}- OOre yap iJKovae tov Kvpiov, oiire caro -KpbvoLav, tov ixrjS^v ibv iJKovcre Tra,',r)Ko\ov0r]crev avrip, varepov dk, ws TrapaXnreiv t) \p€vaa(X0al ti iv avrols. (T]v, Uirptfi, 65 irpos rds XP^"*' Eus. H. E. iii. 40. IV. S^. Mark. 41 Justin Martyr apparently referring to it as the Memoirs of Peter.^ According to Irenaeus, it was written by Mark at Rome after the death of Peter and Paul ; while Clement of Alexandria, writing about the same time, affirms, on the tradition of a long line of presbyters, that St. Mark wrote at the request of Peter's hearers at Rome, without any interference on the part of Peter himself. Regarding the history of the Mark thus referred to, and his relations with the Apostle Peter, we derive information from Scripture which is fitted to corroborate in a great measure the ancient tradition. There can be no doubt that we are to identify him with the John Mark mentioned in Acts xii. 12, whose mother Mary was an influential member of the Church at Jerusalem — her house being the place where prayer was made for Peter by the brethren during his imprisonment, and where he himself repaired immediately after his liberation. It is an interesting conjecture that this house may have been the scene of the Last Supper and of the Pentecostal effusion of the Holy Spirit. It has also been suggested that the " young man " referred to in Mark's Gospel, in connection with the arrest in the garden, may have been none other than the author of the book, who was thus led to record an incident which to others would have appeared insignificant.- Mark's intimacy with Peter at a later time is evident from I Peter v. 13,^ where the apostle conveys Mark's salutation to his readers in Asia Minor ; and from the designation which Peter there applies to him (" my son "), we may infer that he was one of that apostle's converts. It appears that at the time the epistle was written he was residing with Peter in Babylon, but although the Eastern city of that name was then, and continued to be for long 1 Kat TO elireLv ij.eT(i}votJ.aKivaL avTov - xiv. 51: "And a certain young JUrpov eva tQv diroaroXwi', Kai man followed with him, having a linen yeypd' '°"- 42 New Testament and Its Writers. iv. afterwards, a famous seat of Jewish learning, there is reason to believe that in the passage referred to Babylon is only another name for Rome (Chap. xxi. § 3). Previous to his association with Peter in apostolic work abroad, Mark had accompanied Paul and Barnabas as their " minister " or assistant, but had withdrawn from the work.^ After some years, he rejoined his cousin Barnabas, whose will- ingness to receive him again as a colleague was so dis- pleasing to Paul that he parted company with Barnabas on this account.- We find him again enjoying Paul's con- fidence, however, during the imprisonment of the latter at Rome ; for the apostle commends him to the Colossians as one of his " fellow- workers unto the kingdom of God," who had been a "comfort" to him.^ Mark was then, apparently, about to set out for Asia ; and, accordingly, we find Paul, during his second imprisonment, requesting Timothy to bring him with him (from Ephesus), because he was " useful to him for ministering." ^ This is the last time we hear of Mark in Scripture ; but according to tradi- tion he returned to Rome, and, after the martyrdom of Peter and Paul, went to Alexandria, where he founded a famous catechetical school, and died a martyr's death.^ Turning now to internal evidence, we find strong con- firmation of the traditional account. The book may be described as very much an expansion or development of the brief statement made by Peter in his address to Cornelius and his friends.*^ It also follows closely the line 1 Acts xii. 25: "And Barnabas and him who withdrew from them from Saul returned from Jerusalem [i.e., to Pamphylia, and went not with them to Antioch), when they had fulfilled their the work. And there arose a sharp ministration, taking with them John contention, so that they parted asunder whose surname was Mark." xiii. 5, 13 : one from the other, and Barnabas took " And when they were at Salamis, they Mark with him, and sailed away unto proclaimed the word of God in the Cyprus ; but Paul chose Silas, and synagogues of the Jews : and they had went forth, being commended by the also John as their attendant. . . . Now brethren to the grace of the Lord." Paul and his company set sail from <* Col. iv. 10, 11; Philemon ver. 24. Paphos, and came to Perga in Pam- •* 2 Tim. iv. 11. phylia : and John departed from them •■> In the 9th century St. Mark's body and returned to Jerusalem." is said to have been transferred from 2 Acts XV. 37-40: ".-Xnd Barnabas Alexandria to Venice, where he has was minded to take with them John been honoured as patron-saint ever also, who was called Mark. But Paul since. thought not good to take with them "^cts x. 37-42: "That saying ye IV. SL Mark. 43 of apostolic testimony which Peter had himself marked out immediately after the Ascension.^ The whole tone of the book reflects Peter's energetic, impulsive, unconventional character. Its rapid transition from one incident to another — of which we have a striking illustration in the fact that the Greek word ^ variously translated " straightway," " im- mediately," " forthwith," &c., occurs in it no less than forty- one times ; its practical matter-of-fact tone, illustrated by the fact that while it records eighteen miracles it contains only four parables,^ and twice represents the Lord and His disciples as having their hands so full of work that "they could not so much as eat bread " ^ ; its vivid description of the excitement occasioned by Christ's ministry, and of the profound impression made on those who heard and saw Him, which would be a subject congenial to Peter's en- thusiastic nature^; its omission of some things redounding yourselves know, which was published throughout all Judjea, beginning from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached ; even Jesus of Nazareth, how that God anointed him with the Holy Ghost and with power : who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil ; for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the country of the Jews, and in Jerusalem ; whom also they slew, hanging him on a tree. Him God raised up the third day, and gave him to be made manifest, not to all the people, but unto witnesses that were chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead. And he charged us to preach unto the people, and to testify that this is he which is ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead." 1 Acts i. 21, 22 : "Of the men there- fore which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and went out among us, beginning from the baptism of John, unto the day that he was received up from us, of these must one become a witness with us of his resurrection." - '¥iv6i(i3s or evdv$. The word occurs only eighteen times in Matthew, and eight times in Luke. ^ Viz., the Sower, the Mustard seed, the wicked Husbandman, and the Seed growing secretly, — the last being pecu- liar to this Gospel. It is "the kingdom of God " they refer to — an expression that is characteristic of Mark and Luke, as distinguished from "the kingdom of heaven," which is the usual form in Matthew's Gospel. ■* Mark iii. 20 : " .\nd the multitude Cometh together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread." vi. 31 : " For there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat." In i. 21-39 '^^'s have a fuller account of a single day in our Lord's ministry than is to be found in any other Gospel — if we except the history of the Passion week. It describes also His retirement for prayer ; and thus contains a picture in miniature of the whole life, which is represented in this Gospel as an alter- nation of rest and toil, of prayer and conflict. ^e.g., i. 27: "And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, \\'hat is this ? a new teaching ! with authority he com- mandeth even the unclean spirits, and they obey him." i. 33: "And all the city was gathered together at the door." ii. 2: "And many were gathered to- gether, so that there was no longer room for them, no, not even about the door : and he spake the word unto them." ii. 12: "They were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on 44 Nezv Testament and Its Writers. \\\ to Peter's credit, e.g. his designation as the rock on which the Church was to be built/ and the insertion of other things fitted to humble him, such as the rebuke he received when he would have dissuaded Jesus from submitting tO' his appointed sufferings,- and the warning he received by the first crowing of the cock,^ as well as the introduction of details which would be likely to dwell in Peter's memory* — all these things lend a high degree of pro- bability to the traditional account of Peter's connection with this Gospel. As regards that part of the tradition which represents the Gospel as having been written at Rome for the Christians there, we find confirmation of it in the connection of Mark zuitk Rome already referred to,, and in his Roman name " Marcus,'' which gradually super- seded the Hebrew "John " ; in the absence of the Hebrew/ this fashion." vi. 33 : "And the people saw them going, and many knew them, and they ran there together on foot from all the cities, and outwent them." vi. 54-56 : " And when they were come out of the boat (into Gennesaret), straightway the people knew him, and ran round about that whole region, and began to carry about on their beds those that were sick, where they heard he was. And wheresoever he entered, into villages, or into cities, or into the country, they laid the sick in the market-places, and be- sought him that they might touch if it were but the border of his garment: and as many as touched him were made whole." lyiii. 29, 30, cf. Matt. xvi. 16-19. 2 viii. 33 : " But he turning about, and seeing his disciples, rebuked Peter, and saith. Get thee behind me, Satan : for thou mindest not the things of God, but the things of men." 3 xiv. 68-72 : " But he denied, saying, I neither know, nor understand what thou sayest : and he went out into the porch ; and the cock crew. And the maid saw him, and began again to say to them that stood by. This is one of them. But he again denied it. And after a little while again they that stood by said to Peter, Of a truth thou art one of them ; for thou art a Galilcean. But he began to curse, and to swear, 1 know not this man of whom ye speak. And straight- way the second time the cock crew. And Peter called to mind the word, how that Jesus said unto him, Before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. And when he thought thereon, he wept." Cf. Matt. xxvi. 69-75 : "... And Peter remembered the word which Jesus had said. Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly." ■* i-36, 37 : "And Simon and they thai zvei-e luith him follotoed after him ; and they found him, and say unto him, All are seeking thee " ; cf. Luke iv. 42 : "And when it was day, he came out and went into a desert place : and the multitudes sought after him, and came unto him, and would have stayed him, that he should not go from them." xi. 21 : " And Peter calling to retnembrance- saith nnto him, Rabbi, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away " ; cf. Matt. xxi. 20 : " And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying. How did the fig tree imme- diately wither away?" xvi. 7: "But go, tell his disciples and Peter, He goeth before you into Galilee." i. 29: "They came into the house of Simon a?id Atidretv, with James and John " ; cf. Matt. viii. 14 : "And when Jesus was come into Peter's house," and Luke iv. 38: "And he rose up. from the synagogue and entered into- the house of Simon. IV. S^. Mark. 45 genealogy of our Lord ; in the explanation of JeivisJi zvords e.g. Boanerges (" which is Sons of Thunder "), Talitha cumi (" which is being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, Arise "), Corban (" that is to say. Given "), Ephphatha (" that is, Be opened"), Abba ("Father"),^ and oi Jezvish customs, ■e.g. the washing of hands and Passover observances ; - in the frequent use of Latin zvords and idioms'^ — and very specially in the mention of Alexander and Rnfns^ if the latter be, as seems very probable, the same person as is referred to by St Paul in his Epistle to the Romans.^ 2. Date of Composition. With regard to the date of the Gospel we may conclude in the light of what has been already mentioned that it was written between 64 A.D. and 68 a.d. — the latter being the year of Nero's death, in whose reign Peter and Paul are believed to have suffered martyrdom. It contains, like the first Gospel, a prophecy of the Destruction of Jerusalem, in a form which implies that the great event had not yet taken place. See especially the parenthetic expression in xiii. 14 ("let him that readeth understand"). If we accept the suggestion above-mentioned, that it is the same Rufus that is named in xv. 21 and in Rom. xvi. 13, this also is so far a confirmation of its apostolic date. The " rudeness " of its Greek and its comparative inattention to doctrinal interests are acknowledged signs of its primitive character. 1 iii. 17 ; V. 41 ; vii. ii ; vii. 34 ; xiv. 36. (grabatus, " bed ") he uses five times, The use of the Aramaic expressions although it does not occur in Matthew themselves is a token of fidelity to the or Luke (but in one passage in John — ■ original tradition. v. 8-12). Cf. the Roman expression in -vii. 3, 4: "For the Pharisees, and xii. 42: "two mites which make a all the Jews, except they wash their farthing" (Ko5/)aj'T7;s = quadrans) ; and hands diligently, eat not. . . ." xiv. in xv. 16: "the court, which is the 12 : " And on the first day of unleavened PrEetoriuni " (irpaircbpLov). bread, when they sacrificed the pass- 4 xv. 21 : "And they compel one pass- over." XV. 42: "... The Prepara- jng by, Simon of Cyrene, coming from tion, that IS, the day before the sabbath." the country, the father of Alexander 3 (XTTeKovXaTup (speculator, "soldier and Rufus, to go with them, that he of the guard"), KevTvpiwv (centurio), might bear his (Jesus') cross. ^ia-T-qs (sextarius, "pot"), rb iKavbv 5 Rom. xvi. 13: "Salute Rufus the iroLrja-at. (satisfaccre, "to content"). chosen in the Lord." These are peculiar to Mark. /cpajS/iaros 46 New Testament and Its Writers. IV. 3. Character and Contents. If the first Gospel may be described as Messianic, the second may be fitly styled realistic, bearing traces through- out of the graphic report of an eye-witness. It is minute and circiunstantial, giving many details of person, number, place, and time that are not to be found in the other Gospels. ^ It gives a vivid description of the emotions, looks, gestures, and actions of our Lord and others.'^ It brings out the picturesque character of 1 xiii. 3, 4: "And as he sat on the mount of OHves over against the temple, Peter and James and Jolui and Andrew asked him privately, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign when these things are all about to be accomplished?" cf. Matt. xxiv. 3 : " And as he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him " ; Luke xxi. 7: "And they asked him, saying.' \i. 7: "And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two "\cf. Matt. x. 5 : " These twelve Jesus sent forth, and charged them, saying"; Luke ix. 2: "And he sent them forth to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick." xii. 41 : ' ' And He sat doum over against the treasury, and beheld how the multitude cast money into the treasury"; cf. Luke xxi. i: "And he looked up, and saw the rich men." i. 35: "And in the morning, a great while before day, he rose up and went out, and departed into a desert place, and there prayed"; cf. Luke iv. 42 : " And when it was day, he came out and went into a desert place." vi. 21-28 : "... Herod on his birth- day made a supper to his lords, and the high captains, and the chief me?i of Galilee. . . . And she zt'ent met, and said unto her mother. What shall I ask? . . . And straightway the king sent forth a soldier of his guard. . . ." ^/. Matt. xiv. 6-12. i. 13 : "And he was in the wilderness forty days tempted of Satan ; attd he was with the xvild beasts ; and the angels ministered unto hint" (cj. Matt, iv., Luke iv.). 2 iii. 5: "And when he had looked round about on them with aiiger," &.C. Cf. Matt. xii. 13: "Thensaith he to the man, Sti-etch forth thy hand"; Luke vi. 10: "And he looked round about on them all." iii. 34: "And looking round on them which sat round about him"; cf. Matt, xii. 49: "And he stretched forth his hand towards his disciples." vii. 33 : " And he took him aside from the multi- tude privately , and put his fingers inta his ears, and he spat, and touched his tongue ; and looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Eph- phatha." viii. 33: "But he turning about, and seeing his disciples, rebuked Peter." ix. 36: "And he took a little child, and set him in the midst of them : and taking him in his arins, he said unto them"; (/.Matt, xviii. 2: "And he called to him a little child, and set him in the midst of them, and said"; Luke ix. 47 : " But when Jesus saw the reasoning of their heart, he took a little child, and set him by his side, and said unto them. " x. 21 : " And Jesus /oo^m^ upon him laved him." x. . 32: "And they were in the 7i• 46-55 (" And Mary sRid— My sou/ four times in Luke, once in John ; the ^o//i vmpiify the Lord, &c.) ; 1. 67-79 third eight times in Luke, and three ("Zachanas . . . prophesied, saymg times in John Blessed be the Lord, the God of 2ii. 8-14. "The ministry of angels Israel," &c.; ii. 13; "And suddenly both to Christ and to His people is more there was with the angel a multitude prominent in this than in any other of the heavenly host praising God, Gospel; the same feature is noticeable and saying, Glory to God i7i the highest, in the Book of Acts, in which angels are &c.; ii. 28-32, ' he (Simeon) recei^ved mentioned twenty-two times. him into his arms, and blessed God, 3 iv. 18 (at Nazareth). ^"d said, Novj lettest thou thy servant ■lii.' 10 (the angel's message to the depart, O Lord," &c. shepherds). V. SL Luke. 59 It adds to the importance of this Gospel, styled by Renan " the most beautiful book in the world," that about one-third of its contents is peculiar to itself, — consisting mainly of chapters ix. 51-xviii. 14, relating to the Saviour's last journey to Jerusalem. CHAPTER VI. "THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN." I. Authorship. It is a weighty and significant fact that until the close of the last century the Johannine authorship of the fourth Gospel was never seriously challenged. Epiphanius, indeed (380 A.D.), tells us of a very small party ^ who had ascribed it to Cerinthus, a heretical contemporary of the Apostle John at Ephesus ; but they seem to have had no other reason for rejecting it than their aversion to its teaching. During the present century no question has been the .subject of more controversy; and scarcely any can be of more importance, considering its close bearing on the doctrinal aspects of Christianity, and especially on the divinity of Jesus Christ.^ 1 Nicknamed by Epiphanius the 2 fhe question was raised by Evan- Alogi{^' KKo-^oi, irrational), as denying son in his Dissonance of the Evangelists the Logos (Word or Reason) of John in 1792 ; and the case against the i. and Rev. xix. 13, the latter book Gospel was elaborately stated by Bret- being also rejected by them. A few Schneider in his Frobabilia in 1820. such heretics are vaguely referred to This negative view has been maintained by Irenasus. As Cerinthus lived at by Strauss, Weisse, Baur, Zeller, Ephesus in the end of the ist century, Schwegler, Volkmar, Keim, Scholten, the ascription of the Gospel to him in Hilgenfeld — but with a growing tend- the next century by those who were ency of recent years to push back the opposed to its teaching is so far a date to the early part of the 2nd cen- refutation of Baur's theory that it was tury. In the progress of the contro- written so late as about 170 A. D. As versy there has been a frequent shifting many other sects would have found it of ground on the part of those wha equally convenient, for doctrinal pur- deny the genuineness of the Gospel — poses, to call in question the authority owing partly to the discovery of ancient of the Fourth Gospel, the fact that this documents which testify against them course was so seldom resorted to shows [e-g-, Tatian's Diatessaron, and Hippo- how firmly established the Gospel was lytus' Reftitation of Heresies), partly to in the general estimation of the Church. the collapse of some of their arguments To this we may add, that the absence (such as that relating to the Quarto- of any reference in this Gospel to the deciman controversy, which has been subjects of controversy in the 2nd proved by Schiirer and others to rest century is a strong confirmation of its on a misconception of the Paschal apostolic origin. reckoning in the Eastern Church, and VI. St. John. 6 1 To a large extent the question is overtaken by the line of evidence already indicated in connection with the Gospels as a whole (Chap. II. § 2). Although not quoted by name till late in the 2nd century,^ the external evidence for this Gospel is in some respects stronger than for any of the others. It is specially quoted by such early Gnostic writers as Basilides (125 A.D.), Valentinus (145 a.d., whose favourite phrases were borrowed from its opening verses), and Heracleon (a disciple of Valentinus), who wrote a commentary on it — being the first known commentary on any part of the New Testament- It has also to be borne in mind that John himself survived till near the close of the first century, so that a comparatively short interval was left between his death and the time when the four Gospels are known to have been universally accepted by the Church (185 a.d.). For this interval it so happens that, apart from the Gnostic testimony already adduced, we have a direct chain of testimony consisting of a very few strong and well- connected links. At the lower end of the chain we have Irenaeus, one of the most important witnesses to the general reception of the four Gospels towards the close of that referring to the Saviour's occa- selves and of their followers. But in sional visits to Jerusalem, which they some cases this objection is quite un- regarded as an invention of the Fourth tenable, e.g. vii. 22 : And this, he says, Gospel but which have been shown to is what is said in the Gospels : ' ' There be in themselves probable and in keep- was the true light, even the light which ing with many things incidentally men- lighteth every man coming into the tioned in the Synoptics), and partly world," being an exact quotation of to the Christological consequences that John i. 9. In this connection Matthew have been seen to be involved in their Arnold writes: "In general he {i.e. acceptance of the Book of Revelation Hippolytus) uses the formula 'accord- as the work of John, — which was ori- ing to them' [ko.t ainovs) when he ginally part of the Tubingen creed. quotes from the school, and the formula, On the other side are ranged many 'he says' (^ijcri). when he gives the eminent scholars, such as Meyer, dicta of the master. And in this par- Ewald,Hengstenberg,Luthardt,Godet, ticular case he manifestly quotes the Westcott, Lightfoot, and Sanday. dicta of Basilides, and no one who had 1 By Theophilus in his Ad Anto- not a theory to serve would ever dream lycum,\\. 22; 180 A.D. of doubting it. Basilides, therefore, 2 Exception has been taken to the about the year 125 of our era, had argument from the alleged testimony before him the Fourth Gospel." [God of Basilides and Valentinus on the and the Bible, p. 268). From Hippo- ground that Hippolytus, who has pre- lytus we also learn that this (Jospel was served it for us in his Refiitatioti of known and used by heretical sects still Heresies, does not distinguish between earlier than Basilides, viz., the Ophites the statements of those teachers them- or Naasenes and the Pcratae. 62 New Testament and Its Writers. vi, the second century. Born in Asia Minor, where John spent the last twenty or thirty years of his life, he became Bishop of Lyons in Gaul, which had a close ecclesiastical connection with his native land. Early in life he was brought into familiar contact with Polycarp (born 70 A.D.)» a disciple of the Apostle John, who was for more than forty years Bishop of Smyrna, and was martyred 155 A.D, Among other allusions which he makes to Polycarp, he says, in a letter to his friend Florinus (177 A.D.), " I can describe the very place in which the blessed Polycarp used to sit when he discoursed, and his goings out and his comings in, and his manner of life and his personal appearance, and the discourses which he held before the people, and how he would describe his intercourse with John and with the rest who had seen the Lord, and how he would relate their words. And whatsoever things he had heard from them about the Lord and about His miracles, Polycarp, as having received them from eye- witnesses of the life of the Word, would relate altogether in accordance with the Scriptures." It is beyond dispute that this Irenaeus accepted the fourth Gospel as a genuine work of the Apostle John. Is it credible that he would have done so, if it had not been acknowledged by his teacher Polycarp, who had been a disciple of John .'' And if it was accepted by Polycarp as a genuine writing, notwithstanding its marked dissimi- larity to the other Gospels, what better evidence could we have that John was really its author, and that it was accepted as his, from the very first, by the leaders of the Church in Asia Minor 1 ^ 1 This argument is further strength- Christ also said, Except ye be born ened by the fact that not a few quota- again, ye shall in no wise enter into the tions from this Gospel are found in the kingdom of heaven ("Ai* (rr\ avayev- writings of Justin Martyr, who wrote uT^diJTe, ov fir) dae\dTi)Te ei's rrjj/ ^acriX- before the middle of the and century, g/nj/ tQv ovpavQv). But that it is and was well acquainted with the teach- impossible for those who have once ing of the Church m Asia Mmor, his ^een born to enter into the wombs of Dialogue with Trypho the Jew having those who brought them forth, is mani- taken place in Ephesus. Among other fggt to all" (John iii. 3-5, c/. Matt, apparent quotations from this Gospel, xviii. 3). That the want of verbal Justin has the following: (i) Referring accuracy in this quotation should not to Baptism, he says (--^/o/. 1.61): "tor i^g held to invalidate its testimony is VI. S/. John. The following are the principal facts in John's life, and the circumstances under which he is said to have written his Gospel : — The younger son of Zebedee, a Galilaean fisherman who was in a position to have " hired servants," ^ he was a follower of the Baptist before joining Christ's fellowship.^ To his mother Salome, supposed by some to be the sister of the Virgin Mary,^ who was one of the most devoted followers of Jesus, he and his brother James seem to have been indebted for much of their enthusiasm.'* They were surnamed by Jesus "Boanerges" (sons of thunder),'' in allusion to the latent fervour and vehemence of their nature, of which we are not without tokens.*^ During Christ's trial and crucifixion John was a close and deeply- interested observer, receiving a charge from his dying Master to act the part of a son to the bereaved Mary,'' shown by Dr Ezra Abbot, who men- tions [The Fourth Gospel, p. 35) that of nine quotations which Jeremy Taylor makes from this same passage (ver. 5) not one agrees exactly with the English version, and only two of them agree with one another. (2) He frequently refers to Jesus as the Logos "made flesh " or "having become man." (3) He calls Him " the only begotten to the Father" apparently on the authority of "the memoirs" [Dial. c. 105, cf. John i. 14). (4) He attributes to the Baptist the words, "I am not the Christ, but the voice of one crying," which are found only in the Fourth Gospel, i. 20, 23. 1 Mark i. 19, 20. 2 By inference from John i., especially vers. 35-42; (quoted p. 70, note i) ; x. 40, 41, &c. ^ John xix. 25: "But there were standing by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene ; " cf. Mark xv. 40, ' ' And there were also women beholding from afar ; among whom were both Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome." ■* Matt. XX. 20-24: "Then came to him the mother of the sons of Zebedee with her sons, worshipping him, and asking a certain thing of him. And he said unto her. What wouldest thou? She saith tmto him, Command that these my two sons may sit, one on thy right hand, and one on thy left hand, in thy kingdom. But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink the cup that I am about to drink? They say unto him. We are able. . . ." 5 Mark iii. 17, 6 Luke ix. 49-55: "And John answered and said. Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name ; and we forbade him, because he follow- eth not with us. But Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not : for he that is not against you is for you. . . . And they (Samaritans) did not receive him, because his face was as though he were going to Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we bid fire to come clown from heaven, and con- sume them? But he turned, and re- buked them." 7 John xviii. 15, 16 : '' And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. Now that disciple was known unto the high priest, and entered in with Jesus into the court of the high priest," &c. xix. 25-27 : "... When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother. Woman, behold, thy son ! Then saith he to the disciple. Behold, thy mother ! And from that hour the disciple took her unto his own home." 64 New Testament and Its Writers. vi. which he faithfully carried out. After the Resurrection we find him associated with Peter on several important occasions/ but not a single discourse of his is recorded in the Book of Acts. He still continued, however, to be revered as a leader of the Church, for we find him referred to by St. Paul, in connection with the Council of Jerusalem (50 A.D.), as one of those who were " reputed to be pillars." - In his later life, after the fall of Jerusalem (70 A.D.), accord- ing to a general and well-supported tradition,^ John resided in Ephesus as bishop of the Churches in Asia Minor which had been founded by Paul, and was banished under Domitian to the island of Patmos, where he wrote the Book of Reve- lation, returning to Ephesus in the reign of Nerva, and living there till after the accession of Trajan (98 A.D.). It was in Ephesus, which had now become the chief centre of Christianity, and was beginning to be infected by the errors of which Paul had warned its elders at Miletus,* that the earliest traditions represent John to have written his Gospel. He is said to have done so on the entreaty, and with the subsequent approval, of the Apostle Andrew and other leading members of the Church, in order to supplement the teaching of the three Gospels already published, and to counteract the errors which were beguil- ing some from the simplicity of the faith. Turning now to the evidence of its authorship afforded by the Gospel itself, we may first of all note the fact that the whole tone of the book would give one the impression that it was written by some one who was fauiiliar zuith the imier life of Christ and His apostles.^ This circumstance 1 Acts iii., iv. (In the healing of the •* Acts xx. 29, 30: "I know that lame man at the door of the temple — after my departing grievous wolves in preaching to the people — in testifying shall enter in among you, not sparing before the Jewish authorities — in report- the flock ; and from among your own ing to their own company). selves shall men arise, speaking perverse - Gal. ii. 9 : "James and Cephas and things, to draw away the disciples after John, they who were reputed to be them." pillars." s i. 35-51 (Details of the first inter- " The recent attempt by Keim and view which Andrew and another (appa- Scholten to set aside this tradition has rently John) and Simon Peter and Philip not been successful, their views being and Nathanael held with Jesus), ii. 11 sufficiently refuted by Hilgenfeld and (Effect of the miracle at Cana on the others of their own school. faith of the disciples, "his disciples VI. 6"/. John. 65 points to one of the twelve disciples as the author — in accordance with the statement in the first chapter,! " We beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father," and the explicit declaration in the last chapter (the whole of which seems to form a postscript ^ added by the apostle and endorsed by his companions), — " This is the disciple which beareth witness of these things, and believed on him "). ii. 17 : " His disci- ples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house shall eat me up." ii. 21, 22 : " But he spake of the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he spake this ; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said." iv. 6, 8 (The hour, and other circumstances, of Jesus' sitting by Jacob's well), iv. 27 : "And upon this came his disciples ; and they marvelled that he was speaking with a woman ; yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, W^hy speakest thou with her?" vi. 5-8 (Jesus' conversation with Philip and Andrew regarding means of feeding the multitude), vi. 67-71 (Jesus' conversation with Simon Peter and the Twelve whom He asked, Would ye also go away ?). ix. 2 : " And his disciples asked him, saying, Rabbi, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he should be born blind?" xi. 7-16 (Jesus' conversation with His disci- ples about the death of Lazarus, and Thomas' remark to his fellow - dis- ciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him"), xii. 20-22: "Now there were certain Greeks among those that went up to worship at the feast : these therefore came to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. Philip Cometh and telleth Andrew : Andrew cometh, and Philip, and they tell Jesus." xiii. (Jesus' washing of the disciples' feet, and His conversation with them), xviii, 15, 16: "And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. Now that disciple was known unto the high priest, and entered in with Jesus into the court of the high jjriest ; but Peter was standing at the door without. So the other disciple, which was known unto the high priest, went out and spake unto her that ke]5t the door, and brought in Peter." xx. {Incidents on the morning of the Lord's Resurrection, and details of His mani- festation to Thomas and the other disciples). 1 i. 14. 2 A comparison of the language of this chapter with that of the Gospel generally, affords evidence of its genuine- ness. Cf. tlis (XTTO 'Ky]'xfiv diaKoffluv ("about two hundred cubits off") in ver. 8 and ws dwo v SeKairivTe (" about fifteen furlongs off") in xi. 18; 6ipa.pi.ov Kal apTov ("fish and bread") in ver. 9 and the similar expression in vi. II, 6\p6.piov being found nowhere in the New Testament except in John's writings ; 6 fiaprvpui' irepl tovtwv in ver. 24: "This is the disciple which beareth witness of these things, and wrote these things : and we know that his witness is true," and the many similar expressions in John's writings, e.g. xix. 35 : " And he that hath seen hath borne witness, and his witness is true : and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye also may believe " ; the designation, peculiar to John's Gospel, of the Sea of Galilee as the Sea of Tiberias, in ver. i and vi. i ; the ex- pression "Nathanael of Cana in Gali- lee" in ver. 2 as illustrated by i.45 — ii. I ; "Thomas called Didymus" in ver. 2, xi. 16, XX. 24, and nowhere else in the New Testament; "the disciple whom Jesus loved" in ver. 7, ver. 20, xiii. 23, xix. 26, XX. 2, and nowhere else. The exact recollection and fine apprecia- tion of the Saviour's words in ver. 23 : "This saying therefore went forth among thebrethren, that that disciple should not die : yet Jesus said not unto him, that he should not die ; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee ? " is also characteristic of the Apostle John, and falls in with the supposition that when he wrote, his life seemed to be very near its close. The words in ver. 19, " Now this he spake, signifying by what manner of death he should glorify God," may be taken as a proof that Peter was already dead. 66 New Testame7tt and Its Writers. vi. wrote these things: and we know that his witness is true." ^ As to which of the disciples is here meant, we find a clue in the twentieth verse of the same chapter, which identifies him with " the disciple whom Jesus loved," who is twice previously referred to in association with Peter,^ and is also described as " reclining in Jesus' bosom " at the Last Supper.^ The presumption that the disciple thus designated was one of the sons of Zebedee, who were admitted along with Peter (as the other evangelists tell us) to a closer fellowship with their Master than the rest of the disciples, is strengthened by the remarkable circum- stance that the two brothers are never mentioned in this Gospel, except in the second verse of the last chapter, where they are referred to as " the sons of Zebedee." The position there assigned to them in the list of disciples is much lower than is usual in the other Gospels, and confirms us in the supposition that it was modesty that led the author to veil his own name,'* as well as that of his brother James and his mother Salome (whom he nowhere mentions unless perhaps once,'') as he is in general very precise and explicit in his mode of designation. As between the two brothers, there can be no hesitation in assigning the authorship to John, since James early fell a victim to the Herodian persecution 44 A.D.^ If the Gospel was not written by John, it must have been written by some one who wished to pass for that apostle.'^ But where shall we find a writer of the post- 1 xxi. 24. disciple standing by, whom he loved, 2 XX. 2-10, — at the Saviour's tomb ; he saith unto his mother, Woman, be- xxi. 7, — in the recognition of the risen hold, thy son ! " This incident is not Lord. recorded in any of the other Gospels, * xiii. 23. being one of this disciple's own re- * i. 35-42: "One of the two that miniscences. heard John (i.e. the Baptist) speak, and ^ xix. 25 ; see p. 63, note 3. followed him " (?.e. Jesus), was Andrew; ^ Acts xii. 2 : "And he (i.e. Herod) (the name of the other is not given). killed James the brother of John with It is noteworthy that in the Fourth the sword." Gospel the Baptist is simply designated '' In the latter case the claim would John, the writer not having to distinguish surely have been more plainly and between two persons of that name, as directly made, as in other forgeries of the other evangelists had. xviii. 15, 16 the age (e.g. in the Gospel of the In- (quoted on page 65). xix. 26 : "When fancy, ■sa\A\hc Clementine Hamilies). Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the VI. S^. John. 67 apostolic age possessed of the intellectual gifts and the spiritual elevation needed for the production of so sublime a work, a writer dishonest enough at the same time to claim for his fabrications, in the most solemn terms, the authority of an eye-witness and apostle who had reclined in Jesus' bosom ? For those who reject the Johannine authorship this amounts to an insuperable difficulty.^ Besides the allusions to the inner life of Christ and His apostles which have already been referred to, there may be discerned in this Gospel, on a close examination, many other tokens of its apostolic origin. (l) In its account of Christ's ministry it gives a faithful picture of the Messianic expectations which existed among the Jews prior to the destruction of Jerusalem, as well as of the conflict which Christ waged with their hopes of temporal sovereignty ; - while we also find traces of 1 From the writings of the Apostles to those of the Apostohc Fathers is a great descent. "We have to go to the fourth century, to the time of Chrysos- tom and Augustine, before we find any Christian writer whom it would not be absurd to regard as capable, even with the help of the Synoptic Gospels, of putting together such discourses as those in the Fourth Gospel " (Peabody). The character of the Apocryphal Gos- pels, in particular, confirms this view. 2 i. 19-28: "And this is the witness of John, when the Jews sent unto him from Jerusalem priests and Levites to ask him, Who art thou? And he confessed, and denied not ; and he con- fessed, I am not the Christ. . . . " iv. 25 : "The woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah cometh (w^hich is called Christ) : when he is come, he will declare unto us all things. " v. 39-47 : "Ye search the scriptures, because ye think that in them ye have eternal life; and these are they which bear witness of me ; and ye will not come to me, that ye may have life.' vi. 14, 15 : " When therefore the people saw the sign which he did, they said. This is of a truth the prophet that cometh into the world. Jesus therefore perceiving that they were about to come and take him by force, to make him king, withdrew again into the mountain himself alone." vii. 25-44 ■ "... Can it be that the rulers indeed know that this is the Christ? Howbeit we know this man whence he is : but when the Christ cometh, no one knoweth whence he is. . . . But of the multitude many believed on him ; and they said. When the Christ shall come, will he do more signs than those which this man hath done. . . . Some of the multitude therefore, when they heard these words, said, This is of a truth the prophet. Others said, This is the Christ. . . ." [Lightfoot points out that the distinction here made by the Jews between "the prophet" (referring to Deut. xviii. 15) and the Christ, is a note of genuineness in this Gospel, as no such distinction was recognised within the Christian Church, the two being identified in Acts iii. 22 and vii. 37. The popular convic- tion, "This is of a truth the prophet that cometh into the world " (see above), was due to the resemblance between the miraculous feeding of the five thousand and Moses' feeding of the Israelites with manna.] x. 24, 25: "The Jews there- fore came round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou hold us 68 New Testament and Its Writers. VI. acquaintance with the Temple arratigements of the same period.^ (2) It shows a minute acquaintance with Jeivish customs, manners, and opinions^ frequently giving in suspense? If thou art the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believe not : the works that I do in my Father's name, these bear witness of me." xi. 47-53 : " The chief priests therefore and the Pharisees gathered a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many signs. If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him : and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation. . . ." xii. 34 : "The mul- titude therefore answered him. We have heard out of the law that the Christ abideth for ever : and how sayest thou. The Son of man must be lifted up ? who is this Son of man ?" .\ix. 12 : " Upon this Pilate sought to release him : but the Jews cried out, saying. If thou release this man, thou art not Ciesar's friend : every one that maketh himself a king speaketh against Cassar." 1 ii. 13-16: " And the passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And he found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sit- ting : and he made a scourge of cords, and cast all out of the temple, both the sheep and the oxen ; and he poured out the changers' money, and overthrew their tables ; and to them that sold the doves he said. Take these things hence ; make not my Father's house a house of merchandise." iv. 20, 21 : " Our fathers worshipped in this mountain ; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall ye worship the Father." viii. 20 : " These words spake he in the treasury, as he taught in the temple. " x. 23 : " And Jesus was walk- ing in the temple in Solomon's porch." 2 ii. 6 : " Now there were six waterpots of stone set there after the Jews' manner of purifying, containing two or three firkins apiece." iii. 25 : "There arose therefore a questioning on the part of John's disciples with a Jew about purifying." vii. 22 : " For this cause hath Moses given you circum- cision (not that it is of Moses, but of the fathers) ; and on the sabbath ye circum- cise a man. " xi. 55 : "Now the passover of the Jews was at hand : and many went up to Jerusalem out of the country before the passover, to purify them- selves." xix. 7: "The Jews answered him. We have a law, and by that law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God." 31: "The Jews therefore, because it was the Pre- paration, that the bodies should not remain on the cross upon the sabbath (for the day of that sabbath was a high day), asked of Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away." iv. 9: "The Samaritan woman therefore saith unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a Samaritan woman? (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans)." 27: "And upon this came his disciples ; and they marvelled that he was speaking with a woman."' vii. 2 : " Now the feast of the Jews, the feast of tabernacles, was at hand. " 37 : " Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying. If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink." x. 22: " And it was the feast of the dedication at Jerusalem: it was winter." xi. 44: " He that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave-cloths ; and his face was bound about with a nap- kin." xviii. 28: "They lead Jesus therefore from Caiaphas into the palace : and it was early ; and they themselves entered not into the palace, that they might not be defiled, but might eat the passover." .xi.x. 40 : "So they took the body of Jesus, and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury." i. 46 : "And Nathanael said unto him. Can any good thing come out of Nazareth ? " vii. 35 : "The Jews therefore said among them- selves. Whither will this man go that we shall not find him ? will he go unto the Dispersion among the Greeks, and teach theGreeks?" 41: " Others said. This is the Christ. But some said, What, doth the Christ come out of Galilee ? " 52 : "They answered and said mito him {i.e. Nicodemus), Art thou ajso of VI. S^. John. 69 explanations as if it were written by a Jew for foreign readers.^ (3) It also shows a minute acquaintance with the topo- graphy of Jerusalem, and with the geography of Palestine generally.- Galilee ? Search, and see that out of Galilee ariseth no prophet." ix. 2 : "And his disciples asked him, saying, Rabbi, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he should be born blind ? " 16: "Some therefore of the Pharisees said, This man is not from God, because he keepeth not the sabbath. But others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such signs? And there was a division among them." x. 19-21: " There arose a division again among the Jews because of these words. And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad ; why hear ye him ? Others said. These are not the sayings of one possessed with a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind ? " It is worthy of note that the Johannine variation from "the Pharisees and Sad- ducees " of the Synoptics, viz., "the chief priests and the Pharisees " ( vii. 32 ; xi. 47, 57, &c. ), finds its explanation in the fact (mentioned by Josephus, and implied in Acts v. 17) that the high priests belonged to the party of the Sadducees. Hence their unusual activity in consequence of the report that Lazarus had been raised from the dead (xii. 10), and their rudeness in debate, also men- tioned by Josephus as characteristic of the Sadducees. xi. 49 : " But a certain one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all." 1 (See above. ) This accounts suffici- ently for the frequent allusions to "the Jews" without supposing that the writer was a foreigner, especially in a place like Ephesus, where the Jews were hostile to the Christian faith. Cf. Paul's allusion to them in i Thess. ii. 14-16. 'v. 2: "Now there is in Jeru- salem by the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porches." ix. 7: "And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam (which is by interpretation, Sent). He went away therefore, and washed, and came seeing. " xi. 18 : " Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off" xii. 12, 13: "A great mul- titude . . . took the branches of the palm trees " {cf. Matt. xxi. 8 : " branches from the trees " ; Mark xi. 8 : "branches, which they had cut from the fields"), xviii. i: "When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Kidron, where was a garden, into the which he en- tered, himself and his disciples." 15: " And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. Now that dis- ciple was known unto the high priest, and entered in with Jesus into the court of the high priest." xix. 13: "When Pilate therefore heard these words, he brought Jesus out, and sat down on the judgement-seat at a place called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. " 17 : " And he went out, bearing the cross for himself, unto the place called The place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha." 41 : " Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden ; and in the garden a new tomb wherein was never man yet laid." i. 28 : "These things were done in Bethany beyond Jordan, where John was baptiz- ing. " i. 44 : "Now Philip was from Bethsaida, of the city of Andrew and Peter." ii. i : " And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee." iii. 23: "And John also was baptizing in ^non near to Salim, because there was much water there : and they came, and were baptized." iv. 5: "So he cometh to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph." 11: "The well is deep." 20: "Our fathers worshipped in this mountain." 35: " Say not ye. There are yet four months, and then cometh the harvest ? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, that they are white already unto harvest." The depth of the well (fully 70 ft. ), the proxi- mity of Mount (jerizirn, and the wide expanse of cornfields, are all examples of the writer's accuracy, as attested by the descriptions of modern travellers, xi. 54: "Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews, but departed thence into the country near to the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim." 70 New Testament and Its Writers. VI. (4) It is cirannstantial in many of its statements, and graphic in its delineation of character, bearing the stamp of personal knowledge such as would be possessed by an eye-ivitness} ^ Instances of minute detail are given below - but, speaking generally, we may say that it is to this Gospel we are chiefly indebted for our knowledge of the individualities of the apostles and other minor characters. Thomas, for example, would be to us merely a name, if it were not for what is recorded of him in this Gospel. The representation of Martha and Mary in chap. xi. fills up with marvellous delicacy the outline supplied by Luke x. 38-42 ; while in chap. ix. the character of the man born blind is evidently drawn from the life. i. 29: "On the morrow he seeth Jesus coming unto him." 35-43: " Again on the morrow John was stand- ing, and two of his disciples ; and he looked upon Jesus as he walked, and saith, Behold, the Lamb of God ! And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. And Jesus turned, and beheld them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? And they said unto him, Rabbi (which is to say, being interpreted, Master), where abidest thou ? He saith unto them, Come, and ye shall see. They came therefore and saw where he abode ; and they abode with him that day : it was about the tenth hour. One of the two that heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He findeth first his own brother Simon, and saith unto him. We have found the Messiah (which is, being interpreted, Christ). He brought him unto Jesus. Jesus looked upon him, and said. Thou art Simon the son of John : thou shall be called Cephas (which is by inter- pretation, Peter). On the morrow he was minded to go forth into Galilee, and he findeth Philip : and Jesus saith unto him, Follow me." ii. i: "And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee." 20: "The Jews therefore said. Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou raise it up in three days?" [With the help of Josephus it can be shown that Herod's temple was commenced about A. U. c. 735, i.e. B.C. r8. St Luke tells us (iii. i) that our Lord's Baptism took place about the fifteenth year of Tiberius, which was in 781-2 A.u.c, or 28-9 a.d. — being about 47 years later. As the conversa- tion referred to probably took place at the ensuing Passover, we have practi- cally confirmation of the cursory state- ment in the text.] iv. 6 : " And Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour." iv. 40 : "So when the Samaritans came unto him, they besought him to abide with them: and he abode there two days." 52: "So he inquired of them the hour when he began to amend. They said therefore unto him. Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him." vi. 16-24 : (Circumstances of Christ's walking on the sea, and being sought by the multitude at Capernaum), x. 40; ' ' And he went away again beyond Jor- dan into the place where John was at the first baptizing ; and there he abode. " xi. 6 : " When therefore he heard that he was sick, he abode at that time two days in the place where he was." 39: "Jesus saith. Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh : for he hath been dead four days." xii. i : " Jesus therefore six clays before the passover came to Bethany, whei"e Lazarus was, whom Jesus raised from the dead." xviii. 10, 12, 13: " Simon Peter therefore having a sword drew it, and struck the high priest's servant, and cut off his right ear. Now the servant's name was Malchus. . . . So the band and the chief captain, and the officers of the Jews, seized Jesus and bound him, and led him to Annas first ; for he was father-in-law to Caiaphas, which was high priest that year." xviii. 26: "One of the servants of the high priest, being a kinsman of him whose ear Peter cut off, saith, Did not I see thee in the garden with him?" xix. 25: "But there were standing by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene." xx. i-io : " Now on the first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, vvhile it was yet dark, unto the tomb, and seeth the stone taken away from the tomb. She runneth therefore, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them. They have taken away the Lord out of VI. SL JoJiJi. 71 (5) While written in Greek, it is Hebraic in its style and structure, abounding in parallels and contrasts ^ both in expression and arrangement, and being marked by great simplicity of syntax; and it frequently quotes from the Old Testament, sometimes directly from the Hebrew.^ All that can be alleged against the apostolic authorship of the fourth Gospel, on account of its marked divergence from the other Gospels in the representation of Christ's character and teaching, is sufficiently met by the fact that " the synoptical Gospels contain the Gospel of the infant Church; that of St John the Gospel in its maturity. The first combine to give the wide experience of the many ; the last embraces the deep mysteries treasured up by the one."'' the tomb, and we know not w here they have laid him. Peter therefore went forth, and the other disciple, and they went toward the tomb. And they ran both together : and the other disciple outran Peter, and came first to the tomb ; and stooping and looking in, he seeth the linen cloths lying ; yet entered he not in. Simon Peter therefore also Cometh, following him, and entered into the tomb ; and he beholdeth the linen cloths lying, and the napkin, that was upon his head, not lying with the linen cloths, but rolled up in a place by itself. Then entered in therefore the other disciple also, which came first to the tomb, and he saw, and believed. B'or as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead. So the disciples went away again unto their own home." 1 E.g. there is a marked absence (as in Hebrew) of subordinate clauses. The usual conjunction is Kat("and"), corresponding to the Hebrew 1 — vari- ously translated in our English Version, to bring out more precisely the con- nection in each case. The author also explains various Hebrew words, e.g. " Rabbi (which is to say, being inter- preted, Master)," "Messiah (which is, being interpreted, Christ)," "Cephas (which is by interpretation, Peter) " (i. 38, 41, 42). He also shows his know- ledge of the Hebrew word Iscariot ("man of Kerioth") by applying the name not only to Judas himself (as in the other Gospels), but also to his father Simon (vi. 71, &.c., R.V. ), and alone of the Evangelists he gives Peter's patro- nymic as "son of John" (i. 42, ik.c., R.V., instead of "Bar-Jonah," Matt. xvi. 17) — meaning, according to its Hebrew original {Johanan), "son of the grace of God" — which lends new significance to our Saviour's words in addressing Peter by this name on several important occasions (i. 42 ; xxi. 15-17 ; Matt. xvi. 17). In keeping with the Hebraic character of the book is the prominence of the sacred numbers, three and seven, e.g. three Passovers (ii. 13 ; vi. 4 ; xi. 55), three visits to Galilee, three sayings on the Cross ; seven miracles, seven-fold testimony to Christ, seven-fold affirmation of His claim "I am" (see p. 74, notes i, 2). '- E.g. xii. 13, where John (like Matthew .xxi. 9) preserves the Hebrew "Hosanna" instead of adopting the aCidov 5?? of the Septuagint (Ps. cxviii. 25). xiii. 18 : " He thateateth my bread lifteth up his heel against me" (iwijpei' eir efj.e rrjv wrkpvav avrov), being a cjuotation from Ps. xli. 9, which, in the Septuagint, however, reads differently, viz., 'c/j.eya\vvev eV efj.^ irTepinff/j.dv. xix. 37: "They shall look on him whom they pierced " ("Oi/'Oi'Tat ei's 8v (^€K€VT7](Tav), being a quotation from Zech. xii. 10, which reads differently, however, in the Septuagint, viz., Kal finj3\e\f'0VTaL Trpds fJ-e avd' wv Karwp- « Westcott's Introduction, chap. v. P- 253. 7 2 New Testament and Its Writers. vi. If we suppose the fourth Gospel to have been written about 85 A.D., an interval of more than half-a-century would thus have elapsed since the death of Christ During that time Christianity had spread into many lands and furnished subjects for reflection to many minds, while the Jewish expectations and prejudices which had clung to many of the early members of the Church had been in a great measure dissipated by the fall of Jerusalem. In these cir- cumstances it was inevitable that the truths of the Gospel should be viewed in new lights and assume more specula- tive forms ; and in Ephesus, as the great meeting-place of Oriental mysticism and Greek philosophy, the deeper questions and more theological aspects of the new religion would naturally claim a large measure of attention.^ We thus see that, as the other Gospels had reference to distinct types of thought for which they were severally adapted, so the fourth Gospel was designed to meet the demand for a more intellectual presentation of divine truth, which might serve as an antidote to the Gnostic specula- tions which were imperilling the recognition at one time of Christ's divinity, and at another time of His humanity. In God's providence a worthy exponent of this phase of the Gospel was found in the aged Apostle John, whose heart and mind had been so receptive of divine truth even in his youth as to win for him the place of closest fellowship with his Master, and who had since then en- joyed the teaching of the Holy Spirit for a longer period than any of his fellows, and amid more intellectual sur- roundings, and was thus singularly fitted for the great task which Providence had assigned to him.^ 1 Cf. Paul's Epistles to the Colossians tion as helping to account for his wider and the Ephesians. (Chaps, xv., xvi). intellectual sympathies, which fitted him 2 The higher social position, and, to be " the Plato of the Twelve." How presumably, better education, of John far he may have amplified some of our and his brother (judging from his Saviour's great sayings, or combined father's circumstances, his personal words uttered on different occasions, it acquaintance with the high priest, and is difficult to say. But of his general his mother's request for her two sons fidelity as a reporter we need have no that they might sit the one on the right doubt when we bear in mind (i) the hand and the other on the left hand of general precision and accuracy of his the Saviour in His kingdom) are perhaps narrative in matters that admit of being not without significance in this connec- verified ; (2) the entire absence from the VI. SL JoJm. 73 2. Date of Composition. 85-90 A.D., as indicated above. 3. Character and Contents. Many of the remarks that might have been made under this head have already found place in this chapter, and in the general discussion of the Gospels/ where a contrast is drawn between the Synoptics and the fourth Gospel. On the whole, perhaps no fitter epithet can be found for this Gospel than that applied to it by Clement of Alex- andria at the close of the second century, viz., the spiritual Gospel. It may also be described as the doctrinal or tJieo- logicar- Gospel. It represents Christ's person and work not with special reference to the Past, or the Present, or the Future ; but generally with reference to Eternity, in which Past, Present, and Future are alike included. Its great theme is set forth in the Prologue or Intro- duction,^ which strikes the keynote of the whole Gospel,, representing Christ as the Manifestation of the divine Being, the only Source of life and light, in human form,* and, as such, the object, on the one hand, of sav- ing faith, and the occasion, on the other hand, of the world's unbelief The whole book is an elaboration of this sublime thought, wrought out with a singular union of depth and simplicity, in close historical relation with the Lord's visits to Jernsaleni at the national feasts, when He had occasion to press His claims, as the Revealer of the Father, upon the teachers of religion, discourses he attributes to the Saviour ^ Hence the name Theologus applied of his own leading idea of the " Word," to St. John, or Logos, so prominent in his introduc- ' i. 1-18. tion, and mentioned also in his First ^ i. i : "the Word was God." i. 14: Epistle (i. i), .and Apocalypse (xix. 13) ; " the Word became flesh." It matters (3) the presence in the Synoptics of little how far the apostle was indebted to germs of thought that are more fully Philo or other philosophizing Jews for developed in the Fourth Gospel (Matt. the use of the word " logos " as a term xi. 25-30 ; xxii. 41-45 ; Luke x. 21, 22) ; of theology. In any case, he gave the and (4) the circumstantial account that word an entirely new application by is given of some of the discourses, with connecting it with the Incarnation, using the misunderstandings and interruptions it thus as a means of bringing God w^hich took place in the course of them, nearer in a personal sense, instead of {^e.g. chap. viii.). speculating about Him in the region of ^ Chap. ii. an abstract theology. 74 New Testament and Its Writers. VI. in connection with the national expectation of the Messiah. This revelation, attested by various forms of divine wit- ness-bearing,^ and expressed in the language of many symbols,^ may be said to reach a climax in the twelfth chapter : " These things spake Jesus, and he departed and hid himself from them. But though he had done so many signs before them, yet they believed not on him."^ The remainder of the book depicts, on the one hand, the down- ward course of the world's unbelief leading to the crucifixion, and on the other, the perfecting of the disciples' faith, which attains its final and typical expression in the slowly- matured but deep-rooted confession of the doubting Thomas, " My Lord and my God." ^ As already indicated, the fourth Gospel contains very few incidents of the ministry in Galilee. In this respect, as well as in many of its unexplained allusions and remarkable omissions, it takes for granted acquaintance with the earlier Gospels.-^ The matter it contains in common 1 Westcott enumerates seven, viz. (i) the witness of the P'ather (v. 34, 37 ; viii. 18) ; (2) the witness of the Son (viii. 14; xviii. 37); (3) the witness of His works (x. 25 ; v. 36, &c. ) ; (4) the wit- ness of Scripture (v. 39-46) ; (5) the wit- ness of the Forerunner (i. 7 ; v. 33) ; (6) the witness of the disciples (xv. 27 ; xix. 35) ; and (7) the witness of the .Spirit (xv. 26 ; xvi. 14). -Also seven in number, viz. ("I am"), "the bread of life," "the light of the world," " the door of the sheep," "the good shepherd," "the resurrec- tion and the life," " the way," '' the true vine " (Farrar). >* xii. 36-40. The habitual use of the word "signs" {(rrifj.e'ia) or "works" (^pya) — instead of "mighty works" (Swd/j-eis) or "wonders" (repara) — to describe Christ's miracles, is character- istic of the Fourth Gospel. The first name indicates (what the evangelist in several instances expressly brings out; vi. 48 ; ix. 39) that "what the Lord did corporeally He desired to be understood spiritually " (Augustine); the second represents a miracle as but the exercise and manifestation of an in- dwelling Divine power (x. 37, 38). ■^ XX. 28. Other confessions of faith (in less degree) are peculiar to this Gospel, e.i^. i. 29: "Behold the Lamb of God" (Baptist); i. 41: "We have found the Messiah " (Andrew) ; i. 49 : "Rabbi, thou art the Son of God" (Nathanael); vii. 46: " Never man so spake " (officers) ; ix. 38: "Lord, I be- lieve" (blind man); xi. 27 : "I have believed that thou art the Christ, the Son of God " (Martha). s Many long intervals are passed over ; e.g. between the feast of the Passover (vi. 4) and the feast of Tabernacles (vii. 2), during which time the evangeli.st expressly mentions that ' ' Jesus walked in Galilee." Cf. i. 14 : "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us" — although the miraculous birth is not recorded, i. 32 : "And John bare wit- ness, saying, I have beheld the Spirit de- scending as a dove out of heaven ; and it abode upon him," — although Christ's baptism is not recorded, i. 40 : "One of the two that heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother," — although the latter is not pre- viously mentioned, iii. 5: "Jesus an- swered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and the VI. SL John. 75 with the three other Gospels is very limited in extent, but of the most profound significance, viz., the Miraculous Feeding of the Multitude, and the Death and Resurrec- tion of Christ. A crucified and risen Saviour who can say of Himself, " I am the bread of life ; he that Cometh to me shall not hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst,"^ — this is the essence of the four Gospels, as it is the essence of Christianity symbolised in the Lord's Supper ; and the final object of the whole New Testament is summed up by the last of the apostles when he says, "These are written, that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God ; and that, believing, ye may have life in his name." - Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God," — although the institution of baptism is not recorded, iii. 13: "And no man hath ascended into heaven, but he that descended out of heaven, even the Son of man, which is in heaven ; " vi. 62 : "What then if ye should behold the Son of man ascending where he was before ? " ; XX. 17: "Jesus saith to her, Touch me not ; for I am not yet ascended unto the Father : but go unto my brethren, and say to them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and my God and your God," — although Christ's Ascension is not recorded. iii. 24 : " P'or John was not yet castinto prison," ■ — although no such imprisonment is recorded, (probably with reference to Matt. iv. 12 ; Mark i. 14). iv. 44 : "For Jesus himself testified, that a prophet hath no honour in his own country," (probably with reference to Matt. xiii. 57 ; Mark vi. 4 ; Luke iv. 24). vi. 55: "For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed," • — although the institution of the Lord's Supper is not recorded, vi. 70 : "Jesus answered them, Did not I choose you the twelve, and one of you is a devil ? " — although the appointment of the twelve is not recorded, xi. i: "Now a cer- tain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, of the village of Mary and her sister Martha," — although no such persons as Mary and Martha have yet been men- tioned, (probably with reference to Luke X. 38-42). vii. 41, 42: "Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, What, doth the Christ come out of Galilee? Hath not the scripture said that the Christ cometh of the seed of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?"; vii. 52: "They answered and said unto him [i.e. Nicodemus), Art thou also of Galilee? Search, and see that out of Galilee ariseth no prophet ; " i. 46 : " .\nd Nathanael said unto him. Can any good thing come out of Nazareth ? Philip saith unto him, Come and see." The objection thus variously stated ad- mitted of a very simple but sufficient answer — that it was at Bethlehem Jesus was actually born. Yet this fact, so prominent in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, is neither recorded nor alluded to by this evangelist — evidently because it was so well known to his readers that it would have been super- fluous to mention it. ^ vi. 35. 2 XX. 31. CHAPTER VII. " THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES." I. Attthorship. There can be no doubt that the Book of Acts is from the same pen as the third Gospel. This is evident from the preface at the head of each book, and from the general similarity of their style and structure. An attempt has been made, however, to raise a dis- tinction, as regards authorship, between different por- tions of the book. There are certain passages whose genuineness has scarcely ever been disputed — those,, namely, in which the writer uses the first person plural, as having been himself present on the occasions referred to.^ It is generally acknowledged that these passages are the genuine work of a companion of the apostle. But by a certain school of critics the rest of the book has a very different character assigned to it. According to them, the " we " passages formed the original notes of an eye-witness, which were made use of by a subsequent writer in the second century, as the nucleus of a history in great part fictitious, which was designed to bridge over the gulf between Paul and the rest of the apostles.^ Even if this theory could be proved to be correct, it 1 From these passages it appears that lem (xx.5 — xxi. 18), and afterwards from the writer joined Paul's company at Caesarea to Rome (xxvii. i — xxviii. 16). Troas (xvi. 10), that he accompanied - For a refutation of this " Tubingen " him to Philippi, where he was left be- theory of an irreconcilable antagonism hind when Paul departed to another between Paulas "the apostle of the city, that after an interval of six or seven Gentiles," and the original apostles, years he rejoined the apostle on the see (in this connection), Salmon's Intro- latter's return to Philippi, and accom- duction, 4th edition, pp. 330-8. paniedhimon his last journey tojerusa- VII. The Acts of the Apostles. yj would not get rid of the supernatural element to which these critics have such an aversion, for in the passages thus admitted to be genuine there are statements that imply miraculous occurrences.^ But in reality there is no sufficient evidence to war- rant such a view. With regard to external testimony, we find in some of the earliest Christian writers (Clement of Rome, Ignatius, Polycarp, Hermas, Justin Martyr, &c.), not a few expressions which seem to reproduce the language of this book — drawn not only from the " we " sections but from other parts of it as well.^ The impression thus made upon us in favour of the book as it now stands is con- firmed by finding it in the Syriac and Old Latin Versions and also in the Muratorian Canon. But it is the internal character of the book that affords the best refutation of the theory in question. A minute and critical examination of the account of Paul's missionary journeys before Luke joined him (Acts xiii., xiv.) has recently led an accomplished scholar and archaeologist to the conclusion that it " is founded on, or perhaps actually incorporates, an account written down under the immediate influence of Paul himself" ^ Moreover, with a few excep- tions, due to the variety of sources, oral or written, from which the author drew, the book has a natural wiity of diction and style which forbids us to assign it to more than one author, and its several parts are so interlaced by corre- 1 xvi. i8 (Paul casting out the spirit Ixxxix. 20, its addition of the phrase of divination at Philippi). xvi. 26: " son of Jesse," and its allusion to the " And suddenly there was a great earth- divine testimony. The resemblance is quake, so that the foundations of the best seen by a comparison of the original prison-house were shaken : and immedi- in each case. T/ 5e dirwjxiv eirl tcJ} fiefi- ately all the doors were opened; and apTvprj/ievijiAaveid; wpos 6v direv oQeos' every one's bands were loosed." xxviii. " Evpou &vdpa Kara rrjv Kapdiav /ioi', 8, 9: "And it was so, that the father ^aveld top rod 'l€- » i t healed him. And when this was done, "^'^"'^ ^cs^^aai\,a, ^ Kal dTre^ fMaprvp. the rest also which had diseases in the V^as, hvpoy AaveiS tov tov leaaal, island came, and were cured." dvdpa Kara ttjv Kapdiay ^lov, 3s iroiricrei. "^ E.g. in Clement's i Ep. xxdii. there iravTaTaOiX-qfiaTo. fiov. (Acts xiii. 22.) is a reproduction of Acts xiii. 22, in its * Professor Ramsay, The Church in combination of i Sara. xiii. 14 and Ps. ihe Hainan Empire, p. 6. 78 Nczv Testament and Its Writer's. vii. spending observations afid alltisiojis as to confirm us in the belief that it forms one consistent whole.^ That it is a work of the first century is proved by the fact that it does not contain the slightest allusion to St. PauPs epistles. In the second century these epistles were so widely circulated that no historian giving a sketch of Paul's life-work could have passed them over in silence. But during the greater part of the period covered by the Book of Acts they were not yet in existence ; and for some years they would be very little known except in the Churches to which they were addressed. There is no notice taken of them in the Book of Acts, nor any dis- tinct echo of their teaching; while there is a remarkable absence of information on several important points men- tioned in them, which would naturally have called for explanation had they been familiar to the writer of this book.^ But although there is no sign of acquaintance with the epistles themselves, there are, as we shall see when we come to deal with these writings, many " tL7idesigned coincidences" between statements contained in them and 1 Cf. xxi. 8: "And on the morrow with water ; but ye shall be baptized we departed, and came unto Ccesarea : with the Holy Ghost," a saying of our and entering into the house of Philip the Lord's being thus twice quoted, which evangelist, who was one of the seven, does not occur in any of the four Gos- we abode with him," with previous pels. Cf. (with reference to God's testi- statements regarding Philip in {a) vi. 5 : mony in favour of the Gentiles in giving where he is mentioned as one of the them the Holy Ghost) x. 47 : " Can any "seven men" chosen, and (1^) viii. 40 man forbid the water, that these should " But Philip was found at Azotus : and not be baptized, which have received the passing through he preached the gospel Holy Ghost as well as we?" and xv. 8 : toall the cities, till he came to Caesarea." "And God, which knoweth the heart, C/". xxii. 20 : " And when the blood of bare them witness, giving them the Holy Stephen thy witness was shed, I also Ghost, even as he did unto us." Cf. was standing by, and consenting, and (with reference to Paul's stay at Tarsus keeping the garments of them that slew after his conversion) ix. 30: "And him," with previous statements on this when the brethren knew it, they brought subject in (rt) vii. 58: "And the witnesses him down to Caesarea, and sent him laid down their garments at the feet of a forth to Tarsus " ; and xi. 25 : " And he young man named Saul," and [b] viii. i : went forth to Tarsus to seek for Saul." "And Saul was consenting unto his '^ E.g. Gal. i. 17 (with reference to death." Cf. i. 5: "For John indeed Paul's visit to Arabia); Gal. ii. 11 baptized with water; but ye shall be (Paul's controversy with Cephas, when baptized with the Holy Ghost not many he " resisted him to the face, because days hence," with xi. 16: "And Ire- he stood condemned"; 2 Cor. xi. 24: membered the word of the Lord, how "Of the Jews five times received I that he said, John indeed baptized forty stripes save one." VII. The Acts of the Apostles. 79 in the Book of Acts, which can only be accounted for by the fact that the writers in both cases were guided by a strict regard for truth. It has also to be noted that while there is no sign of acquaintance with Paul's letters, there is in the speeches attributed to him an admitted resemblance to his style and diction, which is best accounted for by the writer's having been present at the delivery of the speeches, or having received an authentic report of them. It is interesting in this connection to observe that the speech which Paul delivered in Hebreiv on the stairs of the castle in Jerusalem,^ and which was no doubt translated into its present Greek form by Luke (judging from the number of Luke's favourite words to be found in it), is far less Pauline in character than the speech at Athens, which was spoken in Greek, and was in all probability reported to Luke by Paul himself'} We may add that this latter speech is not only Pauline in its diction, but reflects very plainly the apostle's training in the schools of Tarsus, where the Stoic philosophy was in great repute.'^ We have a similar token of genuineness in the harmony between the speeches of Peter reported in this book and the first epistle written by that apostle.'* Of the writer's accuracy in matters of fact abundant evidence can be adduced. In the titles which he gives to the magistrates of the various cities he has occasion to mention, he is supported by the testimony of ancient writings, coins, and inscriptions, in a most remarkable 1 xxii.i-2i. 2 xvii. 22-31. lawless men did crucify and slay"; s xvii. 26-28: "And he made of one and iv. 28: "To do whatsoever thy every nation of men for to dwell on all hand and thy counsel foreordained to the face of the earth, having determined come to pass," with i Pet. i. i, 2: their appointed seasons, and the bounds "Elect . . . according to the fore- of their habitation ; that they should knowledge of God the Father," and seek God, if haply they might feel after i. 20: "Christ who was foreknown him, and find him, though he is not indeed before the foundation of tlie far from each one of us : for in him we world." Cf. also Acts iv. 11 : " He is live, and move, and have our being ; as the stone which was set at nought of certain even of your own poets have you the builders, which was made the said. For we are also his offspring." head of the corner," with i Pet. ii. ^ Cf. ii. 23: "Him, being delivered 4-8: "Unto whom coming, a living up by the determinate counsel and fore- stone, rejected indeed of men, but with knowledge of God, ye by the hands of God elect, precious," &c. So New Testament and Its Writer's. VII. manner; e.g. the name of politarchs ("rulers of the city"), which he applies to the magistrates of Thessa- lonica, though otherwise unknown, has been discovered on an arch still in comparatively good preservation in the principal street of the city.^ His many allusions also to historical characters and conditions that are otherwise known to us, are almost invariably found to be true to fact ;2 while the precision of his nautical expressions and minute geo- grapJiical allusions in his account of Paul's voyage and shipwreck, has been found so remarkable as to form the subject of a special dissertation.^ As a last token of genuineness may be mentioned the fact that in the Book of Acts the positions taken up by 1 xvii. 6. Similar instances are found at xiii. 7: "with the proconsul" (r^S a.vQxma.7ijf^, a title which can be proved from Strabo and Dion Cassius, as well as from inscriptions, to have been borne by the governor of Cyprus at the time referred to ; xvi. 20: "unto the magis- trates," a name which in the original (rots The apostle speaks of having been with them "in weakness and in fear, and in much trembling"^ — possibly the result of his recent apparent failure at Athens. 3. Dale and Place of Composition. It can be proved with tolerable certainty that the epistle was written from Ephesus about the spring of 57 or 58 A.D.^ From internal evidence'^ we learn that it was written on the eve of a second visit to Corinth, which the apostle was about to pay after passing through Macedonia, having already sent Timothy in advance as his represen- tative, apparently from Ephesus.^ When we turn to the Book of Acts we find that such a visit to Greece was paid by the apostle at the close of a sojourn of about three years at Ephesus,^ and it appears from xix. 21-23 that almost 1 Acts xviii. 4-18. ■* V. i-ii : " It is actually reported 2 i. 26-29: " For behold your calling, that there is fornication among you," brethren, how that not many wise after . at Ephesus) was ceased, Paul having idols: we know that we all have know- sent for the disciples and exhorted them, ledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but love took leave of them, and departed for to edifieth." go into Macedonia. And when he had io8 Neiv Testament a7id Its Writers. x. immediately before he left Ephesus he sent Timothy before him to Macedonia.^ Moreover, several expressions in the epistle plainly point to Ephesus as the place from which it emanated." As the apostle appears to have travelled for about a year after leaving Corinth on the first occasion (54 A.D.), previous to settling at Ephesus, his stay in the latter city may have extended to the beginning of 58 A.D. Several allusions to the seasons which occur in the epistle lead us to place its composition in the spring of 58 A.D. or of the preceding year. ^ 4. Character and Contents. Of this epistle it has been fitly said that it is "a fragment which has no parallel in ecclesiastical history." It deals with a section of early Church history which exhibits the most marked and varied features. It sets the apostle vividly before us as a teacher and ^owoxnor, conf ro7ited ivith the dangers a^id perplexities, the errors and corruptions to which the Corinthian Church was liable, planted as it was gone through those parts, and had given Aquila ; having shorn his head in them much exhortation, he came into Cenchreae ; for he had a vow. And Greece." ver. 31: "Wherefore watch ye, they came to Ephesus, and he left remembering that by the space of three them there," and Acts xix. i : "And it years I ceased not to admonish every came to pass, that, while ApoUos was one night and day with tears" (Address at Corinth, Paul having passed through to the Ephesian elders at Miletus). the upper country came to Ephesus, and 1 Acts xix. 22, 23 : " And having sent found certain disciples," &c. ; f/l i Cor. into Macedonia two of them that minis- xv. 32 : "If after the manner of men I tered unto him, Timothy and Erastus, fought with beasts at Ephesus, what he himself stayed in Asia for a while. doth it profit me? If the dead are not And about that time there arose no raised, let us eat and drink, for to- small stir concerning the Way." XX. i: morrow we die." "And after the uproar was ceased, ^ v. 7, 8 : " Purge out the old leaven, Paul having sent for the disciples and that ye may be a new lump, even as ye exhorted them, took leave of them, and are unleavened. P'or our passover also departed for to go into Macedonia." hath been sacrificed, even Christ: where- 2 xvi. 8-10 (quoted p. 104, note 4 {b))\ fore let us keep the feast, not with old f/". Acts xix. 20-23 (quoted p. \o^,, note leaven, neither with the leaven of malice 4(1^)); xvi. 19: " The churches of Asia and wickedness, but with the unleavened salute you. Aquila and Prisca salute bread of sincerity and truth." xvi. 6, 8: you much in the Lord, with the church " But with you it may be that I shall that is in their house"; cf. Acts xviii. abide, or even winter, that ye may set 18, 19: "And Paul, having tarried me forward on my journey whithersoever after this yet many days, took his I go. But I will tarry at Ephesus until leave of the brethren, and sailed thence Pentecost." for Syria, and with him Priscilla and X. I Corinthians. 109 in the midst of the rankest heathenism. In the words of Dean Stanley, " we are here allowed to witness the earliest conflict of Christianity with the culture and the vices of the ancient classical world ; here we have an insight into the principles which regulated the apostle's choice or rejection of the customs of that vast fabric of heathen society which was then emphatically called ' the world ' ; here we trace the mode in which he combated the false pride, the false knowledge, the false liberality, the false freedom, the false display, the false philosophy, to which an intellectual age, especially in a declining nation, is constantly liable." The epistle is thus eininejitly practical, dQd\\r\g with ques- tions that had actually emerged in the experience of the Church to which it is addressed. In form it is orderly and logical, taking up one point after another in regular succes- sion ; in style it is more simple and direct than most of Paul's compositions, rising at times into the sublimest elo- quence, as in the great eulogium on charity, or love.^ As already mentioned, the epistle was in part the reply to a letter of inquiry which had been sent to the apostle by the Corinthian Church in consequence of a letter which he had previously addressed to them.^ But the first six chapters have mainly reference to certain dangers threatening the Church, of which information had reached the apostle from another quarter, causing him the utmost anxiety and griefs These dangers were mainly twofold — the prevalence oi party spirit, and the tendency to immorality. Hence the prominence given, in the opening 1 Chap. xiii. i8 : " And I rejoice at the coming of 2 V. 9-11: "I wrote unto you in my Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus : epistle to have no company with forni- for that which was lacking on your part cators ; not altogether with the forni- they supplied. For they refreshed my cators of this world, or with the covetous spirit and yours : acknowledge ye there- and extortioners, or with idolaters ; for fore them that are such." then must ye needs go out of the world : 2 Cor. ii. 3,4: "And I wrote this but now I write unto you not to keep very thing, lest, when I came, I should company, if any man that is named a have sorrow from them of whom I brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or ought to rejoice ; having confidence in an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, you all, that my joy is the joy of you all. or an extortioner ; with such a one no, For out of much affliction and anguish not to eat." vii. i : "Now concerning of heart I wrote unto you with many the things whereof ye wrote. " xvi. 17, tears." iio New 1 estm^ient and Its Writers. x. salutation, to the holiness to which Christians are called, and to their unity in Christ;^ hence, too, the fact that in the accompanying thanksgiving for tokens of grace in the Corinthian Church, it is gifts of knowledge and utterance rather than graces of character that are specially men- tioned.^ (i) The tendency to sectarian division mentioned in the first chapter^ seems to have been fostered by emissaries from Jerusalem, who wished to undermine Paul's authority and wrought upon the feelings and prejudices of the Jewish portion of the Church.^ The visit of Apollos, a learned and eloquent Jew of Alexandria, ^ after Paul's departure, had tended in the same direction, by leading to an in- vidious comparison between his philosophical and rhetorical style of preaching and the more simple method of Paul, although the latter continued to regard him as a valuable coadjutor.^ But there were some — probably the Judaising party — who were content neither with the teaching of Paul nor of Apollos, but were disposed to range themselves under the name and authority of Cephas, as the leader of the twelve apostles and an observer of the Law. Others 1 i. 2 : "Unto the church of God '^ Acts xviii. 24-28: "Now a certain which is at Corinth, even them that are Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be race, a learned man, came to Ephesus ; saints, with all that call upon the name and he was mighty in the scriptures. . . . of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, And when he was minded to pass over their Lord and ours." into Achaia, the brethren encouraged - \. 4, 5: "I thank my God always him, and wrote to the disciples to re- concerning you, for the grace of God ceive him : and when he was come, he which was given you in Christ Jesus ; helped them much which had believed that in everything ye were enriched in through grace : for he powerfully con- him, in all utterance and all know- futed the Jews, and that publicly, shew- ledge. " ing by the scriptures that Jesus was the 3 i. 12 : " Now this I mean, that each Christ " ; cf. i. 12 (quoted above, ?iotc2,); one of you saith, I am of Paul ; and I iii. 3, 4 : '' For whereas there is among of Apollos ; and I of Cephas; and I of you jealousy|and strife, are ye not carnal, Christ." and walk after the manner of men ? For ^ ix. 1-6 (quoted p. 103, ?iofe 3); vers. when one saith, I am of Paul ; and an- il, 12: " If we sowed unto you spiritual other, I am of Apollos; are ye not things, is it a great matter if we shall men?" reap your carnal things? If others par- 6 xvi. 12 : " But as touching Apollos take of this right over you, do not we the brother, I besought him much to yet more? Nevertheless we did not use come unto you with the brethren: and this right ; but we bear all things, that it was not at all his will to come now ; we may cause no hindrance to the but he will come when he shall have gospel of Christ " ; 2 Cov. (passit7i). opportunity." I CorintIihi7is. 1 1 1 professed to be independent of human teachers, and claimed a more direct connection with Christ, probably through their personal acquaintance with " the brethren of the Lord," or their national and historical affinity with Christ.^ In opposition to all these divisive courses, the apostle insists on the supremacy of Christ as the one Lord and Saviour. He introduces His name more frequently in this epistle than in any other of his writings (nine times, for example, in the first nine verses), and represents himself and other apostles as being not the heads of different schools, but simply the ministers of Christ, by whom their converts were brought to a knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus.- (2) With regard to the immorality invading the Church, the apostle begins by referring to a terrible scandal — the taking to wife, by a Christian, of his stepmother during his father's lifetime. In the exercise of his apostolic au- thority he pronounces a stern sentence on the offender, and urges the necessity for an uncompromising opposition to all such sin, and separation from those guilty of it, if they be members of the Church.^ In the next chapter, after deprecating the bringing of legal actions by Christians against one another in the Jieatheii coia'ts, he rebukes the antinomian tendencies among them, and lays down the fundamental principles on which the Christian laiv of purity must rest. The apostle then proceeds to answer the inquiries of his converts on the subject of marriage and celibacy, distin- guishing between his own personal views and the expressed 1 i. 12 (quoted p. no, notej,); ix. 5 is Jesus Christ." iii. 21-23: "Where- (quoted p. 103, note 3). fore let no one glory in men. For all 2 i. 23, 24: "But we preach Christ things are yours; whether Paul, or crucified, unto Jews a stumbling-block, ApoUos, or Cephas, or the world, or and unto Gentiles foolishness ; but unto life, or death, or things present, or them that are called, both Jews and things to come ; all are yours ; and ye Greeks, Christ the power of God, and are Christ's ; and Christ is God's." the wisdom of God." iii. 5: "What ^ Chap, v.; cf. 2 Cor. vii. 12: "So then is ApoUos? and what is Paul? although I wrote unto you, I wrote not Ministers through whom ye believed ; for his cause that did the wrong, nor for and each as the Lord gave to him." hiscausethat suffered the wrong, but that iii. II : " For other foundation can no your earnest care for us might be made man lay than that which is laid, which manifest unto you in the sight of God." 1 1 2 New Testament and Its Writers. x. will of Christ.^ In the next three chapters^ he deals with what was to his readers a subject of vast importance — the duty of Christians with reference to the feasts that were held in the idol temples, and more particularly with regard to the use of the flesh of animals offered in saerifice, which was almost the only kind of animal food that could be bought in the market. This question he bids them con- sider not in the abstract, but as it bears on the interests of Christian society, and as it is likely to affect not only their own character but the character and feelings of their fellow- Christians. In this connection he cites his own example of self-denial even in things lawful.^ In the next four chapters^ he lays down directions for the guidance of his converts in viatters of public ivorship, — dealing with such questions as the wearing of a covering on the head in the public services, the duty of a modest reticence on the part of the female members of the congregation, the necessity for sobriety and decorum in the celebration of the Lord's Supper, the harmony and common end of the various gifts conferred by the Spirit (of which he enumerates no less than nine),^ the superiority of love to all such gifts, the relative value and importance of the several gifts, and the propriety of making the religious services intelligible to all, so that they may be able to join in the loud Amen as the token of their fellowship. He sums up his teaching on public worship in the two cardinal principles, " let all things 1 vii. lo : " But unto the married please all men in all things, not seeking I give charge, yea not I, but the Lord " ; mine own profit, but the profit of the ver. 12 : " But to the rest say I, not the many, that they may be saved." Lord " ; ver. 25 : " Now concerning * xi. — xiv. virgins I have no commandment of the ^ xij_ 8-1 1: "For to one is given Lord : but I give my judgement, as one through the Spirit the word of wisdom ; that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to and to another the word of knowledge, be faithful"; ver. 40: "But she is according to the same Spirit : to another happier if she abide as she is, after my faith, in the same Spirit ; and to another judgement ; and I think that I also have gifts of healings, in the one Spirit ; and the Spirit of God." to another workings of miracles ; and to 2 viii. — X. another prophecy ; and to another dis- 3 X. 23: "All things are lawful; but cernings of spirits: to another divers all things are not expedient. All things kinds of tongues ; and to another the are lawful; but all things edify not." interpretation of tongues : but all these X. 32, 33: "Give no occasion of stum- worketh the one and the same Spirit, bling, either to Jews, or to Greeks, or dividing to each one severally even as to the church of God : even as I also he will." X. I Corinthians. II be done unto edifying," "let all things be done decently and in order." ^ The fifteenth chapter contains a dissertation of incomparable value on the resuri'ection of the dead — a doctrine which some of the Corinthians had begun to call in question, partly in a spirit of worldly-mindedness, and partly as the result of a sceptical philosophy.'^ It was the future general resurrection that they doubted, not the historical resurrection of Jesus Christ, the latter fact being so fully accepted that one of the apostle's chief arguments against their scepticism was that it would involve the re- jection of the testimony to Christ's resurrection.^ In the course of the argument we have a summary of evidences for the historical reality of our Lord's resurrection, delivered within twenty-five or thirty years after His death, while most of the witnesses were still alive.* The last chapter contains a number of directions and intimations having reference, among other things, to tJie collection for the poor saints at Jcnisalevi (which the apostle hoped to find ready on his next visit to Corinth), — after which the epistle con- cludes with the usual kind messages and autograph greetmg. 1 xiv. 26, 40. 2 XV. 33-35: "Evil company doth corrupt good manners. Awake up righteously, and sin not ; for some have no knowledge of God : I speak this to move you to shame. But some one will say, How are the dead raised ? and with what manner of body do they come? " 3 XV. 13-16: "But if there is no re- surrection of the dead, neither hath Christ been raised : and if Christ hath not been raised, then is our preaching vain, your faith also is vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God ; because we witnessed of God that he raised up Christ : whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, neither hath Christ been raised." ■* XV. 4-8 : ' ' And that he was buried ; and that he hath been raised on the third day according to the scriptures ; and that he appeared to Cephas ; then to the twelve ; then he appeared to above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain until now, but some are fallen asleep ; then he ap- peared to James ; then to all the apostles ; and last of all, as unto one born out of due time, he appeared to me also." H CHAPTER XI. "THE SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS." I. Aztthorship. The Pauline authorship of this epistle is involved in that of I Corinthians. There is in several points such a subtle harmony between them as can only be accounted for by their common authorship ; ^ and the impression that both are genuine writings of Paul is confirmed by an exam- ination of relative passages in the Book of Acts.- That the author did not derive his information from the Book of Acts may be inferred from the circumstance that the name of Titus, which is prominent in the epistle, is not once mentioned in Acts. The same conclusion may be drawn from a comparison of their respective allusions to the attempts made upon Paul's life and liberty at Damascus after his conversion,^ as well as from the fact that the enumeration of his trials in the eleventh chapter •^ contains a number of striking statements which have nothing corre- sponding to them in the Book of Acts, though at the same time there is nothing inconsistent with them. With regard to the apparent discrepancy as to the number of his visits to Corinth,^ see page 117. 1 and 2. See notes A and B appended they watched the gates also day and to this chapter. The illustrations are night that they might kill him : but his taken from Paley's//6i;Y£'Py faith unto faith : as it is written, But the righteous shall live by faith." iii. 12: "And the law- is not of faith ; but, He that doeth them shall live in them," cf. Rom. x. 5 : " For Moses writeth that the man that doeth the righteousness which is of the law shall live thereby." iii. 22 : " How- beit the scripture hath shut up all things under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe," cf. Rom. xi. 32: "For God hath shut up all unto disobedience, that he might have mercy upon all." iii. 27 : " For as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ," cf. Rom. vi. 3: "Or are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?" and Rom. xiii. 14: " But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof" iv. 5, 6: "That he might redeem them which were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father," cf. Rom. viii. 14, 15: . . . "ye received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." ii. 16: "Yet know- ing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, save through faith in Jesus Christ, even we believed on Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works ot the law : because by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified," cf. Rom. iii. 20: " Because by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight : for through the law cometh the knowledge of sin." (In both cases there is a similar modification and application of Psalm cxliii. 2 : "In thy sight shall no man living be justified.") ii. 20: "I have been crucified with Christ ; yet I live ; and yet no longer I, but Christ liveth in me : and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me." r/". Rom. vi. 6, 8 : "Know- ing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away, that so we should no longer be in bondage to sin ; . . . But if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him." v. 14 : " For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, even in this ; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself," cf. Rom. xiii. 8-10: "For he that loveth his neighbour hath ful- filled the law," &c. v. 16 : " But I say, Walk by the Spirit, and ye shall not ful- fil the lust of the flesh," cf. Rom. viii. 4 : " That the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit." v. 17 : " For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh ; for these are contrary the one to the other ; that ye may not do the things that ye would," cf. Rom. vii. 23, 25 : "... So then I my- self with the mind serve the law of God ; but with the flesh the law of sin." XII. Galatians. 135 written when the tension of the apostle's feelings was less severe than when he wrote 2 Corinthians. With great pro- bability, therefore, we may place its composition in the period of transition between these two epistles, towards the close of the year 57 A.D. It may have been written in the apostle's journey from Macedonia to Greece,^ for the ex- pression " all the brethren which are with me," ^ in the opening salutation, would be more likely to be used by the apostle while he was the centre of a travelling party, than if he had been residing at the seat of a congregation.^ 4. Character and Conteiits. From first to last the epistle is marked by a conspicuous unity of purpose — its main object being to counteract the Jiidaising process that had been going on for some time in the Galatian Church. An important factor in that process had been the denial of Paul's apostolic authority on the ground that he had never seen the Lord, and that he owed his knowledge of the Gospel to the apostles who had their headquarters at Jerusalem. On the question of circum- cision and the observance of the law it was alleged that he was particularly to be distrusted, as a renegade from the religion of his fathers. Without a word of his usual praise and thanksgiving, the apostle begins with a bold assertion of his apostolic office as directly conferred upon him by the Lord.'^ This is followed by an account of his intercourse and relations with the other apostles after his conversion, showing that he owed his conception of the Gospel not to them, but to influence exerted on him from above.^ His ministry had 1 Acts XX. I, 2. general character of the epistle, such as 2 i. 2. that indicated above, is our safest guide. 3 The subject is not one for dogma- ^\. \: "Paul, an apostle (not from tising, for there is great truth in Pro- men, neither through man, but through fessor Warfield's remark: "The plain Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who fact is that this epistle is unique among raised him from the dead)." Paul's letters in its entire lack of any ^ e\g. in the solitudes of Arabia, i. allusion capable of easy interpretation, 17: "Neither went I up to Jerusalem to the apostle's circumstances and sur- to them which were apostles before me : roundings at the time when he wrote it." but I went away into Arabia; and But in such a case an argumcnt.from the again I returned unto Damascus." 1 36 New Testament and Its J^Vr/ters. xii. been acknowledged by the reputed pillars of the Church (James and Cephas and John) as having the same divine sanction for the Gentiles, as their preaching had for the Jews. Since that time he had persistently maintained the freedom of his converts from the bondage of the Law, and had even gone so far on one occasion as to rebuke Peter for his dissimulation, when he would have withdrawn from fellowship with the Gentile Christians at Antioch.^ Having thus disposed of the personal aspect of the question, he passes to its more doctrinal aspect by appealing to the spiritual blessing which the Galatians had experi- enced under his ministry when he preached the Gospel to them without any mixture of Jewish ritual. He proves that the Law has been superseded by the Gospel, the latter being the full assertion of that principle of faith that had always lain at the foundation of men's acceptance with God, even in the time of Abraham. He shows that the Law given by Moses could only create a sense of sin with- out providing a remedy. It was but a temporary means of training God's people for the enjoyment of their privi- leges as His children — standing in the same relation to the Gospel, as the children of Hagar the bondwoman did to Isaac the child of promise.- In chapters v. — vi. the apostle warns them against the abuse of their spiritual freedom, setting before them the true principles of Christian morality, and exhorting them to several duties of which they had need to be reminded. He concludes with a postscript in his own handwriting,^ in which he sums up the argument with an emphasis and decision that contrast strongly with the hesitation apparent 1 i. 18 — ii. circumcised, that they may glory in your -iii. — iv. flesh. But far be it from me to glory, ^vi. 11-18 : "See with how large save in the cross of our Lord Jesus letters I have written unto you with Christ, through which the world hath mine own hand. As many as desire to been crucified unto me, and I unto the make a fair show in the flesh, they com- world. For neither is circumcision any- pel you to be circumcised ; only that thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new they may not be persecuted for the cross creature. And as many as shall walk of Christ. For not even they who re- by this rule, peace be upon them, and ceive circumcision do themselves keep mercy, and upon the Israel of God," &c. the law ; but they desire to have you XII. Galatians. 137 in some of the earlier passages, where he is trying to vin- dicate his conduct without casting any unnecessary re- flections on the other apostles. He exposes the unworthy motives of his opponents, reaffirms the supreme importance of the Cross of Christ and of regeneration in Him ^ as essential to the true Israel of God, declaring circumcision or uncircumcision to be a matter of indifference,^ and appeals to the marks which he bears of recent persecution, as the seal of his apostleship and the token of his renewed devotion to the Saviour. " From henceforth let no man trouble me, for I bear branded on my body the marks of Jesus. "^ Finally he invokes the divine blessing on his converts in terms specially fitted to lift them above the thought of carnal ordinances — " The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brethren."* The whole epistle is marked by a force and vehemence that strain the apostle's power of expression to the utmost. It has done more than any other book of the New Testa- ment for the emancipation of Christians, not only from the yoke of Judaism, but from every other form of externalism that has ever threatened the freedom and spirituality of the Gospel.^ It was Luther's favourite epistle, to which he was "wedded," as he said; and from it he largely drew his inspiration in his conflict with the Church of Rome. 1 The name of Christ occurs forty- circumcision, but by baptism and the three times in this short epistle. new birth. Of circumcision not a word - "The Jewish teachers put it in the is said, even by these extreme Judaists." forefront. They said that ' but for cir- — Farrar, Messages of the Books, p. 250. cumcision heaven and earth could not 3 vi. \j [ra. (rTiy/j.aTa). With this we exist.' ... St. Paul did his work so may connect the fact that in his very completely that thenceforth in the next epistle (if the order we have adopted Christian Church the c|uestion as to the be correct) Paul styles himself "a need of circumcision for Gentiles was bondservant of Jesus Christ " (Rom. i. 1, at an end. In the epistle of Barnabas R.V. margin), being the first time, so circumcision is even treated with con- far as is known, that he ever so desig- tempt ; and its institution attributed to nated himself. the deception of an evil angel. In the ■^vi. 18. This form of benediction is Ignatian letter to Philadelphia we read only found elsewhere in Philippians (iv. of 'the false Jew of the earthly circum- 23, R.V.) and in Philemon (ver. 25). cision.' Even in the Ebionite Pseudo- ^ The words "free," "freedom," Clementine Homilies, they who desire "make free" {i\evdep6i, iXevdepia, to be de-Hellenised (d. Luther said of it: "This epistle showeth a right noble lovely example of Christian love. Here we see how St. Paul layeth himself out for poor One- sinms, and with all his means pleadeth his cause with his master ; and so setteth himself as if he were Onesimus, and had himself done wrong to Philemon. Even as Christ did for us with God the Father, thus also doth St. Paul for Onesimus with Philemon. . . . We are all his Onesimi to my thinking." "Though he handlcth a subject," said Calvin, "which otherwise were low and mean, yet after his manner he is borne up aloft unto God. With such modest entreaty doth he humble himself on behalf of the lowest of men, that scarce anywhere else is the gentleness of his spirit portrayed more truly to the life." Renan calls it "a true little masterpiece of the art of letter-writing "; and Sabatier says of it that " it gleams like a pearl of the most exquisite purity in the rich treasure of the New Testa- ment." It has often been compared with the letter of the younger Pliny to his friend Sabinianus, interceding for a freedman who had offended him ; but the apostolic letter, although inferior in literary style, is based on far broader principles, and appeals to far higher motives, than the good-hearted persua- sions of the cultivated Roman. For ex- ample, the following expressions, which occur in the latter, would be unworthy of a place in our epistle : " You may be angry again if he deserves it ; and in this you will be the more readily par- doned if you yield now. . . . Do not torture him lest you torture yourself at the same time. For it is torture to you, when one of your gentle temper is angry." 176 Neiu Testament and Its Writers. XV. While the apostle puts the case very strongly in favour of Onesimus — so strongly that it has been finely said, "the word emancipation seems trembling on his lips," — he refrains from any interference with Philemon's civil rights, seeking only to awaken within him such feelings of humanity and kindness as will be a safeguard against harsh and unbrotherly conduct.^ In this respect the epistle affords a good illustration of the remedial and reforming influence of the Gospel, which seeks to gain its ends from within and not from without, by persuasion rather than by compulsion.- It has been described as the letter of a Christian gentleman, animated by strong Christian feeling, tempered with discretion, and expressed with dignity and modera- 1 Vers: 14-17. " but without thy mind I would do nothing ; that thy goodness should not be as of necessity, but of free will. For perhaps he was therefore parted from thee for a season, that thou shouldest have him for ever ; no longer as a servant, but more than a servant, a brother beloved, specially to me, but how much rather to thee, both in the flesh and in the Lord. If then thou countest me a partner, receive him as myself." Vers. 20, 21: " Yea, brother, let me have joy of thee in the Lord : refresh my heart in Christ. Having confidence in thine obedience I write unto thee, knowing that thou wilt do even beyond what I say." - While asserting the equality of all men, in a moral and spiritual sense, in the sight of God, the apostle recognised slavery as an existing institution, which must be submitted to by those who could not legally obtain their freedom, and exhorted slaves to be obedient to their '' masters according to the flesh " (i Cor. vii. 21-24; Eph. vi. 5-9; Col. iii.22 — iv. i). The slave system was so long established, and so widespread (the number of slaves in many cities far exceeding that of the freemen), that for the apostles to have set themselves in direct opposition to the law, by preaching emancipation as an essential part of the gospel, would have been to rouse against them the hostility of the governing and educated classes, and might have led to a servile war, which would have cost thousands of lives, and would probably only have fastened their chains more securely on the necks of the victims. But by teach- ing the universal brotherhood of men in Jesus Christ, and admitting all alike to full communion in the Church, the apostles brought an influence to bear upon society which could not fail in course of time to lead to the abolition of slavery, and which very soon led to voluntary efforts on the part of congre- gations to purchase the freedom of their slave-members, as well as to a change of social sentiment with regard to those who remained in that condition. ' ' Among the heroes and heroines of the Church, were found not a few members of this class. When slave- girls, like Blandina in Gaul, or Felicitas in Africa, having won for themselves the crown of martyrdom, were cele- brated in the festivals of the Church with honours denied to the most power- ful and noblest born of mankind, social prejudice had received a wound which could never be healed " (Lightfoot). In the measures passed by Constantine, the first Christian Emperor, for ameliorating the condition of slaves, we have the initiation of a movement which was to culminate in the nine- teenth century, in the abolition of slavery throughout the British Empire, the liberation of twenty millions of serfs by the Emperor of Russia, the emanci- pation of the negro in the United States of America, and the final effort to heal "the open sore of the world " in the dark continent of Africa. XV. PJiileinon. 177 tion not untouched with humour.^ The whole tone and structure of the letter was well fitted to bring out the better nature of Philemon ; and it was doubtless to strengthen the appeal — by making Philemon realise that the eyes of his fellow-Christians were upon him — that Paul associates Timothy with himself in his opening greeting, which is addressed not to Philemon alone, but also to other Christian members of his household, and to the congregation meeting for worship in his house ; ^ and he sends salutations from several others whose names are given at the close.^ He even throws out a hint that it may not be long before he visits Philemon in person,* 1 In ver. 11 there is a play on the name ''Onesimus," which in the original ('Oy^crtyiios) means " profit- able" ; and also in ver. 20, ovaip.-r]v (onai- men), "let me have help of thee." Perhaps there is a similar play of Vi'ords in &-)(^p7]crTov (achreston = unprofit- able), and (uxprjcTTov (euchreston = pro- fitable) of ver. II with reference to the word 'KpKTTos (Christos). Farrar calls attention to an interesting parallel in the language of an English preacher (Whitfield) when appealing to the comedian Shuter, who had often played the character of Ramble. " And thou, poor Ramble, who hast so often rambled from Him, oh, end thy ramblings and come to Jesus." 2 Vers. I, 2: "Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, to Philemon our beloved and fellow- worker, and to Apphia our sister, and to Archippus our fellow-soldier, and to the church in thy house." 3 Vers. 23,24: " Epaphras, my fellow- prisoner in Christ Jesus, saluteth thee ; and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow- workers." ■* Ver. 22 : '' But withal prepare me also a lodging : for I hope that through your prayers I shall be granted unto you." M CHAPTER XVI. "THE EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE EPHESIANS." I. Authorship. As regards external evidence, this is one of the best-attested of Paul's epistles ; and until recently its genuineness was never doubted.^ Internally it bears a strong resemblance to Colossians, seventy-eight of its one hundred and fifty-five verses con- taining expressions that are also found in that epistle,^ No 1 Echoes of its language, more or less distinct, are found in the writings of Clement of Rome, Barnabas, Hermas, and Ignatius. The last-named writer, in his letter to the Ephesiatis, refers to Paul as ' ' making mention of you in Christ Jesus, in all his epistle" (or "in every epistle," ev wacrri iTn.aTo\rj). Polycarp quotes as Scripture what appears to be a passage in Ephesians: " Modo, ut his scripturis dictum est, ' Irascimini, et nolite peccare ' et ' Sol non occidat super iracundiam vestram.'" The epistle was acknowledged by Marcion ; it is included in the Muratorian Canon, and in the Syriac and Old Latin Versions ; and it is expressly quoted as Paul's by Irenreus, Clement of Alexandria, and Origen. 2 E.g. cf. the following parallel pas- sages : — Eph. i. 21-23: "far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come : and he put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all" ; Col. i. 16-19: "for in him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or princi- palities or powers ; all things have been created through him, and unto him ; and he is before all things, and in him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church : who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead ; that in all things he might have the pre- eminence. For it was the good pleasure of the Father that in him should all the fulness dwell." Eph. iv. 15, 16: "but speaking truth in love, may grow up in all things into him, which is the head, even Christ ; from whom all the body fitly framed and knit together through that which every joint supplieth, accord- ing to the working in due measure of each several part, maketh the increase of the body unto the building up of itself in love"; Col. ii. 19: " And not holding fast the Head, from whom all the body, being supplied and knit together through the joints and bands, increaseth with the increase of God." Eph. iv. 22-24: "that ye put away, as concerning your former manner of life, the old man, which wax- eth corrupt after the lusts of deceit ; and that ye be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, which after God hath been created in righteous- ness and holiness of truth " ; Col. iii. 9, 10: "lie not one to another; seeing that ye have put off the old man with his doings, and have put on the new man, which is being renewed unto know- ledge after the image of him that created him." Eph. v. 19, 20: " sjxniking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord ; XVI. Ephesians. 179 doubt the resemblance is due to the fact that the two epistles were written at the same time on kindred subjects to kindred Churches. In both epistles Tychicus is referred to in similar terms as the apostle's messenger ; and they both bear to have been written by the apostle while he was a prisoner.^ From the occurrence of the significant word " also " in the parallel passage of this epistle,^ we may infer that it was written later than the other, although but a few days may have intervened — the closing verses of Colossians having been subsequently added.^ As might have been expected under the circumstances, the similarity between the two epistles does not extend to continuous passages, but is confined to single verses and occasional expressions such as would be likely to remain in the writer's memory and reappear in his language if he were writing a second time within a very short interval.'* giving thanks always for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father " ; Col. iii. 16, 17 : " Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom ; teaching and ad- monishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts unto God. And whatsoever ye do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." Eph. v. 22 — vi.9, and Col. iii. 18 — iv. I, relating to various forms of domestic duty. 1 iv. I : "I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord " ; vi. 19-22 : " the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassa- dor in chains ; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. But that ye also may know my affairs, how I do, Tychicus, the beloved brother and faith- ful minister in the Lord, shall make known to you all things : whom I have sent unto you for this very purpose, that ye may know our state, and that he may comfort your hearts" ; Col. iv. 3 : "the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds"; vers. 7-9: "All my affairs shall Tychicus make known unto you, the beloved brother and faithful min- ister and fellow-servant in the Lord : whom I have sent unto you for this very purpose, that ye may know our estate, and that he may comfort your hearts." 2 Sec last note. 2 iv. 15-18: "Salute the brethren," &c. (quoted p. 165, note 3). ■1 Attempts have been made to show- that one of the epistles is a spurious imitation of the other, Colossians being generally regarded as the original. But a practical refutation of such views has been furnished by Holzmann — himself a believer only in a genuine nucleus of Colossians, which he supposes to have disappeared — when he points out seven passages in w hich Ephesians appears to be the original (Eph. i. 4=Col. i. 22; Eph. i. 6, 7=Col. i. 13, 14 ; Eph. iii. 3, 5, 9=C'ol. i. 26, ii. 2 ; Eph. iii. 17, 18, iv. 16, ii. 2o=Col. i. 23, ii. 2, 7 ; Eph. iv. 16 = Col. ii. 19; Eph. iv. 22-24=Col. iii. 9, 10; Eph. V. i9 = Col. iii. 16); and an equal number of passages, in which the priority must be assigned to Colos- sians — (Col. i. I, 2=Eph. i. I, 2 ; Col. i. 3-9 = Eph. i. 15-18; Col. i. s = Eph. i. 3, 12, 13 ; Col. i. 25-29 = Eph. iii. 2, 7 ; Col. ii. 4-8 = Eph. iv. 17-21 ; Col. iv. 5 = Eph. V. 15, 16; Col. iv. 6=Eph. iv. 29). Add to this that in some respects the two epistles are widely different (see p. 183), and it will be seen that common author- ship, as above stated, is the only reason- able explanation of the phenomena. Be- sides, as Dr. Salmon observes, such an unstudied digression as we find in Eph. iii. I — iv.i (' anacolouthon ') proves ' ' that we have here, not the calm work of an imitator of another man's production, but the fervid utterances of an original writer, whom a rush of fresh thoughts occasionally carries away from what he had been about to say." I So New Testament and Its Writers. XVI. We have a remarkable token of the genuineness of this epistle, as of several others attributed to Paul, in the fact that while the writer dwells with great satisfaction on the admission of the Gentiles to the blessings of the Gospel, he expresses himself with regard to it in the language of a patriotic Jew, to whom this expansion of the Messiah's kingdom is a new and marvellous dispensation of divine providence. He speaks with the greatest reverence of the position and privileges of God's ancient people, showing that in a spiritual sense the Gentiles are now raised to an equality with them, and that, in this sense, the rite of circumcision, in particular, is realised in the hearts of all true Christians.^ This is a state of feeling which was most natural in a Jewish- born Christian like Paul, after the struggle against the bond- age of the Law, in which he had himself taken a leading part, was practically over. 1 ii. 11-20: "Wherefore remember, that aforetime ye, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called Circumcision, in the flesh, made by hands ; that ye were at that time separate from Christ, alienated 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 that once were far off are made nigh in the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who made both one, and brake down the middle wall of partition, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments con- tained in ordinances ; that he might create in himself of the twain one new man, so making peace ; and might re- concile them both in one body unto God through the cross, having slain the en- mity thereby : and he came and preached peace to you that were far off, and peace to them that were nigh: for through him we both have our access in one Spirit unto the Father. So then ye are no more strangers and sojourners, but ye are fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God, being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief corner stone" ; iii. 1-9 : "... the mystery of Christ ; which in other generations was not made known unto the sons of men, as it hath now been revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit ; to wit, that the Gentiles nre fellow-heirs, and fellow- members of the body, and fellow-par- takers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel, whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of that grace of God which was given me ac- cording to the working of his power. Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, was this grace given, to preach unto the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ ; and to make all men see what is the dispensation of the mystery which from all ages hath been hid in God who created all things." The same token of genuineness may be seen in other epistles of Paul, e.g. Col. ii. 11: "in whom ye were also circumcised with a circum- cision not made with hands, in the put- ting off of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ " ; Phil. iii. 2, 3 : " Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the concision : for we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God, and glory in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh" ; Gal. vi. 16: "And as many as shall walk by this rule, peace be upon them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God" ; Rom. ii. 28, 29: "For 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 circum- XVI. Ephesians. 1 8 1 2. The Readers. It is now generally agreed that this epistle was not addressed to the Church at Ephesus exclusively, but was of the nature of a circular-letter for the general use of the Churches of Proconsular Asia. In favour of this supposition are the facts (i) that the words " in Ephesus," in the opening verse, were absent from many of the ancient MSS. known to Basil (360 A.D.), and are wanting in the two oldest MSS. that have come down to us ; ^ (2) that no personal salutations are found in the epistle although Paul had laboured successfully for several years at Ephesus, forming many intimate friend- ships,^ nor any reference whatever to his experiences during that time ; (3) that he writes as if the Christian graces of his readers were only known to him by report, and as if his apostleship to the Gentiles were only known to them by hearsay ;^ (4) that the usual apostolic autograph is absent, owing, we may suppose, to copies of the epistle for the several Churches having to be made out in the course of the messengers' journeys or at the different places at which they had to be delivered.^ cision is that of the heart, in the spirit, shew toward all the saints, cease not to not in the letter ; whose praise is not of give thanks for you, making mention of men, but of God." you in my prayers." iv. 20, 21 : " But 1 X and B TOiS d7tots rdls ovcriv ye did not so learn Christ ; if so be that Kai TT^aToh iy'XpicTTdi 'I-ncrod, "to the ye heard him, and were taught in him, saints which are also the faithful in Christ even as truth is in Jesus." iii. 1-4: "For t' .. ' this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Christ 2 Acts XX. 17-38: "Ye yourselves Jesus in behalf of you Gentiles,-if so be know, from the first day that I set foot th-at ye have heard of the dispensation in Asia, after what manner I was with of 'hat grace of God which was given you all the time, serving the Lord with me to you-ward ; how that by revelation all lowliness of mind, and with tears, and was made known unto me the mystery, with trials which befell me by the plots ^s I wrote afore in few words, whereby, of the Jews : how that I shrank not from when ye read ye can perceive my under- declaring unto you anything that was standing in the mystery of Chris . Cf. profitable, and teaching you publicly, <-ol i- 4-9 (quoted p. 167, note 1). and from house to house. . . . 4 The indirect form of the Benediction Wherefore watch ye, remembering that at the close of the epistle (vi. 23): "Peace by the space of three years I ceased not be to the brethren, and love with faith," to admonish every one night and day is also a corroborative circumstance, be- with tears. ..." ing found nowhere else in Paul's epistles ; :' i. 15, 16: "For this cause I also, cf. Col. iv. 18: "Grace be with you." having heard of the faith in the Lord The great thought of the epistle, too, Jesus which is among you, and which ye viz., the unity of the holy catholic 1 82 Neiv Tcs I anient and Its Writers. xvi. There can be little doubt, indeed, that we have here the epistle referred to in the letter addressed to the Colossians, where the apostle directs them to read also '^ the epistle from Laodicea" and to send their own letter in exchange, for the benefit of the Christians there.^ Even before the middle of the second century we find a heretical writer (Marcion) giving this epistle the title To the Laodiceans? Yet it is evident that it could not have been specially addressed to Laodicea, as the apostle sends his salutations to " the brethren that are in Laodicea" through another channel.^ The difficulty is met by supposing that we have here a circular-letter of which Laodicea received a copy in common with other Churches of the province, — to be communicated to the neighbouring Church at Colossae. The name of the Ephesian Church would naturally become associated with the epistle, owing to its being the leading Church of the district, probably receiving the first copy from Tychicus when he landed at its port on his way to Colossse, and becoming the source of many later copies to Churches in other parts of the world. 3. Date and Place of Composition. At Rome, 62-63 a.d. (see pp. 15 1-5). 4. Character and Contents. It has been said by Coleridge that this is " one of the divinest compositions of man. It embraces every doctrine of Christianity ; first, those doctrines peculiar to Chris- tianity ; secondly, those precepts common to it with Church, is eminently suitable for such a preferred, however, the common and letter; and Asia Minor was rapidly be- traditional title, " To the Ephesians" — coming the leading province of Christen- although he adds "nihil autem de titulis dom ; cf. Rev. i. 4 : "John to the seven interest." Epiphanius says of Marcion, churches which are in Asia." " He has also portions of the epistle This is not a recent theory. It was called To the Laodiceans; but the quota- advocated by an English scholar (Arch- tion that he gives from it is almost identi- bishop Ussher), in the seventeenth cal with a passage in our Ephesians " century. (viz. iv. 5, 6). 1 Col. iv. 16. 3 Col. iv. 15. 2 This we learn from Tertullian, who XVI, Ephesians. 183 natural religion." In its doctrinal part^ the epistle is distinguished by a tone of exultation which will not stoop to controversy, expressing itself in the flow of a sublime eloquence rather than in the form of a logical argument. Instead of labouring to demonstrate those truths, regard- ing the standing of the Gentiles and his own position as the apostle of the Gentiles, for which he had contended in his earlier epistles, the writer takes these things for granted and soars into far loftier regions — viewing the Gospel and the Church in relation not to time, but to eternity, not to the nations of the world, but to the universe at large. Here, as in Colossians, Paul recognises Christ as the appointed Head of the tiniverse — material as well as spiritual — and sees in His atoning death the universal centre of divine providence. Here, as there, he is thrilled with a sense of joy not untouched with awe when he con- templates the great mystery of the divine will — the eternal purpose of God so long concealed, but now at length revealed and so far realised through his instrumentality, to wit, the destined union of Jew and Gentile in the mystical body of the risen and exalted Christ. In this union he sees the pledge and token of that universal gathering together in one of " all things in Christ, the things in the heavens, and the things upon the earth," that is to be the consummation of God's purposes in Christ.- But, whereas in Colossians he dwells mainly on "Ca^ person of Christ as the "fulness of the Godhead bodily," here he is impelled rather to the contemplation of the Church as " the body of Christ, the fulness of him that filleth all in all," ^ and expatiates upon the ideal glory and 1 Chaps, i.— iii. ideal unity (iv. 1-15) ; that which con- 2 i. 10. trasts the deeds of darkness and light 3 This is not the only difference be- (v. 7-14) ; that about the mystery of tween the two epistles. "The char- Christian marriages (v. 22-33) ; and that acteristic phrase, 'the heavenlies,' about the Christian armour (vi. 10-17)— which occurs five times in Ephesians, have no parallel in Colossians. Ephesians does not occur once in Colossians. Five has seven Old Testament allusions, sections in Ephesians — that which Colossians has only one. Again, Colos- states the fore-ordained unity of the sians is brief and logical, Ephesians more redeemed Universal Church (i. 3-14) ; lyrical and diffuse. . . . Colossians is that about living in a way worthy of this St. Paul's ' argument, his process, his 184 New Testament and Its Writers. xvi. riches of the spiritual blessing with which its members are blessed in heavenly places in Christ.^ The first half of the epistle is thus for the most part a hymn of praise for \ki& grace of God, manifested " accord- ing to His good pleasure which He purposed in him " {i.e. Christ), — accompanied with the apostle's prayer for his readers that they may realise the glory of their catling. Hence it was Calvin's favourite epistle, as Galatians was of Luther. In the second part the apostle descends by a swift and beautiful transition to the duties of common life, " I there- fore, the prisoner in the Lord, beseech you to walk worthily of the calling wherewith ye were called." ^ He thus in- troduces a series of practical exhortations, based on the ideal unity of the Church as the harmonious body of Christ, and embracing the various forms of social and domestic duty to which "the new man" is called in the ordinary relations of life.^ Finally there is a stirring call to put on the whole armour of God for the conflict with the powers of evil, — expressed in the language of a meta- phor which may have been suggested to Paul by his military surroundings at Rome, and forming a passage of great force and beauty, which of itself would make this epistle a precious heritage of the Church.* The catholic nature of this epistle shows that the apostle's education was well-nigh complete. The Saviour, whom he only knew at his conversion as the Risen One dwelling in another world, has become to him as an all-pervading Presence which may be realised even now caution'; Ephesians is instruction pass- 1 The word "spirit" or "spiritual" ing into prayer, a Creed soaring into an and " the grace of God " occur, each of impassioned Psahn" (Farrar). Findlay them, 13 times in this epistle; the ex- [The Epistles of Paul, ^. ■iZo)svi.ggfii,\.% pression "in Christ" (or equivalent) that this "amplitude of style which is still more frequently ; and " the heaven- a new feature in the apostle's manner lies" 5 times, this being "emphatically as a writer" was "due perhaps to the Epistle of the Ascension." the leisure of prison and the habit of 2 jy. i. meditation which it fostered"; and 3 iv. 1-16 (church life) ; iv.17 — v. '21 he points out that it is not altogether (life in the world); v.22 — vi.9 (lifejn absent from Colossians (i. 9-11, 16-20, the family). 27-29). -1 vi. 10, seq. XVI. Ephesians. 185 in the sphere of common h'fe, as the type of all affection and the centre of all authority, in the State and in the family as well as in the Church.^ During his residence at Rome, the seat of empire and the centre of the world's secular life, Paul learned, as he had never yet done, the meaning of the Saviour's prayer, " Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." ^ 1 Compare, for example, his view of marriage, the original and central re- lationship of human life, in this epistle (v. 22-33), find in I Cor. (xi. ) written about five years before. " He had all along maintamed the lawfulness of the matrimonial state : he had in certain cases asserted its expediency. But at the stage of the Roman captivity mar- riage has become to him not only in some cases expedient, but in every case sacramental. ... It has become in Paul's sight the shadow and the type on earth of that which he regarded as the central fact of heaven, — the union between the Christ of love and the Church which He had purchased with His blood " (Matheson, Spiritual De- velopine?it of Si. Paul). 2 " His vision of divine truth at Corinth had partaken somewhat of the manner of Greece. Just as the Greek beheld the divine influence only where he beheld the human beauty, so Paul in the Corinthian stage of his history had recognised the sacramental headship only where he saw the union of the ecclesiastical members. But when Paul reached Rome, he began to see after the manner of Rome. The kingdom of God to him took that form which the kingdom of Caesar assumed to the Latin race — the form of a membership which was connected with all other memberships. . . . What the citizens of the empire beheld merely as a coin bearing the superscription of Cajsar was reflected to his gaze with the stamp and impress of the Son of man. Instead of contemplating, as in days of yore, the dissolution of its life, he began to con- template the Christianising of its life." (Matheson, ibid.) CHAPTER XVII. THE PASTORAL EPISTLES. I and 2 Timothy and Titus are known as the Pastoral Epistles, because they relate chiefly to the qualifications and duties of office-bearers entrusted with the pastoral care of the Church.^ They are distinguished from all the other epistles of Paul by their want of Jiistorical agreement with any period in the life of the apostle as recorded in the Book of Acts,- and also by their strongly-marked individnality alike in style and substance. Hence their genuineness has been more called in question than any of the other epistles of Paul ^ — notwithstanding a large amount of external testimony in their favour.^ 1 The name is less applicable, how- ever, to 2 Timothy, which turns largely on the personal relations between St. Paul and Timothy. " Ingenious attempts have been made by Wieseler and others to find a place for them in the period embraced by the Book of Acts, but without success. ^ The question was raised by Schmidt (1804), followed by Schleiermacher (1807), who admitted the genuineness of 2 Timothy and Titus, but pronounced I Timothy to be a forgery. A little later all three epistles were rejected by Eichhorn and De Wette. In 1835 Baur opened his assault on the New Testament by his treatise on " the so- called Pastoral Epistles of the Apostle Paul," in which he assigned them to the middle of the second century, as occa- sioned by the heresies of Marcion, which they were intended to counteract. More recently this opinion has been maintained by Holzmann, Hilgenfeld, and Pfleiderer ; but the general ten- dency, even among negative critics, has been to concede an earlier date. It has also come to be generally acknowledged that the three epistles present one com- mon problem which must be dealt with as a whole, although there are still some comparatively recent writers (Bleek, Reuss, Ewald, Renan, Hausrath) that reject i Timothy, but are disposed to admit the genuineness of 2 Timothy, or even of 2 Timothy and Titus, in whole or in part. '• Some passages of these letters," says Renan (who dates them about 100 A.D.), " are so beautiful that one may well ask whether the forger had not in his hands some authentic notes of Paul which he fitted into his apocryphal composition." "You can perceive the influence of Paul : a sort of sobriety in mysticism : and amid the strangest excesses of faith in the super- natural a great fund of rectitude and sincerity." Among English writers excellent statements for the defence have been furnished by Dr. Salmon, Canon Farrar, Dr. Wace (Speaker's Commen- tary), Rev. G. G. Findlay (in Sabatier's "The Apostle Paul"), Dr. Dodds and others. ■1 There are several echoes, more or less distinct, in Clement of Rome and Ignatius ; and in Polycarp the resem- blances to passages in i and 2 Timothy XVII. The Pasioj^al Epistles. 187 The objections taken to them, however, on these grounds are ahnost entirely obviated if we suppose them to have been written siibsequently to the events narrated in the Book of Acts. This is a supposition that in itself involves no improbability. It was Paul's own expec- tation ^ that he would be released from the imprisonment in which the Book of Acts leaves him ; and for this ex- pectation he seems to have had sufficient grounds in the inadequacy of the evidence brought against him, as well as in the tolerant attitude of the Roman Government previous to the great fire in Rome (64 A.D.), which was alsely attributed to the Christians and brought terrible persecutions in its train. ^ Moreover, there is an early and general tradition to the effect that he was released.^ Assuming that his liberation did take place, the difficulty of harmonising the epistles with his life disappears ; while are too marked to have been due to accident. This indirect evidence of Polycarp is confirmed by the express testimony of his disciple Irenasus, who attributes all three epistles to Paul ; and their testimony is the more valuable, because both writers were well ac- quainted with Ephesus, where Timothy was stationed when he received the two epistles that bear his name. There are also apparent quotations from one or more of the epistles in Justin Martyr, Athenagoras, the letter of the Churches of Vienne and Lyons, and Theophilus — the last named quoting i Tim. ii. i, 2, as "the Divine word." The three epistles are also found in the oldest Versions and the Muratorian Canon, and were considered genuine by the Church Fathers who wrote at the close of the second century. It is true that they were rejected by Marcion and Basilides, and, in part, by Tatian ; but this, as Clement of Alexandria and Jerome tell us, was owing to the difficulty these heretics had in reconciling the teaching of the epistles with their peculiar tenets. Even such a hostile critic as Dr. S. Davidson admits that " the early here- tical opposition to the epistles seems to have been prompted by doctrinal pre- possessions, and cannot overbalance other testimonies." 1 Philippians ii. 24: "but I trust in the Lord that I myself also shall come shortly." Philemon, ver. 22: "But withal prepare me also a lodging : for I hope that through your prayers I shall be granted unto you." 2 If Paul's trial had resulted in con- viction and punishment, it would have formed a precedent which must have been followed in other cases for a con- siderable time previous to 64 A.D. — all the more so because he was a Roman citizen. But this is inconsistent with the statements of Tacitus. — Prof. Ramsay, Expositor, July 1893. s Our earliest informant is Clement of Rome (i. 5), who speaks of the apostle as "having taught righteous- ness unto the whole world and having reached the boundary of the West " (eTrt t6 T^p/xa T^j Sutrews iXQdiv). Lightfoot interprets this latter clause, coming from the pen of one resident in Rome, as referring to " the western extremity of Spain, the pillars of Hercules," which is also the view taken by Gebhardt and Harnack. It finds important confirma- tion in the Muratorian Fragment, where Luke is stated to have omitted, in the Book of Acts, the departure of Paul from the city when setting out for Spain" (profectionem Pauli ab urbe ad Spaniam proficiscentis), because he confined himself to what fell under his own observation. Eusebius, a century or two later, mentions that St. Paul, " after having defended himself, is said 1 88 New Testa^nent and Its Writers. xvii. the late date of their composition — possibly some years after his release — would go far to account for the peculiar- ity of their contents. It is no wonder that questions of discipline and government as well as of orthodoxy should now receive from the apostle a larger measure of attention than they had done hitherto, considering the growing needs of the Church arising from the gradual expansion of its organisations as a corporate body held together by a common creed. The Church had now been for many years a visible institution with office-bearers of its own ; and important doctrines had been vindicated and estab- lished. To conserve these doctrines and to provide for the regular superintendence of the Church after he and the other apostles had passed away, was Paul's great object in writing these epistles. The large infusion of new words in these epistles has been represented as a mark of spuriousness. But on the whole their introduction is only in accordance with the gradual expansion of the apostle's vocabulary, which is evident on a comparison of his successive writings ; ^ and, in particular, many of'these words are new simply because the things they signify had not previously come within the to have set forth again upon the mini- reaches ten. It is not surprising, there- stry of preaching, and to have entered fore, that the Pastorals furnish thirteen the same city a second time, and to hapax-legomena to the chapter, especi- have there ended his life by martyrdom." ally when it is considered that this is In the face of these statements, accepted the last group of the four, and that if by many subsequent writers, it is surely later writings from the same hand had too much for Dr. S. Davidson to say been extant, the list of its peculiarities that Paul's release is " historically base- would in all likelihood have been less." But even this is not sufficient reduced." Moreover, there are special for his purpo.se ; he would require to links of connection between the Pastoral show that it is historically /a/je. Other- Epistles and the immediately preceding wise it is a legitimate hypothesis in the group of the Imprisonment. As regards case for the defence. expression, compare e.g. 2 Tim. iv. 1 Among other interesting computa- 6-8: "For I am already being offered, tions, Findlay mentions that "in the and the time of my (/d^rtr/z^/'e is come. two Thessalonian epistles, forming the I have fought the good fight, I have first group of Paul's writings, there is finished the course, I have kept the an average of five hapax-legomena [i.e. faith : henceforth there is laid up for me words not elsewhere used in the New the croivn of righteousness, which the Testament) to the chapter ; in Romans, Lord, the righteous judge, shall give to of the second group, the average is nearly me at that day," with Phil. i. 23 : " hav- seveti ; in Ephesians and Colossians ing the desire lo depart" ; i. 30 : "the taken together, eight ; in Philippians, a same cotiflict which ye saw in me" ; ii. little later, — although the subject-matter 17 : " Yea, and if I am offered upon the is of so general a purport — the figure sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, XVII. The Pastoral Epistles. 189 scope of the apostle's teaching. For it must be remem- bered that the Pastoral Epistles differ widely from the other writings of St. Paul alike as regards their recipients — friends and colleagues, not congregations — and the ecclesiastical questions with which they deal. The idea that the epistles may have been the products of a later age is in many respects untenable. Both as regards the office-bearers mentioned, namely, bishops and deacons, and the doctrinal needs and dangers of the Church, they remind us far more of the state of things existing during Paul's first imprisonment at Rome, when he wrote Philippians and Colossians, than of anything in the second century. The name "bishop" is here applied to the " presbyters " or elders themselves as the overseers of the congregation,! instead of being appropriated, as it was and rejoice with you all" ; iii. 14 : "I press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." In each of the two epistles as thus quoted there are two Greek words ((XTrevdo/xai and dvaXvcris or dvaXvaai) which are found nowhere else in the New Testament, andathird(d70j;') which is peculiar to St. Paul's writings and is of rare occurrence. It has also been observed that a remarkable feature common to these two groups of epistles, is "an increasing fondness for compou7id words, sometimes of strange and original forms." The catholicity of spirit which we have seen to be charac- teristic of the Epistle to the Ephesians is here even more striking, e.g. in i Tim. ii. 4 : " who willeth that all men should be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth " ; iv. 10 : " the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of them that believe" ; Titus ii. 11 : " For the grace of God hath appeared, bring- ing salvation to all men " ; Titus i. 15 : "To the pure all things are pure"; I Tim. iv. 4 : " For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, if it be received with thanksgiving." A resemblance can be traced between the language of the Pastoral Epistles and that of St. Luke's writings [cf. 2 Tim. iv. II : " Only Luke is with me ") as well as of the Epistle to the Hebrews [cf. Heb. xiii. 23 : '' Know ye that our brother Timothy hath been set at liberty ; with whom, if he come shortly, I will see you"). A number of Latin- isms have also been discovered, due to Paul's long residence at Rome. Some of the leading and typical expressions occurring in these epistles will be found on pp. 199, 200. A complete list of the words and phrases peculiar to them (amounting to about one-fifth of the whole) is given by Davidson and Holz- mann, and will also be found in Thay- er's Appendi.x to Grimm's New Tes- tament Lexicon. 1 E.g. Titus i. 5-7 : ' ' For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that were want- ing, and appoint elders in every city, as I gave thee charge ; if any man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having children that believe, who are not accused of riot or unruly. For the bishop must be blameless, as God's steward ; not selfwilled, not soon angry, no brawler, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre"; cf. Acts .x.x. 17-28: " And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called to him the elders of the church. And when they were come to him, he said unto them. Ye yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, after what manner I was with you all the time. . . . Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock, in the which the Holy Ghost hath made you bishops, tofeed the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood." 1 90 Nezv Testament and Its Writers. xvu. early in the second century, to a chief dignitary exercising authority over the other office-bearers (see pp. 162-3 s-^^d notes there). Moreover, the " knowledge falsely so called " ^ which is denounced in these epistles comes far short of the elaborate Gnosticism of the second century, which set itself in direct opposition to the orthodox faith, and repudi- ated all affinity with the Jewish law. The errors which the apostle here combats are evidently of a vague and unformed character, awaiting further development, as he indicates by his references to the future ; ^ and in particular they bear traces of that semi-Jewish character^ which we know to have belonged to Christian Gnosticism in its earlier stages. In this respect, as well as in the morbid asceticism professed by the false teachers,* the corrupt form of Christianity that meets us here is very similar to that which is dealt with in the epistle to the Colossians, — but exhibited in a somewhat ranker growth. " THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO TIMOTHY." I. AiithorsJiip. The strong external evidence in favour of the genuine- ness of this epistle has been already mentioned. We can trace allusion to it as far back as the close of the first 1 In the phrase " oppositions of the stopped"; i. 14: " not giving heed to knowledge which is falsely so called" Jewish fables"; iii. 9: "fightings (i Tim. vi. 20), Baiir saw a reference to about the law." The "fables and end- Marcion's work entitled^-i«^zVA«« which less genealogies" of i Tim. i. 4 [cf. set the Law and the Gospel in opposition Titus iii. 9 : " shun foolish questionings, to one another. But, as Davidson ad- and genealogies, and strifes, and fight- mits, "probably the word translated ings about the law; for they are un- oppositio7is (dvTi.9effeis) means dogmas profitable and vain ") have probably opposed to sound doctrine, not oral- also a Jewish reference, as " there are tkeses in the specifically Marcionite in the Jewish Kabala genealogies of sense." various kinds which may have had their 2 I Tim. iv. I ; 2 Tim. ii. 16, 17; prototype in very early days." iii. I. ■* I Tim. iv. 3 : " forbidding to marry, ■^ I Tim. i. 7 : " desiring to be teach- and commanding to abstain from meats, ers of the law"; Titus i. 10: "For which God created to be received with there are many unruly men, vain talkers thanksgiving by them that believe and and deceivers, specially they of the cir- know the truth," &c. cumcision, whose mouths must be XVII. I Timothy. 191 century. A hundred years later we find it universally accepted as Paul's, although it had been rejected in the course of the second century by one or two heretical writers, owing to the difficulty of reconciling its teaching with their favourite tenets. In a general sense its peculiarities in language and contents have also been accounted for. In some respects, however, these peculiarities are positively in favour of the Pauline authorship. How unlikely that a forger should have inserted the word " mercy " in the usual Pauline greeting " grace and peace," ^ or have omitted to make frequent use of the connecting particles " therefore," " where- fore," "then," "as," &c., which are so common in Paul's writings.- Objection has been taken to the expression " let no man despise thy youth," ^ as if the apostle could not have applied that language to Timothy when he may have been a man of thirty-five years of age. But we have here rather a token of genuineness. For youth is relative ; and in Paul's eyes Timothy, being so much his junior, and having been known to him as a lad, would naturally seem young, especially in view of his great responsibilities in being set over so many elders. Equally groundless is the objection that Paul had pre- dicted to the Ephesian elders that he should see their face no more, whereas this epistle implies that he had recently paid them another visit.^ For the words quoted contain the expression of a presentiment or at most of a convic- tion, not of an inspired prophecy, on the part of the apostle ; and, besides, the language of this epistle, " as I exhorted thee to tarry at Ephesus, when I was going into Macedonia," ^ does not necessarily imply that the writer himself had been at Ephesus, It is quite possible he may ^ I Tim. i. 2: "Grace, mercy, peace, oiKeri, /jltjttccs, ISov, arc not found in from God the Father and Christ Jesus the Pastoral Epistles, our Lord." So 2 Tim. i. 2, but in 3 [y j^. Titus i. 4 (R.V. ) we find the usual form ■* Acts xx. 25. " Grace and peace ..." ^ i. 3- '^ &pa, 5id, t'TTfiTtt, uiffTrep, 'in, 192 Ne7J0 Testament and Its Writers. xvii. have exhorted Timothy by a message from a distance, or have met him at Miletus as he had met the Ephesian elders several years before. Again it has been argued that the instructions contained in this epistle might have been more easily given by the apostle in person during his recent visit to Ephesus, or on the subsequent visit to which he was still looking forward.^ But this latter visit was evidently regarded by the apostle as very uncertain ; while the former one, as we have seen, is a very doubtful inference. Even if it be true, however, that the apostle had recently been at Ephesus, there is nothing improbable in the supposition that it was in con- sequence of what he then learned of the condition of the Church, and as the result of subsequent reflection, that he was led to furnish Timothy with these rules and directions in a written form, which might be of permanent service, and, if necessary, be referred to in the hearing of the congregation. 2. The Reader. " Unto Timothy, my true child in faith." The disciple thus addressed was one of the apostle's converts, and became his dearest friend and coadjutor in the closing years of his life. Of a pious Jewish family by the mother's side — his father was a Greek — he received a strict religious training in the scriptures of the Old Testament.^ He seems to have been converted to Christianity during Paul's liii. 14, 15: "These things write I parts: for they all knew that his father unto thee, hoping to come unto thee was a Greek "; 2 Tim. i. 2 : "to Timothy, shortly; but if I tarry long, that thou my beloved child"; ver. 5: "having mayest know how men ought to behave been reminded of the unfeigned faith themselves in the house of God." that is in thee ; which dwelt first in thy 2Acts xvi. 1-3: " And he came also to grandmother Lois, and thy mother Derbeand to Lystra : andbehold, acer- Eunice; and, I am persuaded, in thee tain disciple was there, named Timothy, also"; 2 Tim. iii. 14, 15: "But abide the son of a Jewess which believed ; but thou in the things which thou hast his father was a Greek. The same was learned and hast been assured of, know- well reported of by the brethren that ing of whom thou hast learned them ; were at Lystra and Iconium. Him and that from a babe thou hast known would Paul have to go forth with him ; the sacred writings which are able to and he took and circumcised him be- make thee wise unto salvation through cause of the Jews that were in those faith which is in Christ Jesus." XVII. I Timothy. 193 first visit to Lystra and Derbe ; for on the apostle's second visit to that quarter about three years afterwards, Timothy was a disciple so well reported of by the brethren at Lystra and Iconium as to be deemed worthy of being associated with Paul as a labourer in the Gospel.^ To this position he was duly ordained by the laying- on of hands, after being circumcised to render him more acceptable to the Jews.- Thereafter we find him constantly associated with the apostle either as his companion or as his delegate to Churches at a distance — although his influence seems to have been somewhat weakened by a certain timidity and softness of disposition.^ He was with the apostle during his first imprisonment at Rome, being associated with him in three of the four epistles which Paul then wrote.* From this epistle we gather that after the apostle's release Timothy was left for a time in charge of the Church at Ephesus ; and it was while in this trying and responsible position that he received the two epistles that bear his name. 3. Date and Place of Composition. This epistle seems to have been sent to Timothy from Macedonia under the circumstances referred to in the first 1 Actsxvi. 1-3 (quoted p. 192) ; i Tim. •* i Cor. iv. 17: " For this cause have i. 2: "unto Timothy, my true child in I sent unto you Timothy, who is my faith" ; 2 Tim. iii. 10, 11: "But thou beloved and faithful child in the Lord, didst follow my teaching, conduct, pur- who shall put you in rememljrance of pose, faith, longsuffering, love, patience, my ways which be in Christ, even as I persecutions, sufferings ; what things teach everywhere in every church " ; befell me at Antioch, at Iconium, at xvi. 10, 11 : "Now if Timothy come, Lystra ; what persecutions I endured : see that he be with you without fear ; and out of them all the Lord delivered for he worketh the work of the Lord, as me." Cf. Acts xiv. 8-23. I also do : let no man therefore despise 2 Acts xvi. 3 (quoted above) ; i Tim. him. But set him forward on his jour- iv. 14: "Neglect not the gift that is ney in peace, that he may come unto in thee, which was given thee by pro- me : for I expect him with the breth- phecy, with the laying on of the hands ren." Cf. the earnest personal exhorta- of the presbytery " ; vi. 12 : " Fight the tions addressed to him in these epistles good fight of the faith, lay hold on the (i Tim. iv. 14-16 ; vi. 20 ; 2 Tim. i. 14 ; life eternal, whcreunto thou wast called, ii. 1-7; iv. i, 2, 5). and didst confess the good confession ■• Philippians i. i ; Colossians i. i ; in the sight of many witnesses " ; 2 Tim. Philemon i. Also in the two earliest i. 6: "For the which cause I put thee epistles of St. Paul, viz. , i and 2 Thessa- in remembrance that thou stir up the lonians. gift of God, which is in thee through the laying on of my hands." N 194 Neiv Testament and Its Writers. xvii. chapter ;^ but whether before or after Paul's intended visits to Philippi, Colossae, and Spain — which, according to an ancient tradition originating in the first century, he did visit — it is quite impossible to say.^ Various routes have been sketched by which Paul may have travelled after his release from Rome, comprising visits to the places just mentioned and also to Ephesus, Crete, Nicopolis, and Troas ; but they are all more or less conjectural.^ While it is impossible to ascertain the precise move- ments of the apostle after his release, or the exact year in which this epistle was written, we may safely place its composition between 64 A.D., the year after Paul's release, and 6^ A.D., shortly before his death, — the date usually assigned to the latter event being 68 A.D., the last year of Nero, under whom, according to the general tra- dition, Paul suffered martyrdom. The most probable date for the epistle is Gy A.D., which gives an interval of several years to account for the change in the apostle's style and in the condition of the Church, and makes the three Pastoral Epistles very nearly contemporaneous. 4. Its Character and Contents. These have been already indicated in the general re- marks on the Pastoral Epistles (p. i86_^.). The letter is partly official, partly personal. While addressed to Timothy individually, it contains Paul's apostolic instruc- tions to guide him in the work of supervision assigned to 1 i. 3, 4 : " As I exhorted thee to tarry unto you " ; Rom. xv. 24: " Whenso- at Ephesus, when I was going into ever I go unto Spain (for I hope to see Macedonia, that thou mightest charge you in my journey, and to be brought certain men not to teach a different on my way thitherward by you, if first doctrine, neither to give heed to fables in some measure I shall have been and endless genealogies, the which satisfied with your company)." minister questionings, rather than a 3 Titus i. 5 :" For this cause left I thee dispensation of God which is in faith ; in Crete" ; Titus iii. 12 : "Give diligence so do I now." to come unto me to Nicopolis : for there 2 Phil. ii. 24 : " But I trust in the Lord I have determined to winter " ; 2 Tim. that I myself also shall come shortly " ; iv. 13 : " The cloke that I left at Troas Philemon, ver. 22 : " But withal prepare with Carpus, bring when thou comest, me also a lodging : for I hope that and the books, especially the parch- through your prayers I shall be granted nients." XVII. I Timothy. 195 him at Ephesus.i The anticipations of evil which Paul had expressed to the Ephesian elders at Miletus- had already in some measure been realised, and there was great need for wisdom in the rulers of the Church. It is not easy to trace any regular sequence in the topics discussed ; but the contents of the epistle may be summarised as follows : — The folly and danger of the Judaic fancies with which false teachers were overlaying the Gospel (chapter i.) ; exhortations to catholicity of spirit as well as to reverence and decorum in acts of worship (ii.) ; the qualifications requisite in the office-bearers of the Ghurch (bishops and deacons), and the need for fidelity and care on their part in view of the increasing corruption (iii.) ; counsels re- garding Timothy's treatment of the elders and other classes in the congregation (iv., v.) ; cautions against covetousness, and exhortations to the rich to make a good use of their means — concluding with an appeal to Timothy to guard that which was committed to his trust, and to avoid " profane babblings and oppositions of the knowledge which is falsely so called " (vi.). Although in some respects on a humbler level intellect- ually than most of Paul's writings, and bearing traces of the writer's advancing years, this epistle contains not a few golden texts to be held in everlasting remembrance.* 1 i. 1-4 (quoted p. 194, note i). Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom 2 Acts XX. 29, 30 : "I know that after for all"; iii. 16: "And without con- my departing grievous wolves shall troversy great is the mystery of godli- enter in among you, not sparing the ness; He who was manifested in the flesh, flock; and from among your own selves justified in the spirit, seen of angels, shall men arise, speaking perverse things, preached among the nations, believed to draw away the disciples after them." on in the world, received up in glory " ; 3i. 5 : " But the end of the charge is vi. 6 : " But godliness with contentment love out of a pure heart and a good is great gain"; ver. 10: "For the love conscience and faith unfeigned"; ver. of money is a root of all kinds of evil: 15 : " Faithful is the saying, and worthy which some reaching after have been led of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came astray from the faith, and have pierced into the world to save sinners " ; ii. 3-6 : themselves through with many sorrows" ; "This is good and acceptable in the ver. 12 : "Fight the good fight of the sight of God our Saviour ; who willeth faith, lay hold on the life eternal, where- that all men should be saved, and come unto thou wast called, and didst confess to the knowledge of the truth. For the good confession in the sight of many there is one God, one mediator also witnesses." between God and men, himself man. CHAPTER XVIII. TITUS — 2 TIMOTHY. "THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO TITUS." I. Authorship. To the general remarks already made (p. i^6ff.) we may add the following notes of genuineness : — (i) The quotation made from Epimenides ^ is in accord- ance with the manner of St. Paul, who is the only New Testament writer that quotes Iieatlien authors."^ At the same time, the use of the word ^'prophet " in this passage, as compared with "poet " in the quotation reported in the Book of Acts, is against the supposition of imitation. (2) The introduction of such unknown names as Artemas and Zenas, as well as of Nicopolis,^ which are mentioned nowhere else in the New Testament, and the unigtie de- signation of the apostle himself, * are at variance with the idea of forgery. 2. The Reader. " To Titus, my true child after a common faith." ^ Although Titus is never mentioned in the Book of Acts, it would appear, from the allusions made to him in Paul's 1 i. 12: " One of themselves, a pro- 3 iii. 12, 13: "When I shall send phet of their own, said, Cretans are Artemas unto thee, or Tychicus, give alway liars, evil beasts, idle gluttons." diligence to come unto me to Nicopolis : 2 Acts xvii. 28 : " For in him we live, for there I have determined to winter, and move, and have our being ; as cer- Set forward Zenas the lawyer and tain even of your own poets have said, Apollos on their journey diligently, For we are also his offspring" (quoted that nothing be wanting unto them." from Aratus) ; i Cor. xv. 33 : " Evil ■* i. i : " Paul, a servant of God, and company doth corrupt good manners " an apostle of Jesus Christ." (quoted from Menander). ^ i. 4. XVIII. Tihis. 197 epistles, that he was the ablest and most reliable of all the friends and coadjutors whom the apostle had about him in his later years. As an uncircumcised Gentile who had been converted by Paul, he represented in his own person the breadth and freedom of the Gospel, for which the apostle had so zealously and successfully contended. His conversion had taken place at a comparatively early period in the apostle's ministry, for he accompanied Paul and Barnabas on their visit from Antioch to Jerusalem to vindicate the freedom of the Gentiles from the ceremonial law of the Jews.^ We find him figuring prominently at another crisis in the apostle's ministry, when the strife and confusion in the Corinthian Church threatened to destroy St. Paul's influence. His remarkable success in the difficult mission then assigned to him (pp. 11 5-6), which called for the exercise of combined firmness and tact, and from which Apollos appears to have shrunk,^ marked him out as an able and trustworthy delegate, and explains his selection ten years later for the important and difficult position which he temporarily held in Crete when this letter was addressed to him.^ Of the state of the Church in Crete we know very little except what may be gathered from this epistle. In all probability the Gospel had been first brought to the island by those of its inhabitants who witnessed the out- pouring of the spirit on the day of Pentecost* More than thirty years had passed since then, and there were now, 1 Gal. ii. 1-4 : "Then after the space we have in Christ Jesus, that they might of fourteen years I went up again to bring us into bondage." Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus '■^ i Cor. xvi. 12: "But as touching also with me. And I went up by reve- Apollos the brother, I besought him lation ; and I laid before them the gos- much to come unto you with the breth- pel which I preach among the Gentiles, ren : and it was not at all his will to but privately before them who were of come now ; but he will come when he repute, lest by any means I should be shall have opportunity." running, or had run, in vain. But not ^ In the subsequent history of the even Titus who was with me, being a island, Titus has figured prominently as Greek, was compelled to be circum- the patron-saint of the community, cised : and that because of the false ■* Acts ii. 11: " Cretans and Ara- brethren privily brought in, who came bians, we do hear them speaking in in privily to spy out our liberty which our tongues the mighty works of God." 198 New Testavicnt and Its Writers. xviii. probably, quite a number of congregations in the island, which was 140 miles long and was famous for its hundred cities. Paul had been there once before, on his way from Caesarea to Rome ; but being a prisoner at the time he could have had little or no opportunity of preaching. It may have been on that occasion, however, that he saw the necessity for organising the various congregations, as he was now seeking to do through the instrumentality of Titus. It was a difficult task, for the Cretans bore a bad character. " Liars, evil beasts, idle gluttons," was the description which had been given of them long before by " one of themselves " ^ — a testimony confirmed by several other ancient writers. They were a mixed population of Greeks and Asiatics, with a considerable infusion of Jews. To the influence of these latter, acting on native superstition, the corruption of Christian doctrine, of which we hear in the epistle, appears to have been largely due.2 3. Date and Place of Composition. The striking resemblance of this epistle to i Timothy justifies us in assigning it to the same year — say 6^ A.D. It may have been written in Asia Minor when the apostle was on his way to Nicopolis. 4. Character and Cofiteiits. Although addressed to a friend, this letter, like i Timothy, has to a certain extent an official character. This is evident from the greeting : " Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ. . . ." ^ It was intended to furnish Titus, as the apostle's representative in Crete, with the same assistance in his work as had already been rendered to Timothy. It would appear that the apostle had heard of opposition being offered to Titus, 1 Epimenides, 600 B.C. ** i. 1-4. 2 i. 10, 14; iii. 9 (quoted p. 190, Jiote 3). XVIII. Titus. 199 and desired to strengthen his hands for his arduous undertaking.! With this view he gives him directions for the appointment of properly quahfied presbyters in every city,- who should be able and willing to teach " the sound doctrine," and to counteract the useless and unwarrantable speculations of a semi-Jewish character, involving endless controversy, which were propagated by dishonest self- seeking teachers. He also reminds Titus of suitable exhortations to be addressed to the various classes in the Church, for the promotion of that practical godliness which ought to accompany sound doctrine. Titus himself is admonished to show himself in all things "an ensample of good works." ^ The epistle contains a number of memorable sayings, including some of the most comprehensive statements of Christian truth to be found in the New Testament.* In the former of the two passages quoted below we have an excellent illustration of the "doctrine which is according to godliness," that sober-minded union of faith and practice, which is the ripest fruit of Christianity, and which forms the chief burden of this most salutary letter.^ 1 i. 5 : " For this cause left I thee in all iniquity, and purify unto himself a Crete, that thou shouldest set in order people for his own possession, zealous the things that were wanting, and ap- of good works"; iii. 4-7: " But when point elders in every city, as I gave thee the kindness of God our Saviour, and charge" ; vers. 10, 11 : " For there are his love toward man, appeared, not by many unruly men, vain talkers and de- works done in righteousness, which we ceivers.specially they of the circumcision, did ourselves, but according to his whose mouths must be stopped. " mercy he saved us, through the wash- 2 It is remarkable that in this epistle ing of regeneration and renewing of the there is no mention of the other class of Holy Ghost, which he poured out upon office-bearers, the deacons, who figure us richly, through Jesus Christ our so largely in i Timothy. This would Saviour ; that, being justified by his be unaccountable if the two epistles grace, we might be made heirs accord- were cunningly devised forgeries pro- ing to the hope of eternal life. " ceeding from the same hand in the ^ Luther said of it : "This is a short interests of ecclesiastical order. epistle, but yet such a quintessence of 3 ii. 7. Christian doctrine, and composed in ■* ii. 11-14: "For the grace of God such a masterly manner, that it contains hath appeared, bringing salvation to all all that is needful for Christian know- men, instructing us, to the intent that, ledge and life." Most of the character- denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, istic expressions of the Pastoral ICpistles we should live soberly and righteously are to lie found in this short letter — e.g. and godly in this present world; look- "godliness" (eiVe^eta), to describe the ing for the blessed hope and appearing Christian manner of life, occurring ten of the glory of our great God and times in these epistles and five times in Saviour Jesus Christ ; who gave himself the rest of the New Testament ; "the for us, that he might redeem us from faith " {r\ -irlffTis) in a doctrinal sense (* i. 2. XVIII. 2 Timothy. 20; 3. Date and Place of Composition. From expressions in the epistle,^ it is evident that it was written by Paul while a prisoner at Rome. That it was a different imprisonment from that mentioned in the Book of Acts may be inferred from the general considerations already adduced (p. 187), and more particularly from the apostle's anticipation of a fatal result as compared with his expectation of release in Philippians and Philemon.^ There are several other circumstances, however, which lead us to the same conclusion, (i) The difference between Paul's position during his first imprisonment,^ and at the time he wrote this epistle.'* (2) The absence of Timothy, Demas, and Mark,^ of whom the first-named is associated with the apostle in the epistles to Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon, and the two latter are mentioned in Colossians as sending salutations.*^ (3) The statement in this epistle, " Erastus abode at Corinth ; but Trophimus I left at Miletus sick." "' For in the apostle's last recorded journey to Jerusalem Trophimus was not left at Miletus, but went 1 i. 8 : "Be not ashamed therefore of two whole years in his own hired dwell- the testimony of our Lord, nor of me ing, and received all that went in unto his prisoner : but suffer hardship with him, preaching the kingdom of God, the gospel according to the power of and teaching the things concerning the God"; 15-18: "This thou knowest, Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness, that all that are in Asia turned away none forbidding him " ; Phil. i. 12-14 : from me; of whom are Phygelus and " Now I would have you know, brethren, Hermogenes. The Lord grant mercy that the things which happened unto unto the house of Onesiphorus : for he me have fallen out rather unto the pro- oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed gress of the gospel ; so that my bonds of my chain ; but, when he was in became manifest in Christ throughout Rome, he sought me diligently, and the whole praetorian guard, and to all found me (the Lord grant unto him to the rest ; and that most of the brethren find mercy of the Lord in that day) ; and in the Lord, being confident through in how many things he ministered at my bonds, are more abundantly bold to Ephesus, thou knowest very well." speak the word of God without fear." '•2 iv. 6-8: "For lam already being •* ii. 9: "wherein I suffer hardship offered, and the time of my departure is unto bonds, as a malefactor; but the come. I have fought the good fight, I word of God is not bound " ; i. 15-17 have finished the course, I have kept the ((juoted above, note i) ; iv. 16: " .-^t faith : henceforth there is laid up for my first defence no one took my part, me the crown of righteousness, which but all forsook me : may it not be laid the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give to their account." to me at that day : and not only to me, ^ p. 202, note 2. but also to all them that have loved his " Col. iv. 10, 14. appearing." ^ iv. 20. ■' Acts xxviii. 30, 31 : "And he abode 204 New Testament and Its Writers. xviii. with the apostle all the way to Jerusalem ; ^ and as for Erastus' stay in Corinth, we know that Timothy was one of Paul's companions^ during the same journey, after the apostle's last recorded visit to Greece, and could not have required to be informed that " Erastus abode in Corinth," if that had been the occasion referred to. In his subsequent voyage from Caesarea to Rome, as recorded in the closing chapters of Acts, it is certain that the apostle visited neither Miletus nor Corinth. (4) The request here made to Timothy: "The cloke that I left at Troas with Carpus, bring when thou comest, and the books, especially the parchments." ^ For there was an interval of several years between Paul's last recorded visit to Troas and his first imprisonment at Rome. A subsequent visit, however, after his release, would fit in with the fresh journey from Miletus to Corinth which seems to be implied in the remark above made (3). We may add that a second imprisonment was in itself not at all unlikely after the great fire in 64 A.D., when the Christian religion was put under the ban ; and the apostle had no lack of enemies to give information against him,* If we are right in dating the first epistle 6"] A.D., we may assign this one to 67-68 A.D. 4. Character and Contents. We have here the apostle's last will and testament in 1 Acts XX. 1-4 : "... And when he that it was at Troas Paul was arrested had gone through those parts, and had before being carried a prisoner for the given them much exhortation, he came second time to Rome, and that it was into Greece. And when he had spent during his detention at Ephesus, after his three months there, and a plot was laid arrest, that he experienced the kindness against him by the Jews, as he was of Onesiphorus to which he alludes in about to set sail for Syria, he determined 2 Tim. i. 18. The same writer also draws to return through Macedonia. And an interesting parallel between this re- there accompanied him as far as Asia quest of the apostle for his cloke, Sopater of Bercea, . . . and Timothy ; books, and parchments, and that of our andof Asia, Tychicus and Trophimus" ; English martyr, William Tyndale, ver. 15: " and the day after we came to when, writing from his prison at Vil- Miletus"; xxi. 29: "For they had voorde, he begs that if he is to remain before seen with him in the city (i.e. there for the winter, he may have some Jerusalem) Trophimus the Ephesian, warmer clothes sent him, and also his whom they supposed that Paul had " Hebrew Bible, grammar, and vocabu- brought into the temple." lary. " '■^ Acts XX. 1-4 (see previous note). * E.g. iv. 14: "Alexander the cop- 2 iv.13. From this passage Farrar infers persmith did me much evil." XVIII. 2 Timothy. 205 favour of the Church, in the form of a farewell charge to his beloved child Timothy. He still hoped to see him once again, and repeatedly urges him to do his best to come to him shortly — " before winter," while navigation is still practicable.^ His yearning for Timothy's society in his lonely prison reminds us of our Lord's desire for the sym- pathy and prayers of His disciples on the eve of His Passion ; and in this epistle, as in our Lord's teaching during the week preceding His death, there is blended with a sublime confidence in the speaker's own future, dark foreboding of approaching trial and temptation for the Church. He warns Timothy of the " grievous times " to come,^ and exhorts him to adhere steadfastly to the teaching he had received from the apostle on the found- ation of the Scripture " inspired of God," and to take security for such teaching being continued by " faithful men who shall be able to teach others also " — bidding Timothy emulate his own example in the endurance of hardship and in the practice of self-denial for the sake of the Gospel. A peculiarity of this as of the other Pastoral Epistles is the introduction of short and weighty statements with the words, " Faithful is the saying." In one of these passages we have what is probably part of a Christian hymn, ex- pressing the faith in which the apostle would have Timothy to meet his trials.^ 1 iv. 9, 21: "Do thy diligence to live with him: if ue endure, we shall come shortly unto me. . . . Do thy also reign with him : if we shall deny diligence to come before winter. " him, he also will deny us: if we are 2 iii. I. faithless, he abideth faithful ; for he 3 ii. 11-13 : " Faithful is the saying : cannot deny himself." For if we died with him, we shall also CHAPTER XIX. " THE EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE HEBREWS." I. Authorship. The authorship of this epistle cannot be determined with any degree of certainty.^ The earliest witness on the subject is Pantaenus of Alexandria, in the latter half of the second century, who assigned the epistle, as Eusebius tells us, to the apostle Paul. In keeping with this opinion we find that the Eastern Church generally regarded it as the work of Paul ; but some of the most learned of its bishops and teachers were constrained by internal evidence to depart somewhat from the traditional view. Their idea was that Paul might have written the original, and one of his dis- ciples have translated it into Greek ; ^ or that the apostle might have supplied the thoughts, and some disciple have put them into words. In this sense Origen maintains that the thoughts were worthy of the apostle, but " who it was that wrote the epistle, God only knows certainly." ^ The opinion of the Western Church was for a long time 1 In this connection Prof. Bruce re- corded from memory the apostle's marks: " It seems fitting that the author teaching, and, as it were, illustrated of an epistle which begins by virtually with a brief commentary the sayings of proclaiming God as the only speaker in his master. If then any church hold Scripture, and Jesus Christ as the one this epistle to be Paul's, let it be speaker in the New Testament, should approved for so doing ; for it was not himself retire out of sight into the back- without good reason that the men of ground " (Expositor 1888). old times have handed it down as 2 This is the view taken by Clement Paul's. But who it was that wrote the of Alexandria, who says that Paul wrote epistle, God only knows certainly. The the epistle in Hebrew and that it was accountwhich has reached us is two-fold, translated by Luke. some saying that Clement, who became 2 "If I were to express my own Bishop of Rome, wrote it, while others opinion I should say that the thoughts assign it to Luke the author of the are the apostle's, but the diction and Gospel and the Acts," (Euseb. H.E. composition that of some one who re- vi. 25). XIX. Hebrezvs. 207 adverse to the Pauline authorship. Clement of Rome, who wrote before the close of the first century, frequently quotes the epistle, but never claims for it the authority of Paul. If he believed that the epistle was written by Paul, it is difficult to account for the ignorance of the Roman Church on the subject in succeeding generations — all the more so because of the connection of the epistle with Italy.^ It was not till the close of the fourth century, and in spite of its traditions to the contrary, that the Western Church accepted the epistle as a writing of Paul's.- Even if the external testimony in favour of the Pauline authorship were much stronger than it is, a study of the style and structure of the book would compel us to adopt a different view. Instead of the rugged, impetuous, and occasionally disjointed style of the apostle, we have here polished diction and carefully - constructed sentences. " The movement of this writer resembles that of an ori- ental sheikh with his robes of honour wrapped around him ; the movement of St, Paul is that of an athlete girded for the race. The eloquence of this writer, even when it is at its most majestic volume, resembles the flow of a river ; the rhetoric of St. Paul is like the rush of a mountain torrent amid opposing rocks." ^ In addition to this general dissimilarity of style, there are so many well- marked differences in detail, that the idea that Paul wrote this epistle has now been generally abandoned. ( i ) There is a marked absence of the opening salutation and thanksgiving ^ xiii. 24 : " They of Italy salute you." the archetype from which the Vatican - At the fifth Council of Carthage MS. was copied. In the Vatican MS. (419 A. D. ), this epistle was classed along itself, and in other Eastern MSS. this with the rest of Paul's epistles: "Of epistle comes after that to the Thessa- the epistles of Paul in number four- lonians, and before the letters to indi- teen." But a little earlier, at the third viduals ; but the numbering of the Council of Carthage (397 A. D.), and the sections shows that the Vatican MS. Council of Hippo (393 A.D.), a dis- was copied from one in which the tinction is made between them: "Of Hebrews stood still higher in the rank the Apostle Paul thirteen epistles : of of the Pauline Epistles, and came next the same to the Hebrews one. " Hence after that to the Galatians. The the position assigned to this epistle in Thebaic Version placed it even a step our copy of the New Testament. "But higher, viz., immediately before the the earliest order of all, concerning Epistle to the Galatians " (Salmon), which we have information, is that of ^ Farrar, Messages of the Books. 2o8 New Testament and Its Writers. xix. usual with St. Paul. (2) There is an acknowledgment on the part of the writer that he and his readers were indebted in some measure for their knowledge of the Gospel to " them that heard " the Lord,^ whereas Paul repudiated for himself any such dependence on the testimony of others. 2 (3) In quoting from the Old Testament the writer of this epistle makes use of phrases that are not found in St. Paul's writings.^ (4) He invariably quotes from the Septuagint in the Alexandrian text, without regard to the Hebrew ; whereas Paul often corrects the Septuagint by the Hebrew, and, when he quotes from the Greek version, follows the text found in the Vatican MS. (5) He never designates the Saviour as "our Lord Jesus Christ" or "Christ Jesus our Lord" — expressions which occur nearly seventy times in Paul's epistles — but gen- erally speaks of Him as "Jesus," or "Christ," or "the Lord." (6) Greek particles of frequent occurrence in Paul's writings are entirely absent from this epistle ; while some are found here that are never used by Paul.* With regard to the conjecture made by Clement of Alexandria, that the epistle, in its present form, may be the translation of a Hebrew work of the apostle, internal evidence is decisive against it. Not only is the com- position possessed of such a rhetorical grace and finish as is scarcely attainable in a translation, but in several other respects it bears unmistakable tokens of having been originally written in Greek. It has numerous plays on Greek words, ^ and contains expressions that have no 1 ii. 3, 4 : "how shall we escape, if but it came to me through revelation of we neglect so great salvation? which Jesus Christ. . . ." having at the first been spoken through 3 E.g. "God saith," "the Holy the Lord, was confirmed unto us by Spirit saith," " he testifieth " (/(zw/;«). them that heard ; God also bearing ■* Of the former are, eiVe, Trore, dra, witness with them, both by signs and efTrep ; of the latter, Wev and idvirep. wonders, and by manifold powers, and s £,g.i. i; rioXvfxepQs KanroXvTpoTrws: by gifts of the Holy Ghost, according v. 14: wpbi SiaKpiiXLi' KaXoOre KalKaKov : to his own will. vii. 3: aTraTup, dpiriTup, dyeveaXoyvTo^: 2 Gal. 1. 11-17: " For I make known ^- „^ . v . .- , ' , -- to you, brethren, as touching the gospel ":'• ^7- rbv yap aoparou coj op^^ which was preached by me, that it is i'ovaa,> not after man. For neither did I re- • • • /J^fX^ovaav . . . &c., i:c. ceive it from man, nor was I taught it, XIX. Hebrews. 209 equivalent in Hebrew ; ^ it also makes its Old Testament quotations direct from the Septuagint, in some cases even building an argument on forms of expression which do not occur in the Hebrew text.- But although we cannot assign the epistle to St. Paul, this need not impair our sense of its value as an acknowledged portion of the New Testament. Its value is independent of its human author- ship. " If it should be found that a noble picture which had been attributed to Raphael was not by that artist, there would not be one masterpiece the less, but one great master the more." ^ While the evidence is conclusive, against the epistle having been written by Paul, there is yet reason to be- lieve that it was the work of one of his school. The writer appears to have been acquainted with some of Paul's epistles ; * and he uses many words which are found no- 1 E.g. 8t.adijKr], in the sense not only of covena7it, but also of testament (ix. 15, 16, R.V.), which latter meaning does not belong to the Hebrew word j-|>i-)2. Calvin regarded this one in- • : stance as a conclusive proof that the epistle was written in Greek. 2 E.g. i. 6, 7, &c. , where the Septu- agint translation of l^"''^^^ ("God" or "gods") viz., dyyeXoi ("angels") is assumed ; x. 5 : (TWfia 8^ KaTT^pricru} fxoi ("but a body didst thou prepare for me ") ; where the original has "1^ n'''13 D''3TS ("mine ears hast thou • T -T -:t opened"). 3 —Thiersch. * Cf. ii. 8: "Thou didst put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he subjected all things unto him, he left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we see not yet all things subjected to him " ; and i Cor. XV. 27: "For, He put all things in subjection under his feet. But when he saith, All things are put in subjection, it is evident that he is excepted who did subject all things unto him." ii. 10: "For it became him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory " ; and Rom. xi. 36: "For of him, and through him, and unto him, are all things. To him be the glory for ever. Amen." ii. 14: "that through death he might bring to nought {KarapyTja-ri, a Pauline use of the word which also occurs in the two following passages, and is translated "abolished") him that had the power of death, that is, the devil"; 2 Tim. i. 10: "who abolished death, and brought life and incorruption to light through the gospel " ; and i Cor. XV. 26: "The last enemy that shall be abolished is death." v. 12-14 • ". . . For every one that partaketh of milk is without experience of the word of righteousness ; for he is a babe. But solid food is for fullgrown men, e\en those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern good and evil"; and i Cor iii. 2: "I fed you with milk, not with meat ; for ye were not yet able to bear it : nay, not even now are ye able." x. 30: "For we know him that said. Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense. And again. The Lord shall judge his people"; and Rom. xii. 19: "Avenge not yourselves, beloved, but give place unto wrath ; for it is written, Ven- geance belongeth unto me ; I will re- compense, saith the Lord." xii. 14: " Follow after peace with all men " ; and Rom. xii. 18 : " If it l)e possible, as much as in you lieth, be at peace with all men." O 2 1 o New Testament and Its Writers. xix. where in the New Testament except in Paul's writings, or in his speeches as reported by Luke.^ He also refers to Timothy as a personal friend — although in different terms from those used by the apostle.- By which of Paul's friends or associates the letter was written it is difficult to say. Neither Clement nor Luke (whose names were suggested as early as the third cen- tury) can have been the author, so greatly do their styles differ from that of the epistle. Luther's conjecture that Apollos may have been the writer, is favoured by the description of the latter in the Book of Acts,^ viewed in connection with the internal characteristics of the epistle, and it has been widely accepted. But if Apollos was the writer, it is difficult to account for the complete dis- appearance of his name from the traditions of the Church, more especially in the East. There is another name, in itself not at all an improbable one, for which we have the authority of Tertullian of Carthage, who wrote in the beginning of the third century. That presbyter refers to Barnabas as the author of the epistle, in terms which would imply that this was no new supposition ; * and his testimony is all the more important because he had been at one time resident in Rome and knew what was the current belief of the Church there. In 1 E.g. vei>€Kpw/j.evos "as good as the baptism of John : and he began to dead " (xi. 12, and Rom. iv. 19) ; speak boldly in the synagogue. But €(pdira^ "once" (vii. 27, &c., Rom. vi. when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, 10, I Cor. XV. 6). In ii. 2, there are they took him unto them, and expound- three such words, viz., ^vdiKos ("just "), ed unto him the way of God more care- 7rapciSa;°^ °'^' °\ darkness mto his honour"! 19: "as of a lamb without m'-^rvellous light: which in time past blemish and without spot"; li. 9: were no people but now are the people "But ye are an elect race, a roval of God : which had not obtained mercy priesthood, a holy nation, a people for ^ut now have obtained mercy ; ./ God's own possession," &c. S°"^- '^-..^5 (where the same words of « V. 12 : " By Silvanus, our faithful ""^^^ ^'- ^3] are applied to the calling brother, as I account him, I have of the Gen lies :" As he sa.th also in written unto you briefly, exhorting, and "osea I will call that my people, which testifying that this is the true grace of ''f^ "°' ™>' Pf P'V ?- '" ^ T" ' God f stand ye fast therein." which was not beloved ; ,.. 6 : " as « Acts XV. 22, 32, 40 ; I Thess. i. i ; ^""'^^ obeyed Abraham, calling h.m 2 Thess. i. I ; 2 Cor. i. 19. 1°'"^ = ^^^ose children ye now are if ye U. 14 : "as children of obedience, d° ^'^"' ''^"^^ ''^'"*^ "°' P"^ '" f*^^"" ^^ ''^"^ XXI. r Peter. 235 pose that the readers of the epistle were largely Gentiles, as we know the members of the Churches in Asia Minor for the most part were.^ The words " sojourners of the Dispersion " are probably to be interpreted in a spiritual sense with reference to the heavenly Canaan, from which Christ's followers on earth may be regarded as temporary exiles, the Churches to which they belong being scattered branches of a common- wealth that has its home and its metropolis in heaven.^ This interpretation is justified by the whole tone of the epistle, which gives a spiritual meaning to the blessings of the Old Covenant.^ It accords in particular with the words, " Beloved, I beseech you as sojourners and pilgrims, to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul." 3. Date mid Place of Composition. The only thing we have to guide us as to the place of writing is in one of the closing salutations : " She that is in Babylon, elect together with you, saluteth you." ^ By this we may understand the Church in Rome, which city is here called " Babylon," as the new seat of oppression and cruelty to God's people.'^ This was the view generally held by the early Church Fathers ; " it is in accordance terror " ; iv. 3 : " For the time past may ■* In accordance with this is the view suffice to have wrought the desire of the which regards Paul as the apostle of Gentiles, and to have walked in lasci- Gentile Christianity, James as the viousness, lusts, wine-bibbings, revell- apostle of Jewish Christianity, Peter as ings, carousings, and abominable idola- holding an intermediate position he- tries." tween the two, and John as the apostle 1 For information regarding the of universal Christianity. Church in Pontus see Acts ii. 9, xviii. 2 ; -^ ii. 11. in Galatia, pp. 127 ff. ; in Cappadocia, •' v. 13. Acts ii. 9 ; in Asia, Acts xviii. 24-26, 6 Another interpretation identifies XX. 17-35, •'^"d the epistles to the " She that is in Babylon " with Peter's Ephesians and Colossians. These wife [cf. i Cor. ix. 5 ; Matt. viii. 14) ; Churches had received the Gospel from but the explanation above given seems Paul and his associates. Hence the much preferable. value of Peter's testimony in v. 12 " It is mentioned by Eusebius, appar- (quoted p. 234, note 5). ently on the authority of Clement of '^"The First Epistle of St. Peter is .A.lexandria and Papias, and it finds addressed to all the Christian comnumi- confirmation in the general belief that ties of Asia Minor north of the Taurus." Peter was martyred at Rome, which — Ramsay, The Church in the Roman seems to have been prevalent before Empire. the close of the second century (judging 2';6 New Testament and Its Writers. XXI. with the figurative language of the epistle, referred to in the previous section ; and it accounts for the strong resem- blance between this epistle and that of Paul to the Romans, with which Peter could scarcely have failed to become acquainted during his residence in the capital.^ It is God ; and the powers that be are ordained of God. Therefore he that resisteth the power, withstandeth the ordinance of God : and they that with- stand shall receive to themselves judge- ment. For rulers are not a terror to the good work, but to the evil. And wouldest thou have no fear of the power? do that which is good, and thou shall have praise from the same : for he is a minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid ; for he beareth not the sword in vain : for he is a minister of God, an avenger for wrath to him that doeth evil." iii. 9 : ' ' not rendering evil for evil " ; cf, Rom. xii. 17: "Render to no man evil for evil." iii. 22: "who is on the right hand of God, having gone into heaven ; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him " ; cf. Rom. viii. 34: "Who is he that shall condemn? It is Christ Jesus that died, yea rather, that was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us." iv. 3, 7 : " For the time past may suffice to have wrought the desire of the Gentiles, and to have walked in lasciviousness, lusts, wine-bibbings, revellings, carousings, and abominable idolatries: . . . But the end of all things is at hand : be ye there- fore of sound mind, and be sober unto prayer"; cf. Rom. xiii. 11-13: "And this, knowing the season, that now it is high time for you to awake out of sleep : for now is salvation nearer to us than when we first believed. The night is far spent, and the day is at hand : let us therefore cast off the works of dark- ness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day ; not in revelling and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and jealousy." iv. 9: "using hospitality one to another without mur- muring " ; cf. Rom. .\ii. 13: "given to hospitality." iv. 10: "according as each hath received a gift, ministering it among yourselves, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God" ; cf. Rom. xii. 6: "And having gifts differing ac- cording to the grace that was given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy from the statements of Dionysius of Corinth, TertuUian, and Caius of Rome). ^ E.g. i. 14, 15: "as children of obedience, not fashioning yourselves according to your former lusts in the time of your ignorance : but like as he which called you is holy, be ye your- selves also holy in all manner of living"; cf. Rom. xii. 2: "And be not fashioned according to this world : but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God." ii. 5: "Ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ"; cf. Rom. xii. i: "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service." ii. 6-8 : " Because it is contained in scripture. Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: And he that believeth on him shall not be put to shame. For you therefore which be- lieve is the preciousness : but for such as disbelieve. The stone which the builders rejected. The same was made the head of the corner ; and, A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence ; for they stumble at the word, being dis- obedient : whereunto also they were appointed"; cf. Rom. ix. 32, 33: "Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by works. They stumbled at the stone of stum- bling ; even as it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence : And he that believeth on him shall not be put to shame." (In both epistles there is here a combination of Isa. viii. 14 and xxviii. 16. ) ii. 10 ; cf. Rom. ix. 25 (see p. 234, 7iote 7). ii. 13, 14 : "Be subject to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake : whether it be to the king, as supreme ; or unto governors, as sent by him for vengeance on evil-doers and for praise to them that do well"; cf. Rom. xiii. 1-4: "Let every soul be in subjection to the higher powers : for there is no power but of XXI. I Peter, 237 almost certain that Babylon has this meaning in the Revelation ; and it would add to the force of Peter's exhortations to courage and patience, that he was himself, when he wrote, in the very thick of the conflict.^ With regard to the date of its composition, the proba- bility seems to be that the letter was written shortly after the outbreak of the Neronian persecution, when the Churches in the provinces were beginning to experience the effects of the imperial example at Rome about 64-5 A.D.^ The readers are addressed as liable to perse- according to the proportion of our faith. " A resemblance can also be traced be- tween this epistle and Ephesians, as will be seen from a comparison of the following passages: — i.i.&c: " Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the elect who are sojourners of the Dispersion in Pon- tus, Galatia , Cappadocia, Asia, and Bith- ynia," c&c. ; cf. Eph. i. 3, &c. : " Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ," &c. i. 14 : " as child- ren of obedience, not fashioning your- selves according to your former lusts in the time of your ignorance"; cf. Eph. ii. 3 : " among whom we also all once lived in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest." i. 20: "who was fore- known indeed before the foundation of the world"; cf. Eph. i. 4 : "even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before him in love." ii. 18: "Servants, be in subjection to your masters with all fear"; cf. Eph. vi. 5 : " Servants, be obedient unto them that according to the flesh are your masters, with fear and trembling." iii. i: ''In like manner, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands"; cf. Eph. V. 22: "Wives, be in sub- jection unto your own husbands, as imto the Lord." iii. 4: "the hidden man of the heart"; cf. Eph. iii. 16: "the inward man." iii. ig, 20: "In which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison, which aforetime were disobedient"; cf. Eph. iv. 9: "Now this, He ascended, what is it but that he also descended into the lower parts of the earth." iii. 21, 22: "through the resurrection of Jesus Christ ; who is on the right hand of God, having gone into heaven ; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him " ; cf. Eph. i. 20, 21 : "which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come." v. 5: "Likewise, ye younger, be subject unto the elder. Yea, all of you gird yourselves with humility, to serve one another"; cf. Eph. v. 21: "subjecting yourselves one to another in the fear of Christ." For resemblances to the Epistle of James, see p. 225, tiote 3. These go far to prove that the author of this epistle made use of that work, addressed to Jewish Christians by the recognised head of the Church at Jerusalem ; and, as Salmon points out [Introduction, p. 489), this is a circumstance at variance with the Tiibingen theory that i Peter is the work of a Paulinist of the second century, who wished to arrogate the authority of Peter's name for his anti- Jewish views. 1 ' ' That this epistle was written from Rome, I cannot doubt. It is impreg- nated with Roman thought to a degree beyond any other book in the Bible ; the relation to the state and its officers forms an unusually large part of the whole. . . . That Babylon should be understood as the Chaldasan city appears to conflict so entirely with all record and early tradition, as to hardly need discussion. "^ — Prof. Ramsay. ■■^"When Nero had once established the principle in Rome, his action served as a precedent in every province. . . . After 64 A.D. the example set by the 2^8 N'eza Testament and Its Writers. XXT. cution, both of a social and a legal character, the very- name of Christian having become a term of reproach, and still worse evils being imminent. Indeed, the signs of persecution are so pronounced in this epistle, that it has, on this account, been assigned by many to a later date.^ 4. Character and Contents. This epistle breathes the spirit of practical earnestness so characteristic of its author. The Greek word " to do good "^ occurs no less than nine times in the course of the five chap- ters. There is no want of allusion to Christian privilege and Christian doctrine ; but it is always for a practical purpose, as furnishing motives for Christian obedience. Of this we have an illustration in the frequent use of the words "wherefore," "therefore," "because," &c., by way of en- forcing practical applications.^ The chief duty which the writer wishes to inculcate is that of patience under trial. ^ Emperor necessarily guided the action of all Roman officials toward the Christ- ians." — Prof. Ramsay. 1 See Note A at the end of this chapter, ii. 18-20: "Servants, be in subjection to your masters with all fear ; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. For this is acceptable, if for conscience toward God a man endureth griefs, suft'ering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if, when ye sin, and are buffeted for it, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye shall take it patiently, this is acceptable with God " ; iii. 13-17: "And who is he that will harm you, if ye be zealous of that which is good ? But and if ye should suffer for righteous- ness' sake, blessed are ye : and fear not their fear, neither be troubled ; but sanctify in your hearts Christ as Lord : being ready always to give answer to every man that asketh you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, yet with meekness and fear : having a good conscience ; that, wherein ye are spoken against, they may be put to shame who revile your good manner of life in Christ. For it is better, if the will of God should so will, that ye suffer for well-doing than for evil-doing"; iv. 12-17: "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial among you, which cometh upon you to prove you, as though a strange thing happened unto you : but insomuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings, rejoice ; that at the revelation of his glory also ye may rejoice with exceed- ing joy. If ye are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are ye ; because the Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God resteth upon you. For let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or an evil-doer, or as a meddler in other men's matters : but if a man suffer as a Christ- ian, let him not be ashamed ; but let him glorify God in this name. For the time is come for judgement to begin at the house of God : and if it begin first at us, what shall be the end of them that obey not the gospel of God ? " ^ 5id, ol'v, dioTi, Sec. i. 13: "Where- fore girding up the loins of your mind, be sober and set your hope perfectly on the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ " ; i. 16 : " because it is written, Ye shall be holy ; for I am holy " ; ii. i : " Putting away therefore all wickedness," &c. •* i. 6, 7 : " Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, ye have been put to grief in manifold temptations, that theproof of your faith. XX r. 1 Peter. 239 In many cases this suffering arose from persecution — proceeding from suspicion and ill-will on the part of the non-Christian members of the community. For the endur- ance of all such unmerited sufferings the apostle points them to the example of the Saviour (whose sufferings are referred to in every chapter), at the same time bidding them take care that they do not bring trouble on themselves by their unworthy conduct. Their trials, he reminds them, are only for a time,^ and will receive abundant compensation at the revelation of Christ's glory.^ " The sufferings of Christ, and the glories that should follow them," are indeed the two poles around which the whole argument of the epistle turns, resulting in a beautiful blending of patience and hope. Hence Peter has been styled "the apostle of hope."^ Along with the calls to patience there are mingled various other admonitions addressed to citizens, servants, wives, /msbands, elders of the Church, and the congregation gener- ally, with reference to various duties.* It is worthy of note, that although this epistle has so little of a speculative character, it has been the means of revealing two interesting truths, which would not have been otherwise known to us.^ being more precious than gold that Christ, after that ye have suffered a little perisheth though it is proved by fire, while, shall himself perfect, stablish, might be found unto praise and glory strengthen you." and honour at the revelation of Jesus "\. j : "that the proof of your faith Christ"; ii. 19-21 : " For this is accept- being more precious than gold that able, if for conscience toward God a perisheth though it is proved by fire, man endureth griefs, suffering wrong- might be found unto praise and glory fully. For what glory is it, if, when ye and honour at the revelation of Jesus sin, and are buffeted for it, ye shall take Christ " ; iv. 13, 14 (quoted p. 238, note it patiently? but if, when ye do well, i); v. 10: (quoted above, note \). and suffer for it, ye shall take it patiently, 3 As compared with John the apostle this is acceptable with God. For here- of love, Paul the apostle of faith, and unto were ye called: because Christ James the apostle of works, also suffered for you, leaving you an ex- •*ii. 13-17, 18-20; iii. 1-6, i; v. 1-4, ample, that ye should follow hissteps" ; S-n. iii. 13-18 (p. 238, note i) ; iv. 12-19 (P- ^ '• 12 : " To whom it was revealed, 238, note i). that not unto themselves, but unto you, li. 6: "Wherein ye greatly rejoice, did they minister these things, which though now for a little while, if need be, now have been announced unto you ye have been put to grief in manifold through them that preached the gospel temptations" ; iv. 7 : " But the end of unto you by the Holy Ghost sent forth all things is at hand : be ye therefore of from heaven ; rvhich things angels desire sound mind, and be sober unto prayer " ; to look itito" ; iii. 18-20: "... quick- V. 10: " And the God of all grace, who ened in the spirit; in which also he called you unto his eternal glory in went and preached unto the spirits 240 New Testament and Its Writers. xxi. It may also be said to contain a practical refutation of the Romish theory as to Peter's jurisdiction in the Church. So far from making any claim to authority or pre-eminence, the writer expressly puts himself on a level with the other presbyters, and deprecates anything like a spirit of lordship in the exercise of their ministry.^ The names " priest," " bishop," " Church," are never even mentioned by him.2 in prison, which aforetime were dis- filthy lucre, but of a ready mind ; neither obedient. . . ." as lording it over the charge allotted to ^v. 1-3: " The elders therefore among you, but making yourselves ensamples you I exhort, who am a fellow-elder, to the flock. " and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, - Except " Bishop " in ii. 25, where it who am also a partaker of the glory that is Christ Himself who is so designated, shall be revealed: Tend the flock of This fact would be the more significant, God which is among you, exercising the if we accepted Prof. Ramsay's view that oversight, not of constraint, but willing- the epistle was not written till about ly, according unto God; nor yet for 80 A. d. Note on Date of i Peter. The opinion held by many German critics that the persecution of Christians on account of their rehgion, of which we have tokens in this epistle (iv. 15, 16, quoted p. 23S), did not exist before the issue of Trajan's famous rescript to PHny (112 A.D.), and that the epistle must therefore be a forgery of the second century, may be regarded as no longer tenable. It is now generally acknowledged that the effect of that rescript was not to initiate a new procedure, but rather to moder- ate the zeal of provincial authorities, and discourage them from seek- ing out Christians or taking action against them unless the charge was brought forward by a responsible accuser. That the persecution of Christians as such was not unknown in Nero's reign after the burning of Rome (64 A.D.), may be inferred from the statements of several Roman historians. Thus Tacitus says (Annals xv. 44) : Igitur ;primum correpti qui fatebantiir, dcinde indicio eoruni imiltitudo ingens, hand perinde in crimine ificeftdii quam odio htnnani generis conjiincti stirit. " Accordingly those were first seized who confessed they were Christ- ians, then, on their information, a vast multitude were similarly dealt with, not so much on the charge of incendiarism, as of hatred to the human race (society)." This view is confirmed by Suetonius (Nero, 16) : Afflicti siippliciis Christiani, gefttis homitium supcrstitionis novcc XXI. I Peter. 241 ac malejicce. " The Christians were visited with punishment, a class of people addicted to a new and pernicious superstition." The language of Sulpicius Severus (who is, however, a much later and inferior authority) gives a similar impression. Referring to the persecution by Nero, he says (Chron. ii. 29) : Hoc initio in Christianas scEviri coiptuni, post etiain datis legibus religio vetabatur^ palamque edictis propositis Christianum esse non licebat. "This was the begin- ning of severe measures against the Christians. Afterwards the religion was forbidden by formal laws, and the profession of Christianity was made illegal by published edicts." Professor Mommsen, who may be regarded as the highest authority on the subject, in a recent article in the Expositor (July 1893), states that " it is probable that the separation of Jews and Christians by the general public and the rise of animosity against the latter took place under the second dynasty, as Nero's measures show it fully developed. The double foundation on which the persecution rested, the general contempt of the Roman gods and the belief in special crimes of lewdness and other misdemeanours attributed to their conventicles, the novien Christiani and the flagitia C/trisfianor7tni, without doubt sprang up together." Again : "the national religion was the founda- tion as well of Latin Rome as of the Roma communis oinnium patria, the spiritual symbol of the political union. Now this foundation was sapped, this symbol rejected by the Christians, and by the Christians first and alone. The severing of the nationality from the creed, the basing the religion on humanity, is the very essence of the Christian revolution. . . . The Christian 'atheism,' the negation of the national gods, was, as I have shown elsewhere, the contempt of the dii piiblici populi Romaniy in itself high treason ; or, as the Christians express it (thoughts being free but words not), the mere Christian name, the 'testimony' of such atheism, constitutes a crime in the eye of the law." Prof. Ramsay in his recent work {T/ie Church in the Roman Empire) and in the Expositor for July and August 1893, argues strongly that the absolute proscription of " the Name" and the treatment of Christ- ians as outlaws, did not take place till the time of the Flavian dynasty, probably in the reign of Vespasian (about 75 A.D.), and that this epistle cannot have been written much earlier than 80 a.d. But the external evidence which Prof. Ramsay adduces, however ably and skilfully handled, is in itself very meagre and precarious ; and he finds it necessary to rest his case chiefly on the wide difference which he traces between the language of the Pastoral Epistles and that of this epistle (and still more of the Book of Revelation) as regards the per- secution to which the Christians were exposed. He dwells particu- larly on the representation given of the readers, in this epistle, as " reproached for the name of Christ," and being liable to " suffer as a Q 242 New Tesia7itent and Its PVr iters. xxi. Christian," thus having it in their power to "glorify God in this name" (iv. 14-16). He also gives a judicial sense to the "answer" {an-oXoyiau) which they are to be ready to give " to every man that asketh (them) a reason concerning the hope that is in (them) (iii. 15). But the expression " to every man " would seem rather to refer to the intercourse of social life ; and with regard to suffering for " the Name," we can imagine that, after Christians as a class had fallen under general suspicion (as they did in the reign of Nero — if not still earlier), it would not be long before such a way of speaking would come into use. In this connection we may quote Prof Ramsay's own statement (p. 241) that "the persecution of Nero, begun for the sake of diverting popular attention, was continued as a permanent police measure under the form of a general prosecution of Christians as a sect dangerous to the public safety." It has also to be noted that the writer of the epistle does not look upon the state as absolutely hostile, or on the position of the Christians in the world as altogether hopeless. He speaks of "governors as sent by (the Lord) for vengeance on evil-doers and for praise to them that do well" (ii. 14) ; and he asks, "And who is he that will harm.' you, if ye be zealous of that which is good " (iii. 13). As Prof. Ramsay says (p. 282) : " He still clings to the idea that the Christians are persecuted because they are believed to be guilty of great crimes ; the old charges of the Neronian time are still in his memory, and he hopes that, if the absurdity of these charges be fully brought home to the minds of men, the persecution must be stopped." And again (p. 348), " Christians suffered by being convicted as criminals, and not as Christians ; defence lay in a life above suspicion (i Peter iv. 25)." It is quite true that the subject of persecution is much less promi- nent in the Pastoral Epistles (67-68 A.D.), there being only a few pas- sages in which it is mentioned (see i Tim. iv. 10 ; vi. i ; 2 Tim. i. 8 ; ii. 3, 9 ; iii. 11, 12 ; iv. 17, 18). But this may be accounted for by the reaction which (Tacitus tells us) took place in the public mind after the atrocities perpetrated on the Christians by Nero, in connection with the gi-eat Fire at Rome (64 A.D.). Prof. Ramsay puts this strongly when he says (p. 243), " The persecution began in 64, and it was obvi- ously at an end when Nero left Rome towards the end of 66. It had been continued by the Emperor after the people had become sick of it ; and when his personal influence was withdrawn, it can hardly have continued." Referring to the same period, Prof Mommsen says: "The huge proportions and the cruel features which this repression assumed in the worst years of this reign, form an exception to the general prepon- derance of toleration or, what comes to the same, of moderate perse- cution, which confirms the rule. This in my opinion continued under the Flavian dynasty." XXI. I Peter. 243 The subsidiary arguments which Prof. Ramsay adduces in favour of a later date than the reign of Nero {e.g. the symbolic use of the term " Babylon " and of the " Dispersion," the familiarity of the writer with James, Romans, and Ephesia7is, the organisation and intercommunica- tion of the Church in all parts of Asia Minor) have a certain degree of force, but are scarcely sufficient to outweigh the general probability in favour of the earlier date that is usually assigned to the epistle. Even if Prof. Ramsay's view be accepted, however, it is quite consistent (as he points out) with the Petrine authorship. (See above, p. 231, note 3.) CHAPTER XXII. 2 PETER — JUDE.l "THE SECOND EPISTLE GENERAL OF PETER." I. Author skip. The genuineness of this epistle has been more questioned than that of any other book in the New Testament.^ The external evidence for it is comparatively meagre. We seem to hear echoes of its language in some of the earliest post-apostolic works,^ but the first writer to make express and unmistakable mention of it is Origen (230 A.D,), and in one passage he does so in such a manner as to show that he has doubts about its genuineness.^ A century later it is classed by Eusebius among the disputed books of the New Testament.^ The difficulty of accepting it as a genuine writing of Peter has chiefly arisen both in ancient and in modern times from its differing so greatly in tone and substance 1 On the connection between these Eusebius that Clement of Alexandria two epistles, see pp. 253-4. wrote on " the Epistle of Jude and the 2 The question of genuineness really remaining Catholic Epistles." carries with it that of canonicity, as the •*" Peter . . . has left one epistle Epistle is written throughout in the generally accepted. Grant also a name and with the authority of the second, for it is a matter of question" apostle Peter, and would cease to have (d/x0i/3dXXeTai yap).—Euseb. vi. 25. any title to reverence if it could be 5 " 'I'hat which is in circulation as the proved to be a forgery. In this respect second of Peter, we have been given it stands on a different footing from the to understand is not canonical : (ovk Epistle to the Hebrews. iv5id6r]Kov), nevertheless as it appeared 3 Clement, Hernias, and Polycarp ; ^^^^^^ ^^ ^ -^ ^^^^ ^een diligently but with more certamty m later writers studied along with the other Scriptures " ofthe second and third centuries— VIZ., (;;;_ ^_ Against this statement of Melitoof Sardis,TheophilusofAntioch Eusebius, we may put the fact that the Hippolytus of Portus, Firmilian of gpigtie is contained in the two earliest C«.sareainCappadocia,andCIeme^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^.^ ^^ ^^ (^ fafrhe^r;;^ffnTfi^cama^^^ and B) which were probably written in sent so many different parts of Chrisren- Eusebius own lifetime, dom. We have it on the authority of XXII. Peter 245 from the First Epistle, written, as we have seen, near the close of Peter's life.^ There is scarcely any reference in it to our Saviour's sufferings or resurrection, which figure so largely in the First Epistle ; and what it chiefly inculcates is knowledge rather than hope. But, apart from the versatility of Peter's mind, this differ- ence in the character of the two Epistles may to a large extent be accounted for by the different circumstances under which they were written. While the First was evi- dently designed to encourage and support Christians under persecution, this later one was intended to warn them against false teachers who were spreading corruption in the Church. At the same time this epistle, like the First, is eminently practical, insisting on the necessity of Christian duty for the perfecting of Christian knowledge, emphasising the danger of knowledge without practice, and giving a practical turn to the argument- Moreover, amid the general difference of style,^ a close examination of the language 1 Referring to the twu Epistles of Peter, Jerome (De. V. I. i. ) says: quarum secunda a plerisque ejus esse negatur propter styli cum priore dissonantiam ("the second of which is held by a great many not to be his, owing to the want of harmony between its style and that of the first"). Jerome thought the difference might be ac- counted for by Peter's having had the assistance of two different interpreters ; and similarly Calvin and Erasmus re- garded the peculiarities of this Epistle as due to its having been written, not by Peter himself, but by one of his disciples under his directions. 2 i. 5-1 1 : "Yea, and for this very cause adding on your part all diligence, in your faith supply virtue ; and in your virtue knowledge ; and in your know- ledge temperance ; and in your temper- ance patience ; and in your patience godliness ; and in your godliness love of the brethren ; and in your love of the brethren love. For if these things are yours and abound, they make you to be not idle nor unfruitful unto the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he that lacketh these things is blind, seeing only what is near, having forgotten the cleansing from his old sins. Wherefore, brethren, give the more diligence to make your calling and election sure : for if ye do these things, ye shall never stumble : for thus shall be richly supplied unto you the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ " ; ii. 20, 21: "For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome, the last state is become worse with them than the first. For it were better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy command- ment delivered unlo them " ; iii. II, 14: "Seeing that these things are thus all to be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy living and godliness, . . . Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for these things, give dili- gence that ye may be found in peace, without spot and blameless in his sight." ■' Dr Salmon mentions five features in which this epistle differs from the First : (i) Repetition of words and phrases, e.g. "grant" (5(xipeo/j.ai), i. 3, 4; "destruction" (ctTrwXeia), ii. i, 3; iii. 7, 16; "right" or "righteous" 246 New Testament and Its Writers. XXII. and thought in this Epistle brings out many points of resemblance between it and Peter s la^igtiage elsewhere. A likeness to the First Epistle will be found on a comparison of the undernoted passages.^ It may also be seen in the (Sf/caios), i. 13; ii. 7, 8. (2) Rarity of such connecting particles as IVa, firt, o^v, (lev, (3) A different formation of subordinate clauses, by the use of the preposition ev and a substantive {e.g. TTJs iv iwidvixlq. 49 Epistle, — the reference, in this case, being probably to his Lord's injunction: "when once thou hast turned again, stablish thy brethren." ^ 2. The Readers. This epistle bears to be addressed to the same readers as the First.^ 3. Date and Place of Composition. We may regard it as certain that it was written before the destruction of Jerusalem. Otherwise such an impres- sive instance of divine judgment could scarcely have been left unnoticed in alluding to the retributive justice of Gcd.^ At the same time the errors and dangers described in this epistle, which bear a strong resemblance, in some respects, to those referred to in the Pastoral Epistles, prove that it could not have been written much sooner than 70 A-D."* The allusion to Paul's epistles as known to his readers ^ leads to the same conclusion, as does also the frequency of the expression " put in remem- 1 Luke xxii. 32 {aryipiaov). cf. 2 Peter i. 12: "Wherefore I shall be ready always to put you in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and are established in the truth which is with you"; iii. 16, 17: "... wherein are some things hard to be understood, which the ignorant and misted fast wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. . . . beware lest, being carried away with the error of the ^vicked, ye fall from your own stedfast- 71 ess." 2 iii. i: "This is now, beloved, the second epistle that I write unto you " ; ef. i. 16, which seems to imply that the writer had himself preached to them ; and iii. 15, which assumes an acquaint- ance with Paul's Epistles. 3 It follows from this that, if the First Epistle was not written till after 70 A. D. , this epistle must be a forgery. ■* Cf. i. 16, I Tim. i. 4, iv. 7 ; ii. 3, I Tim. vi. 5, Tit. i. 11 ; ii. 10, 2 Tim, iii. 1-4. •'' iii. 15, 16: "And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation ; even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote unto you ; as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things ; wherein are some things hard to be understood, which the ignorant and unstedfast wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction." The terms in which -St. Paul is here referred to bear the stamp of the apostolic age as compared, for example, with the language of Polycarp, when he alludes to ' ' the wisdom of the blessed and glorious Paul." Similarly, a comparison of 2 Peter ii. 15 with Rev. ii. 14, 15 (where the offenders referred to are definitely styled " Nicolaitans") betokens the earlier date of the Epistle. Perhaps " the way of the truth " (ii. 2 : ' ' by reason of whom the way of the truth shall be evil spoken of" ; cf. vers. 15, 21), which resembles so closely ex- pressions in the Book of Acts {e.g. xix. 9 : " But wlien some were hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way before the multitude") may also be regarded in a similar light. On the other hand, it must be admitted that the manner in which the epistles of Paul 250 New Testament and Its Writers. xxii. brance " and kindred words, which indicate an advanced period in the apostolic age, as well as in the life of Peter — assuming that he was the writer.^ Like the First Epistle, this was probably written from Rome; but the use of the apostle's Hebrew name of Symeon, in the opening verse (R.V. margin), as well as the connec- tion of this epistle with that of Jude, would seem to indicate a Palestinian influence of some sort, possibly in the person of Peter's amanuensis or secretary. {Cf. p. 245, note i.) 4. Character and Contents. This epistle, unlike the First, is full of denunciation and warning. It was designed to put its readers on their guard against false teachers, who were " enticing unstedfast souls," " promising them liberty, while they themselves are bond- servants of corruption." ^ In opposition to their immoral doctrines it inculcates a steady and persevering endeavour after holiness as the only way to advance in true know- ledge and secure an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.^ In particular, the writer seeks to confute the arguments and counteract the influence of certain scoffers who made light of the Second Coming, as if it were a vain delusion, and appealed to the constancy of Nature as a warrant for their unbelief.* The delay of the divine judgment the writer attributes to the fact that " one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day," alleging the delay to be a proof of God's mercy and long-suflering. The destruc- tion of the world in the days of Noah is cited as an act of divine judgment analogous to that which is to take place at the end of the world, when the destroying element, however, shall be not water but fire. From the dread catastrophe there shall arise " new heavens and a new are referred to in the above passage, ^ i. 12, 13, 15; iii. i, 2. as if they were on a le\el with ' ' the ^ Chap. ii. other scriptures" (rds XotTrds ypa