il eal vb at ehh RRL NI ith si {0 Hh Hh Wie bem Hae Ht ai Ha Winey Mid in ἥν ἢ Ἢ Ἂν Mee ΠΝ ish ih Mi ἀπ νῶι ane Baio Aes Sar ει δ νυν ΜΝ ΠΡ ΠΝ ΗΝ Μὴ "ἡ ἴ 3, τ ἦι ΠΝ ΥΝΉΧῚ ΠΝ Nay ἊΝ ͵ ὯΝ ὌΝ, ᾿ Rn iH roby StH i τῶν ΡΝ ᾿ ΠΥ τιν a iat ea a was! - ᾿ may i ΗΝ ἮΝ ἢ ΙΝ Ke "ἢ vit, iY νι f wr py Cbg ie ᾿ ΠΝ ἯΝ ΜΠ] u ῃ ay aH ing Ἢ ἡ i ὶ ; M i Li i rah Ae A a τ ἣν oe See eh ἡ th ΜῊΝ thy ἢ ἢ ait aay ae ΤῊΝ ᾿ ' ! ᾿ ' Se S | ᾿ ᾿ ithe ) har Pua ey Pea | \} ἮΝ ΠΝ ae ἌΝ ΝΉΗ ἡ WTAE ᾿ nt bait δ He Wet H} vy Hit ἘΠΕ Ve Ver ety ἢ Wah ig A CMAP EN She MC TNOR BA She ἢ Νὴ δι ἮΝ POAC EN Ne Pen ἐν HH Ni oe cee ae Het ᾿ ea gan we sith pan ian or) chi ; ‘ i 3 19 “ἢ ya ppt pit ried ἢ hi ΠΝ Ἢ i ah pea ee ΔῊ ΟΝ Hh uy tain Sate cf RNY) , IME i) rate ity wks ᾿ ἽΝ ‘ ἡ Ἦν 3 Bin yea Ain i ΠΝ Wala AN bio ἮΝ ὶ ἮΝ Aish ¥ Hi MICA WD ats Nas ‘yeh ela AS tl ἔπι Hs se Blea ath aI a aaah , if i hs wen 7 Ἢ τ +) ὯΝ oS fhe ale ce +) \ , ἡ ΑΝ, i Ha Pn) a τῶν tye ἫΝ ἥδ ΠΟ eae Hn au ade HARM fy! ΜῊ ᾽ ) ΠΝ ΤῊ hy . Asay» 5 ΗΝ TAR a gad ᾿ nd i ss) ἮΝ Hit ΗΝ ies May Sia ‘ i ANA anaes PEROT AH NY ep mie Ik Ἢ White sprouans Pati Aaa San she a he RUT ANY Tread oa argh Hy h i » bade tel tl ea) i ihe Fel ἡ ἐν re ἮΝ Pat eH ἢ ΤΉΝ, ry [ ΠΣ inte see yedtid IES ; j ih Mat Js AIM aan deaga ἶ Penh ti ati pHs ἫΝ ἭΝ ΜΉΝ § iat ᾿ Ἢ uy : ΔΝ ΐ a τ ἮΝ r tite WAH eH [ἢ seh i) ΜΝ ΜΝ Pada Wh ΤῊΣ ΜῊΝ vel ΜΉΝ Μ MAI A ἡ ᾿ pape sents bal a SOARS LRT Patt ae fault Ἧ Pah patos of ah Boia ἢ i ἯΙ ΜΠ} ΠΥ Hit ce AAs Liat PH alsa oe Pages te WL 6 4 pas ἬΝ i) ha! Δ ΠΝ ᾿ yp Ae nie ah ἐμ) ; Vath Η ΠΝ ΗΝ at aD ee | ROE a Heh i ΡΥ; ait iv ibd Ἷ ; al NTE VA me OWE ) +My Ay Ur i aa me rere ΓΗ West jhda) viet ἘΠ] ibd j bility. Ἡ ΗΝ τῇ oe ᾿ Pitt ie 1 ity "ἡ aH if Hie ert Th ἢ ΡΝ perry ii rai) ath) ie ἜΝ ¥ Peart ith "ἢ "πη coe ἮΝ δ is aE yeah ay Ἢ RAN tat Ἢ PAOLA aa Lid Flats ΠΝ, in MA Υ ΓΝ yy 29 ER 4 4 Ain Bi Ye ἡ bs payed) A bry FH ἢ ΤΉΝ ii ; i Sareea eta ΜΥ ἜΤ Peet tne ϑὲ k My ; } ' Watts het asds ΠΝ ; { es “ ἡ ὅν aw Midi) pay i ΝΗ i ΠΡ "δὴ ΠΝ 44 rie Ie Vemeng Dads , a ᾿ 4, ip, ἜΜ 1 eed oy ogi be ; Nate id i at ts ΠῚ hee ‘ ὝΛΗ ΔΗ} 3 ᾿ ΜΝ Need inion ise! ΠῚ δ ΔῊ δι). ΠΗ ἥ ἀμὴν ὍΝ gtd ara Wet (ie te ΤΩΝ ΠΗ ; “BS 2505 .854 1920 Smith, David, 1866-1932. The life and letters of St; Paul 1% , - Ἰ ck ive Ἀγ ae ἄν ΑΝ ὦ ee iad enn ‘ t ᾿ ‘ ἂν ΠΝ a Ἂν, THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF Bi: PAUL BY THE REV. DAVID SMITH, M.A., D.D. PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY IN THE M‘CREA MAGEE COLLEGE, LONDONDERRY Author of “In the Days of His Flesh,’’ ‘‘Man’s Need of God,”’ etc. THE PREPARATION FOR THE GOSPEL Our Blessed Lord, though He was a Jew after the flesh and Universal lived and died in the little land of Palestine, was the Saviour ¢¢stnat" of the World ; and His latest charge to His Apostles was that Gospel. they should ‘ go and make disciples of all the nations’ and Mt. xxviii, be His witnesses ‘ unto the uttermost part of the earth.’ It /9; “° was a stupendous enterprise, and might seem impossible for that feeble band; but it is an impressive fact, a signal evi- dence of the overruling providence of Almighty God, that the antecedent history of mankind had been nothing else than a preparation for the work. The storms which for Providen- centuries had swept the earth, fraught, as it appeared, with can disaster and leaving confusion in their train, had opened a way for the Gospel and facilitated its progress and diffusion. The first of those providential preparations was the dis- 1. The persion of the Jewish people. bene This movement began as early as the eighth century B.C. cf. Jo. vii. with the transportation of multitudes of the people to the 35’ lowe far East by the Assyrian invaders; and it continued during i τ: the ensuing centuries, sometimes perforce, as when Pompey carried his Jewish captives to Rome in the year 63 B.c., but more and more by voluntary emigration. In the days of Jeremiah a band of Judzans made insurrection against the governor whom the King of Babylon had set over their lee xli- devastated land; and, dreading vengeance, the unhappy r remnant of the nation migrated southward and settled in Egypt. Subsequently, under the Greek domination, the foundation of new cities and the privileges offered to immi- grants attracted adventurous Jews, and the tide of colonists flowed in ever increasing volume to Syria and Egypt, and then to Asia Minor, and westward to Greece, Italy, and Spain. 1 Cf. Schiirer, Zhe Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ, τι. th pp. 220 ff. Its extent. Ac. li“g*11, Its magni- tude, 4) LIBRE AND LEDER SHOP Sd (PA ae Hence it came to pass that by the beginning of the Christian era the Jewish Dispersion had covered the world, harbouring chiefly in the busy centres of commerce. Its extent appears from the enumeration of the countries represented by the worshippers who had come to the Feast and witnessed the wonders that followed the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost—Parthia, Media, Elam, and Mesopo- tamia in the East ; Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia in Asia Minor; Arabia, Egypt, and Cyrenaica in the South; and Crete and Rome in the West. This is no exaggeration. The geographer Strabo 1 had already affirmed that the Jews ‘had invaded every city, and it was not easy to find a place in the world which had not received that race and was not mastered by it.’ And, in his letter to the Emperor | Caligula, Agrippa mentions Jewish colonies in Egypt, Phee- nicia, Coele-Syria, Pamphylia, and most of Asia Minor as far as Bithynia and Pontus; also in Europe—Thessaly, Beeotia, Macedonia, Anatolia, Attica, Argos, Corinth, and the most and best parts of the Peloponnesus ; and, moreover, in the principal islands—Eubcoea, Cyprus, and Crete.2. The evidence remains to this day in the monuments of Jewish life and worship—inscriptions, ostraca, and papyri—which are con- tinually being brought to light in all the countries surround- ing the basin of the Mediterranean. The Jewish colonies were not only numerous but large. In the vague but expressive phrase of the historian, there were ‘infinite myriads’ of Jews beyond the Euphrates: ‘ their number could not be ascertained’;* and in the city of Damascus no fewer than ten thousand perished in a massacre during the reign of Nero.4’ Alexandria, the Egyptian capital, was mapped out into five divisions, distinguished by the first five letters of the alphabet ; and of these two were designated * Jewish’ since their inhabitants were mainly Jews. There was, moreover, a considerable Jewish admixture in the other divisions ; and the total Jewish population of Egypt amounted to no less than a million.® Italy also had its Jewish colonies. ® Quoted in Jos. Ant. xiv. vii. 2. 3 Phil. Leg. ad Catum, 36. ® Jos. Ant. XI. v. 2. * De Bell. Jud. τι. xx. 2. In Vu. viii. 7 the number is put at 18,000. ® Phil. Zn Frace. 6, 8. Poe PREPARATION: FOR THE'GOSPEL 5 The chief of these was at Rome. Its nucleus was Pompey’s © captive settlement, whence probably the imperial city de- rived her apocalyptic title of ‘ Babylon’; and it is an indica- tion of its growth that in the year 6 B.c., when a Jewish embassy visited Rome to sue for autonomy, it was received on its arrival by over eight thousand resident Jews.? Those Hellenists, as the Jews of the Dispersion were styled,? Loyalty of remained true to their ancestral faith in the countries of their )cn's*s adoption. They made frequent pilgrimages to Jerusalem, adopted and at the great festivals the sacred capital was thronged with worshippers from afar; * and they paid their annual tribute to the Temple, entrusting it to men of good repute appointed in almost every town to receive it and convey it to its destination. None the less were they loyal to their own communities. They accounted the Holy City as their metropolis, but the countries where their lot was cast and where they had been born and nurtured, they regarded as their fatherlands,® mindful of the ancient prophet’s counsel Jer. xxix.7. to the Babylonian exiles: ‘ Seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray unto the Lord for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.’ ® And thus it came to pass that they exerted a potent influ- Literary ence in the countries of their adoption, and won multitudes 37ainet the of the heathen to their faith. This may indeed seem surpris- Jews. ing in view of the prevailing sentiment of the pagan literature of the period. Cicero terms the Jewish religion ‘a barbarous superstition’;’ and grave historians impute horrible ini- quities to ‘the filthy race,’ charging them not merely with cr. Ex sloth inasmuch as they did no work each seventh day and ἔτ᾿ tw. devoted each seventh year to idleness, but with the practice **v- 35 of ridiculous and monstrous rites—the worship of an ass’s head, and the annual sacrifice of a Gentile stranger. And 1 Jos. Ant. xvii. xi. 1; De Bell. Jud. τι. vi. 1. 2) Giep.038- * On the basis of the lambs offered it was estimated that the worshippers at the Passover of A.D. 66 numbered 2,700,200 (Jos. De Bell. Jud. vi. ix. 3). 4 Phil. De Monarch. ii. 3. On the enormous tribute of Laodiceia; cf. p. 540. 5 Phil. De Flacc. 7. 5. Cf. the maxim of Bias (Diog. Laert. 1. 85). 7 Pro Flacc. 28. ® Tac. Hist. v. 4, 8. Jos. Contra Apion. 11. 7 £.; ef. quotation in Suidas (under Δαμόκριτος) from Damocritus the historian’s work ‘On the Jews.’ The charge of worshipping an ass’s head was transferred to the Christians, who were Cf, 7: ΤᾺ, ii. 15. An unwit- ting tribute. Successful prosely- tism. Cf. Ac. xili. 50; xvii. 4. 6 (LIBE AND LETTERS OF ST PAU the Roman satirist not only makes merry over their abhor- rence of swine’s flesh but, like Tacitus, accuses them of hatred of the rest of mankind.! All this, however, represents merely the sentiment of the cultured classes ; and they knew Judaism only by common report and naturally despised it as an alien thing, the creed of a turbulent race in frequent in- surrection against the imperial rule. In truth their animosity was an unwitting tribute ; for it was provoked, as they betray in the midst of their revilings,? by the successful proselytism of the Jews. “Among the masses,’ says the Jewish his- torian,® ‘there has long been much zeal for our religion ; nor is there any city, Greek or barbarian, nor a single nation where the custom of our seventh day of rest from labour has not come into vogue ; and the fasts and the lamp-lightings * and many of our prohibitions regarding food are observed.’ Nor is this a mere patriotic boast. ‘So far,’ says the philo- sopher Seneca,° ‘ has the usage of the accursed race prevailed that it is now received throughout all lands: the conquered have given laws to the conquerors.’ And in the reign of Honorius (A.D. 395-423) the poet Claudius Rutilius Numati- anus actually wished that Judea had never been subdued by Pompey and Titus; for then the pestilence would not have spread so widely, and the conquered nation would not have oppressed its conquerors. Women were especially impres- sionable, and it is recorded that in the time of Nero the women of Damascus were all, with a few exceptions, captivated by the Jewish religion.’ It appealed mainly indeed, as Josephus observes, to the lower orders ; yet it won not a few ladies of rank even in the imperial capital, like Fulvia, that Roman thence styled astnariz. Cf. Tert. Afol. xvi; Ad Nat. 1. xiv; Min. Fel. Oct1x) 3h 1 Juv. vi. 160, xiv. 98 ff. Tac. Ast. v. 5. Cf. Jos. Contra Aptom. 11. 10. * Cf. Tac, αὐτο W.(5's\ Hor. Sat. ti tm, Τὴ ἢν 3 Jos. Contra Apion. 11. 39. 4 Ex. xxxv. 3. Cf. Sen. Zfzs¢. xev; Pers. v. 179-84, * In Aug. De Civit. Det, vi. xi. 4 Jtinerar. 395-8: ‘Atque utinam nunquam Judea subacta fuisset Pompeii bellis imperioque Titi ! Latius excisae pestis contagia serpunt, Victoresque suos natio victa premit.’ ¥ Jos, De Bell. Jud. τι. xx. 2. THE PREPARATION FOR’ THE GOSPEL ὦν lady whose pious generosity was so grossly abused,! and Nero’s unhappy empress, Poppzea Sabina.?. Nor were there lacking men of exalted station who embraced the Jewish faith, like Ac. viii the chamberlain of Candace, the Queen of Ethiopia, Azizus, ve King of Emesa, and Polemo, King of Cilicia.* Thus widely were the Jewish people scattered abroad, and The | their dispersion served to facilitate the diffusion of Christianity. i sp P The heralds of the Gospel were themselves Jews, and their ™iv- mission, like their Lord’s, was not to overthrow the ancient cr. Mt. faith but to proclaim its fulfilment. It was no small advan- “ "7 _ tage that, wherever they went, they found an audience which Cf. Ac. could understand their message ; and in every town which ¥ij"¢' they visited, they repaired immediately to the Jewish syna- 45." gogue, and there preached the glad tidings. The Gospel was v3, 17; indeed a message of universal grace, but the providence of 23. κὰν ¢; God had prescribed the apostolic procedure— both to the Jew, aa 7 in the first instance, and to the Greek.’ Rom, i. 16, Another pathway had been opened by the Greek conquests.‘ 2. ἃ ee Not the least of the difficulties which missionaries in all ages language. have experienced, has lain in their ignorance of the native languages and the preliminary necessity of laboriously acquir- ing these ; and it has often been supposed that the Apostles were miraculously aided by ‘the gift of tongues,’ which enabled them, wherever they travelled, to preach in the language of their hearers.» The truth, however, is that the difficulty never confronted them. The ambition of Alex- ander the Great and his successors had been to weld the nations into one world by the universal imposition of Greek usages ; and it had been so far achieved that, save in remote regions where the new civilisation had never penetrated, the Greek language was the common speech of all the nations which environed the Mediterranean. The native languages did not indeed perish. Each country retained its own ver- nacular. Its people were bilingual: they understood the general lingua franca, but they clung to their mother-tongues and employed these among themselves, since they were dear 1 Cf. pp. 389f. ΒΊΟΝ p. τοῦ: Αι 0ε. ΠΣ xx. vi: Σ '9, * Cf. Legge, Forerunners and Rivals of Christianity, chap. 1 δ Cf. pp. 296 f. Ac. Xiv. 7-Ik. xxi. 37- xxii. 2. 3. The Roman Empire. Ss LIPE AND ΤΕ ΞΟ ST. Prue to their hearts and pleasant in their ears.1 Thus the people of Lystra understood the Apostles when the latter addressed them in the Common Greek; but when they witnessed the miracle of the healing of the cripple, in their surprise they lapsed into their vernacular and exclaimed to each other in Lycaonian : ‘ The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!’ The Common Greek was spoken also at Jerusalem ; but when Paul was beset by the mob, he addressed them in Aramaic, and the homely accents arrested their attention and calmed their frenzy. In Egypt, as the papyri which have recently been unearthed so strikingly demonstrate, the Greek language prevailed ; and it was spoken freely even at Rome.? Plutarch confesses that during his sojourn at the imperial capital in the reign of Trajan (A.D. 98-117) he was entirely ignorant of Latin and had no leisure to acquire it; yet he experienced no difficulty in conducting the negotiations which his native city of Chzronea had entrusted to him, or in dis- coursing on philosophy to the audiences which waited upon him.? In fact Rome, like the other cities of the period, was bilingual; and hence the Monumentum Ancyranum, the record of his achievements which the Emperor Augustus designed for erection before his mausoleum, was inscribed both in Latin and in Greek,* and Paul’s great encyclical on Justification by Faith, though specially destined for the Church at Rome, was written in Greek. Nor should it be forgotten how much the imperial constitu- tion furthered the progress of the Gospel. It was a magnifi- cent organisation, created largely by the statesmanship of the Emperor Augustus.® He is reported to have boasted that he had found Rome a city of bricks and he left it a city of 1 Cf. Hieronym. Proem., Comment. Lib. 17 in Epist. ad Gal.: ‘Galatas excepto sermone Greco, quo omnis Oriens loquitur, propriam linguam eandem pene habere quam Treviros, nec referre si aliqua exinde corruperint.’ 3 The grafitt chalked on the walls in execration of Nero’s crimes were in some cases Greek epigrams (cf. Suet. Wer. 39). Cf. Juv. iii. 60f. 3 Demosth. ii. 2. 4 Suet. Aug. 101: ‘indicem rerum a se gestarum, quem vellet incidi in aeneis tabulis que ante Mausoleum statuerentur.’ Cf. Lewin, Fas¢z Sacri, pp. 377 ff. ; Schtirer, 1. i. p. 115. On the Κοινή cf. Moulton, Gramm. of N. 7. Gk., vol. 1; Deissmann, Light from the Ancient East; Milligan, Greek Papyri and N. 7. Documents, 11. : * Cf. Tac. Ann. 1. 9. THE PREPARATION FOR THE GOSPEL 9 marble ;! but that was in truth the least of his achievements. His influence reached far beyond the capital and transformed the world. The triumph of the Roman arms had established ‘the Roman Peace ’2—a priceless benefit even to the con- quered races which lamented the loss of their independence and chafed under the imperial yoke. Brigandage and piracy had been suppressed, and in the remotest wilds life and pro- perty were secure.* Civilisation was advanced ; commerce flourished ; and in its peaceful rivalry ancient hostilities were forgotten. The Empire was the world, and it was all interlinked.‘ From the capital to the farthest frontier ran the Roman roads, those triumphs of engineering skill which have outlasted the decay of nigh two thousand years. Constructed originally for the transit of troops, they served afterwards the happier uses of civilisation and rendered travel easy, uniting the sundered nations and reconciling their estrangement. Asia Minor was traversed from west to east by the great trade route from Ephesus to the Euphrates, and lesser highways intersected the country in every direction ; while the famous Egnatian Road stretched from Dyrrachium on the Adriatic through Illyricum, Macedonia, and Thrace to the Hellespont, marked so far as Cypsela on the Hebrus with milestones and measuring thither five hundred and thirty Roman miles.® The sea too, cleared of pirates, was a highway betwixt the nations, and, save in the winter season when navigation was suspended,’ ships laden with merchandise and passengers were 1 Suet. Aug. 28. 3 Cf. Sen. De Prov. tv. 14; De Clem. 1. i. 2, iv. 2; Plin. Nat. Hest. ἜΧΟΙ 1; Tac. dun. XII. 33. 3 In the reign of Tiberius Strabo (756) spoke of the happy change which the - Roman administration had recently effected by putting down the brigands who had formerly sallied from their fastnesses among the mountains of Arabia and Itursea near Damascus and plundered merchants from Arabia Felix. And Apollonius of Tyana (cf. Vit. 1. 20) realised the value of Roman civilisation when he passed beyond its limits, “Cr, Tac. Ann. i. 9. , * The Latin phrase was not to ‘construct’ but to ‘fortify a road,’ tam munire (cf. Suet. Aug. 30). * Strabo, 322; Cic. De Prov. Cons. ii.: ‘via illa nostra, que per Mace- doniam est ad Hellespontum, militaris.’ Cf. Tafel, Via Afshit. Rom. Hgn, 7 Cf. Append. I, p. 648. Remana Pax. Roman roads, Roman Law. Ac. xviii. 12-16; xix. 35-41; Xxi. Eph. ii. 19. ' 4. Decay of pagan religion. το. LIFE. AND \LETTERS/ON ΞΕ continually plying to and fro among the numerous and busy ~ ports on the coasts and islands of the Mediterranean. Still more advantageous was the protection which the august authority of Roman Law afforded the heralds of the Gospel.t. Again and again its strong and impartial hand interposed between Paul and the fury of the populace, pagan and Jewish alike; and it is no wonder that he accounted it ‘a beneficent ordinance of God and charged the Christians to revere it. He recognised in the imperial order a bulwark which restrained the forces of iniquity and averted the im- pending cataclysm;? and it even seemed in his eyes an adumbration of the Heavenly Commonwealth. It constituted the supreme appeal of Christianity that, when it appeared, the pagan religions were dead. The ancient mythology was the basis of the Greek religion, and the poems of Homer and Hesiod were its sacred oracles.4 It sufficed for centuries, but the rise of philosophy discovered its irrationality ; and as early as the sixth century its an- thropomorphism was mercilessly ridiculed by Xenophanes, the founder of the Eleatic school. ‘ All things unto the gods have Homer and Hesiod ascribed, Whatsoever of men reproaches and blame are accounted, Thieving and fornication and cozening one of another.’ ὅ From generation to generation the untenability of the ancient religion was ever more clearly recognised ; and the situation towards the close of the pre-Christian era was defined by M. Terentius Varro, ‘ the acutest and most learned of man- kind.’ ® There were, he said, three kinds of theology—the mythic, the physical, and the civil. The first was the theology of the poets; and it was a tissue of grotesque and frequently immoral fables,.ascribing to the gods everything that belongs not merely to man but to man at his basest. The second was the theology of the philosophers, who traced all things to a natural origin. The first principle, according to Heraclitus, was fire; according to Pythagoras, numbers; according to 1 Cf. Tac. Anam. 1. 9: ‘jus apud cives, modestiam apud socios.’ SCE p. 175: 39 Cf. pp. 5125. 553}: * Cf. Herod. 11. 53. δ Sext. Empir. Adv. Math. ix. 193. Cf. Aégid. Menag. on Diog. Laert. ix. 18. * Aug. De Civ. Dei, vi. v. ff. THE PREPARATION FOR THE GOSPEL 11 Epicurus, atoms. Finally, there was the theology of the populace—the religious ceremonial decreed, regulated, and maintained by the State. ‘This is the kind of theology which the citizens and especially the priests are bound to know and administer ; which prescribes what gods, what rites and sacrifices it is right that every man should publicly worship and perform.’ Religion had gone, and only ritual remained. As Gibbon has it, ‘ the various modes of worship which pre- vailed in the Roman world were all considered by the people as equally true ; by the philosopher as equally false ; and by the magistrate as equally useful.’ The ancient faith was dead, but the religious instinct con- Quest for tinued indestructible in the human heart which was made for °°" God and is restless until it find rest in Him ;? and nothing in the annals of that period is more impressive than the con- fessions which earnest souls have left of their spiritual hunger and their quest for satisfaction. Not the least remarkable is the story of St. Justin Martyr, a pagan though a native of Palestine—how he sought rest successively in each of the philosophic schools, the Stoic, the Peripatetic, the Pytha- -gorean, and the Platonist, and sought it vainly, until at length he found it in Christ.® _ His was no singular experience. The world was crying ‘Nameless after God, and its religion, even where it was still believed, roa was unavailing. A striking evidence is furnished by the prevalent custom of erecting altars ‘to unknown gods.’ 4 (Οἵ, Ac. Its origin was generally explained by a curious legend.® In Ὁ 75 the sixth century, it was said, a pestilence had visited Athens, and it continued after the citizens had offered propitiatory sacrifices to all the gods they knew. In their despair they cr. Tit summoned the Cretan poet and prophet, Epimenides; and" ** he drove a flock of sheep, both black and white, to the Areio- 1 Decline and Fall, chap. ii. 3 Aug. Confess. i. 1: ‘Fecisti nos ad Te, et inquietum est cor nostrum, done¢ “requiescat in Te.’ *® Deal. cum Tryph., ad intt. * Philostr. Afoll. Tyan. vi. 8: ‘It is more prudent to speak well of δ gods, and that at Athens, where altars even of unknown deities have been set up.’ Paus. 1. 1. 43 Min. Fel. Oct. vi. 2; Luc. Phzlopatr. 9, 29. ἴ * Diog. Laert. i. 110. Cf. Isid. Pel. Zfzs¢. iv. 69, where two legends are ἡ mentioned. hy Ae] ‘ νη ΠΝ 12 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL | pagos, and suffered them to stray thence whither they would, and wherever each lay down it was sacrificed ‘ to the fitting god.’ The device proved efficacious, and thenceforward it was the fashion throughout the Greek world! to erect ‘nameless altars,’ bearing the dedication ‘to an unknown god’ or ‘ to unknown gods.’ Oriental It was a confession of the insufficiency of the existing re- SE REE ligion and the need of a larger revelation; and more and more the heart of the western world turned wistfully toward. the mystic faiths of the East as these came within its ken. The worship of Cybele, the Phrygian Mother of the Gods, prevailed in Greece as early as the close of the fifth century B.c., and passed into Rome during the Second Punic War ;? and other oriental cults soon followed, especially those of the Persian Mithras and the Egyptian Serapis and Isis. It would. indeed have been strange had Judaism alone of all the oriental faiths made no appeal to the eager heart of the West; and the fact is that there was no other save the Egyptian that found so much favour. At all events, when in the reign of Tiberius an unsuccessful attempt was made to repress the alien religions which had invaded the capital, it was against the Egyptian and the Jewish rites that it was directed.’ Attractive Its austere ethic and still more its lofty spirituality may joan indeed have repelled the pagan multitude, but those very bene characteristics commended the Jewish faith to souls of a nobler order which yearned for purity and shrank alike from the Greek deification of the human and from the Egyptian animal-worship.®. These welcomed the Jewish monotheism. It was an ideal which at once did no outrage to their intellects and afforded their hearts a satisfaction which they could not find in the cold abstractions of philosophy. Yet they did not for the most part embrace Judaism outright. The ceremonial Law was distasteful to them, and they would not ‘The submit to its rites. And so they remained uncircumcised. ie" They revered the One Living and True God and shared in 2 At Olympia (cf. Paus. v. xiv. 8); at Pergamos (cf. inscription discovered ip 1910 and described by Deissmann, S¢. Paul, pp. 262 ff.). : 2° Cf Liv. xxix: 11, 14); Ovid) Pasty iv01794. Juve 1: 1370. 5. Cf. Tac. Ann. 11. 85; Suet. 77d. 36; Jos. Amt. XVIII. ill. 4. S Juv. xiv. 97; δὲ. Tac. ii. γ. 5. * Cf. Strabo, 760f. ih PREPARATIONIFOR THE GOSPEL ‘13 the worship of Synagogue and Temple, and were frequently conspicuous, like the centurion of Capernaum and that other Lx. vii. 4, centurion, Cornelius of Cesarea, for the lavish generosity of ° their offerings.1 But they did not profess themselves Jews, and they were distinguished from the proselytes by the titles of ‘ the God-fearing ’ and ‘ the devout.’ 3 These men represented a widespread tendency of the The period. They were seeking rest for their souls, and they ei found it after a sort in Judaism. But Judaism was insuffi- tunity. cient. It was only a temporary resting-place, a foretaste of a nobler satisfaction. And this is the deepest of all the providential preparations for the Gospel. The world was, if the phrase be pardonable, prospecting for a faith, and its unconscious prayer was answered by the advent of Christianity. // The world was thus ready for Christianity ; it was waiting The for the heralds of the Cross. But the heralds were tardy in ae i appearing. While their Lord was with them, the Apostles cr. mt. xv. had continually grieved Him by their slowness of heart and el ph their imperviousness to the ideals of His Kingdom ; and much 22, 23; xx of their dulness remained after His departure despite the x vil 34: illumination of the Holy Spirit. It is not a little remark- ** 75 able that for some four years they tarried in Judexa in apparent obliviousness of His farewell charge that they should “go and make disciples of all the nations’; and it was only the stern compulsion of a fierce persecution that drove them abroad. They were not indeed without excuse. The Lord had bidden them ‘ begin from Jerusalem,’ and it was needful Lk. xxiv. that the Church should be securely established at the centre *” ere she extended her borders. But the situation presented a gaver aspect. The Apostles were not only slow in girding themselves to their mission but they entertained a poor conception of the message which had been entrusted to them. When the persecution was over, Peter went forth on a mission, Stet » 32-Xi. al Ac. X. I-4. 1 Cf. Jos. Ant. xiv. vii. 2; De Bell. Jud. vu. iii. 3. «8 οἱ φοβούμενοι τὸν Θεόν (cf. Ac. x. 2, 22; xiii. 16, 26); οἱ σεβόμενοι τὸν Θεόν (ef. xviii. 7) or simply οἱ σεβόμενοι (cf. xiii. 50; xvii. 4, 17). * Their procrastination was justified in after days by a legend, ascribed te St. Peter, that the Lord had charged them to remain for twelve years at Jerusalem. Cf. Clem. Alex. Strom. vi. v. 43: μετὰ δώδεκα ἔτη ἐξέλθετε εἰς τὸν κόσμον, μή τις εἴπῃ, οὐκ ἠκούσαμεν. Eus. H. E. v. 38, Yaa ἪΝ ie The Church’s deliverer. 14 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL but it was confined within narrow limits. He never passed beyond the couifines of Palestine. His farthest reach was the Plain of Sharon with its cities of Lydda, Joppa, and Caesarea ; and it appears that he addressed himself exclusively to Jews, nor would he ever have thought of preaching to Gentiles had he not received an appeal from Cornelius the centurion of Czsarea. And Cornelius was not a mere Gentile. He was one of the ‘ God-fearing.’ Yet Peter’s action in receiving him and his friends into Christian fellowship and administer- ing to them the Sacrament of Baptism was chzllenged on his return to Jerusalem by a party of extremists.1_ His offence in their eyes was not that he had admitted Gentiles into the Church, but that he had admitted them uncircumcised. The Mosaic Law, they maintained, was permanently obligatory and its observance was necessary to salvation. | The thought of those ‘champions of circumcision’ was that Christianity was simply Judaism flus the confession of Jesus as the Christ, the promised Messiah ; and had they prevailed, - the Church would have degenerated into a mere Jewish sect. She would never have realised her universal mission or grasped her providential opportunities. The hope of the world lay in her emancipation from the past; and the mercy of God did not fail her in that perilous crisis. Out of the very heart of Judaism came a man of large vision and courageous spirit who broke her fetters and led her forth on her world-wide enterprise. And the story of the man and the deliverance which he wrought is now our high theme. ; 1 οἱ ἐκ περιτομῆς (xi. 2; cf. Gal. ii. 12), ‘the champions of circumcision,’ more precisely defined as tives τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς αἱρέσεως τῶν Φαρισαίων πεπιστευκότε: (χν. 5). | : : ~~? BOOK I SAUL OF TARSUS *T will bring the blind by a way that they know not; in paths that they know not will I lead them: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked places straight.’ The Prophet saiah, 14 ἐκ ane my or Vets ae eee Ree ᾿ ὁ. ey Fike HIS EARLY YEARS ‘He was makin’ himsell a’ the time ; but he didna ken maybe what he was about till years had passed.’—LOCKHART, Life of Scott, chap. vii. TARSUS was pronounced by the greatest of her sons ‘ no undis- Tarsus. tinguished city,’ and she merited the encomium.! She was the Ac. xxi. 39. metropolis of Cilicia and the western capital, as Antioch was the eastern, of the united Province of Syria-Cilicia. Her origin is lost in the mist of antiquity. According to the mytholo- gists, she had been founded by Triptolemus during the wander- ings of the Argives in quest of Io, and her name was derived from the wing (farsos) of Pegasus which had fallen there.# She stood, however, in no need of legendary glorification. She owed much to her natural situation, standing as she did πεν on a fair plain, bounded northward by the long range of situation Taurus and eastward by the ridge of Amanus. This spacious champaign was blessed with luxuriant fertility, albeit it bore one serious disadvantage inasmuch as it was subject to visitations of malaria by reason of its marshes and the sultri- ness of its climate. Across it flowed the river Cydnus which, issuing from the Taurus and pouring its rapid tide through a deep gorge, emerged close to the city and passed through her midst, occasioning an ill-natured jest which likened the citizens to water-fowl squatted by the stream.? Since Tarsus was only three-quarters of a mile from the sea, the course of the Cydnus was very short ; yet its stream was navigable, as was proved on one memorable occasion when it floated the gorgeous galley of Cleopatra on her coming from Egypt to Antony’s camp in Cilicia. Its waters, cold from the heart of the mountain, were accounted efficacious for the relief of 1 Cf. Strabo, 673-5. 2 Juv. iii. 118. * Philostr. AZoll. Tyan. i. 7. 4 Plut. “41,2. xxvi. Cf. Shakespeare’s magnificent description in Ant. and Cleop. τι. ii. 195-223. B 8 LIFE AND LETTERS Ost. Paws swellings of the joints and gouty affections in both men and cattle. . Her τ᾿ At. the. beginning of-the Christian era Tarsus was at the prospeY: height at once of her prosperity and of her fame. The former was \derived partly from the fertility of the neighbouring country and still more from the lucrative commerce which” she conducted through her port of Rhegma at the river-mouth. And she enjoyed a yet nobler celebrity. She was at that period alee the world’s principal seat of learning. ‘So deeply,’ writes the fame. geographer Strabo, ‘are the people there imbued with zeal for philosophy that they have surpassed Athens and Alex- andria and every other place that can be mentioned.’ And she possessed this proud distinction which Alexandria~alene shared—that her savants were all natives. Students flocked to her schools from other lands, but she had no need of alien teachers. On the contrary, she had no room for the multi- tude-of her learned sons, and she sent them abroad to en- lighten the world. ‘ Rome especially can learn the multi- tude of the city’s savants; for she is full of Tarsians and Alexandrians.’ πὶ This claim is demonstrated by the goodly array of her sons sons. Who had attained eminence in every field of intellectual activity. These included the Stoic philosophers Antipater, Archedamus, Nestor, Athenodorus Cordulio, Cato’s teacher, and Athenodorus the son of Sandon and the teacher of the Emperor Augustus; also Nestor the Academic, the teacher of Marcellus, the son of Augustus’ sister Octavia, and other philosophers; grammarians, too, like Artemidorus and Diodorus ; and poets, like Dionysius the tragedian.t The neighbouring seaport of Soli, though unenviably immortal- ised by the term ‘ solecism,’ 2 nevertheless produced not only Chrysippus, the Stoic philosopher, whose father, a native of Tarsus, had migrated thither, but the comic poet Philemon and the natural philosopher Aratus.* It is a mere inadvert- ence when Browning styles Aratus ‘a native of Tarsus’ ; but doubtless Aratus, and Chrysippus and Philemon too, would be educated there. And so was another of less happy 1 There was a schol of tragedy known as ‘the Tarsian’ (Diog. Laert. iv. 58). ® Diog. Laert. i. 51. ® Strabo, 671. 4 Cleon, prefatory note, HIS’ BARLY YEARS 19 fame—Apollonius of Tyana.1 At the age of fourteen his father brought him to Tarsus from his home in Cappadocia to study under the rhetorician Euthydemus, and it is perhaps no reproach to the city that his experience there dissatisfied the future charlatan. His complaint, curiously enough, was that the atmosphere of Tarsus was unfavourable to the study of philosophy, inasmuch as her people were luxurious and dissolute with an unpleasant propensity to scoffing and insol- ence. It is indeed probable that neither charge was ground- less ; for Tarsus was a wealthy city, and where there is wealth there is apt to be luxury, and the citizens of the neighbouring capital of Syrian Antioch were notorious for their scurrilous wit.2, Nevertheless the fact remains that Tarsus was a brilliant city ; and if it be true that his city’s reputation is the first condition of a man’s happiness,? it was no small advantage to be born and nurtured in her midst. But Tarsus had another son greater than all these. There The were many Jews in Cilicia, so many that they had a synagogue 3/2; at Jerusalem where they worshipped when they visited the Ac. vi. 9 Holy City not only to celebrate the Feasts but to prosecute their mercantile enterprises. The chief community of those Hellenists would naturally have its home in the busy capi- tal, and it included one household of repute. The father is His father unknown. His very name is unrecorded, and only a few hints of his character and career remain. These, however, are peculiarly suggestive. It appears from a confused and precarious tradition that he was a late arrival at Tarsus. He was a native of Gischala in northern Galilee, and he had A native of ἢ. been driven from his home by civil commotion, perhaps the “**"** wild insurrection which ensued upon the death of Herod the cr. Ac. Great in 4 B.c. and brought the avenging sword of Varus into “ 97: Galilee.*~-He-escaped.across the northern frontier with his wife and child, and found an asylum at Tarsus.® 1 Philostr. Apoll. Tyan. i. 7; cf. vi. 34. * CE: p. 67. ® A saying ascribed to Euripides: χρῆναι τῷ εὐδαίμονι πρῶτον ὑπάρξαι τὴν πόλιν εὐδόκιμον (Plut. Demosth. i. 1). 4 Cf. Schlirer, 1, ii. pp. 4. 5 This tradition is preserved by St. Jerome. Cf. Catal. Script. Eccl. (under Paulus Apostolus): ‘De tribu Benjamin et oppido Judee Gischalis fuit, quo a Romanis capto cum parentibus suis Tarsum Cilicize commigravit, a quibus ob studia legis missus Hierosolymam a Gamaliele viro doctissimo eruditus est.’ A Roman citizen. Ac, xxii. 28. Ac. xvi. 37, 38; xxii. 25, 28; XXV. 10-12. A true Rom. Xt. 1; so. LAPE AND LETTERS Ob St. Pav It appears from the education which he was able to give his son that he was, if not wealthy, at least well provided ; and he occupied an honourable station, since he possessed the hereditary distinction of the Roman citizenship. This was no empty adornment, inasmuch as it conferred the two- fold privilege of exemption from the degrading punishments of scourging and crucifixion, and the right of appeal to the Emperor’s tribunal. It was originally designed as a recog- nition of conspicuous merit ;! but more and more under the imperial régime it might be obtained by purchase, and thus its lustre was tarnished.2, A devout Jew, even had he possessed the means, would hardly have stooped to corruption; yet it is unlikely that one who had merited the distinction should have needed to flee into exile. He had probably inherited it; and it is a reasonable surmise that his father or grand- father had been one of the Jews whom Pompey had carried captive to Rome in B.c. 63, and there sold into slavery.’ Philo relates + that they were subsequently emancipated and invested with the Roman citizenship; and many of them returned to their native land. He possessed, however, a still more honourable distinction and bequeathed a still more precious heritage. He was an Israelite of blameless lineage. He was a son of Benjamin, that martial tribe which, little as it was, had borne itself so gallantly on the battlefields of old. And he represented the noblest type of Jewish piety. He was a zealous adherent of the sect of the Pharisees which, despite too frequent intoler- Comment. on Philem. 23: ‘Talem fabulam accepimus. Aiunt parentes Apostoli Pauli de Gyscalis regione fuisse Jude, et eos cum tota provincia Romana vastaretur manu et dispergerentur in orbe Judi, in Tarsum urbem Cilicize fuisse translatos, parentum conditionem adulescentulum Paulum secutum.’ There are here two errors: (1) Paul is said to have been born at Gischala, whereas on his own testimony (Ac. xxii. 3) he was born at Tarsus ; (2) the gross anachronism of assigning the capture of Gischala and the flight apparently to the final death- struggle with Rome in A.D. 70. It would perhaps be unfair to ascribe these glaring inaccuracies to St. Jerome’s habitual carelessness. He wrote during his long residence at Bethlehem (A.D. 386-420), and here, professedly, he is merely quoting the local tradition (talem fabulam accepimus). It was natural that the Palestinians should desire to make out that the great Apostle was their country- man. 1 Cf. Suet. Aug. 47; Jos. Vet. 76. 2 Cf. Ac. xxii. 28; Dio Cass. Ix. 17; Luc. Des. 40." * Ch. p. 3. 4 4d Cai. τι. 568f. HIS EARLY YEARS 21 ance and traditionalism, comprehended most that was godly and all that was patriotic in the later Judaism. He was a devout Jew, and in the city of his exile he was true to his fathers’ God and the traditions of their faith. His wife was like-minded. They had at least two children. His wife. One was a daughter ; and, if it be permissible to suppose that 4° *“"" she was the child whom they carried with them in their flight from Gischala, she was the elder. And they had also a son. Their son They called him Saul, that ancient Benjamite name; and Sj, since it signifies ‘ asked for,’ it may perhaps be inferred that 1, 2. he was their only son and was granted them after long desire. Like Samuel he was the child of many prayers; and ere: ob his birth his mother had consecrated him to the service of ¢ God.!_ It was the fashion in those days for a Jew to be called by two names—a Jewish name, which he bore among his own people, and another which he bore in his intercourse with the Gentile world.2, Sometimes the latter was a translation of the Jewish name, like Didymus, which is the Greek of Thomas, 40: ry τ : ‘the Twin,’ or Dorcas, which is the Greek of Tabitha, “4 Ὁ Gazelle’; sometimes it was quite distinct, like Mark, the Ac. xii, τα, Latin surname of John the cousin of Barnabas, though “3: generally it had some resemblance in sound, like the Latin es Laat Justus surnaming Joseph and Jesus. And thus those godly °° Jewish parents called their child Saul, and gave him also the Latin name of Paul, perhaps merely because of the assonance, His Gentile but it may be because the ancestor who had bequeathed them Pau, Ἐ the Roman citizenship, had been a freedman of the A‘milian house, where the cognomen of Paulus was common.® ae i. 15. 1 ἀφορίζειν (Gal. i. 15), ‘separate’ in the sense of ‘set apart,’ ‘consecrate.’ Cf. Ac. xiii. 2. ? Cf. Lightfoot, Hor. Hebr. p. 883 (on 1 Cor. i. 1). * Two other explanations of the double name have been suggested. (1) Since he is called Saul in Acts until his rencontre at Paphos before Sergius Paulus (xiii. 9), it has been supposed that he adopted the name of his distinguished con- vert, as Scipio after his conquest of Africa was styled ‘ Africanus’ and Metellus after his conquest of Crete ‘Creticus’ (Hieronym. Script. Eccl. ; Comment. on Phm. 1). So Aug. Confess. Ψ1Π. 4, and in modern times Beng., Baur, Mey. But the phrase Σαῦλος ὁ καὶ Παῦλος, ‘Saul who is also Paul,’ implies that he had borne the name all along. Had he only now assumed it, Luke would have written ‘Saul who was thenceforth (ἀπὸ τότε) Paul.’ (2) Paulus means ‘little,’ and Augustine (Serm. cclxxix. 5; De Spir. e¢ Litt. 12) supposes that the Apostle assumed it as ‘a name of humility’ (cf. 1 Cor. xv. 9). Perhaps he might rather 2. LIPE AND) LATPERS OP St 2A ‘iseduea- It was apparently in the year a.D. 1 that Saul was born,} an and he was thus some five years younger than our Blessed Lord.? Since that reference to her pious dedication of, her child is the sole mention which is made of his mother, it would seem that she died soon after his birth and he never knew her. But her gracious ambition was not frustrated. It was shared by her husband, and he devoted the child to the honourable career of a Rabbi, ‘ a teacher of Israel,’ and ordered his edu- Parental cation to thisend. He would faithfully perform his own part ion, κα the outset in obedience to that injunction which ranks as the eleventh of the six hundred and thirteen commandments of the Law in Maimonides’ Book of the Precepts : ‘ These words Dt. vi.6,7. which I command thee this day, shall be upon thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.’ rte, 4; Δἴ the age of six or seven ὃ the child would be sent to the the Book.’ elementary school. This was connected with the local synagogue, and since the manual of instruction was the Book of the Law, it was known as ‘ the House of the Book.’4 The Aramaic vernacular would be the language of his home, and Cf. Ac. xxi. he spoke it in after days as freely as a native of Palestine ; τὰν and he would learn also the ancient Hebrew, the original language of the Sacred Scriptures. But Greek was the language of a Hellenistic community, and it was the Septua- gint version of the Scriptures that the Jews of Tarsus em- The Law ployed.? It was the child’s lesson-book, and his lifelong pees" familiarity with it is evidenced by his practice of quoting from it in after years. For the first three or four years the have regarded it as a nickname bestowed on the Apostle by the scurrilous Antiochenes (cf. p. 67) during his sojourn among them. The fact is that both names were given him at his birth, and he dropped his Jewish and went by his Gentile name when he entered on his ministry as the Apostle of the Gentiles. 1 Cf. Append. I. 3 Cf. The Days of His Flesh, pp. 11 f * Cf. Schiirer, 11. ii. Ὁ. 49. * "5B n°3. * Cf. Schiirer, 1. ii, pp. 285 ff.; Swete, Zutrod. to O. 7. in Greek, pp. 369-80. ® Cf. Swete, 2b7d., pp. 389 ff., 400 ff. HIS EARLY YEARS 23 scholars in the House of the Book were instructed in the rudiments ; and then, at the age of ten, they were engaged in learning the Law,! and by reason of the scarcity of books in those days when they were transcribed by hand and the diffi- culty of manipulating the cumbrous rolls, the method was, as it still is in the unchanging East,? oral repetition (mishnah). Mishnah, The teacher read out each sentence, and the pupils recited it in chorus until they had it committed to memory. It was an effective method. One inestimable advantage of it was that every Jew’s mind was stored with Holy Writ, and the inaccessibility of the sacred volume thus mattered less. ‘ From the dawn of understanding,’ says the Jewish historian,® ‘we learn the laws by heart and have them, as it were, en- graved on our souls.’ It involved, however, obvious dis- advantages, not the least being that a Jewish writer was apt to trust to his memory ; and this is the main reason of the general laxity and frequent inaccuracy of New Testament quotations from the Old Testament. The education of a Jewish child was thus essentially re- Greek ligious. And it was exclusively Jewish. The Sacred Law ‘terat™ was the text-book, and heathen literature was ignored. In- deed it was execrated by the more rigid Pharisees. They had a saying: ‘ Cursed be he who feeds swine: and cursed be he who teaches his son Greek literature’ ; 4 and it is related of R. Judah the Holy that, being asked when a man should teach his son Greek literature, he replied : ‘ At an hour which belongs neither to the day nor to the night,’ since it was written : ‘ His delight is in the Law of the Lord; and in His Ps. i. 2 Law doth he meditate day and night.’*> This, however, was an extreme attitude; and though Saul was educated “ after Ac. xxvi. 5, the strictest sect of the Jewish religion,’ it is hardly likely that he was indoctrinated with so ungenerous a sentiment. 1 The curriculum of a child’s education from its commencement in the home until manhood was thus defined (Ado¢h, ν. 21, appendix): ‘At five years old he comes to the reading of Scripture, at ten to #¢shnakh, at thirteen to the practice of the commands, at fifteen to /a/mud (doctrine), at eighteen to marriage.’ Cf. Schiirer, 11. ii. p. 52. 2 Cf. Walter Tyndale, Am Artist in Egypt, p. 107. 3 Jos. Contra Apion., 11. 18. 4 Cf. J. H. Ottho, “72:2. Doct. Misn. pp. 68 ff, ® Cf. Wetstein on Ac. vi. I. ἂς. vii. 22. Ac. xvii. 16-34. Tv epara- tion for Rabbinate: (1) A trade. Ex. xxiii. 8; Dt. xvi. 19. aa LIFE AND LETTERS OF S17. PAUL His father was indeed a faithful Jew, but he was also a Romar citizen ; and even had he desired it, the intellectual isolation which was practicable at Jerusalem was impossible at Tarsus. He would not educate his son in Greek literature, but the atmosphere which he breathed would colour the lad’s mind ; and since he spoke Greek, there was no linguistic barrier. He may not indeed have been instructed in all the wisdom of the Greeks, as Moses was in that of the Egyptians; but in after days he exhibited in his writings a flavour especially of the Stoic philosophy,! and he could on occasion, as he proved in his speech before the Court of the Areiopagos, employ the in- tellectual mode of his day. Moreover, he was no stranger to Greek literature. He could quote to good purpose from the philosophers and the poets—his fellow-countryman Aratus, the philosophic poet Epimenides, and the comedian Menander.? On attaining his thirteenth year a Jewish boy became ‘a son of the commandment.’ 2 His childhood was over, and he left the House of the Book and began his preparation for his proper life-work. Saul had been devoted first by his parents’ gracious ambition and latterly by his own choice to the career of a Rabbi, but he did not immediately address himself to the sacred studies which were the appointed pathway to that high vocation. A Rabbi’s labours were gratuitous. He exacted no fees, and, like the ancient judges, received no 1 Cf. his use of Stoic terms like αὐτάρκεια (2 Cor. ix. 8; 1.Tim. vi. 6), αὐτάρκης (Phil. iv. 11), συνείδησις (Rom. ii. 15, ix. I, xili. 5; 1 Cor. vili. 7, 10, 12 ; etc.). 2 Τῇ Ac, xvii. 28 there are two quotations. (1) ἐν αὐτῷ γὰρ ζῶμεν καὶ κινούμεθα καὶ ἐσμέν, a line, as a Syriac fragment discovered by Dr. Rendel Harris (cf. Moulton, Religions and Religion, p. 45) proves, from Epimenides. To the same passage belongs the hexameter Κρῆτες ἀεὶ ψεῦσται, κακὰ θηρία, γαστέρες ἀργαί (Tit. i. 12). (2) τοῦ γὰρ καὶ γένος ἐσμέν, a fragment of a hexameter from the Phenomena of Aratus. Cf. Theoph. ad Autolyc. ττ. p. 86 D (ed. Sylburg.), where the beautiful passage is quoted at large. Again, the iambic trimeter φθείρουσιν ἤθη χρηστὰ ὁμιλίαι κακαί (1 Cor. xv. 33) belongs, according to Jerome (Comment. on Gal. iv. 24), tothe Tats of Menander. Socrates Scholasticus (iti. 10) ascribes it to Euripides, and possibly Menander borrowed it from the dramatist. There is here a corrective of the present-day disposition to regard the Apostle as ‘non-literary,’ belonging to ‘the artisan non-literary classes’ (cf. Deissmann, Light, pp. 238 ff. ; St. Paul, pp. 49 ff.). Much fairer is the judgment of Jerome. *Scisse autem Paulum, licet non ad perfectum, literas szculares ipsius verba test: antur. .. . Ex quibus et aliis evidens est Paulum non ignorasse literas seeculares.’ * Cf. Zhe Days of His Flesh, pp. 21. HIS EARLY YEARS 25 gifts. His ministry was his reward, his disciples were his crown. ‘He,’ said R. Hillel, ‘who serves himself with the crown of the Law perishes.” ‘Make not thy disciples,’ said R. Zadok, “ἃ crown, to win glory by them; nor an axe, to live by them.’! Hence it was necessary for a Rabbi to earn his livelihood, and he not only ‘laboured in the Law’ but en- gaged in some trade. R. Joseph was a miller; \R. Oschaja and R. Chanina were shoemakers ; R. Abba, R. Chanan, and R. Judah were tailors; another R. Judah was a baker and a third a perfumer ; ‘R. Meir, R. Nahum, and R. Nathan were clerks ; ΕΝ. Jochanan was a sandal-maker; R. Isaac was a smith ; R. Nehemiah was a potter ; R. Abin was a carpenter.? Nor was a Rabbi’s craft, however menial, reckoned a degrada- tion ; for, unlike the Greeks and Romans who accounted all trades ignoble and relegated them to slaves, the Jews esteemed honest work a sacred obligation. ‘Love work,’ said R. Shemaiah ; and it was a maxim that one who did not teach his son a trade taught him robbery. ‘ Excellent,’ said R. Gamaliel, the son of R. Judah ha-Nasi, ‘is the study of the Law together with worldly business, for the practice of them both puts iniquity out of remembrance ; and all Law without work must fail at length, and occasion iniquity.’ It was a noble ideal, yet it tended to abuse. It was a temptation for a Rabbi to become engrossed in his worldly business to the neglect of his sacred vocation; and the great masters were insistent in their warnings. ‘No one,’ said R. Hillel, ‘ that has much traffic is wise.’ ‘ Have little business,’ said R. Meir, ‘and be busied in the Law.’ Nor were there lacking Rabbis cr. Mk. who shamed their high office by covetous and rapacious 7}; *%' 4. exaction. Since Saul must earn his livelihood in after years, he was Tent- put to a trade when his schooldays were over. It was the ™™*'"& craft of tent-making ; and this was a natural choice, since it was a thriving industry at Tarsus. Cilicia abounded in goats, and their hair was woven into a stout fabric, called cilicium, which served for tent-curtains.* 1 Taylor, Sayings of the Fathers, τ. 14, 1V. 9. 3 Cf. Delitasch, Jewish Artisan Life, v. ᾿ § Taylor, ut supra, 1. 11; 11. 2, 63 IV. 14. * Plin. MW. H. vi. 32. Cf. Schiirer, 11. i. p. 44. 26 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL ay es At the age of fifteen! he left home to prosecute his ofinte- studies in the Rabbinical College—‘ the House of Inter- prevation. pretation’? as it was styled—at Jerusalem. It is no evidence of precocity that he began his college career so early. That was the age prescribed by Jewish usage, and it accorded with the narrow range of ancient education. It would seem that the age of pupilarity was even lower among the Greeks, since Apollonius of Tyana was but fourteen when, in A.D. 11, while Saul was still attending the House of the Book, he was brought to Tarsus by his father to study under Euthydemus.? John Knox was sixteen when he entered the University of Glasgow in 1521; John Calvin was four- teen when he entered the University of Paris in 1523; and Thomas Chalmers was only half-way through his twelfth year when he matriculated at St. Andrews in 1701. The Jewish There were many Rabbinical colleges. One, which silat enjoyed considerable reputation, met ‘in the vineyard at Jabneh’ ; and hence it has been inferred that ‘a vineyard’ was a poetic designation of a school of the wise. The meaning, however, is merely that, whereas a provincial college, like a Christian church in early days, usually assembled in a private house,* that at Jabneh, by reason of its numbers, had its meeting-place in a vineyard. The most celebrated Tk. ii, 48. of all was naturally the college at Jerusalem, and it met ε . . - Β teachers. Within the Temple precincts. The teachers were variously διχῶς Sti denominated. Their commonest designation was Rabbi. "~~ Rab meant ‘ master,’ and Rabbi ‘ my master,’ Monszeur; and a more honourable form was Rabban or Rabbon, Rabboni. Mt. xxiii, Other titles were ‘father’ (abba), ‘ teacher,’ ‘lawyers’ or 3s. ‘ teachers of the Law,’ ‘ scribes,’ that is, ‘ men of the Scrip- ture,’ ‘ the wise.’ In the class-room the Rabbi occupied an Ac. xxii. 3; elevated dais, and the disciples sat round him on the floor ; Ὧν KX Whence they were said to be ‘ educated at his feet’ and to “ powder themselves in the dust of the feet of the wise.’ ὃ Ce jew Their study was the Sacred Law in the large sense of the 34, xii. 34, term, including all the Jewish Scriptures—the Law, the Rom iii. Prophets, and the Hagiographa. The method was mudrash, 19. i MOF, p23; ni 1. *wI197 na. * Cf. Philostr. Vit. Apoll. 1. ἢ. 4 Taylor, ut supra, 1. de ® Cf. Schiirer, 11. i. pp. 325 ἔ. 9. Taylor, u¢ supra. moo HIS EARLY YEARS 27 ‘interpretation,’ the investigation of the sacred text ; and this comprehended halachah and haggadah. Halachah was the systematisation of the precepts of the Law, the definition, application, and reconciliation of the legal code; and it issued in a vast complexity of casuistical distinctions and vexatious restrictions. Haggadah, on the other hand, dealt with the historical and didactic portions of the Scriptures, elaborating and elucidating them by the aid of parable and legend. It pursued the method of allegorical exegesis, re- cognising in Scripture a fourfold meaning, denoted by the consonants of the word ‘ Paradise’: peshat, the simple or literal meaning ; vemaz, the suggested meaning ; derush, the meaning evolved by investigation; and sod, the mystic meaning.? J The Rabbinical theology was always subtle and often saul's fantastic ; and Saul’s training in the House of Interpretation ἐκ δία: at Jerusalem left an abiding imprint on his mind. He handled the Scriptures after the Rabbinical fashion, and instances abound in his writings. Thus his idea of therCor.x, smitten rock which followed the Israclites in their wilderness ** wanderings is a haggadic midrash; while its application to Christ and his sacramental interpretation of their immersion in the Red Sea and their overshadowing by the cloud and their eating of the manna are examples of Rabbinical allegorising. So also is his interpretation of Sarah and gar ἵν. 2s. Hagar, the free woman and the bond, and their children. 3* Again, his linguistically impossible argumentation that since the promise to Abraham speaks of his ‘ seed’ and not his iii, τό. ‘seeds,’ it refers not to his descendants, the Jewish people, but to Christ, is a characteristic example of Rabbinical dialectic, precisely similar to the argument that, since in the Lord’s remonstrance with Cain: ‘ the voice of thy brother’s Gen. ἵν. το, blood crieth unto me from the ground,’ the word ‘ blood’ is in Hebrew plural, the meaning is that in slaying Abel Cain had slain not only him but all his posterity.2, And thus in that argument with his Judaising converts of Galatia the 1 Of. Schurer, 11. i. pp. 306 ff. ; Robertson Smith, 0. 7. ex Jewish Church, Il. nabn (from 705, ‘go’) is properly ‘method,’ ‘rule’ directing one’s going. nan is ‘ narrative,’ ‘legend.’ Mish. Sanhed., τύ. & The influ- ence of Gamaliel. His toler- ance. Ac. v. 34- 4°. His prestige. 28. LIFE AND ΘΕ ΓΤ ΘΕ ST) PAUL Apostle, perhaps consciously, turned the weapons of his Judaistic adversaries against themselves. There was, however, a still deeper impression which his training in the House of Interpretation left on the mind of Saul. The glory of the College at that period was the celebrated Rabbi Gamaliel the Elder. He was a grandson of Hillel the Great, who had been distinguished by the gentleness of his disposition and the liberality of his senti- ments, presenting herein a marked contrast to his stern and rigid colleague, the Rabbi Shammai. ‘ A man,’ it is written in the Talmud, ‘ should be gentle like Hillel, and not irritable like Shammai’ ; and it is related by way of illustration that three Gentiles once visited the two Rabbis successively to discuss the Jewish faith, and afterwards they said: ‘ The irritability of Shammai sought to drive us from the world : the gentleness of Hillel brought us nigh under the wings of the Shekinah.’ 1 Gamaliel was Hillel’s kinsman no less after the spirit than after the flesh. He appears only once in the New Testament, and his behaviour on that occasion reveals his character. The Sanhedrin had arraigned the Apostles and was minded to put them to death; but Gamaliel interposed. ‘ Refrain from these men,’ he pleaded, ‘and let them alone; for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will be overthrown ; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. Perhaps you may be found even to be fighting against God.’ It is not surprising that the idea should have arisen that he was actually a Christian,? though this is a mere fable born of his truly Christian spirit. The legitimacy of studying Greek literature was one of the articles of controversy be- tween the schools of Hillel and Shammai, and Gamaliel maintained the liberal attitude. His son, the Rabbi Simon, is reported to have said that of the thousand young men who had studied in the House of Interpretation at Jerusalem in his father’s time, no fewer than one half had learned Greek wisdom.? Bitterly as he was regarded by the narrower sort of ® Taylor, ut supra, 1. 16, n. 33. 8 Cf. Epistola Luciani in Works of Augustine, V1. pp. 1126 ff. (Migne). 5 Cf. Wetstein on Ac, vi. I. HIS EARLY YEARS 29 Pharisees in his day, Gamaliel enjoyed the popular esteem. He was one of four Doctors of the Law who were accorded the honourable title of Rabban.1 And his memory was cherished and revered in after generations. A saying was current that ‘from the day when Rabban Gamaliel the Elder died, the glory of the Law ceased, and purity and abstinence died.’ 5 It was no small advantage to Saul that during the most His influ- impressionable period of his life he should have been sub- Sau. jected to the gracious influence of this wise and large-hearted teacher ; and in after years he gratefully acknowledged how ac. xxii. 3. much he owed to his ‘ education at the feet of Gamaliel.’ The profit, however, did not immediately appear.? A dark experience of moral and spiritual conflict lay before the young Rabbi; and in his quest after peace he was betrayed into wild excesses of cruel fanaticism. But the lessons which he had learned in the House of Interpretation were never obliterated from his soul, and they played no small part in his religious and intellectual emancipation. Despite the liberality of his sentiments Gamaliel was Saul’sRab- none the less a Pharisee, devoted to the Law and loyal to nine a the national traditions. Under his tuition Saul lost nothing "ss. of his early piety, and he left the Rabbinical College with a disciplined and furnished mind, well equipped for the office of ‘a teacher of Israel.’ Jerusalem was the chief home of ᾿ Rabbinical wisdom, but there were Rabbis not only in the cr. Lx. ν. provinces of the Holy Land but in the great Hellenistic *” communities. It is proved by inscriptions that there were Rabbis at Rome,‘ and there would be Rabbis also at Tarsus. It appears that his native city remained Saul’s home until he cr. Gal. i. broke with his old associations and entered on his career as a ὅτ᾽ Δ * Christian Apostle ; and it is probable that he betook himself thither on the completion of his college course, and exercised his ministry in the synagogue which had been the spiritual home of his childhood, plying at the same time his craft of tent-making. 1 Cf. Schiirer, 11. i. p. 316. 2 Taylor, ut supra, 1. 17, n. 35. * Hence Renan and others have regarded the connection between Gamaliel and Saul as a Lucan fiction. * Cf. Schiirer, 11. i. pp. 314, 319. 30 ΚΙ ΕΒ AND LEDTTERS OF (ST -PAuUL Thedutyof There is no explicit record of his employments during this marriage, 4 : : period; but one event it seems necessary to assume, nor is his own testimony lacking. Among the Jews eighteen was the proper age for marriage ;1 and marriage was accounted a sacred obligation. Its neglect was deemed at once a calamity and acrime. To go childless meant not only that, Dt. xxv.6; When the man died, ‘ his name was blotted out of Israel,’ 3 ΠΕΣ but that he slew his posterity and thus ‘lessened the image of God.’ Hence marriage was a religious ordinance; and the two hundred and thirteenth commandment in The~- Book of the Precepis is ‘to have a wife in purity’ in obedi- Gen. i, 28, ence to the Scripture, ‘ Be fruitful and multiply ’ ; wherefore Maimonides affirmed that if a man passed the age of twenty without marrying, unless it were that he might absolutely devote himself to the study of the Law, he transgressed a positive commandment.! It seems likely that Saul, a Saul's devout Jew and a strict Pharisee, would marry in due ma*8" course; and the inference is confirmed by the fact that he was subsequently enrolled in the high court of the Sanhedrin cf.Ac. and on at least one memorable occasion participated in its “Nw” judicial procedure. For it was required, among the qualifi- cations of a Sanhedrist, that he should be not only a married man but a father, inasmuch as one who was softened by domestic affection would be disposed to mercy in his judg- ments.°® abd ai It would thus appear that Saul not only married duly but had issue; and the presumption is borne out by his own testimony. It is indeed true that in the days of his apostolic Cf.x Cor. activities he would seem, on his own testimony, to have had ΠΣ no wife; and while recognising the legitimacy of marriage, he held it prudent, in view of the difficulties which then τ᾿ 1Cor. beset the Christians, that they should follow his example 1 Cf. p. 23, n. 1. Maimonides puts it at sixteen or seventeen. Cf. Lightfoot, Hor. Hebr., on 1 Cor. vii. 6. 2 Cf. Shem. Rabb. \xxiii. 1: ‘These four are reckoned as dead—the blind, the leper, the poor, and the childless.’ Lightfoot on Lk. ix. 60. 8 Jevamoth, \xiii. 2: ‘Whosoever doth not apply himself to begetting and multiplying is even as a homicide. It is as though he lessened the image of God.’ 4 Cf. Lightfoot on 1 Cor. vii. 6. 5 Sanhed. xxxvi. 2. Cf. Selden, De Synedr. 11. vii. 7. HIS EARLY YEARS 31 and shun domestic responsibilities and embarrassments. It does not follow, however, that he had never been married ; for his counsel to widows and widowers is that they should τ Cor. remain so, as he had done, and this is an express declaration ”" * of his condition. He had married after the Jewish fashion, but his wife was now deceased, and so also was her child,. and he had resolved to remain a widower. It is significant that one so affectionate should have maintained an almost unbroken silence regarding this mournful chapter of his life- story ; and in view of the sternness of his attitude toward Cf. τ Cor. . . ΧΙιν, ’ women it would seem as though there were here a hidden ἃ Tim’ i tragedy and a bitter memory.? TEED: Those meagre and somewhat precarious suggestions con- Pharisaic ἑ ἐδ τς ν χὰ ς method of stitute the sole surviving record of Saul’s Rabbinical career attaining at Tarsus. It was a period of some fifteen years, and it is με ες at no less obscure than the silent years which our Lord passed at Nazareth betwixt His visit to the House of Interpretation Ly ii. 41- at Jerusalem in A.D. 8, and His manifestation unto Israel in an A.D. 26. In truth, however, nothing vital is lost; for his real biography during those years is not the record of his outward life, but his inward experience, the working of his mind and soul. And this is plainly evident. He was a 1 His words are λέγω δὲ τοῖς ἀγάμοις καὶ ταῖς χήραις, ‘to widowers and widows.’ The masc. χῆρος (védus) was very rare, and its place was supplied by ἄγαμος. The latter term signified ‘unmarried,’ and denoted either one whose partner was lost (cf. vers. 11, 34) or one who had never been married. The former is certainly its meaning here. Cf. Euth. Zig.: “ ἀγάμους᾽ yap οὐ τοὺς παρθένους ἐνταῦθά φησιν, ἀλλὰ τοὺς ἀποβαλόντας ὁπωσδήποτε Tas γαμετάς. καὶ τοῦτο δῆλον ἀπὸ τῶν “χηρῶν;,᾽ ἃς τούτοις συνέταξεν. The Apostle deals first with widowers and widows (vers. 8, 9), and then with virgins, male and female (vers. 25-28). There are two traditions on this question. One affirms that he was married like the rest of the Apostles (cf. Ignatian £fzst. ad Philad. iv: Πέτρου καὶ ἸΤαύλου καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἀποστόλων τοῖς γάμοις προσομιλησάντων), but it is weakened by its appeal to the idea (cf. p. 519) that by γνήσιε σύν ζυγε (Phil. iv. 3) he means ‘ my true spouse.’ Cf. Clem. Alex. Strom. 111. vi. 53; Eus. 27. Z. 111. 30; Orig. Jn Epzst. ad Rom. Comment. 1. i. On the other hand Tertullian (De Monogam. 3) and Jerome (Zpist. xx11: Ad Eustochium de Custodia Virginitatis) represent him as unmarried ; but they were biassed by their celibate ideal. For the same reason their opinion prevailed in the medieval Church. Cf. Chaucer, Zhe Wife of Bath’s Prologue, 79: “1 woot wel, that th’ apostel was a mayde.’ ? Hence may perhaps have originated the Ebionite slander that the Apostle was not a Jew at all, but a Gentile who with the desire of marrying a priest’s daughter became a proselyte, and when she rejected him, turned against the Law. Cf. - Epiphan. xxx. 16. Mk. vii. 3. Its failure. Cf. Mt. xxiii. 25,26. t Ki. viii. 38. Mt. xix. 16-22. Saul's dis- covery of its insuffi- ciency. 32. LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL Pharisee ; and Pharisaism was in its essence a quest after righteousness. The problem was how a man could be righteous before God ; and the answer was: By keeping the Law and fulfilling His commandments. And thus religion was a scrupulous observance not merely of the written Law of Moses but of the unwritten law of the Scribes, that inter- minable code of ceremonial regulations and restrictions which was known as‘ the tradition of the Elders.’ It was a fatal method, and it issued inevitably either in self-righteousness or in despair. Unspiritual men were easily satisfied. When they had performed the prescribed routine of ablution, fasting, and the like, it seemed to them that they had fulfilled God’s requirements; and they boasted their perfect righteousness, like the Rabbi Chanina, of whom it is told that he thus challenged the Angel of Death : ‘ Bring hither the Book of the Law, and see whether there be aught written in it which I have not observed.’ } Righteousness was with such an affair of external observance ; and when they had cleansed the outside of the cup and the platter, it seemed to them that all was well though the inside remained foul. The majority were such, and they brought reproach on the whole order. There were, however, Pharisees of a nobler spirit. These had a vision of the infinite holiness of God and ‘ the plague of their own hearts’; and ceremonial observances could not satisfy them. They realised their inward estrangement from God, and yearned for reconciliation. They knew no other way than the keeping of the Law, and they addressed themselves to it with eager zeal ; but when they had done all, they remained unsatisfied. Like that young Pharisee in the Gospel-story they had performed every requirement of the Law, but they were still strangers to the peace of God. They had done everything which they knew, and it was insufficient ; and their cry was: ‘ What lack I yet τ᾿ And so it was with Saul of Tarsus. He began his career with unquestioning faith in the efficacy of the Pharisaic way of peace. And it is possible that he might have pursued it to the last without misgiving but for the shock of a stern awakening. In after days he wrote his own spiritual 1 Cf. Wetstein on Mt. xix. 20. HIS \ERARLY ‘YEARS 33 biography, and told the dark yet blessed story. ‘I had Rom. vii never,’ he says, ‘ recognised sin save through law. For I7** had not known lust had not the Law kept saying: ‘ Thou shalt not lust.” And sin got an outlet through the command- ment to work out in me every sort of lust; for apart from law sin is dead. I was alive apart from law once; but when the commandment came, sin sprang into life, while as for me, I died; and the commandment which aimed at life— I found it resulted in death. For sin got an outlet through the commandment to “ deceive’”’ me and through it to slay me.’ Here, with a reticence which evinces the painfulness of the confession, the veil is half lifted from a dark episode of those unrecorded years. What precisely it may have been is unrevealed, and surmise were banal. It is indeed likely that it was no serious transgression ; for what might pass with most as a peccadillo would torture a conscience so sensitive. The confession, however, should not be attenuated. In a nature so ardent and impulsive there are ever tragic possibilities ; and it is no marvel that his soul should have been swept by a gust of passion and defiled by a deed of impurity. It was the supreme crisis of his life. It discovered to him ‘the plague of his heart’; and he set himself with redoubled devotion to attaining unto righteousness by the only way he knew—the Pharisaic method of ceremonial observance, the performance of ‘the works of the Law.’ But his labour proved unavailing. He had realised his soul’s alienation from God, and external rites never touched the deep-seated malady. Still he entertained as yet no doubt of the efficacy of the method, and its failure only inspired him to more strenuous endeavour. There was no Jew in Tarsus so ardent, no Pharisee so punctilious, no Rabbi so unwearied. A Hellenistic community afforded no adequate arena for his zeal. The Sacred Capital was his fitting sphere, and 'in due course his opportunity arrived. Redoubled devotion. Cf. Ac. MMs Gal, i, 14 ee - THE MARTYRDOM OF STEPHEN 12. ‘Testis tuus est in ccelis, ‘Pro corona non marcenti Testis verax et fidelis Perfer brevis vim torment, Testis inhocentiz. Te manet victoria. Nomen habes coronati, Tibi fiet mors natalis, Te tormenta decet pati Tibi pcena terminalis Pro corona gloriz. Dat vite primordia.’ ADAM DE S. VICTORE. The Lord MOMENTOUS events had been transpiring in the Holy Land tm during Saul’s sojourn at Tarsus. When he betook himself Histo. to the House of Interpretation in a.D. 15 at the age of fifteen years, our Lord was living obscurely at Nazareth and earning His daily bread in a carpenter’s shop. The years passed, and in the spring of A.D. 26 He was manifested at Bethany beyond Jordan as the Messiah, the Promised Saviour, and entered on His public ministry ; and in the spring of A.D. 29 He was crucified on Calvary and raised from the dead on the third day. Tidings of that wondrous ministry and its more wondrous consummation must have reached Saul at Tarsus ; and, moreover, since he would repair to the great Feasts, he must have been in Jerusalem on each of the occasions when our Lord was there, including the last, the tragic Passion-week. Yet it is remarkable that he never encoun- tered Jesus and never even saw Him. In after years, when. his apostleship was challenged on the ground that he lacked Cf. Ac.i. the essential qualification of fellowship with the Master in *" 2% the days of His flesh, his only defence was that he had been Cf.1 Cor. vouchsafed a vision of the Risen Lord on the road to 1 Ἀν, 8. Damascus. And indeed it is hardly surprising that he should never have encountered Him in Jerusalem. The rulers regarded Jesus with contemptuous disdain and, latterly, cf.M with bitter animosity. It was only when they hoped to gare entangle Him in some damaging controversy, and thus dis- credit Him in the eyes of the people, that they deigned to 34 THE MARTYRDOM OF STEPHEN = 35 approach Him as He taught in the Temple court ; and they Cf. Jo. vi. generally dealt with Him through their officers. Saul would *” 15 share the contempt of his order for the unschooled heretic, and would never cross His path. He would have deemed it an intolerable degradation to mingle with the rude crowd which thronged to hear Him. He would share also the satisfaction of the rulers when the Progress ot Lord was crucified. It appeared as though the trouble were "®°°*?* ended and the heresy stamped out ; but this proved a vain hope. The Gospel did not perish. On the contrary, it acquired an unprecedented vitality, and the scene of its victorious operation was no longer remote Galilee but the Sacred Capital. On the Day of Pentecost, little over a Ac. ii. 41, month after their seeming triumph, the rulers were startled *” by the conversion of some three thousand of the populace ; and never a day passed without fresh accessions to the hated community, until presently it numbered over five iv. 4. thousand men, exclusive of women and children, and Jeru- v. 28. salem was ringing with the teaching of the Apostles. It was indeed an amazing phenomenon, inexplicable save Reasons. by the facts which the New Testament alleges. The chief of these was the Resurrection of the Lord and the effusion of the Holy Spirit. And it was mainly this that won the people and startled the rulers. If it were indeed true that the Crucified had been raised from the dead and was living and manifesting His heavenly power, then the crucifixion was an impious crime, and in proclaiming the Resurrection the Ct. iv. 2, Apostles were laying a terrible indictment against its perpe- “ om trators. It accentuated the popular appeal of their message and its terror for the rulers that they believed and pro- Ct. iii, 19- claimed that the Risen Lord would presently return in His ** glory to judge the world. Nor should it be forgotten that the primitive Apostles were indubitably endowed with miraculous powers. The evidence is irrefragable. It is no mere legend of a later age, but their own personal and direct testimony. They repeatedly refer to the phenomenon in Cf. Gal. iii, their letters, and always as a recognised fact, familiar to $j 5° their readers. It was only temporary, but it did not imme- diately vanish from the Church on the departure of the Apostles. It gradually diminished until in the fourth century Chagrin of the Jewish Rulers. Cf. Ac. iv. I-22; V. 17-42. Cf. Mt. xxi. 46, XXVi. 5; ke xx) 2. Cf. Ac. iv. 21, v. 26. Primitive commun- ism. Ac. iv. 32, 34, 35: cf. i. 45. 36) LIPE ΑΝ ΤΕ ΓΘ OF) Shi) teen as St. Chrysostom certifies,’ it had quite disappeared ; but, - on the testimony of St. Justin Martyr and St. Ireneus, it still persisted in the second century and, on the testimony of © Tertullian, lingered on into the third. Nor indeed is either the gift or its withdrawal inexplicable. It was a providential | dispensation. At its first planting Christianity required special aids, but once it had taken root, these were no longer needed, and it was left to its normal development. The triumphant progress of the Gospel was galling and disconcerting to the Jewish rulers. They would gladly have taken strong measures with the Apostles and dealt with them as they had dealt with the Lord; and they actually made several ineffectual attempts to intimidate them. But they were restrained by the same prudential consideration which had repeatedly shielded the Lord from their animosity, and postponed the final catastrophe: the Apostles were the heroes © of the populace, and their molestation would have excited a dangerous tumult. Thus the Gospel went its way un- restrained, and the Church grew apace. But the course of events brought the rulers the oppor- tunity which they desired. There was much poverty in Jerusalem at that period; and since Christianity was a popular movement appealing to ‘the common people,’ it numbered many poor among its adherents. The spirit of brotherhood was strong in the first believers; and, recog- nising the obligation of mutual succour, they organised the Church on the principle of communism. ‘ There was one heart and soul, and not one said that any of his possessions was his own, but everything was common to them. There was not one in need among them; for all that had been owners of lands or houses, would sell them and bring the prices the things fetched and lay them at the feet of the Apostles ; and distribution would be made to each as one 1 In Epist. 17 ad Thess. Hom. τν. ad init. 5 Just. M. Afol. τ. p. 45 A, B (edit. Sylburg.); Iren. 11. xlviii. 2, xlix. 3; Tert. Agol. 37. 7 Cf. Aug. De Civ. Det, xxii. viii. 1: ‘“* Why,” say they, ‘“‘are those miracles which you declared were wrought, not wrought now?” I might indeed answer that they were necessary ere the world believed, to the end that the world might believe. Whoso still seeks for prodigies that he may believe, is himself a great prodigy, in that, while the world believes, he does not.’ THE MARTYRDOM OF STEPHEN 37 had need.’ There was no compulsion. If one chose, he ctv. 4 might keep his property ; and when the first wave of enthu- siasm had subsided, there were believers in Jerusalem who, though generous in their hospitality, retained their houses Cf. xii. τὰ and their wealth. But at the outset communism was the prevailing order; and since men of substance were not lacking, their sacrifice afforded abundant provision and destitution was unknown. It was a noble ideal, and consonant with the spirit of the TheEssene Gospel ; yet it was not a Christian invention. Communism °*™?® was en l’aiy at that period, and it was already practised by the Jewish sect of the Essenes.1_ The latter abjured private property, and each novice surrendered all that he possessed to the superintendents of the order to be employed for the general good.* It would seem that the Apostles were here inspired by the example of the Essenes; and though they did not withdraw their followers from the world, they imitated those holy anchorites in one particular. They in- stituted a common table ; and just as the common meal of ‘The daily the Essenes was sacramental, being prepared by priests and funs"™ preceded by ceremonial ablution, so ‘ the daily ministration ’ of the believers was hallowed by a eucharistic celebration, either at the commencement ® or at the conclusion. This common meal was variously denominated ‘ the Love-feast,’ Cf. Jud. 12; ‘the Reception,’ or ‘ the Ministry of Tables’ ;*® and it was 73 R.v_ a gracious institution. Nevertheless it led to grave abuse. Its abuse. It will appear in due course how it desecrated the Lord’s Table among the Gentile converts at Corinth;® and it tended also to corrupt the Church by alluring into her ranks unworthy professors who desired only worldly advantage, “thinking that religion was a source of profit.’ It was Cf. pp. 447, 549 ff. ? Cf. Schiirer, 11. ii. pp. 195 ff. Apollonius is said to have inculcated a similar system. Cf. Philostr. ΚΖ. Apoll. Tyan. τν. 13. 8. Cf. Chrys. Jw J Epist. ad. Cor. Hom. XXvil. 1: τῆς συνάξεως ἀπαῤτισθείσης μετὰ τὴν τῶν μυστηρίων κοινωνίαν ἐπὶ κοινὴν πάντες ἤεσαν εὐωχίαν. 4 Didache, 10: μετὰ δὲ τὸ ἐμπλησθῆναι οὕτως εὐχαριστήσατε. * Cf. Julian (fragment), Loeb Class. Libr. ii. p. 338: δια τῆς λεγομένης wap αὐτοῖς ‘dydans’ καὶ ‘ ὑποδοχῆς καὶ ‘ διακονίας τραπεζῶν (cf. Ac. vi. 2). Ajostol. Constit. 11. 28: τοῖς els ἀγάπην ἤτοι δοχὴν, ws ὁ Κύριος ὠνόμασε (Lk. xiv. 13), προαιρουμένοις καλεῖν, 5 Cf. p. 286. ? Of. Julian, ut supra, p. 337. 435. LIFEVANINLE DIE RS ΓΟ Par probably this scandal that soon discredited the fair ideal which wes cherished in the enthusiasm of early days. At 411 events, ere many years had passed, the initial communism. was largely abandoned, and ‘ the poor saints’ at Jerusalem needed the succour of Gentile liberality.+ Ἷ Hebrews At the outset, however, ‘ the daily ministration’ was an a cienists, institution. It was easily managed at first; but as the numbers multiplied, it grew more and more difficult. And the embarrassment became intolerable when a dissension arose—the Church’s earliest controversy. She was indeed as yet exclusively Jewish, yet she was by no means homo- geneous. There were two sections in her ranks. One was the Hebrews—the Palestinian Jews, whose pride was that they had always breathed the air of the Holy Land and never | been polluted by contact with heathen soil. And the other | was the Hellenists,2 those Jews who had settled or been born: abroad, and had returned to the Holy City that they might | spend the evening of their lives beneath the shadow of the Temple. These had indeed remained passionately loyal » to their ancestral faith, yet they had generally acquired a _ certain liberality and contracted a Gentile colour of speech and manner; and they were consequently suspect in the eyes of the narrow Hebrews, and were not unnaturally dis- posed to resentment. How keen the jealousy was appears from the fact that the Hellenists hailing from the various” Cf.Ac.vi.g. Gentile countries had built synagogues of their own in Jerusalem, where they might meet unmolested when they visited the Holy City or returned thither to reside. : Hellenist | The Church included representatives of both these cissatisfac- actions of Judaism ; and it is not surprising that, rightly or wrongly, a suspicion arose among the Hellenists that their destitute widows were unfairly treated in the daily minis- tration. And the grievance would be the more acute since Ac.iv. 36, the Hellenists, like Barnabas of Cyprus, were the wealthier, Ἧ᾽ and it was their generosity that had mainly peu the common good. Electionof The administration lay with the Apostles, and the odium seven Deacons, tell upon them. It was a perilous situation, inimical to the ΣΕ pp.'73 ft. 8 Ελληνισταί, ‘Grecians’ (A.V.), ‘Grecian Jews’ (R.V.), THE MARTYRDOM OF STEPHEN 99 Church’s unity and her continued prosperity; and they promptly and effectively redressed it. They convened a general assembly of the Church, and proposed that a board of seven should be elected to superintend ‘ the ministry of the tables ’ in order that they might be free to devote them- selves to their proper office—‘ the ministry of the Word.’ The procedure exemplifies the democratic constitution of the primitive Church. The Apostles did not issue a decree. They submitted a proposal, and it was approved ; and thereafter the assembly proceeded to elect its representatives. The seven men thus called by the Church and ordained by the Apostles were Stephen, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus. Seven was a sacred number, but it was probably selected for practical reasons. The duties demanded so many for their effective discharge ; and doubt- less the competing interests were appropriately represented. Three would be Hebrews,? three Hellenists, and the seventh, the proselyte Nicolaus, would represent that small though by no means insignificant section—the converts from heathenism who had passed from the Synagogue into the Church. Thus originated the order of the Deacons, literally Ther ‘Ministers,’ who were charged especially with the care of seas the poor and afflicted and generally with the supervision of tons. practical affairs.2 It was indeed a practical office, yet it Cf. τ Tim was in no wise secular; and, like their successors, the seven Ὁ were chosen not alone for their practical wisdom, but for their spiritual endowments. Of four of them nothing further is recorded, and Nicolaus, though personally blame- less, was destined to an unhappy notoriety as the author of a mischievous heresy ;* but they were all men of godly 1 The fact that all the seven bore Greek names does not imply that none of them were Hebrews, since every Jew had a Gentile as well as a Jewish name ΤΌ} Ἤλ 21). , 2 The Seven are not indeed expressly designated ‘Deacons’ (διάκονοι), and Chrys. supposes that they were appointed for a merely temporary emergency ; but the terms διακονία and διακονεῖν are employed (cf. vers. 1, 2, 4), and their appoint- ment was generally recognised in the early Church as the institution of the permanent office. Thus Irenzus calls Stephen ‘the first Deacon’ (111. xii. 13), ‘the first elected to the Deaconship by the Apostles’ (Iv. xxvi. I), * Ch 'p. 526, Cf. Ac. viii. "δ is ὦ Stephen’s disputation in Hellenist syna- gogues. 40 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST) BAG repute, and two of them attained eminent distinction for service to the Kingdom of Heaven beyond the limits of their special office. Philip was an effective preacher, insomuch ", that he was known as‘ the Evangelist.’ And Stephen was no less richly endowed with spiritual and intellectual gifts. Later tradition, after its wont, reckons him as well as Philip among the Seventy Apostles whom our Lord, when setting out on His last journey to Jerusalem, ‘sent two and two — before His face into every city and place whither He Himself was about to come’;?! but this is unlikely, since he was evidently a Hellenist and, dwelling remote from the Holy ἡ Land, he could not have been a companion of the Lord. He — may, however, have known Him in the days of His flesh, and he had at all events drunk deep of His grace. He was elected — to the Deaconship because he was ‘a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit’; and he had already approved himself in © ‘ the ministry of the Word ’ ere he was called to ‘ the ministry of the tables.’ It seemed as though he were destined to a high career οὐ evangelical enterprise; but another ‘destiny had been ordained for him. He was to glorify the Lord by his death, and thus, as it proved, still more effectively advance the Kingdom of Heaven. It was the spring of the year A.D. 33,2 and the paschal celebration had brought the customary troops of pilgrims to the Holy City. She was thronged with worshippers from near and far, and the Hellenistic synagogues were crowded with strangers. Here Stephen found a golden opportunity. Himself a Hellenist, he visited the synagogues, and there presented the Gospel. It would have been impossible for each Hellenistic community to maintain a separate synagogue at Jerusalem, and so each synagogue represented a group of adjacent and sympathetic communities. And there were two where Stephen’s argu- ments created an especial stir. One was the synagogue of the North African Jews from Libya with its capital Cyrene and Egypt with its capital Alexandria; and the other the synagogue of the Jews of the Provinces of Asia and Cilicia, comprehending probably all the intervening sweep of 1 Cf.Epiphan. Her. xx. 4. 2 Cf. Append, I, THE MARTYRDOM OF STEPHEN κι southern Asia Minor along the Eastern Trade Route.! It was natural that Stephen should encounter keen discussion in these two synagogues ; for in the one there were Jews from the brilliant city of Alexandria, men like Apollos, both Ac. xviii, learned and eloquent and versed in the Scriptures ; while in * the other there were Jews not only from Ephesus but from Tarsus, which in those days more than rivalled Alexandria’s fame. Among the latter was Saul. He had come to Jerusalem Saui his for the Passover; and he would certainly attend the fyonist. synagogue of the Cilicians and Asians, and hear Stephen’s cr. ac. vii arguments and bear his part in the disputation. It would * be a sharp encounter, but he found himself overmatched. His weapons of Rabbinical dialectic were impotent against his antagonist’s wisdom, a wisdom which he had been taught by the Holy Spirit. It was a humiliating experience for the young Rabbi and his fellows, and it exasperated them. Worsted in argument, they would not acknowledge the truth. They raised the cry of blasphemy, and proceeded A charge ot to indict Stephen before the Sanhedrin. Their charge was "Ph": that he had announced the overthrow of the Temple and the supersession of the Law; and they produced witnesses to support it. It was a repetition of the scene which had been enacted Arraign- there just four years previously, when the Lord was arraigned Foe)" on that self-same charge ; and it is no wonder that Stephen’s pte ; f. Mt. heart was stirred at the thought. It was remarked and χοῦν τὐδε, Σ Cf. Ac. vi. 9—a crux interpretum. The problem is twofold: 1. The meaning of Λιβερτίνων. Commonly explained as ‘Freemen’ (Zibertinz), t.e. descendants of Pompey’s Jewish prisoners (cf. p. 20). Cf. Chrys. : Λιβερτῖνοι δὲ, οἱ Ῥωμαίων ἀπελεύθεροι οὕτω καλοῦνται. More probably, however, it is a place- name like Κυρηναίων and ᾿Αλεξανδρέων, and there was a town Libertum in N. Africa which sent a bishop (Zfzscopus Libertinensis) to the Synod of Carthage in A.D. 411. Cf. Suid. : Λιβερτῖνοι" ὄνομα ἔθνους. Wetstein regards AcBeprivwy as an alternative form of Λιβυστίνων, and Vers. Armen. reads ‘ Libyans’ (οἴ. Ac. ii. 10). 2. The number of synagogues. (1) Only one, ‘the Synagogue of the Libertines,’ comprehending the four subsequent nationalities (Calv., Beng.). (2) Two, ‘the Synagogue of the Libertines, Cyrenzans, and Alexandrians’ and “the Jews of Cilicia and Asia’ (Winer-Moulton, p. 160, n. 3). (3) Five, ‘the Synagogue of the Libertines, that of the Cyrenzans, that of the Alexandrians, that of the Cilicians, and that of the Asians (Schiirer, 11. ii. p. 57, n. 44). This, however, would require the reiteration of τῆς in each case. Stephen's defence. 42 LIFE AND LETTERS OF (ST, PAUE long remembered that, as he stood before the High Priest, his face shone and looked like the face of an angel. After the charge had been laid and the witnesses had given their — evidence, the High Priest put the question: ‘Is this so?’ and he entered upon his defence with the reverential preface which became a loyal Jew in addressing that august court : ‘ Brethren and fathers, hearken.’ He began with the first count of the indictment—his © alleged statement that ‘ Jesus the Nazarene would overthrow — the Holy Place.’ He did not deny it; he justified it by demonstrating, in a long véswmé of the national history, how unessential the Temple was. It had been founded late, and its insufficiency had been proclaimed in the very hour of its institution. The birth of the nation dated from the © call of Abraham nigh two thousand years before, and there © was no Temple in Abraham’s day. He had been a wanderer, and so had all the patriarchs for four centuries. Then in the © land of bondage Moses was born. He was ordained of God as the deliverer of His people, yet they did not recognise him. — They drove him from their midst, and he betook himself to the land of Midian. It was there, not in a Temple but ina heathen wilderness, that God appeared to him in the burning bush and called him to his task. He led the people forth from Egypt, and again God appeared to him, not in a Temple but in the wilderness of Sinai; and again they — turned against Moses and made them a golden calf and © worshipped it after the manner of the Egyptians. Still there was no Temple. The Tabernacle was indeed in- ~ stituted, and they worshipped in it during their wanderings, — and brought it with them into the Promised Land. But it was only a temporary institution ; and not till the days of © Solomon, some four centuries and a half after their settlement in the Promised Land, was the Temple built. Thus for nearly a thousand years Israel had been God’s people, and all the while she had no Temple; and when at length the Temple was built, God had proclaimed its insufficiency. “The Most 2 Stephen’s defence is so remarkable, as Blass observes, that it can be nothing else than an accurate report. Philip would hear it, and Luke may have had it from him at Czsarea twenty-four years later (cf. Ac. xxi. 8), THE MARTYRDOM OF STEPHEN 43 High does not dwell in sanctuaries which hands have made ; as the prophet says : ‘The heaven is My throne, Is. lxvi. x and the earth My foot-stool : What manner of house will ye build for Me? saith the Lord; or what is the place of My rest ? Did not My hand make all these things ?’ The Sanhedrists had listened complacently to the Angry in- historical narrative, and even the references to the unfaith- ‘“""? τὴν fulness of their fathers had given them no offence ; but that quotation indicated whither the argument was tending, and they raised a clamour of angry dissent, oblivious that it was the Lord’s word that they were reprobating. Their unreasoning fury revealed the hopelessness of persuading them. It was the same spirit which had animated their fathers all down the course of their history. Stephen stood unmoved, and when the storm subsided, he told them the stern truth. ‘ “ Stiffnecked ᾿ and “ uncircumcised in hearts Fx yoati. and ears”! you are always opposing the Holy Spirit. Your se fathers did it, so do you. Which of the prophets did not /¢",2°" your fathers persecute? They killed those who announced Cf 15, Ixih. beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, and now you have proved His betrayers and murderers.’ Instantly the Sanhedrin was in an uproar. Stephen had Stoning οἱ dealt thus far only with the first article of the indictment, i but he was suffered to proceed no further. The august senators forgot their dignity and ‘ gnashed their teeth at him’ like infuriated beasts. Meanwhile he stood with upturned face, seeing nothing of their menaces, hearing nothing of their clamour ; and a vision of the Unseen broke upon him. His surroundings vanished—that circle of angry faces and the enclosing walls and roof of the Hall of Hewn Stone. ‘Look you!’ he exclaimed, ‘ I behold the heavens wide opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God ’—not sitting on His Judgment-seat but standing eee as though He had started from His Throne to greet His ἢ Martyr and, according to His word, ‘receive him unto er Lora © Cf. The Days of His Flesh, p. 468. Cf. Lev. XXIV. 14; Dt. xxii. 24; 1 Ki, be tae We Heb, xiii, 11-13. ἀπ DIFE AND*LETTERS OF ΘΕ ΓΕ Himself.’1 This sealed his doom. It seemed to them tank blasphemy, and without staying to pronounce sentence they rushed at him and, that the Holy City might not be defiled with his impious blood, dragged him through street and. gate, and there outside the city-wall executed on him the blasphemer’s horrible doom ? by stoning him to death. He died with a prayer on his lips. ‘Lord Jesus,’ he said when the hail of missiles began, ‘ receive my spirit’; and then he sank, bruised and bleeding, on his knees. ‘ Lord,’ he cried, “lay not this sin to their charge,’ and ‘ fell asleep.” And thus he gained that crown of which his name Stephen, ‘the Crown,’? had been an unwitting prophecy. He was the leader of ‘ the noble army of martyrs.’ 1 Cf. Gicum. : ἵνα δείξῃ τὴν ἀντίληψιν τὴν εἰς αὐτόν. * Cf. Lightfoot, Hor. Hebr. on Jo. x. 21. ; * Cf. Aug. Enarr. in Psalm. \Wiii. §: ‘Quod vocabatur accepit. Stephanus enim Corona dicitur.’ a Ac. viii. TV £ CONVERSION OF SAUL a ae I-21 (XX). 4-16, Xxvi. ‘Oh the regret, the struggle and the failing ! 9-20) ; hh Oh the days desolate and useless years ! ry Se ze ‘/ows in the night, so fierce and unavailing ! 2 Cor. xi. Stings of my shame and passion of my tears!’ say ae FREDERIC W. H. MYERS. Gal. i. 18- 24; 2 Cor. xii, 2-4. THE execution of Stephen was a flagrant illegality. Judzea tegalityot was in those days a Roman province ; and while the imperial 5'¢Phen's government suffered the Jews to administer their own cr. ac. ‘religious affairs, in capital cases it reserved to itself the Χ 11: 12:16, ultimate decision. The Sanhedrin might pass the death- sentence, but its execution lay with the Roman procurator. Hence after our Lord had been declared by the High Priest guilty of the capital offence of blasphemy, He was not forthwith sentenced to the Jewish doom of stoning but temitted to the judgment of Pontius Pilate and, after due confirmation of the Jewish court’s verdict, sentenced to the Roman penalty of crucifixion. This is the course which should have been followed in the case of Stephen, and his ‘summary execution was an open flouting of the procurator’s authority. Nor could the outrage have been committed with impunity had not Pilate during those closing years of his disastrous administration (A.D. 25-35) been reduced to impotence by his long misgovernment.? _ The martyrdom of Stephen was the breaking of a pitiless Persecu- tempest. The purpose of the rulers was nothing less than hes the extermination of the Church, and they found in Saul a 3 eady and efficient instrument. He had borne a conspicuous part in the judicial crime. As a member of the Sanhedrin he cz. Ac. ἃ recorded his vote against the heretic, and not content ***" therewith he had in the intensity of his zeal so far demeaned himself as to attend the victim to the scene of execution, w. NY a 1 Cf. The Days of His Flesh, p. 463. 5. Jbid. pp. 477 ff. 45 Ch Dt: xvii. 7. Ch Ac. XXil. 20. Saul’s zeal. Cf. Ac. viii. 1; His com- mission to Damascus. Ac. ix, I. “ὁ LIFE "AND ΤΕ ΒΕ OP St) tae a He took indeed no active share in the brutal work, leaving — that to coarser hands. He flung no stone, but when the : witnesses who had given evidence in court divested themselves _ in order to exercise their statutory prerogative of beginning the bloody business, they laid their cloaks at his feet, and he stood guard over them—an incident which he remembered in after days with burning shame.1 And the work thus auspiciously inaugurated was vigorously prosecuted. The rulers appointed Saul their commissioner, and he instituted an energetic inquisition, invading with his minions the homes of the disciples, arresting and imprisoning all who would not abjure their Lord, and arraigning them before the court of the Sanhedrin. The survivors fled from the city, and hid in the fastnesses of Judzea or fled from pursuit across the northern frontier into the territory of despised Samaria. ; The Apostles alone stood their ground, and it is indeed surprising that they, the leaders of the heresy, should have been able to defy the storm. The reason doubtless was that their miraculous powers had invested them with sanctity in the eyes of the populace, and even in the extremity of their rage the rulers would shrink from molesting them and thus provoking a popular reaction. After he had purged the Holy City and her environs of the heretical pollution Saul’s zeal remained unabated. He ‘ still breathed out threat and slaughter against the disciples” of the Lord.’ Tidings reached him that some of the fugitives” had found an asylum in the old Syrian capital,? the far northern city of Damascus; and he resolved to pursue them thither. They were indeed beyond the confines of Palestine, but they were not beyond the jurisdiction of the Sanhedrin, — since every Jewish community throughout the Empire was_ subject in matters of religion to the local synagogue, which ~ 1 Cf. Aug. Serm. ceclxxxii. 4: ‘cum sanctus Stephanus lapidaretur, omnium vestimenta servabat, et tanquam manibus omnium lapidabat.’ 2 Ac. xxvi. 11: αὐτοὺς ἠνάγκαζον βλασφημεῖν, ‘I tried to compel them to blaspheme,’ implying that he did not succeed. The process was familiar in after — days. Cf. Martyr. Polyc. ix: ‘When the proconsul insisted and said: ‘‘ Take the oath, and I release you; revile the Christ,” Polycarp answered: “‘ Eighty and — six years have I been His servant, and He has done me no wrong ; and how can I } blaspheme my King, who saved me?”’ where λοιδορεῖν τὸν Χριστόν is the Latin © Christo maledicere (cf. Plin. Epist. x. 97). 3 * Cf. Ac. xxii. 5: τοὺς ἐκεῖσε ὄντας, THE CONVERSION OF SAUL 47 in turn owed allegiance to the supreme court at Jerusalem. So he obtained from Caiaphas the High Priest, as President of the Sanhedrin, /etives de cachet to the synagogues of Damascus, empowering him to arrest ‘any that were of the Way,! whether men or women,’ and convey them in bonds to Jerusalem for trial and sentence. He set forth on his journey attended by a band of the nis Sanhedrin’s officers. His route is uncertain, since two were "° open to him. He might hold northward and, passing through Samaria, cross the Jordan by the ford of Bethshean ; or he might cross by the southern ford of Bethany near Jericho and travel northward through Perea and Batanea. It was probably the latter route that he adopted, since it was the shorter, making the journey about a hundred and forty miles; and if, as the narrative seems to indicate,” he travelled on foot, it would occupy at the customary rate over a week. It was a long march, and it afforded the persecutor ample His spiri leisure for reflection. In truth his mind was ill at ease, and binds the very intensity of his hostility to Christianity is an evidence thereof. ‘When one so great begins to rage, he’s hunted Even to falling.’ 3 A man is never so violent in the assertion of his faith as when he feels it slipping from his grasp; and that was the reason of ἡ Saul’s ‘ exceeding madness’ against the Church. For years Ace. xxvi. he had been conscious of his alienation from God, and had ὁ" been labouring to attain peace by the Pharisaic method of Phe. ility o legal observance. His labour had been in vain, and his Pharisa- failure had goaded him to ever increased devotion. For *™ 2 A designation of the Gospel (cf. Ac. xix. 9, 23, xxii. 4, xxiv. 14, 22); more fully ‘The Way of the Lord’ or ‘The Way of God’ (cf. xviii. 25, 26). ‘An appellation of the believers, who were generally so named, perhaps,’ fancies Chrys.7 ‘because they were cutting the way which leads to Heaven.’ * The medieval artists depict him mounted on a caparisoned charger; but, since among the Jews the horse was used only in war, he would ride, if he rode at all, on an ass or a camel (cf. The Days of His Flesh, pp. 391 f.). However, (1) the word πορεύεσθαι (ix. 3, xxil. 6) suggests that he travelled on foot ; and (2) had he been provided with a beast, his attendants would have set him on its back instead of ‘leading him by the hand’ (cf. ix. 8, xxii. 11) into Damascus, ᾿ς 5 Shak. Ant. and Cleop, iv. i. 7 f. (2) The teaching of Gamaliel. Cf. Ac. xxii. 3; Gal. i. 14; Rom. x. 2. (3) The testimony of Stephen. 48 LIFE AND LETTERS: ΟΡ ST) PAUE long it had never occurred to him that he was on the wrong - road, but the suspicion had dawned upon him when he came into personal contact with Christianity. His first intro- duction to the new faith was probably the controversy with Stephen in the Hellenistic synagogues at Jerusalem. He — had then heard from the lips of that masterly exponent the evidence that Jesus was the Messiah, and that He had been ~ raised from the dead and was living and reigning at God’s © right hand; and the argument had overpowered him. He could not refute it, but he would not accept it ; and he had striven to stifle his misgivings and silence the pleadings of the Holy Spirit by engaging in a furious crusade against the heresy. Amid the wild tumult the inward voice had been unheard, but in the solitude of his long journey it renewed its im- portunities, and he was constrained to calm consideration. He would review his past career. He could hardly fail to recall the large-hearted tolerance of his gracious teacher, the wise Rabbi Gamaliel ; and the memory of that revered master and his serene faith in Eternal Providence would rebuke his frenzied ‘ zeal for God.’ Could it be, he would ask himself, that he was indeed ‘ fighting against God ’ ? that, in resisting reason and struggling to suppress his mis- givings, he was, in the phrase of a Greek proverb which © - . perhaps he had heard from those honoured lips, ‘ kicking © against the goad,’ like a rebellious ox in the traces ? 5 His chief thought, however, would be of the martyr whose blood he had helped to spill. Stephen’s arguments — would recur to him. He would reconsider them; and the more he considered them, the more inevitable would they appear. Could it be after all that Jesus of Nazareth was indeed the Messiah, and that the Law had been abrogated 2 Cf. pp. 40 f. 2 Ac. xxvi. 14. Cf. Pind. Pyth. 11. 172 ff. : ποτὶ κέντρον δέ τοι / Naxrigewer τελέθει | ὀλισθηρὸς oluos. ARsch. Agam. 1602: πρὸς κέντρα μὴ λακτίζε μὴ παίσας μογῇς. Prom. Vinct. 322. Eur. Bacch. 794; Peliad. (fragm.): πρὸς κέντρα μὴ λάκτιζε τοῖς κρατοῦσί gov. Terent. Phorm. 1. ii. 27 f.: “Nam quz inscitia est / — Adversum stimulum calces?’ Though so frequent in the classics, the proverb — occurs nowhere in Jewish literature, and Saul may have heard it from his liberal teacher. It is included in the Risen Lord’s speech in Ac. xxvi. 14, but it is — absent from the parallel reports (cf. ix. 5 R.V., xxii. 7), and it is probably an — addition by the Apostle, defining the thought of his own heart and the true significance of the Lord’s remonstrance. THE CONVERSION OF SAUL 49 by a larger revelation? This, he could not but confess, wou.d truly be glad tidings for a soul wearied well-nigh to despair in the quest for righteousness by the hard and futile way of legal observance. And one fact stood before him clear and incontrovertible: not only Stephen but the whole multitude of his fellow-believers had found in Jesus the peace which Saul had so long craved—a glad, triumphant peace which no suffering could shake. And in His name, moreover, the Apostles had wrought wonders which had astonished Jerusalem and which the Sanhedrin durst not dispute. Could it be that the story of the Resurrection was " true, and the Crucified was actually reigning at God’s right © hand? Was it indeed His glory which had irradiated the martyr’s face when he stood before the High Priest and when he fell beneath the pelting stones with a prayer to the Lord Jesus on his lips? That spectacle haunted Saul to his Cr. Ac. dying day, and more than all else it determined the crisis of eee his life. ‘If,’ says St. Augustine,t ‘Stephen had not so! prayed, the Church would not have Paul to-day.’ Such questionings were stirring in Saul’s breast during Damascus that memorable week as he toiled day after day along the dusty highway or lay by night in his tent tossing on his restless couch. At length he reached the village of Kochaba (Kaukab), some ten miles south-west of Damascus,” and the fair city opened to his view. She was the ancient Syrian Her capital, and she holds the distinction of being the oldest τσ: city in the world. There was a Jewish legend that she was the home of Adam and Eve after their expulsion from Eden, and that the plain of Damascus was the scene of Abel’s murder by Cain.? Her origin belongs to the unrecorded past. She 1 Serm. ccclxxxii. 11; ‘Nam si martyr Stephanus non sic orasset, Ecclesia Paulum hodie non haberet.’ 3 This was the scene of Saul’s conversion according to tradition in the times of the Crusades. Α later tradition places it about half a mile south-east of the city, where there is now a Christian cemetery. 5. Cf. Hieron. on Ez. xxxviii. 18: ‘Sin autem Damascus interpretatur san- guinem bzbens, et Hebreorum vera traditio est campum in quo interfectus est _ Abel a parricida Cain fuisse in Damasco.’ Cf. Travels of Sir John Mandeville, xiv; Shak. King Henry VJ (i), 1. iii. 39 f. : ‘This be Damascus, be thou cursed Cain, To slay thy brother Abel, if thou wilt.’ The legend originated, as St. Jerome indicates, in the fanciful derivation of the D Cf. Gen. xiv. 15, XV. Her beauty. Jer. xlix. 25. Her politi- cal con- nection, Cf. 2 Cor. xi. 32, 33. so LIFE AND LETPERS OF S12 PAE already flourished in the days of Abraham, and a later tradition represents his steward, Eliezer of Damascus, as her founder. And she has survived the vicissitudes of four thousand years, a great city still with a population of all quarter of a million when every city of equal antiquity has" vanished from the face of the earth or remains only ὯΝ broken and buried ruins. Damascus owes much to her situation. Lying far inland on the margin of the desert, she has escaped the tide οἱ invasion which generation after generation has inundated Palestine ; and ΠῚ is the reason of her long continuance. And, though so near the desert, she enjoys the richest blessings of nature. She occupies the midst of a lovely plain, green and fruitful, watered by the river Barada, the ancient Abana, and bounded westward by Mount Hermon | and the long ridge of Anti-Lebanon; and the climate is delightful since the plain is raised some 2300 feet above the level of the Mediterranean. The city was the principal station of caravans from the East, and her markets were thronged with merchants. Her beauty was the admiration of the world. A Hebrew prophet styled her ‘the city οὐ praise, the city of my joy’; and to this day the Arabs speak of her as ‘ pleasant Damascus,’ ‘ honourable,’ ‘ holy,’ ‘ blessed — Damascus,’ one of the four terrestrial Paradises. And it is told how Mohammed, ere his call to be the prophet of Allah — while he was still a camel-driver, surveyed Damascus from _ the mountain and would not enter her lest, amid her delights, — he should forget the glories of Paradise. ‘ Man,’ he said, | ‘has but one Paradise, and mine is fixed elsewhere.’ | Formerly the capital of Syria, Damascus passed under the — dominion of Arabia. Then she was annexed by Pompey — to the Roman Empire (62-64 B.c.) ; but, with that imperial — instinct which taught them that an Empire’s strength lies in the self-government of its component nationalities, the — Romans recognised the subordinate sovereignty of the Arabian king ; and thus in the days of Saul, while Damascus belonged to the Roman Empire, she was under the rule of © a ee ee ee ee ee μι ολ α — a name from D3 and apy, ‘a draught of blood’ (sanguznis potus). On Damascus | ct. Strabo, 755 f.; G. A. Smith, Ast. Geogr., xxx; Wright, Palmyra and Zenobia ; Hichens, Holy Land, 11. | THE CONVERSION OF SAUL 51 King Aretas, and his representative or ‘ethnarch’ was guardian of the city. The population was composed mainly of native Syrians, but it included also a considerable colony of Jews who had settled there after their wont to share in the busy and lucrative traffic.1 They had their synagogues, and it was to these that Saul was commissioned. When the city came into view, it was a spectacle to Athunder- gladden the eyes and charm the imagination; yet her” beauty made no appeal to Saul. His mental conflict had waxed ever keener as the days passed, and now the decisive hour had arrived. Could he enter the city and, despite his misgivings, prosecute his errand? His future was hanging in the balance, and God interposed and decided the issue. Martin Luther has recorded how it fared with himself at the supreme crisis of his life. His soul had been stirred by his study of the Latin Bible which he had discovered in the College Library at Erfurt, and by a sickness which had brought him to the gates of death; and he was travelling with his friend Alexis through the Thuringian Forest when a terrific storm broke. The thunder rolled and the lightning blazed, and a bolt struck his companion dead by his side and tore up the earth at his feet. It seemed as though the Dies Ire had arrived, and, ‘compassed with terror and the agony of death,’ he devoted himself to God from that hour.? And even such was Saul’s experience as he approached Damascus. It was the sultry noontide ; and in that region thunder- A vision of ‘storms of exceeding See are frequent when the hot {5° breath of the desert smites the snow-capped mountain. Suddenly a dazzling flash enveloped the travellers,? and they all fell prostrate. His companions soon recovered from their panic and rose to their feet, but Saul lay still on the ground. ‘The lightning was for him the Lord’s minister and the thunder Οἱ, Pss. ‘the Lord’s voice; and as he lay the Glorified Christ mani-~* re fested Himself to him. It was no mere subjective phantasm ὁ, but an actual vision. Of this he never doubted, and he was no irrational enthusiast, no facile dupe of fancy. His ΕΟ "4. 3 Epist. τὰς 101. : * It is expressly stated that the blaze was a lightning-flash (ἀστραπή). Cf. ix. (3: περιήστραψεν φῶς ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ. xxii. 6: ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ περιαστράψαι φῶς ἱκανόν, Bo IPE AND: LET ΘΕ Ss here subsequent testimony is clear and significant. His apostle- ship was challenged in after days by the Judaists on the ground that he had never known Jesus or received a com- mission from Him; and therefore, they alleged, he lacked the authority of the original Apostles. And what was his answer? He asserted that he had indeed seen the Lord and received from Him a direct call to the Apostleship. -“Am not lan Apostle? Have not I seen Jesus our Lord ?’ There would have been no cogency in this retort had he not been assured that on the road to Damascus he had a veritable vision of the Lord, not indeed as He had been in His mortal weakness but as He was in His glorified humanity. And here lies the distinctive quality of his experience. It was a revelation of the Risén Lord identical with those . manifestations which He had vouchsafed to His disciples during the forty days between His Resurrection and His Ascension.1 He wore the body which He had worn ‘all the time that He went in and went out among them,’ but it was transfigured; it had undergone the self-same trans- formation which our mortal bodies shall experience when . they are raised incorruptible, qualified for that Kingdom which flesh and blood cannot inherit. It was no longer ‘ an . earthly body’ but ‘a heavenly body,’ no longer ‘ an animal > body’ but ‘a spiritual body,’ no longer ‘ the body of His humiliation ’ but ‘ the body of His glory.’ This distinction | is receiving surprising illumination from the investigations οἵ. physical science. Matter, as it is now known to us, is only in the making, and when the process is complete, it will be a finer stuff. Its evolution keeps pace with our spiritual development ; and when the soul is ushered into the domain of the Eternal, ‘ this muddy vesture of decay’ which ‘ doth grossly close it in,’ will experience a corresponding ennoble- ment. It will not perish, neither will it be left behind; it will be purified and refined. Matter as it is is only matter in the making ; and ‘ the spiritual body ’ or, in scientific phrase, ‘ the ethereal body’ is ‘the animal body ’ as it shall” | become in the course of its further evolution. And the ethereal body, adapted as it is to the Kingdom. which flesh and blood cannot inherit, is superior to the con- 1 Ch. The Days of His Flesh, pp. 521 ff ogre ᾿ ὡ ὧν ΟΦ Σ Se oe ee νοι THE CONVERSION OF SAUL 53 ditions of sense. It is, as appears from the records of our Lord’s post-resurrection manifestations, invisible to the phy- sical eye and inaudible to the physical ear. The physical eye beholds a physical body, but spiritual vision is needed for the perception of a spiritual body. And hence, when the Lord would manifest Himself to the children of men, there are two ways whereby He may accomplish His gracious purpose. One is that He should submit Himself to their carnal limitations and present Himself before them under their existent conditions; and He took that way at the CfJoit. Incarnation. In this case the miracle was wrought on His own person. The other way is that the miracle should be wrought on them; that the veil of sense should be lifted and their spiritual perceptions unfettered, so that they may behold things which eye cannot see and hear things which ear cannot hear. And this is the way which He took when He manifested Himself to His chosen witnesses during the Forty Days, and again when He manifested “Himself to Saul on the road to Damascus. See how this is borne out by the sacred narrative. The Seen by miracle was wrought upon Saul alone, and thus he alone a nea perceived the manifestation. He saw the Lord and heard His voice, but his attendants saw nothing and heard nothing beyond the physical accompaniments. It was indeed an actual manifestation, yet he did not perceive it with his physical senses. It was not his eyes that ‘saw the Lord’ ; for all the while he was prostrate on his face, blinded by the flash. And he alone experienced it. His companions neither saw the Lord nor heard His voice. They saw the blaze of light, but they did not see the Glorious Form; and Cf. Ac. ix. they heard a voice, but it was the voice of Saul making reply ” to the heavenly question, and they wondered at what appeared to them a one-sided conversation. The Lord’s question was a gracious and compassionate The Lord’s remonstrance. He spoke in Hebrew, Saul’s kindly mother- Po ee tongue, with a pleading iteration of his name: ‘ Shatl, xxvi.r4. Shail, why are you persecuting Me?’ It was a puzzling κα, nore inquiry: Saul had never seen Jesus, and he did not recog- 3 nise Him. He might indeed have guessed who the glorious 1 Cf. Append. II. Thebroken persecutor. His vision n Damas- cus, Eccl. v. 3. 54 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST? PAUL = stranger was, and had He asked: ‘ Why are you persecuting My disciples?’ he would have had no doubt. But it bewildered him when he was asked: ‘ Why are yo. perse- cuting Me?’ He did not yet understand the truth which he learned in after days, that the Glorified Saviour is so truly one with His people, the Head so linked to the members, that their sufferings are His: ‘Inasmuch as you did it to one of these My brothers, even these least, you did it to Me.’ And so he leaped to the conclusion that his inter- locutor was one of the victims of his persecuting zeal. ‘ Who are you, sir?’* he asked. And the answer came: ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.’ The Lord’s errand was not to upbraid. He dismissed the past, and claimed the broken persecutor for a high career of future service. ‘I am Jesus,’ He said, ‘whom you are persecuting. But arise, and enter into the city, and it will be told you what you must do.’* Therewith the vision — faded, and Saul lay stunned until his attendants raised him. He was in a sorry plight. He had been blinded by the lightning, and they had to lead him by the hand into Damascus—a far different entry than he had contemplated when he set forth from Jerusalem ‘ breathing out threat and slaughter.’ It had been arranged that during his stay in the city as the Sanhedrin’s emissary he should reside in the house of a Jew named Judas in Straight Street; and thither they conducted him. For three days he lay sightless and oblivious of his surroundings. He tasted nothing, and kept praying until a | vision was vouchsafed him. It may have been a dream, ‘coming,’ as dreams are wont, ‘with a multitude οὗ 1 Cf. Aug. Serm. cecxlv. 4: ‘One whom Paul never saw and never touched, — cries in heaven: ‘‘ Why are you persecuting Me?” He does not ask: ‘‘ Why are — you persecuting My household, My servants, My saints or brothers?” It was — none of those things that He said. And what did He say? ‘‘ Why are you persecuting Me?” He asks, that is, My members. For these, trampled on earth, the Head cried in heaven.’ 8 For this use of κύριε, like domine, cf. Mt. xiii. 27, xxv. 22, 24; Jo. xx. 15. 8 In ix. 5, 6 the best authorities omit ‘it is hard . . . said unto him.’ The true reading is ἐγώ eluc’Inoods ὅν σὺ διώκεις. ἀλλὰ ἀνάστηθι. ἀλλά suggests a pause during which Saul lay mute. 4 The street still remains, running right across the city. Cf. Hichens, Zhe Holy Land, p. 69. THE CONVERSION OF SAUL 55 business,’ ! like that which moved the elder Pliny to write his history of the German wars, when, as he lay asleep, the form of Drusus Nero, who had perished in the midst of his victorious career, stood by his couch and prayed him to rescue his memory from oblivion.2, Nevertheless it was a divine revelation. There was in Damascus a believer of Cf. xxii. 12 distinction and repute named Ananias, who ere his con- version had been a strict Jew and still remained loyal to the ancient ordinances. Apparently Saul had known him in the past ; and in his vision he saw Ananias enter his chamber and Ananias. lay hands on him and restore his sight. Ananias too had a vision, and it seems to have been no mere dream but a veritable manifestation of the Risen Lord. He had learned from the refugees of Saul’s malignant activities in the Holy City and his commission to Damascus, and rumours were Cf. ix. 17. current of his experience on the way. But these would be inexplicable to Ananias, and he was fearfully expecting the -persecutor’s arrival. And thus it surprised him when the Lord told him that the latter was lying stricken in the house of Judas, and bade him repair thither and restore him, silencing his incredulous remonstrance with an intimation of the high part which Saul was destined to play. Ananias obeyed. He betook himself to the house of ἘΠΕ te Judas, and, being admitted to Saul’s chamber, he laid his 5" hands on him after the manner of a physician,’ and addressed him in Hebrew as a fellow-Jew. ‘Shail,’ he said, and added ‘brother,’ thus claiming him as ἃ fellow-believer, “the Lord has commissioned me—Jesus who appeared to yu on your way hither—that you may recover your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.’ Forthwith Saul’s dark- 1 Cf. The Days of His Flesh, p. 485. Lecky, Map of Life, p. 333: ‘It has _been noticed that often thoughts and judgments, scattered and entangled in our evening hours, seem sifted, clarified, and arranged in sleep; that problems which seemed hopelessly confused when we lay down are at once and easily solved when we awake, “‘as though a reason more perfect than reason had been at work when we were in our beds.”’ In Job xxxiii. 14-30 three ways are specified in which God was recognised as speaking to men: (1) by dreams, (2) by sickness, and G) by prophets. ΓΦ Plin. Zpést. iii. 5. _ * Cf. Senec. De Benef. vt. 16: ‘Itaque medico, si nihil amplius quam manum tangit et me inter eos quos perambulat ponit, sine ullo affectu facienda vitandaque -precipiens, nihil amplius debeo.’ a # ~~ Saul’s testi- mony in the syna- gogues. His retire- ment to Arabia. Cf. Gal. i. 17. 56, LIFE SAND LETTERS OF Stir Aue ness, both physical and _ spiritual, was dispelled. The purulent incrustation which had seeled' his eyes fell off inf flakes, and they opened to the light.1 He rose from his couch and was baptised ; and, taking refreshment, was soon restored to strength. The first duty which devolved upon him was public confession of his new allegiance, and he hastened to discharge it. Invested with the authority of the Sanhedrin’s com- mission, he visited the synagogues and there, instead of preaching a crusade against the Church, proclaimed his faith in the Lord’s Messiahship.2 It was a startling volte-face, and it occasioned amazement. His testimony would in due course have resulted inevitably in a large accession to the Church and a corresponding exasperation of the Jewish authorities, but that issue was meanwhile postponed. His conversion was an upheaval of his life, and it was essential that he should retire for a season and calmly survey the altered conditions and determine his future action. After his conversion in A.D. 386 in his three-and-thirtieth year St. Augustine resigned his professorship of Rhetoric at Milan and repaired to the country-house of his friend Verecundus at Cassiacum, where for a season he ‘ found rest in God from the fever of the world.’ And even our Blessed Lord on receiving His call to enter on His public ministry retired to’ the wilderness of Judza and passed forty days in solitary communion and spiritual conflict.* And how much more urgent was Saul’s need of repose and self-recollection! He remained only a few days at Damascus, and then he quitted the city and betook himself to a far distant retreat. It was the grim solitude of Mount Sinai in Arabia,®> where the 1 ἀπέπεσαν, λεπίδες, and ἐνίσχυσεν (ix. 18, 19) are medical terms (cf. Hobart, Med. Lang. of St. Luke, pp. 38 ff.) exemplifying ‘the beloved physician’s’ accustomed use of professional language. 2 ὁ Υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ (ix. 20), a Messianic title, synonymous with ὁ Χριστός (ver. 22). Cf. The Days of His Flesh, pp. 33, 370. 3 Confess. IX. 2-5. 4 Cf. The Days of His Flesh, chap. Iv. 5 The Arabian retirement has its place in Ac. ix. between ver. 20 and ver. 21. It is omitted by the historian probably because it belonged so peculiarly to Saul’s inner life. The locality is indeterminate. ‘Arabia’ was properly the Sinaitic Peninsula, but at that period it comprehended the region east of the Jordan (cf. Eus. Oxomast. : Ἰορδάνης ποταμὸς διαιρῶν τὴν ᾿Ιουδαίαν 77s’ ApaBias), extending indeed ‘from Mount Amanus to the Egyptian coast’ (Plin. H. WV. vi. 32). In 4 ι : ΟἿ THE CONVERSION OF SAUL 57 prophet Elijah had met with God in his dark hour ; and none τ Ki. xix. more appropriate could have been chosen. It was there °*® that the Law had been delivered to Moses, and the problem which pressed upon Saul was the value of the ancient revelation and the attitude which he must thenceforth hold toit. In that historic scene, ‘Where all around on mountain, sand, and sky, God’s chariot-wheels had left distinctest trace,’ 1 he thought out the question and attained the conviction which he maintained to the last, that the Law was a tem- cr, Gal. iit, porary institution, designed not to cure but to discover the *” plague of sin. How long his sojourn in Arabia may have continued does His em- not appear. Moses was forty days in the Mount with God, ,22""™ and no less a space would suffice for Saul. It is perhaps Cf ἔχ. xxiv. 18, foolish to inquire how he sustained himself all the while, xxxiv. 28. but it may be recalled that the desert was peopled by nomad tribes roaming far and wide and pitching their brown tents where they listed, whence, especially in Mesopotamia, they were known as the Scenite or Tentmen.? Tent-making was Saul’s handicraft, and its exercise would win him a ready livelihood among those wanderers, as it did in after days when he visited strange cities in the course of his missionary journeys.® When his season of retirement was over, he returned to eae to Damas- this large sense Damascus was in Arabia (cf. Strabo, 755: ἐγγύς πως τῶν ᾿Αραβίων aes ὀρῶν τῶν ὑπὲρ τῆς Δαμασκηνῆς. Just. M. Dial. cum Tryph., p. 305A (Sylburg.) : there. Δαμασκὸς τῆς ᾿Αῤῥαβικῆς γῆς qv καὶ ἔστιν, εἰ καὶ νῦν προσνενέμηται τῇ Συροφοινίκῃ λεγομένῃ) ; and hence it has been supposed that Saul found a retreat at no great distance from the city, in Auranitis (Hauraz) or Trachonitis. But ἀπῆλθον els *ApaBlav, ‘I went away into Arabia,’ seems to imply a remoter destination ; and it is decisive that in Gal. iv. 25 Arabia signifies the Sinaitic Peninsula. Indeed, if the mzdrash (Gal. iv. 22-31) be indeed, as it seems, an echo of Saul’s inward debate during his retirement, it fixes Mount Sinai as the locality. Chrysostom (cf. Theod. Mops., Theodoret.) misses the significance of the retiral into Arabia by regarding it as a missionary expedition: ‘See the ardour of his soul. He was eager to occupy the regions which had not yet been tilled but still lay wild. ... Fervent in spirit, he addressed himself to the instruction of men barbarous and wild, choosing a life of conflict and heavy toil.’ 1 Keble, Christian Year, Ninth Sunday after Trinity. 2 Strabo, 288, 515, 747 f., 765; Plin. H. WV. vi. 32. 3 Cf. Wetstein on Ac. xviii. 3. Jewish hostility. Cf. 2 Cor. ΧΙ, 32,33. Flis escape. Visit to Jerusalem. 58 LIFE AND LCETTERS*OF ST-PAUL Damascus to resume his testimony. He had thought out the problem of the relation between the Law and the Gospel and attained to assured conviction, and he entered on an active ministry which continued for two full years. His main effort was naturally directed to the task of persuading the Jews of Damascus by appeal to the prophetic Scriptures that Jesus was the Messiah ; * and he achieved conspicuous and increasing success. He was recognised as the Church’s protagonist in the city, and his converts formed a distinct school owning him as its master. The Jewish authorities δὰ { : ξ ] [ : . were bitterly resentful, and at length they laid a plot for his destruction : so soon was the whilome persecutor men- aced with the doom which he had inflicted. They enlisted the sympathy of the ethnarch who governed the city under King Aretas ; * and he posted guards at the gates to prevent his egress. Saul, however, was apprised of their intention, and his disciples rallied to his defence and effected his deliverance by an ingenious stratagem. The houses on the city-rampart had windows overhanging the fosse, and they ensconced him in a large basket of woven rope and lowered him from a window under cover of darkness.* On making his escape he betook himself to Jerusalem. It was fitting that he should go thither and confess the faith which he had trampled under foot. And that was doubtless his main errand, but he had another end in view. The Holy City was the home of the original Apostles ; and since they were the leaders of the Church, Saul desired to meet them and show them what the Lord had done for him and obtain their benediction upon his future career. There was one in particular to whom his heart turned—the generous Peter, who had played so heroic and devoted a 1 Cf. Append. I. 3. ix, 22: συμβιβαζων ὅτι οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ Χριστός, quoting Old Testament passages and laying them alongside of their fulfilments in the life of our Lord. J ee Ac. Σ 25, where the best authorities read οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ, ‘his disciples.’ εἰ Oe Wight Palmyra and Zenobia, p. 226: ‘As we looked down the walls, in which we recognised pieces of the Roman period, we saw houses on the ramparts, and windows overhanging the ditch. From such a place was Paul let down.’ σπυρίς (cpupis) was a large-sized basket (cf. Zhe Days of His Flesh, Pp. 235, 255). In 2 Cor. xi. 33 it is called σαργάνη, which Suidas defines as πλέγμα τι ἐκ σχοινίον. : THE CONVERSION OF SAUL 59 part ever since the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit had descended on the Church. ‘ To view Cephas’ was Saul’s Gal. i, 1a, ambition, and with this object before him his journey to Jerusalem was, as St. Chrysostom aptly observes, like a pious pilgrimage.* It was in this spirit that he sought the Holy City. He rhe required of the Apostles neither approval nor instruction, $2?’ since the Lord had spoken to him and called him to His service. But it became him to humble himself before the Church which he had so cruelly injured, and on his arrival he would have taken his place in her ranks. A difficulty, however, emerged. His past clung to him, and his very name was a terror to the disciples. It seemed as though the door of the Church were closed against him; but happily there was one of her members endowed with courage, Barnabas. generosity, and discernment. His proper name was Joseph, CZ. Ac. iv. and he was a Hellenist, a native of the island of Cyprus, and 3° 37 well born since he had belonged to the priestly caste. Like cr. col. ix his kinswoman Mary, the mother of John Mark, he had been 7°' A richly endowed with worldly goods. He had owned land in his native island, but he had devoted it to the common good. Nor was this generosity his sole title to the Church’s esteem. It appears that he was a person of distinguished presence,” and it is a testimony to his intellectual qualities that he was credited in after days with the authorship not only of the uncanonical epistle which goes by his name but with that noble work, the anonymous Epistle to the Hebrews.? Withal he was distinguished by a winsome graciousness which had earned for him in the Church the designation of Barnabas. It is uncertain what precisely this name signifies, whether ‘the son of consolation’ or “the son of exhortation,’ but the quality which it betokened appears when it is remembered that the word variously 1 Gal. i. 18: ἱστορῆσαι Κηφᾶν. Κηφᾶς is Aramaic of Πέτρος (cf. Jo. i. 42). ἱστορεῖν was used of going to view some great sight, a celebrated place or personage. Cf. Plut. Poms. xl. 1; Lucull. ii. 6; Οἷε. ii. 2. Chrys. : οὐκ εἶπεν “ἰδεῖν Térpow’ ἀλλ᾽ “ἱστορῆσαι Πέτρον,᾽ ὅπερ of τὰς μεγάλας πόλεις καὶ λαμπρὰς καταμανθάνοντες λέγουσιν. 2 The people of Lystra took him for Zeus, the King of the Gods (cf. Ac. xiv. 11, 12). ἐμοὶ δοκεῖ, says Chrysostom, καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς ὄψεως ἀξιοπρεπὴς εἶναι ὁ Bapydfas. * Cf. Tert. De Pudic. 20 His generous champion- ship. Saul’s re- ception by the Apostles, Cf, Gal, ii. 9. 60° LIFE: AND LETTERSYOF:ST:PAUL rendered ‘consolation’ and ‘exhortation’ is akin to our Lord’s designation of the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, ‘ the Comforter ’ or rather ‘ the Advocate.’1 And St. Chrysostom has truly defined his disposition by the epithets ‘ sweetly reasonable, gentle, kindly, accessible.’ 3 Barnabas came to Saul’s aid. With characteristic kind- liness he took him by the hand and conducted him to the Apostles. As it chanced, there were only two of the latter in Jerusalem at that time, and these were Peter and James, the Lord’s brother, who, though not one of the original Twelve, yet by reason of his sacred kinship and his lofty character enjoyed apostolic prestige.* Their colleagues were doubtless absent on circuits among the outlying churches of Judea,4 but those two sufficed: their reception of Saul would secure his entrée. Barnabas introduced him and told his story, arguing that it became them to receive one who had seen the Lord and so fearlessly confessed Him at Damascus. They accorded him a ready welcome, and Peter took him to his home and entertained him during his sojourn in the Holy City. His errand thither was accomplished once he had been received and had seen the chief ‘ pillar’ of the Church, but he protracted his stay for a fortnight and availed himself of the opportunities which each day brought. His 1 It is probable (cf. Deissmann, Azle Studies, pp. 309 f.) that ‘Barnabas’ was originally an ancient Semitic name, ‘son of Nebo,’ the Babylonian deity (cf. Is. xlvi. 1), and the Jews redeemed it from paganism by explaining it as either (τ) m3) 73, ‘son of prophecy’ or ‘exhortation’ (cf. Ac. xiii. 1, where Barnabas is called ‘a prophet’) or (2) M13 13, ‘son of consolation.’ Exhortation and consolation were both prophetic functions (cf. 1 Cor. xiv. 3), but the latter belonged more especially to Barnabas. He was at all events less eloquent than Paul (cf. Ac. xiv. 12). 2 In Act. Apost. Hom. XX: ἐπιεικής τις καὶ ἥμερος ἄνθρωπος ἣν .. . χρηστὸς ἣν σφόδρα καὶ εὐπρόσιτος. 8 Gal. i. 19; cf. 1 Cor. xv. 7. The title ‘Apostle’ was somewhat largely employed, being bestowed on others besides the original Twelve; ¢.g., Barnabas (Ac. xiv. 4, 143 1 Cor. ix. 5, 6), Silvanus (1 Th. ii. 6). There was in fact no rigid distinction between ‘an apostle’ and ‘an apostolic man.” Thus Clem. Alex. speaks now of ‘the Apostle Barnabas’ (Strom. 11. vi. 31, vil. 35) and again of *the apostolic Barnabas’ (II. xx. 116). 4 Cf. Peter’s expedition (Ac. ix. 32 ff.). 5 Gal. i. 18: ἐπέμεινα πρὸς αὐτόν. Cf. Ac. xxviii. 14; I Cor. xvi. 7. ΕΑΝ ΨΥ THE CONVERSION OF SAUL 61 reception by the Apostles had dispelled the suspicions and fears of the disciples, and he moved freely among them. Nor was he content with their fellowship. His desire was to make atonement for the past by confessing the Lord where he had blasphemed His name ; and this he did in a courageous His testi- and effective fashion. He visited the Hellenistic synagogues Sa ΩΣ where he had disputed with Stephen, and resumed the con- syn@- troversy, espousing the cause which he had formerly pe posed. He was encountered with the weapons which he had Jewish himself employed. Worsted in argument, his opponents peas resorted to ‘ the syllogism of violence.’! They plotted his destruction, and he would have perished had he not been smuggled out of the city under cover of darkness,? and con- Flight to veyed to Czesarea, whence he took ship and sailed to Tarsus.? ΡΣ Tarsus was his home, yet it was inevitable that he should Domestic be ill received by his former associates, his kinsfolk, and eer: especially his father, that stern old Pharisee. Quarter of a century later, in writing from his prison at Rome to the churches in the Province of Asia, he included among his practical counsels a poignant exhortation. ‘ Fathers,’ he &ph. vi. 4; pleads, ‘ never anger your children, but nurture them in the © ἣν 5:1: Lord’s instruction and admonition.’ ‘ Fathers, never irritate your children, lest they be discouraged.’ There is here a quivering note of personal emotion, and it seems as though the heart of the aged captive had been reverting to the past and recalling the loveless years of his own childhood. Nur- tured in the austere atmosphere of traditional orthodoxy, he had experienced scant tenderness and much severity, and had known that ‘ plague of youth, a broken spirit.’ And now on his return home he would seem in the eyes of his father a traitor to the ancestral faith, and would be greeted with a storm of reproaches. It would be a painful encounter —on the one side unmeasured reprobation, and on the other unavailing remonstrance passing into indignant recrimina- tion. It was a desecrating scene. It issued in irremediable ues. 1 Chrys. on Ac. ix. 23: ἐπὶ τὸν ἰσχυρον συλλογισμὸν ἔρχονται πάλιν ol ᾿Ιουδαῖοι. 3 In Ac. ix. 30 some authorities read εἰς Καισάρειαν διὰ νυκτός. * κατήγαγον, ‘brought him down to the coast’; ἐξαπέστειλαν, ‘sent him away out of port.’ * Bengel on Col. iii. 21: "ἀθυμία, fractus animus, pestis juventutis.’ Ministry in Syria- Cilicia. Cf. Gal. i. 21-24. Spiritual develop- ment. 2 Cor. xii. 2-4. 62> ΠΕ AND CETTERS OF 51,240. estrangement, and the bitter memory remained with him to the last. Nevertheless he did not flinch. An outcast from home and kindred, he devoted himself for the next nine years ! to the service of the Gospel in his native city and the surround- ing Province of Syria-Cilicia; and he achieved no small success. The fame of his ministry travelled as far as the Province of Judza, and excited wonder and gladness in the churches there. He was personally unknown to them, but they had heard of his malign activities in the Sacred Capital a few years previously, and on learning that the persecutor was doing the work of an evangelist they praised God for so amazing a transformation. Nor was this his sole employment. It was during that period that he was vouchsafed those two visions which he recounts in a letter to the church at Corinth in the year 55, one a discovery of the righteousness of God and the other a revelation of the glory of the Risen Saviour. It thus appears that his protracted sojourn in his native province was a season not merely of evangelical activity but of inward development, and in either aspect it was a precious discipline for the work which awaited him in the providence of God. 1 Cf. Append, 1, BOOK II PAUL THE APOSTLE OF JESUS CHRIST ‘Paule doctor egregie, Tuba clangens ecclesia, Nubes volans ac tonitrum, Per amplum mundi circulum. Nobis potenter intona Ruraque cordis irriga, Ccelestis imbre gratiz Mentes virescant aridee,’ Latin Hymn, HIS CALL TO THE APOSTLESHIP OF Ac, x1. 19- THE GENTILES ὅσο; Ac.” xxii. 17-21. IT is an ancient saying which has passed into a proverb, that The dis- ‘the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church’ ; 1 persion of and Saul’s conversion was not the sole harvest which sprang and the from the blood of Stephen. The dispersion of the Church ena issued in the diffusion of the Faith, since the fugitives played the part of missionaries, proclaiming the glad tidings of Christ wherever they went. Damascus was not the only heathen city where they found anasylum. A little company, mainly Hellenists, passed the northern frontier into Pheenicia, and there doubtless they would visit the cities of Tyre and Sidon and preach in the synagogues; but they did not stay in Phoenicia. They crossed over to the island of Cyprus, and after preaching to the Jews there they returned to the mainland and settled at Antioch. Now a poor Turkish town of six thousand inhabitants, The city of Antioch was in those days a splendid city. She was the ‘nt metropolis of Syria, ranking after Rome and Alexandria as the third city of the Roman Empire.2— Damascus was the Arabian metropolis of Syria, but when the Greeks occupied The Greek the country, they desired a capital nearer to the sea for the Sei οἱ facilitation of their commerce ; and Seleucus Nicator chose a site on the river Orontes fifteen miles from its mouth.® The river was navigable, and the passage up the winding stream was only one day’s sail,4 while the port of Seleuceia five miles north of its embouchure opened to the ity a still easier access to the sea. 1 Tert. 4f0/. 50: ‘ Plures efficimur quoties metimur a vobis : semen est sanguis Christianorum.’ , 3 Jos. De Bell. Jud. ut. ii. 4. The chief ancient authorities on Antioch are Strabo, 749 ff. ; Julian, Msopogon ; Chrysostom, Homilies to the People of Antioch. Cf. Gibbon, Decline and Fall, chaps. xxiii, xxvi; Renan, Les Apétres, xii. 5 Jos. Contra Apion. τι. 4; Strabo, 749. * Strabo, 751. E 65 Her popu- lation. Her learn- ing. Her turbu- lence and licentious- ness, 66 LIFE AND: LETTERS. OF ST ΡΑΤΗΣ . Her population in the days when St. Chrysostom vas thrilling her with his matchless eloquence, numbered 200,000,! of whom half were Christians ; 2 and it comprised four elements. The native Syrians were the primary element. Then there were the invading Greeks. There was also a large colony of Jews, attracted thither at the foundation © of the city by the privilege of ‘ equal citizenship’ which Seleucus granted to that race of merchants.? Moreover, Pompey had constituted Antioch a free city, the capital of | the Province of Syria and the seat of the imperial Legate ; 4 and thus there was a Roman element, mainly official, in the population. ¥ She enjoyed, according to Cicero,® a high reputation for learning and culture ; and this was more than maintained in Christian days when Antioch was the centre of a distinguished school of historical exegesis. Her fair fame, however, was tarnished by another and less honourable reputation. The Antiochenes were characterised by that turbulent disposition which seems inevitable wherever there is a mixture of races ; and they were also notorious for their licentiousness. ‘ The warmth of the climate,’ says Gibbon, ‘ disposed the natives” to the most intemperate enjoyment of tranquillity and opulence; and the lively licentiousness of the Greeks was blended with the hereditary softness of the Syrians.’ Among” the uplands five miles from the city lay . ‘that sweet grove Of Daphne by Orontes,’ ‘Antioch by Daphne’ ὅ---α needful distinction inasmuch aS there were at least four other Antiochs in Syria, besides: 1 Chrys. Hom. ΧΙ, Jn S. Jgnat. Martyr. * Chrys. 2 Matt. Hom. LXXxvi, ad fin. * Jos. Ant. xu. iii. 1. 4 Plut. Pomp. xxxixf.; Plin. Wat. Hist. v. 13. ® Pro Arch. Poet. iii. Philostratus, however, says (Vit. Afoll. Tyan. 111. 58 that Antioch had no zeal for letters. In any case her enduring literary fame is Christian. ; 9 ᾿Αντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Δάφνῃ. All TO APOSTLESHIP OF GENTILES 67 Antioch in Pisidia and Antioch on the Meander. The ritual of the grove was a consecration of shame. ‘ The vigorous youth,’ says Gibbon again, ‘ pursued, like Apollo, the object of his desires; and the blushing maid was warned, by the fate of Daphne, to shun the folly of unreasonable coyness.’ “ The morals of Daphne ’ were proverbial ; and so enervating was the abandon that Avidius Cassius, the hardy general of Marcus Aurelius, whose tragic rebellion served only to illustrate the magnanimity of the philosophic Emperor, made it a penal offence for a soldier to visit the place. The corruption of Antioch tainted the whole world, and the Roman satirist deplores the flood of pollution which the Orontes poured into the Tiber.? _ The Antiochenes were further remarkable for a ready Antiochene wit which was apt to degenerate into scurrility, and which """” “manifested itself particularly in an unamiable trick of coining nicknames. It is related that, when the Emperor Julian the Apostate visited the city in the course of his march to the Fast, he angered them by injudicious interference with ‘their market, and they avenged themselves by shouting abuse after him in the streets. The long beard which he ‘wore in emulation of his revered philosophers, was an especial object of their ridicule. They termed him ‘ the Goat,’ and exhorted him to ‘ cut it off and weave it into ropes’; and they styled him also ‘ the Butcher’ because he was continu- ally sacrificing oxen at the altars of his heathen deities. This unamiable propensity of the Antiochenes has con- The niek- ferred one lasting benefit. ‘The disciples were called: "Chris: Christians first in Antioch.’ The name was originally no [35 title of honour ; it was a nickname, a derisive epithet where- “~ *" ** with the followers of Christ were branded by the mocking Antiochenes.? And its composition betrays its origin. A ae Juv. 111. 62. 5 Cf. Julian, A/sopgogon, 338 ff. ; Philostr. Vit. Afoll. Tyan. ut. §8; Socr. Heel, Hist. 111. 17. Wetstein on Acts xi. 26. _ * The evidence is twofold: (1) The name occurs only in two other passages in the New Testament (Ac. xxvi. 28; 1 Pet. iv. 16), and in each it is plainly a term of contempt. (2) χρηματίζειν (Ac. xi. 26) means not merely ‘to be named’ but “to be nicknamed.’ It signified properly to get a name from one’s employment χρῆμα), one’s occupation or conduct. Cf. Rom. vii. 3: a woman μοιχαλις ᾿Χρηματίσει when she commits μοιχείαᾳ. Erasmus: ‘ Videtur autem inde dicta vox, quod cognomen ex officio quo quis fungitur addi solet. Veluti publicani dicuntur, & % Zs } . A felicitous appella- tion, Jo. xix 20, 638°“LIFE AND LETTERS: OF'ST.- PAUL literary school or a political party received a designation from the leader’s name. Thus, the imitators of Cicero were styled ‘ Ciceronians’; the partisans of Pompey were styled ‘“Pompeians’; the attendants of Cesar, the slaves of the imperial palace, were styled ‘Cesarians’; and later the followers of the heresiarchs Sabellius and Arius were styled ‘Sabellians’ and ‘Arians.’ And in like manner, by a felicitous stroke of Antiochene wit, the followers of Christ, that pretender to the throne of Israel who had been crucified under Pontius Pilate, were mockingly designated ‘ Christians.” The nickname was caught up and was carried abroad. It became the general designation of the despised sect of Judaism, and as early as the year 64 it was in vogue among the populace of the imperial capital.1_ It was, however, still a contumelious epithet, and the persecuted folk con- tinued meanwhile to call themselves by their old designations —‘the disciples,’ ‘the believers,’ ‘the brethren,’ ‘th saints,’ ‘the elect’; but ere long it was transfigured by their virtues in the world’s estimation, and by the close o the first century they appropriated it and wore it proudly.’ It was indeed a noble name, nor could a more felicitous appellation have been devised. It blends the three grea languages of the ancient world, since ‘ Christ’ is the Greek rendering of the Hebrew ‘ Messiah,’ and the termination i Latin.* And thus, like the inscription, JESuS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEws, which Pilate put over the cross, in Hebrew and Greek and Latin, the name ‘ Christian 4 enshrines the supreme glory of the Gospel and proclaims th =) universality of its grace. ‘ Jesting Pilate’ and the mocking Antiochenes were unwitting prophets of the Lord. 4 a quod publica vectigalia colligunt, ita Christiani, quod Christum profiterentur. The Jewish designations of the despised sect were ‘the Nazarenes’ and ‘the | Galileans.’ g 1 Cf. Tac. Ann. xv. 44: ‘quos per flagitia invisos vulgus Christianos | appellabat.’ ἢ 4 3 Both Χριστιανός and Χριστιανισμός are frequent in the epistles of Ignatius Cf. ad Magn. iv.: πρέπον ἐστὶν μὴ μόνον καλεῖσθαι Χριστιανοὺς ἀλλὰ καὶ εἶναι | Lightfoot, Agost. Fath. 11. i. pp. 415 ff. 3. This does not prove that the name must have originated at Rome and existed’ (Baur). Such Latin forms were naturalised in the East. Cf. ‘Hpwé:avot, *Apecavol, Σαβελλιανοί. i) PALL TO APOSTLESHIP OF GENTILES 69 The bestowal of a name, however, was not the only Gentile service which Antioch rendered to Christianity. She was {*7s""* the scene of a momentous innovation which determined the future of the Faith. Of those Hellenists who after their extensive wandering settled in the city, some were Cypriotes, and they shared the generosity of their countryman Barnabas; while others were Cyrenians, and they had doubtless heard the arguments of Stephen in their synagogue at Jerusalem ἦ and caught his spirit. They were thus men of wide sym- pathies and large ideals. They were Jews, and in the course of their travels through Phoenicia and Cyprus they had addressed themselves exclusively to their co-religionists ; but after their settlement at Antioch they took to preaching also to the Gentiles.2 Their appeal proved effective. They won numerous converts among the heathen populace; and these, strangers as they were to the Jewish Law and its ceremonial rites, were received into the communion of the Church. It was a novel development, and when a report of it Delegation reached Jerusalem, it occasioned no small questioning in f,eane the Church. It was decided to despatch a delegate to inquire Jerusaiemt_ into it, and Barnabas was appointed. It wasa happy choice ; for the occasion demanded a man of large sympathy, discern- ment of God’s purpose, and courage to forsake tradition and enter at the divine call on an untrodden path. And such a man was Barnabas—‘a good man and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.’ He came to Antioch, and he immediately recognised the His Lord’s hand in the new movement. It was a singular mani- ¢fthe innovation. ECE. p: 40. ® Ac. xi. 20: πρὸς τοὺς Ἕλληνας. Though the preponderance of MS. authority supports Ἑλληνιστάς (cf. p. 5), the true reading is indubitably Ἕλληνας, (1) There would have been nothing novel in preaching to Hellenists ; and in fact all the Jewish residents at Antioch were Hellenists. (2) There is no antithesis between Ἰουδαῖοι and ‘EAAnuoral. The “Ελληνισταί were ᾿Ιουδαῖοι, and the anti- thesis of ἙἙλληνιστής is ᾿Εβραῖος (cf. Ac. vi. 1). (3) Ἕλληνας is further attested by εὐαγγελιζόμενοι τὸν Κύριον ᾿Ιησοῦν. Preaching to Gentiles, they ‘told the glad tidings of the Lord Jesus’; had they been preaching to Jews, whether Hebrews or Hellenists, they would have ‘proclaimed and proved from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Son of God, the Messiah’ (cf. ix. 20, 22). It is significant that, while reading τοὺς Ἑλληνιστάς, Chrys. assumes that it is equivalent to τοὺς Ἕλληνας, His enlist- ment of Saul. Saul's ‘bodily presence.’ 2 Cor. x. ΤΟ, ‘ brow’ seems to denote a short-sighted person’s manner of Cf. Ac. ΧΗΣ, 9, XIV. Q, xxiii, 1. πὸ. LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL festation of grace, and he not merely approved it but lent it his best aid. ‘He exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they should abide by the Lord.’ He possessed indeed, as his name expresses, the gift of exhortation ; but he recognised that more was needed. He would fain have borne an active part in the winning of fresh converts, and_ since he lacked this aptitude, he considered how he might procure effective reinforcement ; and his thoughts turned to Saul. He recalled that memorable fortnight in Jerusalem and the power of the converted persecutor’s testimony. Of late, moreover, and especially since his coming to Antioch he had been hearing reports of Saul’s evangelical activities in the Province of Syria-Cilicia. Where could a better helper be found ? He knew not where in the wide province he might be prosecuting his labours, but he took ship for Tarsus and soon discovered him and brought him to Antioch. It was the summer of the year 45 when Saul appeared on. the scene,? and in his outward aspect there was little sugges- tion of the distinguished part which he would play. Un- chivalrous adversaries in after days sneered at ‘ the weakness of his bodily presence’ ; and tradition has preserved a graphic portraiture which is so unflattering that it can hardly be ἃ mere imagination, since the tendency of later generations was rather to idealise the Apostles. It depicts him as ‘little πὸ size, bald-headed, bow-legged, well-knit, with contracted | brow, somewhat large-nosed.’* The phrase ‘ with contracted | pursing his eyes and wrinkling his forehead ;* and there is perhaps an evidence that Saul laboured under this infirmity in his habit of ‘ fastening his eyes’ on one whom he addressed.® | 1 Cf. Append. I. 2 Act. Paul. et Thecl. 3: εἶδεν δὲ τὸν Παῦλον ἐρχόμενον, ἄνδρα μικρὸν τῷ μεγέθει, ψιλὸν τῇ κεφαλῇ, ἀγκύλον ταῖς κνήμαις, εὐεκτικὸν, σύνοφρυν, μικρῶς ἐπίρρινον, ᾿ χάριτος πλήρη. ποτὲ μὲν γὰρ ἐφαίνετο ὡς ἄνθρωπος, ποτὲ δὲ ἀγγέλου πρόσωπον ] εἶχεν. Cf. Pseudo-Lucian, ΖΦ ἀζιοῤαΐί. 12: Γαλιλαῖος, ἀνακεφαλαντίας, ἐπίρρινος, €$ | τρίτον οὐρανὸν ἀεροβατήσας καὶ τὰ κάλλιστα ἐκμεμαθηκώς. | * σύνοφρυς signified also ‘with meeting eyebrows,’ jumnctis superciliis—a mark of beauty (cf. Theocr. vil. 75: σύνοφρυς κόρα) ; but this meaning is indices here. 4 * ἀτενίζειν, one of Luke’s medical terms (cf. Hobart, A/ed. Lang. of St. Iuka p. 76), occurring twice in his Gospel and ten times in Acts, and nowhere else i N. T. except 2 Cor. iii. 7, 13, where it denotes a strained gaze. CALL TO APOSTLESHIP OF GENTILES 71 Possibly it was induced by the blinding flash on the road to Damascus. It is, however, noteworthy that, uncouth as it represents him, the tradition imputes to him no other bodily weakness. On the contrary, it describes him as ‘ well-knit’ ; and so he must have been, else he could not have sustained the fatigue of his extensive travel and continual toil in after years. And though thus insignificant in the eyes of the world, he ranks with its greatest. ‘ Three cubits in stature, he touched the sky’;1 and discerning souls perceived his spiritual grandeur. And so the tradition adds that he was ‘full of grace; for sometimes he showed like a man, but sometimes he had the face of an angel.’ - He was well equipped for his task when he came to His suc-. Antioch. Being forty-five years of age, he was in the full aioe a vigour of mature manhood; his mind, so rich in natural Antioch. endowments, had been disciplined and furnished by education and study; and his soul had been quickened and elevated by singular experiences of heavenly grace. Moreover, during the last nine years he had been doing the work of an evangelist in Tarsus and its environs, and thus he was practised in the art of commending the Gospel and winning men for Christ. It does not appear that he had ever visited Antioch, but the fame of his preaching in the province must have travelled thither, and it would excite lively expectation. For a year he prosecuted his labours among the teeming populace, and they were crowned with abundant success. _ Meanwhile, however, there had been trouble at Jerusalem. persecu- Antioch’s season of gracious visitation was a time of tribula- τον δὲ em, tion for the Church in the Holy City. Herod Agrippa 1, King of Judea (A.D. 37-44) by consent of Imperial Rome, was a gentle and kindly prince,” yet he had assumed the role of persecutor. His policy was to humour his Jewish sub- jects, and he addicted himself from the outset of his reign ὃ a scrupulous observance of their religion. ‘It was his pleasure,’ says the Jewish historian, ‘to reside constantly it Jerusalem, and he purely observed the national customs. 6 lived an undefiled life, nor did a day ever pass with him + ie J Orat. Encom. (ascribed to Chrys.) : Παῦλος. . . ὁ τρίπήχυς ἄνθρωπος καὶ τῶν οὐρανῶν ἁπτόμενος. ΠΡ Jos. Ant. XIX; vii. 3. χὰ DIE! AND ‘LETTERS OF Si; Pave lacking the legal sacrifice.’ His reign was the golden age of Ac. xii. 3. Pharisaism, and it is no wonder that to ‘ please the Jews’ he should have attacked the Church. He executed the Apostle James, the son of Zebedee and brother of John, and cast Peter into prison. Fugitive Again the Church was dispersed, and a band of fugitives freptets @t took refuge at Antioch. They were remarkable personages. They were Prophets, successors of those heroic preachers of old who had been inspired by the Spirit of God to read His τ Mac. iv. purposes and declare His will. The gift of prophecy had 4° 427" ceased in later days. Already in the time of the Maccabees ce ae there was no prophet in Israel. Inspiration was lacking, ‘* and the prophet’s place was supplied by the scribe, the conservator of a dead tradition. With the advent of the eg Gospel the lost gift was restored. John the Baptist was a prophet of the ancient order; and this is the secret of his mighty power. For centuries the people had been yearning for a living voice, proclaiming with authority the Word of the Living God; and when at length they heard it, they recognised and welcomed it. And the gift remained after Ac. ii.17, the Lord’s departure. It was confirmed on the Day of nit Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured forth; and it continued for generations. In apostolic days it was held in x Cor. xii. high honour, and the Prophets ranked next to the Apostles a in the Church’s esteem. Famine It was probably toward the close of the year 44 when age that company of prophets appeared at Antioch. They settled there and aided in the work of evangelisation ; and presently one of their number, named Agabus, publicly announced the imminence of a widespread famine. It was no groundless alarm. It is recorded that during the reign of Claudius (A.D. 41-54) the Empire was afflicted with ‘incessant dearths. "1 Shortly after his accession there had been a famine at Rome, betokening scarcity in the countries whence her supplies were drawn.? Greece suffered in the eighth or ninth year of his reign ; 35 and in the eleventh Rome was again visited, and her distress was aggravated by shocks of earthquake and popular tumult. 1 Suet. Claud. 18. 3 Dio Cassius, Ix. rr. Cf. Lewin, Fast. Sac. 1639. * Eus. Chron. Cf. Lewin, 1735. 4 Tac. Ann. XII. 43. Cab TLOAPOSTLESHIP OP GENTILES 73 It was likely that the wandering calamity would alight Fulfilment nearer home, and probably about the beginning of the 3i¢P" year 45, when the prospects of the harvest in the month of March were looking dark, the prophet perceived and an- nounced its approach. His prediction was presently ful- filled. Judea was ravaged by a sore dearth during the years 45 and 46.1 The distress of the Jews was alleviated by the munificent generosity of a noble proselyte, Helena Queen of Abdiene, who had visited the Holy City, probably at the Feast of the Passover, to worship and present thank- offerings in the Temple, and was residing in her palace on the Acra * when the trouble befell. She despatched some of her officers in hot haste to Alexandria for a supply of corn and others to Cyprus for a cargo of dried figs, and on the arrival of those welcome succours dispensed them among the starving populace.$ There was no beneficent princess among the Christians in Antiochene Jerusalem ; nevertheless they did not go unrelieved. The ple eros prophecy of Agabus had apprised the Antiochenes of the impending calamity; and, though the fertility of their country secured them from personal privation, they were concerned for their co-religionists in the Holy City, and cr, Gal. ii. when Saul appeared among them in the course of the summer, * he directed their sympathy into a practical channel. His heart was tender toward ‘the poor saints’ at Jerusalem, inasmuch as some of them would be the widows and orphans of his victims in the first persecution ; and he engaged the good offices of the Antiochenes on their behalf. A relief fund was organised. They would doubtless follow the method which subsequently prevailed, contributing each : Cor. xvi. Lord’s Day according to their ability; and in course of *” time the offerings accumulated until, when the famine reached its height on the failure of the harvest in the year 46, there was a sufficient store. And then they purchased supplies and despatched these to Jerusalem. Barnabas and Saul were deputed to conduct the transport Conducted and present the bounty. Their retinue included a young pl.ana” Saul, 1 Cf. Append. I. 5 Of. Jos. De Bell. Jud. v. vi. 1; vi. νἱ, 3. ® Jos. Ant. XX. ii. 5, v. 2; cf. III. xv. % Titus asso- ciated with them, Cf. Tit. i. 4. Conference at Jeru- salem, Gal. ii. 2. Cf. Gal. ii. 4. Judaistic demand that Titus be circum- cised. ὦ. ἘΠΕ IAN D: LETTERS OF 5 tr PAvE Gentile named Titus who was destined to play a meritorious part in after days. For a reason which will emerge in due course, nothing is recorded of his antecedents, but this much is certain, that he was a convert of Saul; and it appears also that he was an Antiochene, inasmuch as he remained uncircumcised, and it was at Antioch that the epoch-making innovation of preaching to the Gentiles and receiving them on the sole ground of faith in Christ first originated. Ere his coming thither Saul had preached in the synagogues and his converts had all been Jews. Evidently Titus had already evinced his worth and won the confidence of Saul; for it was the latter who attached him to the expedition. Nor is his motive obscure. The Antiochene innovation was resented in the Pharisaic section of the Church at Jerusalem ; and he would feel that if its legitimacy were challenged, no more effective defence could be offered than the presentation of a believing Gentile who, though uncircumcised, displayed by his gracious endowments an incontrovertible evidence of his acceptance with God. And so it came to pass. It was the summer of 46 when the delegates appeared in the Holy City, and they did not merely deliver the bounty and hasten back to Antioch. They remained in Jerusalem and aided in the distribution. Nor was this their sole employment. Saul was solicitous for the future. He recognised how momentous was the departure from Jewish sentiment involved in his Gospel of salvation by simple faith and its repudiation of the continued obliga- tion of the Law; and, eager to preclude subsequent con- troversy and embitterment, he held a private conference with the leaders of the Church and submitted his views to them. A heated discussion ensued. There were several members of the conference who belonged to the extreme party of the legalists and who, it appears, eventually reverted to Judaism ; and they condemned the Antiochene innova- tion. They affirmed the permanent obligation of the Mosaic Law, and insisted that Titus should forthwith be circumcised. It seems that there was a general disposi- 1 Cf. Ac. xi. 29 (els διακονίαν) and xii. 25 (πληρώσαντες τὴν διακονίαν) with vi. 1 (ἐν τῇ διακονίᾳ τῇ καθημερινῇ). Barnabas and Saul assisted in ‘the daily ministration,’ ‘the service of tables.’ πληρώσαντες implies a protracted stay. πρύμο ἀκ lahat Es Aha gina tala ite facie Systane σον le silt gaa rae -_s αν τὰν χψν. CALL TO APOSTLESHIP OF GENTILES 75 tion to accede in the interests of peace; but Saul stoutly resisted the proposal, and eventually he prevailed.t| The Sauls Apostles, particularly James, the Lord’s brother, Peter, and oe John, sided with him. They approved his Gospel, declaring His Gospel it sufficient and requiring no addition to it in the way of *PP** legal observance. And, recognising that ‘there are diver- cr. Gal. ii sities in gifts of grace, but the same Spirit,’ and that ‘ each ᾿ has his own gift of grace from God, one in this way τ Cor. xi. and another in that,’ and ‘as the Lord has apportioned to 4: "7 each, as God has called each, so he should comport himself,’ they sanctioned his purpose of devoting himself to the evangelisation of the Gentiles. That was manifestly his providential vocation, whereas Peter, on the other hand, was marked out by his peculiar aptitude for the work of evangelising the Jews. And so they allocated to each his separate province and bade each Godspeed. It was a wise and magnanimous decision, and the spirit A mag- of the apostolic triad is pleasantly evinced by the solitary gercement. stipulation which they attached to their approval of Saul’s vocation. They desired that, when he and Barnabas went on their mission to the Gentiles, they should still cherish a Gal. ii. το. kindly remembrance of their poor Jewish brethren and continue to relieve their necessities. It was at once a grateful acknowledgment of the generosity of the Antiochene converts and a recognition of the efficacy of such brotherly sympathy in healing the enmity between Jew and Gentile. And they knew well that their desire was granted ere it was preferred, since Saul was eager to make atonement for the past and succour the distress which he had helped to create. The conference served a profitable end by establishing Its happy Saul in the Church’s confidence and legitimising his message. θεν It furnished him with a large opportunity, and it appears that 1 In Gal. ii. 5 the true reading is certainly οὐδὲ πρὸς ὥραν εἴξαμεν, ‘not even for an hour did we yield’; but several important authorities (Vet. It., Pesh. Syr., Ὁ, Iren., Vict., Tert., Ambrstr.) omit οὐδέ: ‘for an hour we yielded.’ That is: Titus was circumcised. It was a voluntary concession. He was not comfelled, but in view of the clamour the point was temporarily conceded in the interests of peace. The variant is probably a mistaken attempt to harmonise Paul’s action in the case of Titus with his subsequent action in the case of Timothy (Ac. xvi. 3. Cf. p. 121). It may be remarked that, if Titus were circumcised, this would _ preclude the idea that the occasion was the Council of 49 (cf. Append. I), since such a concession, while conceivable earlier, was then out of the question. Ac, ix; 29, 30. Cf. Rom. ἐπ ἀπε οἰ XK: Saul’s vision in the Temple. Cf. Ac. ΧΧΙΪ, 17-21. 76. TPE AND LETTERS OF Si Pauds he zealously availed himself of it. The hearts of the Jewish Christians were, moreover, kindly disposed toward him by the generous subsidy which he had brought them and his sympathetic assistance in the distribution ; and the common distress had drawn all the citizens together. On the occasion of his previous visit to Jerusalem ten years previously he had been driven from the city by Jewish animosity ;1 but this was now forgotten, and he preached freely and successfully. To the last Saul loved his nation and yearned for its salvation; and he would joyfully devote himself to the ministry thus pleasingly presented to him. Amid these happy employments the days passed swiftly. Autumn glided into winter, and still he tarried at Jerusalem, oblivious of the call of the Gentile world. Yet he was not without misgivings. It would be about the commencement of the year 47 when, after the devout Jewish fashion, he one day betook himself to the Temple for a season of solitary prayer.2 A problem was pressing on his mind, and he would fain know the will of God. The question was whether he should remain in Jerusalem and continue the work which he had so auspiciously begun; and in the fervour of his supplication he was rapt into unconsciousness of his sur- roundings.? His experience on the road to Damascus was repeated. The Glorified Lord appeared to him, and charged him to leave Jerusalem immediately. Meanwhile indeed the Jews were lending a ready ear to his message ; but their complacence would be short-lived: ‘they will not receive your testimony concerning Me.’ It reveals the recent trend of Saul’s thoughts that he remonstrated and urged that there was reason to anticipate a happier issue. His message was invested with powerful credentials which could hardly fail to conquer the unbelief of the Jews. ‘ Lord,’ he pleaded, ‘those very men know that it was I who imprisoned and 2 Clo p64; 2 Cf. Append. I. 3 γενέσθαι με ἐν ἐκστάσει, ‘fell into an ecstasy.’ The idea of ἔκστασις (ἐξίστασθαι) is that one is ‘beside oneself,’ outwith the control of the ordinary faculties, a condition induced by powerful emotion, as surprise or joy (cf. Mk. v. 42; Lk. v. 26; Ac. ii. 7, iii. 10); hence also of insanity (Mk. ili. 21; 2 Cor. v. 13). Cf. Plut. Sol. viii. 1: ἐσκήψατο ἔκστασιν τῶν λογισμών, ‘he feigned himself insane.’ In his Parapfhr. Erasmus has here ‘raptus extra me.’ The antithesis is ἐν ἑαυτῷ γενέσθαι (xii. 11) or els ἑαυτὸν ἐλθεῖν (Lk. xv. 17). CALL TO APOSTLESHIP OF GENTILES 77 scourged in every synagogue ! those who believed on Thee ; and when the blood of Stephen Thy martyr was being poured out, 1 am the very man who stood by and approved and watched the garments of his slayers.’ Surely his testimony must carry conviction!* The Lord ignored the argument and imperiously reiterated His command. The evangelisa- tion of Jerusalem was not Saul’s task; his work lay else- where. ‘Go your way; for I will send you afar as My Apostle 3 to the Gentiles.’ That sentence defined Saul’s mission and sealed his ordination. He was thenceforth an Apostle of Jesus Christ —the Apostle of the Gentiles; and his Apostleship was a divine commission. 1 Scourging was included in the synagogal discipline (cf. Mt. x. 17, xxiii. 34; 2 Cor. xi. 24). Cf. Schiirer, 11. ii. p. 66; Lightfoot and Wetstein on Mt. x. 17. 2 Cf. Chrys. : ‘A priord (ἀπὸ λογισμῶν) he must needs suspect that they would certainly receive it.’ 3 ἐξαποστελῶ, cf. Mt. x. 5, 16. His apos- tolic com. mission. Cf, Rom. ΧΙ, 13. Cf. Gal. i I. Ac. xii. 25- xill. 3. Paul the Apostle of the Gentiles. Cf. Ac. xv. 25: Return to Antioch. THE FIRST MISSION *Even with so soft a surge and_an increasing, Drunk of the sand and thwarted of the clod, Stilled and astir and checked and never-ceasing Spreadeth the great wave of the grace of God ; ‘Bears to the marishes and bitter places Healing for hurt and for their poisons balm, Isle after isle in infinite embraces Floods and enfolds and fringes with the palm.’ FREDERIC W. H. MYERS. I ORDINATION OF ANTIOCH His call determined Saul’s future career. It resolved his perplexity, and he. forthwith addressed himself, with a devotion which never flagged, to the work for which God had hitherto been preparing him all unconsciously—the high enterprise of winning the Gentile world for the Faith of Christ. It was a momentous crisis, and he marked it by an eloquent and abiding monument. Hitherto he had gone by his Jewish name of Saul; but from the hour of his vocation to the Apostleship of the Gentiles he disused it and went by his Gentile name of Paul,! even in his intercourse with the Jews. His path was clear, and he made no delay in entering upon it. Yet he did not embark on his mission from Jerusalem. Antioch was the cradle of Gentile Christianity, the capital of Gentile Christendom, and it was fitting that the Antiochene Church should consecrate and commission him. 1 Cf. p. 21. In the Received Text the Gentile name is first introduced in Ac. xiii. 9 ; but in xii. 25 SyrP has ‘ Saul who was called Paul,’ while some minuscs. read ‘Paul’ and one ‘Saul Paul.’ Again, in xiii. 1 for ‘Saul’ several minuscs. read ‘Paul.’ The probability is that it was after his call in the Temple that he changed his name. 78 se SS TS! δ᾽ ᾿ ὡσ--, CFI RNP ee eee ee a ee ἐπὰν 45. a PEL ON: Ὺ THE FIRST MISSION 79 And therefore he left the Holy City, now rejoicing in the near prospect of an abundant harvest, and returned to the Syrian capital. He did not return alone. Barnabas accompanied him. Accom- His generous soul not only hailed his comrade’s call with Ro7°$.0" glad approval but claimed the privilege of sharing in the great enterprise; and, recognising how arduous it would prove, he lent his practical counsel for its effective conduct. It was needful that the Apostle, after the example of the cf. 2 ki. ancient Prophets, should be provided with an attendant— 7,17’ δ" a young disciple who should relieve him of the burden of lesser offices and at the same time learn by his example the art of an evangelist ; and it so happened that Barnabas had a young cousin? whom he deemed competent. His Jewish name was John, and he bore also, according to the Attended custom of the time, the Latin name of Mark. He resided at y?,J°" Jerusalem with his mother Mary, who was evidently act. Ac. xi. widow and who was distinguished by her hospitality. Her "57 house was a resort of the Christians in the city ; and since Ct. x Pet. her son owed his conversion to Peter, it is no wonder that the “ ’* great Apostle was held by the household in especial venera- tion. In after days John Mark served as Peter’s attendant, but his chief fame is his authorship of the Gospel which bears his name and which is credibly reputed a report of the _ Evangelic Tradition as he heard it from his master’s lips.® Already, in the judgment of his kinsman at all events, he had given evidence of his fitness, and he was attached to the Cf. Ac. xiii mission in the capacity of attendant. His service would * include primarily the business of amanuensis, and probably also the administration of Baptism—an office which Paul cf. τ Cor. seldom discharged with his own hands.® Sasa + Cf. Col. iv. 10: Μάρκος ὁ ἀνεψιὸς Βαρνάβα. ἀνεψιός was a cousin-german, whether on his father’s side (fatruelés) or on his mother’s (comsobrinus). Cf. : _ Moulton and Milligan, Vocaé. It is thus uncertain whether Mary, the mother of John Mark, was sister or sister-in-law to Barnabas’ father. The use of ἀνεψιός 5. the sense of ἀδελφιδοῦς, ‘nephew’ (A.V.), was late. * Cf. Papias in Eus. Στ. Eccl. 111. 39. : 5 ὑπηρέτης (Ac. xiii. 5), ‘attendant,’ is used in the classics of the armour bearer (σκευοφόρος) who acted as squire to a hoplite or heavy-armed soldier (cf. Thuc. 111. 17; Xen. Cyrof. 11. 1. 31) and was himself equipped with bow and sling (cf. Aristoph. 4v. 1186 f.). According to Act. Barn. vi, apparently, Mark acted as Paul’s amanuensis and reader, The Antiochene Prophets and Teachers. Cfo xCor. ΧΙ. “23, XV. 1-3. Dedication and despatch of the mission- aries. S06 “LIP E AND BETTERS- OF Straus The Antiochene Church was predominantly Gentile, and it appears that it had not as yet adopted the synagogal organisation which was subsequently universal in Christian communities. It had no Presbyters or Elders, and its leaders were Prophets and Teachers. The former were doubtless the fugitives who had settled in the city toward the close of the year 44; and though Agabus seems to have taken his departure, three still remained—Symeon Niger,} Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, an ex-courtier of Herod Antipas, Tetrarch of Galilee and Perea. And what were the ‘Teachers’? In those early days when there were no written Gospels, the story of our Lord’s earthly life was preserved after the Jewish manner by oral tradition,* and its accurate transmission was a needful and difficult task, demanding not only laborious discipline but scrupulous faithfulness. This was the business of the Teachers ;* and the importance of their service, as will appear in the sequel,® increased with the progress of the years. They were not a distinct order. An Apostle or a Prophet or a Presbyter might be a Teacher; and the transmission of the Evangelic Tradition to his converts was not the least of Paul’s apostolic concerns. On reaching Antioch Barnabas and Paul conferred with the three Prophets, their colleagues in the leadership of the Church, and acquainted them with their purpose. It was 1 Symeon and Simon were interchangeable forms (cf. Ac. xv. 14), and there is no impossibility in the suggestion that Symeon Niger was Simon of Cyrene (cf. Mt. xxvii. 32). Niger means ‘black,’ but since it was a common name, it need not imply that he was a negro. ® Perhaps Paul’s συγγενής, z.e., ‘countryman’ or ‘fellow Jew’ (Rom. xvi. 21). 3 Manaen is the Jewish name Menahem. σύντροφος does not mean ‘fouster- brother,’ collactaneus (Vulg.). It was a court title, denoting a member of the prince’s personal retinue (cf. Deissmann, B26. Stud., pp. 310 ff.). Thus Manaen was not a plebeian, the child of Antipas’ nurse, but an ex-courtier, one of the few men of worldly rank in the primitive Church. It may be that he was a son of Menahem, the Essene prophet, who during the school-days of Herod the Great predicted his elevation to the Jewish throne, and enjoyed the royal favour on the fulfilment of the prophecy (cf. Jos. Amt. xv. x. 5). “ Cf. The Days of His Flesh, pp. xiii ff. 5 Ambrstr. on 1 Cor. xii. 28: ‘Illos dicit doctores qui in Ecclesia litteris et lectionibus (v./. traditionibus) retinendis pueros imbuebant more Synagogae; quia traditio illorum ad nos transitum fecit.’ 9. Cf. pp. 592 ff. RMT cash cn ny THE FIRST MISSION 81 a momentous departure, and the Prophets durst not lightly lend it their sanction. They sought direction of God, after the accustomed manner, by a season of prayer and fasting ; Cf. Ae. nor did they seek in vain. The Holy Spirit illumined their *” ** minds, and they recognised the will of God. They convened the Church,! and in name of the congregation ordained the missionaries and sent them forth on their high adventure. II EVANGELISATION OF CYPRUS Ac. xiii, 4-12. It was about the beginning of March 47 that Paul and Theislana Barnabas, attended by John Mark, took their departure * from Antioch.2 They had chosen the island of Cyprus as the first scene of their missionary labours; and it was a natural choice. Cyprus lay nigh at hand, only seventy miles distant from Seleuceia, the port of Antioch. And since it was the native country of Barnabas, his local Cf. Ac iv. intimacies would ensure them a welcome and win their ** message a readier hearing, Moreover, the ground had already been broken by~-those fugitives from the first cf. xi. το. persecution who had subsequently found their way to Antioch and inaugurated the momentous innovation of Gentile evangelisation, It may seem indeed that this should rather have precluded Paul from Cyprus, since his tule, at all events in after days, was never to ‘ preach the Rom. xv. Gospel where Christ’s name was known, lest he should be τ oe building on another man’s foundation’; but it should be 75 τό: considered that it was to the Jews that his predecessors had a Ac, xi. ‘preached. The Gentiles had never yet heard the Gospel, * _ 1} Luke’s narrative here (vers. 2, 3) is very concise, but it would be clear to ‘readers familiar with the democratic procedure of the primitive Church. Even at Jerusalem questions were not decided by the authority of the Apostles or the Presbyters but by the vote of the brethren, the judgment of the Church, and the Apostles merely gave effect thereto (cf. Ac. i. 15, 16, 21-23; xv. 22). Accordingly in ver. 3 the subject is not ‘the Prophets and Teachers’ but ‘the brethren,’ ‘the whole Church’ ; and it is so defined in Cod. Bez. (D) by the insertion of πάντες after προσευξάμενοι. * Cf. Append. 1. F Its extent and im- portance. Intellectual distinction. A Roman province, 8o° LIFE AND LETTERS OF ΕΝ and it was to them especially that his mission was directed, ἥ Nor was Cyprus his ultimate venue. It was a mere stepping- stone to Asia Minor and the West, and thither his purpose already reached. Ἢ Cyprus was ἃ considerable island.! [115 coast-line measured three hundred and ninety miles, and its length from Cape Dinaretum in the east to Cape Acamas in the west was a hundred and sixty. In ancient days, when it. was ruled by tyrants, it contained no fewer than nine kingdoms, and in the time of Pliny its towns numbered fifteen.2 Nor were its resources inadequate to the main- tenance of so large a population. In its midst betwixt the mountain ranges of Olympus and Aoiis stretched a fertile plain, watered by the river Pedizeus and clothed not only with vineyards, olive orchards, and corn-fields, but with forests which furnished timber for the shipbuilders of Soli. Its mineral wealth too was abundant. In the very centre of the island at the base of Mount Aoiis lay Tamassus with its mines so rich in copper ore and sulphate of copper for medicinal uses.* Citium and Salamis were the seats of a prosperous trade in the manufacture and export of salt.* Nor was Cyprus destitute of intellectual renown. Sala was the birthplace of Aristos the historian, and Citium gave | to the world Zeno, the founder of the Stoic philosophy, anc Apollonius the physician. ἔ The island was annexed to Rome by Cato Uticensis in 59 B.c., and it was an Imperial Province under a propretor until A.D. 22 when Augustus made it a Senatorial Province under a proconsul.® The latter had his seat at Paphos, a seaport and the Roman capital, situated at the south-wes corner of the island. The city was styled New ice to ἢ distinguish it from Old Paphos, six or seven miles to the south-east, famous for an ancient temple of “ whither a multitude of worshippers resorted from the oth cities to keep festival every year.® 1 Cf. Strabo, 681-85. 2 Plin. Nat. Hist. ν. 35. 8 Strabo, 684; Plin. Nat. Hzst. xxxiv. 2. * Plin. Mat. Hist. XXX. 39, 4 5 Dio Cassius, Lim. 12. Cf. Lightfoot, Essays on ‘ Supernatural Religt pp. 202 ff. * Cf. Hom. Od. vitt. 362 f. ; Hor. Od. 1. xxx. 1 f. ; Strabo, 683; Tac. A 4 I. 2, ἢ. 13 ' THE FIRST MISSION 83 A stream of Jewish emigrants had flowed into Cyprus Jewish during the hospitable regime of the Ptolemies, and it was PoPU* ‘reinforced under the early empire when Augustus farmed Οἵ τ Mac. out the copper mines of the island to Herod the Great.!*” 7% Thus, when Paul and his company landed at Salamis, they found there a large Jewish population, so large that there The syna- “were several synagogues in the town; and they opened ξοβιν οἱ ‘their mission by visiting these and preaching to the congre- gations. It may seem strange that, though their errand was to the Gentiles, they should have addressed themselves to the Jews; but this was Paul’s constant method to the ‘last. In every town which he visited in the course of his ie vels, he immediately sought out the synagogue and there presented his initial appeal. ‘Both to Jew, in the first instance, and to Gentile ’ was his rule ; and it was indeed the Rom. i. 16; ‘fitting procedure. The Law had been a providential pre-“"® ™ aration for the Gospel ; and it was a reasonable expectation that the Jews should welcome the Saviour of whom their ‘Scriptures testified, and recognise it as their vocation to commend Him to the world. The synagogue was every- where the Gospel’s rightful home, its point d’appur ; and it Bras only when the Jews had rejected their Messiah that Se Ac. xiii, Paul reluctantly turned from them and addressed his appeal ἴ7. oa to the Gentiles. _ Salamis was only the first station, and after preaching Progress there the missionaries proceeded on their way. They ae advanced from town to town, turning now southward, now ‘northward, but always pushing westward, until they had traversed the breadth and length of the island.? Their labour seems to have accomplished little. Apparently indeed _they were courteously received by reason, doubtless, of the esteem wherewith Barnabas was regarded by his fellow- countrymen; at all events, they encountered in their progress through the island none of the hostility which the Gospel elsewhere aroused in Jewish breasts. But while there a 1 Jos. Ant. Xvi. iv. 5. 5 διέρχεσθαι with accus. (ver. 6) is the phrase in the Book of Acts for a missionary progress through a country (cf. xiv. 24; xv. 3, 41; xvi. 6; xviii. 23; xix. 1, 1; xx. 2). It implies constant deviation in order to visit towns lying off the direct route, and this is expressed by the variant in Cod. Bez. (D) καὶ περιελθόντων δὲ αὐτῶν ὅλην τὴν νήσον. Paphos Astrology, of OLIFE AND LETTERS OPsSsT) Ava is no evidence of opposition, there is none of success either. It is not recorded that they won a single convert in ἊΝ course of their peregrination. At length they reached Paphos, and there they achieved their first triumph. Being the administrative capital, the city was the seat of the Roman proconsul, and the office was held in those days by Sergius Paulus. Contemporary history is almost silent regarding him,’ but the sacred narrative describes him as ‘a shrewd man,’ ? evidently, in view of the sequel, with the intention of vindicating his reputation for sanity. At the same time, while practical sagacity was his” chief characteristic, it appears that he was in no wise destitute of intellectual distinction. At all events it is” probable that he is the Sergius Paulus mentioned by Pliny in the list of authors who had furnished him with informa- tion for the second and eighteenth books of his ee History, since both these books contain local and antiquarian memorabilia of the island of Cyprus such as an Ὡς resident would be likely to observe and chronicle.® : The proconsul was thus at once a man of affairs and a man of letters; nevertheless he was a child of his age and was imbued with its spirit. At that period the idea was universal that the lives of men ‘ tempered with the stars ” and their destinies were legible on the face of the firmament ; ἥ and the astrologer ὁ who professed to decipher the celestial emblazonry was held in boundless reverence. It was not merely in heathendom that the notion prevailed, for many astrologers were Jews;* nor was it only by the ignorant multitude that it was entertained, but by statesmen and princes like Pompey, Crassus, and Cesar,* and the Emperors Augustus and Tiberius.? The astrologers believed in their 1 A Cyprian inscription is dated ἘΠῚ ΠΑΥΛΟΥ͂ [ANOJTIIATOY, ‘in the: proconsulship of Paulus.’ Cf. Lightfoot, Zssays on ‘ Supernatural Religion, Ρ. 204. 3 σύνεσις is knowledge of practical affairs (cf. Suidas under εἰσβολή : σύνεσις, ἐπίληψις τῶν πραγμάτων) as distinguished from σοφία, ‘wisdom,’ which is intellectual (cf. Plat. Def: σοφία, ἐπιστήμη ἀνυπόθετος' ἐπιστήμη τῶν ἀεὶ ὄντων" ἐπιστήμη θεωρητικὴ τῆς τῶν ὄντων αἰτίας). Cf. Mt. xi. 25. 3" Cf. Nat. Hist. 11. 90, 97, 112; XVIII. 12, 57. * Variously named astrologus, magus, mathematicus, Chaldaus. δ. Cf. Juv. vi. 542 ff. ; Tac. Avn. XII. 52. 5 Οἷς. De Div. τι. 87-99. 7 Suet. dug. 94; 71. 14; Tac. Ann. VI. 20 ἔν THE FIRST MISSION 85 art, and so far they were no impostors; yet they usually turned it to ill account, trading on the credulity of their clients for lust of goid and power. And thus they exerted a baleful influence, insomuch that the Imperial Senate repeatedly decreed their expulsion from Rome,! and the Christian Church in after days sternly condemned them, denying them the Sacrament of Baptism and casting them out of her communion.” Yet such was the fascination of their mystic art that no severity availed to suppress it, and the superstition lingered until it was dispelled by the progress of scientific knowledge. It was still potent in the fifteenth century. King Louis x1 of France held frequent commerce with the stars;% and even after ‘the new learning’ had dissipated the long darkness of the Middle Ages, Philip Melanchthon was ‘a believer in judicial astrology, and a caster of horoscopes, and an interpreter of dreams.’ _ It was the fashion for exalted personages to retain The astrologers in their councils; and just as the Emperor §u.02" Tiberius was attended by his Thrasyllus during his retreat on the island of Caprez, and King Louis by his Martius Galeotti in the castle of Plessis-les-Tours, so Sergius Paulus had an astrologer in his retinue. He was a Jew; and his proper Mame was Barjesus, a patronymic like Bartholomew, Bartimeus, and Barsabbas, signifying ‘Son of Jesus’ or * Joshua,’ while his official title was Elymas, ‘ the Wizard.’ 4 Alert to all that transpired in his province, the Proconsul had heard of the doings of the missionaries in their progress through the island; and on their arrival at Paphos he summoned them before him and, with his astrologer in Bttendance, inquired into their propaganda. It was a golden opportunity, and they gladly embraced His it. They expounded the Gospel to him, and he listened ey with keen interest.° Barjesus was standing by ; and when legs τ Cf. Tac. Ann. 11. 32; Hist. 1. 22; Suet. 775. 36; γώ]. 14. Cf. Bingham, Aztig. ΧΙ. v. 8; XVI. v. I. ® Cf. Scott, Quentin Durward, Note 43. 4 4 ᾿Ἐλύμας, ee in the text ὁ μάγος, ‘the Wizard,’ is probably akin to bic 'alim, ‘wise’ or ‘able’ ; and the variant Ἑτοιμᾶς, ‘ Ready,’ in Cod. Bez. (D) a Greek rendering of the title. ig After πίστεως (ver. 8) Cod. Bez. (D) and several other authorities add ἐπειδὴ ἥδιστα ἤκουεν αὐτῶν, ‘since he was hearing them very gladly.’ “x at 86 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL | he marked how his master was impressed, he took alarm. His apprehension was lest they should supplant him in the Proconsul’s favour and oust him from his lucrative office. And so he kept interrupting them, until Paul lost patience. : He looked the charlatan in the face. ‘ You mass of trickery — and rascality ! you “ Son of the Devil’’!’ he cried, playing | upon his name Barjesus ; ‘ you enemy of all righteousness ! Hos, xiv.9. Will you not stop twisting ‘‘ the Lord’s straight ways” ?’ : There was indeed hot indignation in the Apostle’s heart, — but there was also shame; for in the Jewish impostor’s — opposition to the Gospel he recognised the self-same io which had once actuated himself. And he denounced | against him the very judgment which he had himself suffered: “Now, look you, the Lord’s hand is upon you, and you will His doom be blind, not seeing the sun for a season.’ And so it came to a pass. A mist fell upon the astrologer’s eyes, and like the | Cf. Ac. ix. persecutor on the road to Damascus he had to be ‘ led away@ by the hand.’ | Conversion It was a temporary visitation, and there was in it a merci-_ é Pracched tne design. Paul’s hope was that, resembling himself in his sin and his punishment, Barjesus would resemble him also in his repentance. ‘By the sign whereby he had himself been won,’ says St. Chrysostom, ‘ he desired to win him too. And, moreover, “‘ for a season” is not the word of one who would punish, but of one who would convert ; for had he meant punishment, he would have made him permanently blind.’ The issue is unrecorded,! but the miracle was in no wise unavailing. Whether it won the astrologer or no, it won the Proconsul. a π iV. 13-15; nara EVANGELISATION OF SOUTHERN GALATIA The Pro- Paphos was the western limit of Cyprus, and now that they vince : ᾿ fy Sek . | of Pam- had traversed the island, it was time for the missionaries | phyla: to take their departure and carry the Gospel farther. Their. destination was the Province of Pamphylia on the southern» ? According to the apocryphal dets ef Barnabas Barjesus continued obdurate, and persecuted Barnabas and Mark on their second visit to Cyprus (cf. Ac. xv. 39). THE FIRST MISSION 87 coast of Asia Minor, and it presented an attractive and hopeful field. Its population included a considerable ‘Sie element, and it had been represented in the Holy City on that memorable Day of Pentecost when the Holy cr. Ac. i Spirit descended on the Apostles and three thousand souls ** were won to the faith. Thus the Gospel was not unknown in Pamphylia, and the soil was in a measure prepared. It was a fair and fertile country, well watered by the Cestrus, the Eurymedon, and lesser streams which flowed from the isidian uplands. The capital was Perga, a sacred city with a famous temple of Artemis on an adjacent eminence ; and there were other towns, chiefly Aspendus and the aports of Attaleia and Sidé.} _ It would be about the end of June when they set sail from pau aphos, and they steered north-westward to the port of Sticken \ttaleia at the mouth of the Cestrus. The river was navig- malaria. ble, and the ship proceeded six miles up its course to Perga ; and there they disembarked, designing probably to make the capital the headquarters of their operations. But, says Bt. Thomas a Kempis, ‘homo proponit sed Deus disponit, nec est in homine via ejus.’ Pamphylia is a level crescent, encircling the Pamphylian Sea and backed by the lofty range of the Taurus. In midsummer the climate is warm and enervating, and malaria, the plague of all the southern fringe of Asia Minor, is there especially prevalent. It was early in July when they reached Perga, and the sudden plunge from the free air of Cyprus and the cool sea-breezes into that sweltering caldron was trying for them, particularly for Paul who had borne the chief burden of the work. He was Seized with malaria and experienced its peculiar miseries— fever, ague, and racking headache all the more distressing that it affected his eyes, already enfeebled by the blinding flash on the road to Damascus.? It was the beginning of a lifelong affliction. The malady A chronic clung to him all his days; and whenever his strength ran ΚΣ low, it would grip him and lay him prostrate. It was a grievous embarrassment to his ministry. Again and again, as will appear in the sequel, it frustrated his missionary jesigns, compelling him to abandon the path which he had 1 Cf. Strabo, 667. * Cf. Append. ITI. 4 Gor. xii. Cf. Job iii. 23, xix. 8; Hos. ii. 6. Retreat to the Pisidian uplands. Desertion of John Mark. II. The pas- sage of the Taurus. 858. LIFE AND LETTERS OF Sf. PAUL chosen and forgo what seemed precious opportunities ; and for a while it fretted his eager spirit. He regarded it, in his own phrase, as ‘a messenger of Satan to buffet him’: each recurring attack was a disabling stroke of the Adversary, the Enemy of the Gospel. Presently, however, he came to regard it as a heavenly ally. Experience taught him that, when he was restrained from the course which he had meditated, that on which he was driven conducted him to a grander service than he had ever imagined. And thus he recognised his infirmity as, in the language of Scripture, ‘a hedge of thorns’ fencing in the way which God had marked out for him and preventing him, with gracious severity, from turning aside into paths of his own choosing. And so it proved at the very outset. It was impossible for the invalid to remain in Pamphylia, and he and Barnabas decided to escape from the enervating climate and travel northward into the uplands of the Province of Galatia, and — there prosecute their mission. They were, however, con- fronted by an unpleasant dénouement. It appears that John Mark, softly nurtured in his comfortable home at Jerusalem, had taken unkindly to the hardships of the mission; and Paul’s sickness completed his discomfiture. He feared lest he too should sicken, and the proposal to face the toilsome ascent of the Taurus and venture into the unknown territory beyond smote him with consternation. He refused to proceed, and incontinently decamped and returned home.? It was sheer pusillanimity. ‘ John,’ it is written, ‘ withdrew from them and returned to Jerusalem.’ The sting of the sentence lies in his designation as ‘ John.’ It was his Jewish name. His Gentile name was ‘ Mark,’ and it had been his while he shared the mission to the Gentiles; but now he had forfeited it by his recreance, and it was restored to him iv. only after he had purged his shame. Abandoned by their attendant, Paul and Barnabas took their departure from Perga. Their route lay across the 1 Cf. Chrys. : τί δήποτε δὲ ᾿Ιωάννης ἀναχωρεῖ ἀπ᾽ αὐτῶν ; dre ἐπὶ μακροτέραν λοιπὸν στελλομένων ὁδόν" καίτοι γε ὑπηρέτης ἐκεῖνος ἦν, αὐτοὶ δὲ τὸν κίνδυνον εἶχον. There is a happy touch of humour in the comment of guzdam in Jo. Stephanus Menochius: ‘ex affectu erga matrem degentem Ierosolymis.’ John was home- sick, and ‘either he did not like the work, or he wanted to go see his mother (Matt. Henry). THE FIRST MISSION 89 steep and rugged range of the Taurus ; and it was not merely a toilsome but a dangerous journey, since the mountains were infested by brigands? and swept by torrents difficult to ford when they were running full.2. In midsummer indeed the torrent-beds would be dry, but the ‘dangers from 2 Cor. xi. brigands ’ would be all the greater. The journey would be a "δ severe ordeal for a broken invalid, and they would make what haste they could, preaching nowhere by the way. It would be about the beginning of August when they Pisidian reached Pisidian Antioch. This important city belonged to A™%°*™ the ancient country of Phrygia; but since it was situated close to the border of Pisidia, it was styled ‘ Antioch toward Pisidia,’* in order to distinguish it from other cities of the same name, especially Syrian Antioch and Antioch on the Mzander; .and the cumbrous designation was abbre- viated to ‘ Pisidian Antioch.’4 The ancient delimitation, however, had been obliterated under the imperial regime, and in those days Antioch belonged to the Roman Province of Galatia. This enormous province extended diagonally across Asia Minor from the shore of the Euxine in the north- east until it adjoined the Province of Pamphylia in the south-west. It embraced the ancient kingdom of Pontus, much of Paphlagonia, the ancient country of Galatia, most of Lycaonia and Pisidia, and the south-east corner of 1 Cf. Strabo, 568, 570. 3 Cf. Ramsay, Church in Rom. Emp., p. 23. 5 "Αντιόχεια ἡ πρὸς Πισιδίᾳ, Cf. Strabo, 557, 569, 577. 4 ᾿Αντιόχεια ἡ Πισιδία. Cf. Ac. xiii. 14, where T.R. els ᾿Αντιόχειαν τῆς Πισιδίας, ‘ Antioch of Pisidia,’ is due to a subsequent extension of the Pisidian frontier (cf. Plin. Wat. Ast. v. 24). ® It is here assumed that ‘Galatia’ signifies not, according to the old view maintained by Lightfoot, the ancient kingdom of the Galatz, a Celtic race, but the Roman Province of Galatia (cf. Ramsay, Church in Rom. Emp., pp. 77 ff. ; Lake, Zarlier Epistles of St. Paul, pp. 254 ff.). The term is thus not ethno- graphical but political; and ‘the Galatians’ to whom Paul’s letter is addressed were not the northern Galate but the Phrygians of Antioch and the Lycaonians of Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe whom he evangelised during his first mission and revisited in the course of his second (cf. Ac. xvi. 6) and third (cf. xviii. 23). The former or North Galatian theory involves the awkward consequence that he engaged in an important ministry which is unrecorded in the Book of Acts and which must be assigned to the second mission. Cf. Ac. xvi. 6, where, however, τὴν Φρυγίαν καὶ Γαλατικὴν χώραν means not ‘ Phrygia and the country of Galatia’ but ‘the Phrygian and Galatian District’ or ‘the Phrygo-Galatic District,’ z.e., the vart of the Province of Galatia once called Phrygian. Its popu- lation. A kindly reception, Cf. Gal. ly. 13-15. go LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST: PAUL Phrygia ; and since it was so large, it was, for the sake of convenience, apportioned into ‘ Districts’ which followed the boundaries of the ancient countries—the Phrygian District, the Isaurian, the Lycaonian, and so forth. Antioch belonged to the Phrygian District, and the population was composed of four elements.? There were, first of ali, the native Phrygians. The aboriginal race still occupied the surrounding country, but the city was a Greek settlement from Magnesia on the Meander,’ founded appa- rently by Seleucus Nicator, the first of the Seleucid dynasty (312-280 B.c.), who named it after his father Antiochus. It was thus originally a Greek city; but in it, as in all the cities which he founded, Seleucus granted rights of citizen- ship to Jewish settlers,* and so the population included a large and influential Jewish community. Finally, in the year 25 B.c. the country passed under the Roman dominion, and toward 6 B.c. Augustus made Antioch a Roman colony with the designation Colonia Ca@sarea Antiochia, settling there the veterans of the Legio Alauda with a view to the pacification of the country, particularly the protection of the great Trade Route against the depredations of the brigands who infested the Pisidian mountains. Paul reached Antioch in a piteous plight, enfeebled by sickness and spent by the fatigue of his painful passage of the Taurus ; and it was impossible for him to address him- self immediately to the work of evangelisation. He was, however, fortunate in his new surroundings. The city stood some three thousand six hundred feet above the sea-level, and the brisk air allayed his fever and repaired his wasted vigour. Nor did he lack the precious succour of human sympathy. He was indeed confined to his lodging, but Barnabas went abroad. He would talk of the Gospel, and his gracious bearing would win him good-will and prompt a kindly interest in his suffering comrade. One friend above Σ Φρυγία Xwpa, σαυρικὴ Χώρα, Λυκαονικὴ Xuwpa, or in full Γαλατικὴ Xdpa τῆς Avxaoviay ‘the Galatian District of Lycaonia,’ as distinguished from ᾿Αντιοχειανὴ Χώρα, the part of Lycaonia belonging to the Regnum Anttochs. 5 Cf. Ramsay, Cztdes of St. Paul, pp. 245 ff. 3 Strabo, 577. * Cf. Jos. Ant. xu. iii. ἃ. THE FIRST MISSION gi all was raised up in those dark days; and this was the Luke the physician Luke.! He was a Greek, and later tradition says that he was a proselyte to Judaism ;* but this is refuted by physician the fact that he was uncircumcised, and the probability is cf. Col. iv that he belonged to that interesting class, the ‘ God-fearers,’ those pious Gentiles who, dissatisfied with their heathen religion and attracted by the pure ideals of the Jewish Faith, attached themselves to the Synagogue and shared its worship without submitting to the ceremonial rites of the Mosaic Law.* He was summoned to the invalid’s couch; and as he ministered to his bodily infirmity, he heard from his lips the blessed secret which his heart had been craving. Thence- forward he was the Apostle’s dearest disciple, and the Church owes him not only the gracious Gospel which bears his name and breathes his master’s spirit, but the Book of Acts, that precious record of the heroic ministry in which he bore so large a part. Paul made his first public appearance in the Jewish synagogue one Sabbath, probably about a fortnight after his arrival in the city. The congregation was composed not only of Jews but of ‘ God-fearers,’ evidently a numerous and influential section of the community. One of the latter was Luke, and it appears that he was present and witnessed all that passed on this memorable occasion. The missionaries took their places unostentatiously among the worshippers ; ® but their fame had already spread, and the Rulers of the Synagogue had their eyes upon them. The service proceeded after the prescribed order. The Scripture-lessons were read. One was from the Law and the other from the Prophets, and it appears that the passages for the day were the first chapter of the Book of Deuteronomy and the first 1 For the evidence that Luke belonged not to Syrian but to Pisidian Antioch see Append. IV. ; * Cf. Hieron. Quast. in Gen. 46: ‘licet plerique tradant Lucam Evangelistam ut proselytum Hebrzeas literas ignorasse.’ 2 2b pe 53: 4 Cf. Append. I. 5 When the Rulers of the Synagogue invited them to speak, they ‘sent to them’ (cf. ver. 15), implying that they sat remote. On the contrary, since sitting was the attitude of a Jewish teacher, Dr. John Lightfoot infers from ἐκάθισαν (ver. 14) that by previous arrangement with the Rulers they occupied the teachers’ seat. Thi tas Paul's first appear- ance in the syna- ogue. Cf. Ac. xxi. 40. His sermon. ΟΕ Θ ΤΕΣ ἡτη i. 31, Vil. x 1, 58: 92 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST Fauve chapter of the Book of Isaiah.1 Then came the event which all had been awaiting. It was the custom that, when a qualified stranger appeared in a synagogue, he should be invited to discourse to the congregation ;? and accordingly the Rulers sent a message to the visitors inviting them to come forward and speak. Paul accepted the office. He based his discourse on the passages which had just been read and which were still ringing in the worshippers’ ears ; and Luke has immortalised the scene, not only reproducing the sermon, doubtless from his own notes,? but portraying the preacher’s bearing—how he adopted the manner of a Greek orator and stood while he spoke instead of sitting like a Jewish teacher, and how, with an instinctive and characteristic gesture, he claimed attention at the outset by a wave of his hand. xiii16 ‘ Israelites,’ said he, ‘and you God-fearers, listen. 17 ‘The God of this people Israel elected our fathers and “brought up ” 4 the people during their sojourn in the land of Egypt,and ‘‘ with a high arm He led them forth from it,” 18and for some forty years’ time “‘He carried them like a 19 nurse ὅ in the wilderness,’’ and ‘‘ put down seven nations ”’ in the land of Canaan and “made their land His people’s 20 heritage,”’ ® all in the space of some four hundred and fifty years.? And thereafter He gave Judges down to Samuel the 1 At the present day, doubtless in accordance with ancient usage, these passages are prescribed for the same day in the Jewish Lectionary ; and at the commence- ment of his discourse Paul employs several striking phrases which occur in them (ὕψωσεν, ἐτροφοφόρησεν, κατεκληρονόμησεν) The inference is that the passages had just been read. * Cf. The Days of Hes Flesh, p. 95. 5. Cf. Append. IV. 4 ὕψωσεν, not ‘exalted’ but ‘brought up,’ as in Is. i. 2 τ ΧΧ : υἱοὺς ἐγέννησα καὶ ὕψωσα (cf. li. 18). Israel was not ‘exalted’ in Egypt; she was ‘humbled.’ Her bondage was an education. δ᾽ ἐτροφοφόρησεν AC*E. The variant ἐτροποφόρησεν, ‘bore with their manners,’ is more strongly attested (NBC*DHLP Vulg.); but the reference to Dt. i. 31 is clear, and there the evidence for ἐτροφοφόρησεν and τροφοφορήσει is overwhelming. ® The only N.T. instance of κατακληρονομεῖν in the sense of κληροδοτεῖν (T.R.), but the usage is frequent in Lxx. Cf. Num. xxxiv. 18; Dt. i. 38, iii. 28 ; Jud. xi. 24; 2 Sam. vii. 1; Jer. iii. 18. 7 400 years of oppression (cf. Gen. xv. 13; Ac. vii. 6), 40 in the wilderness, and the period of conquest—roughly (#s) ten years. The Received Text puts ὡς ἔτεσιν τετρ. kai πεντ. after καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα, making the time of the Judges 450 years. This differs widely from 1 Ki. vi. 1, but it accords with the traditional Jewish chronology (cf. Jos. An¢. vitt. iii. 1): Solomon began the building of the THE FIRST MISSION 93 21 Prophet. And next they requested a King, and God gave them Saul, the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty 22 years. And He removed him, and raised them up David as King; and to him He also bore this testimony: “1 have Ps. Ixxxia. found David,” the son of Jesse, “ἃ man according to My 29: 1 Sam heart,” who “ will perform all My pleasure.” Ne eter xe 23 ‘ From this man’s seed according to promise God has brought 24 Israel a Saviour—Jesus. Ere His appearance on the scene John had proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of 25 Israel. And while John was accomplishing his career, he would say : “ What you suppose me to be, I am not.?_ No, look you, Cf. Jo. i. One is coming after me whose sandal I am not worthy to loose,”’ 19-38: 26 ‘ Brothers, sons of Abraham’s race and the God-fearers among you, to you 3 has “the word ”’ of this salvation “‘ been sent forth.” Ps.cvii. 20. 27 For the dwellers in Jerusalem and their rulers by ignoring this word fulfilled also by their judgment the voices of the Prophets 28 which are read every Sabbath ; 4 and, though they found no reason for death, they requested Pilate that He should be 29 executed. And when they had carried out everything that is written of Him, they took Him down from the Tree and 3olaid Him in a tomb. But God raised Him from the dead. 31 And He appeared in the course of a good many days to those who had gone up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem ; and these are 32 at this hour His witnesses to the people. And weare telling you 33 good tidings of the promise made to the fathers—that God has fulfilled this for our children ὅ by raising Jesus, as it is written also in the second Psalm: “‘ Thou art My Son: this day have I 34 begotten Thee.”” And that He raised Him from the dead never more to turn to corruption, He has thus declared: “I will give Is. lv. 3. 35 [hee the holy promises to David, the faithful promises.”” And therefore also in another Psalm He says: “ Thou wilt not give Ps. xvi. το. Temple in the fourth year of his reign, 592 years after the Exodus. Deduct (1) 40 years in the wilderness, (2) 25 of Joshua’s leadership (cf. Jos. Amz. ν. i. 29), (3) 40 of Saul’s reign (cf. Ac. xiii. 21), (4) 40 of David’s (cf. 1 Ki. ii. 11), and (5) the first four of Solomon’s ; and there remain, as the period of the Judges, 443 or ‘some 450’ years. 1 Cf. Jos. Ant. vi. xiv. 9. The duration of Saul’s reign is nowhere stated in Ο. Τ. 3 Reading τί ἐμὲ ὑπονοεῖτε εἶναι, οὐκ εἰμὶ ἐγώ and taking τί in the sense of 6 (cf. Mk. xiv. 36). 3 ὑμῖν CEHLP Vulg., ‘you Hellenists and Gentiles.’ * Otherwise: ‘by ignoring it and the voices of the prophets they condemned Him and fulfilled them.’ 5 τοῖς τέκνοις ἡμῶν NABC*D Vulg. Observe the Apostle’s solicitude to include both sections of, His audience, Jews and Gentiles equally. He says ‘the (not *‘our”’) fathers’ and ‘our (not ‘‘their’’?) children.’ The promise was ἃ common heritage. t Ki. ii. το. An inter- ruption, Hab, i. δ. Breach with the syna- gogue. of LIFE AND LETTERS OF si. rave 36 Thine Holy One to see corruption.” For David in his own generation served the will of God and fell asleep,! and was laid 37 to his fathers and saw corruption ; but He whom God raised did not see corruption. 38 ‘Therefore be it recognised by you, brothers, that through 39 Him is remission of sins being announced to you, and from all the unrighteousness from which you could not be absolved in terms of the Law of Moses, every one who has faith is absolved in Him.’ Here, like Stephen in his defence before the Sanhedrin, he was interrupted. The historical review at the outset of his discourse would gratify the patriotic sentiment of his Jewish hearers, and he was careful from time to time to appeal also to the God-fearers in the congregation. And thus for a while his argument commanded unanimous approval ; but when he came to speak of the crime of the rulers and people of the Holy City and its condemnation by the Resurrection, the narrower sort of his Jewish hearers, already suspicious, took offence. He marked their frowns and their mutterings, and closed with a solemn warning : 40 ‘ Beware, therefore, lest the sequel be what is written in the prophets : 4t “566, ye despisers, and wonder, and vanish away ; : for that I am working a work in your days, a work which ye will in no wise believe if one declare it to you.” ’ Silence ensued.? The congregation sat awe-stricken, until Paul and Barnabas, desirous evidently of avoiding a rencontre with the Rulers, rose to take their departure; and then from all sides came entreaties that they would return the next Sabbath and resume the argument.® The proposal was So Vulg., Bez., R.V. Others (Calv., A.V.) take γένεᾷ as object of ὑπηρετήσας (‘having served his own generation’) and construe τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ βουλῇ either with ὑπηρετήσας (‘ having served by the will of God’) or with ἐκοιμήθη (‘ by the will of God fell asleep’). ? After ver. 41 Cod. Bez. (D) has καὶ ἐσίγησαν, ‘and they kept silence.’ 5 NABCDEI Vulg., Chrys. : ἐξιόντων δὲ αὐτῶν παρεκάλουν, ‘and as they (Paul and Barnabas) were going out, they (the congregation) besought.’ If μεταξύ has here its ordinary signification ‘between,’ then εἰς τὸ μεταξὺ σάββατον means “on the intervening Sabbath.’ Two explanations have been suggested. (1) Since σάββατον or σάββατα denoted not only ‘Sabbath’ but ‘week’ (cf. Lk. xviii. 12), Dr. John Lightfoot understands that they were requested to attend the weekday THE FIRST MISSION 95 distasteful to the Rulers, and they abruptly dismissed the assemblage. But they could not thus stifle the interest which had been evoked, and a number of the Jews and the God-fearers } followed the missionaries and professed their faith. With the impulsiveness which characterised not only the Antiochenes but their neighbours of southern Galatia, Cf. Gai. i and which was demonstrated alike by their initial enthu- ἐν, αν αν siasm and their subsequent defection, they would fain have been baptised forthwith ; ? but Paul and Barnabas restrained their impetuosity, and meanwhile ‘ talked with them and urged them to continue in the grace of God.’ And the event justified their caution. Throughout the week the Gospel was the general talk,’ and the interest even of the Gentile populace was excited. The whole city was eager to hear it, and on the ensuing Sabbath the synagogue was besieged by an enormous crowd. The jealousy of the Jews was aroused. Even those who had been favourably disposed resented the idea of the Gentiles being put on an equality with themselves ; and when the Apostle resumed his discourse, he was greeted with interruptions. Objections were raised, and when these were answered, ribaldries against the Crucified succeeded, until the missionaries could endure it no longer and took their predetermined course. They had, as was fit, presented the Gospel in the first instance to the Jews, and since these had rejected it, they abandoned them and turned to the Gentiles. They quitted the synagogue, and thenceforth addressed pace: themselves to the general populace. And their message among ‘the was cordially received. It pleased the Gentiles that their pase ay meetings on Monday and Thursday (cf. Zhe Days of His Flesh, p. 94). Similarly (2) Grotius, who would read σαββάτων for σάββατον, medio tempore inter duo sabbata, ‘in the interval between the two Sabbaths.’ μεταξύ, however, meant also ‘next after.’ Cf. Jos. De Bell. Jud. ν. iv. 2: Δαυίδου τε καὶ Σολομῶνος, ἔτι δὲ τῶν μεταξὺ τούτων βασιλέων. Contra Apion. i. 21. Thus τὸ μεταξὺ σάββατον is ‘the next Sabbath,’ and so Cod. Bez. (D) reads ἑξῆς and one cursive ἐπιόν. 1 τῶν σεβομένων προσηλύτων (ver. 43) is impossible. It combines two distinct classes—the God-fearers or worshippers (cf. p. 13) and the proselytes. The distinction was forgotten, and προσηλύτων is manifestly an erroneous gloss on τῶν σεβομένων. 3. After Βαρνάβᾳ (ver. 43) 137 Syr? οὗ add ἀξιοῦντες βαπτισθῆναι, ‘claiming to be baptised.’ ® After ver. 43 Cod. Bez. (D) and Syr. Vers. add: ‘And it came to pass that the Word of God spread all over the city.’ Expulsion of the mis- sionaries from Antioch, Iconium. 96° “LIFE AND LETTERS{(OP SF. ΕΠ cause had been espoused against Jewish insolence, and there were not a few who were animated by a holier senti- ment. Their hearts had been touched, and they welcomed the Saviour’s grace. Nor was the work confined to the city. Visitors from the surrounding country heard the message of salvation, and they carried the glad tidings with them to their homes until all the Phrygian District had shared the benediction. So signal a triumph exasperated the Jews, and they resorted to violence. Among the ‘ God-fearers’ who had made the synagogue their spiritual home were some ladies of good station. They were apparently the wives of magistrates, and they lent themselves to the malignant designs of the Jewish leaders. The latter instigated an attack upon Paul and Barnabas, and those ladies prejudiced their husbands’ minds and procured the condemnation of the missionaries and their expulsion from the District as disturbers of the peace. It would be about the end of October when they were driven from Antioch ;! and, quitting the Phrygian District, they journeyed to Iconium, the metropolis of the Lycaonian District, upwards of eighty miles east by south of Antioch. Formerly the frontier town of Phrygia,? it had for admini- strative convenience been included by the Romans in Lycaonia ; 3 but the citizens retained their ancient language and clung to their ancient traditions, and persisted in regard- ing themselves as Phrygians.4 And indeed they had reason for historic pride. Iconium was, like Damascus, a city of immemorial antiquity. It was associated with the name of the Phrygian king Nannacus, who was reputed to have reigned before the Flood and was immortalised by the Greek proverb ‘since Nannacus,’ denoting extreme age.° Though 1 Cf. Append. I. ® Xen. Anad. 1. ii. 19: els Ἰκόνιον, τῆς Φρυγίας πόλιν ἐσχάτην. 5. Cf. Strabo, 568; Οἷς. Ad Fam. xv. iv. 2; Plin. Mat. Hist. v. 25. 4 Cf. Ramsay, Church in Rom. Emp., p. 39. δ᾽ Suid. : τὰ ἀπὸ Ναννάκου" ἐπὶ τῶν ἐπὶ παλαιότητι θαυμαζομένων. Ndvvaxos γὰρ Φρυγῶν βασιλεὺς πρὸ τῶν τοῦ Δευκαλίωνος χρόνων. Another proverb was ‘the tears of Nannacus,’ τὰ Ναννάκου κλαύσομαι (Suid.), referring to his unavailing lamentation and supplication on learning of the approaching disaster of the Flood, THE FIRST MISSION 97 fallen from its traditional greatness in the Apostle’s day, it remained a fine and prosperous city. It lay on the southern margin of a wilderness, the dreary upland of the Axylus, cold and barren, and so waterless that its only inhabitants were wild asses and a breed of rough-haired sheep which throve there surprisingly and yielded a rich profit to their keepers, who obtained water by sinking wells, accounted the deepest in the world, and occupied the few towns in the country, the chief being Sovatra, where water was so scarce that it was bought and sold. But nature had dealt more kindly with Iconium. Behind it to the west lay the highlands which reached up to the ridge of the Taurus; and thence flowed a multitude of streams which fertilised the environs of the town and, having no outlet to the sea, lost themselves in a vast expanse of marshes.? The Royal Road, constructed by Augustus, ran from Successful Antioch to Lystra, passing through Misthia and skirting τ: Lake Caralis ; and Paul and Barnabas would travel by that easy highway for some five and thirty miles, and then, at a point two or three miles beyond Misthia, they would diverge from it and follow the less commodious road which led thence to Iconium.? On their arrival they proceeded precisely as they had done at Antioch,? and they had a much similar experience. They visited’ the synagogue, and Paul’s preaching * evoked an immediate response, winning a large number both of the Jews and of their Gentile adherents. So striking a success displeased the Jewish leaders, and they set themselves to counteract it. They would naturally, like their confréres at Antioch, have raised opposition in the synagogue, and thus have driven the missionaries to withdraw from it and devote themselves exclusively to the Gentiles ; but this was impracticable by reason of the number of the . Jewish converts. And so a conference was held between the religious and civil authorities of the Jewish community, Machina. tions of the Rulers of the Synagogue and the Archons, as ἜΘ WETE the Jewish rulers. 1 Strabo, 568. § Cf. Act. Paul. et Thecl. 3. 8. Ac. xiv. 1: κατὰ τὸ αὐτό, not simul, ‘at the same time,’ ‘together’ (Wetst., A.V., R.V.), but szmiliter, ‘in the same manner’ (Blass). 4 In xiv. 1 for ‘they’ (αὐτούς) Cod. Bez. (D) has ‘he’ (αὐτόν). Paul was always foremost, and the preaching was his office. G Assault by the rabble. Flight from Iconium. 68° LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST PAUL designated—the chiefs of the senate or civil court which had been established by Augustus in each Hellenistic com- munity for the administration of its internal affairs.1 The issue was that they succeeded in poisoning the minds of the Gentiles and exciting them against the missionaries and their followers.2. The animosity, however, was short-lived. ‘The Lord quickly gave peace,’ and they continued their ministry throughout the winter ® with undaunted courage, reinforced by miraculous tokens of the Lord’s presence and co-operation. All the while, however, they were harassed by the machinations of the Jewish authorities, and a dangerous situation gradually developed. The citizens were ranged in two hostile factions according as their sympathies lay with the Jewish rulers or with the missionaries. It would have mattered little at Antioch, a Roman colony where just laws prevailed and order was resolutely maintained; but at Iconium with its native magistracy that security was lacking, and at length, probably in the early summer, the partisan animosity flared up, and a mob of Jews and Gentiles, in- stigated by the Jewish Archons, made a savage assault on Paul and Barnabas, shouting abuse and pelting them with stones. They escaped and fled from the town, accompanied 2 Phil. Zz lace. 10. Cf. Schiirer, 11. ii. pp. 63 ff., 243 ff. 3 The narrative here (xiv. 1-6) is somewhat perplexing. Ver. 3 seems an interruption, introducing an extended and successful ministry in the midst of a fierce persecution, between its outbreak and its violent consummation. It is tempting to conjecture either that the verse is an interpolation or that it has been misplaced and should stand between ver. I and ver. 2; but the reading of ver. 2 in Cod. Bez. (D) and Syriac Version elucidates the passage : οἱ δὲ ἀρχισυνάγωγοι τῶν ᾿Ιουδαίων καὶ oi ἄρχοντες τῆς συναγωγῆς (Syr. om. τῆς cuvay.) ἐπήγαγον αὐτοῖς (Syr. om. αὐτοῖς) διωγμὸν κατὰ τῶν δικαίων (Syr. om. k. τ. δικ.) καὶ ἐκάκωσαν τὰς ψυχὰς τῶν ἐθνῶν κατὰ τῶν ἀδελφῶν ὁ δὲ Κύριος ἔδωκεν ταχὺ εἰρήνην, ‘But the Jews’ Rulers of the Synagogue and the Archons brought on a persecution and made the souls of the Gentiles evil affected against the brethren; but the Lord quickly gave peace.’ Thus the course of events was: an unsuccessful attempt by the Jewish religious and civil authorities to rouse the Gentiles against the Apostles (ver. 2); prosecution by the latter of a successful ministry despite the persistent animosity of the Jewish authorities (ver. 3) ; creation of two parties in the town through Jewish machinations (ver. 4) ; their collision, achieving the end which the Jewish authorities had been seeking all the while (vers. 5, 6). ® Cf. Append. I, THE FIRST MISSION 99 by some of their supporters, who were, no less than them- selves, objects of resentment.! It was a magisterial judg- ment which had expelled them from Antioch, and it had excluded them not merely from the city but from the Phrygian District. Now, however, they were fugitives from a riot, and they were safe so soon as they were clear of the town. The Lycaonian District remained open to them, and they were free to settle where they would within its bounds. This determined their course. The Iconian fugitives dis- persed over the District and preached the Gospel, but this was impracticable for Paul and Barnabas. It was only in the towns that the common Greek was spoken, and since the rural peasantry knew only their Lycaonian vernacular, they would not have understood the missionaries.2_ And thus it was necessary that the latter on their flight from Iconium should betake themselves to another town, and they naturally turned to the nearest. This was Lystra, which lay fully twenty miles to the Lystra south, occupying an eminence some 3780 feet above sea- level on the northern bank of a stream which flows through a pleasant valley and loses itself in the marshes eastward. Originally a place of small importance, it had acquired some consequence under the imperial regime, inasmuch as it was the terminus of the Royal Road from Antioch and, like Antioch, a military colony, the eastmost of the chain of fortified towns which Augustus had established for the repression of the brigands of Pisidia and Isauria. Lystra was proud of her new position,? nevertheless she remained undistinguished. She had little commerce, and conse- 1 Cod. Bez. (D) illuminates the situation by amplifying ver. 7 thus: κἀκεῖ εὐαγγελιζόμενοι ἦσαν, Kal ἐκινήθη ὅλον τὸ πλῆθος ἐπὶ τῇ διδαχῇ ὁ δὲ Παῦλος καὶ Βαρνάβας διέτριβον ἐν Λύστροις, ‘and there they were preaching the Gospel, and the whole populace (2.6. of the District) was moved at the teaching; but Paul and Barnabas were employed at Lystra.’ Here two distinct ministries are implied, that of the Apostles at Lystra and that of their followers in the surrounding District. at. i 7- 3 The site was identified in 1885 close to the modern Khatyn Serai on the evidence of a marble pedestal dedicated to Augustus and inscribed DIVUM AUG(USTUM)/COLONIA JUL(IA) FELIX GEMINA/LUSTRA/CONSECRAVIT/D(ECRETO) D(ECURIONUM). * Cf. Ramsay, Church in Rom. Emp., p. 50. @f. Ae. xiv. τῷ. Cf. vers. II-33. A pious home. Cf. 4 Tim. i. 5, iii. 15. Cf. Ac. xvi. 3. Healing of a cripple. Cf. Ae. xvii. 17. 100. LIFE AND LETTERS: OF Sf PAG quently she had no Jewish community and no synagogue. Her populace was composed of the Roman garrison and the aboriginal Lycaonians who preserved their native language and worship, though they spoke also the Common Greek and could understand the preaching of the missionaries. Though there was no Jewish community, there was at least one Jewish family at Lystra. The mother was a widow ! named Eunice, and she had a son named Timothy, a-mere lad.2 Her husband, apparently long deceased, had been a Gentile, and had remained a Gentile all his days, since the boy had never been circumcised ; yet, despite her loyal acquiescence in the conditions which her marriage imposed, she was a devout Jewess, and her hereditary piety was confirmed by the gracious presence in the home of her aged mother Lois,? who aided her in the religious nurture of the child and his instruction from his earliest days in the Jewish Scriptures. The missionaries would speedily make their acquaintance, and it may be that they lodged in that peaceful and pious house during their stay at Lystra. In any case all the three were won to the Faith, and Timothy proved in after years a trusted and efficient coadjutor of Paul. Since there was no synagogue in the town, they addressed themselves forthwith to the heathen .populace. It was difficult to commend the Gospel to pagan hearts, ignorant of the hopes and promises which it fulfilled, and it seems to have fallen at the outset upon deaf ears. One day, how- ever, an opportunity presented itself. Paul was preaching, perhaps in the market-place, and he observed one eager listener amid the listless throng. He was a helpless cripple, 1 In Ac. xvi. 1 one cursive has Ιουδαίας χήρας, while the imperf. ὑπῆρχεν (ver. 3), ‘used to be,’ ‘had been,’ implies, according to Greek usage, that he was dead. Had he been still alive, the pres. (ὑπάρχει) would have been used. Cf. iv. 13. That Timothy belonged to Lystra appears from xvi. 1, where éxet must refer to Λύστραν and not to the remoter Δέρβην. In xx. 4 Τιμόθεος, being so well known, receives no local designation, but the Syriac and Armenian Versions have ‘ Timothy of Lystra.’ ? Some fifteen years later his ‘youth’ still handicapped him in his ministry (cf. 1 Tim. iv. 12). ᾿ Σ᾽ μάμμη (2 Tim. i. 5) denoted either a paternal or maternal grandmother (cf. Suid. under 776): ἡ πατρὸς ἢ μητρὸς μήτηρ), but their mutual sympathy seems to indicate that Lois and Eunice were not only mother and daughter but co-religionists. THE FIRST MISSION 101 and he sat drinking in the good tidings. The wistful face appealed to the Apostle, and he recognised an opportunity of at once befriending the sufferer and moving the crowd. He looked hard at the man and, speaking out that every one might hear, he bade him ‘stand upright on his feet.’ Never in his life had the cripple stood or walked, but he instinctively obeyed. He sprang up, and not merely stood but walked about. Instantly the bystanders awoke from their apathy. An The amazing thing had happened before their eyes, and they \?0stes taken for drew their own conclusion. In those days it was generally Zeus and | believed in the heathen world that the gods, when they human pleased, descended from heaven and walked the earth in ‘"™ human form, conversing with men ; and that very country was the scene where, according to a pleasant fable, such a theophany had been vouchsafed. It was told how Zeus and Hermes had appeared in the guise of needy strangers and, repulsed from a thousand doors, had been welcomed in their poor hut by a couple of aged peasants, Philemon and Baucis, at the village of Tyrizum on the borders of Phrygia and Lycaonia.2. Hence it was perhaps that the worship of Zeus and Hermes prevailed in Lycaonia: they were pre- eminently ‘ the gods’ of the country. The story would be familiar to the people of Lystra, and it was very natural that on witnessing the miracle they should leap to the conclusion that the wonder had recurred. The cry was raised in their vernacular : ‘ The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men!’ and they took the silent and benevolent Barnabas for Zeus, ‘ the King of gods and men,’ and Paul the preacher for Hermes, ‘ the Interpreter and Prophet of the Gods.’ ἡ Mindful of the reproach which their ancestors had un- Prepara- wittingly incurred, they incontinently dispersed to publish ae the wonderful tidings and prepare a fitting welcome for the 1 Cf. Hom. Od. xvii. 485-7; Οἷς. De Harusp., 28. 2 Cf. Ovid, Met. vii. 611 ff Zyaneius, the common reading in 1. 719, is impossible, since Tyana was in Cappadocia. The MSS. vary (7rimeius, Thineyus, Thyrnetius, etc.), and Tyrietus or Tyriaius is probable. 5. Cf. Deissmann, Light from the Ancient East, p. 280, n. 1. “Cf. Lucian, Somn. 2: Ἑρμοῦ λαλιστάτου καὶ λογιωτάτου θεῶν ἁπάντων. Pseudolog. 24: ὁ λόγιος Ἑρμῆς. Iamblich. De Myster. digypt. (ad init.): θεὸς ὃ τῶν λόγων ἡἥγεμων ὁ Ἑρμῆς. Hor. Od. τ. x. 1. The Apostles’ protest. Cf. Gen. XXXVil. 29; Mt, xxvi. 65. Popular resent- ment, Fanned by Jewish visitors, το LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL celestial visitors. Ignorant of the Lycaonian speech, the missionaries had not understood the outcry, and would wonder what the commotion meant; and when they were left standing alone, they betook themselves to their abode. Meanwhile the people hurried to the Temple of Zeus, which, according to custom,’ was situated outside the city; and when the priest learned what had transpired, he hastened to celebrate the occasion. He summoned his attendants,? and they brought oxen and wreathed the victims’ horns with garlands,? and drove them into the city until they reached the gateway of the house where the divine visitants had their abode.4 There they erected an altar and prepared to offer sacrifice. It was only then that the missionaries realised what was afoot. They were aghast and, expressing their abhorrence of the blasphemy in oriental fashion by rending their gar- ments, they rushed out and vigorously protested. They assured the priests and the deluded crowd that they were not gods but mere mortals, and their errand was nothing else than to rescue them from the vanity of idolatry and turn their hearts to the Living God. And they implored them to desist from their wild purpose and return home. The remonstrance succeeded. There was no sacrifice, and the crowd dispersed crestfallen. The incident, however, had an untoward result. Enthusiasm gave place to resent- ment. The protest against idolatry angered the priesthood, and the populace were aggrieved at the exposure of their superstitious delusion. The situation was not only dis- couraging but dangerous. A mere spark would suffice to enkindle a conflagration, and this was supplied when a company of Jews from Antioch and Iconium appeared on 1 Cf. Wetstein. ® Cod. Bez. (D) has (ver. 13) of δὲ ἱερεῖς. . . ἐνέγκαντες. . . ἤθελον. * Cf. Plut. Ay7/. Paul. xxxiii. 1. Lucian, De Sacrif. 12; De Syr. Dea, 58. Eur. Heracl. 529. Aristoph. Pac. 913; Av. 893. Plin. Mat. Ast. Xvi. 4. Verg. “25. v. 366. * ἐπὶ rods πυλῶνας (ver. 13), neither the gates of the city (Blass) nor those of the temple (Ramsay) but the gateway of the house (cf. xii. 13)—an‘e fores edium in guibus Paulus et Barnabas diversabatur (Grotius). 5 To ver. 18 numerous authorities add ἀλλὰ πορεύεσθαι ἕκαστον els τὰ ἴδια (ch Jo. xix. 27). THE FIRST MISSION 103 the scene. To the present day at the season of harvest, which on those cool uplands falls about the end of August, merchants from the neighbouring towns visit Lystra in order to purchase grain ;? and that was probably the errand of those Jews from Iconium and Antioch. They found Paul discoursing in the market-place, and recognised him. Their animosity was unabated, and they denounced him as an impostor and asserted that his teaching was ‘all lies.’ The bystanders were easily roused, and they pelted him with stones. When a similar assault was made upon him at Paul Iconium, he had evaded it ; but now he was hemmed in by “°"™ the crowd and there was no escape.* He was struck down and lay senseless, to all appearance dead. It was a lawless outrage, and when the perpetrators saw what they had done and considered the penal consequences, they took alarm, and in the hope of concealing their crime they dragged away their victim’s body and deposited it outside the town and left it there. It was now evening,* and the Apostle’s friends sought the His resus place ; and as they mournfully surrounded his lifeless form, ““*"°™ they received a joyful surprise. It proved that he was not dead but merely stunned, and he presently revived. He had sustained no mortal injury, but he was sorely bruised, and indeed he bore the scars all his days. Flight was impossible cf. Gal, for him : nor indeed was it necessary, since his assailants were “" *” apprehensive of being called to account by the magistrates 1 The text of ver. 19 is thus amplified by several authorities: διατριβόντων δὲ αὐτῶν καὶ διδασκόντων ἐκεῖ ἐπῆλθάν τινες ᾿Ιουδαῖοι ἀπὸ ᾿Ικονίου καὶ ᾿Αντιοχείας" καὶ διαλεγομένων αὐτῶν παρρησίᾳ ἔπεισαν τοὺς ὄχλους ἀποστῆναι ἀπ᾽ αὐτῶν, λέγοντες ὅτι οὐδὲν ἀληθὲς λέγουσιν ἀλλὰ πάντα ψεύδονται" καὶ λιθάσαντες, x.7.., ‘And while they stayed and were teaching there, some Jews arrived from Iconium and Antioch ; and while they were reasoning boldly, they persuaded the multitudes to withdraw from them, saying that nothing they said was true but all lies. And having stoned,’ etc. : 3 Ramsay, Church in Rom. Emp., p. 69. 8 He was actually stoned (λιθάσαντες), whereas at Iconium the rabble had merely ‘flung stones’ (λιθοβολῆσαι). Hence in his subsequent’ catalogue of “hair-breadth escapes’ he enumerates only one stoning (2 Cor. xi. 25). 4 In ver. 20 the Sahidic Version has, ‘and when the disciples surrounded him and evening was come.’ 5 A legend-monger would inevitably have represented his resuscitation as a miraculous resurrection, and Luke’s sobriety here accredits the previous narrative of the healing of the cripple Derbe. A peaceful and suc- cessful ministry. Cf. 2 Tim. iil, Iz, Cf. Ac. XX. 4. Ac. xiv. 215-26, Return through Galatia. τοῦ LIFE: AND LETTERS: OF seas and would not venture to molest him further. And so under cover of the darkness he painfully made his way back to the town and crept home to his lodging. _ Refreshed by the night’s repose he was able on the morrow to set forth with Barnabas from the unfriendly town. They directed their steps south-eastward and travelled to Derbe. The precise site of this town has never been identi- fied, but it lay at much the same elevation as Iconium ‘ on the flanks of Isauria,’ near the Kingdom of Antiochus. It was the frontier town of the Province of Galatia, and this constituted its chief if not its sole importance. It was a customs station, a receiving house for merchandise, and a resting place for travellers. It appears from the meagreness of the record that their sojourn at Derbe was uneventful, yet it was neither unpleasant nor unprofitable. They encountered no enmity and suffered no persecution. The town must have seemed a quiet haven after their turbulent experiences at Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra ; but, peaceful as it was, their ministry was crowned with large success. The record is brief but eloquent: ‘ they evangelised the city, and they won numerous disciples.’ And one of these was Gaius, who in after days proved a serviceable comrade of the Apostle. IV THE HOMEWARD JOURNEY It was in the month of September that the missionaries had come to Derbe, and it would be midwinter ere they had accomplished so large a ministry. They had reached the eastern limit of the Province, and it was now time that they should turn homeward. The direct route to Syrian Antioch ran through the Kingdom of Antiochus and crossed the Taurus by the Cilician Gates; but it was impracticable at that season when the snow blocked the mountain-passage. Nor is it likely that, even had it been practicable, they 1 Strabo, 569. Cf. Ramsay, Hist. Comm. on Gal., pp. 228 ff.; Ceties of St. Paul, pp. 385 ff. THE FIRST MISSION 105 would have followed it. In each of the three cities where they had preached in the course of their eastward progress, their ministry had been abruptly terminated. They had been violently expelled, and had left their converts not merely discouraged but uninstructed and unconsolidated ; and there was imminent danger of their falling away from the Faith. It was imperative that this peril should be averted. Wherever in the course of his ministry the Apostle preached and planted the Gospel, he never counted his work Ctf.Tit.i. 5 complete until he had organised a Church and ordained Presbyters charged with the offices of administration and instruction. And therefore he determined to return with Barnabas by the way they had come, and revisit the converts in each city. They ran little risk in readventuring on those scenes of violence; for they would engage in no public propaganda. The Christian communities were now their exclusive concern; and even if the popular resentment still survived, it would receive no provocation. And so it came to pass. They retraced their steps through Southern Galatia and revisited successively the towns of Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch. In each they counselled their converts and confirmed them in the faith, exhorting them to steadfastness whatever trials they might encounter; and finally they had Presbyters elected and solemnly ordained them to the sacred office.1 At Antioch they had the gladness of meeting again with Luke, ‘ the beloved physician’ and the future historian; and he has betrayed his presence at this point by introducing a personal touch into the narrative. The missionaries, he says, ‘ con- firmed the souls of the disciples, exhorting to continuance in the Faith, and that we must through many afflictions enter into the Kingdom of God.’ 2 Antioch was their last station in the Province of Galatia, and their route thence ran southward to the coast. It was 1 χειροτονεῖν (ver. 23), properly ‘elect by show of hands,’ accurately defines the democratic procedure of the Apostolic Church (cf. 2 Cor. viii. 19). The term, however, was also used vaguely in the sense of ‘elect,’ ‘appoint.’ Cf. ἂς, x. 41; sop. Fab. 200%: τοῦ δὲ Διὸς μέλλοντος χειροτονῆσαι αὐτοῖς τὸν βασιλέα. In Fab. 44 it has its proper sense of ‘popular election’: ἐν συνόδῳ τῶν ἀλόγων ζώων πίθηκος ὀρχησάμενος καὶ εὐδοκιμήσας βασιλεὺς ὑπ᾽ αὐτῶν ἐχειροτονήθη. 3 Cf. Append. IV. Revisita- tion of the converts. Col, iv. 14. Progress to the coast Adada, Passage of the Taurus. 2 Cor, xi. 25. Perga, Attaleia. τοῦ LIFE AND LETTERS OF ΘΙ tae the road they had travelled so painfully on their upward journey about a year and a half previously. They had then made what haste they could, preaching nowhere by the way ; but now they retrieved the lost opportunity. They preached as they went.1. The chief town which they touched in their passage through Pisidia, was Adada,? and it appears that they evangelised it. At all events its modern representative is named after the Apostle Kara Bavlo, and about a mile to the south of it stand the ruins of an ancient church. Pro- ceeding thence, they addressed themselves to the passage of the Taurus; and this was no slight ordeal. It was spring- time, and the torrents, fed by the melting snow, would be running in full flood; and it was doubtless a reminiscence of that grim adventure when, in recounting his ‘ hair-breadth ’scapes ’ some six years later, Paul mentioned ‘ dangers from rivers.’ Achieving the perilous passage, they descended into the Province of Pamphylia and reached the city of Perga. It was there that Paul had sickened in the midsummer of 47; and now they effect the design which had been so pain- fully yet, as they had discovered, so wisely overruled: they “spoke the word at Perga.’ They made no long stay ; for, warned by experience, they would be anxious to escape from Pamphylia ere the heat of summer. The river Cestrus was navigable as high as Perga, and as it had been the destination of the ship which conveyed them from Cyprus, so they might have sailed thence on their homeward voyage ; but they were fain to lose no opportunity. And therefore they travelled to the seaport of Attaleia ; and after preaching there? they embarked for Syrian Antioch, not later than the month of June in the year 49. 1 On διελθόντες τὴν Πισιδίαν (ver. 24), cf. p. 83. # “A dada (Ptol. v. v. 8), ᾿Αδαδάτη (Strabo, 570). 8 After ᾿Αττάλειαν (ver. 25) Cod. Bez. (D) and several other authorities add εὐαγγελιζόμενοι αὐτούς. THE COUNCIL AT JERUSALEM ‘How can the Lord call Egypt his people, and Assyria the work of his Ac. xiv. 27, 28; Gal. ii. 11- 16; Ac. hands, and all the Gentiles (who for number are as the flocks of Kedar, xv. 1-32. and the abundance of the sea) the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ, if you number all such as your charity cannot judge converts among Heathens and Pagans, who have not a visible claim and interest in Christ? We look upon this visible Church, though black and spotted, as the hospital and guest-house of sick, halt, maimed and withered, over which Christ is Lord-physician and Master ; and we would wait upon those that are not yet in Christ, as our Lord waited upon us and you both.’ SAMUEL RUTHERFURD, Lett. 11. 68. It was midsummer of the year 49 when Paul and Barnabas reached Antioch, and they at once reported at a general assembly of the Church how they had fared in the prosecution of their mission. They had not come to stay; for the world was wide, and they had only begun the task of winning the Gentiles, and they contemplated a second mission. It was, however, impossible for them to embark upon it immediately. They needed a season of repose after their labours, especially Paul who, despite his sickness, had borne the chief burden. The summer would be gone ere he was restored to vigour, and travel was difficult in the winter. Thus it came to pass that they ‘ wore away no little time’ at Antioch. Nor was it idly spent ; for they found them- selves involved in a grave and bitter controversy. A report of their mission had been conveyed to Jerusalem. Indeed intelligence of their doings in South Galatia must already have travelled thither. Jews from Pisidian Antioch would attend the Passover in the spring of 48, and they would publish the story of the rupture between the Apostles and the Synagogue; and at each succeeding feast Galatian worshippers would bring tidings in no friendly spirit. Their activities would be the talk of the city, and the accounts would be eagerly canvassed in the Church. The Twelve and 107 Back at Antioch. The feel- ing at Jerusalem Cf. viii. 14; Xi. 22. Peter's f iendly visit to Autioch, Judaistic dissatis- faction. Deputa- tion to Antioch. Cf. Gal. ii. 12. Cf, “Ac: xvi 24. Insistence 02 circum- cision. 108 LIFE AND LETTERS OF Βα ον most of their followers recognised that the Galatian move- ment was a legitimate issue of the agreement in the summer of 46;1 and on the return of the missionaries they followed their accustomed procedure by appointing a deputy to visit Antioch and investigate the situation.? The deputy was Peter; and on reaching the Gentile capital and conferring with Paul and Barnabas he not only approved of their work but associated unreservedly with the Church. The Antiochene Christians were mostly Gentiles. They were uncircumcised, and they disregarded the Jewish rite of ceremonial ablution of the hands before eating ; 5. yet the Jewish Apostle joined them at table, oblivious of the intolerable pollution which, in Jewish eyes, he thereby contracted. Meanwhile the Pharisaic party in the Church at Jerusalem were grievously dissatisfied. They still cherished the dis- like which they had expressed at the Conference in 46 to the admission of the Gentiles without the imposition of the Mosaic Law; and they were shocked by the report of the Galatian mission. They would have had it condemned, and in view of his declared attitude the appointment of Peter as deputy to the Antiochene Church accentuated their disquietude. It appears that there was one of their number who took the lead and organised an active opposition ; 4 and it was resolved that representatives of the party should proceed to Antioch. They went on their own authority, but they professed to represent James, the Lord’s brother. It was indeed true that he was the head of Jewish Chris- tianity, and he had a natural tenderness for Jewish scrupu- losity ; but when they claimed his approval in their present action, they did him wrong, and he subsequently repudiated the imputation. On reaching Antioch they promptly threw down the gauntlet, and startled the Church by the declaration : ΤΡ of Ie 3 On the historical position of Gal. ii. 11 ff. cf. Append. I. * Cf. The Days of His Flesh, p. 244. * In Gal. ii. 12 for πρὸ τοῦ γὰρ ἐλθεῖν τινας some Latin Mss. have préus enim quam venisset gquidam, ‘before a certain man had come,’ while for ἦλθον NBD* FG read ἦλθεν, ‘he came,’ which Origen refers to James, supposing him to have visited Antioch. THE COUNCIL AT JERUSALEM τορ “Unless you be circumcised after the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.’ It was a blunt denial of the Christianity of the Antiochenes. Most of them were converts from heathenism, and they had been admitted to the Church’s fellowship on the sole ground of faith in Christ. They had never been required to accept the Jewish Law and observe its ceremonies. They were uncircumcised, and therefore they were still heathen and still unsaved. The visitors maintained their position stoutly, and they piausibi- would have no difficulty in adducing arguments which seemed **8¥™e""s prima facie incontrovertible. The question was whether the Lord had ever abrogated the ancient Law ; and they would appeal to His studious adherence to it in the days of His flesh—His insistence on submitting to the Baptism of John mt. iii. xs. in order that He might ‘ fulfil all righteousness’ ; His declara- tion that He ‘had not come to pull down the Law but tov. 17,18. complete it,’ and that ‘ until heaven and earth passed away, no jot or tittle would pass away from the Law until every- thing came to pass’; and His direction to the young Ruler that ‘if he would enter into life, he must keep the command- xix. 17. ments.” And hence they would conclude triumphantly that so far from abrogating the Law He had asserted its permanent obligation. It was indeed an illegitimate inference, pro- ceeding on a narrow interpretation; yet it would seem irrefragable. And the zeal of its advocates would carry conviction. They were bigots, but they were honestly persuaded that the historic faith was at stake; and they would taunt Peter and Paul and Barnabas with disowning the traditions of their fathers and bartering away their sacred heritage. It had always been a foible of Peter, an infirmity of his Vacilla- impulsive and generous nature, that he was easily overborne Saga and shrank from ridicule ; and he was intimidated by those rarity blustering Judaists. He remained indeed unconvinced, but xxii. 54-62 in the interests of peace he was disposed to compromise. The observance of the Law was, as even Paul allowed, a matter of no moment; and why not acquiesce in the con- tention of those sticklers and let them have their way ἢ And so he bowed to the storm, and withdrew from fellow- ship with the Gentile converts and would no longer share Paul's stout resistance. Reference to Jeru- salem, τ LIFE AND EE VT PERS: OF ot hae their meals. His example was contagious, and it was followed by all the Hellenist Christians, even by Barnabas. It was a serious situation, threatening a cleavage in the Church ; and the disaster was averted by the prompt and steadfast courage of Paul. He publicly challenged Peter, and charged him with ‘ play-acting,’ assuming a rdle which was not his real character.1_ It was indeed true that legal observance was a matter of no moment; and so long as a Jewish Christian recognised that salvation was by faith in Christ alone, he might, if he would, continue to practise the old rites. But when it was claimed that these were essential to salvation, then their repudiation was an imperative duty ; and thus Peter’s action was disloyalty at once to Christ, to him- self, and to his Gentile brethren. From every point of view he stood condemned. The protest was unanswerable, and Peter responded with his accustomed impetuosity. He ceased his ‘ play-acting ’ and came out in his proper character, and his — example rallied Barnabasand the rest of the Jewish Christians. Thus the Judaists were foiled, but they would not accept defeat. Antioch was the capital of Gentile Christen- dom, and its judgment was, in their view, no impartial verdict ; and so they urged that the question should be submitted to the Apostles and Elders at Jerusalem, and that an Antiochene deputation, consisting of Paul and Barnabas and several others, should proceed thither. The challenge - was accepted by the Church, and it was not unwelcome to Paul. It was no absolute reference to the decision of the Twelve and their colleagues at Jerusalem. In view of the agreement at the Conference in 46 he entertained no doubt what their verdict would be; but even had they decided against him, he would still have maintained his position and 1 Gal. ii. 13. ὑποκριτής, the epithet wherewith our Lord constantly branded the Pharisees, signified properly not ‘a hypocrite’ but ‘an actor’ on the stage. Cf. The Days of Hts Flesh, p. 102. 3 In Ac. xv. 2 the subject of ἔταξαν is οἱ ἀδελφοί (cf. xiii. 3), but according to Cod. Bez. (D) supported by Syriac Version, they were impelled by the insistence of the Judaists: ἔλεγεν yap ὁ Παῦλος μένειν οὕτως καθὼς ἐπίστευσαν διισχυριζόμενος" οἱ δὲ ἐληλυθότες ἀπὸ ἱΙερουσαλὴμ παρήγγειλαν αὐτοῖς τῷ Παύλῳ καὶ Βαρνάβᾳ καί τισιν ἄλλοις ἀναβαίνειν πρὸς τοὺς ἁποστόλους, K.T-A., ‘for Paul stoutly contended that they should so remain as they had believed ; but those who had come from Jerusalem urged them, Paul and Barnabas and some others, to go up to the Apostles, etc.’ THE COUNCIL AT JERUSALEM ir proclaimed a free Gospel of salvation by faith alone. He went up to Jerusalem, not to learn what he must preach, but to have the issue between Jewish and Gentile Christianity defined and obtain a final settlement of the vexatious con- troversy. The question was already determined in his mind, and this is proved by his procedure. The route from Antioch to Tarsus led through Phoenicia and Samaria, and Christianity had already been introduced into those coun- cf. viii. τ- tries. There was a church in every town where the travellers *5' ** ‘> halted, and they visited each and told the glad story of ‘ the conversion of the Gentiles ’—the cause which they were going to Jerusalem not to debate but to vindicate. In view of all that had transpired the winter must have Arrival been well advanced ere they left Antioch, and their progress (74 ¢"¢" through Phoenicia and Samaria would occupy a considerable “estes. time. Thus it was probably about the beginning of the year 50 when they reached Jerusalem. The Judaists had hast- ened thither, and the Church was apprised of the approach of the Antiochene deputies and accorded them a gracious reception. No immediate mention was made of the con- troversy which had arisen at Antioch. The ostensible errand of Paul and Barnabas was to report upon their mission ; and it was only after they had told the story at an ordinary meeting of the Church that the true issue emerged. Several representatives of the Pharisaic party? rose and took objection to the procedure of the missionaries, and insisted on the necessity of circumcising Gentile converts and requiring them to observe the Mosaic Law. This raised the vital question, and a general assembly The | was convened for its consideration.2 It appears that here, °°" as on the occasion of Paul’s first visit to Jerusalem after his conversion,? all the Twelve except Peter, who had just returned from Antioch, were absent from the city, doubtless 1 According to Cod. Bez. (D) and Syr. Vers. these were the Judaists who had created the trouble at Antioch and had come to Jerusalem to prosecute their complaint: οἱ δὲ παραγγείλαντες αὐτοῖς ἀναβαίνειν πρὸς τοὺς πρεσβυτέρους ἐξανέστησαν λέγοντες. * It was a democratic assemblage. After πρεσβύτεροι (ver. 6) 137 SyrP add σὺν τῷ πλήθει (cf. ver. 12). The question was decided by ‘the Apostles and the Elders with the whole Church’ (ver. 22). * Cf, p. Go: 12 LIFE. AND LETTERS OF Sit Pave in the prosecution of their apostolic enterprises.1_ James, the Lord’s brother, however, who ranked with the Twelve in apostolic honour, was present, and he, as the acknowledged head of Jewish Christianity, presided over the assembly and was supported by the Elders of the Church. ‘keen The proceedings commenced with the hearing of the ‘ objection, and thereafter a keen and protracted discussion ensued. It was an open debate, and feeling ran high until at length Peter intervened. He reminded the excited Ch Ac, assembly of a decisive fact. Some ten years previously, while x-xi.18. still dominated by Jewish prepossessions, he had gone upon a missionary circuit, and had been summoned from Joppa to Czsarea by Cornelius the Centurion, a ‘ God-fearer,’ and had been led by the incontrovertible evidence of the Holy Spirit’s operation to admit him and his household into Christian fellowship, though they were uncircumcised Gen- tiles; and his action had been approved by the Church. That was now ‘ancient history,’ and it had never been challenged. The question of the admission of the Gentiles was already settled. They had been released from cere- monial obligation, and the Church could not now reimpose upon them a yoke which even the Jews had found intolerable. ee The Elders intimated their concurrence, and the con- Pune troversy ceased. A hush fell upon the tumultuous assembly, ‘ and when Paul and Barnabas arose they had no need to defend their cause. They simply recounted amid breathless attention the wonders which God had wrought through them among the Gentiles. ee When they concluded, it only remained that the assembly should pronounce its judgment, and it devolved upon James to formulate and submit the motion. He was invested with unique authority in the Jewish Church by reason not alone of his sacred kinship * but of his personal character. 1 The evidence is twofold: (1) Had any others of the Twelve been present, they would surely have taken part in the discussion. (2) In ver. 12 Cod. Bez. (D), with SyrP c*, reads συγκατατιθεμένων δὲ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων τοῖς ὑπὸ τοῦ Πέτρου εἰρημένοις ἐσίγησεν πᾶν τὸ πλῆθος, ‘and, the Elders assenting to what had been. said by Peter, all the multitude kept silence.’ Had the rest of the Twelve been present, they would have been mentioned as assenting. * On the prestige of the δεσπόσυνοι, ‘the Lord’s kindred,’ cf. deiaes of Africanus in Eus. Hest. Eccl. τ. 7. — —— ————— ὐ ῈΠ Ὲ ΣΝ “ον —— en Pre COUNCIL AP JERUSALEM 113 His ascetic austerity had earned him the appellation of ‘the Righteous,’ ? and thus he was free from every suspicion of laxity. He was the very exemplar of Jewish piety, and his espousal of the cause of the Gentile Christians constituted an emphatic refutation of Judaistic scrupulosity. In a speech fragrant with the spirit of the ancient faith he sub- mitted his judgment. ‘My judgment,’ he said, ‘is that we should not harass the Gentile converts to God, but should send them a letter that they abstain from the pollutions of idols, and fornication, and bloodshed.’ 2 It was a courageous and indeed revolutionary proposal. The _ It absolutely released the Gentile converts from the cere- [ouncils monial Law, and imposed upon them three simple and indisputable obligations: that they should renounce the unholy rites of idolatry and worship the one living and true God; that they should practise chastity ;? and that they should recognise the sanctity of human life. It was probably only the authority of James that reconciled the Council to so startling and sweeping an innovation. It was indeed, as the event proved, profoundly distasteful to the extremer Judaists; yet they durst not openly dissent, and the resolution was accepted without opposition and registered as a decree of the Church. The Council’s business did not end here. The controversy Message so wantonly excited at Antioch had occasioned grave dis- 9" quietude not only in the Gentile capital but in the dependent ea churches throughout the Province of Syria-Cilicia ; and in order to restore peace it was resolved to embody the decree in a circular letter. This was to be conveyed by Paul and Barnabas; and, still further to reassure the Gentile Christians, two representatives of the Church at Jerusalem 1 Cf. Hegesippus’ account of his Nazirite asceticism, his piety, and his martyrdom in Eus. Ast. Eccl. 11. 23. 2 On the text of the Council’s decree cf. Append. V. ? On the ceremonial interpretation of the decree the introduction of ‘fornication’ seems incongruous, and two remedies have been suggested. 1. Dr. John Lightfoot understood by πορνεία either bigamy and polygamy or marriage within the pro- hibited degrees (so Ramsay). 2. πορνείας has been conjecturally emended into χοιρείας (Bentley quoted by Wetstein), ‘swine’s flesh,’ or πορκείας (cf. Scrivener, Txtrod., p. 491), ‘pork,’ from Latin forcus. But both words are unexampled, *Swine’s flesh’ is χοίρειον (sc. xpéas). H Deputa- tion of Judas and Silas. Ch Ac. 1 33. ΕἾΝ. 1.1} 2h. As Ὑ 2 Cor. i. 19; cf. 1 Pet. v. 12, Ac. xvi. Cf. xv. 32. Encyclical letter. 114 LIFE-AND LETPERS Of ΘΙ were deputed toaccompany them. One was Judas Barsabbas, probably, in view of the common patronymic, a brother of Joseph Barsabbas who had been nominated with Matthias some twenty years previously to the vacancy in the ranks of the Twelve. The other was Silas; and he is introduced without more explicit designation inasmuch as he was afterwards so well known. Silas, the name which he bears in the Book of Acts, is the familiar abbreviation of Silvanus, the more ceremonious designation which he bears in the Apostle’s letters. He was apparently a man of good con- dition, since he was, like Paul, a Roman citizen. Both deputies were prominent in the Church of Jerusalem; and they were well qualified for the office, since they both belonged to the prophetic order. Their message to Antioch would be a living word of God. The letter ran thus: } “The Apostles and the Presbyters, your brothers,? to the Gentile brothers in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia: greeting. Whereas we heard that some of our number? had troubled you with arguments to the unsettlement of your souls—to whom we gave no instructions—it was our unanimous decision to choose delegates and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have surrendered their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have therefore commissioned Judas and Silas, who will themselves also deliver the same message verbally. It was the Holy Spirit’s decision and ours ὁ to impose upon you no further burden beyond these essentials—abstinence from things sacrificed to idols and bloodshed and fornication. From these you will do well to keep yourselves.5 Farewell.’ ? Doubtless an authentic copy, since the letter was an important document, and not only would the original remain for future reference (cf. Ac. xxi. 25) but Paul would preserve his copy and each Church the copy it received. It would thus be easily accessible, and so painstaking a historian as Luke would not neglect so ready an opportunity. * Not καὶ of ἀδελφοί (RCEHLP) but ἀδελφοί (N*ABCD), ‘the Apostles and the Presbyters, themselves brothers’ (cf. 1 Tim. ii. 5). They wrote in name of the whole Church (cf. vers. 22, 25), and they disown hierarchical pretension by writing as ‘ brothers to brothers.’ 3 Omitting ἐξελθόντες with N*B. “ A characteristically primitive expression. The voice of the Spirit-guided Church was the Spirit’s will articulate. δ The v.l. πράξατε (CD8™HL), ‘from these you have done well in keeping yourselves,’ would be a generous recognition that the Gentile converts had hitherto been irreproachable. THE COUNCIL AT JERUSALEM ιἰς Armed with this gracious communication, Paul and Barnabas, with their fellow-deputies from Antioch and the two delegates of the Council, took their departure from Jerusalem. On the way thither their progress had been leisurely, broken by visits to the Christian communities ey route; but now they were eager to report the happy issue, and they made such haste that they reached Antioch ‘in a few days.’1 The Church assembled, and its heart was gladdened by the Council’s letter and the kindly discourse of Judas and Silas. 4 Cod. Bez. (D) ἐν ἡμέραις ὀλίγαις κατῆλθον. Return to Antioch. Ac. Xv. 33- 40. Ministry of Judas and Silas in Syria- Cilicia. Alienation of Paul and Bar- nabas. THE SECOND MISSION ‘She heard it, the victorious West, In crown and sword array’d! She felt the void which mined her breast, She shiver’d and obey’d. ‘She veil’d her eagles, snapp’d her sword, And laid her sceptre down ; Her stately purple she abhorr’d, And her imperial crown.’ MATT. ARNOLD. I DISUNION OF PAUL AND BARNABAS Jupas and Silas remained a while at Antioch. They had come to undo the mischief which the controversy had wrought and heal the rankling sore which it had left. The work demanded time and patience ; and since the Council’s letter was addressed not alone to the Church of Antioch but to all the churches of Syria-Cilicia, it is likely that the delegates would make a circuit of the province. And thus their mission would occupy a considerable time, probably at least a month. At length it was successfully accom- plished ; and the Church formally recognised the service which they had rendered and gave them their discharge.! They were now free to take their departure, and Judas forthwith returned to Jerusalem. Silas, however, remained behind. It appears that there had grown up betwixt him 1 ἀπελύθησαν μετ᾽ εἰρήνης (cf. xvi. 36) denotes their formal discharge by the Church on the accomplishment of their commission, and does not necessarily imply their departure from the city. Silas remained (cf. ver. 40); and the situation is elucidated in CD(Cod. Bez.) Vulg. by the gloss (ver. 34): ἔδοξε δὲ τῷ Σίλᾷ ἐπιμεῖναι αὐτοῦ, ‘but it seemed good to Silas to remain there,’ Ὁ Vulg adding μόνος δὲ ᾿Τούδας ἐπορεύθη, ‘but Judas went his way alone.’ 116 THE SECOND MISSION 117 and Paul a warm sympathy, and the Apostle detained him in view of an untoward eventuality which had of late pre- sented itself to his mind. The vacillation of Barnabas in the trouble with the Judaists would rankle in his memory, and his distrust of his old friend and comrade had been strengthened during their visit to Jerusalem. They had found John Mark there at home with his mother Mary. He was ashamed of the part which he had played in Pamphylia and desirous to retrieve his character ; and Barnabas, with his wonted generosity and perhaps a natural partiality for his kinsman, would have condoned the past, and he con- templated the association of Mark with the next mission and his reinstatement in the office of attendant. To Paul, however, such lenience was displeasing, and he viewed the deserter with unabated disapprobation. In due course the question was brought to a direct and open issue. It was now springtime and travel was once more practicable, and Paul proposed that they should address themselves to a second expedition and revisit the churches which they had founded in Cyprus, Pamphylia, and Galatia. Barnabas agreed, but when he intimated his desire that John Mark should again attend them, Paul stoutly objected. ‘The man who deserted from us in Pamphylia and went not with us to the work! I refuse to take him with τι5. 2 Barnabas insisted, and a sharp alter- cation ensued. It was a collision of temperaments and ideals: on the one side, the passionate enthusiasm which sacrifices all for a sacred cause and accounts faltering a treason meriting measureless condemnation and eternal contempt ; and, on the other, that sweet reasonableness which ‘is always trustful, always hopeful, always patient,’ ‘despairing of no man.’ Agreement was impossible, and the dispute ended in a rupture betwixt the two. It was a tragic dénouement. ‘Which,’ says St. Chrysostom, ‘ was the better counselled it is not for us to show’; and it were perhaps well to leave it there. Yet one cannot but think how different the issue might have been 1 The stinging sentence (Ac. xv. 38) is plainly an echo of Paul’s indignant protest. ἀποστάντα (A, ἀποστατήσαντα), ‘played the apostate’ (cf. 2 Th. ii. 3), replaces the gentler ἀποχωρήσας of the historian (xili. 13). Dissension regarding John Mark. 1 Cor. xiii, eT UKe Vi. 35 K.V. marg. Dissocia- tion. Cf. Ac. ix, a6, 27. Cf. 2 Tim. Iv. TE. Cf. x Cor. ix. 6. Alliance of Paul and Silas. Ac. Xv. 40. 118 “LIFE AND LETTERS-OF ST) ΤΆΤ had Paul remembered how much he owed to the charity of Barnabas, who had believed in him when no one else would, and by his generous faith in the humbled persecutor had won for him an opportunity of redeeming his shameful past. By the subsequent course of events God adjudged the controversy, and His judgment was a vindication of Barnabas. His kinsman’s generosity afforded John Mark an opportunity of purging his disgrace; and that he right nobly availed himself of it Paul at the long last ungrudgingly recognised. Meanwhile, however, the alienation was com- plete. It seems indeed that the old comrades parted in charity, since they divided the field between them, Barnabas taking Cyprus and Paul Galatia. But their parting was final. It would appear that they held each other in friendly remembrance ; for there is a kindly though obscure reference to Barnabas in a letter of Paul some five years later.. But there is no evidence that they ever resumed the old fellow- ship; probably they never saw each other’s face again. This is the last appearance of Barnabas in the sacred narra- tive ; and tradition, whatever it may be worth, affirms that he died a martyr’s death in Cyprus. The Jews burned him at the stake outside the gate of Salamis and threw his ashes into the sea.! Barnabas gone, Paul turned to Silas and adopted him as his comrade. It is written that he ‘ made choice of him,’ suggesting that there were others who would willingly have accompanied him. And indeed there was no lack of com- petent and devoted men in the Church of Antioch; but the fitness of Silas was pre-eminent. It was proved by the distinction he had won at Jerusalem and by his recent service in the Gentile capital. And he possessed two especial qualifications. One was that he was a Jew and at the same time an ardent champion of Gentile liberties; and the other that he was a Roman citizen with the wide outlook which that dignity implied and the prestige and immunity which it ensured wherever Roman Law prevailed. And thus he was fitted at once to disarm Jewish prejudice and to win Gentile confidence. 1 Act. Barn. xxiii. THE SECOND MISSION 119 II PROGRESS THROUGH ASIA MINOR Ac. xy. 41- xvi. 8. The Church bade the missionaries Godspeed and they set Departure forth. The original design had been that Paul and Barnabas 0 the "'» should, at all events in the first instance, revisit the converts - whom they had already won; and they would then have retraced their former route, taking ship to Cyprus and pro- ceeding thence by Pamphylia to Southern Galatia. But now that they have parted company, they go their separate ways. Barnabas betook himself to Cyprus, and Paul with his new colleague travelled overland direct to Galatia. The change of programme presented a double advantage. Since the overland route led through the Province of Syria- Cilicia, it afforded the missionaries an opportunity of visiting the disquieted churches by the way and reiterating the Their pro- assurances which Silas and Judas had already addressed to }\0.,, them in their hasty circuit for the delivery of the Council’s letter. Moreover, the time which would have been con- sumed in revisiting Cyprus was now at their disposal ; and their purpose was that after traversing Southern Galatia from east to west they should continue their progress west- ward from Pisidian Antioch into the Province of Asia and, travelling through the populous valley of the Lycus and Meander by the great Trade Route, evangelise the cities which lay along it—Apameia, Colosse, Laodiceia, Hierapolis, Tralles, and Magnesia—until they reached its western terminus, Ephesus, the brilliant capital of the province. Nothing is recorded of their doings in the course of their progress journey through Syria-Cilicia save that they ‘ confirmed the {"0'8" Churches’; but it would be a pleasant and profitable Cilicia. ministry. After his recent circuit of the province Silas was no stranger ; and as for Paul, it was he who, some ten years Cr. Gal. i. previously, had founded those churches, and he would be *” received by his spiritual children with affectionate gladness. Their progress would thus be slow, and they would doubtless be detained longest at Tarsus, where Paul had ancient Across Regnum Antiocht, Revisita- tion of the Galatian Churches, GhexiCor: vii. 18,19; ix. 20. Associa- tion of Timothy. 120. LIFE*AND LETTERS OR ST associations and numerous friends. Nor indeed, if they had set out from Antioch in the spring, was haste necessary ; for the Taurus lay betwixt them and Galatia, and the crossing by that famous pass, the Gates of Cilicia, was impracticable ere the close of May.? Through the Gates of Cilicia they entered the Kingdom of Antiochus; and it is remarkable that they seem to have preached nowhere within its borders. Already the Roman Empire had captivated the Apostle’s imagination. He was dreaming of its transfiguration into a Commonwealth of God, and he hastened across the intervening territory until he had passed the frontier and gained the town of Derbe. There he began his course of revisitation. His chief trouble in South Galatia had been the hostility of the Jews, and in order to assuage it and save his converts from further molestation he brought with him a copy of the Council’s decree. The Council’s letter indeed had been addressed particularly to the churches of Syria-Cilicia, but the decree which it embodied was an authoritative judgment on the vexed question of the relation of Gentile Christians to the Jewish Law, and thusit hada generalimport. It constituted the charter of Gentile liberty, and therefore he would present it to the Galatian churches. His hope was that it would not merely silence the clamour of the Jews but bring them to a juster appreciation of his Gospel. They had mis- construed it. His attitude was that the ancient Law had served its end, and now that it had been fulfilled in Christ, its ordinances were no longer obligatory. They belonged to the category of ‘ things indifferent’; and so long as a Jew recognised that salvation was by faith alone, he was free, if he would, to observe the ancient rites which long usage had endeared to him. The Apostle insisted on Gentile freedom, but he would not needlessly wound Jewish senti- ment. And he was anxious to make this clear. An effective opportunity presented itself when he reached Lystra. He found there his friends, the widow Eunice and her mother Lois and her son Timothy. They had proved true to the faith which they had professed ; and ' Cf. Strabo, 537. * Cf. Ramsay, Church in Rom. Emp., pp. 84 ἔς THE SECOND MISSION 12t Timothy, young as he was, had attested his devotion not only in Lystra but in the neighbouring town of Iconium. Paul recognised in the lad the promise of future usefulness, and he decided to engage him in the service of the Gospel by associating him with the mission in the room of John Mark. His mother was a devout Jewess, but his father had been a Gentile and the lad had never been circumcised. Here Paul perceived an opportunity of defining his attitude toward the Law and correcting misapprehension. Circum- cision was indeed a thing indifferent, but it was sacred in Jewish eyes ; and since Timothy was half a Jew, he circum- cised him.1_ His action here stands in significant contrast with his stout refusal of the Jewish demand four years previously that Titus should be circumcised.” Titus was a Gentile, and his circumcision had been required as necessary to salvation ; but Timothy was half a Jew, and his circum- cision was a recognition of Jewish liberty in ‘ things in- different.’ It was a gracious and conciliatory action, none the less wise that it was misinterpreted and afterwards employed by his ungenerous enemies as a controversial weapon against the large-hearted Apostle.* Thus they travelled westward from town to town and church to church until they reached Pisidian Antioch ; * and there Paul would be affectionately greeted by his old friends, particularly the physician Luke. Their intention was to proceed westward into the Province of Asia, and there break fresh soil; but it was providentially frustrated. 1 Evidently with his own hand. The operation did not require a priest: any Jew might perform it after the example of Abraham (cf. Gen. xvii. 23). 2 Cf. p. 75. The contrast between Paul’s refusal to circumcise Titus (cf. Gal. ii. 3) and his voluntary circumcision of Timothy served Baur (cf. Paz, 1. pp. 129 f.) as an argument for his theory that the Book of Acts is a Zendenzschrift with an irenical purpose. PCr. ye. Sor. 4 τὴν Φρυγίαν καὶ Γαλατικὴν χώραν, ‘the Phrygo-Galatic District,’ z.¢., the Phrygian District of the Province of Galatia, to which Antioch belonged. Cf. p. 90. διῆλθον κωλυϑέντες would seem to imply that the hindrance preceded : ‘they passed through the Phrygo-Galatic District because they had been hindered.’ Hence the variant διελθόντες (HLP), dependent like κωλυθέντες and ἐλθόντες on éreipagov. But κωλυθέντες is a ‘timeless aorist’ (cf. Moulton, Proleg. pp. 134 f.). Cf. xxiii. 35: ἔφη. . . κελεύσας, ‘said he and commanded’ ; xxv. 13: κατήντησαν εἰς Καισαρείαν ἀσπασάμενοι τὸν Φῆστον, ‘arrived and greeted.’ Heb. ii. 10; ΙΧ, 12. Cr. 2 Tim, Iv, 14. His cir- cumcision, A provi- dential interposi- tion at Pisidian Antioch, Ac. XX. 3. The plan of evan- gelising Asia over- ruled. 122° LIFE AND LETTERS OF Sf. 7AUua ‘They were hindered,’ it is written, “by the Holy Spirit from speaking the Word in Asia.’ What precisely the hindrance may have been is matter of conjecture ; but this much is certain—that it was no supernatural revelation ; it was a providential dispensation. An apt illustration occurs later in the narrative, where it is related that Paul, at the conclusion of his third mission, was on the point of taking ship at Corinth when he learned that a plot was on foot among his Jewish fellow-passengers to assassinate him in the course of the voyage; and he abandoned his purpose and travelled overland. There is here nothing supernatural ; and some pious scribe, taking it amiss that God should be thus, as it seemed to him, left out of account, has refashioned the sentence and written: ‘He purposed to set sail for Syria, but the Spirit told him to return through Macedonia.’ 1 And indeed the emendation, needless though it be, is after the general manner of the Holy Scriptures. They recognise God’s will and God’s hand in everything that befalls, and they ignore ‘secondary causes.’ These indeed are never lacking, but they never stand alone. The hand of God is always behind them. They are His providential dispensa- tions, revelations of His will and leadings of His Holy Spirit. And so it was that the missionaries ‘ were hindered by the Holy Spirit from speaking the Word in Asia.’ Their purpose was providentially overruled; nor is it difficult, in view of their circumstances, to surmise with reasonable probability what it was that befell. It would be midsummer when they reached Antioch, the very season when Paul, three years before, had arrived there in the grip of the malaria which had stricken him in Pamphylia and which permanently afflicted him, recurring whenever he was overtoiled. And now he was exhausted by his long travel afoot and his incessant labours by the way. Symptoms of his malady appeared, and the physician Luke forbade him to prosecute his purpose of advancing into Asia. The rich, alluvial valley of the Lycus and Meander, with its warm springs and its sultry climate,” was, especially at that season, 1 Cod. Bez., SyrP ™S: ἠθέλησεν ἀναχθῆναι els Συρίαν' εἶπεν δὲ τὸ Πνεῦμα αὐτῷ ὑποστρέφειν διὰ τῆς Μακεδονίας. * Cf. p. 548. : q . THE SECOND MISSION 123 a hotbed of malaria; and to adventure himself there would have been perilous for the Apostle; it would inevitably have involved a disastrous and probably fatal sickness. In this warning Paul recognised the guiding voice of the Quest for Holy Spirit. Asia was providentially closed against him, 2.3%" and he must turn elsewhere for a field of operation. Whither should he betake himself? The south was impracticable, since in the coastal lowlands, as his experience in Pamphylia had taught him, he would have been exposed to the same peril ; and he had already preached in the east. The north alone remained, and he set out from Pisidian Antioch accompanied not only by Silas and Timothy but by Luke. He was ailing, and ‘the beloved physician,’ with kindly solicitude, would attend him on his way and see him settled on his next field of operation.1 They set their faces northward and travelled through Traveling the Phrygian uplands. It was a healthful and invigorating ὅτ. region, but it was sparsely peopled and had few towns and no cities, and nowhere did Paul find what he sought. Like the Master’s in the days of His flesh, his heart ever yearned Se Mt. ix. toward the multitude; and his constant venue was some }i: ae 34. busy centre where need abounded, and where, moreover, the Common Greek was spoken and men’s minds were alert and receptive. It was such a scene that he sought ; and he wandered on with his company in fruitless quest until they found themselves abreast of Mysia, the north-western corner of Asia Minor. It presented no fitting field, and their thoughts turned toward the extensive Province of Bithynia and Pontus which stretched from the borders of the Kingdom of Polemo a little eastward of Amisos to the shores of the Propontis. As they approached it, however, it proved less 1 The evidence is that from this point Luke tells the story in the first person (cf. ver. 10). It is remarkable that at the beginning of the paragraph (vers. 6-10), where he indicates with extreme brevity the course of the northward wandering, he employs the third person (διῆλθον, ἐπείραζον, αὐτούς), and then suddenly after the arrival at Troas passes into the first. On the assumption that he belonged to Pisidian Antioch (cf. Append. IV) two explanations suggest themselves: either that he set out after Paul and his two colleagues and overtook them at Troas ; or, as seems more probable, that he set out with them and it was only at Troas that he determined to cast in his lot with them. Not till he had become a participator in the work did he introduce himself into the narrative. Ac. xvi. 9-11. The city of Troas. Glimpses of the West. 4° LIFE AND LETTERSvOF ΣΕ ΕΝ and less alluring. It lay remote, an outskirt of the Empire, a mere backwater of the tide of the world’s life. Its cities were few, and even the chief of them, Nicza and Nicomedia, were of small importance. ‘The spirit of Jesus,’! the passion for souls, warned them that their work did not lie there; and on reaching the frontier they turned back and entered Mysia and travelled through it, preaching nowhere,” until they reached Troas on the western coast. Ill THE CALL OF THE WEST Troas was an illustrious city.? It was founded by Antigonus, and was originally named after him Antigonia. Subsequently it was named Alexandria after Alexander the Great ; and to distinguish it from the Egyptian Alexandria it was designated Alexandria Troas, that is, Alexandria in the Troad.4 It was a Roman colony,° and it is a striking evidence of its prestige that Julius Cesar was credited with the design of transferring thither the seat of the imperial government.® It was by no purpose of their own that the missionaries found themselves at Troas. They had been carried thither, as it seemed, like driftwood by the tide; yet, as the event proved, that tide was the will of God, and His hand had been guiding them all the while to unsuspected issues. The city presented a hopeful arena for evangelical enterprise, and Paul may have contemplated settling there for a season. It had, however, been otherwise ordained, and, ere he could commence operations, God’s larger purpose was discovered to him. On his arrival he would view his surroundings with 1 τὸ πνεῦμα Ἰησοῦ NABC2DE. 3 παρελθόντες δὲ τὴν Μυσίαν, preterita Mysia, pretergressi Mysiam (Wetstein), They travelled through the country, passing along without stopping anywhere. * Strabo, 581. ὦ ᾿Αλεξάνδρεια ἡ Τρῴας. Strabo, 593. § Strabo, 593; Plin. Wat. Hist. v. 33. © Suet. πώ, Ces. 79. THE SECOND MISSION 125 curious interest. Troas was a busy seaport, situated on the western verge of the Orient ; and she was frequented by European merchants who thronged her markets and traversed her streets, presenting in their western attire novel figures to Jewish eyes. Especially noticeable were the Macedonians with their Greek mantles and the broad hats which served at once as a shelter from the summer heat and as helmets in their frequent affrays.1_ The spectacle would stir his mind, and his imagination would reach afar over the blue A2gean to the lands beyond the golden sunset—Greece, the home of art, poetry, and philosophy, and Rome, the Imperial City, the mistress of the world. Could it be that God was calling him thither, and that it was for this end that his purpose of preaching in the Province of Asia had been overruled and he had in his ignorance been conducted to Troas ? He would communicate his musings to his companions, cae and after he had lain down to rest his waking meditations donia. shaped themselves into a dream. A man stood before him in the Macedonian attire which he had remarked in the streets of Troas, and addressed to him the appeal: ‘ Cross over to Macedonia, and succour us.’? In the morning he related the dream to his companions ; and, chiming as it did with their surmises, they took it as a divine revelation ὃ and resolved to obey it. Luke was with them. He had accompanied Paul from Pisidian Antioch, and the Holy Spirit had been inclining his heart to the service of the Kingdom of Heaven. He recognised in this new departure, this high enterprise, a personal appeal; and he responded to it. He cast in his lot with the missionaries, and thence- forth he was a devoted comrade of the Apostle. Next day 4 they set sail for Macedonia. It was now the The voyage 1 The Greek mantle (χλαμύς) was originally a Macedonian garment. Cf. Becker, Charicles, p. 421. On the sun-hat (xavoly) cf. quotation in Suidas: καυσίη, ἡ τοπάροιθε Μακηδόσιν εὔκολον ὅπλον, [καὶ σκέπας ἐν νιφετῷ καὶ κόρυς ἐν πολέμῳ. 2 βοήθησον ἡμῖν, cf. Mt. xv. 25; Mk. ix. 22, 24; Heb. ii. 18. 8 Cod. Bez. (D) reads (ver. 10) διεγερθεὶς οὖν διηγήσατο τὸ ὅραμα ἡμῖν, καὶ ἐνοήσαμεν ὅτι προσκέκληται, K.T.A., ‘on waking he related the vision to us, and we perceived that,’ etc. 4 Cod. Bez. (D), SyrP ™, 137: τῇ δὲ ἐπαύριον ἀναχθέντες. 126 “LIFE AND LETTERS OF ΒΨ ΡΝ month of August, and the Etesian Winds were blowing steadily from the north-west ;! but, aided by the current which bore down from the Hellespont,? the ship was able to lay a straight course as far as the island of Samothrace. There she harboured for the night ; and next morning she held across to the Thracian coast and, working westward with the aid of tides and land-breezes, ere nightfall made _ the port of Neapolis in Macedonia. Ac. xvi. 1a- xvii. 4; τ 1 0 Phil. iv. 15,16; Ac, xvii. 5-15. Philippi. IV EVANGELISATION OF MACEDONIA Ten to twelve miles inland 3 on the river Gangites,* a tribu- tary of the Strymon, lay the town of Philippi ; and thither they betook themselves. It was a fitting scene for the inau- guration of their European ministry. The town was named after Alexander the Great’s father, Philip of Macedon, who had founded it on the site of the ancient Crenides or ‘ Wells ’ for the working of the gold and silver mines which at that period constituted the main wealth of the district.* Hard by was the field of the famous battle which determined the imperial destiny of Rome, and in memory of his victory Augustus had made the town a military colony with the high-sounding title, preserved to this day on coins, COLONIA JULIA AUGUSTA PHILIPPENSIUM. A Roman colony was a miniature of the Imperial City,* reproducing her institutions and aping her dignity with an often ridiculous punctilious- ness; and Philippi exhibited this foible in full measure Her chief magistrates, properly ‘duumvirs,’ assumed the lofty designation of ‘ pretors,’? and their officers went by 1 Cf. Append. I, p. 648. 2 Plin. Nat. Hist. τι. 100. 8 ἀπὸ ἑβδομήκοντα σταδίων (Appian, Czvz/ Wars, Iv. 106). 4 The name varies: Gangas or Gangites (Appian, zdzd.), Angites (Herod. vu. 113). 5 Strabo, 330. 5 Cf. Gellius, xvr. 13: ‘Ex civitate propagate ... Populi Romani, cujus istee coloniz effigies parvze simulacraque esse queedam videntur.’ 7 στρατηγοί. Cf. vers. 20, 22, 35, 36, 38. THE SECOND MISSION 127 the name of ‘lictors.’!_ Nor was she content with this petty vanity. When Macedonia fell under the dominion of the Romans after its conquest in 168 B.c., it was divided into four districts, and Amphipolis was the capital of the eastern district ; but Philippi in her pride appropriated this pre-eminence.* Despite her small arrogance the city contained a rich and varied life, and afforded the heralds of the Gospel a rare opportunity. The population was composed of three main elements. First, there were the Roman colonists, the dominant caste; then there were the native Macedonians, numerically the strongest section; and finally there was a considerable admixture of Orientals, though, inasmuch doubtless as the city in those days engaged little in commerce, this included few Jews. Philippi was in truth a meeting-place of East and West, and she was daily visited by strangers from all lands, situated as she was on the Egnatian Road, that magnificent highway which stretched from Dyrrachium on the Adriatic to the Hellespont.* The missionaries entered on their work without delay, The and Paul pursued the method which he had followed in the Ποῖ East, addressing his first appeal to the Jews. These were prayer. indeed few at Philippi, so few that they had no synagogue ; yet they maintained their religious usages, and they had a ‘place of prayer’ which, after the manner of Jewish worship, was situated outside the town by the riverside, that they might have water for the purposes of ceremonial ablution.5 1 ῥαβδοῦχοι. Cf. vers. 35, 38. 2 Liv. XLv. 29. Cf. Wetstein on Acts xvi. 12. 3 Cf. ver. 12: ἥτις ἐστὶν πρώτη τῆς μερίδος Μακεδονίας πόλις, ‘ which is the chief city of its division of Macedonia ’—a touch of local colouring. πρώτη is otherwise taken as denoting not the avgnzty but the sztuation of Philippi—the first Mace- donian city which the Apostles visited—on the ground that Neapolis was not in Macedonia but in Thrace. The geographical connection of Neapolis, however, varied. It was indeed once in Thrace, but it was now reckoned in Macedonia (cf. Strabo, 330; Ptol. 111. xiii. 9). It is true that Pliny (Mat. HiZst. tv. 18) connects it with Thrace, but he assigns Philippi to Thrace as well. “ Cf.-p. 9. ® Ver. 13: ἐνομίζομεν προσευχὴν εἶναι, NABC, ‘we supposed there was a place of prayer.’ προσευχή was a general term, and while it might be applied to a synagogue (cf. Jos. Vzt. 54; Juv. 111. 226), it generally denoted a mere meeting- place, sometimes in the open. Cf. Schiirer, 11. ii. pp. 68 ff. On the ablutionary necessity cf. Jos. Ant. XIV. x. 23; Letter of Aristeas: ὡς δὲ ἔθος ἐστὶ πᾶσι τοῖς Lydia. Ciaverni5- Her con. version. 128. ‘LIFE AND LETTERSSOE Sic ΕΘΝ It was probably not a building but a secluded nook on the river-bank. On the Sabbath after their arrival Paul and his companions repaired thither. It was a curious feature of the social life of Macedonia that women were there accorded singular freedom and exercised an exceptional authority ;1 and this no less than the paucity of the Jewish population may be the reason of the remarkable circum- stance that, when the missionaries reached the place of prayer, they found a little assemblage of women-folk. They seated themselves and opened a conversation. Paul bore the principal part, and at the very outset he won a notable convert. Her name was Lydia; and though it was a common name in those days,* it had probably in her case a local reference. For she was not a Philippian. She belonged to the city of Thyatira, a Macedonian colony in the ancient country of Lydia, then included in the Province of Asia.2 Thyatira was a seat of the celebrated Lydian industry of purple-dyeing,? and Lydia was prosperously engaged at Philippi in the sale of purple fabrics. She was not a Jewess but ‘a God-fearer,’®> and she had doubtless learned the Jewish faith in her native country, where there was a considerable Jewish population.® It is plain that she was well-to-do, since she had a commodious residence ; moreover, she had a family, and, since she was absolute mistress, she was presumably a widow. Being a God-fearer, Lydia was a seeker after the truth. She had recognised the insufficiency of paganism, and had found a measure of contentment in Judaism’s pure and lofty monotheism; but its ceremonial was distasteful to her, and her heart remained unsatisfied. The Gospel appealed to her need, and she listened day by day with ever fuller conviction, until at length she professed her faith 7 and she and her family were admitted to the fellow- Ιουδαίοις, ἀπονιψάμενοι TH θαλάσσῃ τὰς χεῖρας, ws ἂν ηὔξαντο πρὸς τὸν Θεόν, ’ B [ D ’ 3 ἐτρέποντο πρὸς τὴν ἀνάγνωσιν. ECE. pi 50; αἰ Ὁ: 2 Hor. Od. I. viii. 1. ® Strabo, 625. 4 Plin. Wat. Hist. vil. 57. ΒΟΥ, Ὁ. 13. ® Cf. Jos. Azz. XII. ili. 4. 7 Her conversion did not occur immediately on the first Sabbath. The imperfs. ἐλαλοῦμεν and ἤκουεν imply repeated conversations and audiences. THE SECOND MISSION 129 ship of the Church and received the sacramental seal of Baptism.? Lydia was Europe’s first convert, and she was richly Her hospi endowed with the Christian graces. At the very outset she ‘" exhibited that generous kindness which distinguished the Philippian Church and won for it, some ten years later, cr, phi), the Apostle’s grateful praise. No sooner had she been‘ 15: baptised than she invited Paul and his three companions to make her house their abode during their sojourn in the town. And she couched her invitation in terms of exquisite delicacy, representing their acceptance of it as a personal favour, an attestation of their confidence in the sincerity of her faith and her worthiness of the Holy Sacrament which had just been administered to her. ‘If,’ she pleaded, ‘ you have judged that I am faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay.’ And when they demurred, she would take no denial. ‘She constrained us,’ says Luke, employing the self-same word wherewith he describes the hospitable im- Cf. Lk. portunities of the two disciples at Emmaus when the ™™ ** Stranger who had joined them by the way ‘ made as though He would go further,’ and ‘ they constrained Him, saying, “Stay with us; for it is toward evening, and the day is now far spent.” ’ 3 Lydia’s house was thenceforward the abode of the mission- A suc- aries and the meeting-place of their converts. Her con- ἘΣ τὴ version was the first-fruits of a successful ministry which cr, ver. 40. extended beyond the narrow limits of the Jewish com- munity and moved the whole city. The lack of a synagogue cr. ver. ex. with its jealous rulers proved thus far advantageous, that there was no outbreak of Jewish hostility, and the Apostles continued to resort to the place of prayer and there dis- coursed to the townsfolk who followed them to hear the Word. The days passed prosperously and peacefully, and it can hardly have been earlier than the close of the year when an incident befell which interrupted their activities and brought their Philippian sojourn to an abrupt termination. The pagan mind was tolerant of new ideas and hospitable ee to alien religions, and the Apostles encountered in Gentile ἃ fortune: teller. 1 Cf. Append. VI. 2 These are the only instances of παραβιάζεσθαι in the New Testament. I Healed by Paul. r30 LIFE AND LETTERS, OF Si) ῬΑ ας communities nothing of that fierce resentment which their doctrinal innovations excited in Jewish breasts. Neverthe- less the Gospel was an offence to the Gentiles no less than to the Jews, and whenever it touched their worldly interests, they were up in arms. So it happened at Philippi. It chanced one day that the missionaries were passing through the town on their way to the place of prayer when they encountered an unhappy creature—a slave-girl belonging to a company of charlatans 1 who employed her in fortune- telling and traded with her on the credulity of the populace. She was a ventriloquist, and in those days that faculty was regarded as a form of possession: the inhabiting spirit, it was supposed, spoke through the adept, using his lips and voice as its instruments.” The girl was also insane, and this only confirmed the popular faith in her declarations, since in the East a peculiar reverence attaches to a hamako, ‘ whom Heaven hath deprived of ordinary reason, in order to endow him with the spirit of prophecy.’ Like every one else in Philippi, the poor girl had heard the fame of the missionaries and apparently she had listened to their preaching and caught some of their phrases; and when she spied them, she reverentially approached and followed in their train, crying aloud : ‘ These men are slaves of the Most High God. They proclaim to you “ the way of salvation,” ’ as though they were exalted visitants and she their herald announcing their advent and mission.? The Ὁ ‘There might be several masters of a single slave, ¢.g. two brothers’ (Blass). 5 A ventriloquist (ἐγγαστρίμυθος) was dominated ‘a Eurykles’ after a celebrated ventriloquist of that name (cf. Aristoph. Vesf. 1019), and also, as here, ‘a Python’ (NABC*D* παιδίσκην τινὰ ἔχουσαν πνεῦμα Πύθωνα, ‘a certain damsel having a spirit, a Python,’ where Πύθωνα is in apposition to παιδίσκην). Python is probably derived from Pytho, the oracle of the Pythian Apollo at Delphi. Cf. Plut. De Defact. Orac. 414 EB: εὔηθες γάρ ἐστι καὶ παιδικὸν κομιδῇ τὸ οἴεσθαι τὸν Θεὸν αὐτὸν ὥσπερ τοὺς ἐγγαστριμύθους, Evpuxdéas πάλαι νυνὶ δὲ Πύθωνας προσαγορενομένους, ἐνδυόμενον εἰς τὰ σώματα τῶν προφητῷν ὑποφθέγγεσθαι, τοῖς ἐκείνων στόμασι καὶ φωναῖς χρώμενον ὀργάνοις. * The MSS. (ver. 16) vary between ὑπαντῆσαι (NBCE) and ἀπαντῆσαι (Α ΠῊΗ],Ρ). Both verbs, with their nouns ὑπάντησις and ἀπάντησις, are used of the public ovation on the arrival of a distinguished personage. Cf. 7es. Pap. 43 (of a magistrate’s arrival): παρεγενήθημεν εἰς ἀπάντησιν. τ Th. iv. 17; Mt. xxv. 6; Ac. xxviii. 15; Mt. viii. 34; Jo. xii. 13; Lk. xvii. 12; Mt. viii. 28; Jo. iv. 51, xi. 20, xii. 18. The only other instance of κατακολουθεῖν in the New Testament is Lk. xxiii. 55—a significant parallel. THE SECOND MISSION . 131 o contretemps recurred daily until it became intolerable, and Paul, sharing the prevalent idea,! turned and, in the Lord’s name, bade the spirit depart from the girl. Instantly her frenzy ceased, and she was restored to sanity. It was a merciful work, yet it was ill received, especially Arraign- by the girl’s owners. She was useless now for fortune- Kone.” telling, and their lucrative traffic was destroyed. They by ber seized Paul and Silas and dragged them to the market-place rte where the law-court was situated,? and there arraigned them before the magistrates. They were cunning rascals, and they proceeded cleverly. Their real grievance was the loss of their profits, but that would never have been entertained. And so they gave the case a political colour, and indicted the Apostles as disturbers of the peace: they were Jews, and they were engaging in a Jewish propaganda in contra- vention of Roman law. And the rabble which had trooped into the court loudly applauded. It was a dexterous indictment, and it powerfully appealed Their to the Philippian magistrates. Infringement of Roman (ore) institutions would in any case have been a serious offence in to. the eyes of those petty magnates with their pompous pre- tensions to imperial dignity ;* and it happened that just then the Jews were in particularly evil odour and had been expelled by the Emperor Claudius from the capital.‘ cf, Ac. Therefore, when a couple of itinerant Jews were brought δ * before them on such a charge, the pretors made short work with them. Investigation was needless, and they pro- nounced instant sentence. They ordered their lictors to remove the culprits and strip and scourge them: SUMMOVETE, LICTORES, DESPOLIATE, VERBERATE. ὃ 1 Cf. The Days of His Flesh, pp. 105 ff. 2 At Athens several law-courts were situated in the market-place. Cf. Antiphon (Jebb’s Selections from the Attic Orators, 7. § 10): ἐνταυθοῖ πεποιήκασι τὴν κρίσιν ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾷ. Lys. De bon. Aristoph. ὃ 55: ἐγγὺς οἰκῶν τῆς ἀγορᾶς obre πρὸς δικαστηρίῳ οὔτε πρὸς βουλευτηρίῳ ὥφθην οὐδεπώποτε. 3 Cf. Horace’s ridicule of the preetor at Fundi (Sat. 1. ν. 34-36). * Cf. Suet. Claud. 25. Dion Cass. Ix. 6. Orosius (VII. vi. 15) assigns the edict of banishment to the ninth year of Claudius, 7.2. 49; but since he antedates the Claudian history by a year (cf. p. 646), the date is 50, the very year which was just closing when the Apostles were arrested. 5 Cf. Sen. Controv. xxv. περιρήξαντες αὐτῶν τα ἱμάτια, not ‘rent their own garments’ in token of horror—a Jewish fashion (cf. p. 102), but ‘tore off the Sco:rged, though Roman Citizens. Cf, 2:Cor, Xi. 25. CiyAc: XXil. 24-29. Their imprison- ment. t. ver. 34. 193 LIFEVAND LETTERS (OR Si bru, 3 It was, though they did not know it, a grave outrage. Paul and Silas were both Roman citizens, and a Roman citizen’s person was sacrosanct. It was illegal, indeed it was accounted nothing less than J/ése-majesté, to scourge him; and thus, when they subjected the Apostles to the lictors’ rods, the preetors were perpetrating a flagrant violation of the Roman law which they were so zealous in vindicating, The outrage was executed in full severity ; and it may seem strange that Paul should have submitted to it on this and two other unrecorded occasions. The remedy was easy. He had merely to inform the lictors that he was a Roman citizen, and they durst proceed no further. So he did at Jerusalem some seven years later when he was bound to the whipping-post by the order of Claudius Lysias, the military commander; and his protest was instantly effective. And no doubt a like protest would be made by both the prisoners in this instance, but they had to deal at Philippi with another sort of men than Lysias and his centurion. Even if it were heard amid the clamour of the rabble, their claim would be laughed to scorn by the stupid and insolent minions ; and thereafter they would hold their peace, dis- daining entreaty, unlike Verres’ victim in the forum of Messana, who kept shrieking above the hiss of the lash Civis Romanus sum. After enduring the cruel ignominy they were conveyed, faint and bleeding, to prison. The gaoler was ordered to confine them closely, and he placed them in the innermost cell of the dungeon underground, and not merely secured them by fetters chained to the wall but put their feet in the stocks.2, When night fell, the smarting of their wounds and the uneasiness of their posture held them sleepless, and they kept a holy vigil. At midnight they were singing a hymn, prisoners’ garments,’ z.¢. ordered them to be stripped for scourging. Cf. Wetstein’s array of illustrative passages. 1 Οἷς. Zn Verr. v. 62. 2 τὸ ξύλον, mervus, termed also ποδοκάκη and ποδοστράβη, was a wooden frame with five apertures for feet and hands and neck (cf. schol. on Aristoph. Zguze. 1046). Generally, however, only the feet were secured. Cf. Plut. De Gen. Socr. 598 B: οἱ δὲ τοὺς πύδας ἐν τῷ ξύλῳ δεδεμένοι Tas χεῖρας ὀρέγοντες ἐβόων δεύμενοι μὴ ἀπολειφθῆναι. Luc. Tox. 29 : οὐδὲ ἀποτείνειν τὰ σκέλη δυνάμενοι ἐν τῷ ξύλῳ κατακεκλεισμένα. THE SECOND MISSION 133 and the prisoners in the neighbouring cells were listening wonderingly to the unaccustomed sound, when suddenly— arumbleandacrash! It was an earthquake—no infrequent An earth- occurrence in that region, but none the less an interposition {hidn ght of God, a stroke of His delivering hand; and as the prison rocked on its foundations, the doors burst open and the chains dropped from the gaping masonry. The gaoler, asleep in his house overhead, was rudely awakened ; and on rushing down and finding the cell-doors open, he naturally concluded that the inmates had fled. And indeed they would presently have seized the opportunity, but meanwhile they were huddling terror-stricken in their cells. Their escape would have involved dire consequences for the gaoler, since by the Roman law a warder was responsible for his charge, and in case of his disappearance must take his place and suffer his penalty.1. The prospect appalled him, and like a true Roman, preferring death to disgrace, he was about to plunge his sword into his breast when his hand was stayed. Paul had heard his exclamation of despair, and he shouted : ‘ Do yourself no harm ; for we are all here.’ It was good news for the gaoler, and he called for lights Conversion that he might verify it. The pause afforded him leisure for oats foe reflection. The doings of the missionaries were common δὶ }ouse knowledge in Philippi, and doubtless he had listened to their preaching. He had been impressed by their message of salvation, and had been pondering over it ; and the happen- ings of that night of terror brought him to decision. When the lights arrived, he first of all had the other prisoners secured ; 2 and then he bounded into the Apostles’ cell and after a reverent greeting he conducted them out to the vestibule and there addressed to them the question which had long been stirring in his anxious breast: ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ They told him that the way was faith in the Lord Jesus; and there in the dimly lighted vestibule they discoursed of the Saviour to the gaoler and his assembled household—his officers and his wife and 1 Cf. Wetstein. 3 In ver. 30 Cod. Bez. (D) has καὶ προήγαγεν αὐτοὺς ἔξω τοὺς λοιποὺς ἀσφαλι- σάμενος καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς, ‘and brought them forth after securing the rest, and said to them.’ Alarm of the magis- trates. Their apology to the prisoners. 134 -LIFE AND: LET ΤΙ Of ΘΗ wee children! Every heart was won; and only then were earthly concernments remembered. He washed the wounds of the Apostles, and they baptised him and his household. They were still his prisoners, and he must detain them at the pleasure of the magistrates ; but he would not recommit them to their cell. He brought them upstairs to his house and entertained them there. They had tasted nothing since their arrest, and, late as it was, a meal was spread before them, and the gladness of the converted household made it a very festival. Meanwhile the magistrates were ill at ease. They could hardly review their high-handed procedure without com- punction; and the earthquake, breaking their restless slumbers, smote them with superstitious alarms. Was it, they asked themselves, a wrathful visitation of the god whom those two Jews had proclaimed ? The Roman law- courts opened at the early hour of 8 Α.Μ. ; 3 and when the panic-stricken magistrates met, they hastily agreed to repair the wrong. They despatched their lictors to the prison with an order for their release. The gaoler received the mandate, and joyfully informed them that they were at liberty to take their departure ; but Paul scornfully declined. He was minded to teach the magistrates a lesson and ensure his converts in Philippi against future molestation. ‘They scourged us publicly,’ said he, ‘ without a trial, Romans though we are, and cast us into prison ; and are they now for casting us out privily ? No indeed; let them come in person and bring us out.’ The gaoler repeated his answer to the lictors, and they reported it to the magistrates. It increased their alarm. It was the first intimation they had that the men they had abused were Roman citizens, and they realised the gravity of their position. They hastened to the prison and humbled themselves before the missionaries. They 1 In ver. 33 several lesser authorities have οἱ υἱοὶ αὐτοῦ, ‘his children.’ ® In ver. 35 Cod. Bez. (D) and Syr. Vers. read συνῆλθον ol στρατηγοὶ ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ εἰς Thy ἀγορὰν καὶ ἀναμνησθέντες τὸν σεισμὸν τὸν γεγονότα ἐφοβήθησαν καὶ ἀπέστειλαν τοὺς ῥαβδούχους, ‘the pretors assembled in the forum, and in remembrance of the earthquake which had happened were affrighted, and commissioned the lictors.’ > Cf. The Days of His Flesh, p. 477. THE SECOND MISSION 135 brougi:t them out and, representing to them the risk they ran of fresh annoyance from their prosecutors and the rabble, besought them to quit the city.1_ Their profession of solicitude on this score was a feeble attempt to shift the blame from themselves, and their actual concern was to be rid of the troublesome affair. The Apostles were content with their vindication. They Departure betook themselves to the house of Lydia, and there met with Philipp their converts and bade them farewell. Paul and Silas and Timothy then took their departure, but they left Luke behind. He remained at Philippi, and laboured there until the spring of 57, when he rejoined Paul on his way to Jerusalem at the close of his third mission, never more to leave him until his ministry ended with his martyrdom at Rome.? The missionaries proceeded westward by the Egnatian Thessa. Road. They passed through the towns of Amphipolis, an '°"* Athenian colony on the Strymon, thirty-three miles from Philippi,? and Apollonia Mygdoniz, near the eastern ex- tremity of Lake Bolbe and thirty miles distant from Amphipolis;4 but they stayed at neither, and the reason was that there was no considerable Jewish population in either and consequently no synagogue,® and where there was no synagogue it was difficult to win a hearing for the Gospel. And so they held on to Thessalonica (Salonika), which was 1 In ver. 39 Cod. Bez. (D) has καὶ παραγενόμενοι μετὰ φίλων πολλῶν els τὴν φυλακήν, παρεκάλεσαν αὐτοὺς ἐξελθεῖν εἰπόντες" ἠγνοήσαμεν τὰ καθ᾽ ὑμᾶς ὅτι ἑστὲ ἄνδρες δίκαιοι. καὶ ἐξαγαγόντες παρεκάλεσαν αὐτοὺς λέγοντες" ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ταύτης ἐξέλθατε μήποτε πάλιν συνστραφῶσιν ἡμῖν ἐπικράζοντες καθ᾽ ὑμῶν, ‘and they came with many friends to the prison and besought them to go out, saying, ‘‘ We were ignorant of your case, that you are righteous men.” And they brought them out and besought them, saying, ‘‘Go out from this city, lest they again gather about us, clamouring against you.”’ 3 The first-personal narration (cf. xvi. 17) is here interrupted and resumed at δ ΤΥ: 3 Originally ’Evvéa ‘Odoi or ‘ Nine Ways’ ; renamed Amphipolis by the Athenian colonists because it was almost encircled by a winding of the river, ἐπ᾽ ἀμφότερα περιρρέοντος τοῦ Στρυμόνος (Thuc. I. 100; IV. 102). 4 Ptolem. Geogr. 111. iii. 33; Plin. Mat. Hist. rv. 17. ὃ The reason why they settled at Thessalonica was ὅπου ἦν συναγωγὴ τῶν ᾿Ιουδαίων, which (since ὅπου differs from of as ὅστις, guzppe gut, from ὅς) signifies ‘since there was a synagogue of the Jews there,’ implying that there was none at Amphipolis or Apollonia. Ministry in the syna- gogue. ΘΕ Th: i. 9, 10; 2 ΠΝ sti. ws. 136. LIFEsAND: LETT ERS*OFP SS). Paw not only the capital of the second of the Roman districts but the chief city of all Macedonia alike in population and in prestige! It occupied the site of the ancient Therma, whence the Thermaic Gulf, at the head of which the city stood, derived its name ; 2 and it was founded about 315 B.c. by Cassander, who merged the neighbouring townships in it and named it after his wife Thessalonica, the half-sister of Alexander the Great.3 It was a free city, a self-governing democracy ;4 and its magistrates were designated Politarchs.® The distance between Philippi and Thessalonica was a hundred miles, and if the missionaries travelled afoot, the journey, at the customary rate, would occupy five or six days.® There was a large and influential community of Jews in Thessalonica, and their activity is indicated by the number of ‘God-fearers’ who frequented their synagogue. The missionaries found a lodging in the house of a Jew who bore the name of Jason, the Hellenistic substitute for Jesus or Joshua ;7 and Paul started his ministry after his wont by visiting the synagogue and demonstrating from the Scrip- tures that the Messiah was to suffer and rise from the dead, and that their prophecies had been fulfilled in Jesus. And he added urgency to his appeal by proclaiming the Lord’s Second Advent and the Final Judgment—a consummation 1 Strabo, 323; Luc. Asin. 46. * Herod. vil. 121. 8. Strabo, 330. 4 Plin. Nat. Hist. tv. 17. Cf. Ac. xvii. §: αὐτοὺς προαγαγεῖν els τὸν δῆμον. ® Cf. Ac. xvii. 6, 8. Boeckh, Corp. Jnscrift. 1967 (a Thessalonian inscrip- tion) : πολιταρχούντων Σωπάτρου τοῦ Κλεοπάτρας καὶ Δουκίου Iovtlou Σεκούνδου Πουβλίου Φλαυίον Σαβείνον Δημητρίου τοῦ Φαύστου Δημητρίου τοῦ Νικοπόλεως Σωίλου τοῦ ἸΤαρμενιῶνος τοῦ καὶ Μενίσκου Ταίου ᾿Αγιλληίον ἸΠοτείτου" ταμίου τῆς πόλεως Ταύρου τοῦ ᾿Αμμίας τοῦ καὶ ἹΡήγλουικς The metronymics here illustrate the independent status of Macedonian women (cf. p. 128). It is noteworthy that several of the names of the inscription were borne by Thessalonian converts— Secundus (cf. Ac. xx. 4), Demetrius in its shortened form of Demas (cf. Col. iv. 14; Phm. 24; 2 Tim. iv. 10), Gaius (cf. Ac. xix. 29). The title ‘politarch’ was not peculiar to Thessalonica, since it occurs in an Egyptian papyrus. Cf. Oxyrh. Pap. 745. 5 The supposition that Amphipolis and Apollonia were the stations where they halted overnight, implies that they indulged in the expensive luxury of carriage and thus accomplished the journey in three stages of over thirty miles each. 7 Cf. p. 21. Jos. Ant, xii. v. 1: ὁ μὲν οὖν Ἰησοῦς ᾿Ιάσωνα ἑαυτὸν μετωνόμασεν. THE SECOND MISSION 137 which, in common with the rest of the primitive Christians, he regarded as imminent.! For three weeks? he continued his argumentation, and he achieved no small success. Some of the Jews were won, including Aristarchus who afterwards cy. Ac proved so true and helpful a comrade to him, and also his S*\".?: Col. iv. 10. host Jason, if indeed he be identical with the Jason who was τι: with him at Corinth some five or six years later; but most of ae a the converts belonged to the order of ‘the God-fearers? and it accords with the independence which women enjoyed in Macedonian society, that not a few of these were ladies, the wives of leading citizens.? This success enkindled Jewish resentment, and after Jewish the three weeks’ reasoning in the synagogue the missionaries ὅτ τα: found its doors closed against them and betook themselves with the converts they had won to an active ministry among the Gentile population. This must have continued for a considerable time, since ere they left the city they had crx Th. established an organised congregation ; and during its course “ * "> they endured no small hardship. It was necessary, at all events until the Church was organised, that they shonld earn their daily bread. More than once indeed they received Cf. Phil. welcome supplies from their friends at Philippi, but these nana were insufficient, and Paul resorted to his craft of tent- making, toiling far into the night that he might be free for cf. 1 Th. his ministry during the day. τς The Jews meanwhile were observing the progress of the A cry of Gospel with jealous eyes; and, exasperated by its success, cna they had recourse to ignoble tactics. The market-place of the city was the haunt of a gang of loafers and rascals who ECE p. 102. 2 σάβϑατα τρία, either ‘three Sabbaths’ or ‘three weeks’ (cf. Lk. xviii. 2). In the latter case Paul attended the weekday as well as the Sabbath assemblies (cf. P- 94, n. 3)- 3 γυναικῶν τε τῶν πρώτων, not ‘of the chief women,’ which would be τῶν Te γυναικῶν τῶν πρώτων, but ‘of the wives of the chief men.’ So Cod. Bez. (Ὁ): καὶ γυναῖκες τῶν πρώτων. 4 A distinct Gentile ministry is implied by the reading of Cod. Bez. (D)i in ver. 4: καί τινες ἐξ αὐτῶν ἐπείσθησαν. καὶ προσεκληρώθησαν τῷ Παύλῳ καὶ Σίλᾳ (τῇ διδαχῃ) πολλοὶ τῶν σεβομένων καὶ ᾿Ιὐλλήνων πλῆθος πολὺ καὶ γυναῖκες τῶν πρώτων οὐκ ὀλίγαι, ‘And some of them were persuaded. And there cast in their lot with Paul and Silas many of the Worshippers and a great multitude of Gentiles and wives of the chief men not a few.’ Securities for good behaviour. 55. LIFE* AND LETTERS *OFse40) lounged about ready for any mischief; and the Jewish traders got hold of them and incited them against the missionaries, playing upon their political prejudices, telling them what had happened at Philippi, and representing the Gospel as a treasonable propaganda. It was the Apostle’s preaching of the Second Advent that specially served their turn ; and they construed it as a prediction of the imminent overthrow of the Roman Empire and the enthronement of Jesus. This is the first appearance of a perversion which persisted for generations and brought no small trouble on the Church. It is told that during the reign of Domitian (A.D. 81-96), in view of the Messianic dreams of the Jews, an imperial edict was issued, ordering the execution of the escendants of King David. Information was laid against several peaceable Jewish husbandmen who were honoured as grandsons of Judas the Lord’s brother, and they were cited before the Emperor. He was alarmed, like Herod the Great, when he heard of the birth of the King of the Jews, and he examined those supposed aspirants to his throne. On learning what humble folk they were and what the Kingdom of the Christ really was—‘ not a worldly or earthly kingdom but a heavenly and angelic, which would come into being at the consummation of the age when He should come in glory to judge living and dead,’ he recognised the baseless- ness of his apprehension, and dismissed them and revoked the edict.? It was thus a dangerous cry that the Jews of Thessalonica 1 τῶν ἀγοραίων ἄνδρας τινὰς πονηρούς, ‘certain evil men of the Aadztués of the market-place,’ ‘the hangman boys in the market-place’ (Shak. 7wo Gentlemen of Verona, 1V. iv. 60). ἀγοραῖος is defined by Theophrastus in his sketch of ‘ The Reck- less Man,’ ὁ ἀπονενοημένος, Char. XVI. (VI.), as τῷ ἤθει ἀγοραϊός τις καὶ ἀνασεσυρ- μένος καὶ παντοποιός, “ἴῃ character a coarse fellow, defiant of decency, ready to do anything’ (Jebb) ; and then further on: καὶ οὐκ ἀποδοκιμάζειν δὲ οὐδ᾽ ἅμα πολλῶν ἀγοραίων στρατηγεῖν, “he does not disdain to be leader of a gang of ἀγοραῖοι ᾿--- an allusion to the turbulence of the hangers-on of the market-place. Cf. Plut. Emil. Paul. 38. 3: ἀνθρώπους ἀγεννεῖς καὶ δεδουλευκότας, ἀγοραίους δὲ Kai δυναμένους ὄχλον συναγαγεῖν καὶ σπουδαρχίᾳ καὶ κραυγῇ πάντα πράγματα βιάσασθαι. The Latin term is forensis. Cf. Hor. A. P. 245. Suidas defines ἀγοραῖος νοῦς as ὁ πανευτελὴς καὶ συρφετώδης καὶ ἀπόρρητος οὐδὲ πεφροντισμένος. Cf. Plat. Protag. 347 E: τοῖς συμποσίοις τοῖς τῶν φαύλων καὶ ἀγοραίων ἀνθρώπων, contrasted pre- sently with καλοὶ κἀγαθοὶ συμπόται καὶ πεπαιδευμένοι. Hegesippus in Eus. Eccl. Ast. 11. 20. Cf. Just. Μ. 41οἱ. τι. pp. 58 f. (ed Sylburg.). THE SECOND MISSION 139 raised, and their rascals took it up and presently had the city in an uproar. The rabble beset the house of Jason, intending to seize the missionaries and deal with them after the lawless fashion of ‘a free democracy.’ Happily their victims were abroad, but they got hold of Jason and several other Christians, and dragged them before the Politarchs, vociferating their charge of treason. It was an ugly charge, and no Roman magistrate durst treat it lightly. The Politarchs doubtless knew something of the Gospel from those ladies of their circle who had embraced it. At all events they were plainly well-disposed toward the missionaries and rated the charge at its proper worth. They durst not set it aside, but they adopted the mildest possible course and exacted security from Jason and his fellow-victims for the good behaviour of themselves and the accused.! It was a shrewd settlement. It inflicted no injury on the Departure missionaries or their sureties, and at the same time it satisfied “3m 2h** the accusers and safeguarded the Politarchs from the sus- picion of misprision of treason. It would indeed disappoint the Jews that their troublers had come off so lightly; yet they were thus far gratified that their annoyance was ended. It was impossible for the missionaries to remain in the city and expose Jason and his fellow-sponsors to the penalty which they would incur in the certain event of a fresh out- break of Jewish animosity. They must forthwith take their departure, and their converts readily acquiesced. They waited only until nightfall, and under covert of darkness, that they might escape observation and molestation, they quitted Thessalonica. It was about the beginning of the year 51 when they arrived At Berea. at Thessalonica, and, in view of all that had transpired, it would be about the month of May when they took their departure. Diverging from the Egnatian Road, they travelled some forty miles westward to Bercea, an important and populous town at the base of Mount Bermius.?. Immediately 1 λαβόντες τὸ ἱκανόν, satisdatione accepta, a Latin phrase. Cf. Mk. xv. 15. Chrysostom (/n J Epist. ad Thess. 1) supposes that Jason and the others were pledged for the appearance of the Apostles to stand their trial; but in that case the latter would not have stolen away and left their friends to suffer in their stead. * Strabo, 330; Luc. Asin. 34. Reason- ableness of the Jews. Enemies from Thes- salonica. Paul's escape to Athens. τσ - LIFE-AND LETTERS OF SF year on their arrival they repaired on the Sabbath Day to the synagogue, and their experience there was ἃ pleasing surprise. Whatever the reason, the Jews of Beroea ex- hibited a singular reasonableness.1_ They listened to Paul’s demonstration of the Messiahship of Jesus, and so deeply were they impressed that they daily examined the Scriptures in order to verify his contention. Their study carried con- viction to their minds, and many of them professed faith. Here as at Thessalonica not a few ladies of rank were numbered among ‘ the God-fearers,’ and not only did they join the ranks of the converts themselves but they brought their husbands with them.” It was a gracious and unique experience. The Jews were keenly interested in the Gospel, and diligently investigated its scriptural evidence ; and even where conviction was lacking, there was no hostility, and the missionaries continued in the fellowship of the synagogue. It was a peaceful and prosperous ministry, and it must have lasted some time, probably two or three months at the least. Suddenly, however, it was rudely interrupted. Tidings of the missionaries’ doings reached Thessalonica and roused the indignation of the Jews there. They hastened to Bercea and repeated the tactics which had proved so successful in their own city, raising the cry of treason and exciting the fury of the mob. Paul was the special object of their resentment, and it would have gone hardly with him had he been arraigned a second time on that perilous charge. His one chance lay in immediate flight ; but he was narrowly watched, and it was only by a ruse that he effected his escape. His friends supplied him with an escort, and sent him away from the city in the direction of the coast as though he intended taking ship at Methone or Pydna. His enemies would observe his movement, and they could easily have overtaken him and arrested him ere he set sail ; but, once clear of the city, his guides turned southward and conducted him overland through Thessaly until they brought him to Athens.? There he was secure from molestation, and 2 Chrysostom explains εὐγενέστεροι as ἐπιεικέστεροι, ‘more sweetly reasonable.’ 3 ἀνδρῶν, not merely ‘men’ but, after the analogy of ver. 4, ‘husbands.’ ® According to the reading ἕως ἐπὶ τὴν θάλασσαν (ΑΒΕ), usgue ad mare, “as far as the sea,’ there was no stratagem : they actually took ship and sailed to a TE "SECON DIMISSION 141 they left him and returned home. His destination had been unknown when he fled from Bercea, but his guides carried a message to Silas and Timothy, informing them where he was and bidding them join him with all speed. V zx Thes. ii 17-ill. 5; Ac. xvii. SOJOURN AT ATHENS 16-34 5 1 Cor. i. 16, xvi. 15. Paul had been driven from Macedonia, but he still regarded Persecu- that country as his appointed sphere. He had been pro- yyrce- videntially summoned thither, and his labours had proved 4°". abundantly successful. Much remained to be accomplished, and his hope was that, when Silas and Timothy arrived, they might report that the storm had blown over and he was free to return and resume his interrupted ministry. In due course they appeared, but they brought disappointing tidings. The animosity of those Thessalonian Jews who had pursued him to Bercea, was unabated ; indeed it had rather increased. They had returned to their own city, and they were harassing his converts there, rivalling the malignity of their Judean confréres in the days of the first persecution Cf. τ Th. which had begun with the martyrdom of Stephen and” ae which, as he would recall with crimson shame, he had him- self inspired and directed. It was impossible for him meanwhile to return, since his Return of Silas and appearance in Macedonia would have exasperated his Timothy enemies and aggravated the distress of his friends. But tp Voce his heart was anxious for the latter. They were beset by ruthless and unscrupulous adversaries, bent on detaching Athens. But most probably ἕως is an assimilation to ἕως ᾿Αθηνῶν in the following verse, and the true reading is ws ἐπὶ τὴν θάλασσαν (HLP), ‘to go ostensibly to the sea’ (cf. Moulton’s Winer, p. 771). (1) ἤγαγον ἕως ᾿Αθηνῶν, ‘they led him as far as Athens,’ suggests not a sea-voyage but an overland journey. (2) In ver. 15 Cod. Bez. (D) after ἕως ᾿Αθηνῶν has παρῆλθεν (cf. xvi. 8) δὲ τὴν Θεσσαλίαν" ἐκωλύθη γὰρ els αὐτοὺς κηρύξαι τὸν λόγον, ‘and he passed over Thessaly ; for he was hindered from preaching the Word among them,’ ¢.e., he hurried through the country without staying to preach at any of the towns ¢# 7076, as Larissa and Pharsalus. So Beza, Grotius, Bengel, Neander. Cf. Phil. IVES. Paul alone at Athens. The hungry heart of heathen- dom. τὴν LIFE’ AND -LETTERS OP τ Ὁ them from the Faith either by terrorism or by cajolery ; and liis sympathy was accentuated by the dread of seeing his work undone. He could not abandon them to their fate without an effort to save them; and he and Silas decided that, loath as they were to part with him, Timothy should repair to Thessalonica in order to encourage the persecuted Christians and hold them steadfast in the face alike of threats and of blandishments. It was a heavy charge for a mere lad, and Silas would more fittingly have undertaken it; but it would have been impolitic for him to appear at Thessalonica, since he had borne a leading part in the mission and was hardly less obnoxious to the persecutors than Paul. So they despatched Timothy, whether overland through Thessaly or by a coasting vessel. Meanwhile in- deed the trouble had its seat at Thessalonica, but it was likely to spread ; and presently Silas also took his departure for Macedonia. His destination is not expressly stated, but it can hardly have been other than Philippi; and this probability is confirmed by the speedy arrival from the ever generous Philippians of a welcome contribution to Paul’s necessities.! Thus the Apostle was left alone at Athens. He had no thought of preaching there, since Macedonia was his field and he was waiting anxiously for his recall thither. It proved, however, that the seeming interruption of his purpose was in truth a providential dispensation, the con- straint of an unseen Hand conducting him to a larger ministry. Athens, pre-eminent in literature, art, and philo- sophy, was pre-eminent also in religion.2 She rivalled Rome in her hospitality to alien cults.? The beautiful city was crowded with temples, shrines, altars, and images, which met the Apostle’s eye at every turn as he strayed in street and market-place yearning wistfully for Macedonia. His soul was stirred. He was touched by the pity of it all, and one spectacle especially moved him—an altar bearing the in- 1 Cf. Append. I. 3 Cf. Soph. Gd. Col. 260: εἰ τάς γ᾽ ᾿Αθήνας φασὶ θεοσεβεστάτας / εἶναι. Lycurg. adv. Leocrat.: εὖ γὰρ ἴστε, ὦ ᾿Αθηναῖοι, ὅτι πλεῖστον διαφέρετε τῶν ἄλλων ἀνθρώπων τῷ πρός τε τοὺς θεοὺς εὐσεβῶς ἔχειν. 3 Strabo, 471: ᾿Αθηναῖοι δ᾽ ὥσπερ περὶ τὰ ἄλλα φιλοξενοῦντες διατελοῦσιν, οὕτω καὶ περὶ τοὺς θεούς. On Roman syncretism cf. p. 12. τ THE SECOND MISSION 143 scription TO AN UNKNOWN GoD. Such altars were common in the Greek world,! but this was the first he had encoun- tered, and it spoke to him of the heathen heart’s yearning after the Living and True God. He could not resist the mute appeal. He knew the blessed secret which would satisfy that blind desire, and he must proclaim it. Nor was opportunity lacking. There were Jews at Reasoning Athens, and he visited the synagogue and reasoned with gogieand the congregation, which as usual included ‘ God-fearers.’ It market- was, however, the general need that had stirred his com- ee passion and that he would fain satisfy ; and at Athens there was a peculiar facility in appealing to the populace. It was the historic fashion of the philosophers to discourse in the market-place, and Paul followed their example and con- versed with the citizens who daily frequented that intel- lectual exchange, less intent on business than on the dis- Cf. Ac. cussion of the latest political or metaphysical question.? aan A novel doctrine was always welcome, and the Apostle’s Jealousy of message excited keen interest, all the more that tidings of erage the stir which it had occasioned in Macedonia had reached Cf. τ Tb. the city. His popularity, however, quickly involved him in "7 embarrassment. The chief schools of philosophy at that period were the Epicurean and the Stoic, and their professors viewed him as an unauthorised invader of their province and, forgetting for the moment their mutual jealousy, made common cause against him. Some of them sneered at him and affected to regard him as an unintelligible quack. ‘What,’ they asked, ‘ would this charlatan 8 like to make Eien ti * This disposition was the bane of Athens. Cf. Demosth. Pz/. 1. το. 3. σπερμολόγος, ‘seed-picker,’ was properly a little bird which picked up the seed as it fell from the hand of the sower (cf. Mt. xiii. 4), and it had two metaphorical uses: (1) a thief who lived by what he could pick up, like Shakespeare’s Autoly- cus, ‘a snapper-up of unconsidered trifles’ (W7nter’s Tale, Iv. ili. 26); so a worthless rascal; (2) an intellectual charlatan whose learning was second-hand and undigested ; cf. Browning, Az Epistle: ‘ Karshish, the picker-up of learning’s crumbs.’ The latter is the meaning here. Cf. Eustath. on Hom. Od. v. 490: οὕτω τέτραπται καὶ τὸ σπερμολογεῖν ἐπὶ τῶν ἀλαζονευομένων ἀμεθόδως ἐπὶ μαθήμασιν ἔκ τινων παρακουσμάτων.. .. ὁ δὲ κυρίως, φασὶ, σπερμολόγος καὶ σπερμονόμος εἶδός ἐστιν ὀρνέου λωβώμενον τὰ σπέρματα, ἐξ οὗ ᾿Αττικοὶ σπερμολόγους ἐκάλουν τοὺς περὶ ἐμπόρια καὶ ἀγορὰς διατρίβοντας διὰ τὸ ἀναλέγεσθαι τὰ ἐκ τῶν φορτίων, φασὶν, ἀπορρέοντα καὶ διαζῇν. ἐκ τούτου τὴν αὐτὴν ἐλάγχανον κλῆσιν καὶ οἱ οὐδενὸς λόγου ἄξιοι, ing’ LIFE AND‘ LET TRRS (OF ΞΡ ἢ out?’ Others took a more serious view. The burden of the Apostle’s discourse had been the Lord’s Passion, Re- surrection, and Return to judgment; and, philosophers as they were, they grossly misconstrued his language. ‘ Re- surrection’’ is in Greek Anastasis, and they took this for a Charge of proper noun. They supposed it was the name of a goddess, Betis and when Paul spoke of ‘ Jesus and Anastasis,’ they fancied divinities. that he meant, after the heathen fashion, a couple of deities.1 “He seems,’ was their conclusion, ‘to be a proclaimer of strange divinities.’ The Cout And this would have been a grave offence—the very es offence which had proved fatal to Socrates, who was arraigned opagos. on the charge of ‘ corrupting the young men and not recog- nising the gods whom the city recognised, but other novel divinities.’ The court which took cognisance of such cases was the Council of the Areiopagos. This ancient and august tribunal, though it existed long ere his time, received its historic constitution from Solon. Its chief function was the investigation and adjudication of cases of homicide, but its jurisdiction extended also to such lesser offences as sacri- lege, treason, and conspiracy; and it exercised a censorial supervision of the civic life, reprimanding and punishing immorality, indolence, and prodigality.* It regulated the education of the young and controlled the introduction of novel forms of worship ; 4 and thus it had jurisdiction in the case of Paul, who was charged with ‘ proclaiming strange divinities.’ avaee The prestige and emolument of the philosophers were Paul, menaced, and in their resentment dignity and courtesy alike were forgotten. They accosted him with a sneering affec- tation of deference and humility. ‘Can we,’ they inquired 1 Chrys. : καὶ yap “τὴν ἀνάστασιν᾽ θεόν τινα εἶναι ἐνόμιζον, dre εἰωθότες καὶ θηλείας σὲβειν. * Plat. Afol. 24B; Xen. Mem. 1. i. 1; Diog. Laert. 11. 40. δ᾽ Cf. Demosth. adv. Aristocr. ; Isid. Areop. 149. 4 ἐπίθετα as distinguished from πάτρια, the ancient rites of the state. Cf. suidas under ἐπιθέτους ἑορτάς : ἐλέγετο δὲ παρ᾽ αὐτοῖς καὶ ἄλλα ἐπίθετά τινα, ὅσα μὴ πάτρια ὄντα ἡ ἐξ ἀρείου πάγου βονλὴ ἐδίκαζε. Just. M. (Ad Ογαε. Cohort., ed. Sylburg. p. 20 C) quotes a tradition that Plato learned the doctrine of the unity of God from the Jewish Law, but fear of the Areiopages prevented his mention. ing the name of Moses. THE SECOND MISSION 145 ‘understand what this novel teaching is that you are talking of ? They are strange matters that you are intro- ducing to our ears; so we wish to understand what these mean.’ And they took hold of him and brought him into the court. The seat of the Council was the Areiopagos or Hill of Ares to the west of the Acropolis. Its proceedings were open,? and thus, when Paul rose to answer the charge which had been preferred against him, he was confronted not merely by the judges but by a throng of curious spectators. He availed himself of the opportunity, and his defence was really a concio ad populum, a commendation of the Gospel to the hungry heart of heathendom. xvii.22 ‘Athenians,’ he said, ‘at every turn your exceptional 23 religiousness 3 is before my eyes. I was passing through your city and inspecting your sacred institutions, and I found among them an altar bearing the inscription TO AN 1 ὁ ἄρειος πάγος meant properly the hill where the court had its seat (cf. Luc. Anach. 19), but it was used also to denote the court itself, ἡ βουλὴ ἡ ἐξ ἀρείου πάγον, or the judges, of ᾿Αρειοπαγίται (cf. Alciphr. Ef. 111. 72: εἰς αὐτὸν ὁ dpecos πάγος ἀποβλέπουσιν. Οἷς. ad Attic. Ep. τ. 14: ‘Senatus ἄρειος πάγος. Nihil constantius, nihil severius, nihil fortius.’ Sen. De Zranguill. Anim. 3: ‘ Ario- pagus, religiosissimum judicium’). When it is said that Paul ‘stood ἐν μέσῳ τοῦ dpelov wdyouv,’ it is meant that he stood, not ‘in the midst of the hill’ but ‘in the midst of the court,’ ἐν μέσῳ τῆς βουλῆς τῆς ἐξ ἀρείου πάγου. * This is proved bya law prohibiting interruption of the proceedings by laughter or applause. 3 In classical Greek δεισιδαίμων means ‘religious.’ Cf. Arist. Pol. v. τι: A ruler should be conspicuously diligent in his duties toward the gods, since his subjects have less fear of unjust treatment ἐὰν δεισιδαίμονα νομίζωσιν εἶναι τὸν ἄρχοντα καὶ φροντίζειν τῶν θεῶν. Xen. Cyrop. 111. iii. 58. In later Greek it acquired the bad sense of ‘superstitious,’ already found in Theophr. Char, XXVIII (XVI): ἡ δεισιδαιμονία δόξειεν ἂν εἶναι δειλία προς τὸ δαιμόνιον. Cf. Plut. De Superstit. 1: Ignorance regarding the gods divides at its source into two channels, engendering in the hard soil of refractory natures atheism (ἀθεότης) and in the moist soil of softer natures superstition (δεισιδαιμονία). Phil. Quod Deus sit Jmmut. 35: As fortitude (ἀνδρεία) is the mean between audacity (θράσος) and cowardice (δειλία), temperance (σωφροσύνη) between luxury (ῥᾳθυμία) and parsimony (φειδωλία), prudence (φρύνησι5) between craft (πανουργία) and folly (μωρία), so piety (εὐσέβεια) is the mean between superstition (δεισιδαιμονία) and impiety (ἀσέβεια). Max. Tyr. xx. 6: ὁ μὲν εὐσέβης φίλος θεῷ, ὁ δὲ δεισιδαίμων κόλαξ θεοῦ. The term, however, still retained a neutral sense (cf. Moulton and Milligan, Vocab.) ; and so it is employed here and in xxv. 19—the only N. T. instances. It is inconceivable that the Apostle should have opened his conciliatory speech with an insulting epithet. K His defence. Cf. ver 18. Derisive interrup- tion. 146 LIFE.AND LETTERS OF St. Fauve UNKNOWN GOD. What, then, you are worshipping without knowing it, this it is that 1 am “ proclaiming ’’ to you. a4‘ The God who made the world and everything that is in it, He is Lord of heaven and earth ; and He does not dwell 25 in sanctuaries which hands have made, nor is He ministered to by human hands “‘as though He needed anything,’’! since it is He who gives every one life and breath and everything. 26 And He made of one stuff* every nation of men to dwell everywhere on the face of the earth, ordaining fixed seasons a7and the boundaries wherein they should dwell, that they might seek God if so be they might grope for Him ὃ and find Him, although He is all the while not far from each one 28ofus. ‘‘ Foritisin Him that we live and move and are,” as indeed some of your poets have said ; “‘ for we are indeed 29 His offspring.’’* Since then we are God’s offspring, we ought not to suppose that the Deity is like a thing of gold or silver 5 or a stone, a carving of man’s art and imagination. 30 ‘ Now though God overlooked the times when they knew no better, His present charge to men is that every one every- 31 where should repent, inasmuch as He has set a day on which He will soon judge the world in righteousness before the tribunal of a Man whom He has ordained ; and He has given proof of it to every one by raising Him from the dead.’ Here the Apostle’s argument has reached its goal, and he is about to proclaim the Christian message. All that he has hitherto said is a mere paving of the way, and it is indeed a skilful prelude. The charge against him was religious innovation, and he meets it by claiming that, as St. Chry- sostom puts it, he was ‘ introducing nothing strange, nothing novel,’ but simply asserting the truth which, on their own confession, his hearers had been blindly groping after. His attitude is at once generous and tactful. He does not, after the Jewish fashion, denounce the pagan religion as an unholy thing; rather, in the spirit of his large-hearted 1 Paul here quotes the Epicurean doctrine (Lucr. 11. 644-51). Cf. the Pytha- gorean dictum: ὅστις τιμᾷ τὸν θεὸν ὡς προσδεόμενον, οὗτος λέληθεν οἰόμενος ἑαυτὸν τοῦ θεοῦ εἷναι κρείττονα. Similarly the Eclectic Demonax excused himself for not sacrificing to Athene, οὐδὲ yap δεῖσθαι αὐτὴν τῶν παρ᾽ ἐμοῦ θυσιῷῴν ὑπελάμβανον (Luc. Dem. 11). 2 ἐξ ἑνός NAB, ‘of one common material’ (cf. Gen. ii. 7). No definition is required—aiuaros (DEHLP) or ἀνθρώπου (Blass). Cf. Heb. ii. 11. 3 ψηλαφᾶν, of a blind man feeling a thing to make out what it was (cf. Asop. Fab. 57, ed. Halm) or groping his way (ci. Dt. xxviii. 29 Lxx.). ΦΌΟΕ ὩΣ 24. 5 NAE χρυσίῳ ἢ ἀργυρίῳ. THE SECOND MISSION ty 147 master, the Rabbi Gamaliel,1 he recognises the germ of truth which it contained. It was a veritable preparatio evangelica ; and he seeks to persuade his hearers by appealing not only to the familiar testimonies of their poets, Epimenides and Aratus, but to the distinctive doctrines of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophies—the Epicurean doctrine of the divine cr. vers. remoteness and independence of human ministration and 25 7® the Stoic doctrine of Providence.? Just as in the synagogue of Pisidian Antioch he had sought to conciliate the Jews by an historical review, proving that the Gospel was the con- summation of their ancestral faith,? so now in the Court of the Areiopagos he seeks to commend it to the Greeks by proving it the fulfilment of their agelong yearning after God. The historical argument was appreciatively received in both instances, but its application was displeasing. When he pointed to the conclusion that their ceremonial Law was superseded, the Jews caught fire; and when he indicated what he meant by amastasis, the Athenians were moved to derision. To their minds the idea of the Resurrection was preposterous,* and some of them greeted it with scoffs, while others, more courteous but no less contemptuous, told him that they would hear him on some other occasion. They had no leisure for such folly. Solvuntur.vrisu tabule. It was an ignominious dénouement, but it was so far Termina- satisfactory that it ended the proceedings and relieved the pou Apostle from further legal annoyance. The case was laughed psty at out of court, and he was set at liberty. Ridicule is fatal toa cause, and now that he was the jest of the keen-witted city, he could preach there no longer. His ministry had been brief, lasting perhaps about a month,® and it had achieved little. Yet it was not entirely fruitless. His converts were few, but one of them at least was a personage of importance His con- —Dionysius, a member of the Council of the Arieopagos. poise 1 CE. p. 28. 3 Cf. Epict. 1. v: περὶ προνοίας ; Sen. De Providentia. | * Cf. pp. 92 ff. oO ay ine δ Cf. Append. I. § Tradition makes Dionysius the first bishop of Athens. Cf. Eus. His, Zech. Ill. 43 IV. 23. His name is invested with a fictitious celebrity by the ascription to him of those remarkable works, 7he Heavenly Hierarchy and The Divine Names, whence St. Thomas Aquinas derived so much of his theology. Cf, Wes cott’s essay on Dionysius the Areopagite in his Religious Thought in the Wast. Stephanss. of Corinth. 1 Cor. xvi. 15. Chr ΟΣ 1: τὸ» Ct. Jo.iv.2. Cian Com i, 27; Reasons for depar- ture. Cf. x Cor. XVi. 15-17. (1) Faux pas of his defence. Cf. 2 Cor. ΧΕ 3. ΟΕ ‘Cor: ii. 1-5. 1:78. LIFE AND’ LETTERS OR Si au Of the others only one is named—a woman called Damaris. The name is apparently a variant of Damalis, which signifies ‘a heifer’; and since it is the sort of designation which was commonly borne by Athenian courtesans, and women of good fame lived in close seclusion,! it is probable that she belonged to that numerous and unhappy order; and it may be taken as an evidence of her subsequent devotion that she was counted worthy of particular mention. It appears that Paul won at Athens another convert who has left an honourable name, though, since he was not an Athenian, it does not appear in the record of the Athenian - ministry. Four years later, in his correspondence with the Church at Corinth, he mentions one of its leading members, Stephanas, and terms him and his household ‘the first- fruits’ of his labours in the Province of Achaia. Stephanas was a Corinthian, but evidently he had been sojourning at Athens and had there encountered the Apostle and been won for Christ. It happened after the departure of Silas — and Timothy when Paul was at Athens alone, since he had — baptised Stephanas with his own hands—an office which, like the Master, he was not accustomed to discharge. Preaching was his business, and he left the administration of baptism to his colleagues, especially, it seems,* to his attendant. Stephanas proved a loyal and generous friend in after years, and it was a merciful providence which had brought him into the Apostle’s life at this juncture. Athens was no longer endurable ; and there were two special reasons which constrained Paul to take his departure. One was the shame © of his ignominious failure, aggravated by bitter self-reproach. In his speech before the Council of the Areiopagos he had committed what he now recognised as a fatal error. His mind had been ‘corrupted from its simplicity toward Christ.’ He had forgotten that faith’s best array is ‘not men’s wisdom but God’s power,’ and had attempted to meet philosophy with philosophy and win his hearers by “ per- 1 Cf. Becker, Charicles, pp. 405 ff., 248 f. CTD. 70: 5. It is significant that the same word (χωρίζεσθαι) is used of Paul’s departure from Athens and the expulsion of the Jews from Rome (cf. xviii. 1, 2). THE SECOND MISSION 149 suasive words of wisdom.’ It had proved a disastrous blunder, and he determined that he would never repeat it, Thenceforward he would eschew ‘lofty speech and wisdom’ and ‘announce God’s testimony,’ ‘ knowing nothing except Jesus as Christ and that a crucified Christ,’ and relying on the ‘demonstration of the Spirit and of power.’ He would fain quit the scene of his failure and make a new beginning elsewhere. And he had another motive. He had been exhausted by those eager months of travel and preaching and controversy and alarm; and as he fretted his heart at Athens with (2) Sick anxiety for his converts in Macedonia, he fell sick. It was" * a recurrence of his chronic malady ; and while he languished alone and despised in the gay city, ‘in weakness and fear and much trembling,’ his thoughts turned to Stephanas, and Cf. 1 Cre he resolved to betake himself to Corinth and cast himself * on the care of that kindly friend. It was a convenient retreat, no farther remote than Athens from Macedonia, which he still regarded as his appointed sphere and whence he was eagerly expecting the return of his colleagues with the welcome tidings that tranquillity had been restored and he was free to resume his interrupted ministry. Thither therefore he repaired, probably, in his enfeebled condition, taking ship across the Saronic Gulf and landing at the port of Cenchree. Y δ VI Ac. xviii. eat MINISTRY AT CORINTH 520; ahs 11-184, Corinth was the commercial and political capital of the C-cinth. Roman Province of Achaia, and her prosperity was largely due to her position on the narrow isthmus between the Corinthian and Saronic Gulfs. The rounding of Cape Malea, the southernmost promontory of Greece, was a perilous adventure. ‘When you round Malea,’ ran the proverb,? “forget your home.’ Hence ships making the voyage between Italy and Asia were accustomed to shun the cruel 1 Strabo, 378: Μαλέαν δὲ κάμψας ἐπιλάθου τῶν οἴκαδε. το LIFE AND LET EERS Of νυ headland with its treacherous tides and restless billows by steering up the Corinthian Gulf and putting in at the harbour of Lecheum, where they either unloaded or, if they were small enough, were hauled on rollers across the Isthmus to Schoenus and there relaunched.t This brought Corinth an enormous commerce, and her revenue was not a little augmented by the crowds which frequented the Isthmian Games.* From the earliest days she was distinguished as ‘the wealthy Corinth’;* but this unhappily was not her sole notoriety. On the adjacent Acrocorinthus stood the famous temple of Aphrodite with upwards of a thousand courtesan votaries, who plied their traffic in the city, chiefly with the shipmasters, enriching the temple by the ruin of their victims and occasioning a proverb that ‘ it was not every man who could afford the voyage to Corinth. * Though surpassed in literary and philosophic fame by her brilliant neighbour Athens, she was by no means barren in intellectual renown; and she was distinguished in statecraft and still more in art, especially, like the adiacent town of Sicyon, in painting, statuary, and bronze-work.® A heavy calamity had befallen Corinth in the year 146 B.c., when she was plundered and burned to the ground by the Roman army under Lucius Mummius; but she had been restored in 44 B.c. by Julius Cesar, who made her a Roman colony with the title COLONIA LAUS JULIA CORINTHUS and settled in her a large body of Roman freemen.® Her natural advantages had facilitated the recovery of her former pro- sperity, and in the Apostle’s day she was once more the emporium of Greece. The Roman colonists were the pre- 1 Strabo, 369, 378, 380. 2 Strabo, 378. Cf. note on 1 Cor. ix. 24, p. 275. > Cf. Hom. //. 11. 570: ἀφνειόν τε Κόρινθον. Pind. O/. ΧΙ]. 4: ταν d\Biap Κόρινθον. Thue. 1. 13. * Strabo, 378: οὐ παντὸς ἀνδρὸς és Κόρινθον ἔσθ᾽ ὁ πλοῦς. Hor. Epist. 1. xvii. 36: ‘Non cuivis homini contingit adire Corinthum.’ κορινθιάζεσθαι was synonym- ous with ἑταιρεῖν, ‘ play the harlot’ ; and in Shakespeare’s day ‘a Corinthian’ meant a roysterer—-‘a lad of mettle, a good boy, by the Lord’ (1 Atug Henry IV, Viewers): δ Strabo, 382; Verg. Georg. 11. 464. ® Strabo, 381. The victory of Mummius was disgraced by atrocious vandalism. Polybius (x1. 7) tells how he saw priceless pictures flung on the ground and soldiers using them as dice-boards. THE SECOND MISSION 151 dominant element in her population ;! but the majority of the citizens were Greeks, and there was also, as in every commercial centre, a considerable community of Jews. On his arrival at Corinth the Apostle would be kindly Associa. welcomed by Stephanas, but, with that delicacy which always ine characterised him, he would not trespass on his grateful 7¢Pr's convert’s hospitality. Despite his weakness he presently cr 3 cor, addressed himself to the winning of his livelihood, and it was ** 9 his good fortune to encounter a Jewish fellow-craftsman. This was the tent-maker Aquila. He was a native of Pontus on the Euxine, but he had migrated thence to Rome, and the previous year had been driven from the Imperial Capital by the anti-Jewish edict of the Emperor Claudius.? Quite recently he and his wife Priscilla had settled at Corinth, which, as the capital of Achaia and the headquarters of the military administration in the Province, afforded abundant employment for practitioners of his craft. Christianity was already established at Rome, ὁ and since there is no suggestion of their conversion by Paul, it is probable that Aquila and Priscilla were already Christians. Community of race and faith and calling drew them to each other, and the Apostle took a lodging in their house § and worked with Aquila. He had neither time nor strength for the prosecution of Bessey an active ministry; nevertheless he did what he could. tivity. Each Sabbath he attended the synagogue and addressed the congregation ; but he studiously refrained from opening a serious discussion. That, as it seemed to him, would have 1 It is noteworthy how many of the Corinthian converts had Roman names. Cf. Crispus and Gaius (1 Cor. i. 14), Fortunatus (xvi. 17), Tertius and Quartus (Rom. xvi. 22, 23), Titius Justus (Ac. xviii. 7). SCP, 13K. 8 A diminutive of Prisca (cf. Rom. xvi. 3; 1 Cor. xvi. 19; 2 Tim. iv. 19). Cf. Drusa and Drusilla, Livia and Livilla, Claudia and Claudilla, Tertia and Tertulla, Quarta and Quartilla. 4 Cf. p. 506. The language of Suetonius (C/aud. 25: ‘Judzeos impulsore Chresto,’? a common spelling of ‘Christo’) seems to imply that it was Messianic fermentation that occasioned the expulsion, and this may have been ‘occasioned by controversy between Jews and Christians. The Christians were in Roman eyes merely a Jewish sect, and they would share the expulsion. 5 ἔμενεν παρ᾽ αὐτοῖς, cl. The Days of His Flesh, p. 449. 5. In ver.4 Cod. Bez.(D) has εἰσπορευόμενος δὲ els τὴν συναγωγὴν κατα πᾶν σάββατον διελέγετο καὶ ἐντιθεὶς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Κυρίον "Ἰησοῖ, ἔπειθεν δὲ οὐ μόνον ᾿Ιουδαίους ἀλλὰ καὶ "Ἕλληνας, ‘And going into the synagogue every Sabbath, he would Arrival of Silas with deputies and a con- tribution from Philippi. Cf. 2 Cor. xi. 9. Timothy's arrival from Thes- salonica witha letter. Citar uh: ii. 14-16. Cf. iii. 6-8. Troubles at Thessa- lonica : ἘΣ LIFE AND) LETTERS OF Sit a been futile, since he was expecting the arrival of Silas and Timothy with tidings that the way was open for his return te Macedonia. He was only a temporary sojourner at Corinth, and he would not engage there in an enterprise which he must presently abandon. He contented himself therefore with seeking quietly to influence all whom he encountered, Jews and Gentiles alike, as opportunity presented itself. So he continued for several weeks,! and then the situation changed. His colleagues arrived from Macedonia. Silas came from Philippi, and it seems that he did not come alone. Several deputies of the Philippian Church accompanied him, conveying not only its greetings to the Apostle but a generous contribution. This was both welcome and opportune. It not only assured him of the undiminished affection of his friends but relieved him in his weakness from the burden of daily toil and set him free for the prosecution of his proper vocation, the ministry of the Word. Timothy also arrived from Thessalonica. He came alone, but he brought a letter from the Thessalonian Presbyters, informing the Apostle of the progress of events in their midst and craving his counsel.? It was indeed a distressful communication. The persecution not merely continued but had waxed so fierce that it matched the cruel tragedies which had been enacted in Judea. It was grievous intelligence for the Apostle, dashing his fond hope of an immediate return to Macedonia ; yet it was accompanied by a gladdening assur- ance: the Church had stood firm, loyal to the Faith and constant in her affection for him and his colleagtes. Had this been all, there would have been no need for a letter. Timothy, young and inexperienced though he was, could have told the Apostle of the sufferings of the Thessa- lonians and conveyed to him the assurance of their stead- fastness. But difficult and perplexing questions had arisen requiring his counsel; and that he might understand these reason, introducing also the name of the Lord Jesus; and he would persuade not only Jews but also Gentiles.’ The imperf. ἔπειθεν signifies merely ‘sought to persuade,’ whether he succeeded or not. 1 Cf. κατὰ πᾶν σάββατον, ‘Sabbath after Sabbath.’ * The evidence lies in the Apostle’s frequent references in the course of his letter to the Thessalonian communication. Cf. Rendel Harris, 4 Study in Letter- writing, in Expositor, September 1898. THE SECOND MISSION 153 and handle them effectively, it seemed fit to the embarrassed Presbyters that they should be expressly formulated and clearly defined. And so they wrote him a letter. The trouble had two sources. One was Jewish calumnia- (1) Jewish tion of the Apostle’s doctrine and conduct. It was alleged {."""™ that his Gospel was not merely heretical but immoral. It was antinomian. Its proclamation of salvation by faith in Christ apart from the works of the Law was a relaxation of moral obligation. His character too was assailed. In the course of his ministry at Thessalonica he had repeatedly received monetary aid from the generous Philippians ;1 and his enemies fastened upon this circumstance and, notwith- standing that he had toiled among them for his daily bread, they accused him of preying upon his dupes and making a trade of religion. These— error, uncleanness, and trickery ’ ctf. ii. 3. —-were the odious offences which were laid to his charge. And there was another trouble which was still more serious, (2) Expee- inasmuch as its source lay within the Church. It was a δέοι οι universal persuasion of the primitive Christians that the ‘mediate Lord’s Return was imminent and He would appear in glory : ere that generation had passed away; and the Apostle shared it. In his preaching at Thessalonica he had pro- claimed the impending consummation, and when the storm of persecution broke upon them, his converts consoled themselves with the prospect of a speedy deliverance. The issue was disastrous, and it has repeatedly recurred. Anhistorie One instance is especially conspicuous. The course of history Ἐν was viewed as a succession of “ ages,’ and the early Christian imagination, proceeding on the Jewish notion that the world was only some five thousand years old when the Saviour came, saw in the story of Creation a programme οἱ the future and recognised six ages corresponding to the six days of creation. The first, according to St. Augustine,® extended form Adam to the Flood, the second from Noah to Abraham, the third from Abraham to David, the fourth from David to the Babylonian Captivity, the fifth from the Captivity to the Saviour’s Birth, and the sixth from the Saviour’s ΡΘΕ p: 137. 8 Cf. The Days of His Flesh, pp. xxix f. 8 Quest in Jud. xlix; Enarr. in Psalm. XCM, τ. Cf, Rev. XX, I-7. The Apostle’s reply. isa LIFE AND. LETTERS OF Siotave Birth to the end of the world. And just as the six days of creation were succeeded by a Day of Rest, so the six ages will be followed by the Millennium, a thousand years of peace. By and by the idea arose that each of the past ages had lasted a thousand years; and hence it was reckoned that the year rooo A.D. would terminate the current age and witness the Lord’s Advent and the Final Judgment. The awful consummation was solemnly announced in gog by the Council of Trosly ; and as the fateful date approached, Europe was strangely moved. The end of all things was at hand, and men abandoned their worldly pursuits and ambitions. Buildings were suffered to fall into decay or pulled down since they would be no longer needed. The wealthy assigned their possessions to the Church, and the deeds of gift which still survive are generally prefaced with the formula appropinquante mundi termino, ‘ the end of the world drawing nigh.’ Every mischance—an eclipse, an earthquake, or a pestilence—was accounted a premonition of the impending catastrophe according to the prophetic scriptures, and the terrified people would seek refuge in caves and fastnesses. Many bound themselves in villainage to religious houses, and such as could went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, the supposed scene of the Lord’s visible appearing.} Similar, though on a lesser scale, was the situation at Thessalonica. The Church was seething with excitement. Enthusiasm and fanaticism were rampant; confusion pre- vailed ; discipline was defied, and controversy raged. The Presbyters were impotent, and they communicated their difficulties to the Apostle and besought his counsel. THE First LETTER TO THESSALONICA He immediately responded to their appeal, and his reply is invested with a peculiar interest as the earliest of his extant letters. He did not write it with his own hand, but dictated it to an amanuensis. This was the fashion at that period in consequence largely of the prevalence of illiteracy ; 2 Cf. Mosheim, Zcc/, Hist, 111. ii., chap. 111. 3; Milman, Latin Christianity, Υ. xiii. THE SECOND MISSION 155 and it still obtains in the East, where the public scribe, seated at his table with inkstand and pen in readiness, is a familiar figure on every city-street.! Illiteracy, however, was not the only reason for the employment of an amanuensis. ‘ Writing fair,’ as Shakespeare observes, is a rare accomplish- ment, and it was peculiarly difficult for the Apostle. Not only was his sight defective,? but his hands were coarsened by the rough toil of tent-making, and penmanship would be no easy task for his cramped and indurated fingers. This is no mere surmise ; for in an interesting passage where he is writing with his own hand, he playfully alludes to his large, Gal. vi. x. sprawling characters. And here lay a further reason for his employment of an amanuensis, since papyrus, though the least expensive of writing materials, was at the cheapest very costly. It was sparingly used, and this appears not Cf. Rom. only in the custom of including in a letter greetings from athe mutual friends ὁ but in the close and minute penmanship of extant manuscripts. A letter written by a scribe was authenticated by an autograph signature;® and the cr.27Tn. Apostle’s practice was to take the pen from his amanuensis "27" 18. at the close and write the final benediction with his own hand a es in his characteristic and unmistakable style. τ δ In the present instance the amanuensis would be either His Silas or Timothy. The former was well qualified for the 32°" task, and he subsequently discharged it for the Apostle cr. x Pet. Peter; but it seems probable that it was rather performed ” ™ by Timothy, since he was attached to the mission in the capacity of attendant, and the business of scribe belonged to his office.6 In any case it was no menial function. The letter was the Apostle’s, but he associates himself with both 1 Cf. Hichens, The Near East, p. 200. 3. Cf. p. 70. 8 The price varied with the quality. The sheets measured 9 to 11 inches by 5 to 54; and a single sheet is quoted as selling now at a drachma and three obols or fully 1/-, again at three obols or about 4}d., and again at two obols or about 3d. Cf. Milligan, W. 7. Documents, pp. 11 f. ὁ In a 2nd c. papyrus with thirty-one lines no fewer than thirteen are occupied with greetings. Cf. Milligan, zdzd. p. 12. 5. Cf. Chrys. J Epist. IJ ad Thess. 1: καθάπερ καὶ viv ἐφ᾽ ἡμῶν ἐστίν. ἀπὸ γὰρ τῆς ὑπογραφῖς δῆλα γίνεται τὰ γράμματα τῶν πεμπόντων. Plat. Apest. ΧΠῚ begins Πλάτων Διονυσίῳ τυράννῳ Συρακουσῶν εὖ πράττειν and proceeds ἀρχή σοι τῆς ἐπιστολῆς ἔστω καὶ ἅμα σύμβολον ὅτι παρ᾽ ἐμοῦ ἐστί. For interesting examples τὗ, Oxyrh. Pap. 246, 275, 497. CELp. (79. Grateful acknow- ledgment of the Church's faith, 156. LIFE AND LETTERS OR Shree his companions at the very outset and maintains the associa- tion throughout : ‘ we thank God,’ ‘ our Gospel,’ ‘ what sort of men we proved among you,’ ‘ what a reception we had when we appeared among you.’! They had shared his ministry at Thessalonica, and they shared also his present solicitude ; and with characteristic generosity he would honour them in the eyes of the Church. it. Paul and Silvanus and Timothy to the Church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to you and peace. The letter from Thessalonica had assured the Apostle of the Church’s affectionate loyalty to himself and his colleagues despite the calumnies of his Jewish enemies. “We know,’ it had said, ‘what sort of men you proved among us for our sakes’; and he prefaces his reply with a warm reciprocation. He assures them that he and his colleagues on their part cherished a constant and grateful remembrance of all that the Thessalonians had been and done ; and he tells them how it had gratified him to find that the fame of their faith and devotion had travelled beyond their own country of Macedonia. It had preceded him to Athens and Corinth and was the talk of the Province of Achaia. 2 We thank God always for you all, making mention of you in 30ur prayers with an unceasing remembrance of the work of your faith and the toil of your love and the endurance of your hope in our Lord Jesus Christ before our God and Father. 4 We know, brothers beloved by God, that He has chosen you, 5 because our Gospel went not home to you in word only but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and much satisfaction, just as you know what sort of men we proved among you for 6your sakes. And you followed our example and the Lord’s by welcoming the Word amid much distress with the joy of the 7 Holy Spirit, so that you proved a pattern to all who hold the 8 Faith ? in Macedonia and in Achaia. For from you the Word 1 That this is not pluralis majestaticus is proved by the introduction of first per. sing. when the Apostle refers particularly to himself (cf. ii. 18, iii. 5). There is no clear instance of ‘the editorial we’ in the Pauline writings. 2 τοῖς πιστεύουσι. πιστεύειν is the cognate verb of πίστις, ‘faith,’ and it is a disadvantage in translation that the old English use of ‘faith’ as a verb (cf. Shak. Ατηρ Lear, 11. i. 72: ‘make thy words faith’d’) is now obsolete. THE SECOND MISSION 157 of God has pealed forth,! not only in Macedonia and Achaia ; no, in every place your faith toward God has gone forth, so gthat we have no need to say anything; for they are telling their own story of us—what a reception we had when we appeared among you, and how you turned to God from your roidols to serve a living and true God and await His Son from {Heaven whom He raised from the dead—Jesus our Rescuer from the coming wrath. And now the Apostle turns to the calumnies of his Jewish Refutatior enemies. In reporting these the Presbyters had assured gai him of their unshaken confidence. ‘We know,’ they had written, ‘that your appearance among us has proved no empty thing.’ And this generous testimony made the task of refutation easy for him. His teaching was condemned as erroneous and immoral, and he points in reply to its gracious influence upon his converts. And he was accused of cowardly and selfish trickery. He had been, in the stinging phrase of a later generation, ‘ a trafficker on Christ,’ ? and had sought to ingratiate himself with his dupes by soft and flattering speech. There was indeed a show of reason in the taunt ; for he had always behaved at Thessalonica with exceeding tenderness. But it was the tenderness of a loving heart. He had never played the Apostle or stood upon his dignity. He had treated his converts as a father treats his children, nay, as a nurse treats her charge with “a simple, merry, tender knack Of stringing pretty words that make no sense, And kissing full sense into empty words.’ ὃ When his calumniators represented this as flattery, they were flying in the face of facts. He had come to Thessalonica with the wounds of his scourging at Philippi yet unhealed, but his spirit was unbroken, and he had boldly proclaimed the Gospel at the risk of provoking fresh outrage. And so far from ‘ trafficking on Christ’ he had toiled early and late at his craft of tent-making that he might earn his daily bread. 1 ἐξήχηται, like a peal of thunder (cf. Ecclus. xl. 13) or a clear, ringing trumpet (Chrys. ). 2 χριστέμπορος. Cf. Didache, xii. 5. E. B. Browning, Aurora Leigh, 1. ewish umnies, Jer. xi. 20. Congratu- lation of the Vhes- salonians on their steadfast- ness. 58: LIFE AND LETTERS OF ΒΥ ΕΟ ii: You know yourselves, brothers, that our appearance among 2 you has proved no empty thing. No, though we had previously been subjected to suffering and outrage, as you know, at Philippi, we had the boldness in our God to tell you the Gospel 3 0f God in the midst of a great conflict. For our appeal is not inspired by error or uncleanness, nor is there trickery behind 4it; no, as we have been proved by God ere being entrusted with the Gospel, so we speak with the design of pleasing not men 5 but God, ‘the Prover of our hearts.’ For we never resorted to flattering speech, as you know, or a fair pretext for greedy 6 ends, God is witness ; nor did we ever seek glory of men either from you or from others, though we might have stood upon our 7 dignity as Christ’s Apostles. No, we played the babe among 8 you like a nurse fondling her children.1 Thus yearning for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the Gospel of God but our own lives also, because you were so endeared gtous. For you remember, brothers, our toiland moil. Working night and day that we might be no burden upon any of you, το we preached to you the Gospel of God. You are our witnesses, and so is God, how holy and righteous and blameless was our rr relation with you who hold the Faith, even as you know how we dealt with each one of you like a father with his own children,’exhorting you and cheering you and solemnly charg- 1zing you to comport yourselves worthily of the God who is calling you into His own Kingdom and Glory. The Presbyters had written that they ‘thanked God’ for all that Paul and his colleagues had done for them; and he responds by assuring them that they had inspired himself and his colleagues with a like gratitude: ‘ We too thank God unceasingly.’ And the reason of their gratitude was the heroic steadfastness of the Thessalonians in face of a cruel persecution. It seems that some of them had actually sealed their testimony with their blood; and thus the Thessalonian Church had won a place with the churches of 1 Reading γήπιοι, ‘babes’ (cf. 1 Cor. iii. 1; xiii. 11) with N*BC*D*FG Vulg. What was called by the calumniators ‘ flattering speech’ was in truth the language of affection, like a nurse’s blandishments. So Orig. (Zz Matt. Ev. xv.7: ἐγένετο νήπιος Kal παραπλήσιος τρόφῳ θαλπούσῃ τὸ ἑαυτῆς παιδίον καὶ λαλούσῃ λόγους ὡς παιδίον δια τὸ παιδίον), Aug. (De Catech. Rud. τ: ‘ Hinc ergo factus est parvulus in medio nostrum tanquam nutrix fovens filios suos. Num enim delectat, nisi amor invitet, decurtata et mutilata verba immurmurare?’), Hieronym. Hence the verb συννηπιάζειν, cotnfantiart, denoting our Lord’s adaptation of Himself to human childishness by the Incarnation (Iren. Iv. lxiii. 1). The variant ἤπιοι, ‘gentle,’ is a dull smoothing away of the bold metaphor, facilitated by the pre- ceding ». THE SECOND MISSION 159 Judea in ‘the noble army of martyrs,’ God’s faithful witnesses in all ages from the ancient Prophets to the Lord and His Apostles. 13 And therefore we too thank God unceasingly that on receiv- ing the Word of God from our lips you welcomed it as no word of men but as what it truly is—the Word of God which is 14Set in active operation in you who hold the Faith.!_ For you followed the example, brothers, of the churches of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus, in that you also experienced at the hands of your fellow-countrymen the same sufferings which 15 they experienced at the hands of the Jews—the men who slew the Lord and the Prophets and hunted us forth. God they 16 never please, and all men they oppose, seeking to prevent us from speaking to the Gentiles that they may be saved, to ‘ fill Gen. xv. up the measure of their sins’ always. ‘But the wrath of God 16: has fallen upon them to the uttermost.’ 2 A mere assurance of his abiding interest in his converts Review of was insufficient, since they might naturally doubt it. In- Perecer' deed it may be that his enemies had charged him with ‘ven. cowardly desertion in fleeing from the storm and seeking a secure asylum in Achaia. And so to disabuse their minds he reviews the course of events since his departure from Thessalonica. His first destination had been Athens, and there he had eagerly awaited the arrival of his colleagues, hoping that they would tell him that the way was clear for his return. But, to his bitter disappointment, they had reported that the persecution was still raging, and that his reappearance at Thessalonica would not merely involve the sacrifice of his own life but aggravate the sufferings of his converts by provoking fiercer hostility. So keen was his solicitude that he could not leave them unsuccoured and allow his work to be undone; and it was agreed that Timothy, who by reason of the subordinate part which he had played would be less obnoxious, should venture back, 1 ἐνεργειται, not middle, ‘ operates,’ but passive, ‘is set in operation.’ So most probably in every instance (cf. Mayor on Ja. v. 16). God and spiritual powers, whether good or evil, are said ἐνεργεῖν, ‘to operate’ (cf. 1 Cor. xii.'6, 11; Gal. ii. 8, iii. 5; Eph. i. 11, 20, ii. 2; Phil. ii. 13); their instruments are said ἐνεργεῖσθαι, ‘to be set in operation’ (cf. 2 Cor. iv. 12; Eph. iii. 20; Col. i. 29). The Word is in itself ἐνεργής (Heb. iv. 12), potentially ‘ operative,’ and it becomes actually ‘operative’ where there is faith: it ‘is set in operation in believers’ by the Holy Spirit. And faith, again, ‘is set in operation through love’ (Gal. v. 6). 2 A stock phrase of Jewish eschatology. Cf. Zest. X// Patriarch, vi. 11. τοῦ @-LIFEXAN D (LETTERS OR eT raw and nerve them to stand fast against the fury of their persecutors and the subtler risk of seduction from their allegiance by insidious misrepresentations. And now that Timothy had returned to Corinth the Apostle was gladdened by his report of their heroic steadfastness and by the letter which he had brought and which told him that they remem- bered how he had warned them during his ministry among them to expect persecution for the Gospel’s sake. And he reassures them of his constant affection and sclicitude and his eager and prayerful longing to return and renew his ministry among them. 17 Andas for us, brothers, in the desolation of our temporary separation from you—in presence, not in heart—we were the more intensely eager, with much longing, to see your 18 face ; because we wished to go to you—I Paul indeed once το Δη6 again—and Satan closed the way. For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting—is it not even you ?— 20 before our Lord Jesus at His Advent?! Yes, you are our iii. xglory and our joy. Andso, when wecould endure” no longer, 2 we made up our minds to be left alone at Athens, and sent Timothy, our brother and a minister of God in the Gospel of Christ, to establish you and exhort you in the interest 301 your faith, that no one might be cajoled amid these dis- tresses. You know yourselves that this is our appointed 4lot. For while we were with you, we foretold you that dis- tress was in store for us; and so it came to pass, and you 5knowit. It was for this reason that I on my part, when I could endure no longer, sent to ascertain your faith for fear lest the Tempter had tempted you and your toil should issue in emptiness. 6 Andnow that Timothy has come to us from you and told us the good tidings of your faith and love and that you have always a kindly remembrance of us, longing to see us just 785 we are longing to see you, we have on this score been comforted, brothers, about you, above all our constraint 8and distress, through your faith, because ‘ now we live if 1 The sentence is broken by the Apostle’s emotion. He intended to say: ‘What is our hope or joy or crown before the Lord? Is it not our converts?’ But he breaks off in his haste to assure the Thessalonians that they are included. *‘ Therefore he added ἢ οὐχὶ καὶ ὑμεῖς ; For he did not say “‘ you” simply but “‘ you also” with the others’ (Chrys.). 2 στέγειν, properly ‘cover.’ Hence (1) ‘keep out,’ cf. Thuc. 11. 94: νῆες οὐ στέγουσαι, ‘leaky ships’; (2) ‘keep in,’ cf. Plat. Δ. 621 A: οὗ τὸ ὕδωρ ἀγγεῖον οὐδὲν στέγειν, ‘a leaky vessel.’ Here either ‘contain our longing’ or ‘keep out anxiety.’ THE SECOND MISSION 161 9 you stand fast in the Lord.’1 For what thanks can we render to God regarding you for all the joy which we experi- roence on your account before our God, while night and day we pray with exceeding earnestness that we may see your face and repair the defects of your faith ? 2 τι Now may He, our God and Father and our Lord Jesus 12 Christ,® direct our way to you. And may the Lord make you increase and overflow in love for one another and for 13 all men like our love for you, that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the Advent of our Lord Jesus ‘ with all His holy ones.’ Zech, xiv. 5 It was a grief and an embarrassment to the Apostle An exhor- throughout his ministry, that when the Judaists alleged that jn? his Gospel of salvation by Faith issued in antinomianism, they could adduce what seemed a damning evidence of their contention. His Gentile converts too often retained the low ideals of their old heathen ethic and disgraced their Christian profession by moral laxity. So it had happened at Thessalonica, and he now introduces a call to consecration. iv.r To proceed: brothers, we beg and exhort you in the Lord Jesus that, as you received from us directions how you should comport yourselves and please God—and so indeed you are 2comporting yourselyes—that you do it more fully. You know 3 what charges we gave you through the Lord Jesus.* For this is the will of God—your sanctification. He would have you 4abstain from fornication; He would have each of you know how to master his own vessel ὅ in sanctification and honour, 1 Bornemann, chiefly on account of ‘das ganz deutliche Metrum,’ regards this as an adapted verse from a Christian or Jewish hymn, suggesting as the original ζῶμεν ἐὰν ἡμεῖς Ιστήκομεν ἐν Kupiy, ‘we live if we stand fast in the Lord.’ 2 καταρτίζειν, ‘join together.’ (1) In a political connection, ‘reconcile con- tending factions’ (cf. 1 Cor. i. 10). An umpire was called καταρτιστήρ (cf. Herod. v. 28). (2) As a medical term, ‘replace a dislocated joint’ or ‘set a broken bone.’ Cf. Galen, Ofera, XIX. p. 461 (Kiihn): καταρτισμός ἐστι μεταγωγὴ ὀστοῦ ἢ ὀστῶν ἐκ τοῦ παρὰ φύσιν τόπου εἰς τὸν κατὰ φύσιν. (3) ‘ Repair a torn fabric,’ ¢.g., a net (cf. Mt. iv. 21). 3 Cf. the co-ordination of God and Christ ini. 1. Observe how the Apostle’s sense of their oneness is expressed by the sing. κατευθύναι. Cf. 2 Th: ii. 16, 17. 4 Particularly in delivering the decree of the Council of Jerusalem (cf. Ac. xvi. 4). δ σκεῦος signifies the boy (cf. 2 Cor. iv. 7) as the vessel containing (1) the soul (cf Lucr. 111. 440; Οἷς. Zusc. Dispud. 1. 52: ‘Corpus quidem quasi vas est aut aliquod animi receptaculum’; Phil. Quod Deterius Potiort instdiart soleat, p. 223 : τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς ἀγγεῖον τὸ σῶμα), (2) the Holy Spirit (cf. ver. 8; 1 Cor. vi. 193 Barn. Zfzst. vii. 3, xi. 9; Herm. Mand. v. 2). So Tert. (De Resurr. Carn. 16), τ Jeroxseys Ps. ]xxix. 6. Ps. xciv. 1. 12. XXXVii. T4. The escha- tological difficulty. (1) Idle ex- pectance o the Lord's Return. Is, liv. 13. 162: LIFE AND LETTERS OF Sf. Pave s not in the passion of lust like ‘ the Gentiles who know not God,’ 6and never transgress or take advantage of a brother in the matter, because ‘the Lord is an avenger’ in all these cases, 7 as we formerly told you and solemnly testified. For when God called us, He did not mean us to be unclean; no, the con- 8 dition was sanctification. Therefore, when one disregards it, it is not man that he disregards but God who ‘ puts His Holy Spirit in you.’ And now the Apostle addresses himself to the eschatological question which was disturbing the Thessalonian Church, and deals with three vexing problems which it had raised and which the Presbyters had submitted to him in their letter. The first concerned the maintenance of ‘ brotherly friendship,’ and it had been occasioned by the extravagance of a number of enthusiasts. Anticipating the immediate end of the age, they had abandoned their worldly employments and were idly scanning the heavens to catch the first flash of the Lord’s appearing. They had been reduced to penury and were dependent on charity for their daily bread, with the natural result that a spirit of resentment had been aroused in the minds of sober Christians who were burdened with their support. Thus the Church’s peace was broken, and her enemies were moved to derision. ‘If,’ says St. Chrysostom, referring to a like scandal in his own day, ‘ this is an offence to those who are with us, it is a far worse offence to the outsiders. They find ten thousand accusations and handles when they see a man in good health and well able to provide for himself begging and needing help from his neighbours. This is why they call us “traffickers on Christ.”’ ” 9 Regarding brotherly friendship you have no need that one should write you. For you are yourselves ‘taught of God’ roto love one another; indeed you are performing the duty Chrys., Theodrt., Ambrstr., and the Fathers generally. ‘To win one’s vessel’ (τὸ ἑαυτοῦ σκεῦος κτᾶσθαι) means to get the mastery over one’s body and deliver it from the desecration of lust. Cf. Shak. Oth, Iv. ii. 83: ‘To preserve this vessel for my lord.’ According to another interpretation σκεῦος signifies ‘ wife’ (εἴ. 1 Pet. iii. 7). So Theod. Mops. ; Aug. (Contra Julian. Pelag. τν. 56; Serm. cclxxviii. 9). Thus the Apostle would mean that as a safeguard against illicit indulgence each man should ‘get his own wife’ (cf. 1 Cor. vii. 2). But what would be the force of εἰδέναι then ? THE SECOND MISSION 163 toward all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we trexhort you, brothers, to perform it more fully, and make it your ambition to live peacefully and busy yourselves with your own affairs and work with your hands as we charged you, 1zthat you may comport yourselves decorously before those out- side and be dependent on no one. The second problem concerned ‘ those who were falling (2) Anxiety asleep.’ Death had been busy at its ceaseless work since ine ¥e the introduction of the Christian Faith into Thessalonica ; and as one and another passed away and the promise of the Lord’s Return remained still unfulfilled, the mourners, uninstructed as yet in the blessed hope of the Resurrection, wondered how it would fare with their beloved at His appearing. Would they be absent on that great Day and miss its gladness and glory ? 13 And we would not have you miss the truth,” brothers, regard- ing those who are falling asleep, lest you grieve like the rest 14who have no hope. If we hold the faith that Jesus died and rose, so too will God bring with Jesus those whom He has laid 15to sleep. For this we tell you in a word of the Lord ‘ that we, the living, the survivors until the Advent of the Lord, shall have no precedence of those who have been laid to sleep ; 16 because the Lord in His own person, heralded by a cry of command, by an archangel’s voice, and by the trumpet of God, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will 17 rise in the first instance ; ὅ then we, the living, the survivors, 1 Or, taking μηδενός as neut., ‘have need of nothing.’ 2 ἀγνοεῖν, not simply ‘to be ignorant’ but ‘to be ignorant where one might and should have known.’ It was used, ¢.g., in the Common Greek of making a wrong return in an assessment schedule (cf. Moulton and Milligan, Vocad.). Hence under the Levitical economy ‘a sin of ignorance’ (ἀγνόημα) was held culpable and required expiation. 3 τοὺς κοιμηθέντας διὰ τοῦ ᾿Ιησοῦ, ‘those who have been laid to sleep by Jesus,’ a true passive (cf. Moulton, Pro/eg., p. 162). Another construction connects δια τοῦ Ἰησοῦ with ἄξει, ‘God will through Jesus bring with Him,’ z.e., in His train, or perhaps prolept., ‘to be with Him (in His glory).’ So Theod. Mops. Chrys., while approving the former, mentions both interpretations. The latter obliterates the double parallelism—rov’s κοιμ. διὰ τοῦ ᾿Ιῆσοῦ with Ἰησοῦς ἀπέθανεν and ἄξει σὺν αὐτῷ with ἀνέστη. : 4 Referring either to our Lord’s general teaching (cf. Jo. vi. 39, 40) or to an unrecorded /ogzon. δ πρῶτον NABD°EKL, ‘in the first instance,’ balanced by ἔπειτα, The re- surrection will be the first act in the drama. The variant πρῶτοι D*FG, ‘first.’ means that the dead in Christ will be raised before the ungodly (cf. Rev. xx. 4, 5). (3) The time of the Lord's Return. CGhrAci. 6, 7. Cf. Ae. i. 7. Cf. Mt. XXiV. 43. Cf. Je. xii, 36. Cf. Jo. iii. 19-21; Ac. ii, 15. 164 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL will in their company be rapt away amid clouds to meet the Lord1in the air. And thus shall we be always with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words. The third inquiry concerned the time of the Lord’s Return ; and it was a bewildered appeal for some definite pronouncement which might calm the prevailing unrest. The Apostle answers that he has none to offer, and recalls how the Lord in the hour of His departure had censured that very inquiry as an illegitimate intrusion into the Father’s secret council. The one certainty was that the Lord’s Return would be a sudden surprise; and here he takes occasion to reiterate his admonition against moral laxity. It was impossible to foretell when the Lord would appear; but all would be well if only they remembered His word: ‘In whatsoever employments I may surprise you, in these will I also judge you,” and held themselves in constant readiness to meet Him without shame. v.t Regarding ‘the periods and the crises,’ brothers, you have 2no need that anything be written to you. For you yourselves know perfectly well that the Day of the Lord comes like a 3thief in the night.2 When they are saying ‘Peace and safety,’ then all of a sudden ruin swoops upon them like her pangs upon a woman with child ; and they shall not escape. 4 But you, brothers, are not in darkness that the Day should 5 surprise you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons 6of day. We belong neither to night nor to darkness ; so then let us not slumber like the rest but be wakeful and sober. 7It is by night that slumberers slumber, and it is by night that 8drunkards get drunken. But as for us, since we belong to the But the apocalyptic idea of two resurrections (ἀνάστασις καθολικὴ καὶ μερική) is foreign to Paul’s thought. He contemplates only one—that of ‘the dead in Christ’ ; and when he says that they will rise ‘in the first instance,’ he means that they will be raised before the living are ‘rapt away,’ and both will go home together. Moreover, the apocalyptic ‘first resurrection’ is not a general resurrec- tion of believers, but a resurrection of the martyrs who had fallen in the Domitian persecution. The cause for which they had died would triumph, and they would share its triumph. 1 els ἀπάντησιν, cf. p. 130, n. 3. 2 ἐν οἷς ἂν ὑμᾶς καταλάβω, ἐν τούτοις καὶ κρινῶ. Cf. Unwritten Sayings of Our Lord, τι. * The Jews inferred from Ex. xii. 29 that the Messiah would come at midnight, and the early Christians inferred from Mt. xxv. 6 that the Lord would return at midnight. Cf. Hieronym. on the latter passage. ᾿ i it a, THE SECOND MISSION 165 day, let us be sober, ‘ wearing a cuirass,’ that of faith and love, Is. lix. 17 gand ‘a helmet,’ the hope ‘of salvation’; forasmuch as God did not ordain us to wrath but to win salvation through our ro-Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us that, whether we wake or 1rslumber, we may share His life. And therefore exhort each other and build one another up, as indeed you are doing. Not the least serious aspect of the Thessalonian situation Practical was the disorganisation of the Church. The prophets of the *¢™0"" : . tions. approaching Advent were irresponsible enthusiasts, and they pursued their propaganda regardless and indeed contemptuous of the judgment of the Presbyters. Authority was flouted and discipline defied. Their wild excesses occasioned re- sentment, reprobation, and recrimination; and, what was still worse, they excited ridicule. Their prophecies dis- credited even the legitimate operations of the Spirit. Reasonable men looked askance upon all enthusiasm, for- getting the Lord’s precept: ‘Show yourselves approved bankers ᾿ 1 and the duty which it inculcates of distinguishing betwixt genuine coins and base counterfeits. 1z2 And we beg you, brothers, to appreciate those who toil among you and rule over you in the Lord and admonish 13 you, and to hold them in very high and loving esteem for their 14 work’s sake. ‘Be at peace among yourselves.’ And we Mk. ix. το. exhort you, brothers, admonish the disorderly, cheer the faint-hearted, lend a helping hand to the weak, be long- 15 Suffering toward all. See that no one ever repays evil with evil, but always pursue the kindly course with one another 16,17and with all men. Always rejoice. Pray unceasingly. 18In every situation be thankful; for this is God’s will in 19,20 Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit ; do not set 2tprophecies at naught; but prove everything, retain the Jobi. τ, 8, 22 genuine,? ‘ eschew every evil ’ sort.* il. 3. 1 γίνεσθε τραπεζῖται δόκιμοι. Cf. Unwritten Sayings of Our Lord, νι. 3 πάντοτε χαίρετε, the shortest verse in the Greek Testament. ‘No literary production has ever so often repeated the word ‘‘joy” as the New Testament’ (Renan, Les Apédtres, v). 3 Like bankers (τραπεζῖται) who tested coins (νομίσματα) to ascertain whether they were genuine (καλά) or counterfeit (κίβδηλα). To ‘test’ or ‘prove’ was δοκιμάζειν ; the process was δοκιμή ; a coin which stood the test was δόκιμον, one which did not stand it was ἀδόκιμον. 4 Or ‘every sort of evil.’ εἶδος, (1) ‘appearance’ (cf. Lk. ix. 29 ; 2 Cor. v. 7); (2) ‘form,’ ‘shape’ (cf. Lk. iii. 22) ; (3) ‘sort,’ ‘kind’; as a philosophical term, “species.” 166 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ΓΕ 23 Now may He, the God of peace, make you entirely and perfectly holy, and may your spirit and soul and body in entire completeness be kept beyond blame at the Advent οὗ. Num. xxiii, 24 0ur Lord Jesus Christ.1_ Faithful is He who is calling you; ee and ‘ He will also bring it to pass.’ The And now after his wont the Apostle puts his sign-manual Apostle’s to the letter. It is no mere signature but an unbaring of manual. his heart. He bespeaks the prayers of the Presbyters for himself and his colleagues. And he extends his affection to the whole Christian community, and bids them ‘greet — cf.Gen. all the brothers with a holy kiss.’ It was the Onental — rip ρα fashion with kinsfolk and brothers, when they met, to Ee αν: 20. embrace and kiss each other on cheek or forehead ; and it Ty. om. xvi. 16; | prevailed in the Christian Brotherhood. And it was the 1 Cor xvi. fashion, moreover, with a Jewish Rabbi, when a disciple ee pleased him, to embrace him and kiss his forehead in token of commendation.? It is the latter usage that the Apostle intends here. - The kiss which he bids the Presbyters bestow on his behalf was his recognition of the faith which his Thessalonian converts had displayed in those days of trial. The letter was addressed to the Presbyters, but it was a message for the Church, and he insists on its being read in public assembly. 25,26 BROTHERS, PRAY FOR US. (GREET ALL THE BROTHERS 27 WITH A HOLY KISS. I ADJURE YOU BY THE LORD THAT THE 28 LETTER BE READ TO ALL THE BROTHERS. THE GRACE OF OUR LorD JESUS CHRIST BE WITH YOU. Timothy The transmission of letters was in those days no light the bearer of the matter. There was indeed an imperial post instituted by letter. Augustus on the model of the Persian angaria;® but this was a state service, and private despatches were conveyed 1 The idea of ὁλοτελής is complete perfection ; that of ὁλόκληρος (cf. Ja. i. 4) unmutilated entirety. Odoxdnpia (Ac. iii. 16) is entire soundness of body. The Apostle prays, in view of the dragia (cf. ver. 14) of the Thessalonians, that they may be ὁλοτελεῖς ; in view of their ἀκαθαρσία (cf. iv. 7), that they may be ὁλόκληροι, sanctified in their entire nature, not only their spiritual nature (πνεῦμα) or their intellectual (ψυχή) but their physical (σώμα). The tripartite division of human nature was a Stoic conception. Cf. M. Aur. xii. 3: τρία ἐστίν ἐξ ὧν φυνέστηκα:" σωμάτιον, πνευμάτιον, νοῦς. 3 Cf. The Days of His Flesh, p. 361. 5. Cf. Suet. Aug. 49. THE SECOND MISSION 167 by private messengers.! It was common for a wealthy man to maintain a staff of couriers,? but the less affluent hired messengers as occasion arose, while the poor were dependent on the service of a friend or the favour of a casual traveller, _ and it was thus that the Apostle’s letters were conveyed. cr. Rom. In the present instance it appears that Timothy acted as his *“" τ’ ? courier. It was an important office. For Paul’s couriers were no mere posts. Not only were they entrusted with the cr Epi. communication of personal tidings, but they were charged i?" 72) with the amplification and enforcement of the written message. ts It was in the month of September that Paul had come Active to Corinth, and he had no intention of remaining there. Mimsy αἱ His hope was that peace would be restored in Macedonia, and he would be free to return thither and resume his inter- rupted ministry. Corinth was merely a temporary asylum, and it seemed useless to inaugurate there an enterprise which he must presently abandon. He passed several weeks in anxious expectancy, busy at his tent-making and availing himself of such opportunities as presented themselves for testifying of Christ. At length in the month of October Timothy arrived from Thessalonica ; and his report, grievous as it was, terminated the Apostle’s suspense. The persecution still continued, and there was nothing for it but that he should remain at Corinth. And so, after he had-written and despatched his letter to Thessalonica, he addressed himself to an energetic ministry in the Achaian capital. The liberality of his Philippian friends had relieved him rupture of the necessity of earning his daily bread, and he abandoned τὸ ""* his tent-making and devoted his full time and strength to gogue. his evangelical activities.4 The synagogue was his arena, and he no longer contented himself with tentatively ‘ intro- ducing the name of Jesus’® but ‘solemnly testified that 1 Cursores or tabellarit. Cf. Cic. Phil. 11. 31; Mart. Efigr. 111. 100; Plin. Epist. Vl. 12; Tac. Agric. xliii. ® The luxurious AZlius Verus, Hadrian’s adopted son, called his cursores by the names of the winds and adorned them with Cupid’s wings. 3 His departure from Corinth is proved by the fact that Crispus and Gaius were baptised by Paul. 4 συνείχετο τῷ λόγῳ NABDE Vulg., ‘was in the grip of,’ #.¢., “closely occu- pied with the Word.’ συν. τῷ Πνεύματι HLP, ‘was in the grip of,’ #.4., ‘con- strained by the Spirit.’ ® Cf. p. 151, δὲ 6, Cf. Neh. Vv. 18. His adherents. Cf. Rom. XVi. 23. Cf. x Cor: i, 14. 168° LIFE: AND: LETTERS ΘΕ Pave: the Messiah was Jesus.’ A keen and protracted controversy ensued, and after his wont he supported his contention by appealing to the Scriptures.t His reasoning was incon- trovertible, but his opponents were impervious to argument. Exasperated by their dialectical discomfiture, they resorted to threats and blasphemies. Persistence was futile, and he ‘shook out his garments,’ signifying after the symbolic fashion still practised in the East that he abandoned them and would hold no further intercourse with them.? They had rejected the Gospel, and he would thenceforward make his appeal to the Gentiles. He quitted the synagogue, but he did not go alone. Stephanas, whom he had won to the Faith at Athens ere coming to Corinth,’ would accompany him; and he carried. with him also several prominent members of the Jewish congregation. One was no less a personage than Crispus, one of the Rulers of the Synagogue ; 4 and the other Titius Justus. The latter was not a Jew. His Latin name suggests that he was a Roman colonist, but he was ἃ “ God- fearer,’ ® and thus like Crispus he had doubtless been present during those heated discussions in the synagogue and had been persuaded by the Apostie’s arguments. Another bore the Latin name of Gaius, and he also was probably a Roman colonist and a ‘ God-fearer.” He was a man of substance, and he proved in after days a right worthy member of the Corinthian Church, winning praise for hisgenerous hospitality. He and Crispus were the only Corinthians besides Stephanas and his household whom Paul baptised with his own hands ; and the reason was that Timothy, on whom in his capacity 1 Cod. Bez. (D) supported by Syr. Vers.: πολλοῦ δὲ λόγου γινομένου καὶ γραφῶν διερμηνευομένων ἀντιτασσομένων αὐτῶν, K.T.r. 2 ἐκτινάξασθαι τὰ ἱμάτια, distinct from (1) διαρήσσειν τὰ ἱμάτια, ‘rend one’s garments’ (cf. Mt. xxvi. 65; Ac. xiv. 14), a protest against blasphemy, and (2) ἐκτινάσσειν τὸν κονιορτὸν τῶν ποδῶν, ‘shake off the dust of one’s feet’ (cf. Mt. x. 14; Ac. xiii. 51), the custom of a Jew on leaving unclean Gentile soil and passing into the Holy Land (cf. The Days of His Flesh, p. 218). P. £. F. Q. St., July 1906, p. 191: ‘ Taking the open part of the dress in the right hand and shaking it means, ‘‘I have nothing to do with it.” ’ SCE. p. 148: 4 Cf. The Days of His Flesh, p. 94. δ B*Dsr? SyrP Vulg. Tiriov Ἰούστου. SE Τίτου ᾿Ιούστο. AB®D*HLP ᾿Ιούστου. ΟΕ, ———— Ψ Ἐν THE SECOND MISSION 169 of attendant the administration of the Sacrament properly devolved, had gone on his errand to Thessalonica at the time of their conversion. From Paul’s explicit statement that these were the only Corinthians whom he baptiscd, it may be inferred that Titius Justus received the Sacrament from the hands of Silas. Few though the converts may have been, they were Jewish numerous enough to require a meeting-place now that the ΡΣ doors of the synagogue were closed against them; and Justus supplied their need. He was well-to-do, and he placed at their service an apartment of his commodious house. It proved an unfortunate arrangement. The house adjoined the synagogue, and the assembling of the Christians in such close proximity would be construed as a deliberate defiance. Their numbers quickly increased by the accession of Gentile converts, and this further exasperated the Jews. They naturally regarded Paul with special ani- mosity, and so menacing became their attitude that his life cf. ac. was endangered. He was in continual apprehension of ἃ ΣΤῊ, ἴα. murderous assault. It was an alarming situation, and it is no wonder that his heart failed him. In the midst of his disquietude Timothy returned with kvittiaings unhappy tidings. The trouble at Thessalonica had in- fm hes creased. Not only was the persecution still raging, but the Cf. 2 Th. eschatological frenzy was wilder than ever. It had been” *” fostered by several enthusiasts who recognised in the Cf. iii. rx. distress of the Christians the beginning of the storm and announced that ‘the Day of the Lord was upon them.’ The Church was panic-stricken, and the Apostle’s letter had proved ineffectual. His counsels were nullified by the fervour of the enthusiasts, who not only claimed prophetic inspiration but recalled how he had preached the imminence of the Lord’s Advent while he was among them and alleged his authority for their affirmations. Moreover, they pro- duced a letter which he was credited with having written. Cr. ii e Perhaps it was a forgery, but more probably it was a personal a 4 The variant μεταβὰς ἀπὸ τοῦ ᾿Ακύλα, ‘having removed from the house of Aquila’ (D* 137), represents Paul as leaving his lodging in the house of Aquila and Priscilia (cf. ver. 3) and taking up his abode with Titius Justus—a violation of the Lord’s injunction (Lk. x. 7). Cf. The Days of His Flesh, p. 218. τὸ “LIFE AND LETTERS ΟΕ Si race communication which he had written ere the controversy arose, and which now lent itself to an interpretation which he had never contemplated. Areassur- It happened that, when the report of the situation at 'g vision. Thessalonica reached him, Paul was menaced by an out- break of Jewish hostility, and the accumulation of trouble overwhelmed him. It seemed as though his ministry at Corinth were doomed, and he must again seek safety in flight. In his despondency he turned to the Holy Scriptures, and he found there the message which he so much needed Apparently he had lighted on that passage in the ancient is. xl, 10, Prophet : ‘ Fear not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed, τὲ for lam thy God: I will strengthen thee ; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My mghteousness. Behold, all they that are incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded ; they that strive with thee shall be as nothing, and shall perish.” The brave words rang in his ears, and when he went to rest, they shaped his dreams. In a vision the Glorified Lord spoke to his troubled heart. ‘ “ Fear not,’’’ was His command, ‘ but speak and keep not silence; “ for 1am with thee”’ ; and no man will set upon you to do you evil ; because I have much folk in this city.’ The mis) | The vision rallied the Apostle, and he resumed the con- pre ραη δες flict with fresh fortitude. His first step was the writing of ofanimme- another letter to the distracted Church at Thessalonica, and Advent. it was a delicate and difficult task. His embarrassment was that he shared the universal belief in the imminence of the Second Advent. During his Macedonian ministry he had proclaimed that the Lord would certainly appear within Cf. iv. x5- the lifetime of that generation, and he had reaffirmed it in ae his first letter. Indeed it was his proclamation of this doctrine that had occasioned all the trouble; and the only effective remedy lay in a clear recognition of its absolute erroneousness and a return to the explicit teaching of the Lord. He had represented the progress of His Kingdom as no sudden catastrophe but a gradual and protracted Mk. iv. development, like the ripening of the harvest—‘ first the 55: Be blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear,’ or the oe operation of leaven, slowly permeating the mass of dough. s,14,19. And He had spoken of the Bridegroom ‘ tarrying’ and the THE SECOND MISSION 171 Master ‘ travelling into a far country’ and returning ‘ after along time.’ It was human impatience of the divine long- suffering that had introduced the idea of an immediate Advent ; and it would have been well not only for Thessa- lonica but for Christendom in succeeding generations had the Apostle recognised the mischievous error and boldly repudiated it. But herein he was the child of his time. It was only the stern logic of events that exposed the error, and meanwhile he clung to it. Hence the difficulty which he experienced in dealing with The the Thessalonian situation. Blind to the truth which would APs". have calmed the wild frenzy and restored the Church to sanity, he had recourse, though not without a latent misgiving which betrays itself in frequent hesitation, eager emphasis, and confused expression, to an ingenious theory which in very deed amounts to a denial of his postulate of the im- minence of the final consummation. He insists that it is no innovation and no recantation. He had advanced it in his ct. ii. ς. personal teaching during his sojourn at Thessalonica. But his statement of it can hardly have been very precise, else it would not have been so entirely ignored. Probably it had been obscure in his own thought, and it was only now in the stress of controversial necessity that it was distinctly envisaged. His argument is summarised by St. Jerome in the epigram Jewish idea that ‘Christ would not come unless Antichrist had pre- ¢;P° Messianic ceded *;? and it is based on a doctrine which figures largely confed-- in the later Jewish theology, and which finds its earliest ex- lawless- pression in the second Psalm—that the world’s hostility to ™* God would wax ever worse until it attained its height in a confederacy of the heathen nations against Him; and then the Messiah would appear, and ‘ break them with a rod of iron, and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel,’ and inaugurate His triumphant and glorious reign. The idea 1 Algas. Quest. xi: ‘Christum non esse venturum nisi precessisset Anti- christus.” Cf. Pelagius on 2 Th. ii. (in his commentary on the Pauline Epistles preserved among the works of St. Jerome): ‘Nisi Antichristus venerit, non veniet Christus.’ 2 On the history and development of the idea cf. Bousset, Der Antichrist (Engl. transl. The Antichrist Legend); Schiirer, Hist. of Jew. People, τι. ii. pp. 164 ff. ; art. Antichrist in Encycl. Bibl. Dan. xi. 36. ΟΕ ΤΣ il. 8. Christian idea of the Antichrist. ΓΟ LIFE AND: LETTERS OFS Pau. was shaped and elaborated by the national experience in succeeding generations, especially by the atrocities which were perpetrated by Antiochus Epiphanes and which roused the Maccabees to their heroie struggle. Antiochus is that enemy of God and His saints depicted in the Book of Daniel—the king who ‘should do according to his will, and exalt himself and magnify himself above every god, and speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and prosper till the indignation should be accomplished.’ The oppressed Jews recognised in him an incarnation of the world’s enmity against God, and thenceforward that furicus blasphemer stood in their minds as the image of the Messiah’s protagonist in the final conflict. On that tragic Day of Atonement in the year 63 B.c., when Cneius Pompeius after long besiegement captured Mount Sion, and not only massacred twelve thousand Jews, but hewed down the priests at the altar and intruded into the Holy of Holies, where no foot save the High Priest’s had ever trod,! it seemed as .though the dread consummation had arrived; and the insulting foe was styled ‘ the Sinner,’ ‘ the Lawless One.”? It was natural that the Jewish doctrine should be retained in Christian theology with the necessary modification that the consummation was no longer the Advent of the Messiah but the Return of the Lord Jesus Christ ; and it is in Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians that it makes its earliest appearance in Christian literature. Toward the close of the first century a new and significant title was coined for the enemy who should lead the forces of evil in the final con- flict. He was called ‘ Antichrist,’ ? which signifies a rival Christ, an impostor arrogating to himself the true Christ’s powers and offices and claiming the homage which is His prerogative. Paul does not employ the title, but the idea 1 Cf. Jos. Ant. xiv. iv. 2-4; De Bell. Jud. τ. vii. 3-5. 2 Cf. Psalm. Sol. ii. 1: ἐν τῷ ὑπερηφανεύεσθαι Tov ἁμαρτωλὸν ἐν κριῷ κατέβαλλε τείχη ὀχυρά. xvii. 13: ἠρήμωσεν ὁ ἄνομος ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν ἡμῶν ἀπὸ ἐνοικούντων αὐτήν. 5.5. John is the first writer and the only N. T. writer who uses the appellation. Chr Joriil 18, 22. ν. 19. 2,70: 7: 4 Cf. ἀντιβασιλεύς, ἀνθύπατος (proconsul), ‘antipope.’ Chrys.: οὐ γὰρ εἰδωλολατρείαν ἄξει ἐκεῖνος ἀλλ᾽ ἀντίθεός τις ἔσται καὶ πάντας καταλύσει τοὺς θεοὺς καὶ κελεύσει προσκυνεῖν αὐτὸν ἀντὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ. Theod. Mops.: ‘Temptat enim ille per omnia illa que Christi sunt imitari, utpote et Christum se esse dicens.’ : : THE SECOND MISSION 173 is his; for, according to his conception, the final apostasy will issue not from heathendom but from unbelieving Israel.? ct. ii. 4. The Enemy, ‘the Man of Lawlessness,’ ‘ the Lawless One,’ will be a false Messiah, an incarnation of Satan even as Cf. ii. Christ was an incarnation of God,? enthroning himself in the Sanctuary, claiming divine attributes, and in the power of Satan exhibiting delusive signs and wonders. Such is the conception which Paul here introduces ; and The it effectively served his immediate purpose. The Thessa- oPPo*% 11. lonian enthusiasts believed that the Day of the Lord was Mano! Lawless- imminent, and they were looking for His appearance, ness the oblivious of the tremendous prelude. The order of events Tha Saco was, first, the revelation of Antichrist, and then, and not 44ve" till then, the revelation of Christ. Nor would that prelimin- ary be immediately fulfilled. Already indeed the forces of lawlessness were gathering and seething beneath the surface like volcanic throbbings which will presently burst forth in ruinous convulsion ; but meanwhile there was a restraining barrier, and until this was removed, the storm would not break. What this barrier was the Apostle does not explicitly The | define. He speaks of it with studious reserve, designating !™Pe"| it now ‘ the restraint ’ and again ‘ the restrainer,’ and refer- ring his readers to the teaching which they had heard from his lips during his ministry among them. And the reason appears when it is understood that the restraining barrier against the forces of lawlessness was the strong and beneficent authority of the Roman Empire, which maintained universal order and administered impartial justice.4 Already, par- Cf. Ac. ticularly at Thessalonica, he had experienced its protection," ἢ and it was his security amid the dangers which menaced him at Corinth even while he wrote. It is no wonder that he Cf. Rom. accounted it ‘an ordinance of God,’ and counselled his} tim:) converts to reverence and obey it; and so late as the close 13 of the second century Tertullian recognised it as the prin- 1 Cf. Iren. v. xxx. 2, where the Antichrist’s descent is reckoned from the tribe of Dan in accordance with Jer. viii. 16. 2 Cf. Ambrstr. : ‘Imitabitur enim Deum, ut sicut Filius Dei divinitatem suam homo natus vel factus signis ac virtutibus demonstravit ; ita et Satanas in homine apparebit, ut virtutibus mendacii ostendat se Deum.’ ® Cf. the apocalyptic programme in Didache, xvi. SE pS Tek Antichrist a person, Cf. ΤΕ. li. 3, 6, 8, 9. Historical identifica- tions: ‘t) Nero vredivivus. 174 LIFE AND, LETTERS*O? SY ΡΝ cipal reason why the Christians should pray for the peace of the Roman Empire that it delayed the impending horrors | of the End of the World. The imperial authority, then, was the barrier, and until it was destroyed the storm would not break; and when this is understood, the Apostle’s cryptic language becomes luminous. By ‘the restraint’ he means the Roman rule, and by ‘the restrainer’ the Roman Emperor. Nor is it strange that he should have spoken thus vaguely. If the preaching of the Kingdom of Heaven was construed as treason,? the least whisper of the impending dissolution of the Empire would have exposed him and his followers to condign punishment. It hardly admits of question that the Antichrist was, in the Apostle’s thought, no mere impersonation of the prin- ciple of evil * but an actual person. Not only does he style him ‘the Man of Lawlessness,’ ‘the Son of Ruin,’ ‘ the Lawless One,’ but he represents his appearing as ‘a revela- tion ’ and ‘an advent’ in precise analogy with the revela- tion and advent of the Lord. Here, however, his definition ceases. Who the Antichrist would be he neither indicates nor professes to know. His identification was reserved for later generations, and each recognised him as a present enemy of God and the Gospel. The earliest identification is found in the Book of Revela- tion some forty years later. Much had transpired during the interval—not only the destruction of Jerusalem, sacred and dear to Christian as well as Jewish hearts, but the persecutions 1 Apol. 32. * Cf. pp. 131, 138. * Cf. Chrys. : εἰ γὰρ εἶπεν ὅτι μικρὸν ὕστερον καταλυθήσεται ἡ ‘Pwyalwy ἀρχὴ. ἤδη εὐθέως ἂν αὐτὸν καὶ κατώρυξαν ὡς λυμεῶνα καὶ τοὺς πιστοὺς ἅπαντας ὡς ἐπὶ τούτῳ ζῶντας καὶ στρατευομένου. Hieronym. Aleas. Quest. xi: ‘Nec vult aperte dicere Romanum imperium destruendum, quod ipsi qui imperant zternum putant.’ The Fathers generally understand ‘the restraint’ as the Roman authority (τὴν Ρωμαϊκὴν ἀρχήν), but there were at least two other interpretations: 1. The miraculous grace of the Holy Spirit. Cf. Severianus (Cramer, Cat. vi. 388): “τὸ κατέχον,᾽ φησί, τὴν τοῦ ‘Aylov Πνεύματος χάριν. This Chrys. rejects because (1) Paul woula then have spoken explicitly: there would have been no occasion for reticence; and (2) the charisms of the Holy Spirit had then ceased, yet Antichrist had not appeared. 2. The decree of God, τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸν ὅρον» (Theod. Mops.). It rules out both that in neither case could Paul have contemplated ‘the restrainer’ being ‘ removed.’ * So Lightfoot. σον σπου a κάνω THE SECOND MISSION 175 οἱ Nero and Domitian. Rome, once the guardian of justice and the refuge of the oppressed, was now the murderess of the saints, and the name of Nero was execrated. Such was the horror which his cruelties had inspired in the minds of his outraged subjects that, when he died, they could scarce believe it ; and a wild legend arose and persisted long that he was still alive, lurking among the Parthians and biding his time to swoop upon Rome and wreak vengeance upon his enemies.!_ It evinces the strength of the belief that there are on record no fewer than three instances of impostors pre- senting themselves in hisname. The year after his death, in the reign of Galba, a slave, who resembled the tyrant in his turn for harping and singing, gathered an armed following in the island of Cythnos and occasioned a widespread panic, which subsided only when, not without difficulty, he was slain and his head exhibited in Asia and Rome.? The second appeared in the East during the reign of Titus, escaping on the dispersion of his followers into Parthia ;* and the third in the reign of Domitian thirty years after Nero’s death. The legend that he was still alive persisted early in the second century, and it was hoped by the Christians in those days that he would return and usher in the end.® It was thus natural that the Christians should recognise Nero as the Enemy of God and expect that he would reappear and inaugurate the final conflict; and this is St. John’s doctrine of the Antichrist in the Book of Revelation. ‘ The wild beast which you saw was, and is not, and will presently ascend from the abyss and go his way to ruin. And the inhabitants of the earth will be amazed, they whose name has not been written on the Book of Life from the founda- tion of the world, when they see the wild beast, that he was and is not and will come.’ This is the Antichrist—Nero redivivus—a baleful counterpart of Him ‘ who is and who was and who is coming,’ ‘ the Living’ who ‘ became dead and is living for evermore.’ δ 1 Cf. Suet. Mer. 57. § Cf. Tac. Hist. 11. 8, 9. 3 Zonar. XI. 18. 4 Suet. er. 57. ® Dion. Chrys, Orat. xxi. 4 Chrys. commits the anachronism of identifying the Pauline ‘Man of Lawless- ness’ with Nero redivivus ; and Baur and Weizsacker, accepting the identification, find in it an argument against the Pauline authorship of the epistle. xvii, 8. i, 8, 18, (2) The Muns. (3) Islam. (4) The Universal Bishop. (5) The Pope. Rey. xvii. 76° LIFE AND LETTERS®ORMSTyY PAvE The legend gradually ceased as time ran its course and the advent of the Antichrist was still delayed; and another reading of the prophecy came into vogue in the latter half of the fourth century. The Huns were pressing upon the Empire from the East, and in this new peril Ephrem Syrus perceived a premonition of the impending catastrophe.! And again in the seventh century, when Christendom was menaced by Islam, this fresh terror was interpreted as the approach of the Antichrist.? As strife and confusion incieased within the borders of the Church, a new possibility was discerned ; and so early as the close of the sixth century, when John, the Patriarch of Constantinople, the rival of the Bishop of Rome, assumed the style of Universal Bishop, St. Gregory the Great in- dignantly denounced ‘the haughty and pompous title.’ He called upon all Christian hearts to reject ‘ the blasphemous name.’ And he recognised in the presumption which usurped ‘ this uncanonical dignity,’ a sign of the coming of Antichrist and compared it to the pride of Satan in aspiring to be higher than all the angels.’ The growing corruption of the Church stirred the hearts of her nobler sons, and it inflamed the indignant zeal of the Spirituals, those stern enthusiasts of the Franciscan Order.4 Toward the close of the twelfth century Joachim, Abbot of Floris in the Kingdom of Naples, identified the apocalyptic ‘Babylon the Great, the Mother of the harlots and of the abominations of the earth,’ not with pagan Rome but with the worldly and vice-laden Rome of his day; and in the thirteenth century Peter John Oliva dared to affirm not only that the Scarlet Woman ‘ stood for the Roman nation and Empire as it was once in the state of paganism and as it was afterwards in the faith of Christ’ but that ‘in the opinion of some Antichrist would be a false Pope.’ It was but a step further to John Wycliffe’s assertion that the Pope was not the Vicar of Christ but the Vicar of Antichrist.5 1 Homilies on the Antichrist. Cf. Pseudo-Hippolytus, περὶ τῆς συντελείας roa κόσμου, and Philip Solitarius, Déoprr. iii. 10 ff. (Migne, Pat. Gr. 127). * Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius (Orthodoxographa). ΟΣ AV: 32, 33; 4 Milman, Zaz. Chr. ΧΙ]. vi. ® Dial, xxxi. 73. THE SECOND MISSION 177 And Luther had no hesitation in declaring that ‘ the Pope is the Antichrist’ and identifying him with ‘the Man of Lawlessness.’ This became an article of the Reformed (6) The Creed,! and the Romanists naturally retaliated and declared δος that the Reformation was the Apostasy and Luther and his accomplices the precursors of Antichrist.2 And indeed to peaceable men it might reasonably seem as though the Reformation were nothing else than the mustering of the forces of evil against the Church of God. The state of the world, as they viewed it, is thus depicted in a Colloquy of Erasmus written in 1525 amid the confusions which culmi- nated two years later in the sack of Rome:® ‘A financial famine is pressing hard on every court; the peasants are exciting perilous commotions, undeterred from their purpose by so many massacres ; the populace is studying anarchy ; the house of the Church is being shaken by perilous factions ; this way and that the seamless robe of Jesus is being torn asunder. The Lord’s Vineyard is being wasted no longer by a single boar, and at the same time the authority of the priests is in peril and their tithes withal, the dignity of the theologians, the majesty of the monks; confession is tottering, vows are wavering, the pontifical laws are slipping away, the Eucharist is called in question, Antichrist is expected ; the whole world is in travail with I know not what great evil.’ Thus it appears that each successive age has recognised An un- a contemporary fulfilment of the prophecy of the Anti- {mention christ, and has taken those commotions which, appalling as they seem to faithless hearts, are ever the birth-pangs of a nobler order, for mutterings of the approaching storm, 1 In their address to King James his translators express their contentment with his Argumentum pro Juramento Ftdelitatis, ‘which hath given such a blow unto that man of sin, as will not be healed.’ Cf. Westminster Confession, XXV. vi: ‘The Pope of Rome. . . is that antichrist, that man of sin, and son of perdi- tion, that exalteth himself in the church against Christ, and all that is called God.’ 3 Cf. Erasm. Zpist. xv. 17 (London, 1642), Ludovico Episc. Torracensi, June 18, 1521: ‘Ex amicorum litteris didici monachum quendam apud Christianissi- mum Galliarum Regem in concione magis etiam insanisse: qui dixerit jam adven- turum antichristum, cum extiterint quatuor precursores, Minorita nescio quis im Italia, Lutherus in Germania, Jacobus Faber in Gallia, Erasmus in Brabantia.’ 8. Collog. Pusrp. M Mt. xxiv, 4 6, 36; Mk, xiii. 8. Mt. xxiv. 24. ii. 18, 22, iv. 3; cf. 2jJo 7. The Apostle’s use of the idea. 178 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL harbingers of the end of all things. Those pages of history enforce the warning which our Lord gave His disciples on the eve of His departure: ‘See to it that no one lead you astray. You will presently hear of wars and rumours of wars: look you, be not alarmed. All this is but the begin- ning of travail-pangs. It must come to pass, but the end is not yet. And of that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven nor the Son, but the Father alone.’ It is a grievous fault of the Apostolic Church that she was deaf to her Lord’s admonition and clung to her impatient expectation of an immediate Advent, involving herself, as the years passed, in ever deeper embarrassment and be- wilderment ; and it must be confessed that the prime re- sponsibility rests with Paul. It was he who imported into Christian theology that Rabbinical notion which has per- sisted to this day and has so often served the unhallowed uses of controversial warfare. It is alien from the teaching of our Blessed Lord. He foretold indeed the rise of false Christs and false prophets amid the confusion of the Jewish state as the already inevitable catastrophe of her destruction by the Romans approached; but the eschatological programme of a final apostasy and a scenic triumph is a picturesque fiction of the later Jewish theology. And it is instructive that, though the Apostle John accepted it in the Book of Revelation and recognised the Antichrist as Nero vedivivus, he presently abandoned the wild dream. In his First Epistle, the latest of his writings, where he deals with the Cerinthian heresy, he defines the Antichrist as a spirit or principle—the Doketic denial of the reality of the In- carnation ; and since that principle found various expressions, he recognised many Antichrists in his day. This rendering of the idea won a measure of acceptance, and it still had its advocates in St. Augustine’s day ;? but unfortunately the cruder notion maintained its ground and prevailed. That imagination of Jewish eschatology was familiar to Paul’s mind, and it furnished him with a cogent argument against the excesses of the Thessalonian enthusiasts. The Second Advent was indeed imminent. The glorious con- 1 Cf. The Days of His Flesh, pp. 423. ΒΟΥ De Civ, Det, Xx. xix. 3. ————— sr eh THE SECOND MISSION 179 summation was at hand, but it would not immediately arrive. It would be heralded by two world-shaking pre- liminaries—the dissolution of the Roman Empire and the appearance of the Antichrist ;1 and neither of these had yet come to pass. The argument was indeed an effective antidote to the Thessalonian unrest ; but it was a stark contradiction of the admonition which the Lord had left with His disciples and which the Apostle had quoted in his first letter, that Cf v. 1. they should refrain from curious inquiry regarding ‘ the periods and the crises.’ And it seems that he presently recognised the illegitimacy of the argument. At all events he never repeated it ; nor is there any record of the effect which it produced on the distracted Church at Thessalonica. THE SECOND LETTER TO THESSALONICA The letter begins with the customary address : The address. it Paul and Silvanus and Timothy to the Church of the Thessa- 2lonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Ere entering on his argument the Apostle pays a deserved Commen- tribute to the constant and increasing faith and love of the EAE Thessalonians, and assures them of his pride in their heroic ™en+ steadfastness amid the storm of persecution. And he bids them recognise what the ordeal meant. God’s righteousness demanded the vindication of His cause; and thus their sufferings were an evidence of His speedy intervention. The day of reckoning could not be long delayed. It appears that the tidings of the Church’s unhappy plight had been conveyed to the Apostle not merely by Timothy’s report but by a letter from the Presbyters; and he expressly acknowledges it. In response to his request for their Οἵ. τ ΤΡ. prayers they had assured him that they ‘were always “ ** praying’ for him and his colleagues, and he reciprocates : “ we also are always praying for you.’ 1 Cf. Hieronym. Algas. Quast. xi: ‘Nisi, inquit, fuerit Romanum imperium ante desolatum et Antichristus praecesserit, Christus non Veniet: qui ideo ita venturus est ut Antichristum destruat.’ ro. LIFE AND LETTERS OF Sf ΤΌΝ 3 It is our duty to be thanking God always for you, brothers ; and indeed it is well deserved, because your faith is growing so largely and the love which you all without exception bear to 4one another is so increasing that we on our part boast of you among the Churches of God for your endurance and faith amid all your persecutions and the distresses which you are so 5 stoutly supporting—a demonstration of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be accounted worthy of the Kingdom 6 of God for which you are indeed suffering, since it is righteous in God’s sight to repay distress to those who are distressing you, 7and relief to you who are distressed—to you and us too— when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty Is. Ixvi. 15. Sangels ‘in a flame of fire,’ taking vengeance on “those who 15: 25: know not God’ and those who hearken not to the Gospel of ‘~~ gour Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty—the ruin of igh iis ca} eternal ! banishment ‘ from the face of the Lord and from the 19, 21. 10 glory of His strength,’ when He comes to be ‘ glorified in His holy ones’ and ‘admired’ in all who have held the Faith— 11 for our testimony was confirmed on you —on that Day. And with this end in view we also are always praying for you, that our God may count you worthy of your calling 5 and fulfil by His power your every desire for goodness and every work Is. xxiv. 15, 12 Of faith, that ‘the name of our Lord’ Jesus ‘ may be glorified i. in you ’ and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. en And now the Apostle plunges into his argument. He begins logical pro- With a warning. The source of the trouble at Thessalonica gramme was threefold : the confident predictions of the enthusiasts, their plausible argumentation, and their appeal to a letter 1 It is illegitimate to build on this phrase a dogma of ‘everlasting punishment.’ The idea of αἰώνιος is guality, not duration. In the Book of Enoch els τὸν αἰῶνα denotes a period of seventy generations (x. 5, 12), and a period of 500 years is called ζωὴ αἰώνιος, ‘an eternal life.’ Eternity excludes the idea of time. “Eternity (αἰών), says Philo (Quod Deus sit Immutabilis, Ὁ. 277), ‘is the life of God ; and in Eternity there is neither past nor future.’ ? The MS. reading ἐπιστεύθη is difficult. The choice lies between connecting ἐφ᾽ ἡμᾶς with τὸ μαρτύριον, ‘our testimony unto you,’ though ἐπί here would rather mean ‘against’ (cf. Lk. ix. 5), and referring it, notwithstanding the order, to ἐπιστεύθη, “our testimony was believed as far as you,’ ad vos usque, in occidente (Beng.). Two minuscs. (31, 139) have ἐπιστώθη, ‘was confirmed’ (cf. 2 Tim. iii. 14), and this probably is the original reading. The phrase occurs in LXX (Ps. xciii. 5; 2 Chr. i. 9). Cf. W. H., Notes. * Our calling is probation. God calls us not because we are worthy but that we may prove worthy. Cf. Aug. 22). de Predest. Sanct. 37: ‘Elegit ergo nos Deus in Christo ante mundi constitutionem, przdestinans nos in adoptionem filiorum : non quia per nos sancti et immaculati futuri eramus, sed elegit pra- destinavitque ut essemus.’ THE SECOND MISSION 181 which professed to have emanated from him and his colleagues and which, they claimed, supported their eschatological contentions. It is hardly likely that this was a deliberate forgery ; and the probability is that it was a private com- munication which he had written ere the controversy emerged and which lent itself to misconstruction. These were the influences which had done the mischief, and he begs the Thessalonians to disregard them and turn a deaf ear to the cry: ‘The Day of the Lord is upon us!’ The time was not yet ripe for the Second Advent, and the evidence was twofold. First, according to the eschatological programme the final consummation would be preceded by the inaugura- tion of the Great Apostasy and the appearance of the Man of Lawlessness. The Apostle portrays this impious Adversary in the Jewish fashion after the pattern of his historic pro- totype Antiochus Epiphanes, who, like all the Seleucid kings, had assumed the title of God and, in his attempt to extirpate the Jewish religion, ‘ polluted the Sanctuary in Jerusalem’ cr. x Mae, by building over the Altar an altar to Zeus Olympius.? ᾧ $59: The Man of Lawlessness was a veritable Antichrist, a rival vi. 2. of Christ, usurping His prerogatives. His appearance would precede the Second Advent, and he had not yet been revealed. The forces of evil were indeed already gathering, but they were still restrained by the strong barrier of the imperial order; and until that barrier was broken down, the cata- strophe would be averted. The continued existence of the Roman Empire was thus an evidence that the time for the Lord’s Return had not yet arrived. 1 The Fathers, taking the Apostle’s language as a literal prediction, found its interpretation difficult after the destruction of the Temple, when the Sanctuary no longer existed. Irenzeus (V. xxx. 4) says merely “he will sit in the Temple at Jerusalem,’ ignoring the difficulty ; but his successors proposed two explanations, 1. Pelagius conceived of a restored Temple (‘Templum Hierusalem reficere tentabit omnesque legis ceremonias restaurare’). 2. The Antiochene interpreters took ‘the Sanctuary’ as meaning ‘the Churches’—els τὰς πανταχοῦ ἐκκλησίας (Chrys.), 2% domzbus orationum (Theod. Mops.). Hieronym. mentions both views and prefers the latter, substituting ‘the Church’ for ‘the Churches’ (cf. ἄρας, Quest. xi: ‘in Templo Dei, vel Hierosolymis, ut quidam putant, vel in Ecclesia, ut verius arbitramur’). Aug. (cf. De Civ. Det, Xx. xix. 2) cannot decide (‘ego prorsus quid dixerit me fateor ignorare’) ; but he justly observes that the Apostle cannot have meant a heathen temple, and mentions approvingly another opinion— that it is not Antichrist himself that is intended but the whole body of his followers, and εἰς τὸν ναόν means ‘as the Sanctuary’ (‘tanquam ipse sit Templum Dei’). Mt. xxiv, 6. t Mac, ii. 15. Cf. Jo. xvi. 12. Dan, xi. 36; οἵ. Ez. XXVili. 2. Ps. Sol. xvii. 13. Mt. xxiv. 24. 162 LIFE AND LETTERS OF St PAUL ii.t But we beg you, brothers, as regards the Advent of our Lord 2 Jesus Christ and our gathering home to Him,! that you be not hastily swept from your judgment or ‘alarmed’ either by pro- phetic inspiration or by argument ® or by a letter purporting to be from us 8 to the effect that the Day of the Lord is upon 3us. Let noman lead you astray in any manner, inasmuch as ‘the Apostasy ’ must come in the first instance, and the Man of Lawlessness,* ‘ the Son of Ruin,’ be revealed, the Adversary 4who so ‘ exalts himself above every’ so called ‘ god’ or object of worship as to take his seat in the Sanctuary of God, pro- 5claiming himself God.* Do you not remember that, while 61 was still among you, I used to tell you all this? And for the present you know what is the restraint, that he may be 7 revealed at his ownseason. For the mystery of lawlessness ® is already being set in operation, pending only the removal of 8the temporary restrainer. And then will ‘the Lawless One’ be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus ‘ will sweep away with the breath of His mouth’ and annihilate with the apparition of 9 His Advent.? And his advent according to the operation of Satan is accompanied with every sort of power and ‘signs and 1o portents’ of falsehood and with every sort of error of un- righteousness for those who are doomed to ruin ; forasmuch as they did not welcome the love of the Truth § that they might 11 be saved. And it is for this reason that God is sending them 12 the operation of error, that they may put faith in the lie, in 1 In the only other N. T. passage where ἐπισυναγωγή occurs (Heb. x. 25), it denotes the assembling of the Church. Our gathering in Church is prophetic of our final home-gathering. It isa kindly word. Cf. our Lord’s use of the verb (Mt. xxiii. 37). 3. Chrys. : διὰ πιθανολογίας (cf. Col. ii. 4). 5 One gt" c. MS. (P) has ὡς rap’ ἡμῶν. Cf. Theod. Mops. : ‘quasi ex nobis’ ; Ambrstr. : ‘tanquam a nobis missam.’ δι᾿ ἡμῶν is perhaps an assimilation to the preceding clauses. 4 ὁ ἄνθρωπος τῆς ἀνομίας NB. τῆς ἁμαρτίας (ADEFGKLP) is probably an interpretative gloss. Cf. 1 Jo. iii. 4. 5 ἀποδεικνύναι was used of the proclamation of a king. Cf, Strabo, 540: βασιλέα δ᾽ ἠξίουν αὐτοῖς ἀποδειχθῆναι. 547: καὶ τούτων ἀπέδειξεν αὐτὸν βασιλέα. Jos. Ant. VI. ill. 33 VI. xiv. 2. § An impious counterpart of τὸ τῆς εὐσεβείας μυστήριον (1 Tim. iii. 16). ™ Cf. Hieronym. Algas. Quest. xi: ‘et quomodo tenebrz solis fugantur adventu, sic illustratione adventus sui eum Dominus destruet atque delebit.’ éxigavela denoted the breaking of day (cf. Polyb. 111. xciv. 3), the sudden appearance of an enemy (cf. I. liv. 2), the apparition of a deity (cf. Plut. Them. xxx. 3). Hence ‘the appearing of Christ’ either at the Incarnation (cf. 2 Tim. i, 10) or at the Second Advent (cf. 1 Tim. vi. 14). ® Not simply ‘truth’ as opposed to ‘falsehood’ but ‘the truth of the Gospel’ (cf. Rom. ii. 8; 2 Cor. iv. 2, vi. 7, xiii. 8; Gal. ii. 5, 14; Eph. i. 13; Col. i. 5) er ‘Him who is the Truth’ (cf. Jo. xiv. 6). Chrys.: ἀγάπην δὲ ἀληθείας τὸν THE SECOND MISSION 183 order that all may be judged who have not put faith in the Truth but consented to unrighteousness. It was a dark prospect, and the Apostle expresses his Exhorta- thankfulness that the Thessalonians would have no part in Unt | the impending Apostasy. And he charges them meanwhile "655. to abide by his teaching, and prays for their comfort and confirmation. 13 But it is our duty to be thanking God always for you, brothers ‘beloved of the Lord,’ that God chose you from the Dt. xxiii, beginning } to be saved by sanctification of the Spirit and faith 13 14in the Truth. And to this He also called you through our Gospel, that you may win the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15So then, brothers, stand firm, and hold fast the traditions which you were taught whether by word or by letter of ours. 16 And may He, our Lord Jesus Christ and God our Father, who Cf. 1 Th. loved us and gave us eternal comfort and a good hope in grace, ἘΤΩ͂Ν 17comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word. The Apostle has now completed his argument, but ere Request closing the letter he introduces two practical concerns. One Some Thessa- is his own situation at Corinth, where even as he wrote he !onians' was menaced by Jewish hostility; and he bespeaks the Chas prayers of the Thessalonians not merely for his personal ΝΥ: το. safety but for the success of his ministry. ἴω To conclude: pray, brothers, for us, that ‘the Word of the Ps. exlvi. Lord may run its course’ and be glorified, as it is indeed ** 2among you, and that we may be rescued from the outrageous 5 3and evil men; for it is not every one that has faith. But faithful is the Lord, and He will establish you and guard you Χριστὸν καλεῖ. They were doomed because they had not welcomed the love of Christ. It favours this interpretation that, except in Lk. xi. 42, ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ Θεοῦ is always subjective (‘God’s love for us’), not objective (‘our love for God’). 1 ἀπ᾿ ἀρχῆς, either ‘from all eternity’ (cf. 1 Jo. i. 1, ii. 13, 14) or ‘from the beginning of your Christian life’ (cf. 1 Jo. ii. 7, 24, iii. 11). The phrase occurs nowhere else in the Pauline writings, and the variant ἀπαρχήν BFGP Vulg. (‘chose you as the first-fruits’) may be authentic. Cf. Rom. xvi. §; 1 Cor. xvi. 15. Strictly the Philippians were ‘the first-fruits of Macedonia,’ but as converts of the same mission the Thessalonians might fairly share the designation. 3 ἄτοπος (cf. Lk. xxiii. 41) denotes Jawless violence. Cf. Oxyrh. Pap. 904, where a police official complains of ἀτοπήματα inflicted upon him in the discharge of his duty—‘ being suspended by ropes and belaboured with blows on the body.’ \ Rebuke of pious idlers, Cf. x Cor. ix. 4-10, 4 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ‘ST. PAUL 4from the Evil One. And we have, in the Lord, every con- fidence in you! that what we charge you both are doing and swill do. And may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the endurance of Christ. His other concern was the restoration of order in the Thessalonian Church. The prime offenders were the enthusiasts who, anticipating the Lord’s immediate Return, had abandoned their industries and were living on charity ; and he reminds them of his own example during his ministry at Thessalonica—how he had toiled late and early at his craft of tent-making that he might earn his daily bread. 6 And we charge you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother who is comport- ing himself in a disorderly fashion and not according to the 7 tradition which you received from us. You yourselves know how you must follow our example. We were never disorderly 8among you and never owed the bread we ate to any one’s charity. No, toiling and moiling night and day, we worked 9hard that we might not be a burden upon any of you. Not because we have no authority, but that we might present 10 ourselves to you as a pattern for your imitation. For, when we were among you, we used to give you this charge: ‘ If one will τι not work, neither let him eat.’ We hear of some comporting themselves among you in a disorderly fashion, plying no busi- 1zness but playing the busybody.* And such persons we charge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that they peaceably do their work r3and eat their own bread. And as for you, brothers, do the 14 honourable thing and never lose heart. And if any one does not hearken to what we are saying in our letter, mark the man 1 Cf. Gal. v. 10. Since, however, πεποιθέναι is construed with either ἐν (cf. Phil. ii. 24, iii. 3, 4) or ἐπί with accus. (cf. Mt. xxvii. 43; 2 Cor. ii. 3) or dat. (cf. Lk. xi. 22; 2 Cor. i. 9; Heb. ii. 13), ἐν Κυρίῳ may here be the direct object : “we have confidence in the Lord regarding you.’ ® A proverbial maxim. Wetstein quotes Rabbinical parallels. Cf. a monk’s saying (Socr. Zecl. Hist. 1v. 23): ὁ μοναχὸς el μὴ ἐργάζοιτο, ἐπίσης τῷ πλεονεκτεῖ κρίνεται. δ On the word-play cf. 1 Cor. vii. 31; 2 Cor. vi. 10. περιεργάξεσθαι, ‘play the weplepyos’ (cf. 1 Tim. v. 13). Cf. Plat. Afol. 19 B: Σωκράτης ἀδικεῖ καὶ περιεργάζεται ζητῶν τά Te ὑπὸ γῆς καὶ οὐράνια. M. Aur. x. 2; Ecclus. iii. 23. 4 Since the Apostle apprehends that his written message may carry less weight than a personal address (cf. 2 Cor. x. 11), it is plain that neither he nor his readers regarded his letters as inspired oracles. By ‘the letter’ (τῆς ἐπιστολῆς) he means the present letter (cf. 1 Th. v. 27); but Grot., Beng., and others connect διὰ τῆς ἐπιστολῆς with σημειοῦσθε, ‘signify him in your letter,’ meaning that he expected an answer. THE SECOND MISSION 185 and have no intercourse with him, that he may feel ashamed. 15 And do not count him as an enemy but admonish him as a x6brother. And may He, the Lord of Peace, give you peace at every moment wherever you may be. The Lord be with you all. And now he takes the pen and signs the letter with his own The hand; and in view of the mischievous use which had been eb made of that letter professing to be his, he calls attention manual. to his characteristic autograph and intimates that no letter “ ™ is his which does not bear it. 17 THE GREETING WITH MY OWN—PAUL’S—HAND. THIS IS 18THE TOKEN IN EVERY LETTER: THUS I WRITE. THE GRACE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST BE WITH YOU ALL, It would be the month of November when the letter was Peaceful written; and after its despatch, doubtless by Timothy, cst) αἱ Paul addressed himself with undivided energy to the work of evangelising Corinth. He was not unaided. Silas had been with him ever since his return from Macedonia ; 1 nor would Timothy’s errand to Thessalonica occupy long. He would soon return and resume his office as attendant. For a while no difficulty was encountered. The Jews would indeed watch the progress of the Gospel with jealous eyes, but they refrained from overt opposition. It was not that their hostility was abated, but rather that they were held in check by ‘the restraint’ of the Roman law and durst not venture on molestation. Thus peacefully passed the winter and the spring, but mid- Nees summer brought trouble. Achaia was a senatorial province; Proconsul. and it was governed by a Proconsul who held office, as a rule, for a single year. The proconsular year began on July 1,? and in the inauguration of the new administration the Jews recognised their opportunity.® The new Proconsul was L. Junius Annzus Gallio, the elder U. Junius brother of the celebrated L. Annzus Seneca and uncle of the Galli, poet Lucan. His original name was M. Annzus Novatus,‘ ΣΊΡΕ 5 152. 3 Cf. Append. I. * Cf. the Sanhedrin’s renewed activity against Paul on the accession ef Festus to the procuratorship of Judza (p. 484). * He is the Novatus of the dedication of Sen. De Jra, 1986 LIFE“AND LETT ERS-OFiog. PAGS but he was adopted by the distinguished rhetorician L. Junius Gallio and assumed his name. The gracious qualities which won him this good fortune, he retained throughout his career ; and his famous brother, who dedicated to him his works on ‘Anger’ and ‘ The Happy Life,’ has pleasantly portrayed his character 1—his gentleness, his frugality, his courtesy, his tact, his truthfulness, and withal his modesty and amiability. ‘Other vices he knew not, but flattery he hated’: ‘to love him to the utmost was to love him all too little’: ‘no mortal was so sweet to one as he was to all.’ Arraign- Mistaking gentleness for weakness, the Jews conceived that Pa” they might bend Gallio to their purposes. Soon after his accession they let loose the animosity which they had so long been harbouring, and, swooping upon the Apostle, probably while he was preaching in the market-place, they brought him into the Proconsul’s court. They displayed none of the astuteness which had characterised the pro- cedure of their Thessalonian co-religionists. The latter had Ac. xvii. 7. Cunningly twisted the proclamation of the Kingdom of Heaven into a seditious propaganda, thus at once enlisting the sympathy of the Greek populace and compelling the attention of the Roman magistrates; but it was a purely Jewish grievance that the Corinthian Jews preferred. ‘ This man,’ ran their indictment, ‘is persuading people to worship God contrary to the Law.’ The ease They quickly discovered that they had misconceived the dismissed. Character of the Proconsul. The fury of the howling fanatics? was odious to the cultured and tolerant Roman gentleman. Had their complaint been valid, he would indeed have enter- tained it and adjudicated it on its merits; but it had no locus standt in his court. It was a Jewish case, and since the Jews enjoyed autonomy in the regulation of their religious affairs,? it fell under the jurisdiction of the local synagogue. Paul was essaying to speak in his defence, but Gallio inter- rupted him and contemptuously stopped the proceedings. ‘If,’ he said, ‘it had been some injustice or wicked knavery, 1 Nat. Quest. τν, Prefat. 5 In Ac. xviii. 13 Cod. Bez. (D) has καταβοῶντες καὶ λέγοντες, ‘shouting and saying.’ Si. p. 45. THE SECOND MISSION 137 you Jews, it would have been reasonable that I should have patience with you ; but if it be questions about a word and names and your own law, you will see to it yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of these things.’ Therewith he dis- missed the case and ordered his lictors to remove the com- plainants from the bar. The court was thronged with spectators, the rabble of the Popular city, who had seen Paul arrested and had followed to learn {om oj what was ado ; and the issue delighted them by reason alike anti-Jewish of the popularity which his ministry had won him and of the prevailing antipathy to the Jews. As the discomfited prosecutors were retiring from the court, they pressed about them and hustled them, and, not content with a hostile de- monstration, they proceeded to actual violence. They laid hold on Sosthenes, who held the office of Ruler of the Synagogue, being probably the successor of Crispus, and in virtue of his office had taken a leading part in the prosecution, and fell to belabouring him.! It was the sort of horse-play which a mob loves, and, though it was done in full view of his tribunal, Gallio ignored it. He was disgusted with the Jews, and he regarded their rough handling as rude justice.? This attempt to arrest the progress of the Gospel in Corinth Peaceful served rather to further it. The Jews had invoked the flowof | Roman law, and it had declared against them ; and thence- Cees forth not only was Paul secure from their molestation, but the popular sympathy was engaged on his behalf. It was early in August, A.D. 52, that he was arraigned before the 4In Ac. xviii. 17 the chief authorities (NAB Vulg.) have simply πάντες, ‘they all,’ and the question is who are meant. 1. On the supposition that Sosthenes the Ruler of the Synagogue is identical with ‘Sosthenes the brother’ (1 Cor. i. 1) and that, like Crispus, he was already a Christian (so Lightfoot), the Jews are meant ; and a few insignificant MSS. read πάντες οἱ Ιουδαῖοι. The idea is that in their discomfiture they vented their spleen on their apostate ruler. But they would hardly have ventured so far after their repulse. 2. DEHLP read πάντες οἱ Ἕλληνες, ‘all the Greeks,’ and, though only a gloss, this rightly defines the situation. If this Sosthenes be the Sosthenes of the epistle, he was converted subsequently ; and indeed the identification is precarious, since the name was quite common. 3 ΤΊ is an entire misunderstanding of the narrative that has made the name of Gallioa byword for religious indifference—‘ a lukewarm Laodicean or an indifferent Gallio’ (Scott, Old Mort. chap. xx1). His conduct is a conspicuous example ef the Roman justice which so often befriended the Apostle. Ae. xviii, 184-22. Departure from Corinth. The Apostle’s eompany. Cf. Ac. XIX. 22, 188 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL Proconsul, and he prosecuted his ministry undisturbed until the close of February, A.D. 53.1 VII THE HOMEWARD JOURNEY It was time that the Apostle should take his departure from Corinth and turn his face homeward. His mission had lasted three years, and now that he had evangelised Macedonia and Achaia, he must carry the Gospel elsewhere and win yet other lands for Christ. And his resolution was precipitated by an untoward necessity. It appears that Corinth was somewhat insalubrious for strangers. Seneca mentions in one of his letters that his brother Gallio during his residence there was stricken with fever and, ascribing his ailment to local conditions, immediately quitted the city and made a sea-voyage.2 The malady which afflicted the Proconsul, would find a ready victim in the Apostle, liable as he was to recurring attacks of ague 8 and exhausted by toil, peril, and anxiety ; and like Gallio he left the city and betook himself to the port of Cenchree with the intention of embarking immediately on the homeward voyage. It is remarkable how, as the narrative proceeds, the Apostle bulks ever more largely in the historian’s eyes ; and from this stage onward the interest centres exclusively in him. He is the sole persona dramatis, and his companions figure unobtrusively in the background. No mention is made of his colleagues, Silas and Timothy, at his departure from Corinth; but it must be assumed that they accompanied him. The latter certainly did, since he attended him on his next mission; and so, it may be concluded, did Silas, though his participation in the second letter to Thessalonica is the last express record of his association with Paul, and 1 Cf. Append. I. ® Sen. Zzst. civ: ‘Illud mihi in ore domini mei Gallionis, qui cum in Achaia febrem habere ccepisset, protinus navem ascendit, clamitans non corporis esse sed loci morbum.’ δ. Cf, Append. III. THE SECOND MISSION 189 on the next and only occasion when he appears in the sacred narrative he is associated with the Apostle Peter, if he be Cf r Pet. indeed the Silvanus who served as the latter’s amanuensis © *™™ in the writing of his first letter. Nor were these his sole companions. His friends Aquila and Priscilla, whose house had been his abode during the eighteen months of his sojourn at Corinth, were minded to try their fortune elsewhere. Ephesus, the capital of the Province of Asia, had attracted them, and they would accompany the Apostle so far on his journey. Syrian Antioch was his destination, and his purpose was fitness at to sail from Cenchrez to Ephesus and thence to Seleuceia ; ©e™s)'+*: but it was unpleasantly overruled. It seems that his indisposition increased, and ere he could embark he was prostrated by his malady. It happened fortunately that there resided at Cenchrez a deaconess named Phcebe, who had doubtless been won by his preaching in the adjacent capital and who played a conspicuous and honourable part in the Church which presently grew up at the seaport. The care of the sick was a special office of the order of Deaconesses in the Apostolic Church; and it would appear that Phoebe had compassion on the invalid and tended him in his sickness. At all events, in a letter which he wrote four years later, he Cf. Rom. mentions her with affectionate commendation, and gratefully “” ”* recalls how he, like many another, had experienced her kindly ministration ; and it is reasonable to recognise here a reminiscence of the present crisis.1 It was a timely succour ; for he was eager to press forward Nazirite on his journey and address himself to fresh enterprise ; and “°™’ his anxiety is revealed by his behaviour. He was a Jew, and though he recognised that the Mosaic Law had fulfilled its end and was superseded by a nobler order, he clung to 1 The evidence of Paul’s sickness at Cenchrez is threefold: 1. His vow (cf. Ac. xviii. 18). 2. The imperf. ἐξέπλει (Ac. xviii. 18), implying that his embarkation was delayed. 3. The term προστάτις (Rom. xvi. 2), which had two significant uses: (1) The patron of a resident alien at Athens was styled his προστάτης. (2) ‘A succourer from disease.’ Cf. Soph. O. 7. 303f.; Eur. Andr. 220f. Thus Phoebe earned the title of προστάτις (1) by befriending a helpless stranger, and (2) by performing the womanly office of ‘succouring his sickness’ (προΐστασθαι τῆς νόσου). In Plin. pest. x. 97 nursing is specified as an office of the Christian deaconesses (ministre). Cf. Bingham, Av/zg. 11. xxii. το. ~ Cf. Num. vi, I-21. Stay at Ephesus. τοῦ CLIPE ‘AND ‘LETTERS OF of) Pan the ancient pieties. It was customary for a Jew in sickness or any other distress not only to pray for deliverance but to assume the old Nazirite vow with such modifications as the altered conditions of the national life necessitated. The primitive observances were abstinence from wine and letting the hair grow during ‘ the days of separation,’ and then on their accomplishment the presentation of a peace offering in the Temple at Jerusalem and the cropping of the hair and the burning of it in the fire on the altar. In later times, however, when so many of the Jews dwelt in other lands remote from the Temple, it would have been unseemly to travel unkempt to the Holy City, and it sufficed that the votary should shear his head ere setting forth and convey the hair to the Temple.?. In the eagerness of his desire that God would restore him and suffer him to continue his labours, Paul assumed the Nazirite vow; and when his prayer was granted, he shaved his head and set forth on his voyage across the A?gean.? His destination was still Syrian Antioch, but it was necessary for the fulfilment of his vow that he should visit Jerusalem by the way ; and so he took his passage by a ship bound for Czsarea. She did not sail thither direct, but steered her course across the Atgean and put in at Ephesus ; and there Aquila and Priscilla disembarked and established themselves in their new abode. The business of her lading detained the vessel some time in harbour; and the delay was in no wise unwelcome to Paul, since it afforded him an opportunity of acquainting himself with the Asian capital which he had intended visiting in the course of his second mission * and which, though his purpose had been overruled, 1 Cf. Jos. De Bell. Jud. τι. xv. 1. 2 In Ac. xviii. 18 it is grammatically indeterminate whether κειράμενος relates to Paul or Aquila. It is generally referred to Paul; but some (as Chrys., Grot., Mey., Blass) connect it with Aquila, thus absolving the Apostle of a quite gratuitous suspicion of Judaism. The suggestion that the order of the names Πρίσκιλλα καὶ ᾿Ακύλας is designed to connect κειράμενος with the latter is unten- able, since this is, with a single exception (1 Cor. xvi. 19), the constant order (cf. Ac. xvili. 26; Rom. xvi. 3; 2 Tim. iv. 19), marking doubtless the wife’s superior distinction in the Church. It is decisive that Aquila stayed at Ephesus, whereas, had the vow been his, he must have proceeded to Jerusalem for its fulfilment. The construction of the sentence is plain when καὶ σὺν αὐτῴ Il. xai’A. is taken 95 parenthetical. SCE. gp τ. Aoi) Oo ECON De oISSION ΙΟΙ he still designed to win for Christ. It happened opportunely that the day of his arrival was the Sabbath,! and he betook himself to the Jewish synagogue and discoursed to the worshippers. His reception was a happy augury of future success. It seems that he gained at least one convert in Epenatus, whom he subsequently designated ‘the first- fruits of Asia for Christ’; and so keen was their interest in his discourse that his hearers begged him to continue a while in their midst. It was impossible for him to comply, since he must proceed to Jerusalem for the discharge of his vow, and he would fain arrive in time for the approaching Feast of Pentecost. He must therefore take his departure and prosecute his journey; but he promised that, if it were Rom. xvi. 5- God’s will—a proviso which experience had taught him to cr. Rom. i. emphasise—he would soon return. Ephesus was the western terminus of the great Trade Route which led through the valley of the Meander and the Lycus into Southern Galatia, the scene of the Apostle’s previous labours; and his thoughts would go out to his churches there. Indeed there was reason for anxiety ; for since his visitation of them in the early summer of the year 50 they had been grievously disturbed, and it may be that disquieting rumours had reached his ears. He would fain ascertain the truth ; and it seems that he commissioned Timothy to travel thither from Ephesus, and revisit his home at Lystra, and rejoin him at Syrian Antioch with a report of the Galatian situation.? Setting sail from Ephesus, the ship arrived at Cesarea, and there Paul disembarked and repaired to Jerusalem.? 1 In Ac. xviii. 19 Syr. Vers. and several other authorities insert τῷ ἐπιόντι σαββάτῳ, ‘on the following Sabbath,’ after "E¢ecor. 3 This is conjectural (cf. Ramsay, St. Paul the Traveller, pp. 182 ff.), but it is by no means gratuitous. It is a reasonable explanation of the intimate knowledge which the Apostle’s letter to the Galatian Churches evinces of the Galatian situation. * Cf. Ac. xviii. 22: ἀναβάς, ‘having gone up (to Jerusalem).’ ἀναβαίνειν was the technical term for ‘going up to the sacred capital’ (cf. Lk. ii. 42; Jo. xii. 20). Conversely καταβαίνειν, ‘go down from the capital to the provinces’ (cf. κατέβη els ᾿Αντιόχειαν). In view of the fact that in ver. 21 the chief authorities read ἀλλὰ ἀποταξάμενος καὶ εἰπὼν" πάλιν ἀνακάμψω. x.7T.A., omitting δεῖ we πάντως τὴν ἑορτὴν τὴν ἐρχομένην ποιῆσαι εἰς ἹἹεροσόλυμα, some interpreters entirely eliminate the visit to Jerusalem and understand by ἀναβάς ‘having gone up from To; x Cor, iv. 19. Timothy's mission te Galatia, Visit to Jerusalem and arrival at Antioch. 192. LIFE ‘AND LETTERS OFS fare It was his fourth visit to the Holy City since his conversion, and it would extend over the sacred week. The time was spent in fellowship with the Church and the discharge of his devout offices in the Temple ; and then he took his departure, and travelled northward to Syrian Antioch, thus bringing his second mission to a close. the harbour (of Czesarea) to the town,’ and by κατέβη els ᾿Αν»τιόχειαν ‘ went down by ship from Czesarea to Seleuceia, and thence on foot to Antioch’ (Blass)—an amazing construction. Even if the clause in ver. 21 be abandoned, ἀναβάς and κατέβη, in view of their accustomed use, clearly indicate the visit to Jerusalem. Probably the clause was omitted in consequence of a misunderstanding of these terms ; but im any case it accurately defines the situation. DEFECTION IN GALATIA Ac, xviii, 226, 23a; ‘Paul, who walked in the Master’s steps, diversified his dis- ὌΝ course to suit his scholars’ need, now burning and cutting, anon Φ ) applying gentle salves. St. CHRYSOSTOM. SYRIAN ANTIOCH was the capital of Gentile Christendom, and Evil tidings the Apostle’s first duty on his arrival would be to lay before (2 iia the Church which had sent him forth on his mission, a report of his achievements during those three eventful years. It was a stirring narrative, and it would inspire his hearers with gratitude to Almighty God and a resolution to prosecute still further the heroic enterprise of winning the world for Christ. Presently, however, his gladness was overclouded by evil tidings. Timothy had left him at Ephesus and travelled inland to Southern Galatia to ascertain how the churches there were faring ; and now he arrives at Antioch with a distressful story. The decision of the Council at Jerusalem in the beginning Apparent of the year 50 had seemed to the Apostle a final settlement δ τόπος of the Judaist controversy ; and it was with a sense of relief panorets that he set forth on his second mission in the spring. He versy. had betaken himself to Galatia, and had communicated the cf. Ac. xvi. Council’s resolution to each of his churches. It was a happy * issue of a dissension which had threatened the disruption of Christendom. Henceforth Jew and Gentile would be ‘ one in Christ Jesus,’ tolerant of mutual differences in the larger Gal. iii, 28. unity of a common faith. As the champion of Gentile liberty Paul was solicitous to define his attitude toward Jewish tradition. Ceremonial rites belonged to the category of ‘things indifferent.’ The one essential was faith in Christ, and they were not necessary to salvation ; neverthe- less they were endeared to the Jewish heart by long use, and there was no harm and there might be profit in their continued observance, so long as the solitary efficacy of faith N 198 Its recru- descence in Galatia. Cf. Gal. v. 10. A mis- chievous propa- ganda. Cf. v. 9. Cf. ii. 4. Cf. iv. το. Cf. iv. 13- 15. 194 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL was recognised. It was therefore, in his judgment, legitimate for Jewish Christians, if they would, to maintain those sacred and venerable institutions ; and at Lystra he had furnished an impressive demonstration of his attitude. He adopted Timothy as his attendant, and since the lad was half Jewish, he circumcised him in token of his consideration for Jewish sensibilities. It seemed a happy settlement, and he left his Galatian converts and passed over to Europe with a thankful heart. His confidence, however, was quickly put to shame. The question had indeed been decided by the Council at Jerusalem, but the extremists, though overborne at the moment, re- mained obdurate and resolved to prosecute their contention. They were doubtless the same men who had invaded Syrian Antioch and excited dissension there; and they conceived the base design of dogging the Apostle’s steps and dis- seminating their doctrines in his churches. Under their energetic leader,! they had followed him to Galatia and engaged in a vigorous propaganda. They were indeed a little company, yet, like the ‘little leaven leavening the whole mass,’ they wrought much mis- chief ; and the secret of their success was twofold. On the one hand, they were uncompromising extremists, and zeal is always impressive. They had thrown off all disguise. Hitherto, at the conference at Jerusalem in the year 46, in the disputation at Antioch, and again at the Council, they had professed themselves Christians, and had required merely the imposition of the rite of circumcision upon the Gentile converts. They had, however, been ‘ false brothers’ all the while ; and now that they had defied the Council’s decision, they were done with compromise and displayed their true colours. They had reverted outright to Judaism; and in- sisted not merely on circumcision but on the full round of ceremonial observance. And, on the other hand, the Galatians were easily captivated. They were a singularly impressionable people, and they had shown it by their behaviour when Paul and Barnabas first appeared in their midst. They had received the strangers with open arms. They had lavished their sympathy on the ailing Apostle 1 Cp. p. 108. DEFECTION IN GALATIA 195 and enthusiastically embraced his message. And then, when the Judaists appeared, they lent to their representations a no less facile ear, and incontinently abjured the cause which they had so rapturously espoused. The procedure of the Judaists was base and unchivalrous. A threefold It was a personal campaign, an envenomed and unscrupulous το attack upon the Apostle. There were three counts in their indictment. Like their Macedonian confréres they assailed his conduct and his Gospel. They charged him with un- principled plausibility, and they fastened particularly on his gracious concession to Jewish sentiment in circumcising Timothy, representing it as a shameless inconsistency, a “rebuilding of what he had pulled down.’ And they assailed ce. ii. 18, his Gospel of Justification by Faith apart from the Works of the Law, insisting that it issued in antinomianism, and adducing in evidence the moral laxity which, in Galatia as in Macedonia, the Gentile Christians too often displayed. Their chief attack, however, was directed against his Apostleship. They did not indeed absolutely deny it, but they alleged that he had received it from the original Apostles, the men who had known the Lord in the days of His flesh and had been called and commissioned by Him. These were the true ‘ pillars’ of the Church, and Paul’s claim to equal authority with them was an audacious usurpation. It was a heavy grief to him when the tidings of the Galatian The defection reached his ears. He could not believe that it was {Post's deliberate or final; and, remembering the devotion of his CF ii. 43 ¥ converts, he was sure that, if only he could hasten to them (ἡ yee and reason with them, all would yet be well. Meantime this 20. was impracticable, since he must remain a while at Antioch. As soon as he might he would visit them and disabuse their minds ; but the situation was serious and demanded prompt intervention, and so he immediately addressed himself to the writing of a letter, probably employing ae as his amanuensis. THE LETTER TO THE GALATIANS The letter is the impassioned outpouring of a wounded The and troubled heart, a swift and indignant protest against ““"** An indig- nant remon- strance. ΕΓ τοὶ 196 “LIFE AND LETTERS OF ΞΕ an unexpected and intolerable wrong. He plunges straight- way in medias res without his accustomed greeting and commendation. Commendation indeed was impossible, and in its stead he substitutes a pained and astonished remon- strance. In the very first sentence he introduces the ques- tion of his Apostleship. His Gospel, he asserts, was no human tradition but a divine revelation, and his ordination was a direct commission from the Risen Lord. iit Paul, an Apostle not from men nor through a man but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him 2 from the dead, and all the brothers who are with me, to the schurches of Galatia. Grace to you and peace from God 4our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins that He might pluck us from the present evil age saccording to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen. He opens his argument with a pained and indignant remonstrance : ‘ I wonder that you are so quickly deserting’ ; and there is, as St. Chrysostom remarks, a note of reassurance in the words. He does not say that they ‘had deserted ’ but that they ‘were deserting’; suggesting that their apostasy was not yet a fait accompli and might even now, as he fondly believed, be arrested. The reason of his surprise was their misapprehension of the situation. There was in truth no difference between himself and the original Apostles. Their Gospel and his, as he presently demonstrates, were identical, and it was only Judaist perversion that made them out different. He and Silas had made this plain when they delivered the decree of the Council to the Galatian Churches. They had strongly warned them then against accepting any other Gospel, and now he reiterates the warning. 6 I wonder that you are so quickly deserting ! from Him who 7 called you in Christ’s grace, to a different Gospel, which is not really other than mine save that there are certain men who are disturbing you and desiring to pervert the Gospel of the 1 μετατίθεσθαι denoted primarily military desertion (cf. App. Zéer. 17: σοι δι᾽ αὐτοὺς és Ῥωμαίους μετέθεντο), then change of opinion. Thus Dionysius of Heracleia, who left the Stoics for the Epicureans, was termed ὁ μεταθεμένος, ‘the Turncoat’ (Diog. Laert. vii. 166). DEFECTION IN GALATIA 197 8Christ.! But if any one—even we or an angel from heaven— preach to you another Gospel than we preached to you, let him gbe accursed. As we have previously said, I now repeat: If any one preaches another Gospel than you received, let him be accursed. This is strong language, and he glances contemptuously An aside. at the Judaist calumny which construed his gracious and conciliatory attitude as smooth-tongued plausibility and charged him with caring more for man’s approbation than for God’s. ro Am I now ‘ persuading men rather than God’? or seeking to ‘please men’? Had I still been ‘ pleasing men,’ I would not have been Christ’s slave. And now he deals with the attack upon his Apostleship 4 divine and his Gospel ; and he refutes it by an appeal to historical "evel" facts. It was true that he had never known the Master in divine com. the days of His flesh, but he had seen Him, the Risen and ee Glorified Lord, on the road to Damascus. That experience, as the Galatians knew, had revolutionised his life; and the reason was that the Saviour had then been revealed to him and had called him to preach His Gospel among the Gentiles. It was a divine revelation and a divine commission, and it had received no human confirmation. He did not repair to the Apostles at Jerusalem for approval or instruction, but retired to Arabia and after a season of solitary meditation returned to Damascus and proclaimed the Gospel which the Lord had taught him and commissioned him to preach. τι Now as regards the Gospel which was preached by me, I would have you know, brothers, that it is not a Gospel accord- izing to man. For it was not from man that I received it or was taught it ; no, it was through a revelation of Jesus Christ. 13 You have heard of my career once in Judaism—that I passed all bounds in persecuting the Church of God and devastating it, 14and outstripped in Judaism many contemporaries among my people in the exuberance of my initial zeal * for the traditions 15 of my forefathers. But when it was the good pleasure of Him who set me apart ‘from my mother’s womb’ and called me Cf. Jer. i. 5. 1 Cf. Ramsay, Hist. Comm. on Gal., pp. 260 ff. 3 Cf. n. on ii. 14. 198 LIFE AND LETTERS OF Si Aw τό through His grace, to reveal His Son in me! that I might preach His Gospel among the Gentiles, I held no immediate 17communication with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to the men who were Apostles before me. No, I went away to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. Subsequent It thus appeared that neither his Gospel nor his Apostle- relatio"s ship was in the first instance derived from the Twelve ; and Twelve: is independence of their instruction and authority was (x) First demonstrated by his subsequent relations with them. It was Jerusalem, NOt till the summer of the year 36, three years after his conversion, that he paid his first visit to Jerusalem.2 Mean- while he had been preaching his Gospel at Damascus, and during his brief stay of a fortnight at the sacred capital he saw only Peter and James, the Lord’s brother. It was a purely personal visit, devoted to friendly intercourse. He was not presented to the Church; he neither sought nor received official recognition ; and the evidence was that on his departure he was still a stranger to the churches of Judza. He betook himself to Tarsus, and busied himself for the next nine years in evangelising the Province of Syria-Cilicia ; and it surprised the Judean Christians when they heard how their whilome persecutor was employed. It would have been no surprise to them had he carried from Jerusalem the seal of apostolic sanction. 18 Then three years after I went up to Jerusalem to view 19 Cephas,? and I stayed with him for fifteen days. And no other of the Apostles did I see except James the brother of the 2oLord. Now in what I am writing to you, look you, before God 211 am not lying. Then I went away to the regions of Syria 22and Cilicia. And I was personally unknown to the Christian 23 Churches of Judea; only they were always hearing: ‘ The man who was our persecutor once, now is preaching the Gospel 24 of the Faith which he once devastated!’ And they glorified God in me. ae His next interview with the Apostles was the Conference atjeu. δὲ Jerusalem in the autumn of 46, the fourteenth year after salem. _ his conversion ;4 and what then transpired was decisive. 1 Δ ιν, ‘in my person,’ as the scene or arena of the revelation. Cf. ver. 24; Phil. i. 30; 1 Tim. i. 16; Mt, xiv. 2. 3 Cf. pp. 58 ff. * Ch pi so. “CE pp.373 8. DEFECTION IN GALATIA 199 The question of the permanence of the Law had been raised by the Judaists. They demanded the circumcision of Titus, the young Gentile convert who had accompanied him from Antioch ; but he had stoutly refused, and he had won the support of the Twelve, whom the Galatian propagandists lauded in his disparagement as ‘the reputed men,’ the ‘pillars’ of the Faith. They had approved his Gospel and recognised his call to evangelise the Gentiles. ii: Then after an interval of fourteen years! I again went up to Jerusalem, accompanied by Barnabas ; and I took Titus 2also with me. It was in pursuance of a revelation that I went up; and I communicated to them the Gospel which I am proclaiming among the Gentiles, but privately to ‘ the reputed men’: perhaps, methought, the course I am 3running or have run may have an empty issue.2 Yet neither was Titus my companion, Greek as he was, compelled to 4be circumcised. The suggestion, however, was made in deference to the false brothers who had been smuggled into the conference. They had stolen in to spy upon our freedom which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might reduce us sto slavery. But not for an hour did we yield in submission, that the truth of the Gospel might still remain with you. 6 Now from ‘the men reputed to be something ’—whatever they once were makes no difference to me: God does not accept any man’s person *—to me ‘the reputed men’ com- 7municated nothing. On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the Gospel for the Uncircumcision 8as Peter had been entrusted with it for the Circumcision—for He who had operated in Peter’s heart to make him an Apostle to the Circumcision, had operated in mine also for the 9 Gentiles—and when they recognised the grace which had been given me, James and Cephas and John, ‘the men cf Rev. iii reputed to be pillars,’ plighted fellowship with Barnabas and 12. 1 Cf. Append. I. 3 Cf. Moulton, Gram. of Gk. Test., Proleg., p. 193. 5. On the text, involving the question whether Paul resisted or conceded the Judaist claim, cf. p. 75. 4 Cf. Rom. ii. 11. πρόσωπον λαμβάνειν is a Hebrew phrase, . st) D8 (cf. Job xiii. 10), signifying ‘take at face-value,’ regard a man for his outward appearance or external circumstances (wealth, rank, and the like) without con- sidering his character, his intrinsic worth. By ὁποῖοί ποτε ἦσαν Paul means their knowledge of the Lord in the days of His flesh ; and he dismisses as προσωπολημψία the Judaistic insistence upon this accidental circumstance. (3) The rencontre at Antioch. Justifica- tion by Faith at- tested by experience. 200° LIFE: AND LET TEERS ORsSi PAUL me on the understanding that the Gentiles should be our to province and the Circumcision theirs; stipulating only that we should remember the poor. And this was indeed the very thing that I was anxious to do. Three years later at the close of 49 the legitimacy of Paul’s Gospel was again challenged by the Judaists when they visited Antioch in pursuance of their propaganda.? It chanced that Peter was there, and he, the chief ‘ pillar,’ stultified himself by weakly bowing before the storm of their invective. But Paul’s fearless steadfastness rallied him, and he acknowledged his fault. τι But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his 12 face because he stood condemned.® For ere certain men had come from James, he would eat with the Gentiles ; but when they came, he drew off and kept himself apart for fear of the 13champions of circumcision. And the rest of the Jews also joined in his masquerading, insomuch that even Barnabas was 14 carried away byit. But when I saw that they were not keeping by the straight path of the truth of the Gospel, I said to Cephas in presence of all: ‘ If you, being originally a Jew,‘ live after the Gentile and not after the Jewish fashion, how is it that you are compelling the Gentiles to judaise ? ’ Now that he has, by an appeal to incontrovertible and acknowledged facts, vindicated the divine authority of his Apostleship and the legitimacy of his Gospel, Paul addresses himself to the vital issue. In opposition to the Judaist 1 δεξιά, ‘right hand,’ bore the general signification of ‘pledge.’ Suid. : δεξιάς" συνθήκας. Cf. 1 Mac. xi. 50, 62; xiii. 50, where a single person is spoken of as giving δεξιάς, not δεξιάν. * Cf. pp. 108 ff. ® Some of the Fathers, particularly Chrys. and Hieronym., conceived that the contention at Antioch was simulated. There was really no difference between Paul and Peter, and they got up the dispute and carried it through that the Judaists might be admonished by the latter’s submission. οὐ μάχης ἦν τὰ ῥήματα ἀλλ᾽ οἰκονομίας. This would have been ὑπόκρισις, ‘ play-acting’ (cf. The Days of His Flesh, p. 102), but not the sort Paul charges Peter with. 4 ὑπάρχειν, ‘be at the outset,’ ‘exist to begin with,’ denoting an antecedent condition which essentially affects the situation. Suid. : τὸ ὑπάρχειν οὐχ ἁπλῶς ‘7d εἶναι᾽ σημαίνει ἀλλὰ “ τὸ πάλαι εἶναι,᾽ Kal ‘ προεῖναι,᾽ “ φθανειν.᾽ Plat. Tem. 3006: τούτου δ᾽ ὑπάρχοντος, his posites, ‘this granted,’ ‘assuming this.’ ep. 458 A: θέντες ὡς ὑπάρχον, ‘assume,’ ‘take for granted.’ Diog. Laert. iii. 99: ᾧ δὲ ὑπάρχει πάντα ταῦτα, οὗτός ἐστιν εὐδαίμων τελέως, ‘the possession of all these things is the antecedent condition of perfect happiness.’ Cf. Ac. xxvii. 34: ‘this is an essential condition of your preservation.’ Phil. ii. 6, DEFECTION IN GALATIA 201 insistence on the permanent obligation of the ceremonial Law and the necessity of its observance by Gentile converts, he demonstrates his doctrine of Justification by Faith in Christ ; and he introduces the argument in a passage which is intelligible only when it is recognised as a personal soliloquy, an autobiographical retrospect, a review of his spiritual progress from the Law to Faith.1 The starting-point is the discovery of the insufficiency of legal observance and the necessity of faith in Christ. This is followed by a discom- fiting experience. Faith does not bring immediate deliver- ance. Sin still dwells in the believer and exerts its unhallowed tyranny. Indeed it is only when one is ‘in Christ’ that one realises what sin is and how hard is the attainment of holi- ness. It seems as though Christ were a minister not of righteousness but of sin ; and two temptations present them- selves. One is to acquiesce in moral imperfection, and con- clude that holiness is no evangelical concern. Faith is sufficient for salvation, and works matter nothing. This is the antinomian attitude, and too many of the Apostle’s converts adopted it. But where the spiritual instinct is keen, the temptation is rather to despair of the efficacy of faith and revert to the Law. This is the attitude which the Judaists imputed to Paul. They pointed particularly to his circumcision of Timothy and construed it as a confession of the necessity of legal observance, and they sneered at him for ‘ rebuilding what he had pulled down.’ His reply is that if this were his attitude, he would indeed prove himself a transgressor, not against the Law but against something holier. He would be ‘setting aside the grace of God.’ For faith brings a high and sure deliverance through mystic union with Christ. This is a thought which his experience revealed to Paul ever more clearly. The believer is identified with Christ at each successive stage of His redemptive career—His Death, His Burial, His Resurrection, and His Risen Life. - 1 The passage is not a continuation of the remonstrance with Peter. At ver. 14 the historical review ends, and ver. 15 begins the doctrinal discussion (Theod. Mops., Calv., Grot.). Galatians is a hasty sketch of the argument subsequently elaborated in Romans, and this passage is a forecast of the Apostle’s spiritual autobiography in the latter (vii). Ps. exliii. 2. The Gala- tian defec- tiona denial of experience. 202 “LIF EB OAND LETTERS OP ΞΕ σης 15 We, Jews by nature and not ‘sinners of the Gentiles’ 16 yet knowing that a man is not accounted righteous on the score of works of the Law unless accompanied by faith in Christ Jesus, even we had faith in Christ Jesus, that we might be accounted righteous on the score of faith in Christ and not on the score of works of Law, because on the score of works of Law ‘no flesh will be accounted righteous.’ 17 Now if in seeking to be accounted righteous in Christ ! we were ourselves also found sinners, is Christ then a minister 180f sin? Away with the idea!? For if I am ‘ building again what I pulled down,’ I am proving myself a trans- rggressor. For through Law I died to Law that I might live zoto God. I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live but Christ that lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live in faith—faith in the Son of God who loved me and surrendered Himself for me. 211 do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness be through Law, then Christ died for naught. Thus experience attests faith as the only pathway to righteousness ; and here lay the marvel of the Galatians’ defection. They had abandoned the Gospel of Faith and adopted the old futile method of ceremonial observance ; and it was a denial of their own blessed experience. It was inexplicable ; it seemed as though an evil eye had bewitched them. 1 ἐν Χριστῷ, a formula expressing succinctly the believer’s relation to Christ and all that flows therefrom ; never in Synoptics and in Fourth Gospel only in connection with ‘abide,’ ‘be one.’ It is distinctively Pauline, and refers exclu- sively to the Risen Lord and the relation of believers to Him (cf. 2 Cor. v. 16). The idea is illustrated by various analogies: a man must be zz ¢he air to breathe, a fish 7% the water to live, a plant zz the sozl to grow. Observe the Pauline nexus of Christian experience: (1) Χριστὸς ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν, ‘Christ for us’—Substitution (cf. 2 Cor. v. 21). (2) ἡμεῖς ἐν Χριστῷ, ‘we in Christ’—Justification (cf. 2 Cor. v. 17; Rom. vi. 11). He died for all (cf. 2 Cor. v. 14, 15; Jo. iii. 16); there- fore all saved z# posse, but none z# esse unless ‘in Christ,’ resting on Him by personal, appropriating faith. (3) Χριστὸς ἐν ἡμῖν, ‘Christ in us ’—Sanctification (cf. Gal. ii. 20; 2 Cor. xiii. 5; Rom. viii. 10). Not only is an animal zx the air but the air zz the animal. (4) ἡμεῖς ὑπὲρ Xpiorot—Consecration (cf. 2 Cor. v. 20). 2 un γένοιτο, an emphatic repudiation of an untenable suggestion. In N. T. peculiarly Pauline—fourteen times in Epp. and once in Pauline Gospel (Lk. xx. 16); but a common Jewish phrase, being negative of ἀμήν, which is rendered γένοιτο, ‘so be it’ in LXX (cf. Num. v. 22; Dt. xxvii. 15; 1 Ki. i. 36; Pss. xli. 13, Ixxii. 19, Ixxxix. 52, cvi. 48). Cf. Protev. Jac. vi: καὶ εἶπε πᾶς 6 λαός᾽ γένοιτο, γένοιτο, ἀμήν (response to the priestly prayer at the presentation of Mary). DEFECTION IN GALATIA 203 {τ You witless Galatians! who is it that cast a spell on you ? ! you before whose eyes Jesus Christ was placarded on the 2Cross., This only I desire to learn from you: Was it on the score of works of Law that you received the Spirit or on 3the score of the hearing of faith? Are you so witless? After being initiated by the Spirit are you now attaining 4 perfection by the flesh? Did you suffer so much all to no 5 purpose ?—if it be indeed all to no purpose. He therefore who is lavishing the Spirit upon you 8 and putting powers in operation within you—is it on the score ot works of Law 6or on the score of the hearing of faith, as Abraham ‘ had faith in God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness’ ? This quotation introduces a further development of the argument. Not only is the doctrine of Justification by Faith demonstrated by experience but it is the doctrine of the ancient Scripture. It was on the score of his faith that Abraham was pronounced righteous; and the blessing was not his alone: it was the heritage of his sons for evermore. And who are the sons of Abraham? They are those who share his faith, and not merely believing Jews but believing Gentiles as well, as the Scripture expressly declares; for was not this the pri mise to Abraham: ‘ All the Gentiles shall be blessed in tlee'? Indeed there is no other way; for according to the Scripture the Law brings to erring men not a blessing but a curse, and Christ has redeemed us from its curse in order that we may by faith receive the promised blessing. 1 The superstition of the malign influence of ‘an evil eye’ (ὀφθαλμὸς Badoxavos), still prevalent in the East (cf. P. 25. 7. Q. S¢., July 1918, pp. 112 ff.), was uni- versal in ancient days. Its special victims were flocks, plants, and children. Cf. Verg. Eel. 111. 103; Plin. Mat. Hést. vit. 2; Plut. Symp. v. 7. 2 προγράφειν, like proscrebere (cf. Suet. Mer. 39), was used of a public intima- tion posted up by authority of the magistrates. Cf. ἀξιοῦμεν π]ρογραφῆναι in a notice placarded by the strategus of Hermopolis Magna at the request of the parents of a spendthrift, intimating that they will not be responsible for his debts (Milligan, G&. Pap. 27). éoravpwpévos (cf. Mt. xxviii. 5; Mk. xvi. 6) represents the crucifixion not as a mere historic incident (σταυρωθείς) but as an abiding and eternal fact (cf. Jo. xx. 27; Rev. v. 6, xiii. 8). The chief authorities omit τῇ ἀληθείᾳ μὴ πείθεσθαι and ἐν ὑμῖν. 8 ἐπιχορηγεῖν, ‘furnish with lavish generosity.’ A χορηγός at Athens was a wealthy citizen charged with the provision and equipment of a chorus for the performance of a drama in the theatre—a costly public service. Cf. 2 Cor. ix. 10; Col. ii. 19; 2 Pet. i. 5, XI. Cit Ac. Nill. 45-52 ; Xiv. 4-6, 19 20. Gen, xv. 6. Faith the condition of the promise to Abraham. Gen. xii. 3. Dt. xxvii. 25. Hab. ii. 4. Lev. xviii. & Dt. xxi. 23. Unaltered by the Law. 204 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S71. PAUL 7 You perceive, then, that it is those who hold by faith that 8are sons of Abraham. And since the Scripture foresaw that God accounts the Gentiles righteous on the score of faith, it preached the Gospel to Abraham beforehand: ‘All the 9 Gentiles will be blessed in thee.’ And so it is those who hold τὸ by faith that are blessed with faithful Abraham. For all who hold by works of Law are under a curse; for it is written: ‘Cursed is every one who continues not in all the things which 11 are written in the Book of the Law to do them.’ Now that in Law no one is accounted righteous in God’s judgment is plain, because ‘ the righteous man on the score of faith shall live.’ 12 But faith is not the principle of the Law; no, ‘ he who does 13 them will live in them.’ Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law by submitting Himself to cursing on our behalf 1--- because it is written: ‘ Cursed is every one who is hanged on 14a tree’—that the blessing of Abraham might reach to the Gentiles in Jesus Christ, that we might through faith receive the promise of the Spirit. Faith, then, was the original condition of justification ; and the Apostle proceeds to demonstrate that it is the con- dition still. The promise to Abraham had remained unful- filled until the Advent of Christ; for it had been made to Abraham ‘ and to his seed,’ and, he says, deftly employing against his Judaist assailants the fanciful method of Rabbinical interpretation, ‘ his seed’ here signifies not the multitude of his descendants but his one descendant, Christ. And that the promise might be sure all down the expectant ages, it was confirmed by a covenant. The initial condition of the covenant was faith; and since a covenant, even a human covenant, is inviolate and, once it has been ratified, none of its terms may be set aside or modified, it is impossible that when the Law was given four hundred and thirty years later, it should have altered the covenant with Abraham and his Seed and substituted Works as the condition instead of Faith. That would have been an invalidation of the promise ; it would have eliminated the very idea of promise, λ γενόμενος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν κατάρα, ‘having become a curse’ (cf. 2 Cor. v. 21). He did not become ‘cursed’ (κατάρατος) or ‘asinner’ (ἁμαρτωλός). He identified Himself vicariously with accursed sinners. Only personal sin makes one accursed. ‘Ideo non dixit: Factus pro nobis maledictus sed maledictum ; is enim qui proptert peccatum morti offerebatur, maledictus fiebat, in sua enim causa moriehatur (Ambrstr. ). DEFECTION IN GALATIA 205 since a promise implies grace, and what is earned by works is not a free gift but a legal right. 1s Brothers, I take an example from human affairs.1 A covenant, though but a human covenant, once it has been 16ratified no one sets aside or adds new terms to it. Now to Gen. xii. 7, Abraham were the promises spoken ‘and to his seed.’ It ¥iii. 15, is not said ? ‘ and to his seeds’ in the plural, but in the singular **;; 7, 17‘ and to thy seed’ ; and this is Christ. Here is what I mean: xxiv. 7. A covenant ratified beforehand by God the Law, which has kx. xii. 49 come into being four hundred and thirty years later, does not -xx. 18 irratify to the invalidation of the promise. For if the inherit- ance be dependent on law, it is no longer dependent on promise ; whereas it is God’s free gift to Abraham through promise. Here the Apostle pauses to consider two objections which Juaaist a Jew might urge against his argument and which had pre- °biections: sented themselves to his own mind when he was thinking out the problem of the relation between the Law and the Gospel. The first is: What is the use of the Law? [If (ἡ) whatis salvation be God’s free gift, and we are saved by faith in {7° μὲς οἱ Christ as Abraham was saved by faith in the Promise, why was the Law ever given? What purpose does it serve? His answer, which he subsequently elaborates in his great Rom. vii. encyclical on Justification by Faith, is that the function of 735% the Law was not to achieve salvation but to discover sin. 15» ¥- 20. It did not justify ; it condemned and revealed the need of a Saviour and drove men back in faith upon the Promise. And, he adds, it was in its very nature less gracious and sacred than the Promise. For the Promise was a direct word of God ; but in the giving of the Law Moses served as a mediator cf, Ex. xx. between God and the people. And neither did Moses receive ** the Law directly from God ; for, according to the Rabbinical 1 Chrys. : τί ἐστι " κατὰ ἄνθρωπον Neyw’; ἐξ ἀνθρωπίνων παραδειγμάτων. 2 On this indefinite use of λέγει or φησί (sc. Θεός or ἡ γραφή) introducing a quotation cf. Rom. xv. 10; Eph. iv. 8, v. 14; 1 Cor. vi. 16. ® A specimen of Rabbinical exegesis (cf. p. 27). Of course the argumenta- tion is impossible, since σπέρμα in the sense of ‘offspring’ is, like yt, a collec- tive noun, and the plur. could mean only ‘seeds of grain’ ; nor does Paul employ it seriously. He is here speaking, as he proposed, κατὰ ἄνθρωπον (Hieronym.). He borrows the method of his opponents, thus cleverly ‘turning the tables’ against them. 206 - LIFE“ AND LET TRERS ΘΈΤΟ Pagel cr. Ae. vii, theology, it was delivered to him on Mount Sinai by the 83: Heb. ministration of angels.1 Thus in the Law God is twice removed; in the Promise it is with Him alone that we have to do. 19 What, then, is the use of the Law? It was added to accentuate transgressions until the coming of the Seed to whom the Promise had been made ; and it was ordered through zoangels in the hand of a mediator. And where there is a mediator, there is not only one party ; but God is one.? (2) Is the But, it may be further objected, on this view the Law is sets in opposition to the Promise. It does not justify; it con- τ the.» demns, and thus extinguishes the hope which the Promise had inspired. No, answers the Apostle, the purpose of the Law was the ultimate and complete fulfilment of the Promise. It condemned the sinner in order that he might realise the impossibility of attaining righteousness by observance of its requirements and might welcome the Gospel of Justifica- tion by Faith in Christ. 21 Is the Law, then, in opposition to the promises of God ? Away with the idea! For had there been given a Law which could impart life; righteousness would have been indeed on 22the score of law; but the Scripture has shut up the whole race in the prison of sin, that the Promise may be given, on the score of faith in Jesus Christ, to those who have faith. TheLawa It were, however, a poor account of the Law’s function be ais. to represent it as merely a gaoler holding the condemned in durance until they were delivered by faith in Christ. The old dispensation was more than a term of imprisonment : it was a period of education. And the Law was more than a gaoler: it was, says the Apostle, employing a phrase which has no modern equivalent, ‘a pedagogue,’ which signifies literally ‘a boy-leader’ and is perhaps most nearly repre- 1 Cf Jos. Ant. xv. v. 3; Schirer, 11. i. Ὁ. 344. * It would be alike wearisome and unprofitable to adduce all the various inter- pretations of this passage (cf. Poole, Sysops. Crit., and Alford). The meaning is plain when it is recognised that the ‘mediator’ here is not Christ (cf. 1 Tim. ii. 5 ; Heb. viii. 6, ix. 15, xii. 24)—a notion originated apparently by Origen (cf. Lom- matzsch, V. p. 273) and adopted by Chrys., Aug., Hieronym., Ambrstr.—but Moses (Basil., Greg. Nyss., Theod. Mops., Theodt.). DEFECTION IN GALATIA 207 sented by ‘tutor.’ The pedagogue was not a teacher. He was a superior slave whose office was not merely to conduct the boy to his teacher but to superintend his manners and morals.1_ He was the boy’s guide, and his office ceased when his charge attained maturity and, imbued with right prin- ciples, no longer needed dictation and control. And this was the function of the Law. It was the stern tutor of our wayward boyhood ; but now that we have attained spiritual manhood, ‘ the measure of the stature of Christ’s fulness,’ Eph. iv. 13 we are ruled not by Law but by Faith. In Christ we are no longer children but full-grown sons; for He is the Eternal Son, the Archetype of Sonship, and Faith conforms us to Him and imbues us with His Spirit. It ‘clothes us with Him,’ says the Apostle, employing an Old Testament figure. When the Spirit of the Lord took possession of a man, it cf. Jua. vi. was said that ‘the Spirit clothed him.’ The man was, as 34) ἢ τα" it were, an incarnation of the Spirit ; and our Lord employed Chr. xxiv. the ancient language in His last command to His disciples: “Tarry in the city, until you clothe yourselves with power Lx. xxiv. from on high.’ And so by Faith’s loving and adoring self- 4% surrender we ‘ clothe ourselves with Christ.’ It is Faith that effects the transformation ; and it obliterates all accidental distinctions, and by conforming humanity to its Divine Ideal restores its primal unity. It reconciles the long antagonism between Jew and Gentile; for since it was by Faith that Abraham was accounted righteous, we are his children and his heirs as we share his Faith. 23 Ere the coming of faith we were shut up under Law’s wardenship, awaiting the faith which should by and by be 24revealed. And so the Law served as our tutor until Christ’s advent,? in order that we may be accounted righteous on 25 the score of faith; but now that faith has come, we are no 26longer under a tutor. For you are all through faith sons 270f God in Christ Jesus ; for as many of you as were baptised Cf. Rom. a8into Christ clothed yourselves with Christ. The distinctions #" 14; Eph. iv. 24; of Jew and Greek, slave and free man, male and female Co. iii. το, 1 Cf. Plat. Zys. 208 Ὁ, 3 els Χριστόν, not ‘to bring us unto Christ, the Teacher,’ which would require πρὸς Χριστόν, but ‘with a view to Christ,’ #.¢., the attainment of spiritual maturity (cf. Eph. iv. 13). Tutelage and son- ship. 208° LIFE AND’-LETTERS, OF ST. PAUL s9disappear ; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.4 And if you are Christ’s, then are you Abraham’s seed, heire according to promise. Hence emerges the truth that Faith inaugurates a higher and nobler condition; and this the Apostle enforces by another illustration. He has likened our state under the Law to that of a boy under his pedagogue; and now he likens it to that of an orphan minor who, according to the Syrian law which obtained in Southern Galatia, was placed by his father’s will, for such term as the latter judged necessary,” under the tutelage of guardians and trustees responsible respectively for his person and his property. He was indeed a son and the heir of the estate ; but through- out his minority he was no freer than a slave, and only when the appointed term expired did he enter on his birthright and enjoy the privileges of sonship. That was our condition under the Law. We were indeed sons all the while, for we had been created in the image of the Eternal Son; but we had forfeited the status of sonship, and we were no better than slaves with darkened hearts, until the Eternal Son appeared and by putting His Spirit into our hearts taught us to recognise our Father and restored us to our original and proper status. fv.r Here is my meaning: All the time the heir is a minor,’ he differs in no respect from a slave, though he is lord of all, 2 but is under guardians and trustees during the term appointed 3by his father. So we also, when we were minors, were 4enslaved under the world’s dim lights ; ὁ but when the time- 1 Christ, the new Head of humanity, restores the lost unity which it had τῷ λόγῳ τῆς φύσεως (Theod. Mops.) in Adam. In Him we are no longer scattered and alien fragments but a living unity (εἷς), as the branches, while distinct, are all one in the living vine. * According to Roman law the ward was free from his eae (tutores, ἐπίτροποι) when he reached the age of fourteen, and from his trustees (curatores, οἰκόνομοι) at twenty-five. Cf. Ramsay, Hist. Comm. on Gal., pp. 391 ff. 3 νήπιος, properly ‘an infant,’ generally ‘one underage.’ Tertullian (De Virg. Vel. 1) distinguishes four stages in the historical development of religion: (1) rudimenta—natural religion; (2) zzfantia—the Law and the Prophets; (3) juventus—the Gospel ; (4) maturitas—the Paraclete. 4 στοιχεῖον, from στοῖχος, ‘a row,’ ‘line,’ or ‘rank,’ bore three meanings. x. A letter. Cf. τὰ στοιχεῖα, ‘the Alphabet.’ Hence στοιχεῖα signified ‘rudi- ments.’ Cf. Heb. v. 12. Euclid’s στοιχεῖα, ‘the Rudiments of Geometry.’ 2. The rudiments of the universe, the four ‘elements’ of fire, water, air, and DEFECTION IN GALATIA 209 limit expired, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born sunder Law, to redeem those who were under Law, that we 6might recover the status of sonship.1 And because you are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, 7crying, ‘Abba/ Our Father!’ And so you are no longer a slave but a son. And if you are a son, you are also an heir ; and it is God’s doing. Here lay the marvel of the Galatians’ defection. They a painea were converts from heathenism, and their old idolatry had tremor. been a degrading bondage ; yet after tasting the sweetness of the liberty of sonship they had reverted to bondage, ex- changing the clear light of the Gospel for the dim lights of Judaism. Could it be that the Apostle’s labour on their behalf had been lost? He refuses to believe it, and he appeals to their chivalry. He was a Jew, yet that he might win the Gentiles he had identified himself with them and incurred obloquy and persecution: should not they be true to him ? earth. Cf Wisd. of Sol. vii. 17; 2 Pet. iii. 10, 12. Suid. : στοιχεῖόν ἐστιν ἐξ οὗ πρώτου γίνεται τὰ γινόμενα καὶ els ὃ ἔσχατον ἀναλύεται. Hence, as an astronomical term, ‘the heavenly bodies.’ Cf. Just. M., “42ο]. 1. p. 44 A (ed. Sylburg.) : τὰ οὐράνια στοιχεῖα. Metaphorically ‘great luminaries,’ distinguished personages. Cf. Polycrates in Eus. H. £. ul. 31: κατὰ τὴν ᾿Ασίαν μέγαλα στοιχεῖα κεκοίμηται. 3. A ‘spirit’ or ‘demon,’ since each element had its genius or tutelary spirit. Cf. Rev. vii. 1 (the angels of the winds), xiv. 18 (the angel of fire), xvi. 5 (the angel of the waters). By τὰ στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου (cf. Col. ii. 8, 20) the Apostle means Judaistic observances, and the phrase was explained in two ways by the Fathers. (1) The Jewish ‘days, months, seasons, and years’ (ver. 10), which were regulated by ‘the luminaries of the world.’ Chrys. (cf. Theod. Mops., Ambrstr.): “τὰ στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου, that is, new moons and Sabbaths ; for these days arise for us from the course of moon and sun.’ (2) “The rudiments,’ the crude ideas of the Jewish Law, were an elementary stage in the world’s religious education, guast initia et exordia literarum (Hieronym.). The former interpretation is near the mark. The Jewish ordi- nances were ‘the lights of the world,’ because they were the best illumination that the world had in those days, and, though divinely appointed, they were dim compared with the light of the Christian revelation. 1 υἱοθεσία is literally ‘setting in the place of a son,’ and Paul always uses the term in accordance with this its proper signification. ‘Adoption’ in his conception is not the introduction of aliens into God’s family but the reinstatement of sons in their birthright (cf. ver. 6). ἀπολαμβάνειν is not simply ‘receive’ but ‘ get back’ ; and so τὴν υἱοθεσίαν ἀπολάβωμεν means ‘recover our lost status of sonship.’ Cf. The Atonement tn the Light of History and the Modern Spirit, pp. 147 ff. ® This combination of the Hebrew address (838) and its Greek equivalent (ὁ Πατήρ) was apparently a liturgical formula. Cf. Mk. xiv. 36; Rom. viii. 15. Oo 2 210 LIFE*AND LETTERS OF SP) PAUL He was confident that they would : for he remembered their overflowing kindness to him at his first appearance among them. And it was precisely this that made him wonder at their present attitude. The blame did not lie with him ; for he had loved them all along even in his sternest remon- strances. Nor did it lie with them: they had done him no wrong. It lay with the men who had misled them and alienated their affection from him by insidious calumnies. They must not imagine that in saying this he was jealous of the influence which the Judaists had won over them in his absence. He could not always be with them, and it pleased him that others should visit them and pay them the attentions which he would fain pay them himself. But this was his complaint—that the attentions of the Judaists were dis- honourable. It was not the good of the Galatians that they had in view, but the vindication of their own prestige. The end of their blandishments was to oust the Gentile Christians from their position of equality in the Chuich and oblige them to sue for recognition on the Judaistic terms. 8 But in those days, not knowing God, you were enslaved to 9 gods which were by nature no gods at all; now, however, that you have recognised God or rather have been recognised by God, how is it that you are turning back again to the dim lights, so feeble and poor, and consenting to be again enslaved roto them anew? You are scrupulously observing days and 1rmonths and seasons and years.! I am apprehensive about tzyou: perhaps I have laboured on you to no purpose.* Cast in your lot with me, because I have cast in mine with you,’ 13 brothers, I pray you. You have done me no wrong. You know that it was by reason of a physical infirmity that I 14 preached the Gospel to you on the former of my visits ; 4 and what was trying to you in my physical condition you did not scorn or loathe. No, as though I had been an angel of God 1 Sabbaths, new moons, feasts, Sabbatical years. Cf. Col. ii. 16. 5 Cf. n. on ii. 2. 8 γίνεσθε ws ἐγώ, ὅτι κἀγὼ ws ὑμεῖς, ‘become as I am, because I became as you are,’ z.¢., ‘I, originally a Jew, abjured Judaism and put myself in the position of you Gentiles’ (Theod. Mops.). Chrys. supposes that Paul is addressing Jewish converts (τοὺς ἐξ ᾿Ιουδαίων) and appealing to them to follow his example in abandoning Judaism: ‘become as I am, because I was once as you—zealous for the Law’ (cf. i. 14). ‘I had this zeal long ago, but see how I have changed’ (Theodrt.). * Cf. Append. III, DEFECTION IN GALATIA 211 15 you welcomed me, as though I had been Christ Jesus. What, then, has become of your reason for counting yourselves so happy? For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would 16have dug out your eyes and given them to me. And so I 17have turned your enemy by dealing truly with you?! They are paying court to you—not honourably ; no, they wish to r8exclude you that you may pay court to them. But it is an honourable thing to be courted in an honourable cause—always, τὸ and not only when I am present among you, my children, who are costing me fresh trayail-pangs until Christ be formed in zoyou.” And I find myself wishing * to be present among you at this moment and change my tone: I am so perplexed about you. The Apostle’s heart was overflowing with tender pity for Atgory of the slave- his misguided converts; and, as though anxious to soften gin) ind whatever severity might, in his vexation, have escaped his the free woman, lips, he introduces an affectionate, almost playful appeal in the tone of a father remonstrating with his foolish children. “Come, my children!’ he says, ‘I will tell you a story.’ ce. ver. 19. It is the old story of Hagar and Ishmael, and he spiritualises it Gen. xvi, after the manner of Rabbinical exegesis 4 and turns it into *“" ™* a parable of the relation between Law and Faith. 2x Tell me, you who are wishing to be under Law, do you 22not hear the Law? It is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave-girl and one by the free woman. 23 But the child of the slave-girl is born according to the flesh, while the child of the free woman is born through the 24promise. And the story is allegorical. The mothers are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai and bears a 25race of slaves; and this is Hagar. Sinai is a mountain in Arabia, and corresponds to the present Jerusalem; for 26she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem 1 ἀληθεύειν (cf. Eph. iv. 15), not merely ‘speak the truth’ but ‘deal truly.’ Cf. sop. Fab. 349 (Halm), The Boy and his Father: φοβηθεὶς δὲ μή πως ὁ ὄνειρος ἀληθεύσῃ, ‘afraid lest the dream should prove true.’ ? As the embryo is formed in the womb. The process of their spiritual birth must begin afresh. 3 ἤθελον, ‘I was wishing all the time.’ Cf. Rom. ix. 3; Ac. xxv. 22. SiG 2.7: δ There is here a perplexing variety of readings. 1. NCFG, Vet. It., Vulg., Amn., /Eth.: τὸ yap Σινᾷ ὄρος ἐστὶν ἐν τῇ ᾿Αραβίᾳ, ‘for Sinai is a mountain in Arabia.’ 2. KLP, Syr., Chrys. and Gk. commentators generally: τὸ γὰρ τ "Ayap Σινᾶ ὄρος ἐστὶν ἐν τῇ ᾿Αραβίᾳ, ‘for Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia.’ 3. ABDE, Ambrstr.: τὸ δὲ “Ayap Σινᾶ ὄρος ἐστὶν ἐν ty ᾿Αραβίᾳ, ‘now Hagar is Is. liv. ἃ; Gen. xxi. Io. A decisive issue. Cf. Ac. xy. re ΠΣ ΤΡΑΝῸ LETTERS OF sih-raw 27above is free, and she it is that is our mother. For it is written : ‘Rejoice, thou barren one who bearest not: Break forth and shout, thou who travailest not: For many are children of the desolate, more than hers who hath her husband.’ 28 Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise ; 29but just as then the son according to the flesh persecuted 30 the son according to the spirit, so is it now also. But what says the Scripture? ‘Cast out the slave-girl and her son; for the son of the slave-girl shall not share the 31 inheritance with the son of the free woman.’ Wherefore, brothers, we are not a slave-girl’s children but the free v.rwoman’s. It was for freedom that Christ freed us: 1} stand firm, then, and do not again get into the grip of a yoke of slavery. The controversy turned on the rite of circumcision. The Judaists maintained that it was necessary to salvation, and insisted that the Gentile converts should submit toit. And they found a powerful reinforcement of their contention in Paul’s generous deference to Jewish sentiment in circum- cising Timothy. They represented this as a disavowal of his doctrine of the sole necessity of faith and a confession of the necessity of circumcision ; and he meets their allegation with a direct and emphatic contradiction. It was a per- version of his action. ‘I Paul,’ he says, ‘ I who am charged with admitting the necessity of circumcision, tell you on the contrary that, if you be circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing.’ And the reason is that the admission of the necessity of circumcision in order to salvation would be a confession of the insufficiency of faith; and there would then be nothing for it but to fall back on the old futile method of legal observance. It was thus a choice between Christ and the Law, Circumcision and Grace. Mount Sinai in Arabia.’ The first is most strongly attested, and the others are probably transcriptional variations. τὸ γὰρ “Ayap is dittographic ; and in the case of τὸ dé”Ayap a hasty copyist, with ἥτις éorly”Ayap fresh in his mind, mistook γάρ for” Ayap, and the conj. δέ was added. Once the corruption was established, τὸ "Ayap (for 7”Ayap) required explanation ; whence the notion that “Ayap was the Arabian name for Sinai. Cf. Chrys. : "Ἄγαρ ἐλέγετο ἡ δούλη" τὸ δὲ Σινᾶ ὄρος οὕτω μεθερμηνεύεται τῇ ἐπιχωρίῳ αὐτῶν γλώττῃ. This is a pleasant fancy, but it lacks evidence ; and it discredits Chrys.’s topographical reliability that he places the mountain adjacent to Jerusalem, explaining συνστοιχεῖ by γειτνιάζει, ἅπτεται. 2 OF. ip: 265; DEFECTION IN GALATIA 213 The defection of the Galatians was an inexpressible amaze- ment to the Apostle ; it had so falsified the promise of their early career. The only explanation was that it was not their own doing. They had been misled. The Judaists accused him of plausibility, unscrupulous persuasiveness, Cf. i. το. and he retorts the charge. It was their ‘ persuasion’ that had wrought the mischief, and it was a wicked persuasion : it was not God that had inspired it. The Judaists were a little coterie; indeed it was all the doing of one man, that energetic organiser of the propaganda, and the success of his machinations exemplified the proverb that ‘a little leaven leavens the whole mass.’ The responsibility rested with him, and the Apostle not only exonerated his converts but confidently anticipated that they would see reason. How preposterous the situation was! The Judaists on the one hand were persecuting him for preaching salvation by faith in Christ and thus ruling out circumcision, and on the other hand they charged him with admitting and proclaiming the necessity of circumcision. It was past patience; and the Apostle is here betrayed by his exasperation into the one coarse sentence in all his extant correspondence. ‘ Would,’ he cries, ‘ that those sticklers for circumcision would go the whole length in the way of mutilating the flesh ! ’ 2 Look you, I Paul tell you that, if you be circumcised, 3Christ will profit you nothing. And I testify again to every man who is submitting to circumcision, that he is bound to 4do the whole Law. You are removed from Christ’s sphere of operation! inasmuch as you are being accounted righteous 5in that of Law; you are banished from Grace. As for us, it is by the Spirit on the score of faith that we are expecting 6the fulfilment of the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus it is neither circumcision that is of any avail, nor un- circumcision, but faith operative through love. 7 You were running honourably: who has checked you in 8 your course of obedience to the truth? * The ‘ persuasion’ 1 κατηργήθητε ἀπὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, constructio pregnans, ‘invalidated by being separated from Christ.’ Cf. Rom. vii. 2, 6. 2 The Apostle’s favourite metaphor of the foot-race in the stadium. Cf. ii. 2; 1 Cor. ix. 24-29; Phil. iii. 13, 14; 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8. ἐνκόπτειν, a military term, ‘cut up a road’ to render it impassable (cf. 1 Th. ii. 18). The variant avéxoper, though supported only by a few minuscs., is very attractive, since ἀνακόπτειν was used of the warders of the course (ῥαβδοῦχοι, μαστιγοφόροι) ‘beating back’ a runner who violated the rules (cf. 2 Tim. ii. 5) and expelling him from the lists, Οἵ, τ (ον. Υ, 6, The ethical question. Cfeve x. Prov. xvii. 14. 214 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL 9 did not come from Him who is calling you. ‘A little leaven toleavens the whole mass.’ I have confidence in you in the Lord that you will take no other view; and your disturber 11 will bear the condemnation, whoever he may be. And as for me, brothers, if I am still proclaiming circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the stumbling- 1zblock of the Cross? is invalidated. Would that your unsettlers would mutilate themselves outright ! 2 In the churches of Galatia as in those of Macedonia and indeed all the Gentile communities which the Apostle evangelised,’ the Judaists found a specious argument in the persistence among his converts of the low standard of heathen ethic. They adduced it as an evidence of their allegation that the Gospel of Justification by Faith apart from Works issued in antinomianism. And so he concludes his letter with an inculcation of moral purity. It was indeed a blessed truth that the Gospel had emancipated believers from the bondage of the Law and freed them from its intolerable yoke; but their liberty was not licence. The Galatians had grievous need of this warning. They were a passionate and impulsive people, and the controversy had excited their animosities. It had banished love, and they were at each other’s throats like quarrelsome dogs. It is written that ‘the beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water’; and so it proved in Galatia. When the barrier of love was broken down, the fui flood of evil passions was let loose and poured forth its devastating tide. And what was the remedy ? In our complex nature there are two domains—the flesh, which in fallen man is the seat of sinful passions; and the spirit, the side of our nature which is akin to God and which is dominated by His Holy Spirit. And the secret of holiness lies in resolutely eschewing the former and dwelling in the latter and responding to its 4 A twofold σκάνδαλον : (1) the idea of a crucified Messiah, since the Jews were expecting a victorious King; (2) the necessity of an atonement, since on their view the Law—repentagce and ceremonial observance—sufiiced. Ὁ. ἀναστατοῦν, ‘disturb by political commotion’ (cf. Ac. xvii. 6; xxi. 38). Colloquially in Common Greek ‘drive out of house and home,’ ‘upset.’ Cf. Moulton and Milligan, Vocad. ἀποκόψονται, like the emasculated priests of Cybele (Suid. : Τάλλοι" of ἀπόκοποι). Chrys. : εἰ βούλονται, μὴ περιτεμνέσθωσαν μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ περικοπτέσθωσαν. © Chop. τόϊ. DEFECTION IN GALATIA 215 hallowed instincts. It is against the works of the flesh that the Law is directed ; and if we yield to the spirit’s impulses, then the restraint of Law is unnecessary. 13. It was with a view to freedom, brothers, that you were called ; only do not make your freedom an outlet for the flesh. No, 14 through love be one another’s slaves, For all the Lawis fulfilled in a single precept : ‘ Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.’ rig xix. 15 But if you snarl and snap at one another, beware lest you be * consumed by one another. 16 Here is my meaning: Comport yourselves by the spirit, and 17no desire of the flesh will you ever perform. For the desire of the flesh is so against the spirit’s and the spirit’s so against that of the flesh—for these are mutually antagonistic—that 18 whatever things you will you may not do. But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under Law. That there may be no misunderstanding and no evasion The works the Apostle descends to particulars and specifies the evils of th fest which belong to the domain of the flesh and the graces which fruit of the grow in the soil of the spirit. The former he designates ‘ the mak works of the flesh’ and the latter ‘ the fruit of the spirit,’ since the former are the unaided operations of our sinful nature, while the latter are nourished by heavenly grace as the harvest is nourished by the sunshine and the rain. ‘Why,’ says St. Chrysostom, ‘ does he call them “ the fruit of the spirit’ ? Because the evil works arise from ourselves alone. Wherefore he calls them “‘ works’”’; whereas the good need not only our own diligence but also the philan- thropy of God.’ The works of the flesh are a dark chaos, but the fruit of the spirit is a vital growth, an organic development. They fall into a triple triad: ‘love, joy, peace ’—love yielding joy, and joy peace; ‘ long-suffering, kindness, goodness ’—kindness being more than _long- suffering, and goodness, the inward character, more than kindness, its outward expression ; ‘ fidelity, meekness, self- restraint ’"—fidelity being possible without meekness, and 1 ἀφορμή (cf. Rom. vii. 8, 11; 2 Cor. v. 12, xi. 12) is used in a δ᾽ c, papyrus letter of the efflux or escape of water: μὴ θελήσῃς οὖν, κύριε, μῖνε [μεῖναι] ἐκτὸς ἡμῶν αὔριον διὰ THY ἀφορμὴν τοῦ ὕδατος elva δυνηθῶμεν ποτίσαι τὸν μέγαν κλῆρον, ‘nlease then, sir, do not stay away from us to-morrow because of the outflow of the water, that we may be able to irrigate the large holding.’ Moulton and Milligan, Voe, The dutyof charity. Cf. ver. 16 216 LIFE AND LETTERS OF Sivas meekness being weakness unless it flows from self-restraint. And union with Christ ensures all these graces, since we are then crucified with Him, raised with Him, and live with Him. 19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest. And these are aofornication, uncleanness, indecency, idolatry, sorcery,) en- mities, strife, jealousy, frenzies, intrigues, divisions, factions, 21: envies, drunken bouts, revelries, and so forth—things of which I warn you, as I have already done, that those who practise a2 the like will not inherit the Kingdom of God. But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace; long-suffering, kindness, 23 goodness; fidelity,2, meekness, self-restraint. Against the a4like there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and its desires. A holy life is in the first instance personal, but it exhibits itself in one’s social relations; and so after bidding his readers ‘ comport themselves by the spirit,’ referring to their individual behaviour, the Apostle now further exhorts them to ‘ march by the spirit,’ referring to their mutual intercourse. It is a military term, and it expresses the duty of loyalty to one’s comrades, especially in this instance the duty of be- friending the weak and raising the fallen. It was a needful counsel ; for in their zeal against the alleged antinomianism of the Gospel the Judaists had dealt ruthlessly with moral delinquencies, and it appears that there was a particular case where the offender had been mercilessly handled and expelled from the Church’s communion. This, in the Apostle’s judgment, was a violation of Christian charity. Discipline is indeed a necessary office of the Church, but its aim is not the destruction but the restoration of the sinner. He is an erring brother, and the Church’s concern is not to condemn but to ‘ restore’ him, even as a physician knits a broken limb or a fisherman repairs a torn net. Severity is the spirit of Pharisaism, not the law of Christ. It is un- 1 Traffic with astrologers, fortune-tellers, and the like. Cf. Chrys. Za Cap. J. Epist. ad Gal. 7: ‘Many Greek customs are kept among some of our people— omens and auguries, and tokens, and observations of days, and the casting of horo- scopes, and the scripts full of all manner of impiety which, as soon as their children are born, they put together to avert evil from their head.’ Cf. Milligan, Gé&. Pap. 47—a 3™ c. specimen of those magical incantations. 3 χίστις, cf. Mt. xxiii. 23; Rom. iii. 3; Tit. ii. 10. DEFECTION IN GALATIA 217 becoming in the truly ‘ spiritual’; and the Apostle repro- bates it by two trenchant considerations. One is the liability of the best of men to fall and find themselves in sore need of charity. And the other is the imperfection even of the highest achievement. It is easy to be proud and censorious if we compare ourselves with others and exalt ourselves at their expense; but it humbles us when we consider how far at the best we have fallen short of our possibilities and oppor- tunities. And this is the ultimate test. ‘Each will bear his own load.’ We are like ships homeward bound. What counts is the cargo which each is bringing, and it were a sorry boast that one has a better cargo than another. It may still be a poor cargo, and the just boast is not that one’s cargo is better than another’s but that it is full and precious. 25. If we live by the spirit, let us also march by the spirit.? 26Let us not turn vain-glorious, provoking one another, vi. renvying one another. Brothers, if a man be detected in Some trespass, you, the spiritual, restore * the offender in a spirit of meekness. Have an eye to yourself, lest you also be 2tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and thus you will 3 fulfil the Law of Christ. For if one fancies he is something 4while he is nothing, he is deluding himself. But let each prove his own work,‘ and then what he is himself will be his only ground of boasting and not what his neighbour is. 5 For each will bear his own load.§ It is characteristic of impulsive natures that their generous The dutyof impulses quickly flag; and so it was with the Galatians. Bonpnmb'* They started bravely on the Christian race, but they soon ct. ν. 7. tired ; they were lavish in their generosity to the Apostle ctf. iv. x5. when he first came among them, but their affection presently cooled and they turned against him: and recently they had evinced their disposition in a somewhat sordid fashion. In 1 στοιχεῖν, ‘walk in line,’ ‘keep step in the ranks’—a military term (cf. Xen. Cyrop. V1. iii. 34). Cf. Phil. iii. 16. 3. xarapriftere, cf. ἢ. on I Th. iii. 10, p. 161. 3 These are your burdens, this your law—not ceremonial observances (cf. Lk, xi. 46; Ac. xv. 10, 28) but one another’s infirmities; not the Law of Moses but the Law of Christ (cf. Jo. xiii. 34). * Cf. n. ont Th, v. 21, p. 165. 5 βάρη (ver. 2), the grievous burdens of sorrow and sin; φορτίον, a ‘ load,’ e.g, a ship’s ‘ cargo’ (cf. Ac. xxvii. 10). Cf. Mt. xiii, 3-8. 28 LIFE; AND LETTERS ΡΣ those days when as yet there was no written Gospel, the record of the Lord’s ministry and teaching was an oral tradition, and there was an order of ‘ teachers’ or ‘ catechists’ who had it by heart and, after the Jewish manner, drilled the churches in it by dint of repetition.' It was laborious work, and the catechist was entitled to remuneration. It was a debt of honour, and in the first flush of their enthusiasm the Galatians would gladly render it; but as their ardour abated, they fretted and begrudged it. It was indeed a base dereliction, and the Apostle might justly have assailed it with indignant reprobation ; but he deals with it after his wont in a large spirit and unfolds the lofty principle which it involved. He quotes the ancient proverb: ‘ Whatever a man sows, this will he also reap.’ The harvest is determined by two conditions. One is the sort of seed which is sown: sow wheat, and you reap wheat; sow tares, and you reap tares. And the other is the quality of the soil: a poor soil, a poor harvest. Thisisa law of Nature, and it is inexorable : Nature is not mocked. And the law holds equally in the moral domain. Here there are two soils—the perishing flesh and the immortal spirit ; and each yields an appropriate harvest. The harvest of the flesh is, like itself, corruptible : it decays and perishes. But the spirit is immortal, and the harvest which it yields is eternal. And here lay the misery of the Galatians’ ungenerous behaviour. They were sowing perishable seed in perishable soil. They might indeed reap the harvest of a little worldly enrichment, but it would profit them at the longest only for a brief space. Generosity, on the other hand, is sowing in the soil of the spirit, and it yields an eternal harvest of peace and joy: spiritual enrichment endures for ever. Selfishness is a short-sighted policy. It means grasping at the poor profit of the moment and letting slip the enduring prize. ‘ Honourable things,’ says the proverb, ‘are difficult’ ;? but it always pays to ‘do the 1 Cf. p. 80. 3 Cf. Job iv. 8. Schol. on Plat. Phedr. 260D: ἐπὶ τῶν τοιαῦτα πασχόντων ola ἔδρασαν. παρῆκται δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ στίχον" ‘el δὲ κακὰ σπείρεις, κακά κεν ἀμήσαιο,᾽ καὶ πάλιν" “ὃς δὲ κακὰ σπείρει, θεριεῖ κακὰ κήδεα παισίν.᾽ Cic. De Ογαΐ. 11. 261: *Ut sementem feceris, ita metes.’ 5. Cf. Plat. Rep. IV. 435: ἴσως yap, ὦ Σώκρατες, τὸ λεγόμενον ἀληθές, ὅτι xarewd τὰ καλά. The maxim is ascribed to Solon, DEFECTION IN GALATIA 219 honourable thing,’ and the difficulty is a challenge to our faith and courage. 6 And let one who is being taught the Word by rote give his 7 teacher a share in all his goods. Be not deceived: God is not mocked. ‘Whatever a man sows, this will he also reap.’ 8 For one who sows in the soil of his own flesh, of the flesh will reap corruption ; while one who sows in the soil of the spirit 9 will reap a life eternal. And let us do the honourable thing and never lose heart; for at the proper season we shall reap if to we do not faint. So then, while the season is ours, let us be doing the work of goodness by all, especially by the household of the Faith. The argument is now complete, and the Apostle, after his The sign- wont,! takes the pen from his amanuensis that he may ™*""*" authenticate the letter by his autograph. As a rule the autograph was merely a benediction, but in his affectionate solicitude for his erring converts he expands it into a personal message. Fatigue and anxiety had unnerved him, and as his trembling hand shaped the words with more than the accustomed uncouthness, he playfully apologised for the ungainly scrawl. ‘See,’ he says, ‘ with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand.’? Yet he persists. It seems that there were pusillanimous souls among the Gentile converts in Galatia who had been intimidated by Jewish violence and, though they cared nothing for the Law, professed zeal for it and sought to prove it by active proselytism. All their concern was to escape persecution for the Cross; and thus, as the Apostle could testify, they missed the supreme benediction. The Cross was his only boast. The Galatians remembered how he had been stoned Ac. xiv. το by the Jews at Lystra. He still bore the scars on his body and the stripes of the lictors’ scourge, and these were no Cf. 2 Cor. disfiguring mutilation ; they were a sacred seal, more sacred *” ** ** by far than the boasted circumcision of the Judaists. Even BCE oP) 1.85; 2 ἔγραψα, epistolary aorist (cf. Moulton’s Winer, p. 347). Taking if as an ordinary aorist (‘I have written’), Chrys. regards the sentence as retrospective, referring to the entire letter, and supposes that in this instance the Apostle did not employ an amanuensis, since it was a stern letter and he would have no third party hear his reproofs; ‘ which was a token of much generosity.’ But in fact he observed no such secrecy (cf. i. 2). Pss. cxxv. 5, CXXviil. 6. The des- atch of the etter. Cf. iv. 20. 225 - LIFE CAND LETT ΘΕ S27 ΤΣ as heathen votaries branded the symbols of their deities on their arms and necks, so his scars were ‘ the brands of Jesus,’ and he wore them proudly before the world. His person was sacrosanct. zx SEE WITH WHAT LARGE LETTERS I AM WRITING TO YOU 12 WITH MY OWN HAND. AS MANY AS WISH TO SHOW A FAIR FACE IN THE FLESH, THEY IT IS THAT ARE COMPELLING YOU TO SUBMIT TO CIRCUMCISION, ALL TO ESCAPE BEING PERSE- 13CUTED FOR THE CROSS OF CHRIST. FOR THOSE WHO ARE SUBMITTING TO CIRCUMCISION DO NOT EVEN KEEP THE LAW THEMSELVES ; NO, THEY WISH YOU TO SUBMIT TO IT THAT I14THEY MAY BOAST IN YOUR FLESH. BUT FAR BE IT FROM ME TO BOAST EXCEPT IN THE CROSS OF OUR LoRD JESUS CHRIST, THROUGH WHICH ! THE WORLD HAS BEEN CRUCIFIED 15TO ME AND I TO THE WORLD. FOR NEITHER CIRCUMCISION NOR UNCIRCUMCISION IS ANYTHING, BUT A NEW CREATION.” 16 AND AS MANY AS MARCH BY THIS RULE, ‘ PEACE’ BE UPON THEM AND MERCY, EVEN ‘UPON THE ISRAEL’ OF GOD. 17 HENCEFORTH LET NO ONE ANNOY ME; FOR | BEAR ON MY BODY THE BRANDS OF JESuS.? 18 THE GRACE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST BE WITH YOUR SPIRIT, BROTHERS. AMEN. The letter would be despatched immediately; for the situation demanded prompt intervention. If he might, the Apostle would have hastened in person to Galatia and reasoned with his deluded converts face to face; but this 1 The antecedent of δι᾽ οὗ is probably τῷ σταυρῷ. If it were Ἰησοῦ Xpiory, ἐν ᾧ would be more natural. 3 κτίσις, (1) the act of creating (cf. Rom. i. 20); (2) the creation, the totality of created things (cf. Rom. viii. 22) ; (3) a creature, a single created thing (cf. Heb. iv. 13). 8 στίγμα occurs in various connections. Cf. Wetstein. A thievish or runaway slave was branded on the forehead with the letter F (fur or fugztivus), whence he was designated a στιγματιάς, litteratus, notatus, tnscriptus (cf. Becker, Gallus, Ῥ. 222); criminals were similarly branded ; and soldiers sometimes tattooed their commander’s name on their arms. None of these references, however, is suitable here, not even the last, since the soldier’s στίγμα was merely occasional. The religious custom of branding symbols of a heathen deity on the body is exempli- fied in the action of Ptolemy Philopator when he compelled the Jews to be branded with an ivy-leaf, the emblem of Dionysus (cf. 3 Mace. ii. 29). This is probably the Apostle’s reference: the Lord’s sacre note were on his body, and these made his person sacrosanct. It is an unfortunate suggestion that he play- fully represents himself as protected by a charm (Deissmann, zd/. Stud., pp- 349 ff.). DEFECTION IN GALATIA 221 was meanwhile impossible. He was needed at Antioch, and writing was the only way. He would despatch the letter without delay, and he would doubtless entrust it not to a mere courier but to some ‘ beloved brother and faithful minister cg, col. jy and fellow-slave in the Lord’ who could, in some measure, 7'* supply his place and reinforce his written argument. Per- haps it was Silas. He was well qualified for the office alike by his personal character and by his acquaintance with the Galatian churches, Ae. xvill, 23. Sojourn at Antioch. Organisa- tion of Gentile charity to the poor in Jerusalem. Cf. Gal. ii. Io, THE THIRD MISSION ‘Micantis more lampadis Perfundit orbem radiis, Fugat errorum tenebras Ut sola regnet veritas.’ LATIN HYMN. I THE SETTING FORTH PAUL must have required a season of repose after the labour and anxiety of his second mission, but this was denied him. The world’s need of Christ was like an importunate voice in his ears, and the unhappy plight of his Galatian churches was a heavy burden on his heart. He must straightway gird himself for another mission, and hasten first of all to Galatia and reinforce his letter by personal ministration. His stay at Syrian Antioch was therefore brief. He ‘ put in some time,’ says the historian, indicating a season of impatient detention by mechanical though necessary em- ployments ;1 and from the subsequent narrative it appears what the chief of these was. There was always much poverty in Jerusalem, and it would seem that these were hard times in the city, and the humbler sort of the Jewish Christians were in sore straits. Paul had observed their destitution during his recent visit, and he recognised here at once a duty and an opportunity. Already the Antiochene Christians had generously succoured the distress of their Jewish fellow-Christians, and they had pledged themselves to continue their benefaction as occasion arose ;* but the need was great and ever increasing with the growth of the Church. The bounty of Antioch was in- 1 ποιήσας χρόνον τινά, cf. Mt. xx. 12 (where μίαν ὥραν ποιεῖν is contemptuously contrasted with Bacrdtesw τὸ βάρος τῆς ἡμέραΞ) ; Ac. xv. 33, xx. 3; Ja. iv. 13. ΒΕ ΣΕ p73. 422 7} ROR LA τ Seon ium x ἂ ν ν TAlipa et \ Ys ban \ ἰ ' Mygdonsea / 14 y * he «-᾿ὮὟὀΠ᾽ εἷς πον εὖ σἂν ᾿ hi potfAMIA Creta ] , ᾿ A Fon. | ASIA MINOR be --- : OROGRAPHICAL , y fate ᾿ a , ἰ SHOWING POSITIONS OF THE SEVEN CHURCHES eof 1-7 a. | . —— AR A δ. ] ’ a σα a αἱ THE THIRD MISSION 223 sufficient, and Paul proposed that the Antiochene Church, as the mother of Gentile Christendom, should call upon her daughters to share the responsibility, and should authorise him to organise in every Gentile community a contribution for the relief of ‘the poor among the saints at Jerusalem.’ Cf. Rom. His proposal was heartily approved. The Church not only ἀνε ἢ, furnished him with the authority he desired, but associated Cr. 2 Cor. with him, apparently, two of its members as his coadjutors 10" $74), in the enterprise. One of these was Titus, that young 18. Antiochene who had attended Paul and Barnabas on their errand of charity to Jerusalem seven years previously ; and his appointment was a felicitous, perhaps an intentional, stroke of policy. The association in the Apostle’s company of the Gentile whom he had refused to circumcise at the bidding of the Judaists,1 and of Timothy whom he had afterwards circumcised in consideration of his Jewish ante- cedents, was an impressive demonstration of his attitude toward the Law and an effective rejoinder to his Judaist calumniators. It was pure charity that dictated the organisation of A healing the relief fund, yet it promised at the same time to serve σα an ulterior end. So practical a demonstration of Christian cf. 2 Cor. brotherhood could hardly fail in commending the Gentile ἡ **** converts to the Jewish Church and in putting the Judaists to shame. Paul recognised in it the possibility of beneficent and far-reaching results. He anticipated the healing of the Cr. Rom. disastrous breach in the East, and he foresaw that this would *” ™ 7” facilitate his farther ministry in the West and especially in the imperial capital which was already the goal of his desire. It was probably in the month of July that he set forth with Departure his companions on his third mission. Galatia was his imme- Mice diate destination, and he would travel hastily by the over- land route through the Cilician Gates.2, He would visit the Galatian churches in succession—at Derbe, Lystra, Iconium, Visitation and Pisidian Antioch. The historian intimates merely shh that ‘he made an orderly progress through the country, Ac. xviii. and confirmed all the disciples’; but, brief as it is, the ** record is significant. It shows that the Apostle’s purpose * CE p94. * Cf. p. 104. ΘΙ χα ΟΣ. Xvi. I. Cf. Ac. xix. 29; XX. 4. Ac. xviii. 24-Xix. 20. Journey to Ephesus. Ac. xviii. a0, 21. 2. LIFE AND LETTERS OP'S. PAu. was achieved. His letter and the ministration of Silas—if he was indeed its bearer—had turned the tide of disaffection and won back the ever impetuous Galatians to their allegi- ance ; and his visit completed the good work. He had the happiness of seeing his converts re-established in the Faith, and they gave practical assurance of their sincerity. Not only did they adopt the financial proposal and pledge them- selves to its support, but they furnished a fresh recruit to his little band of fellow-workers in the person of Gaius of Derbe. At all events Gaius was with him at Ephesus and accompanied him thence to Achaia; and the probability is that he joined the Apostle in his progress through Galatia. II MINISTRY AT EPHESUS His destination on quitting Galatia was already fixed. He had promised the Ephesians when he visited them on his way to Jerusalem, that he would return and gratify their desire to hear more of his doctrine ; and now he hastens to redeem his pledge. If two full months be allowed for his ministry in Galatia, it would be about the beginning of October when he took his departure from Pisidian Antioch and turned his steps westward. The ordinary route was the busy highway along the valley of the Lycus and the Meander, but this he avoided and, holding to the north, travelled across the sparsely peopled uplands. His reason was twofold—not only his old dread of venturing into that sweltering pass in the heat of autumn,? but a desire to expedite his arrival at Ephesus. Had he followed the trade route, he must have lingered by the way to preach at Colossz, Laodicea, and other cities ; and meanwhile he had a larger design. Ephesus was his goal, and if he won her, he would win Asia.” Σ Crp. 122: 3 In his Zzfe of Polycarp (ii) Pionius represents Paul as visiting Smyrna in the course, apparently, of this journey from Galatia to Ephesus and staying there with Strateeas, a son of Eunice the daughter of Lois and thus a brother of Timothy. The passage so abounds in palpable inaccuracies as to possess no historical value. Smyrna was remote from his route, and in any case he was in haste to reach Ephesus and would linger nowhere. THE THIRD MISSION 225 For Ephesus was justly styled ‘ the Light of Asia.’! She The capita’ was the capital of that magnificent Province, the seat of the °! “** imperial Proconsul, and moreover the centre of that im- portant confederation, the Asiarchate.2 It was ever the The Asiar. wise policy of Rome to reconcile her subject peoples to her “"“* dominion by respecting their amour propre and according them the utmost measure of autonomy compatible with their imperial relationship ; and a conspicuous example is the organisation of the chief cities of each province into a confederation or union.? These unions were mainly religious. They fostered the imperial idea by establishing the worship of the Emperor and erecting temples in his honour. Each city had its temple and priesthood, and the provincial High Priest was termed ‘the Ruler’ of the Province. Thus, Galatia had its Galatarch, Bithynia its Bithyniarch, Pam- phylia its Pamphyliarch, and Asiaits Asiarch. His principal function was the supervision of the cult of the Emperor throughout the province, but he was charged also with the presidency of games and festivals and the erection of monu- ments. The chief of these provincial unions was that of Asia ; and the Asiarch was, next to the Proconsul, the most important personage in the Province. He held office only for a term, whether a single year or, as seems more probable, a quinquennium ; and since, like the Jewish High Priest,‘ he retained his title after the expiry of his term, there was Cr. Ac. xix a college of Asiarchs at Ephesus—the acting Asiarch and °” the Asiarchs emeritt, Combining national sympathy and imperial allegiance, they exerted a healing influence in the State, and served the cause of order on occasions of popular tumult. Ephesus was not only the capital of the Province of Asia, Com- but the leading city of Asia Minor; and she owed her ants abounding prosperity, in the first instance, to her geographical position.® Situated close to the mouth of the river Caystros, she was a busy seaport with extensive docks despite the 1 Plin. Nat. Hist. v. 31: ‘lumen Asie.’ 3 Cf. Lightfoot, Afost. Fath. 11. iii. pp. 404-415. 3 κοινόν, commune. * Cf. The Days of His Flesh, p. 464. § On the city of Ephesus cf. Strabo, 639-42. Intellectual distinction. The Temple of Artemis. 226 SLIP E AND LETLERS OF St PAwi. troublesome accumulation of alluvial deposit ; and it assured her an enormous commerce that she was the western terminus of the important trade route to the Euphrates. She was famous also in literature and art. The catalogue of her distinguished sons includes the names of the philo- sopher Heracleitos and his friend Hermodoros who so pro- voked the jealousy of the citizens that they banished him, bidding him, if he would surpass his fellows, surpass them elsewhere,t and who acted as interpreter to the Roman Decemvirs when they drew up their Twelve Tables, the foundation of Roman jurisprudence, after the model of the laws of Solon ; * the poet Hipponax ; the painters Parrhasios and Apelles ; and in later times Alexander, who was styled “the Lamp’ for his many-sided brilliance as an orator, a statesman, an historian, a poet, an astronomer, and a geographer. Her principal glory, however, was her Temple of Artemis, which ranked as one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world.? The original temple had been burned to the ground on the night when Alexander the Great was born, having been fired by Herostratos, an ambitious madman who, since he could not achieve fame, coveted notoriety.4 It was, however, rebuilt on a larger scale and in greater magnifi- cence. Its walls and pillars were gleaming marble, and the interior was fitted with ivory, cypress, and cedar. Its length was four hundred and twenty-five feet, and its breadth two hundred and twenty; while its stately columns, num- bering a hundred and twenty-seven and each erected by a king, were sixty feet in height. It was two hundred and twenty years in building, and the enormous cost was defrayed by the whole of Asia with a splendid devotion like Israel’s at the making of the Tabernacle in the Wilderness, even the women contributing their jewels and ornaments.’ 1 Strabo, 642: φάντες" ἡμέων μηδεὶς ὀνήϊστος ἔστω" ef δὲ μὴ, ἄλλῃ τε Kal jer’ ἄλλων. Cf. Cic. Tse. Quest. Vv. 36. 2 Strabo, 642. * Cf. Phil. Byzant. De Sept. Orb. Spect. “ Cf. Strabo, 640; Plut. Alex. 3; Οἷς. De Nat. Deor. 11. 27; Val. Max. VIII. 14. δ᾽ Plin, Wat. Hist. xvi. 79. ® Ibid, XXXVI. 21. 7 Strabo, 640, THE THIRD MISSION 227 The chief treasure of the temple was an image of the The imaze goddess—a pedestal surmounted by a bust which was studded 9ii2* © with breasts symbolising fecundity. So worn and blackened with age that it was impossible to determine whether the material was ivory or ivy-wood,! it accorded ill with the magnificence of its surroundings; nevertheless it was hallowed by antiquity and by the tradition that, like other Cr. Ac. xix sacred images, it had fallen from heaven. a Her temple conferred many advantages on Ephesus. The privi- One, though of doubtful value, was the privilege of asylum. Soca The sacrosanct area varied in extent from time totime. It had originally been limited to the sacred precincts, but Alexander the Great increased it to a radius of two hundred yards,” and Mithridates still farther to the length of a bow- shot, which again was doubled by Mark Antony, so that a portion of the city was included. This, however, proved mischievous inasmuch as it afforded impunity to criminals, and it was reduced by the Emperor Augustus. A more profitable advantage was the prosperity which The silver. accrued to the city from the presence of the temple in her *™""* midst. ‘The Great Goddess Artemis’ was the supreme Cf. Ac. deity of the Province; and, since the temple at Ephesus ee was her chief shrine, multitudes of worshippers trooped thither, especially in the month named after her Artemisios, when solemn assemblies and festivals were held in her honour. These brought wealth to the city. They naturally desired to carry home memorials of their visits, and to meet this requirement silver models of the temple were manufactured.* It was a lucrative industry, and the silversmiths of Ephesus Cf. Ae. were an influential guild. The city owed much to her“ **% temple, and it is no wonder that she gloried in it and styled herself ‘the Sacristan of the Great Goddess Artemis,’ en- Cy. Ac. graving the title on her coins and accounting it her proudest ina boast. The religion of Ephesus had a viler side. Gross darkness Steere covered even ‘ the Light of Asia.’ Sa 1 Plin. Nat. Hist. XV1. 79. ® Precisely, a stadium, #.¢. 606$ foot. 8 Strabo, 641. 4 Cf. Herod. 11. 63; Diod. Sic. 1. 97, XX. 14. Apollos of Alex- andria. ACAXX: 24} 1 Cor, iv. 12; cf. Ac. XViii. 3. A Jewish disciple of John the Baptist. Cf, Mt. ix. 14. 258. LIFE AND LETTERS OF SP. PAUL ‘They say this town is full of cozenage ; As, nimble jugglers that deceive the eye, Dark-working sorcerers that change the mind, Soul-killing witches that deform the body, Disguised cheaters, prating mountebanks, And many such-like liberties of sin.’ } She was the chief home of oriental magic, and ‘ the.Ephesian Letters’ were famous all over the world—charms and in- cantations credited with sovereign efficacy in averting evil and procuring good luck. An anecdote is told of an Ephesian wrestler who encountered a Milesian at the Olympic Games and proved victorious until it was observed that he wore a charm on his ankle; and when this was removed he was worsted in thirty bouts.? On his arrival at Ephesus the Apostle found a lodging in the house of his friends Aquila and Priscilla, whom he had left there on his way to Jerusalem;* and he resumed, doubtless in company with Aquila, his old craft of tent- making. They had not been idle in the service of the Gospel during the interval, and they had an interesting experience to relate. A remarkable personage had appeared at Ephesus. This was Apollos, a native of Alexandria, dis- tinguished, as became one nurtured in that brilliant city, for his learning and eloquence.* He was a Jew, but he belonged to the school of John the Baptist. It was only a few of John’s disciples who had recognised Jesus as the Messiah. The majority of them remained outside the Church, and continued their master’s mission after his death, preaching his message and administering his baptism. They were distinguished from the Jews by their persuasion of the imminence of the Messiah’s Advent and their incul- 1 Shak. Com. of Err. 1. ii. 97-102. 2 Suidas under ᾿Εφέσια γράμματα. Cf. Plut. Symfos. vii. 5; Clem. Alex. Strom. 1. xv. 73, V. viii. 45; Erasm. Adag. See a specimen of those magical papyri in Deissmann’s Light from the Ancient East, pp. 249 fi. ® Cf. 1 Cor. xvi. 19, where (according to DEFG) Paul, writing at Ephesus, says: ‘ Aquila and Prisca with whom I lodge (παρ᾽ ols καὶ ξενίζομαι)." Vulg. apud quos et hospitor. 4 λόγιος (Ac. xviii. 24) combined the ideas of eloguence and learning. It was an epithet of Hermes, the god of eloquence (cf. Luc. Ga//. 2). Aristotle styled Theophrastus ‘ the most learned (Aoy«wrarov) of his disciples’ (Strabo, 618). THE THIRD MISSION 229 cation of the duty of repentance in preparation for that consummation ; and they differed from the Christians in that they regarded His Advent as still future, whereas the latter believed that He had come and that He was Jesus, The sect had established itself at Alexandria, and it His possessed in Apollos an ardent and effective advocate. On Prevchivs arriving in Ephesus he preached in the Jewish synagogue synagogue. his gospel of the Coming Messiah, adducing in its support the testimony of the Prophetic Scriptures. This was the method of the Apostles and their successors in their reasonings with the Jews. They compiled collections of prophetic ‘testimonies’ like Melito’s Selections from the Law and the Prophets regarding the Saviour and All Our Faith ;} and it seems that the disciples of the Baptist had anticipated the method. Their collection of ‘ testimonies ’ was appropriately entitled The Way of the Lord, referring to their master’s Jo. i. 23; definition of his office, and Apollos had mastered it : he had $" yj," it by heart.” He accurately portrayed the Messiah as the 2,3; Lk. prophets had foretold Him.? sii Aquila and Priscilla were among his hearers, and they Instructea interviewed him and showed him wherein his message was bY jau!lt lacking. It was indeed all true: it was the very Gospel Priscilla. which they preached; but they had recognised a further truth which made a momentous difference: the Messiah had come, and He was Jesus. They showed how the story of Jesus answered, line by line, to the prophetic picture of the Messiah. The evidence was clear, and Apollos could not resist it. It did not contradict his faith ; it rather confirmed and completed it, and he forthwith embraced Christianity. 1 ἐκλογὰς ἔκ τε τοῦ νόμου καὶ τῶν προφητῶν περὶ τοῦ σωτῆρος καὶ πάσης τῆς πίστεως ἡμῶν (Eus. Hist. Eccl. tv. 26). Cf. Hatch, Zss. ἐμ Bibl. Ck., pp. 203 ff. ; Burkitt, Zhe Gospel Hist. and its Transmission, pp. 126 ff. ‘ The testimony of the Christ’ (1 Cor. i. 6) is a designation of the Gospel. 5 κατηχούμενος τὴν Ὁδὸν τοῦ Kuplov. Cf. The Days of His Flesh, p. xvii. 3 Ac. xviii. 25. For τὰ περὶ τοῦ ᾿Ιησοῦ (NABDEL, Vulg.), ‘the story of Jesus’ (Cf. Lk. xxiv. 19), one would expect rather τὰ περὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ‘the things regarding the Messiah’; but the phrase is employed from the Christian point of view. Though Apollos did not perceive it, the prophetic picture of the Messiah was a picture of Jesus (cf. Lk. xxiv. 27). 4 εἶναι τὸν Χριστὸν ᾿Ιησοῦν (cf. Ac. xviii. 5), not ‘Jesus was the Christ’ (A.V., R.V.), but ‘the Christ was Jesus.’ They began with the prophetic picture of the Messiah, and then showed how the history of Jesus answered to it. Called to Corinth. Paul and the Baptist’s disciples. Cf. Jo. i. 35-37: GheAc: XIX os Ὡς ἀπ LIP ESAND LE TPE RS Oi re 0) Pe ΤΣ: It happened that several Corinthians visited Ephesus at that juncture; and, charmed by the gifts of Apollos, they invited him to accompany them on their return home. He consented, and the little brotherhood of Ephesian Christians —Aquila, Priscilla, Epznetus, and the converts they had won—furnished him with a letter of commendation to the Church at Corinth.t He proved conspicuously successful in Achaia alike in edifying the believers and in arguing with the Jews ; nevertheless, as presently appeared, his ministry had, through no fault of his, an unfortunate issue, fostering a spirit which wrought no small mischief in the Corinthian Church. Ere Paul arrived at Ephesus Apollos had taken his depar- ture; but he encountered there a little company of John’s disciples, about a dozen in number. Their position was different from that of Apollos. There were two sections in the Baptist’s school ; the majority who still maintained his original attitude of expectation, and others who shared his subsequent recognition of the Messiahship of Jesus. Apollos belonged to the former. Of the latter some, like Andrew and John, had cast in their lot with Jesus and had witnessed the progress of His revelation ; but others dwelt remote and had no knowledge of the later developments ; and this immature type—a sort of backwater of religious thought—persisted in the Hellenistic world. It had its representatives at Ephesus. These were ‘ disciples,’ believing in Jesus, and this differen- tiated them from the Jews; but on the other hand it differen- tiated them from the Christians that they were ignorant of the Resurrection of the Lord and the Advent of the Holy Spirit. They had been baptised with John’s baptism of repentance, but they were strangers to the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the rich grace which it conveyed. Paul encountered this little community, isolated alike from the Synagogue and 1 According to the amplification of Ac. xviii. 27 in Cod. Bez.(D): ἐν δὲ τῇ ᾿Εφέσῳ, ἐπιδημοῦντές τινες Κορίνθιοι καὶ ἀκούσαντες αὐτοῦ παρεκάλουν διελθεῖν σὺν αὐτοῖς els τὴν πατρίδα αὐτῶν" συγκατανεύσαντος δὲ αὐτοῦ οἱ ᾿Εφέσιοι ἔγραψαν τοῖς ἐν Κορίνθῳ μαθηταῖς ὅπως ἀποδέξωνται τὸν ἄνδρα" ὃς ἐπιδημήσας εἰς τὴν ᾿Αχαίαν πολὺ συνεβάλετο ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις, ‘Now certain Corinthian visitors in Ephesus heard him and besought him to cross over with them to their country ; and on his consenting the Ephesians wrote to the disciples at Corinth that they might welcome the man ; and he on visiting Achaia greatly helped the Churches.’ THE THIRD MISSION 231 the Church; and he acquainted them with the later develop- ment of the Christian revelation. They welcomed it, and entered into the full gladness of the Faith. The Apostle began his ministry at Ephesus after his accustomed method. He addressed his first appeal to the Jews, preaching and reasoning in the synagogue amid ever increasing hostility until after three months he was forced to desist. There is little reference in the Book of Acts to the persecutions which he suffered at this crisis or indeed throughout his sojourn in the city; but how fierce these were appears from incidental allusions in his correspondence. His life was in daily peril from the fury of that ‘ wild beast,’ the mob; and it would seem that he was haled before the magistrates and sentenced to scourging and imprisonment. He quitted the synagogue with the disciples whom he had won ; and, hiring the lecture-hall of a rhetorician named Tyrannos, discoursed there daily betwixt 11 A.M. and 4 P.M.1 These were the only possible hours. The rhetorician lectured in the morning,” and it was only when his class was over that his hall was available. Moreover the Apostle had to earn his daily bread, and since the working-day began at sunrise and ended an hour before the sultry noon-tide, it was only in the afternoon that he was free to preach and the populace to hear. Such was the beginning of his ministry at Ephesus ; and a stirring and fruitful ministry it proved, lasting for two years and pervading the entire Province of Asia. It was the general populace of the city that he addressed after his rupture with the synagogue, and its character presented at once peculiar opportunities and peculiar difficulties. Since Ephesus was the home of Eastern magic, it was steeped in superstition. It was infested with charlatans who professed to avert ill luck and dispel diseases by their charms and in- cantations. The theory in those days was that all dis- tempers were due to demonic possession, and the cure lay in the exorcism of the evil spirit. The gift of healing was 1 In Ac. xix. 9 Cod. Bez. (D) has ἀπὸ ὥρας πέμπτης ἕως δεκάτης. ® Aug. Conf. νι. 11: ‘Dubitamus pulsare.quo aperiantur cetera? Antemeri- dianis horis discipuli occupant ; ceteris quid facimus? cur non id agimus?’ * Cf. The Days of His Flesh, pp. 105 ff. His Ephesian ministry. The embarrass ment of popular supersti- tion. The Apostle a magical personage. Mt. ix. 20. Discomfi- ture of two exorcists. Cf. Ac. xiii. 6; Mt. xii. 27. 235 (LIFE AND. LET PERS OF 6). ΒΕ one of the miraculous endowments of the Apostolic Church,! and Paul’s exercise of it at Ephesus at once promoted and embarrassed his ministry. It won him indeed a hearing and demonstrated that God was with him; but at the same time it identified him in the eyes of the populace with the heathen adepts and excited the jealousy of the latter. The enthusiasm which his miracles aroused was boundless, and it was exhibited in a pathetic fashion. He was regarded as a magical personage. There was a miraculous efficacy in the touch of his hand and even in contact with his belong- ings; and he could not lay aside his napkin or the apron which he wore at his work without its being filched and carried to sick-rooms. It was indeed gross superstition, but it was natural in those heathen folk and there was faith behind it. Faith never misses its reward; and the blind faith of those Ephesians was honoured like that of the poor woman at Capernaum who was persuaded that, if only she might touch the Master’s clothes, she would be healed of her hemorrhage. There was healing in the Apostle’s napkin even as in the tassel of the Lord’s robe. Nor did the superstition go uncorrected. The difference between Paul and the heathen adepts was attested by at least one notorious incident. Recognising the potency of the name of Jesus on his lips, they introduced it as an onomasticon sacrum into their incantations. It chanced that two itinerant exorcists visited the city. They were brothers, and, like so many practitioners of black art in those days, they were Jews,” sons of a priest named Sceva.§ There was an unhappy creature in the city, evidently a madman, subject ΣΟ pp. ise a. 5 The Jewish Essenes seem to have practised exorcism (cf. Lightfoot, Co/oss., Ρ. 89). 5 Luke tells the story just as he had heard it, and after the manner of popular tales it is somewhat confused. As it stands (Ac. xix. 13-16), it presents two difficulties. (1) It begins by speaking of seven exorcists (ver. 14), and presently of only two (vers. 16), the former number being perhaps a confusion with the demoniac’s ‘sevenfold’ possession (cf. The Days of His Flesh, p. 207). (2) Sceva is styled a High Priest. Both are removed in the revised text of Cod. Bez. (D): ‘among whom also the sons of one Sceva, a priest, wished to do the same: they had a custom of exorcising such persons ; and they came in to the demoniac and began to invoke the Name, saying, ‘‘ We charge you by Jesus, whom Paul preaches, to come forth.”’ THE THIRD MISSION 233 to fits of violence. Insanity was accounted a phase, indeed the worst phase, of demonic possession; and the two exorcists were summoned to deal with the case. If the man was a Jew, as he appears to have been, it was natural Ct. Ac. that his friends should resort to the Jewish practitioners. “”’ ‘7 Aware of the difficulty of their task, the latter employed the novel incantation which had of late proved so efficacious. Their adjuration irritated the patient. He had heard in his normal condition of Paul and his preaching of Jesus, and the familiar names excited his disordered mind. He broke into a frenzy. ‘ Jesus,’ he cried, ‘I recognise, and Paul I know ; but you—who are you?’ and he sprang upon them like a wild beast. They were overpowered by his insane fury. Ere he was mastered their clothes were torn to shreds, and they escaped from the house severely mauled. The incident had important consequences. It had Salutary happened in a Jewish house, and thus it touched the Jewish ee community no less than the Gentile populace. The whole city was impressed, and the issue proves how justly the situation was appreciated. The inference was not that the magicians had been worsted by the Apostle in their own art but that magic was an unholy thing. The Ephesian Letters were discredited and contemned ; and the Christians who had clung to the superstition confessed their error and abjured it, and such of them as possessed magical papyri made a public bonfire of them. It was like the Florentine Holocaust of Vanities in the Piazza della Signoria in the days of Savonarola, and it involved no trifling sacrifice. The magicians sold their charms dear, and the value of the parchments which were cast into the flames was estimated at nigh £2000.1 It is an evidence of the hold which the Gospel had taken Spread of of the city, and the conquest of Ephesus proved a far-reaching eee triumph. She was the metropolis of Asia, and tidings of out the rovince her gracious visitation quickly spread throughout the cr. ac. Province. Paul remained within her gates, but his message αἷς το 2°' travelled where his voice had never been heard, and churches 19. grew up which had never seen his face, not alone that little Cr. Col. ii. 1 50,000 drachme. A drachma was worth some 824. Cf. Zhe Days of His Flesh, p. 310. Rev. ii. 8- iii, 13. Cf, Ac. XixX. 22. Cf, Phm. Uj) 2.105 Col. iv. 15. 1 Cor, vi. 12-20; 2 Cor. vi. 14- Vila t sor Cor. i-vi. TEAC, XIX. 21, 223 τ Cor. vii- xvi; 2 Cor. ii. I, xiii. 23 x-xili. 10, Evil tidings of Corinthian Church, Cf. 2 Cor. xii. 18. Cf. 2 Cor. viii. 10-12, ix. 2. Asceticism and liber- tinism. 264 ‘LIKE AND: LET UL RS OF Shave group in the Lycus valley—at Colosse, Laodiceia, and Hierapolis—which he had occasion to counsel by letter some seven years later when he was a prisoner at Rome, but those at Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardes, and Philadelphia which St. John addresses in the Book of Revelation, and those at Magnesia, Tralles, and Miletus which St. Ignatius afterwards addressed. His companions, especially Timothy and Titus, would be active in this missionary enterprise, and Ephesian converts like Erastus would bear their part; but the work was doubtless done chiefly by representatives of the various cities, ike Epaphras and Philemon of Colosse and Nympha of Laodiceia, who visited Ephesus, and there heard the Gospel from his lips and carried it home. Ill TROUBLE AT CORINTH Thus prosperous was the Ephesian ministry, yet amid its manifold engrossments the Apostle was not neglectful of the interests of the Gospel elsewhere, nor unmindful of the churches which he had already established. That of Corinth engaged his special solicitude. It was an important com- munity, and soon after his arrival at Ephesus he had despatched Titus and the colleague whom the Antiochene Church had associated with him,! to acquaint the Corinthians with his scheme for the relief of the poor at Jerusalem and enlist their sympathy and support. They had at the moment espoused it with enthusiastic alacrity, and the two deputies had returned to Ephesus with a pleasing report ; but in the autumn of the year 54? the Apostle was troubled by the arrival of painful intelligence. That licentious city, where the chief shrine was the Temple of Aphrodite and immorality was not a vice but a cult, was a perilous abode for the new faith. It was difficult EGE, ps 225: 3 Cf. Append. I. THE THIRD MISSION 235 for the Corinthian converts to break with their past and dissociate themselves from their environment; and the inevitable issue was the emergence of two opposite tendencies, two antagonistic attitudes. One was asceticism; and this was the natural resort of resolute souls touched by the ethical appeal of the Gospel. They accounted the flesh essentially evil, and insisted on its mortification. They practised abstinence in eating and drinking, and not merely Οἵ, 1 Cor. censured illicit intercourse between the sexes but condemned “”” ™ the institution of marriage and enjoined celibacy. The cz. 1 Cor. other tendency was more congenial to the natural mind, ‘™ and it was the more dangerous since it was disguised by an affectation of superior spirituality. It agreed that the flesh was evil but accounted it as evanescent.1. The immortal spirit was the arena of religion, and the mortal flesh had no religious value. Hence it mattered nothing what a man did with his body. He might indulge it as he would without damage to his spiritual life. The maxim was: ‘ Everything τ Cor. vi. is allowable for me. Foods for the belly, and the belly for “ἢ ** foods : God will do away with both it and them.’ It was rank libertinism ; and it was boldly practised by a A case of section of the Church at Corinth. The scandal came to a '™°** head in a flagrant and shocking case. A member of the Cf. τ Cor. Church had formed an incestuous alliance with his step- ἡ mother *—an iniquity not only contrary to the Scriptures cr. Lev. but abhorrent even to pagan sentiment. The offender was *“ 7 ὃ a Gentile convert, and the partner of his sin was evidently still a heathen, since she is not included in the Apostle’s censure. This, in the case of a legitimate union, would have Cf. 2 Cor. been accounted an indiscretion, but it was merely a trivial δον μι} aggravation of so monstrous a transgression. aes ae Tidings of the scandal reached the Apostle’s ears. It A lost would be hotly resented by the ascetic section of the Corin- καρ thian Church, and it is likely that, when their remonstrances ""- proved unavailing, they reported the situation to him and solicited his intervention. In any case he heard of it, and cr, : Cor, Vv. ΟἿ. 1 Cf. Iren. 1. xx. 2; Epiphan. Wer. xxvii. 5: φασὶ γὰρ εἶναι τὴν φυλακὴν τὸ σῶμα. 2 Theodrt. infers from 2 Cor. vii. 12 that the father was dead: καὶ τεθνεὼς ἠδίκητο, τῆς εὐνῆς ὑβρισθείσης. Surviving fragments, Gen. ii. 24. Dt. xxii. 1ο. 2326. LIFE AND LETEERS OF tor: (ae he straightway wrote a letter of admonition. Like many others which he wrote in the course of his ministry, this letter has no place in his extant correspondence ; nor indeed is its disappearance surprising, since a document which was a memorial of her shame, would hardly be preserved in the archives of the Corinthian Church, or, if it were, it would be jealously kept secret ; all the more that its publication was unnecessary inasmuch as it dealt with a purely local concern. It is, however, from the Apostle’s testimony indubitable that the letter was actually written, and his allusions indicate its trend; and, moreover, by a happy chance in nowise uncommon at least two considerable fragments of it have been incorporated in his extant correspondence with the Corinthian Church. FRAGMENTS OF THE FirsT LETTER TO CORINTH (x Cor. vi. 12-20) 122: ‘Everything is allowable for me’: yes, but it is not every- thing that is profitable. ‘ Everything is allowable for me’: 13 yes, but I will not allow anything to master me. ‘ Foods for the belly, and the belly for foods : God will do away with both it and them.’ The body, however, is not for fornication, but 14 for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God both raised 15 the Lord and will raise us up through His power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ ? Shall I, then, take the members of Christ and make them a harlot’s members ? 16 Away with the idea! Or do you not know that, when one is united with a harlot, they are one body? For ‘ the two,’ it is 17 said, ‘ shall become one flesh.’ But, when one is united to the Lord, they are one spirit. 18 Flee from fornication. Every other sin which man commits is outside of the body ; but the fornicator sins against his own το body. Do you not know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is within you and whom you have from God ? 2o And you are not your own; for you were bought at a price. Glorify God, then, in your body. .. . (2 Cor. vi. 14-vil. 1) 14 Do not yoke yourselves incongruously with strangers to the Faith.2. For what participation have righteousness and 1 Cf. Append. I. 3 ἑτεροζυγοῦντες, a LXX word (cf. Lev. xix. 19); only here in N. T. It denotes not merely intermarriage but all manner of intimacy with heathen. THE THIRD MISSION _—_237 lawlessness ? Or what fellowship has light with darkness ? 15 And what concord is there between Christ and Beliar?? Or what portion has one who holds the Faith with a stranger to 6 it? And what agreement has a sanctuary of God with idols? For we are a sanctuary of the Living God, even as God has said : “T will dwell in them and walk in them, Ez, xxxvii. And I will be their God and they shall be My people. 247; Lev. 17 Wherefore come forth from the midst of them ΤΗ͂Σ ἀν: And be separated, saith the Lord, ἐξ lii, 11. And touch no unclean thing ; And I will receive you ; ΕΖ. xx. 41. 18 And I will be to you as a father, a Sam. vii. And ye shall be to Me as sons and daughters, ape Saith the Lord Almighty.’ Hos. τ 10; vii. rSince, then, we have promises like these, beloved, let us A™. iv. cleanse ourselves from all pollution? of flesh and spirit, "ἢν perfecting holiness in God’s fear. From these fragments and the Apostle’s references to it Contents the drift of the lost letter may be gathered. First it dealt 72°. with the particular case, and in virtue of his apostolic (1) Dis- authority Paul directed that the Church should convene and ¢PUn2y pronounce upon the offender a solemn sentence of excom- cr. x Cor. munication, not indeed excluding him absolutely and irre- “>> vocably but debarring him meanwhile from Christian fellow- ship and intercourse until he should repent and crave restitution. The Church’s discipline was always remedial, Cf. Gal. vi. and the ultimate end of that stern sentence was the sinner’s ἡ restoration. From the particular case he passed to the general question, (2) Ethical and addressed to the Corinthians a warning against the *4m°"" prevalent sin of fornication. Their heathen environment cr. τ Cor. exposed them to constant danger. In the midst of abounding * 9** 1 Βελίαρ (Βελίαλ), Heb. bysb a “worthlessness.’ Cf. Jud. xix. 22: ‘sons of belial,’ z.¢., ‘worthless fellows.’ Later (frequently in Zest. of X/J Pair.) a proper name, a title of Satan. 2 The verb μολύνειν occurs thrice in N. T. (1 Cor. viii. 7; Rev. iii. 4, xiv. 4); the noun μολυσμός only here. The term is appropriate to the Apostle’s argument, since it denoted the pollution of fornication, either literal fornication (Rev. xiv. 4) or the whoredom of idolatry, the pollution of heathen intercourse (cf. 1 Esdr. viii. 83; 1 Cor.’ viil. 7). Further evil tidings. r Cor ir: 255. “LIFE AND: LETRERS OF S21. Cae and unabashed impurity it was difficult for them to escape its foul contagion, and they ran an especial risk when, like that miserable offender, they allied themselves in marriage, even legitimate marriage, with their heathen neighbours. They had need of peculiar vigilance ; and unhappily they had been lulled to security by a false philosophy. He quotes two pleas which were much on their lips in extenuation of their moral delinquencies. One was the antinomian maxim : ‘Everything is allowable,’ meaning that, since the spirit was the domain of religion, the flesh mattered nothing to the spiritual man: it belonged to the category of ‘ things indifferent.’! Yes, is his answer, but nothing is allowable for the spiritual man which injures his spiritual life and brings his soulinto bondage. The othermaxim was: ‘ Foods for the belly, and the belly for foods: God will do away with both it and them.’ That is, the body is mortal ; it is only the soul’s temporary prison-house, and when it decays, the soul will soar unfettered. Nay, is his answer, the body is no perishing thing. It is destined to share the soul’s im- mortality. God will not do away with it. He will raise it to incorruption and glory; and meanwhile it is the Holy Spirit’s Sanctuary. He would anxiously expect a reply to his letter, but none arrived. Early, however, in the year 55 tidings reached him which aggravated his distress. His informants were ‘ the people of Chloe,’ but who these may have been is somewhat of a puzzle. Chloe, which signifies in Greek ‘a tender shoot,’ occurs as a woman’s name;? and thus Chloe may have been a Christian lady engaged, like Lydia of Philippi, 1 Cf. the attitude not only of the Nicolaitans (cf. p. 526) but of ‘the Spirituals’ at the time of the Reformation. One of the latter was Johann Agricola, Magister Tslebius, Ὁ. at Eisleben in 1492, died at Berlin in 1566. He studied under Luther, and caused the latter much vexation by his doctrinal excesses in after days. He taught, in common with the rest of his sect, that ‘whatever a man’s life may he and however impure, still he is justified if only he believes the promises of the Gospel’ (cf. Jortin, Hrasv. 1. p. 356). If only he has faith, he may do what he will. Good works are legalism. The believer is above the Law. As Agricola said, ‘all who had anything to do with Moses would go to the Devil, for Moses ought to be hanged.’ This sect had its adherents in England, where they went by the name of ‘the Ranters’ and practised open libertinism. Cf. Re/ig. Baxter. I. 1. § 122. BOF Hor. Od, ἀπ. ix. THE THIRD MISSION 239 in some extensive trade, and ‘ the people of Chloe’ might then be her sons or her employees who travelled hither and thither on mercantile errands and had brought to Ephesus a report of the situation at Corinth. It would still remain uncertain which of these cities was her place of abode, though from the simplicity of the Apostle’s reference it might be inferred that she was a Corinthian well known to his readers. On the other hand, while names borrowed from natural objects were common, they were usually borne by slaves ; and there is perhaps probability in an ancient suggestion that Chloe is here the name not of a woman but of a place, some forgotten town which had received the Gospel.t Thus “the people of Chloe’ would be Christian traders who trafficked with the various cities and had passed from Corinth to Ephesus. Whoever they may have been, they brought the Apostle Recalci- distressing intelligence. The situation at Corinth had gone fhe Cae from bad to worse. His mandate regarding that shameful ‘7s. case had been openly flouted. Indeed some went the length Cr. 1 Cor. of charging him with cowardice because he had written” rece instead of paying them a personal visit and meeting them face to face. The offender had never been called to account. He still remained in the fellowship of the Church uncon- Cf. 1 Cor. demned and unrebuked, at all events by the majority of the “ members ; and it was a painful feature of the situation that, so far from realising the shame of it, they were swollen with spiritual and intellectual pride and were indulging their characteristic disposition to strife. They were indeed a contentious people. Some forty years Their con later St. Clement of Rome had occasion to write them, and aves? he speaks of ‘the matters in dispute among them, the "™ accursed and unholy sedition, so alien and strange to the elect of God, which a few persons in their rashness and self- will had kindled to such a pitch of madness that their name, once august and renowned and universally beloved, had been 2 Cf. Ambrstr. on 1 Cor. i. 11, where three current explanations are mentioned : “Aliquibus videntur homines esse manentes et fructificantes in fide Dei (hence ‘the men of tender growth’): aliquibus videntur locus esse, ut puta si dicatur: Ab iis qui sunt Antiochiz : aliquibus autem videtur feminam fuisse Deo devotam, cum qua multi essent colentes Deum.’ Parties in the Church. The party of Paul and the party of Apollos. Cf. 2 Cor. xX. Io, GL ry-Gor. ii. 1-5. 4 546 LIFE AND LET TLERS-OF sf) Paw. greatly reviled.’ And he rebukes their ‘ arrogance and pride and folly and anger,’ their rebellious contempt of authority, their ‘ strifes and wraths and divisions and cleavages among themselves.’ 1 Precisely similar was the situation unfolded to the Apostle. The Corinthian Church was an arena of unholy contention, and the quarrel was peculiarly painful to him inasmuch as he was personally involved. It was the old Judaist contro- versy, but it had been vexatiously complicated. Each party was agitated by a cross-current. In Galatia it had been a clear issue between those who held by his Gospel of the equal privileges of Jew and Gentile and the justifica- tion of both by faith in Christ, and those who insisted on the permanent obligation of the Jewish Law and assailed his apostolic authority; but at Corinth there was a cleavage on this side and on that. For over a year the learned and eloquent Apollos had been teaching in the city, and his ministry had created a situation which, being Paul’s friend in all loyalty and affection, he had never designed and indignantly resented. His brilliance had charmed those of his hearers who had been accustomed to the dazzling oratory and ingenious dialectic of the Greek sophists ;* and they contrasted his manner with Paul’s, much to the latter’s disparagement. The contrast was indeed extreme; for the Apostle, though superior in intellect and erudition, had none of the outward graces of Apollos. His person was uncouth and his delivery unimpressive ; and these natural disadvantages had been specially apparent during his ministry at Corinth. When he came thither from Athens, not only was he suffering from a recurrence of his chronic malady but, with the humiliating failure of his attempt at philo- sophic disquisition in the Court of the Areiopagos fresh in his memory, he studiously eschewed the arts of rhetoric and preached simply and plainly in reliance on the power of the Holy Spirit. The Corinthians contrasted him with the brilliant Alexandrian; and though it was the self-same Gospel that both preached, each had his admirers who 1 Clem. Rom. Efzst. ad Cor. I, i, xiii, xlvi. * Cf. Hatch, Jjluence of Greek Ideas, pp. 94 ff. 3 Cf. pp. 148 f. THE, THIRD: MISSION 241 pitted one against the other, ‘ windily bragging in praise of cr. iv. 6. the one to the other’s disparagement.’ Some said, ‘ I hold by Paul,’ others ‘I hold by Apollos’; and the preference developed into unseemly partisanship. It was an un- pleasant position for the loyal-hearted Apollos, and it became Cf. xvi. r2. so intolerable that he presently quitted Corinth and joined Paul at Ephesus. On the other side there was a corresponding cleavage. Judaist The Judaists had their emissaries at Corinth, perhaps the ae very men who had done the mischief in Galatia, and they adapted their vexatious propaganda to the situation. In Galatia they had insisted on the necessity of circumcision ; but at Corinth the Church contained few Jewish converts and an appeal to Jewish prejudice would have fallen un- heeded. And so they appealed to the Corinthian instinct for contention, and assailed the authority of Paul. Hence it is that in his reasonings with the Church he never touches on the controversy regarding the Jewish Law. It was a question of personal claims and partisan contentions that crf. 2 Cor. he had to deal with, and his argument is a personal oe i apologia, an assertion and vindication of his apostolic 12. authority. The Judaists had come to Corinth armed with credentials The party from the Church at Jerusalem. Just as Apollos had brought οἱ $¢Phss and the a commendatory letter from the Christians of Ephesus, so party of they had brought one from the Church at Jerusalem. Thc CE. ἯΔΕ was endorsed by Peter, and they paraded his pre-eminent *"": 27. dignity and represented Paul’s exercise of apostolic functions i iii. x, as an illegitimate usurpation. They won adherents, and thus a party arose which abjured Paul and asserted the supremacy of Peter. Hence the cry ‘I hold by Cephas.’ Furthermore, the criterion of apostleship, they alleged, was cr. 2 Cor, personal contact with the Lord in the days of His flesh ; ¥ ™® and since Paul lacked this he was no Apostle. Hence the cry ‘I hold by Christ.’ Just as there was no essential distinction between the admirers of Paul and the admirers of Apollos, so neither did these cries denote separate parties. There was only this difference—that the profession of allegiance to Cephas was inspired by a spirit of pure parti- sanship, the preference of one teacher to another ; whereas Q The scandal of litigation, The address. 225. LIFE AND LETTERS OF) Si. Pau the claim of adherence to Christ defined the reason of that preference.* Nor were these the only contentions which were devastating the Corinthian Church. Since the Jews were permitted under the imperial government to administer their own affairs except in capital cases,? every synagogue had its court of justice. The Jewish Synagogue was the model of the primitive Church, and every Christian community had its court which adjudicated not merely quoad spirituaha but quoad temporalia. This, however, did not content the Corinthians. They referred their disputes to the civil tribunals, and dishonoured their Christian profession in the eyes of their heathen neighbours. That horrible case of immorality and the quarrels which it had engendered would furnish abundant occasion for litigation; and it may be that the foul scandal had figured in the common courts to the Church’s unspeakable shame. SECOND LETTER TO CORINTH On hearing this evil report of his Corinthian converts the Apostle immediately addressed himself to the composition 1So this difficult passage (1 Cor. i. 12) is interpreted by F. Ὁ. Baur (Paul, I. pp. 261 ff.). Opinion is much divided, and there are two main alternatives. 1. Four distinct parties are recognised: (1) of Παύλου, (2) of ᾿Απολλώ, (3) οἱ Κηφᾶ, (4) οἱ Χριστοῦ. The question then is who the last may have been. Storr (Zinlezt, 111. 107) took them as the party of James the brother of Christ (cf. 1 Cor. ix. 5), supposing that they claimed superiority to the party of Cephas. Neander, again, regarded them as a professedly neutral party, refusing allegiance to any human teacher, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, and ‘ professing to adhere to Christ alone, to acknowledge Him only as their teacher, and to receive what He announced as truth from Himself without the intervention of any other person’ (Plant. of Chr., τ. p. 236), really making the Sacred Name a partisan badge. 2. An ancient interpretation (cf. Poole, Sywops. Crit.), recently revived (cf. Lake, Earlier Epistles of St. Paul, pp. 127 f.), punctuates after Κηφᾶ: ““1 am of Paul,” and “1 am of Apollos,” and ‘‘I am of Cephas.” But I am of Christ.’ There were thus only three parties—o! Παύλου, of ᾿ἃ πολλῶ, and οἱ Κηφᾶ, and the Apostle repudiates them all. ‘ Be Christ’s,’ he says, ‘and then you have every- thing (cf. 1 Cor. iii. 22, 23).? This yields an excellent sense, and it is somewhat countenanced by the circumstance that Clem. Rom., referring to the passage enumerates only those three parties. Cf. Epist. ad Cor. I, xlvii: πνευματικῶς ἐπέστειλεν ὑμῖν περὶ αὐτοῦ τε καὶ Κηφᾶ τε καὶ ᾿Απολλώ, διὰ τὸ καὶ τότε προσκλίσεις ὑμᾶς πεποιῆσθαι. There is, however, a twofold objection: (1) This interpretation would require ἐγὼ μέντοι (or ἀλλ᾽ ἐγὼ) Χριστοῦ. The δέ clauses are plainly co- ordinate. (2) In 2 Cor. x. 7 Paul evidently refers to a separate ‘ Christ-party.’ * Cf. p. 45. THE THIRD MISSION 243 ~ of a second letter! He employed as his amanuensis one Sosthenes, probably an Ephesian convert ; 5 and he begins with the customary address, skilfully interweaving sugges- tions of the subsequent argument. He affirms his own apostolic vocation ; and he greets his readers as ‘ the Church of God at Corinth ’—letum et ingens paradoxon—‘ men sanctified in Christ Jesus, by calling saints,’ tacitly con- trasting their shameful actual with their heavenly ideal, and rebukes their dissension by reminding them of their catholic fellowship. iit Paul, by calling an Apostle of Christ Jesus through God’s 2 will, and Sosthenes the brother, to the Church of God which is at Corinth, men sanctified in Christ Jesus, by calling saints, in fellowship with all who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus 3 Christ in every place, their Lord and ours. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. With all their faults the Corinthians were not lacking in distinguished and precious endowments. They were an intellectual community, delighting in eloquence and wisdom, ‘speech’ and ‘ knowledge’; and though it had proved a snare to them, this was an excellent quality, and the Apostle, in view of the hard things which he must presently say, begins with a sentence of warm appreciation and generous confidence. 4 I thank God always regarding you for the grace of God 5 which is given you in Christ Jesus, that in everything you are so enriched in Him, in every sort of ‘ speech’ and every sort of 6‘ knowledge,’ as the testimony of the Christ was confirmed in 7 you, that you are not lacking in any gift of grace, while you gawait the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the very end, unchargeable on the Day of our 9Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is God, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. And now the Apostle addresses himself to his painful task 1 ἐδηλώθη γάρ μοι (1, 11), ‘it has just been shown me,’ aor. of immediate past. Cf. Lk. xv. 24, xxiv. 34; Jo. xii. 19, xiii. 1, xxi. 10. Chrys. Zn Ep. 7 ad Cor. Hom. X11. 3 (where the preacher rebukes an outburst of applause): ἐκροτήσατε ἐνταῦθα : ‘You applaud here?’ * Cf. p. 187. Apprecia- tion of the Corinthian gifts. The Cor. inthian scandal, τ, Par- lisuuship. 24 OTE E AND LETTERS ΟΕ ΞΡ Pinas of dealing with the scandal which, as he had learned by credible report, was disgracing the Corinthian Church. It was a threefold scandal—partisanship, fornication, and litigation. The partisan spirit which was rampant in the Church and had rent it into bitter factions, first engages his attention, since he was personally implicated. He had been doubly assailed. One party was pitting him against Apollos. These were Gentile converts who had been nurtured in the atmosphere of Greek culture. They were intellectuals, and they contrasted the rude simplicity of his teaching with the eloquence of the brilliant Alexandrian. Another party was composed of Jewish converts, and these, inspired by the Judaist propagandists, challenged his apostleship and exalted the authority of the original Apostles, especially Peter ; and it seems that, on the ground that he had never known Christ in the flesh, they insisted that he had never been ordained and his administration of the Sacrament of Baptism was invalid. He meets both with indignant scorn. That spirit of partisanship was a denial of Christ’s supremacy. He was the only Lord, and Paul and Apollos and Peter were all alike His poor ministers. For himself he laid no claim to authority ; and he was thankful to remember that so few of them had received Baptism at his hands. His apostolic function was far higher. It was not baptising but preaching the Gospel, and preaching it not ‘in wisdom of speech ’ but in all simplicity. 1o Now I beseech you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak in accord and that there be no cleavages among you, but that you be all knit! together in trmind and judgment. For it has just been shown me regarding you, my brothers, by the people of Chloe that there are strifes 1zamong you. This is my meaning—that each of you is saying “T hold by Paul’ or ‘ I hold by Apollos’ or ‘ I hold by Cephas ’ 13 0r ‘ I hold by Christ.’ Has Christ been portioned ? Was Paul 14 crucified for you, or were you baptised into Paul’s name? I am thankful that I baptised none of you except Crispus and 15 Gaius, lest some one should say that it was into my name that 16 you were baptised. (And I baptised also the household of Stephanas: for the rest I know not whether I baptised any xarnpriopévo, cf. ἢ. on I Th, iii. 10, p. 161. THE THIRD MISSION 245 17 0ther.)' For it was not to baptise that Christ made me an apostle ; no, it was to preach the Gospel, not in wisdom of speech, lest the Cross of the Christ should be made an empty thing. The question of his apostleship was comparatively un- His important at Corinth, where the Judaists were an insignifi- (P°"")° cant party ; and so he reserves it for subsequent discussion, !ectuals. and meanwhile addresses himself to the contemptuous indictment of the dominant intellectuals, giving free play to his vein of sarcasm, that keen weapon which he could on occasion employ so effectively. At every turn he deals them a shrewd thrust: now stigmatising their vaunted ‘wisdom’ as ‘folly,’ and telling them that what they deemed ‘folly’ was a divine ‘wisdom’ which they were incapable of receiving ; now jeering at their colossal self- iv. 8. complacency, and crying shame on a pravity which could v. τ, 2. flaunt its spiritual pretensions in the midst of unblushing immorality. Again and again he brands them with the iv. 6, 18, stinging epithet of ‘ windy braggarts’ and plies them with πὶ κεν, 6: the contemptuous interrogation ‘ Do you not know ?’ vi. 2, 3, 9. They disdained the unadorned simplicity of his preaching The and termed it ‘ folly’; and he pleads guilty to the charge. Mesias His preaching had not indeed been characterised by the οἷν: wisdom which they desiderated ; but that was no reproach. The Gospel was not a philosophy. It was God’s message of salvation, and it appealed to the poor and lowly. Its very simplicity was its glory, and it was stripped of its power when it was tricked out in the gaudy dress of human wisdom, like that reeden flute in the Rabbinical legend which lay in the Temple and yielded music of surpassing sweetness until they covered it with gold and studded it with gems, and then its music was gone. 18 For the speech of the Cross is indeed for those who are on the way to destruction, ‘ folly’ ; but for us who are on the way το to salvation, it is God’s power. For it is written: 1 A marginal note added by the Apostle on reading over the letter after dictating it to his amanuensis (cf. Milligan, W. 7. Documents, p. 14). It is an explanation, not a correcticn: Stephanas, though a Corinthian, had been baptised at Athens. (CEs pera: Is, xxix. 14. Is. xix. 12; xxxili. 18, ΤΕΣ ΧΙΣ, ΤῈ, The strength of God’s ἡ eakness, 246 -GIPE AND LETTERS ORGS, ae ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And the shrewdness of the shrewd will I set aside.’ 20‘ Where is the wise man?’ ‘ Whereisthescribe?’ Whereis the questioner of this age? + Has not God ‘turned to folly atthe wisdom’ of the world? For, since in the wisdom of God the world did not through its wisdom recognise God, it was God’s good pleasure through the folly of the message we pro- 22 claim to save those who have faith ; since Jews ask signs and 23 Greeks seek wisdom, but we proclaim a crucified Christ,? 24to Jews a stumbling-block and to Gentiles folly, but to the called on their part, both Jews and Greeks, Christ God’s power 25 and God’s wisdom ; forasmuch as God’s ‘ foolish ’ is wiser than men and God’s ‘ weak’ stronger than men. This truth is written on every page of experience and history. God’s way in grace is His way in providence. His mighty works are ever wrought by feeble instruments. ‘When Philip the Good, in the full blaze of his power, and flushed with the triumphs of territorial aggrandisement, . Was instituting at Bruges the order of the Golden Fleece, “to the glory of God, of the blessed Virgin, and of the holy Andrew, patron saint of the Burgundian family,” and enrolling the names of the kings and princes who were to be honoured with its symbols, at that very moment an obscure citizen of Harlem, one Lorenz Coster, or Lawrence the Sexton, succeeded in printing a little grammar, by means of moveable types. His invention sent no thrill of admiration throughout Christendom, and yet, what was the good Philip of Burgundy, with his Knights of the Golden Fleece, and all their effulgent trumpery, in the eye of humanity and civilisation, compared with the poor sexton and his wooden types 7.5% 26 For look at your calling, brothers: not many wise men after the flesh, not many powerful, not many high-born. 27 No, it is the foolish things of the world that God chose to 1 σοφός, the Greek philosopher ; γραμματεύς, the Jewish Rabbi; ouvgyrnris τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου, the sceptic lacking heavenly illumination—a general term but specially appropriate to the unbelieving Jews who are frequently said συν ζητεῖν (cf. Mk. i. 27, viii. 11, ix. 14, 16; Ac. vi. 9, xxviii. 29). The verb is used also of the disciples ‘questioning’ about the Betrayal (Lk. xxii. 23) and the Resurrection (Mk. ix. 10; Lk. xxiv. 15). 3 Χριστὸν ἐσταυρωμένον, cf. n. on Gal. iii. 1, p. 203. * Motley, Dutch Republic, Hist. Introd. vii. THE THIRD MISSION 247 put the wise men to shame; and it is the weak things of the world that God chose to put the strong things to shame ; 28and it is the low-born things of the world and the things which are naught accounted that God chose, the things 29 which have no being to invalidate those which have, that 30no flesh may boast before God. And from Him it is that you have your being in Christ Jesus, who was made wisdom to us by God’s appointment, righteousness and sanctifica- 31 tion and redemption, that it may be as the Scripture says: ‘ Let him that boasts boast in the Lord.’ Jer. ix. 23, 24. It was indeed no wonder that the Corinthians should have Reason for remarked the simplicity of Paul’s preaching during his atepe ministry among them ; for it was specially conspicuous on Zone that occasion. He had come straight from Athens, humbled eC onish. by the failure of his attempt at philosophical disquisition in the Court of the Areiopagos.! He had determined that never again would he repeat the disastrous experiment, and in his teaching at Corinth he had eschewed the arts of oratory. iit And as for me, when I came to you, brothers, it was not with lofty speech or wisdom that I came, announcing to you the ztestimony of God.2 For my determination was to know nothing among you except Jesus as Christ and that a crucified 3 Christ. And it was in weakness and fear and much trembling 4that I was brought among you ; and my speech and my mes- sage were not arrayed in persuasive words of wisdom but 5in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might be arrayed not in men’s wisdom but in God’s power. And this was his constant method ; yet in his unadorned The Gospel there was a high wisdom beyond the range of (wim childish intellects. It was the revelation of God’s agelong phat purpose of grace; and it had ushered in a new era and antiquated the pretentious philosophies of the past. It was hidden from the merely intellectual man, but it was recog- nised by the spiritual ; for it was a revelation of the Spirit, and only by the teaching of the Spirit could it be compre- hended, only by the language which the Spirit inspired could 1 Cf. p. 148. 2 S°BDEFGLP τὸ μαρτύριον τοῦ Θεοῦ. The Gospel is either τὸ μαρτύριον τοῦ Χριστοῦ (cf. i. 6), ‘the testimony which the Apostles bore to Christ’ (cf. Jo. xv. 27; Lk. xxiv. 48; Ac. i. 8, 22, iii. 15, v. 32, x. 39, 41), or Τὸ μαρτύριον τοῦ Θεοῦ, ‘the testimony which God bore in Christ’ (cf. 1 Jo. v. 9-11). ΑΓ τὸ μυστήριον τοῦ Θεοῦ, ‘the mystery of God’ (cf. ver. 7). Is, Ixiv. 4 Ixv. 16, 17 Cf. Prov. xiv. IO. 245 LIFE VAN'D LETEERS OF (Si. PACE it be expressed. ‘To evil persons the whole system of this wisdom is insipid and flat, dull as the foot of a rock, and unlearned as the elements of our mother tongue ; but so are mathematics to a Scythian boor, and music to a camel.’ 1 6 Yet it is wisdom that we talk in the judgment of the mature 3 —a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of this age’s decadent 7leaders. No, it is God’s wisdom in a mystery 3 that we talk — the hidden wisdom which God foreordained ere the ages for 8our glory. And none of this age’s leaders has recognised it ; for if they had recognised it, they would not have crucified . 9 the Lord of Glory. But, as it is written : ‘ Things which eye never saw and ear never heard, And the heart of man never dreamed,? All the things which God prepared for those who love Him.’ 10 To us, however, God revealed it through the Spirit; for the 11 Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who is there among men that knows the things of the man except the man’s spirit which is within him? Thus also the things 12 0f God none has recognised except God’s Spirit. And we— it is not the spirit of the world that we have received, but the Spirit which issues from God, that we may know the things 13 which have been graciously bestowed on us by God. And these things we also talk, not in words taught by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, combining 14 Spiritual things with spiritual. But a merely intellectual 1 Jeremy Taylor, Zhe Great Exemplar, Pref. 43. 2 τέλειος denoted what had attained its end (τέλος) and so, generally ‘ perfect.’ More particularly : (1) a full-grown man, one who has attained mature age and the perfection of his powers (cf. I Cor. xiii. 10, 11, xiv. 20; Heb. v. 14). (2) In connection with the Greek Mysteries, ‘initiated’ into the secret lore, the perfect knowledge. Of this use there is no clear instance in N. T. Here (cf. iii. 1, 2) ‘full-grown,’ ‘mature,’ said sarcastically of the boastful intellectuals. Cf. τῶν καταργουμένων, ‘who are being invalidated’ (cf. 2 Cor. ili. 7, 11): a new era had dawned and the vaunted ‘ wisdom of this age’ was out of date. BAGE.-p..g20; 4 ἐπὶ τὴν καρδίαν ἀνθρώπου οὐκ ἀνέβη (cf. Ac. vii. 23), a LXX phrase (cf. 767 1. πὸ; xhiviy2r 41-550): > As the wisdom of men is fitly expressed by words of human wisdom, so the wisdom of God must be matched with words taught by His Spirit. συνκρίνειν, ‘combine,’ the correlative of διακρίνειν, ‘separate.’ Cf. Plat. Phed. 72 Cc: κἂν εἰ ξυγκρίνοιτο μὲν πάντα διακρίνοιτο δὲ μή, ταχὺ ἂν τὸ τοῦ ᾿Αναξαγόρου γεγονὸς εἴη" ὁμοῦ πάντα χρήματα. The word meant also (1) ‘compare’ (cf. 2 Cor. x. 12) and (2) ‘interpret,’ especially a dream (cf. Gen. xl. 8, xli. 12; Dan. v. 12); and hence two other interpretations of the text: (1) ‘comparing spiritual things with spiritual,’ spzrzévalibus spiritualia comparantes (Vulg.), z.e., illustrating spiritual truths by O. T. types (Chrys.) ; (2) ‘interpreting spiritual things by spiritual’ or ‘interpreting spiritual things to spiritual men’ (Ambrstr., Theophyl.). THE THIRD MISSION 249 man ! does not receive the things of God’s Spirit, for they are folly to him ;and he cannot recognise them, because they are 15 spiritually examined.? But the spiritual man examines every- 16 thing, while he is himself examined by none. For ‘ who is so acquainted with the Lord’s mind that he may instruct Him ?’ But we have Christ’s mind. And now he delivers a sharp home-thrust. His critics sneered at the simplicity of his teaching during his ministry at Corinth ; and he retorts that it was nothing else than an accommodation to their incapacity. He had found them so dull. It was impossible for him to address them as spiritual men. They were not even ‘carnal’; they were simply “carneous ’—creatures of flesh. They were very babes in Christ, and babes’ food was all that they could receive. And it was all that they could even yet receive. For they had made no progress toward spirituality. They remained carnal, swayed by the passions which dominate human hearts where God has no place; and they proved it by their unhallowed contentions. For what else did their pitting of one teacher against another mean but that they left God out of account ? Paul and Apollos were merely His ministers, each doing his appointed task. Paul had planted the good seed, and Apollos, his successor, had watered it ; but it was God that had made it grow. And His was all the praise. ἴω And I, brothers, could not talk to you as spiritual men but 2 only as carneous, as babes in Christ.? I fed you with milk, 1 Corresponding to the trichotomy πνεῦμα, ψυχή, σῶμα (cf. n. on 1 Th. v. 23, p. 166), there are three classes of men according as one or other of these elements predominates : ὁ πρευματικός, ὁ ψυχικός, ὁ σωματικός or σαρκικός. The ψυχή was ἐμνοίοϊα---ψυχὴ ἄλογος, ‘their irrational 501]1,᾿ [Π6 merely sentient life, and ψυχὴ λογική, ‘the reasonable soul,’ the intellectual life, the νοῦς. Hence Ψψυχικός was either ‘sensuous’ or ‘intellectual.’ Here ψυχικὸς ἄνθρωπος is a merely intellectual man, possessing only ‘the wisdom of this age,’ not ‘the wisdom of God’ revealed ‘through the Spirit.’ 2 Cf. pp. 252 £. 3 The weight of authority supports σαρκίνοις in ver. I and capxixol in ver. 3. Since the termination -wos (Engl. ‘-en’, cf. ‘ wooden’) denotes the: material of which a thing is made (cf. Mt. iii. 4: ζώνη depuarivn, Mk. xv. 17: ἀκάνθινος στέφανος), σάρκινος is carneus, ‘made of flesh’ (cf. 2 Cor. iii. 3). On the other hand, σαρκικός is carmalis, denoting carnal tastes and inclinations, τὸ φρόνημα τῆς σαρκὸς (Rom. viii. 6). The Corinthians were not really ‘intellectual’ (ψυχικοί) ; they were not even ‘carnal’ (σαρκικοί) ; they were just “carneous’ (σάρκινοι), creatures of flesh, mere ‘ babes’ with the intellect undeveloped. Is. xl. ΣΆ; An un- spiritual contention sso, LIFE “AND LETTS Ks; ORS i 420 0 not with meat ; for it was all you were yet able for. Indeed 3 even now it is still all you are able for ; for you are still carnal. For where there are jealousy and strife among you, are you not carnal and comporting yourselves after the fashion of 4mere man? When one says ‘I hold by Paul’ and another 5.1 hold by Apollos,’ are you not mere men? What, then, is Apollos ? and what is Paul? Ministers through whom you were won to faith ; and each ministered as the Lord granted 6him. I planted, Apollos watered; but all the while it was 7 God that made it grow.! And so neither the planter is any- 8 thing nor the waterer, but only God the growth-giver. The planter and the waterer are one, yet each will receive his 9 proper wage according to his proper toil. For we are God’s fellow-workers ; you are God’s tilth, God’s building.” The The Apostle has passed abruptly from the metaphor of foundation husbandry to that of building, and now he proceeds to building. develop the latter. He was employed in the erection of God’s spiritual Sanctuary, and he had done his part at Corinth. He had laid the foundation, and he had left Apollos to build up the walls. The foundation was essential, and he had laid it firm and clear. It was Jesus Christ, and the supreme test of his successors’ work was: Were they building on that foundation ? The Judaists, in rejecting the Gospel of salvation by faith in Christ and substituting the old method of legal observance, were building on another foundation, and their work was condemned. But it was possible for a man to be building on the one and only foundation and yet be building in vain, erecting a worthless and unenduring structure. Here the question is whether a man’s work will stand the fiery test of the Final Judgment. The Apostle may have been thinking of the burning of the city of Corinth by the Roman conqueror 3 or the burning of the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus,’ and how in each instance the marble and gems had survived the ordeal. And the Greek historian ὅ tells how in the time of Darius the Athenians invaded Asia and, landing at Ephesus, proceeded to Sardes and took the city. It was a poor place in those days. Most 1 Cf. the saying of Ambroise Paré, the father of modern surgery: ‘I dressed his wounds, but God healed him.’ 2 Cf. a similar transition from husbandry to building in Mt. xxi. 33-44. ® Cf. p. 150. #. Cf. p. 226, δ Herod. v. 101. THE THIRD MISSION 251 of the houses were constructed of reeds and some of bricks with reeden roofs ; and when one of them was set ablaze, the conflagration passed from house to house and spread all over the city. Perhaps the Apostle had this local history before his mind when he spoke of building with ‘ wood, hay, stubble.’ It is not enough to build on the one foun- dation ; we must see to it how we are building and what we are building. There must be no perishable stuff in the cr. rey. fabric of God’s Sanctuary but only precious and enduring *** 18:2: materials; and this was the fatal error of the Corinthian intellectuals. They held indeed the doctrine of salvation by faith in Christ, which Apollos preached no less than Paul. They were building on the one foundation, but they were building sorry stuff. It ensured their salvation that they were building on Christ, but it would be a bare salvation. Their work would perish, and they would be saved like ‘ brands plucked out of the fire.’ to According to the grace of God which was given me, as a wise master-builder I laid the foundation, and another is building 1ronit. But let each see to it how he is building on it. For another foundation can none lay beside that already in 12place; and this is Jesus Christ. And if one is building on the foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, 13 the work of each will become manifest ; for the Day will show it, because the Day is being revealed in fire,1 and the fire is the 14 thing that will test the quality of each man’s work. If one’s work which he built on the foundation shall remain, he will 15 receive a wage ; if one’s work shall be consumed, he will suffer the loss of it ; yet he will himself be saved, but only as ‘ through 16 fire.’? Do you not know that you are God’s Sanctuary, and 17 the Spirit of God dwells in you? If one is spoiling the Sanctuary of God, God will spoil him. For the Sanctuary of God is holy ; and so are you.® 1: ἀποκαλύπτεται, pres., because the Day was conceived as imminent. Cf. i Eh. Vv. 2: 2 A proverbial phrase. Cf. Ps. Ixvi. 12; Am. iv. 11; Zech. iii. 2; Jud. 23. Equally alien from the Apostle’s thought are (1) Chrys.’s interpretation that, while his work will be consumed, the man himself will live on in the torment of eternal fire, and (2) the medizval reference to Purgatory (cf. Aquin. Summ. Tiheol., Suppl. Xcrx. iv. 3). τ 8. οἵτινες, relat. attracted into agreement with subj. of its own clause (cf. Gal. iii. 16; 1 Tim. iii. 15). Not ‘and this Sanctuary you are,’ which would be a superfluous repetition of ver. 16, but ‘and this (z.¢., ‘holy’) you are.’ The folly of intellec- tual con- ceit. Job v. 13. Ps. xciv. TEs The illegi- timacy of human judgment. Cf. Ac. Xxv. 26. Cf ii. τὰ; 15. 252 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL And more than this. The intellectuals were not merely preparing disaster for themselves on the Day of Judgment ; they were incurring present loss. The conceit of wisdom is always folly, and God always puts it to shame. And the spirit of partisanship is a narrowing of religion. When the Corinthians attached themselves to a particular teacher, they enjoyed only so much profit as he could impart. But every teacher is merely an interpreter of the Lord, and his interpretation is at the best but partial. Hold by Paul, and you receive only what Paul can give; hold by Apollos, and you receive only what Apollos can give; hold by Cephas, and you receive only what Cephas can give. But all that each has is in Christ ; and if you hold by Him, then you have all that His interpreters can supply, and infinitely more. x8 Let no one deceive himself. If any one fancies he is wise among you in this age, let him become foolish that he may 19 become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly in God’s judgment ; for it is written: ‘ He catches the wise in their 20 craftiness,’1 and again: ‘ The Lord recognises the reasonings 21 of the wise that they are futile.’ And so let no one boast in 2zmen. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or 23 world or life or death: all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s. Christian teachers are ‘ stewards of God’s mysteries,’ and of course they are responsible for their discharge of their stewardship. But they are responsible to their Heavenly Master, and to Him alone; and not till the Great Day will they be called to account. According to the legal procedure of those days the accused was subjected to a precognition or preliminary examination and committed for trial if ‘a true bill’ were found against him.? And here lay the audacious blunder of the Corinthians. They were anticipating the Final Assize and usurping the office of the Divine Judge. At the best human criticism is a mere precognition, a pre- liminary examination; and, as the Apostle has already protested, a mere intellectual’s examination of spiritual questions is worthless. He recognised no human ‘day’ 1 Paul does follow LXX (ὁ καταλαμβάνων σοφοὺς ἐν τῇ φρονήσει) but translates directly and more accurately. 2 Cf. Lightfoot, Fresh Revision of N. T., pp. 62 ff. THE THIRD MISSION 253 and no human ‘judgment.’ There was no day but ‘the cris. Day of Jesus Christ’ and no judgment but His; and mean- while the only ‘examination’ which he acknowledged was neither man’s criticism nor his own estimate but the Lord’s approval. iv.x Let a man reckon us as officers of Christ and stewards of 2God’s mysteries. On these terms of course it is required in 3stewards that one should be found faithful; but to me it matters very little that I should be examined by you or by a 4human day. Nay,I do not even examine myself. For I am conscious of no fault,! yet Iam not on this score proved 5 righteous ; my examiner is the Lord. And so pass no judg- ment prematurely, until the Lord comes, who will illumine the secrets of darkness and manifest the purposes of our hearts ; and then will each get his praise from God. It might be that the Corinthians would sneer at this brave speech. If Paul had indeed so little regard for human judg- ment, why had he taken such pains to answer their criticisms and define the relations between himself and Apollos? He answers that in all his references to Apollos and himself he had the Corinthians in view, and was censuring their vanity and seeking to recall them to sane and scriptural views. Their boasted excellences were God’s gifts, and they were reasons for thankfulness rather than for pride. Their conceit was boundless. They had, in their own esteem, attained the very summit of perfection, and with scathing sarcasm he contrasts their self-complacency with the hard estate of the Apostles, scorned and persecuted for Christ’s sake. 6. Now, brothers, in these references of mine to Apollos and myself there is a covert allusion.? It is meant for you, that you may learn by our example the precept ‘ Abide by what is written,’ so that none of you may brag windily in praise of 1 οὐδὲν ἐμαυτῳ σύνοιδα, nihil mihi conscius sum, ‘1 am aware of nothing,’ z.e., no guilt. Cf. Plat. Afol. 21 B: ἐγὼ yap δὴ οὔτε μέγα οὔτε σμικρὸν σύνοιδα ἐμαυτῷ σοφὸς dv. Hor. Efzst. τ. i. 61: ‘nil conscire sibi, nulla pallescere culpa.’ 2 μετασχηματίζειν, (1) ‘change the σχῆμα, outward form’ (cf. 2 Cor. xi. 13-15 5 Phil. iii. 21); so ‘disguise’ (cf. 1 Sam. xxviii. 8 Sym. ; 1 Ki. xiv. 2 Theod.). (2) σχῆμι, figura, as a grammatical term denoted ‘a veiled allusion.’ Cf, Quintil. 1x. 2; Mart. Zpégr. 11. Ixviii. 7; Suet. Dom. 10; Juv. Vit. : ‘Venit ergo Juvenalis in suspicionem quasi tempora figurate notasset.’ Hence μετασχηματίζειν, ‘have a covert allusion beyond the immediate reference.’ The self- compla- cency of the Cor- inthians and the ignominy of the Apostles. Cf, Rev. MEI. 254 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL zone to his neighbour’s disparagement. For who is it that distinguishes any of you? And what has any of you which he did not receive? And if he did receive it, why is he boasting 8as though he had not received it? Already you are satiated ! Already you have waxed rich! You have come to your kingdom and left us behind! Ah, would that you had come 9to your kingdom, that we might share it with you! For, I fancy, God has exhibited us, the Apostles, at the last as con- demned criminals,! because we have been made a spectacle to 1othe world, both to angels and to men. We are foolish for Christ’s sake, but you are shrewd in Christ ; we are weak, but 1ryou are strong; your lot is glory, but ours dishonour. To this very hour we are hungry and thirsty, ill clad, buffeted, 12 homeless ; we toil, working with our own hands; we meet 13 reviling with blessing, persecution with patience, calumny with entreaty ; we are made as the offscouring of the world, the scapegoat of all,? to this very day. 1 A metaphor from the circus. The sated appetite of the spectators was stimulated at the close by a piquant entertainment: condemned criminals, ἐπιθανάτιοι (cf. Chrys. : ‘ws ἐπιθανατίους,᾽ τουτέστιν, ws καταδίκους), were intro- duced to fight unarmed with wild beasts (cf. xv. 32)—the final event of the performance (ἐσχάτους). These were the destzarzz. Cf. Tert. De Pudic. 14: ‘Et puto, nos Deus apostolos novissimos elegit velut bestiarios.’ 2 περίψημα, literally ‘scrapings,’ denoted (1), like κάθαρμα and περικάθαρμα, the refuse or scum of society, a rascal. Cf. purgamentum. (2) It acquired a nobler signification from a custom which obtained at Athens, where, especially in time of plague or famine, a criminal, the vilest that could be procured, was thrown into the sea to propitiate the wrath of Poseidon. Cf. Phot. Zex.: οὕτως ἐπέλεγον τῷ κατ᾽ ἐνιαυτὸν ἐμβαλλομένῳ νεανίᾳ ἐπὶ ἀπαλλαγῇ τῶν συνεχόντων κακῶν. “περίψημα ἡμῶν γενοῦ᾽, ἤτοι σωτηρία καὶ ἀπολύτρωσις, καὶ οὕτως ἐνέβαλον τῇ θαλάσσῃ ὡσανεὶ τῷ Ποσειδῶνι θυσίαν ἀποκτίννυντες. Hence περίψημα and περικάθαρμα came to signify a pracular offering. Cf. Tob. v. 18: ἀργύριον... περίψημα τοῦ παιδίου ἡμῶν γένοιτο. Prov. xxi. 18: περικάθαρμα δὲ δικαίου ἄνομος. So in his interpretation of the prophecy of Caiaphas (Jo. xi. 49, 50) Origen ‘makes bold to say’ that our Lord, more than the Apostles, was πάντων περίψημα, comparing 2 Cor. v. 21 (Jz Zvang. Joan. xxviii. 14). (3) The word was used in the general sense of ‘a devoted servant,’ especially in the epistolary formula ἐγώ εἰμι περίψημά cov. Cf. Ignat. Ad Eph. viii: περίψημα ὑμῶν, καὶ ἁγνίζομαι ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν. Barn. Zp. iv. 9; vi. 5. This use is well exemplified in the Paschal Epistle of Dionysius the Great (Eus. Wzst. Eccl. vil. 22), where, speaking of the plague at Alexandria, he describes how the Christians tended the sufferers with unselfish devotion, in many instances catching the fatal infection and thus ‘practically fulfilling the common phrase, which always seems a mere formula of courtesy, by dying ‘‘the devoted servants” of them all (αὐτῶν πάντων περίψημα). Thus πάντων περίψημα denotes ‘homines non solum abjectissimi, sed piaculares’ (Beng.) ; and the Apostle means that the humiliation of himself and his comrades was a redemptive ministry (cf. Col. i. 24), Perhaps the nearest equivalent in modern speech is ‘scapegoat’; but the term is untranslatable, and the Vulg. simply transliterates it (omescum peripsema). THE THIRD MISSION 255 These were bitter words, and no sooner had they passed An affec his lips than the Apostle’s heart smote him, and he con- τομιοης cludes with an affectionate remonstrance. The Corinthians s'™@nce were his converts, his spiritual children. He was their ‘father in Christ,’ and thus he stood to them in a relation which none of his successors, however faithful and devoted, could occupy. There was love in his severity ; his rebukes were the admonitions of a father. It grieved him that they had so slighted his example ; and—such was then his in- tention—he was despatching Timothy, another of his spiritual children, to Corinth, not merely to deliver the letter but to recall him and his teaching to their remembrance. Why did he not rather visit them in person? It was not, as his adversaries alleged, because he durst not confront them. He would visit them ere long; and his hope was that his letter and Timothy’s appeal would meanwhile restore order and make his visit a pleasure and not a pain. 1% Iam not putting you to shame in writing all this; no, 151 am admonishing you as my beloved children. For, though you have ten thousand tutors! in Christ, still you have not many fathers; it was I who begat you in Christ 16 Jesus through the Gospel. Therefore, I beseech you, follow 17my example. It is for this very reason that I am sending? you Timothy. He is my child, beloved and faithful in the Lord; and he will remind you of my ways in Christ Jesus—my manner of teaching everywhere in every church. 18 With the notion that I am not coming to you some of you 19have taken to windy bragging. But I shall come to you soon, if the Lord will, and I shall discover not what those zowindy braggarts are saying but what power they have; for it is not in ‘saying’ that the Kingdom of God lies but 2tin ‘ power.” Which do you wish? Is it ‘with a rod’ that Cf. 2Sam. I am to come to you, or in love and a spirit of meekness ? ὙΠ χες Pss, ii. 9, Ixxxix. 32. The Apostle next passes on to the second of the scandals 2. Fornica which were disgracing the Corinthian Church—that shameful "°™ case of immorality. It was now a thing of long standing. Several months ago it had reached his ears, and he had promptly written to them, charging them to deal with the offender and dictating the sentence which they should 1 Cf. pp. 206 f. 3 ἔπεμψα, epistolary aorist. Cf. p. 219. Jusistence on dis- cipline. 256 TIPE AND LET TEs OP ΒΤ: pronounce. But his mandate had been disregarded. The scandal continued, and they were unabashed and un- ashamed. He reiterates his mandate. They might in their unspiritual self-complacency think it a little matter; but even a little matter might work much evil. Was it not a proverb that ‘a little leaven leavens the whole mass’ ? 1 The Feast of the Passover was approaching,” when the Law required that the Israelites should purge their houses of leaven; and he bids them celebrate the holy season by purging this evil leaven out of their midst. v. 1 There is a consistent report 5 of fornication among you, and fornication of a sort which is unknown even among the 2 Gentiles: some one * has his father’s wife. And youareswollen with windy pride, and did not rather mourn, that the doer of 3 this work might be removed from your midst. For I, absent in the body but present in the spirit, have already passed judgment as though present on him who thus wrought this 4thing: ‘In the name of the Lord Jesus: assembled—you and 5 my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus: deliver such a man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit 6 may be saved on the Day of the Lord.’® It is nothing honour- Δ ὍΣ ps 211. 2 Cf. Append. I. 3 ὅλως, all the reports agreed—a solid consensus. 4 τινα, ‘a certain one,’ well known, though the Apostle refrains from naming hime, / Che Coli nis: ® Here he quotes the formal resolution which in his first letter he had directed the Corinthian Church to adopt. First (ver. 4), the constitution of the judicial assembly : (1) its authority—‘in the name of the Lord Jesus’ (cf. Mt. xviii. 20; Col. ili. 17) ; and (2) the sederunt : (a) the members of the Church (ὑμῶν), (ὁ) the spirit of the absent Apostle (cf. ver. 3), who communicated his judgment, and (c) ‘the power of the Lord Jesus’ (cf. Lk. v. 17). So Chrys., Calv., Grot. Otherwise: 1. Construe ‘with the power of the Lord Jesus’ with ‘deliver’ (Beza). 2. ‘In the name of the Lord Jesus’ with ‘deliver,’ ‘assembled .. . Jesus’ being parenthetical (Luth., Beng. Mey., Alford). 3. Both ‘in the name of the Lord Jesus’ and ‘with the power of our Lord Jesus’ with ‘deliver’ (Mosheim). 4. Connect ‘in the name of the Lord Jesus’ with ver. 3: ‘him who thus wrought this thing in the sacred name,’ Ζ.6., while professing to be a Christian (a view mentioned by Chrys.). Then follows the sentence (ver. δ). This has been interpreted in two ways (cf. Aug. Contra Epist. Parmen. 111. 3): 1. The miraculous infliction of some bodily punishment, perhaps even death—the view of Chrys., whose advocacy of it is responsible for its general acceptance. He supposes that the offender was to be stricken judicially with ‘an evil ulcer or other disease,’ comparing Job’s trial by Satan (Job ii. 7) and the doom incurred by certain Corinthians for sacrilegious observance of the Holy Supper (xi. 30-33). Cf. Baur, St. Paul, 1. pp. 299 ff. The cases of Ananias and Sapphira (Ac. v. THE: THIRD MISSION 257 able, this boast of yours. Do you not know that ‘a little 7leaven leavens the whole mass’? Clear out the stale leaven, that you may be a fresh mass, unleavened as indeed you are. 8 For our Passover was sacrificed, even Christ; and so let us keep the Feast not with stale leaven nor with leaven of malice and wickedness but with unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. In his first letter the Apostle had strenuously enjoined A ms- on the Corinthians the avoidance of contaminating inter- τε course. ‘ For,’ he asks in a surviving fragment of the letter, corrected. ‘what participation have righteousness and lawlessness ? ? ee ἘΠ Or what fellowship has light with darkness?’ His counsel had been misconstrued, partly, perhaps, in all good faith by the ascetic party in their zeal for moral purity, and partly also by the libertines in their resentment of moral restraint. It had been represented as an injunction to have dealings only with the morally irreproachable, and this was denounced as an impossible requirement. It would necessitate separa- tion from the world and the conversion of the Church into a community of recluses. The perversion of his counsel had reached the Apostle’s ears, and he now corrects it and I-11) and Elymas (xiii. 8-11) are generally adduced. 2. The sentence signifies merely exclusion from the fellowship of the Church (ver. 11; cf. Mt. xviii. 17) and from participation in her ordinances in order that the offender might recognise the heinousness of his sin and be moved to repentance (Ambrstr.). It may seem as though a bodily chastisement were implied by ‘the destruction of the flesh’; but in Paul’s thought ‘the flesh’ denotes not the body merely but the body corrupted by sin, the seat of evil passions, The body (σῶμα) is a sacred thing destined to incorruption at the Resurrection ; and its destruction would not be the salvation of the man but his mutilation, as Chrys. recognises (‘if the soul is saved, beyond all contradiction the body will share its salvation’). It is the sinful flesh that is to be destroyed through repentance, that the man himself, soul and body, may be saved. ‘Deliver to Satan’ is the converse of ‘baptise into Christ’ (cf. Gal. iii. 27; Rom. vi. 3). As one ‘baptised into Christ’ is ‘in Christ,’ so one ‘delivered to Satan’ is ‘in the Evil One’ (cf. 1 Jo. v. 19). The sentence was that the offender, who claimed to be ‘in Christ,’ should be relegated to his true position, ‘in Satan,’ in order that he might realise the misery and shame of it. The phrase recurs in 1 Tim. i. 20, It is not the regular phrase for ‘excommunicate,’ which was ἀποσυνάγωγον ποιεῖν (cf. Jo, ix, 22, xii. 42, xvi. 2) or ἀφορίζειν (cf. Lk. vi. 22) ; and apparently the Apostle here employs the Greek formula of execration, which runs thus on one of the Magical Papyri in British Museum : νεκυδαίμων, παραδίδωμι σοι τὸν δ(εῖνα), ὅπως .. .’, ‘Spirit of the Dead, I deliver to thee X, in order that...’ This formula would be familiar to the Corinthians. R Dt. xxii. 24. 3. Litiga- tion. Dan. vii. 2:5. LIFE AND LETTERS Or ST. PAUL explains that he had not referred to the inevitable inter- course of human society but to the fellowship of the Church. 9 I wrote to you in my letter that you should not associate το with fornicators ; not, certainly, the fornicators of this world or the greedy and extortioners or idolaters, since you would αι then have to quit the world. And now I write to you that you should not associate with any one bearing the name of ‘brother ’ who is a fornicator or greedy or an idolater or a reviler or a drunkard or an extortioner—that with a person 12 of this sort you should not even eat. For what have I to do with judging those outside? Is it not of those within that 13 you are judges? Those without God will judge. ‘ Remove the evil man from your own company.’ And now the Apostle passes to the third scandal. The Corinthians were naturally a contentious people; and that deplorable case of immorality had enkindled their animosi- ties. They bandied accusations and recriminations, and they carried their quarrels before the heathen magistrates. It was a pitiful exposure of the Church’s shame; and it is no wonder that it should have moved the Apostle to indignant protest. First, he points out that it was unnecessary, since the Church, like her model, the Jewish Synagogue, had a judicature of her own, and if one Christian had a grievance against another, it was before the Church’s court that he should bring it and not before a heathen tribunal. It is written that ‘judgment is given to the saints’: they will judge the world, both men and angels; and surely, he x. argues with keen irony, they are competent for the adjudica- tion of petty grievances—an office which demanded no high spirituality and was fitly entrusted to the Church’s lesser rulers. Indeed, he continues, there should be no litigation between Christians. It is always a losing fight, and the winner has the worst of it. For the only true victory lies in the sufferance of wrong. τα Has any of you the effrontery, when he has an affair with his neighbour, to go to law beiore the unrighteous and not 2 before the saints? Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is judged at your bar, 3are vou unfit for petty tribunals? Do you not know that 1 yor δὲ ἔγραψα, epistolary aorist. Cf, p, 219. THE THIRD MISSION 259 4we shall judge angels, let alone secular affairs?’ Rather, if you have secular tribunals, place them that are naught 5 accounted in the Church—place these on the bench.” I say it to move you to shame. Has it come to this, that there is no one among you wise enough to be able to intervene and 6decide his brother’s case, but brother goes to law with 7 brother, and that before strangers to the Faith? To go no farther, the fact is that you are absolutely the losers in having lawsuits with one another. Why not rather be wronged ? 8 Why not rather be defrauded? Nay, it is you that do the 9wronging and defrauding, and that to brothers. Or do you not know that wrong-doers shall not inherit God’s Kingdom ? Be not deceived. Neither fornicators nor idolaters nor toadulterers nor sodomites nor thieves nor greedy persons, no drunkards, no revilers, no extortioners shall inherit 11God’s Kingdom. And all this some of you used to be; but you washed yourselves clean, you were sanctified, you were accounted righteous in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.’ At this point the progress of the letter was arrested by a Arrival of welcome interruption—the arrival of three delegates from aoe Corinth, Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus, bearing a ‘lesates. communication from their Church. It was the long expected Cf. xvi. 17 answer to the Apostle’s first letter, and it necessitated an extensive alteration of his plans. His intention had been that on the completion of the present letter Timothy should ¢, ;, ων, convey it to its destination, and not only reinforce its argu- 18. ment but refute the allegation that Paul was afraid to visit Corinth and face his critics by explaining the true reason of his protracted sojourn at Ephesus. And indeed an explanation was needed ; for his original intention had been cf 2 cor. to make but a brief stay in the Asian capital, and proceed :: 15, 16. thence to Corinth and, save for an excursion to Macedonia, remain there until the close of his mission, thus affording 1 βιωτικός was used like the medieval secu/aris in contrast with religiosus. Cf. Chrys. on Rom. xiii. 1: ταῦτα διατάττεται καὶ ἱερεῦσι καὶ povaxois, οὐχὶ τοῖς βιωτικοῖς μόνον. , ® τοὺς ἐξουθενημένους ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ, not Apostles or Prophets or Teachers but such as were endowed with the humbler gifts of administrative capacity (cf. xii. 28). Otherwise: ‘Do you place on the bench those who are set at naught in the Church (¢.¢., heathen magistrates)?’ This, however, ignores μὲν οὖν, immo vero (cf. Lk. xi. 28). 3 Vers. 12-20, a fragment of the first letter. Cf. p. 236. Cf. 1 Cor. xvi. 8, 9. Cf. 1 Cor. VIE Ὁ; Ὁ: Mission of Timothy to Mace- donia and Corinth. Ac. xix. 22: cf. I Cor. xvi. Err, 260, “LIFE ‘AND LET TERS OP sis PAUL the Corinthians the privilege of a second ministry in their midst. This promise he had been unable to fulfil, for he had been detained at Ephesus by the unexpected emergence of precious opportunities and imperative claims; and he reckoned that he must remain a full year longer. His present intention was to leave Ephesus after Pentecost, 56.1 Nor would he even then proceed direct to Corinth. Trouble had arisen in the north. It seems that the Judaist propa- gandists, in their passage from Galatia to Achaia, had travelled through Macedonia and had prosecuted their mischievous enterprise en voute; and thus the Macedonian churches, so lately convulsed by eschatological excitement, were in the throes of another and more bitter controversy. And therefore his intention was that on his departure from Ephesus in May, 56, he should betake himself in the first instance to Macedonia, and, after allaying the trouble, proceed to Corinth and there perhaps pass the ensuing winter. All this it was expedient that the Corinthians should understand, in order that their minds might be disabused of the suspicion that he had played them false; and Timothy would have explained it on delivering the letter. But now the letter was delayed. It must be extended to cover the questions raised by the Corinthian communication; and since these were numerous and difficult, it would be some time ere it was completed. And since the delegates would convey it on their return, Timothy was relieved of that office, and he was meanwhile available for another and most urgent service. He would still indeed visit Corinth as Paul’s deputy, but he would travel thither by the over- land route and visit the distracted churches of Macedonia by the way. It was a difficult mission, and the Apostle associated with him several of his Ephesian company, particularly Erastus. He calculated that they would reach Corinth soon after the delivery of the letter by the three delegates, and they would reinforce its argument by their personal appeal. ᾧ Δ Τὴ the year 56 the Day of Pentecost was May 9. Cf. Lewin, Fast. Sas., P. 307. THE THIRD MISSION 261 And now he resumes his interrupted task and proceeds to The Cor- discuss the problems which the Corinthian rescript pro- cabans pounded. That document has of course perished,! but the course of the Apostle’s argument discloses its general pur- port. It was a statement of the controversy which had arisen out of that disgracefulscandal—a Corinthian Christian’s union with his stepmother. That was the original casus belli between the ascetics and the libertines, but the con- troversy had travelled beyond it. Fresh issues had emerged, and these it had been decided to submit to the Apostle’s consideration. They concerned sexual relations: things sacrificed to idols: abuses in public worship: spiritual gifts: the resurrection of the body: the collection for the poor at Jerusalem. The statement would be drawn up by the Elders of the Church, and they deputed three of their number to convey it to Ephesus and expound it to the Apostle. Probably these were representatives of the con- flicting parties. Stephanas, the earliest of his converts in Achaia and his tried friend, would represent Paul’s supporters, while Achaicus and Fortunatus would appear on behalf of the ascetics and the libertines.® Disappointing though it was, the Corinthian communica- The | ‘tion afforded the Apostle no small gratification. It ex- seeds plained the long delay in replying to his first letter. His “ *% 7 disciplinary mandate had not indeed been executed, but it had been seriously considered and the rescript invited dis- cussion of large and important problems. It was a precious opportunity, and he gladly embraced it in the hope of effecting a complete and enduring settlement. His gratifica- tion appears in the kindlier tone which characterises the remainder of his letter. He desists from sarcasm, and addresses himself to high and serious argument, and labours to resolve the perplexities of his friends. 1 The canon of the Armenian Church contains two brief and absolutely worth- less letters, purporting to be the Corinthian communication and Paul’s reply. Cf. Fabricius, Cod, Apocr. N. T., pp. 918 sq. ; Giles, Cod. Apocr. N. T., U. PP: 509 sq. *-Ci. po 148: 3 Since tradition, after its wont, makes Achaicus one of the Seventy Apostles, it may perhaps be inferred that he was a Jewish Christian and the representative of the ascetic party. I, Sexual relations. (1) The legitimacy of mar- riage. (2) Divorce. δ LIFE AND LETTERS OF Si PAU The rescript submitted a group of problems connected with the relation of the sexes. The first of these was the question of the legitimacy of marriage, which the ascetics contemned. If they did not prohibit it outright, they at all events counselled celibacy as the more honourable estate. The Apostle’s decision is that marriage is not merely legitimate but, as a rule, expedient. He would rather indeed that his own example were followed. He was a widower,! and he had remained unmarried ; but the grace of continence was not granted to all, and his concession was absolute. In every case ‘ marriage is better than the fever of desire.’ ν᾿ Regarding the doctrine you write about, that ‘it is 2honourable for a man never to touch a woman’: Since fornication is so frequent, let each man have his own wife 3and each woman her proper husband. Let the husband pay the wife her due, and the wife pay the husband his. 4Ἰἰ is not the wife that has authority over her own body, but the husband; and likewise it is not the husband that 5 has authority over his own body, but the wife. Never defraud one another, unless it be by agreement for a season, that you may devote yourselves to prayer 5 and then resume your relationship, lest Satan tempt you since you lack self-control. 6, 71 say this by way of concession, not of injunction; and I wish that all men were like myself. But each has his own gift of grace from God, one in this way and another in that. 8And I say to widowers and widows,’ it is honourable for gthem if they remain like me; yet if they be lacking in self- control, let them marry; for marriage is better than the fever of desire.4 Then he turns to the question of divorce; and here there is no need for argument. The Lord had delivered His verdict, and that was final. Divorce is illegitimate except for adultery; and a divorced woman must remain un- married or else be reconciled to her husband. 2 Chpe st ® T. R. ‘fasting and prayer... N*ABCDEFGP om. τῇ νηστείᾳ καί. A similar ascetic interpolation occurs in Mk. ix. 29. Cf. The Historic Jesus, p. 73. BREE. 31s 0. 4 πυροῦσθαι, ‘be consumed with the fire of lust’ (cf. Rom. i. 27), not ‘be burned in Gehenna for their sin’ (Cypr. Epis. Δ 17 ad Pompon. iv). | THE THIRD MISSION 263 ro To the married my charge—not mine but the Lord’s—is that . 11a wife should not be divorced from a husband ; but if she be cy, mt. y, divorced, ‘et her remain unmarried, or else let her be reconciled 32. to her husband ; and that a husband should not put away his wife, Here the question presents itself whether unbelief is a(,) Mixed legitimate reason for divorce. Since, according to the m@iages Scriptures, idolatry is spiritual whoredom, it was maintained that a convert whose spouse remained a heathen should seek divorce; and the idea, it appears, had been encouraged by the Apostle’s warning in his first letter against being 2 cor, vi. ‘incongruously yoked with strangers to the Faith.’ πὶ On this question there was no express decision of the Lord, yet he answers it with absolute confidence. Amixed marriage ᾿ should not be dissolved where there was mutual contentment. It was not an unholy union, since, by the law of imputation, the believer sanctified the unbeliever ; and, moreover, there was always the hope that the believer might win the un- believer. Where, however, contentment was lacking, it was legitimate to sever the union in the interest of peace. 12 Totherest I say—I, not the Lord: Ifany brother has a wife who is a stranger to the Faith, and she is well pleased to dwell 13 with him, let him not put her away ; and a wife—if she has a husband who is a stranger to the Faith, and he is well pleased 14 to dwell with her, let her not put her husband away. For the husband who is a stranger to the Faith has been hallowed by fellowship with his wife, and the wife who is a stranger to the Faith has been hallowed by fellowship with the brother ; else ts5your children are unclean, but as it is they are holy. If, however, the stranger to the Faith seeks divorce, let him have it: the brother or the sister is not enslaved in such cases. 16 It is in peace that God has called you. For how do you know, wife, but that you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, but that you will save your wife ? The grand principle was that ‘it is in peace that God has Godly con. called us.’ Christianity destroys nothing; it transfigures την everything. It takes our lives as it finds them, and enters graciously into them, blessing and enriching them. Hence it follows that, whatever be a man’s condition at his con- version, he should maintain it and live the new life amid the ‘Christ’s slave.’ vi. 20. δὰ LIFE AND “LETTERS ΘΕ PAUL old surroundings. For example, a Jew should not undo his circumcision ; nor need a slave fret that he must remain a slave. Slavery was indeed a grievous condition, and if an opportunity of emancipation offered, it should be welcomed. But the rule was that ‘ where each was called, there he should remain in God’s company.’ A believer, though he was a slave, was ‘ the Lord’s freedman’ ; and though he was free, he was still ‘ Christ’s slave.’ 17 Only, as the Lord has apportioned to each, as God has called each, so let him comport himself. And so Iam giving 18 order in all the churches. Had one been circumcised when he was called? Let him not undo the operation.1 Has one been called in uncircumcision? Let him not be cir- 19cumcised. Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is zonothing: keeping God’s commandments is everything. In atthe calling wherein each was called, let him remain. Were you a slave when you were called? Never mind; but if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.? 22 For one who was a slave when he was called in the Lord is the Lord’s freedman ; similarly, one who was free when he was 23 called is a slave of Christ. ‘ You were bought at a price’: 24 become not slaves of men. Where each was called, brothers, there let him remain in God’s company. The Apostle had a special reason for thus introducing the question of slavery and enlarging uponit. In his first letter, by way of inculcating the moral obligation of redemption, 1 This was sometimes done by Jews to escape Gentile taunts in the baths and gymnasia (cf. Schtirer, I. i. p. 203). On the method cf. Wetstein. 2 μᾶλλον χρῆσαι admits of two interpretations. 1. Supply τῇ δουλείᾳ : ‘although (cf. Lk. xi. 8) you can gain your freedom, rather remain in slavery’ (μᾶλλον δούλευε). So Chrys. : θέλων δεῖξαι ὅτι οὐδὲν βλάπτει ἡ δουλεία ἀλλὰ καὶ ὠφελεῖ, Similarly Ambrstr. (who regards the precept as corrective of a possible mis- understanding: ‘lest perhaps, on hearing, ‘‘ Were you a slave whem you were called? Never mind,” one should be more negligent in good service of his master after the flesh, and thus the doctrine of Christ should be blasphemed’), Beng., Meyer, Alford. 2. Supply τῇ ἐλευθερίᾳ : ‘if indeed (cf. Lk. xi. 18) you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of it,’ εἰ δύνασαι ἐλευθερωθῆναι, ἐλευθερώθητι (Chrys., who quotes this interpretation disapprovingly). So Luth., Beza, Calv., Grot., Lightfoot. This is preferable, since it is natural to supply τῇ ἐλευθερίᾳ from ἐλεύθερος. On χρῆσθαι in the sense of ‘avail oneself of an opportunity within one’s reach,’ cf. ix. 12, 15. The Apostle does not mean that slavery is actually the preferable condition but only that it should be accepted when it is one’s appointed lot. ¥ THE THIRD MISSION 265 he had written: ‘ You are not your own; for you were bought at a price. Glorify God, then, in your body’; and it seems that the Corinthians had asked what redemption was worth if it was only a new bondage. Paul answers with that paradox: ‘ The Lord’s freedman, Christ’s slave.’ Here is a magnificent conception which had captivated his imagination and colours all his thought of redemption. It was based upon a merciful Greek usage. When a slave was hardly treated, he might take refuge in a temple, particularly the Temple of Theseus or the Temple of the Erinnyes at Athens, and claim the privilege of being sold to the deity.t He had previously brought thither his purchase-price, the hoarding of his poor peculium, and when this was handed over to his master in the presence of witnesses, he forthwith passed into the god’s possession, and thenceforth he was unassailably and irrevocably free. He did not pass into the service of the temple. He had been ‘ bought for freedom.’ He was the god’s property, and it would have been sacrilege for any mortal to claim dominion over him.? And here the Apostle recognised an image of the Christian Redemption. The sinner is ‘a slave of sin,’ and the legalist Rom. vi. is ‘a slave of the Law’; but when he‘ entrusts himself to ἢ ἰν. Christ for freedom,’ he is ‘ bought at a price,’ and thenceforth 1.7) ¥- τ' he is ‘called for freedom.’ He is ‘ Christ’s slave,’ and it Se were sacrilege that he should ever again ‘ become a slave of ©2!. ν. 13. man ’ or ‘ again get into the grip of a yoke of slavery.’ His oe ear slavery to Christ is a sacred freedom, a complete and irre- δ: τ' vocable emancipation. And hence, when Paul styled himself cf. Rom. ‘a slave of Jesus Christ,’ it was no epithet of self-abasement ἢ τ᾿ ΤΡ 1 Cf. schol. on Aristoph. Zguzt. 1308; Suidas under Θησεῖον ; Plut. Thes. 36; Pollux, VII. 13. 3 The usage is exemplified by an inscription recently discovered at Delphi (cf. Deissmann, Light from the Ancient East, pp. 327 ff.). It is dated the first year of 2nd cc. B.c. ἐπρίατο ὁ ᾿Απόλλων ὁ Πύθιος παρὰ Σωσιβίου ᾿Αμφισσέος ἐπ᾽ ἐλευθερίᾳ σῶμα γυναικεῖον ᾧ ὄνομα Νίκαια, τὸ γένος Ρωμαίαν, τιμᾶς ἀργυρίου μνᾶν τριῶν καὶ ἡμιμναίου. προαποδότας κατὰ τὸν νόμον Εὔμναστος ᾿Αμφισσεύς: τὰν τιμὰν ἀπέχει. τὰν δὲ ὠνὰν ἐπίστευσε Νίκαια τῷ ᾿Απόλλωνι ἐπ᾽ ἐλευθερίᾳ, ‘The Pythian Apollo bought from Sosibius of Amphissa for freedom a woman slave named Niczea, by race a Roman, at a price of three and a half mine of silver. Previous vendor according to the law, Eumnastus of Amphissa. The price received. And the purchase (z.¢., herself) Nicaea entrusted to Apollo for freedom.’ Then follow the signatures of the witnesses (4) Vir- ginity. 206. LIFE-AND LETTRERS*°OR Sf. ΓΗ but a title of supreme honour, his proudest boast. Because he was ‘ Christ’s slave,’ he was ‘ the Lord’s freedman.’ The next question related to the practice of virginity which already prevailed among the Jewish sect of the Essenes,! and which by and by came into high repute in the Christian Church. It was thus early advocated by the ascetic party at Corinth as a special merit in both sexes. Here again the Apostle confesses that the Lord had left no decision, and he propounds his own judgment with un- concealed diffidence. It follows from the legitimacy of marriage that there is no essential excellence in virginity. This he allows; nevertheless there was a consideration which weighed with him and disposed him, in existing circum- stances, to concede the ascetic contention. The Day of the Lord, according to the confident though mistaken expectation of the Apostolic Church, was at hand; and in view of that imminent consummation and its disastrous prelude it were well that a Christian, as he valued his own peace and desired to acquit himself worthily, should refrain from worldly entanglements. The Lord’s cause claimed his entire devotion, and domestic cares would distract his mind. Michelangelo never married, alleging that ‘ art is a sufficiently exacting mistress’; and are the claims of the Kingdom of Heaven less engrossing or less imperative ? Hence, in existing circumstances, it seemed to the Apostle that celibacy was not merely a counsel of prudence but a Christian duty. Nevertheless he would leave it an open question, and he recognises a situation where marriage was expedient. Evidently he is dealing here with an actual case which had been submitted to his judgment—that of a Chris- tian who had plighted his troth and had since been persuaded of the excellence of virginity yet shrank from doing his fiancée a wrong. - His handling of the case is well illustrated by the story of Ammon, the Egyptian monk.? He found himself in that very position; and in deference to his kinsfolk’s impor- tunities he kept his troth, but on bringing his bride home he read to her the Apostle’s counsel in this passage and 1 Cf. p. 447. 9 Cf. Soer. Heel, Hist, tv. 23. THE THIRD MISSION 267 enlarged upon it, setting forth the ills of marriage and the advantages of virginity. His arguments prevailed, and the wedded yet virgin pair betook themselves to a hut in the Nitrian Desert and lived there for a while in pure companion- ship, until at her proposal they took up their abodes in separate huts and practised the ascetic life to the end of their days. It is such ‘ spiritual marriage ’ that the Apostle recommends where troth has been plighted and cannot without cruelty be broken; and the relationship must in nowise be con- founded with that perilous intimacy which clerics and monks maintained in after days with ‘ sisters ’ and ‘ beloved,’ and which was justly stigmatised as a scandal in the case of Paul of Samosata.1 The virginity which is here contem- plated is a triumph of heroic self-abnegation, a voluntary abstinence from legitimate indulgence; and the Apostle recognises the extreme difficulty of the achievement, and while recommending it does not enjoin it. It is marriage that he has in view; and while he suggests abstinence from its privileges, he freely permits their exercise. He distinctly reaffirms the permanence of the marriage-bond. Abstinence must be by mutual consent, and the refusal of nuptial rights would be an injustice. 25 Regarding virgins: ? I have no injunction of the Lord, but I give my judgment as one whose experience of the Lord’s 26 mercy entitles him to trust. I think, then, this is as a general principle 8 the honourable course in view of the present con- 27 straint—it is honourable for a man to be in this estate. Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek release. Have you no 28 wife to be released from? ‘* Do not seek one. If, however, you do marry, you have committed no sin; and if your 1 Cf. Eus. Hist. Eccl. vit. 30. It was in the course of this unhappy case that the ἀδελφαί or ἀγαπηταί were stigmatised by the Antiochenes, with their knack of coining epithets (cf. p. 67), as συνείσακτοι, virgines subintroducte. Cf. Heinichen on Eus. /.c., Exc. x11. ; Bingham, Azz. VI. ii. 13. 2 παρθένος was both masc. and fem. Cf. Rev. xiv. 4. ὁ παρθένος was a title of the Apostle John. 3. καλὸν ὑπάρχειν, cf. n. on Gal. ii. 14, p. 200. * λέλυσαι does not imply that the man has been bound. Cf. Ignat. 4d Magm. xii: ef γὰρ καὶ δέδεμαι, πρὸς ἕνα τῶν λελυμένων ὑμῶν οὐκ εἰμί, ‘though I am bound, I am not comparable with one of you who are free.’ 268 LIFE AND. LETTERS /OF (ST. PAUL virgin marry, she has committed no sin. But such persons will have distress in the flesh, and I am for sparing you, 29 This, however, I admit, brothers: Our opportunity is abridged; henceforth those who have wives must be as 30 though they had none,” and those who weep as though they did not weep, and those who rejoice as though they did not rejoice, and those who buy as though they possessed nothing, 31 and those who use the world as though they refrained from its full use ; for the world as it is now constituted is passing away. 32 And I wish you to be free from anxiety. The unmarried man is anxious about the Lord’s affairs—how he may please the 33 Lord ; while one who is married is anxious about the world’s 34 affairs—how he may please his wife; and so his interests are divided. Also the woman—the widow and the virgin 4—is anxious about the Lord’s affairs, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit ; but one who is married is anxious about 35 the world’s affairs—how she may please her husband. This I say for your profit, not that I may cast a halter round your necks; no, the end in view is seemliness and attendance on the Lord without distraction.® 36 But if one thinks he is behaving unseemly toward his virgin, in case he be over-lusty, and there is no help for it, let him do 37 what he desires ; he is not sinning; let them marry. But one who stands steadfast in his heart and has no constraint but has authority where his own will is concerned, and has decided in his own heart to keep his virgin intact, will do honourably. 38 And so, while one who puts his virgin to the use of marriage does honourably, one who refrains will do better.® 1 pyut, cf. x. 15, 193 xv. 50. 2 τὸ λοιπὸν ἵνα, ellipt., ‘henceforth (see to it) that.’ Cf. 2 Cor. viii. 73 Mk. v. 23. Tertullian’s ‘superest ut’ (4d Uxor. τ. 5) and Vulg. ‘reliquum est ut’ import a Latin idiom. 8 Epict. 111. xxii. 45-49 is an interesting parallel to this passage. 4 Reading μεμέρισται. καὶ ἡ γυνὴ ἡ ἄγαμος καὶ ἡ παρθένος μεριμνᾷ (W.-H., Nestle). Tisch.: τῇ γυναικί. καὶ μεμέρισται καὶ ἡ γυνὴ καὶ ἡ παρθένος" ἡ ἄγαμος μεριμνᾷ, ‘and there is a difference between the wife and the virgin: the unmarried woman is anxious.’ 5. ἀπερισπάστως, οἵ. Lk. x. 40: περιεσπᾶτο περὶ πολλὴν διακονίαν, ‘distracted about much service,’ the only other instance of the phrase in N. T.—a significant parallel. ° The situation here has been conceived in two ways. The prevailing idea, as old as Chrys. (cf. De Verg. 78), is that the Apostle is dealing with the case of a father who, recognising the excellence of virginity, would keep his daughter unmarried but fears he is dealing hardly with her when he sees her youth fading (ἐὰν ἡ ὑπέρακμος, ‘if she be past the flower of her age’). This is supported by (1) ὑπέρακμος, if it mean ‘ past the flower of youth,’ and (2) yauifev, if it must be understood as ‘give in marriage.’ On the other hand, it is irreconcilable with γαμείτωσαν, which can hardly mean anything else than ‘let them (#.¢., the τις and THE THIRD MISSION 269 39 A woman is bound all her husband’s life-time ; but if he be gone to his rest, she is free to marry whom she will, provided 4oit be in the Lord. But she is more blessed if she remain as she is, according to my judgment ; and I fancy too I have God’s Spirit. The second problem which the Corinthian rescript sub- 2. Things mitted to the Apostle was the legitimacy of eating things 9722" sacrificed to idols ; and this was a problem which inevitably confronted a Christian community in a heathen city. It was only a portion of a sacrificial victim that was consumed on the altar, sometimes only a few hairs ; and the remainder was used as food. The sacrifices were numerous, insomuch that the meat-market was largely furnished from the temples. And thus the likelihood was that the meat which a Christian purchased was the flesh of an idol-sacrifice, It may indeed have been possible for him, ere he made his purchase, to inquire and ascertain its origin ; but there was no such remedy when he was invited to the table of a heathen friend. It was the fashion for a devout heathen, by way of thanksgiving for good fortune, to hold a feast in the temple of his deity and invite his acquaintances to share it.1 It was a religious celebration, and participation was impossible for a Christian. His presence at the banquet would have been open idolatry, an act of homage to the heathen deity. It was, however, another matter when a Christian was invited by a heathen neighbour to visit his house and enjoy his hospitality. It was simply a social his παρθένος) marry.’ It is thus not a father but a lover that is in question, nor are the objections to this view valid. (1) ὑπέρακμος occurs only here, and while it might mean ‘ past the flower of youth,’ it may rather mean ‘exceedingly lusty.’ Cf. ὑπερακμάζειν, ‘excel in youthful vigour’ (Athen. 657 D). (2) γαμίζειν is found only in N. T. (cf. Mt. xxii. 30; xxiv. 38); and on the analogy of similar formations (cf. πελεκίζειν, ἱματίζειν, σαββατίζειν, ἰουδαΐζειν) it should denote, not ‘give in marriage,’ but rather ‘practise marriage,’ “put to the marriage-use.’ Moreover, neither ἀσχημονεῖν nor ἔχων ἀνάγκην is appropriate to mere paternal severity. The former implies gross zudecency (cf. Rom. i. 27; Rev. xvi. 15), and ἀνάγκη can only signify the constraint of passion overpowering ἐξουσίαν περὶ τοῦ ἰδίου θελήματος. 1 Specimens of such invitations have been unearthed at Oxyrhynchus. Oxyrk. Pap. 110: ἐρωτᾷ ce Χαιρήμων δειπνῆσαι εἰς κλείνην τοῦ κυρίου Σαράπιδος ἐν τῷ Σαραπείῳ αὔριον, ἥτις ἐστιν ve, ἀπὸ ὥρας θ, ‘Cheeremon invites you to dine at the table of the Lord Sarapis in the Temple of Sarapis to-morrow, the 15th, at 3 o'clock.’ Cf. No. 523. Conflicting opinions. δὴ LIFE* AND LETZLERS OF ei ia. occasion ; and why should a Christian refuse the invitation, and thus not merely exclude himself from kindly human intercourse but miss the opportunity for leavening the world ? Still a difficulty remained. The flesh of victims sacrificed in the heathen temples would be served without scruple at a heathen table; and was it legitimate for a Christian to partake of it ? | The question was agitating the Corinthian Church, and two opinions were hotly maintained. There was a scrupulous . party which absolutely condemned the eating of things — Arrogant liberalism. Cf. Dt. ΧΧΧΙ ΜΕ] PS..€Vi.137"; Rey. 1x, 20. sacrificed to idols, and there was a liberal party which regarded it as an affair of no moment ; and after the manner of controversialists each had run to an extreme. It appears” that the advocates of liberalism were in so far the worse offenders that they had sinned against the law of charity by assuming an air of superiority and regarding their opponents with supercilious contempt. At all events it is to them that’ the Apostle addresses his remonstrances and reproofs. : He begins by quoting a series of sentences from their statement of the controversy, and he dismisses each with a curt and incisive criticism. vii: Regarding things sacrificed to idols: ‘We are aware that we all have knowledge.’ Here speaks the self-complacent intellectual who has never learned the Socratic lesson that the beginning of knowledge is the recognition of one’s ignorance,! still less the Christian truth of the supremacy of love. And so the Apostle answers : Knowledge breeds windy conceit; it is love that builds zup. If any one fancies he has attained any knowledge, he | 3 has no such knowledge yet as he should have; but if any one - loves God, he it is that is known by Him. The prevalent notion alike of the later Jews and of the primitive Christians regarding the gods of heathendom was that they were demons ; and though they were subsequently accounted as merely dead men superstitiously deified, yet ' Plat. Aol. 21 Ὁ. THE THIRD MISSION 27% it was maintained that the demons worked in their names.’ Hence the danger of participation in heathen rites. It involved the risk of demonic possession; and this is the reason which the scrupulous party alleged for abstinence from meat which had been sacrificed to idols. The intel- lectuals had adopted what seemed to them a more rational attitude. They regarded the heathen gods as mere fictions of superstition, and they argued that, since an idol was ‘nothing in the world,’ it could inflict no injury. The fear of exposure to the malign operation of demons by eating things sacrificed to idols was a baseless apprehension. 4 Regarding, then, the eating of things sacrificed to idols: ‘We are aware that an idol is nothing in the world, and that 5there is no God but One. For, though there are so-called “gods,” whether in heaven or on earth, as there are many 6“ gods’ and many “ lords,” ? yet for us there is one God, the Father, who is the source of all things, and it is to Him that we tend; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through Him are we.’ It may be so, answers the Apostle; but it is not every one who has attained so enlightened a view. Some cling to the old notion, and their scruples are entitled to consideration. 7 But your knowledge dwells not in all. Some, retaining to this hour the old notion about the idol, eat the food as an idol- sacrifice, and their conscience, being weak, is polluted. 8 ‘Food,’ said the liberals again, ‘ will not recommend us to God. We are neither the worse off by not eating nor the better off by eating.’ True, answers the Apostle, but here again consideration is a duty. It is spiritually injurious to do what one’s con- science disapproves; and if your example induces a weak 1 Cf. Theophil. 4d Autol. 1. p. 75 B (Sylburg.): καὶ τὰ μὲν ὀνόματα ὧν φὴς σέβεσθαι θεῶν ὀνόματά ἐστι νεκρῶν ἀνθρώπων. Tert. De Spect. 10: ‘Scimus nihil esse nomina mortuorum, sicut nec ipsa simulacra eorum: sed non ignoramus qui sub istis nominibus et institutis simulacris operentur et gaudeant et divinitatem mentiantur, nequam spiritus scilicet dzemones.’ ® κύριος was a title not only of the heathen deities (cf. p. 269, n. 1) but of the Roman Emperors. Cf. the refusal of the Egyptian Jews to call Czsar ‘Lord,’ since they ‘held that God alone was the Lord’ (Jos. De Bell. Jud. vu. x. 1) The liberal defence : (1) The plea of Christian liberty. A larger concern. Paul’s apostle- ship. 2 LIFE AND: LETTERS OF Si. raven brother to violate his conscience, you are wronging not merely him but Christ who died for him. It is sacrilege to esteem lightly the purchase of the Saviour’s precious blood. 9 Beware, however, lest this authority of yours prove a rostumbling-block to the weak. For if some one see you, the man with knowledge, at table in an idol-temple, will not his conscience, in case he is weak, be built up to the pitch of eating 11 the things sacrificed to idols? Your knowledge is the ruin of 12 the weak man, the brother for whom Christ died. And thus, in sinning against the brothers and smiting their conscience, 13 weak as it is, it is against Christ that you are sinning. Where- fore, if food ensnares ! my brother, I will eat flesh never more, lest I ensnare my brother. And now he proceeds to examine two pleas which the liberals urged in defence of their attitude. One was the plea of Christian liberty. They had a grievance, and indeed a serious grievance. Whatever scorn they might have felt, they would have suffered their opponents to practise their scrupulosity ; but this did not suffice the latter. Not content with personal abstinence, they insisted that their practice should be the Church’s law. It was a denial of Christian liberty, and the liberals naturally resented so intolerable a tyranny. The Apostle’s answer is that, while Christian liberty is indeed a sacred right, it is a Christian duty to forgo one’s rights when larger interests are at stake. And by way of illustration he adduces his own example, in no spirit of self- glorification but with the double purpose of resolving the immediate perplexity and at the same time repelling the Judaist attack on his own apostolic authority. He has just affirmed his willingness to abstain from flesh rather than injure a weak brother. Was that a dereliction either of his Christian liberty or of his apostolic authority ? — His apostleship, he deftly remarks, needed no vindication with the Corinthians. For they owed him their conversion, and this constituted an incontrovertible attestation of his divine commission ; it was his sufficient answer to his critics fz.1 Am TI not free? AmInotanApostle? Have I not seen 2 Jesus our Lord? Are not you my work in the Lord? If te 1 Cf. The Days of His Flesh, p. 99. THE THIRD MISSION 273 others [ am not an Apostle, yet to you at least I am ; for you 3are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. My defence to my critics ! is just this. He was an Apostle, and he was entitled to apostolic His _ privileges. The other Apostles had wives who accompanied Bente them on their missionary travels; and wherever they so- journed, they were maintained at the Church’s expense. These privileges belonged to him, yet he had never exercised them. He had remained unwed that he might the more cf, vii, ay. freely devote himself to his ministry ; and it was notorious 35’ that he and his former colleague Barnabas had never exacted maintenance from the Church. The Corinthians knew how, during his ministry among them, he had earned his daily bread by plying his craft of tent-making, and how ill he would at times have fared but for the generosity of his Macedonian friends.” That was his constant practice; he was pursuing it even then at Ephesus. 4,5 Are we not entitled to food and drink? Are we not entitled to travel about with a sister, a wife, like the rest of cf. Mt. xiii 6the Apostles and the Lord’s brothers? and Cephas? Or is 55=Mk. it only Barnabas and I that are bound to work for our daily “” * bread ? And what was the reason? He had a right to remunera- Why he tion. It is a principle of common equity that a man should “ποῖ be paid for his service and live by the fruit of his labour ; and these. it is recognised by the Scriptures. The Sacred Law enjoins that the very oxen should be allowed their mouthfuls of the grain which they tread out on the threshing-floor; and a man is more in God’s sight than an ox. And if the rule held in common work, it held much more in spiritual service. If the ploughman and the thresher were entitled to their wage, should the sowers of the heavenly seed go unrequited ? And who had so strong a claim on the Corinthians as Paul and his companions who had won them to the Faith? Yet he had waived his right. And the reason was his solicitude 1 τοῖς ἐμὲ ἀνακρίνουσιν, ‘those who examine me.’ Cf. pp. 252 f, ΟΡ ΡΟ. τ: 5. Cf. The Days of His Flesh, p. 18. 5 Dt, xxv. 4. His imperi- ous call, Cf. Ac. xxii, 17-21. sviil. 8, 81; 274. LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST.4PAUE for the advancement of the Gospel. He would suffer any privation rather than put a hindrance in its way. 7 Whoever goes a-soldiering at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard, and does not eat its fruit? Or who tends a herd, 8and never tastes the milk of the herd? Is this mere human greasoning ? Is it not also the teaching of the Law? For in the Law of Moses it is written: ‘ Thou shalt not muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain.’ Is it for the oxen that το God is concerned? Or is it entirely on our account that He saysit? Yes, it is on our account that it was written that the plougher has a right in doing his work and the thresher has a 11 right in doing his to the hope of getting a share. If we sowed for you the spiritual seed, is it a great thing if we shall reap 12 your material harvest? If others share the claim upon you, do not we still more? But we did not exercise this claim. No, we put up with! everything that we may occasion no hindrance to the Gospel of Christ. Here the Apostle was trenching on painful ground. It was a shame to the Corinthians that they had withheld his remuneration while he ministered among them, in face, too, of the generous example of their Macedonian fellow-converts. They knew the ordinance of the Law in this matter and the Lord’s reaffirmation of it. His maintenance was their duty, and it in no wise absolved them that he had uncomplainingly suffered their neglect. Nor was he complaining now. Self- respect restrained him, and a higher motive still. His preaching of the Gospel was no voluntary office. It had been thrust upon him. He had reluctantly undertaken it at the Lord’s behest, conscious of his unfitness; and his nolo episcopart had defined the conditions of his ministry. It was not a voluntary service; else he would have been at liberty to bargain for remuneration. It was a divine stewardship, a sacred trust, an imperious obligation ; and therefore the arrangement of terms did not lie with him: he must do the work and fare as he might. He was indeed entitled to his wage; but, wage or no wage, he must preach the Gospel. That was his sole concern. ts Do you not know that those who do the Temple’s work, eat of the Temple’s provision ; those who attend the altar, share 4 Cf. n. ont Th. iii. 1, p. 160. THE THIRD MISSION 275 14the altar’s portion? So also the Lord gave order for those pt. xviii, who proclaim the Gospel to get their livelihood from the ae 15Gospel. But I have exercised none of these rights. And ‘oie ee am not writing this in order that it may be so done in my case ; 7. for it is a point of honour for me to die rather than 1 No 16 one will make my boast an empty thing. For, if I preach the Gospel, it is nothing for me to boast of ; for necessity is imposed 17upon me; ay, woe is me if I do not preach it! For if it be by choice that I am engaged in this business, I have a wage ; but if it be by compulsion, I am entrusted with a stewardship. The preaching of the Gospel was his sole concern, and its The triumph his only reward; and therefore he sacrificed his Wi" οὗ personal interests and abjured his rights. His one concern sole in- was the winning of men for Christ, and he would not contemn mgs their prepossessions and prejudices but, where no principle was at stake, would defer to these and always treat them gently and patiently and sympathetically. 18 What, then, is the wage which induces me in preaching the Gospel to set no charge upon it, refraining from the exercise of 19my full right in the Gospel’s service? Being free from all men, I made myself a slave to all that I might gain the greater zonumber. And I became to the Jews as a Jew that I might gain Jews; to those under Law as under Law, though I am not myself under Law, that I might gain those under Law ; 21to those without Law as one without Law—though I am not without God’s Law; no, I am within Christ’s Law—that I cr. Gal. 22 might gain those without Law; to the weak I became weak ¥! 2: that I might gain the weak; to every one I have become 23 everything that I might in every case save some. And every- Cf, 1 Jo. thing I do on account of the Gospel, that I may share its‘ 3: fellowship with others. And thus he proved his Christian liberty by freely relin- His ceir- quishing it, and he commends his attitude to the Corinthian “S°1Pl"* liberals by a familiar example—the Isthmian Games which every fifth year drew eager multitudes to their οἷν." The 1 An aposiopesis. He is about to say ‘I had rather starve, ἀποθανεῖν λιμῳ (Chrys.), than accept grudging remuneration,’ when he repents of the harshness. 3 Cf. p. 150. [Clem. Rom.] Ad Cor. τι. vii: ἀγωνισώμεθα, εἰδότες ὅτι ἐν χερσὶν ὁ ἀγὼν καὶ ὅτι εἰς τοὺς φθαρτοὺς ἀγῶνας καταπλέουσιν πολλοὶ, GAN οὐ πάντες στεφανοῦνται εἰ μὴ οἱ πολλὰ κοπιάσαντες καὶ καλῶς ἀγωνισάμενοι, ‘let us contend, knowing that the contest is at hand, and that many voyage hither to the corruptible contests, yet it is not all that are crowned but only those that have toiled much and contended honourably.’ Cf. 2 Tim. iv. 8. (2) The plea of sacramen- talsecurity. 276, LIKE AND LETTERS: OF of. Pak prize was a poor chaplet of parsley-leaves, and the victor wore it proudly; but he would never have won it by the effort of the hour unless he had subjected himself to a long and strenuous preparatory discipline. And self-discipline is needful for our nobler contest if we would win the un- fading crown. 24 Do you not know that the runners in the race-course all run but only one wins the prize? Run like him that you may ssucceed in winning it. And every one who enters the contest practises self-control in every particular—they to win a fading 6crown, but we an unfading. For my part, then, it is thus that I run—with a clear end in view; it is thus that I box—as no a7‘ striker of the air.’1 No, I bruise? my body and enslave it, lest perchance, after acting as herald of the game for others, I should myself fail in the ordeal.% It was not merely, however, as a violation of Christian liberty that the intolerance of the scrupulous party in the Corinthian Church was resented. It was maintained that there was no danger in the eating of things sacrificed to idols inasmuch as the Christian Sacraments provided an efficacious prophylactic. The idea was natural to minds familiar with the ritual of the Greek Mysteries, and it per- sisted in the Church and persists to this day. The Mysteries were ‘a medicine of immortality.’ Their aim was the communication of the divine life, and this was achieved by the ceremonial of initiation, especially the purificatory lustration and the sacrificial feast which followed it and which was designated ‘Salvation.’ It was supposed that the deity was present in the consecrated food, and in eating it the worshippers ate the deity and thus participated in the divine life. It was a purely physical process, and it was an offence to the moral instinct. Thus it is told of Diogenes the Cynic that, when the Athenians urged him to be initiated, 1 ἀέρα δέρειν, aerem verberare, a common proverb, denoting futzle endeavour. The metaphor is a boxer missing his antagonist and striking the empty air, Eustathius derives the proverb from Hom. 71, Xx. 446: τρὶς δ᾽ ἀέρα τύψε βαθεῖαν. Cf. Verg. 42n. v. 377: ‘verberat ictibus auras.’ 3 ὑπωπιάζω, cf. The Days of His Flesh, p. 322. 2 ἀδόκιμος γένωμαι, cf. n. on I Th. V. 21, p. 165. 4 Cf. Hatch, Znfluence of Greck Ideas and Usages, Lect. x; Legge, Forerunners and Rivals of Christianity, τ. pp. 130 ἔν THE THIRD MISSION 204 since the initiated were awarded the first place in the Un- seen World, he answered: ‘It is absurd if Agesilaus and Epaminondas are to drag it out in the mire, and any worthless creatures through their having been initiated are to inhabit the Islands of the Blessed.’ ‘What mean you?’ he said again. ‘ Will Patecion the thief have a better fate after death than Epaminondas, because he has been initiated ἢ ! To the Greek mind the Sacraments of Baptism and the A vaincon Eucharist were the Christian Mysteries, and accordingly the “““"** intellectual Corinthians argued that, since they were sharers in the divine life through the sacramental lustration and the sacramental feast, they were immune from danger. They were possessed by the Divine Spirit, and they were therefore secure against demonic invasion and ran no risk through eating things sacrificed to idols. So they reasoned; and the Apostle, following up his insistence on the necessity of strenuous self-discipline, proceeds to demonstrate the vanity of their dream of sacramental security. He adduces an historical parallel. The Israelites had Anhis- their Sacraments in the Wilderness. They were besprinkled Sate: by the Shekinah, the overshadowing Cloud of the Lord’s cf. kx. Presence ; and they passed through the waters of the Red xiv" το τυ. Sea. This was their Baptism, their sacramental lustration after the twofold symbolism of effusion and immersion.? And they had also their Eucharist, since the manna and Cf. Ex. the water from the stricken rock were their sacramental **”" ” meat and drink. All the forty years of their pilgrimage they not only ate that heavenly bread but drank that heavenly drink ; for, according to a Jewish legend, the rock of Horeb followed their march, and wherever they encamped, it stood at the entrance of the Tabernacle and poured forth its abundant stream.? x.1 For I do not wish you to ignore the fact,‘ brothers, that our fathers were all under the Cloud and all passed through the 2 Sea, and all pledged themselves to Moses by baptism in the 3 Cloud and in the Sea; and they all ate the same spiritual food 2 Diog. Laert. v1. 39; Plut. De Aud. Poet, iv. 76. 3 Cf. Append. VI. 8 Cf. Lightfoot, Hor. Heb., and Wetstein on 1 Cor. x, 4. * Cf an. ont Th, ivs 13, p. 163: Num. xiv. 16. A warning to our- selves, Ex. xxxii, 6. Num. xxv. 278 TAPE AND LET TERS OF of, fcr. 4and all drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank all the while of a spiritual rock as it followed them, and the rock was sthe Christ. Yet with the greater number of them God was not well pleased ; for ‘ they were laid low in the wilderness.’ After the spiritualising method of exegesis which he had learned in the Rabbinical school,! the Apostle sees in the ancient story a foreshadowing of the Christian order and a condemnation of the fond delusion of sacramental security. The Cloud and the Sea signified Baptism, and the bread from heaven and the water from the rock the Eucharist. ‘The rock was the Christ.’ He was with the Israelites all unknown, ministering to them the grace which is now revealed in His Holy Sacraments. Yet it proved unavailing. They were seduced into idolatry, fornication, rebellion, and discontent. And their experience is an abiding admonition. There is no security in sacramental ritual. Temptation is ever present, and the one protection is God’s aid—not the opus operatum of a sacramental rite but the grace which the rite expresses and seals, and which is ever accessible to humble and believing souls. 6 And all this constitutes a warning to us, that we may not 7lust after evil things as they did. Do not turn idolaters like some of them, as it is written: ‘ The people sat down to eat 8 and drink, and arose to frolic.’ And let us not commit fornica- tion as some of them did, and there fell in a single day twenty- 9three thousand.? And let us not try the Lord’s patience too far, as some of them tried it, and they were destroyed by the i) τὸ serpents. And do not murmur as some of them did, and they - 11 were destroyed by the destroying angel. Al] this happened to them by way of warning ; and it was written for the admonition 12 of us to whom the tribute of the ages has accrued. And so 13 let him who fancies he stands firm look to it lest he fall. No temptation has seized you but such as is the common lot of man; and God is faithful: He will not allow you to be tempted Ci peer: * According to Num. xxv. 9, ‘twenty-four thousand.’ A mere slip of memory, the variant ‘twenty-four thousand’ (Arm.) being a copyist’s emendation. ® We are ‘the heirs of all the ages ’—the experience of the past and the wisdom it teaches. τέλη, ‘taxes,’ ‘tribute,’ ‘toll’ (cf. Mt. xvii. 25; Rom. xiii. 7). τελώνης, ‘a tax-gatherer’; τελώνιον, ‘the receipt of custom,’ ‘the place of toll’ (cf. Mt. ix. Ὁ): THE THIRD MISSION 279 beyond your ability, but along with the temptation He will make also the way of escape, that you may be able to bear up. And now the Apostle points the lesson as regards the vexed The peril question of eating things sacrificed to idols: Eschew idolatry; = eau have no complicity withit. There was reason in the scrupu- '4ol4t'y. losity of the narrow party; and he demonstrates this with gentle irony by a dexterous manipulation of the confident contention of the intellectuals. For the sake of argument, not that he approved it, as, he observes, they were shrewd enough to perceive, he accepts their pagan theory of the Eucharist—that, as in the sacrificial feast of the Greek Mysteries the initiate fed on the deity and thus participated in the divine life, so in the Holy Supper the communicants drink Christ’s blood and eat His flesh, and thus they all participate in His life. This crude notion, he remarks, was the primitive idea of sacrifice, and it appears in the sacrificial ritual of the Old Testament.t_ It was not the Apostle’s view, but it was the view of the Corinthian intellectuals, and the consequence was obvious: if the principle held alike of the feast of the Lord’s Table and of the feasts of the Jewish altar, then it held of the heathen sacrifices, and by eating things sacrificed to idols we participate in the idol’s life. Ah, but, exclaim the intellectuals, you are admitting too much! An idol is not a reality ; there is no actual person- ality behind it. True, answers the Apostle, but the Scrip- tures affirm that the heathen sacrifices are offered to demons ; and so indeed they are. There may be no such deity as Aphrodite or Bacchus ; but the demons of lust and drunken- ness are grim realities, and heathenism is their worship. Idolatry is the cult of uncleanness, and you cannot participate in it without pollution. Resolutely eschew it, and beware of provoking the righteous displeasure of Almighty God. 14,15 Wherefore, my beloved, flee away from idolatry. I am τό speaking as toshrewd men : judge youofmy admission. The Cup of Blessing 2 which we bless—is it not a participation in the blood of Christ ? The bread which we break—is it 1 Cf. The Atonement in the Light of History and the Modern Spirit, pp. 33 ff. 3 The Sacramental Cup. Cf. Zhe Days of His Flesh, p. 446. Dt. xxxii. 17. Dt. xxxii. 21. The law of expedi- ency. Cf. vi. 12. 250; LIFE AND LETTERS OF: ST. PAUL 17not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we, many as we be, are one body ;! for we all 18have a share of the one bread. Look at historic Israel: are not they that eat the sacrifices participants of the altar ? 19 What, then, is my admission? [5 it that meat sacrificed zoto an idol is anything? or that an idol is anything? No, but that the things which they sacrifice, ‘they sacrifice to demons and to a God who is no God’; and I do not 21 wish you to participate with demons. You cannot drink the Lord’s Cup and a cup of demons; you cannot share 2z2in the Lord’s Table and a table of demons. Or are we ‘ provoking the Lord to jealousy’? Are we stronger than Fe? There was, however, a larger consideration than personal risk. It was the duty of Christian expediency, and this the Apostle now presents. He quotes the libertine maxim ‘Everything is allowable’ which he has already treated in his first letter to Corinth,? and which had apparently been repeated by the liberals in their plea for Christian liberty. And his answer is that the proper consideration is not whether a thing be allowable but whether it be profitable, since, as William Penn has it, ‘it is not enough that a thing be Right, if it be not fit to be done.’ And nothing is ‘ fit to be done’ which, however innocent in itself, is hurtful to one’s neigh- bour or liable to misconstruction. And he illustrates the application of the principle. When you go to market, it is unnecessary, it were mere morbid scrupulosity, to investigate the source of the meat which is offered for the sale. That does not concern you. And in the event of your accepting heathen hospitality, eat your host’s provision without demur. You know nothing of its origin, and it were discourtesy to inquire. Suppose, however, one of your fellow-guests is a Christian of the narrow sort, and he warns you that a par- ticular dish contains sacrificial flesh: then quietly abstain from it. You have indeed no personal scruple, but if you ate it, your neighbour would be shocked. Your innocent action would appear to him unfaithfulness, and why should you expose yourself to needless calumniation ? Seek always 1 So Calv., Beng. According to the ancient idea of the sacrificial meal, the common food established a common life. Otherwise: ‘because we, the many, are one bread, one body.’ * CE page: THE THIRD MISSION 281 the glory of God, and give no occasion, if you can help it, for aspersion of your Christian profession. 23 ‘ Everything is allowable’: yes, but it is not everything that is profitable. ‘ Everything is allowable’: yes, but 24it is not everything that builds up. Let none seek his 25own interest—rather, his neighbour’s. Everything that is sold in the meat-market eat, examining nothing in defer- 26ence to conscience; for ‘to the Lord the earth belongs Ps. xxiv. x. 27and all that it contains.’ If some stranger to the Faith invites you and you choose to go, eat everything that is set before you, examining nothing in deference to conscience. 28 But if some one! say to you, ‘ This is a thing sacrificed in 29 the Temple,’ * do not eat it in deference to that person, your informant, and to conscience (by ‘ conscience’ I mean not your own conscience but your neighbour’s) ; for what is the use of my liberty being judged by another conscience ? ὃ 30 If I partake with thankfulness, why am I calumniated for 31a thing which I give thanks for? Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do everything for God’s 3z2glory. Put no difficulty in the way of Jews, Greeks, or 33 the Church of God, as I on my part pleasure every one in everything, not seeking my own profit but that of the xi. generality of men, that they may be saved. Follow my example, as I follow Christ’s. The administration of the primitive Church, following as it 3. Abuses did the model of the Jewish Synagogue, was both familiar "Pup" and congenial to Jewish Christians; but it was novel to Gentile converts, and it is no surprise that, though the Apostle had, after his wont, been careful to instruct the cf.2 Th. Corinthians in the proper usages, difficulties should have ™ ** arisen. Two in particular had proved so serious that they were referred to his consideration. 1 (1) A heathen fellow-guest (Chrys.), perhaps mischievously to annoy you; (2) the hest, nempe convivator (Grot.); (3) a Christian fellow-guest of the scrupulous order (Alford, Meyer). The last is attested by the sequel, since only with a Christian would it be a matter of conscience. : 2 ἱερόθντον (‘sacrificed in the Temple’) or θεόθυτον (‘sacrificed to the god’) is the heathen term, used out of courtesy at a heathen table rather than the oppro- brious Christian term εἰδωλόθυτον (‘sacrificed to an idol’). 3 ta τί (γένηται), ‘that what may come to pass?’ 7.¢., to what good purpose, for what good end? Better forgo one’s liberty than expose one’s conduct te misconstruction and one’s profession to calumniation. So Chrys, Unveiled women, Gal. iii. 28. Cf. Gen. xxiv. 65. The signi- ficance of the veil. Cf. Phil. ii. 8; Heb. v. 8; Jo. viii. 29. Cha Cor: Xv. 27, 28. 282. Ὁ} AND LETTERS Of ssl 2AnUe One had to do with the position of women in the Church, and it had probably been occasioned by the Apostle’s doctrine that in Christ ‘ the distinctions of Jew and Greek, slave and free man, male and female disappear.’ Certain enthusiasts among the Corinthian women-folk had applied the principle in a startling fashion. Spurning the old restrictions, not merely had they claimed and exercised the right to pray and prophesy in the assemblies of the Church, but they had, by necessary consequence, discarded the custom which re- quired that a woman should wear a veil when she appeared in public. It was a Jewish custom. The veil was the mark of a modest woman, and its forcible removal by a rude hand was reckoned an outrage and the perpetrator was liable to a heavy penalty.1 The regulation was approved by the Christian Church and was imposed on Gentile communities ; and thus the action of those Corinthian women was a violation of canonical order. It raised a double question: on the one hand, whether a woman might speak in the Church, and, on the other, whether she might appear unveiled in a public assembly. It was the latter that was agitating the Corinthians, and the Apostle meanwhile deals with it exclusively. He begins by enunciat- ing a large principle—the law of subordination. The woman is the head of the home, but she rules it in her husband’s name: he is her head. His head, again, is Christ, and he rules his wife in Christ’s name. Nor does the subordination end here. God is the head of Christ. The Father is supreme in the Godhead, and the Son, who was obedient to the Father in the days of His flesh and did always the things that were pleasing to Him, is subject to Him eternally. There is thus a chain of subordination : woman’s head is man, man’s head is Christ, and Christ’s head is God; and it is a violation of the divine order of the Universe when woman disowns her subordination and departs from her degree. 4 Icommend you for ‘ your remembrance of me in everything and your firm adherence to the traditions as I delivered them sto you.’? And I wish you to know that every man’s Head 1 Cf. Grotius and Wetstein on 1 Cor. xi. 5. ® He quotes the rescript’s protestation of loyalty, THE THIRD MISSION 283 is Christ, and woman’s head is the man, and Christ’s Head is God. This principle, the Apostle argues, determines the ques- The tion of the veil. It was indeed right that a man should pray τ μίαν or prophesy with uncovered head. And here emerges a Christian idea. The ancient usage was that priests in offering sacrifice and worshippers in the exercise of prayer should be veiled in token of reverence and acknowledgment of their unworthiness to approach the Divine Presence ; 1 but the Christians prayed with uncovered head in recognition cr, Heb. of their privilege of free access to the Throne of Grace.? ie They honoured Christ by entering with boldness into the Holy Place; and therefore the Apostle declares that ‘ every man praying or prophesying with his head covered shames his Head.’ It was otherwise, however, with a woman. She was subordinate, and she must maintain her degree. The veil was a token of subordination, a symbol of subjection to man, her head ; and by discarding it she shamed him. Her unveiling was a partial uncovering of her head, and why, he argues, should she be content with that ? Why not uncover it entirely by cutting off her hair, and thus complete her husband’s dishonour and her own disgrace ? See what this means. The cutting off of a women’s hair had a twofold significance. It was a sign of mourning: a widow cut off Is. xv. 2; her hair and deposited it in her husband’s tomb ; ὃ. and it {τ 2 59, was also a token of connubial unfaithfulness: an adulteress eRe aL was shaved.4 If, argues the Apostle, you will cast off your1. veil, then go all the way: cut off your hair, and proclaim yourself a widow; shave your head, and proclaim yourself an adulteress. 4 Every man praying or prophesying with his head covered 5shames his Head; and every woman praying or prophesying with her head unveiled shames her head, for she is one and 1 Cf. Lightfoot, Hor. Hed. on 1 Cor. xi. 4. This was the general custom also with the heathen. Cf. Grotius. 2 Cf. Tert. AZol. 30: ‘Illuc suspicientes Christiani manibus expansis, quia innocuis ; capite nudo, quia non erubescimus ; denique sine monitore, quia de pectore oramus.’ 3 Cf. Robertson Smith, Religion of Semites, p. 306. * In some quarters at ail events. Cf. Tac. Germ. 19 581. LIFE AND LET PERS OFS ΕΣ 6 the same thing as the shaved adulteress. If a woman is not to be veiled, let her also cut off her hair ; but if it be disgraceful for a woman to cut off her hair or shave her head, let her be veiled. Appealto Thus far he has merely appealed to the Christian usage, Scripture. but now he clinches his argument by a double sanction. First, he appeals to the Scriptures. The ancient story of Cf. Gen, i. Creation teaches woman’s subordination to man. Man was ae created first, ‘in the image of God’; and then woman was ‘taken out of man.’ Man, the crown of His creation, is the glory of God; but woman, since she was derived from him, is the glory a man. Her glory is to his as the moon’s ἐφ Mk. ii. light to the sun’s.t_ And even as the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath, so man was not created for woman but woman for man. She was made for his help, and this is her office evermore. It isin subordination to him that she fulfils the end of her being ; and therefore it is fitting that she should wear a symbol of subjection on her head. The disuse is more than a dishonouring of man. Cf.1Cor. We are encompassed continually, and especially in the place iv. 9; Heb. xii. 22; 1 Of prayer, by an invisible multitude, an innumerable company Diy. 2a ef cooly. angels; and it becomes us to comport ourselves worthily in their presence. ‘ If,’ reasons the Apostle, ‘ you despise your husband, reverence the angels.’ 2 Gen. i. 26, 7 Fora man ought not to have his head veiled, since he is 375 015 primally ‘the image’ and glory ‘of God’; whereas the woman Gen. ii. 23. 815 man’s glory. For it was not man that was ‘ taken out of’ 9woman but woman that was ‘taken out of’ man; yes, and Gen. ii. 18. it was not man that was created for the woman but woman 1 * Minus aliquid viro, ut Luna lumen minus Sole’ (Grot.). 2 Chrys. : εἰ γὰρ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς καταφρονεῖς, φησὶ, τοὺς ἀγγέλους αἰδέσθητι. Of other interpretations of διὰ τοὺς ἀγγέλους (ver. 10) these may be mentioned: (1) The two guardian angels who, according to a beautiful Jewish belfef, accom- pany every one, on the right side and the left. Cf. Hieronym. on Mt. xviii. Io. (2) The leaders of the Church (Ambrstr., Euth. Zig.). Cf. Rev. ii. I, etc. ; Socr. Zecl. Hist. 1v. 23, where Evagrius terms Serapion, bishop of Thmuis, ὁ τῆς Θμουϊτῶν ἐκκλησίας ἄγγελος. (3) Evil angels who, according to a repulsive Jewish notion, were themselves incited to wantonness by the sight of an unveiled woman and would incite her. Cf. Tert. Contra Marc. v. 8; De Varg. Vel. 7; Wetstein’s Rabbinical quotations. THE THIRD MISSION 285 tothat was created for the man. Therefore the woman ought to have a symbol of subjection! on her head in reverence for the angels. This subordination is no depreciation of woman. On the Woman's contrary, her honour lies in its due observance. Man and jist woman are sharers alike in the Lord’s grace, and the sacred office of motherhood is her supreme service to humanity. ct. τ Tim. Her subordination to man does not mean that she is inferior "* *> to him, but only that each has a peculiar position in the universal economy. She is subordinate to man, even as Christ is subordinate to God; and even as the Son has Οἵ Jo. v. equal honour with the Father, so woman has equal honour ** with man. 11 Nevertheless neither is woman apart from man nor man 1zapart from woman in the Lord. For just as the woman was taken out of the man, so also the man is propagated by the woman ; but all things spring from God. And, further, the Apostle appeals to the instinct of pro- The priety. By almost universal agreement, by that custom pee: which is ‘ second nature,’ ? it was recognised as seemly that men should crop their hair and women wear theirs long.’ Long hair was accounted effeminate foppery in a man,4 and short hair was a woman’s shame. And what modesty demanded before men, reverence demanded in the presence of God. 13 Determine it by your own judgment: is it fitting that a 14woman should pray to God unveiled? Does not Nature herself teach you that, if a man have long hair, it is a dishonour 15to him; while, if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her, because her hair has been given her for a covering ? 1 ἐξουσίαν, ‘a symbol of authority,’ z.¢., the man’s authority over the womaa. “μετωνυμία frequens Hebreis, ubi signum rei significate nomen accipit’ (Grot.). The variant κάλυμμα (cf. Iren. I. i. 16) is an interpretative gloss. The ‘veil’ was the symbol of the ‘authority.’ 2 Cf. Galen. De Tuend. Val. τ. : ἐπίκτητοι φύσεις τὰ ἤθη. ; 5. Cf. Plut. Quest. Rom. 84: συνηθέστερον δὲ ταῖς γυναιξὶν ἐγκεκαλυμμέναις τοῖς δὲ ἀνδράσιν ἀκαλύπτοις εἰς τὸ δημόσιον προϊέναι" καὶ γὰρ παρ᾽ “Ἕλλησιν, ὅταν δυστυχία τις γίνεται, κείρουσι μὲν αἱ γύναικες κομῶσι δὲ οἱ ἄνδρες, ὅτι τοῖς μὲν τὸ κείρεσθαι ταῖς δὲ τὸ κομᾶν σύνηθές ἐστι. * Cf. Eustath. on Hom. //. (111. p. 288): κόμην δὲ ἔχειν καὶ εὔκομον εἶναι γυναικικώτερόν ἐστιν. Mart. Epigr. x. 65. Dismissal of the question. Profana- tion of the Love- feast. 286 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL It were injustice to the Apostle to take his quaint reasoning here as serious argument. He treats those obtrusive women with appropriate badinage ; and this appears in his closing sentence where he drops the mask of gravity and declines to debate the question. All that need be said is that their behaviour is a violation of Christian usage as sanctioned by the Apostles and observed in all the churches. At the same time his condemnation is unqualified and emphatic; and the true reason of his hostility to the innovation lay in the moral laxity which prevailed at Corinth and which rendered womanly restraint peculiarly expedient. 16 If, however, any one has a fancy for disputing the question, we have no such custom nor have the churches of God.! The other problem concerned the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, and it had arisen from the association of the holy ordinance with the kindly institution of the Love-feast.? The custom was that all should assemble, bringing pro- vision according to their ability. The poor brought little and the destitute nothing; but the rich brought much, and thus there was no lack.® All shared alike, and the common meal was sacramental. Sometimes at the close but generally at the outset it was sanctified by prayer and the breaking of bread in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. “Ere the feast begins,’ says Tertullian, ‘it is whetted by prayer to God’ ; and ‘ after the communion of the mysteries,’ says St. Chrysostom, ‘they all betook themselves to the common banquet.’ The Corinthians, however, were sundered by fierce animosities, and they introduced their feuds into the very Love-feast. Besides their partisanship it appears that the spirit of social caste prevailed. The rich disdained the poor and would not associate with them. They kept apart, and consumed their abundance, regardless of their neighbours who had little to eat and drink. It was a hideous contrast—here hunger, and there surfeit and drunkenness ; 1 This is all that the Apostle has to say: the discarding of the veil is contrary to Christian usage. Chrys. understands: ‘disputation is not our custom.’ mtn. 27. 3 Cf. Tert. AZol. 39. THE THIRD MISSION 287 and the Apostle cries shame upon it. If they would have revelry, let them have it at home, and not flaunt it in the faces of the poor. 17 But in my next charge I do not commend you, because your 18 meetings are not for the better but for the worse. For, in the first place,! at your meetings in Church I hear cleavages exist 19 among you; and to some extent I believe it. For there must indeed be parties among you that it may become manifest zowho are the men of sterling worth among you.* At your meetings together, then, there is no possibility of eating the 2t Lord’s Supper. For each of you is in haste to get his own supper at the eating; and one is hungry while another is 22drunken. Why, have you not homes to eat and drink in? Or are you despising the Church and shaming the homeless ? It was a horrible scandal, and the worst feature of it was The Insti. its desecration of the Holy Supper. In such an assembly {7'ip2 there was nothing sacramental. The Corinthians had Supper. assured the Apostle of their remembrance of the traditions which he had delivered to them, and in the matter of the women’s veil he had accepted their assurance and commended theirloyalty. But here it was impossible for him to commend them. Had they remembered the Evangelic Tradition of the Institution in the Upper Room, the scandal would never have arisen ; and so he reiterates the Tradition and bids them henceforth bear it in mind and realise the sacredness of the ordinance. What am I tosay to you? Shall I commend you? In this 23 matter I donot commend you. For I received from the Lord ὅ the tradition which I delivered to you: ‘The Lord Jesus, 24 on the night of His betrayal, took a loaf, and after giving thanks He broke it and said: “‘ This is My body sacrificed for you. 1 πρῶτον μέν should be balanced by ἔπειτα δέ : ‘in the first place cleavages, in the next profanation of the Supper.’ But the parenthesis (ver. 19) disturbs the sequence. 3 δόκιμοι, cf. n. on, 1 Th. v. 21, p. 165. 3. On the sanctity of the Evangelic Tradition cf. The Days of His Flesh, pp. xvf. Paul does not mean that his account of the Institution was a special revela- tion to himself. He would then probably (cf., however, Lightfoot on Gal. 1, 10) have said not ἀπό but παρὰ τοῦ Κυρίου, since ἀπό denotes merely the source ; while παρά implies that the gift is immediate and direct. Thus ἀπὸ τίνων λαμβάνουσι τέλη ; (Mt. xvii. 25), since kings receive tribute through their tax-gatherers. Cf, Moulton’s Winer, p. 463. Ch Bx; xxiv. 8. Gf Heb: vi. 6, X. 29. A divine judgment. Cf, Heb. nav byes The Apostle’s charge. 288 LIFE AND LETTERS‘ OF Si, Pave 25 This do in memory of Me.”’ And so too with the cup at the close of the Supper.! “‘ This cup,’’ He said, ‘is the New Covenant sealed with My blood. This do, every time you 26drink it, in memory of Me.’”’’ For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, it is the Lord’s death that you are 27 proclaiming until He come. And so whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily, will be answerable for 28 the body and blood of the Lord. And let a man prove himseli 29 and thus eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For one who eats and drinks brings a judgment on himself by eating and drinking, if he does not discern the Body.? Unworthy communication was a fearful sacrilege, bringing heavy condemnation ; and of this evidence was not lacking. It seems that in those days Corinth had been visited by a pestilence, and the Christians were sharing in the general calamity ; and here the Apostle sees a divine judgment. It betokened the Lord’s displeasure; yet, he recognises, there was mercy inuit. For it was no mere judgment; it was a chastisement. Despite their grievous offence the Corinthians were God’s children, and it was as His children that He was dealing with them; ‘for what son is there whom a father does not chastise?’ Their affliction was His stern call to repentance. 30 [115 for this reason that many among you are weak and sick 31 and not a few are falling asleep.* If we had dealt discerningly 32 with ourselves, we would not have suffered judgment ; yet in suffering the judgment it is chastisement at the Lord’s hand that we are undergoing, that we may not share the world’s condemnation. Accordingly he charges them to lay the lesson to heart and realise the ideal of the Love-feast. It was called also “the Reception’ ; and this name defined its true character. Each guest should be a kindly host. 33 And so, my brothers, in meeting to eat hospitably receive * 1 Cf. The Days of His Flesh, p. 446; The Feast of the Covenant, Ὁ. 16. 3 Chrys. : τουτέστι, μὴ ἐξετάζων, μὴ ἐννοῶν, ws χρὴ, τὸ μέγεθος τῶν προκειμένων, μὴ λογιζόμενος τὸν ὄγκον τῆς δωρεᾶς. * κοιμώνται, only of Christian death (cf. pp. 405 ἢ). 4 ἐκδέχεσθε, not ‘wait for’ but ‘receive,’ ‘hospitably entertain’ (cf. Moulton and Milligan, Vocad.), as befitted the occasion—a δοχή or ‘ Reception’ (cf. p. 37). THE THIRD MISSION 289 340ne another. If one be hungry, let him eat at home, that your meeting may not bring a judgment upon you. And as for the rest of the business, whenever I come, I shall set it in order. The next question in the rescript concerned Spiritual 4. Spiritual Gifts; and the difficulty was occasioned by the presence τ in the Corinthian Church of persons distinguished by special endowments. These were known as ‘the Spirituals,’ ἢ and their endowments were designated ‘ spiritual gifts’ or ‘gifts of grace.’ In modern parlance ‘a spiritual man’ is merely one who is spiritually minded, but in ancient days, among Pagans, Jews, and Christians alike, the phrase de- noted one possessed by a spirit other than his own, which had entered into him and used him as its instrument, operat- ing through his various faculties. Hence, since there were both good spirits and evil, there were two kinds of possession ; and it was not enough that a man shov'd. be ‘ spiritual’:: it was necessary, especially in a heathen community, to ascertain whether the spirit which inhabited him were an evil spirit or the Spirit of God. The Apostle furnishes two criteria. The first is sanity. A twofold The Greeks had their prophets, their soothsayers and oe diviners ; and their inspiration was a wild frenzy. The god possessed them, and they uttered his oracles, like the Pythian prophetess, with streaming hair and foaming lips. It was the spirit that spoke, and they knew not what they were saying.? It was otherwise with the Christian prophet. Like his Hebrew prototype, he was not the mouthpiece but the messenger of God. The inspiration of the Holy Spirit illumined his mind and quickened his vision. ‘ The spirit xiv. 32. of the prophet was subject to the prophet,’ and he declared soberly and sanely* the revelation vouchsafed to him. The second test is the ascription of due honour to Jesus. The formula of faith was JEsus 1s Lorp; and the formula 1 οἱ πνευματικοί, cf, xiv. 37. 2 τὰ πνευματικά, cf. xiv. 1; χαρίσματα, cf. xii. 4, 9, 28, 30, 31. 3 Cf. Chrys. Jz J Ep. ad Cor. Hom. XX1X. 1, 2, where he quotes Plat. Afol. 22: ὥσπερ of θεομάντεις καὶ of χρησμῳδοί" Kal yap οὗτοι λέγουσι μὲν πολλὰ καὶ καλὰ, ἴσασι δὲ οὐδὲν ὧν λέγουσι. 4 μετά διανοίας νηφούσης καὶ σωφρονούσης καταστάσεως (Chrys.). a i 3900 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S72, FaAvE of abjuration, both Jewish and Pagan, JESUS 15 ACCURSED ; 1 _ and the Apostle recognises here a test of ‘the spirituals.’ One who confessed the Lordship of Jesus was inspired by the Holy Spirit ; and one who denied it in his frenzied ecstasy was possessed by an evil spirit.? xii.x Regarding spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not wish you to 2ignore the facts. You know that you were once Gentiles, 3led blindly away to dumb idols. Wherefore I would have you recognise that no one talking in God’s Spirit says JEsuS IS ACCURSED ; and no one can say JESUS IS Lorp unless in the Holy Spirit. ee It was not here, however, that the Corinthian trouble gifts. mainly lay, but in the abundance of the gifts of the Spirit and their manifold diversity. Some were high and rare, conferring on their possessors a peculiar prestige, while others, being lowly and commonplace, were little esteemed; and the disparity had provoked arrogance, rivalry, jealousy, and discontent. To this scandal the Apostle addresses himself, and he administers a twofold corrective. Allequally First he reminds the Corinthians that all spiritual endow- sacred. ments are gifts of God and operations of His Spirit, and therefore all, whether greater or less, are alike sacred. 4 There are diversities in gifts of grace, but the same Spirit ; sand there are diversities in ministries, and the same Lord; 6and there are diversities in operations, but it is the same God 7that in all cases sets all of them in operation. To each is 8given the Spirit’s manifestation for the general profit. For to one through the Spirit is given speech of wisdom; to another speech of knowledge according to the same Spirit ; * 1 The test of a Christian in time of persecution was that he should (1) swear by the genius of the Emperor (ὄμοσον τὴν Καίσαρος τύχην) and (2) curse Christ (λοιδό- pnoov τὸν Xpiordv). Cf. p. 46, n. 2. * With St. John at Ephesus, in view of the Doketic heresy of Cerinthus, the criterion was recognition of the reality of the Incarnation, the oneness of the human Jesus and the Divine Christ (cf. 1 Jo. iv. 1-3). In the Dédache it is the Christ- likeness of the prophet’s behaviour. Cf. ix: οὐ πᾶς δὲ ὁ λαλαν ἐν πνεύματι προφήτης ἐστίν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐὰν ἔχῃ τοὺς τρόπους Kupiov. 8 This sentence is manifestly corrupt. For ὅτι ὅτε W. H. suggest ὅτι ποτέ (cf. Eph. ii. 11)—a simple and satisfactory emendation. 4 σοφία, knowledge acquired by discursive reasoning; cf. i. 20, 21, where σοφία is heathen philosophy. γνῶσις, knowledge acquired intuitively by per- ception of a revelation; cf. Rom. i. 19, 22, where τὸ γνωστὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ is the revelation in Nature which the σοφοί missed. Hence προφητεία, μυστήρια, and γνῶσις are coupled {xiii, 2), THE (THIRD MISSION 201 gto his neighbour, in the same Spirit, faith ; to another gifts 100f healing, all in the one Spirit; to another operations of miraculous powers; to another prophecy; to another dis- cernings of spirits; to another various kinds of tongues ; ἢ 1rand to another interpretation of tongues. but all these are set in operation by the one and self-same Spirit, diversely endowing each individual just as He will. And, furthermore, not only are all spiritual gifts sacred, An equally but all are precious; all are necessary, the least as well as δ" the greatest. ‘ All service ranks the same with God: If now, as formerly he trod Paradise, his presence fills Our earth, each only as God wills Can work—God’s puppets, best and worst, Are we; there is no last nor first.’ 5 This lesson the Apostle illustrates and enforces by a parable which political philosophers had frequently employed.? As the latter had represented the State, so he represents the Church as a corporate unity. She is the Body of Christ, and each Christian is a member. All the members are necessary to the body, and the lack of one, even the humblest, would involve its mutilation. They all share a common life, and if one is injured, its suffering too 15 common. 12 For, as the body is one and has many members, while all the members of the body, many as they are, are one body, 1380 also is the Christ. For in one Spirit were we all baptised into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or 14free men, and were all given to drink of one Spirit. For 15the body is not one member but many. If the foot say ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ 16it does not on this account not belong to the body. And if the ear say ‘ Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,’ it does not on this account not belong to the body. 17If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing ? 18 If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But, as it is, God has placed the members, each one of them, 1 F.g., prayer, praise, adoration. Cf. xiv. 15, 16. 3 Browning, Pippa Passes. 3 Cf. the famous instance from Plutarch (Cor. 6) in Shak. Cor. τ. i. 09 ff. 292) LIFE AND LETTERS OF Εν r9in the body as He chose. And if they had all been one zomember, where had been the body? As it is, there are 2rmany members but one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand ‘ I have no need of you,’ or again the head to the 22feet ‘I have no need of you.’ No, much rather it is the members of the body which are deemed to be naturally 23 the weaker, that are necessary; and what we deem the more dishonourable members of the body, it is these that we invest with a fuller honour, and our unseemly members 24have a fuller seemlfness, while our seemly members have no need of it. Ay, God blended the body by giving a fuller 25 honour to the part which lacks it, that there may be no cleavage in the body but that the members may be alike 26concerned for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it ; if a member is glorified, all 27the members rejoice with it. And you are Christ’s Body, and its members individually. Enumera- The fact, then, is that, just as there are various functions saa in the body, so there are various ministries in the Church ; gilts: and the Apostle enumerates these. First and supreme is Apostleship, which rested on the direct commission of the Lord Jesus Christ ; second, Prophecy, which was an inspira- tion of the Holy Spirit ; 1 and third, Teaching, the laborious office of conserving and transmitting the Evangelic Tradition, the yet unwritten record of the Saviour’s earthly ministry.? Besides these there were lesser ministries ; miracle-working,® especially healing in the name of the Lord ; ‘ helpings ’ #—the relief of the distressed in soul or body ; ‘ administrations ’— the diaconal business of managing the Church’s affairs and probably also the judicial office in the Christian law-courts ; ὃ and finally ‘ talking with tongues’ and the companion office of their interpretation. All these were distinct gifts of grace, and though several might be conjoined, as in the case of Paul himself who was an Apostle and also a Prophet and a Teacher and a worker of miracles, it was impossible that one man should possess them all. And hence it was each man’s duty to accept the gift which was bestowed upon him, whether greater or less, and employ it loyally in the service of the Church. 1 Cf. p. 72. ΞΕ p..80: 5 Gt. pu ah. 4 ἀντιλήμψεις, cf. Ac. xx. 35: δεῖ ἀντιλαμβάνεσθαι τῶν ἀσθενούντων. PCE Ὁ: 258: THE THIRD MISSION 293 a8 And God has placed us all in the Church—first Apostles, second Prophets, third Teachers; then miraculous powers, then gifts of healing, helpings, administrations, various kinds 29 of tongues. Are all Apostles? Are all Prophets? Are all 30 Teachers? Have all miraculous powers? Have all gifts of healing? Do all talk with tongues? Do all interpret ? Yet this in no wise excluded ambition for the higher The gifts ; indeed, loyalty lay no less in strenuous qualification ee of oneself for a higher trust than in faithful exercise of one’s actual endowments. There was, however, no room for dis- content. That was fatal, and there was one sovereign remedy for all the ills which were rife in the unhappy Church of Corinth. Spiritual gifts are precious, but there is a still nobler grace—the grace of Love. Love is best of all—better than tongues, better than prophecy, better than revelation, better than faith, better than miracles. All these belong to the present, and they have no place in Eternity. But Love will endure. Without it all spiritual gifts are poor, and its presence would banish discontent, strife, and jealousy. And so, ere dealing more particularly with the Corinthian situation, the Apostle chants a hymn in praise of Love, ‘the Sovereign Way.’ ὦ 31 Strive zealously for the greater gifts of grace ; and furthermore I point out to you a sovereign way : xiii.r If I talk with the tongues of men, ay, and of angels,? Yet have not Love, I am become resounding brass or a clanging cymbal.® 2 And if I have prophecy And be acquainted with all the mysteries and all knowledge, And if I have all faith, Enough to ‘ remove mountains,’ # Cf Mt. xvii. 20. 1 Cf. St. Thomas ἃ Kempis’ praise of Love (De Jit. Chr. 111. v. 3-8). 2 Cf. Zest. of Job, xlvii, where Job shows his three daughters his miraculous girdle which would carry them into Heaven. When they put it on, the first spoke ‘the angelic dialect’ (ἀγγελίκῃ διαλέκτῳ), the second that of the principalities (ἀρχῶν), and the third that of the cherubim (τῶν ἐν ὕψει). 3 A reference to the noisy instruments—tabrets, cymbals, and rattles—employed at heathen festivals. ‘A clanging cymbal’ was proverbial. Tiberius used to term Apion the grammarian cymbalum mundi (Plin. Nat. Hist. 1, Epist. Nuncup.). * A proverb of achieving impossibilities.. Cf. Zhe Days of His Flesh, p. 397- Zech, viii. 17 LXX. 294 LIFE AND: LET BERKS ΤΙΣ Yet have not Love, I am naught. 3 And if I dole out all my possessions, And if I surrender my body to be burned,? Yet have not Love, In nothing am I profited. 4 Love is long-suffering, kind is Love ; There is no jealousy in Love, no vaunting, no windy 5 pride, no unseemliness ; She never seeks her own, is never irritated,” never ‘ reckons her ill’ ; 6 She rejoices not over unrighteousness but rejoices with the truth ; 7 She always keeps counsel,? is always trustful, always hopeful, always patient. 8 Love never fails ; But if there be prophecies, they will be disused, Or tongues, they will cease,* Or knowledge, it will be disused. 9 For it is but partially that we can know And partially that we prophesy ; ro But when the perfect is come, The partial will be disused. 1: When I was a child, I talked as a child, I felt as a child, 1 ἵνα καυθήσο(ω)μαι (cf. Dan. iii. 28 LXX; Heb. xi. 34; Sen. Zfzs¢. x1v), the iraditional fate of Barnabas (cf. Ῥ. 118). The variant ἵνα καυχήσωμαι (approved by W. H.), ‘that I may boast,’ z.¢., in a spirit of ostentation, is probably a copyist’s emendation in view of the fact that burning was not the actual manner of the Apostle’s martyrdom ; and it would be facilitated by his fondness for the verb καυχᾶσθαι (cf. 1. 29, 31; ili. 213 iv. 7). 3 οὐ παροξύνεται, perhaps a reminiscence of the παροξυσμός between Barnabas and himself (cf. Ac. xv. 39). 8 πάντα στέγει, according to the double signification of the verb (cf. n. on 1 Th. iii. 1, p. 160), either (1) ‘is proof against everything,’ every annoyance (so R.V. marg. ‘covereth all things’); or (2) ‘keeps in everything,’ never betrays a confidence, is not vzmosa, ‘leaky-minded.’ Most probably the latter. Cf, Ecclus. Vili. 17: μετὰ μωροῦ μὴ συμβουλεύου, οὐ yap δυνήσεται λόγον στέξαι, ‘Take not counsel with a fool; for he will not be able to conceal the matter.’ Luc. Wav. 11: καίτοι ἐτελέσθημεν, ws οἶσθα, καὶ στέγειν μεμαθήκαμεν, ‘we were initiated and have learned to keep counsel.’ Proverb (cf. Alciphr. Ζ,2::ζ. 1. 13): ᾿Αρεοπαγίτου στεγανώτερος, ‘closer than an Areopagite.’ ‘ Areopagita taciturnior dicebatur qui commissum arcanum optime contineret’ (Erasm.). 4 Prophecies and tongues are for the advancement of the Faith, and when it is universal (ταύτης πανταχοῦ διασπαρείσης), they will be no longer needed (Chrys.). THE THIRD MISSION 295 I reckoned as a child; But now that I have become a man, I have disused childish things. For meanwhile we look in a mirror and guess at what we see, But then—face to face ; 1 Meanwhile it is but partially that I can know, But then shall I know as fully as I am known. "» bd a ΒΨΒΌΝΙ 13 At present there remain Faith, Hope, Love—these three ; But the greatest of these is Love. eee ll ee ὑϑηθσνν ΨΩΝ The trouble which had arisen in the Corinthian Church in The gift of connection with Spiritual Gifts, had specially to do with ‘°"8"* ‘the gift of tongues’; and here emerges a problem which is Perplexity singularly perplexing, and that for two reasons. One is etc ae that the gift was a temporary phenomenon. It abounded a in the Apostolic Church, and it still lingered, on the testimony 5y,2hone. of St. Ireneus,? in the second century and revived early in 2™- the third amid the wild excesses of the Montanist prophets ; 8, but toward the close of the fourth, as St. Chrysostom ex- pressly asserts, it had quite vanished, and the Apostle’s allusions to the Corinthian situation puzzled even that master of exegesis. ‘The whole passage,’ he observes, ‘ is exceedingly obscure; and the obscurity is occasioned by our ignorance of the facts and the cessation of happenings which were common in those days but unexampled in our own. And, moreover, the evidence of the New Testament is extremely bewildering. For one thing, it is surprisingly Meagre- ‘meagre. The phenomenon was extensively diffused in ay apostolic days, appearing at Jerusalem, at Cesarea Stratonis, Ac. ii. 1-13; xX. 463 xix, 1 δι’ ἐσόπτρου, ‘in a mirror.’ ‘According to the popular conception, a man ” looks ¢hrough a mirror, inasmuch as he imagines that the form he sees is behind the mirror’ (Moulton’s Winer, p. 476). The seen and temporal is only the shadow of the Unseen and Eternal, and in our present condition we see only God’s reflection in His works (cf. Rom. i. 20): even in Christ, ‘the Visible Image of the Invisible God,’ He is ‘to our mortal eyes subdued, flesh-veiled.’ Hereafter, however, we shall see Him ‘face to face,’ ‘even as He is’ (1 Jo. iii. 2) —not His reflection but Himself. Wetstein understands ‘through a window of dim glass,’ quoting the Rabbinical saying: ‘ All the prophets saw through dim glass, but Moses through clear glass’ (/evam. 49). An attractive interpretation but impossible, since ἔσοπτρον never means anything but ‘a mirror’ (cf. Ja. i. 23). eV ν τ. 5 Tert. Adv. Mare. v. 8; Eus. Hist. Ecel. v. 16-19. Its incon- sistency. Luke’s account: talking foreign languages. Aci ΤΠ ἢ: The general notion. Cf. Gen, xi. I-9. s00.LIvER AND; LETTERS OF tier Ate at Ephesus, and at Corinth; yet it is mentioned by Luke and Paul alone of the sacred writers.1 Nor is the scantiness of the evidence the sole or the main difficulty. The principal passages are the historian’s narrative of the happenings at Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost and the Apostle’s dis- cussion of the Corinthian situation; and these present widely divergent accounts of the nature of the phenomenon. According to the former, it was a miraculous faculty of speaking foreign languages ; and this gift was bestowed on the Apostles and their companions after their Baptism with the Holy Spirit. ‘ They began to talk with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance’; and the listening multitude, representing no fewer than fifteen diverse nationalities, were amazed to hear a band of Galileans discoursing in their various languages. If this narrative stood alone, there would be little doubt what the gift of tongues was: it was a miraculous endow- ment, vouchsafed by the Holy Spirit to those who received Him, whereby they were able to speak strange languages which they had never learned. So it was understood by the sacred historian, and his account was generally accepted by the Christian Fathers? and succeeding interpreters. Thus conceiving it, they enlarge upon the practical utility and the spiritual significance of the endowment. It was, they represent, no small furtherance of the Gospel that its first preachers were able, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, to proclaim it to all nations in their own native languages. And it served, moreover, as a prophecy of the unity of the Catholic Church, the gathering together of the scattered children of God into one family. It was indeed nothing less than the undoing of the ancient curse of Babel. ‘The -.- punishment of tongues,’ says Hugo Grotius, ‘ scattered men | abroad; the gift of tongues regathered the scattered into one people.’ 1 The promise that after His departure His disciples would ‘talk with new tongues’ is ascribed to our Lord in the spurious conclusion of the Second Gospel - (Mk. xvi. 17). ? Cf. Orig. Zn Epist. ad Rom. τ. 13; Chrys. In I Epist. ad Cor. Hom. XX1X. 13 Aug. Znarr. in Ps. xvi. 10, De Civ. Det, xvitt. 1; Ambrstr. on 1 Cor, xlv. 14. THE THIRD MISSION 297 This, however, is a doubtful representation, and even in Its unten the historian’s narrative evidences of its untenability are °™""” not lacking. First, that multitude of strangers in Jerusalem at the Feast of Pentecost was composed of Hellenists, devout Jews who had come to worship in the Holy City ; and they had no need to be addressed in the languages of their adopted countries. They would probably understand Aramaic, and they would certainly understand the Common Gréek, the lingua franca of that period.t_ Hence, if the gift of tongues was a linguistic endowment, it was, so far as they were concerned, an unnecessary miracle. And again, it is difficult to conceive how that promiscuous multitude could have been addressed simultaneously in so many languages. There is no indication that the various nationalities formed distinct groups, and the speech of one nationality would have been unintelligible to all the others. There seems no evasion of the difficulty save the theory of St. Gregory of Nazianzus? that it was a miracle not of speech but of hearing. The Apostles spoke in their own language, and by the grace of the Holy Spirit their discourse was intelligible to all their diverse audience. So the legend has it that the Spanish missionary, St. Vincent Ferrer, was understood by Greeks, Germans, Sardinians, Hungarians, and other races when he preached to them in Latin or in his mother-tongue as spoken at Valentia.? It is, moreover, significant that, on the historian’s testimony, the preaching of the Apostles on the Day of Pentecost occasioned not merely perplexity but mockery. It seemed to some of their hearers that they were intoxicated ; and this suspicion could hardly have arisen had they merely talked in foreign languages. It would indeed have been natural that their audience should marvel at their proficiency, but it would have been impossible to mistake their speech for drunken babbling. What was unfntelligible to one would have been intelligible to others by his side. And, finally, when Peter addressed the astonished assemblage, what was his explanation of the miracle? He declared it a fulfilment of the ancient prophecy : ‘ I will pour forth of My Joel ii 22 Spirit upon all flesh ; and your sons and your daughters shall *” t Ct pay. 2 Orat. xii. 15. δ᾽ Alban Butler, Lives of the Saints, Apr. 5. Paul's account. 1 Cor. xiv. 10, 11. Ac. ii. 4. Vor 6,11. Cf. xii. 30. The basis of investi- gation. 208. ‘LIFE AND: LET@ £2 RS OF St, Pause prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.’ This defines the phenomenon : it was not talking foreign languages; it was prophecy— revelation and ecstasy. And this accords with our Apostle’s references to the situation at Corinth. Here there is no suggestion of speaking foreign languages ; indeed the idea is positively precluded. When languages are in question, they are termed ‘ voices.’ The word ‘ tongue’ had been appropriated to a special use, and another was required. Again, the Apostle’s phrase is ‘talking with a tongue’ or ‘ with tongues,’ and the historian had to amplify this into ‘ talking with other tongues ’ in order to express the idea of ‘talking in foreign languages’ as distinguished from ‘ talking in one’s own dialect ’ or ἡ tongue.’ Moreover, the purpose of the gift of tongues, according to the historian, was to render the message intelligible to the audience, and there was no such necessity at Corinth. There indeed the gift of tongues rendered the speakers unintelligible. They needed an interpreter, and his qualification was not knowledge of foreign languages but spiritual understanding. Interpretation was not a natural acquirement but a spiritual gift. This representation must be unreservedly accepted. Not only was it written earlier, but Paul had personal contact with the phenomenon ; and his account of it is uninten- tionally corroborated by the inherent inconsistency of the historian’s narrative. The latter’s misconception of the gift of tongues evinces how short-lived the phenomenon was. Though it lingered here and there for generations, it was generally no more than a vague memory ere the close of the first century. Its entire disappearance in St. Chrysostom’s day rendered it obscure to that master of sacred interpreta- tion; and perhaps our best advantage over him and his 1ΤῸ in no wise impairs the historical trustworthiness of the Book of Acts that it represents the ‘tongues’ as foreign languages, since this was apparently the prevailing belief, shared even by the gifted persons themselves. At all events it was the idea of the Irvingite prophets. ‘Mary Campbell herself expressed her conviction that the tongue given to her was that of the Pelew Islands, which, indeed, was a safe statement, and little likely to be authoritatively disputed : while some other conjectures pointed to the Turkish and Chinese languages as those thus miraculously bestowed’ (Oliphant’s 2772 of Edward Irving, p. 328). — =. THE THIRD MISSION 299 contemporaries lies in the recognition of the fact that the Pauline references are the surest data for investigation. At the same time we have this further advantage that, since St. Chrysostom’s day, the phenomenon has occasionally reappeared ; and consideration of these more recent mani- festations is helpful toward a just solution of the problem. The most striking instances of the gift of tongues in modern Modern times are ‘ the little prophets of the Cevennes ’ at the close of the sin of the seventeenth century and the Irvingites early in the tonsues. nineteenth; and it is remarkable that these exhibited respectively the phenomenon of the Day of Pentecost as portrayed in the Book of Acts and the ecstasies which con- vulsed the Corinthian Church. The story in the former instance is that among the perse- ‘The tittle cuted Huguenots who found an asylum amid the mountains of Prophets the Cevennes after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, Cevennes.' the spiritual gifts of the Apostolic Church reappeared— miracles of healing, prophecy, and talking with tongues. The last was bestowed mainly on young children, who were stricken with convulsions rendering them insensible to pain. During their seizures they preached and exhorted, not in the Romance patois of their native mountains, but in good French. This instance, however, is hardly apposite. French was no strange language to the ‘little prophets.’ Their patois was indeed their habitual language, but French was the language of the Huguenot Bible and of Huguenot devotion ; and their exhortations were probably nothing else than passages of Scripture and of sermons. Nor is their repetition of these psychologically inexplicable. The words which they had heard and forgotten, lay dormant in their “subliminal consciousness’ and awakened when their ‘ supra- liminal consciousness’ was paralysed by sickness. It is a like phenomenon when the forgotten but imperishable past recurs in seasons of mental aberration and is uttered in ravings. Coleridge furnishes a remarkable instance in the case of a young woman some five and twenty years of age and quite illiterate, unable either to read or to write, who, in the delirium of a nervous fever, poured forth Hebrew and 1 Cf. Heath in Contemp. Rev., Jan. 1886; τιον, Histoire du fanatisme, i. pp. 148 ff The Irvingite movement. The gift of tongues. The gift of healing. 400° LIFE-AND- LETTERS ΘΕ PACL Greek and Latin in a pompous tone and with such distinct and accurate enunciation that pages of her utterances were taken down. The explanation subsequently emerged. She had been for several years in the service of a clergyman who was accustomed to pace to and fro in a corridor adjoining the kitchen reciting favourite passages of the Scriptures and the Fathers. The movement -associated with the name of Edward Irving had its origin on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. It too was a revival of the spiritual gifts which abounded in the Apostolic Church, and it began simultaneously, in the month of March 1830, in two humble dwellings—the cottage of Fernicarry at the head of the Gareloch, where Mary Campbell, a young woman of saintly character, lay wasting with consumption ; and the home of two unlearned but devout brothers, James and George Macdonald, at Port- Glasgow on the other side of the Firth. It was a time of spiritual awakening and unrest. A persuasion of the im- minence of Christ’s Return to establish His Millennial Reign had taken possession of a group of prophetic enthusiasts, and had been widely diffused by the apostolic zeal of their leader, Edward Irving; and it was believed that the con- summation would be heralded by a recurrence of the spiritual gifts which had accompanied His First Advent. The wild hope had reached the peaceful shores of the Gareloch; and one Sunday evening a company of friends had gathered round Mary Campbell’s couch and were praying for the restoration of the gifts, when suddenly she received the gift of tongues and “broke forth in loud, ecstatic utterances,’ continuing for upwards of an hour. It was the gift of healing that was first bestowed on the Macdonalds. Their sister was lying sick, and she prayed for the Baptism of the Spirit. Her request was granted : her weakness was forgotten, and for several hours she poured forth her soul in praise, prayer, and exhortation. She interceded for her brother James, that he too might be endued with power from on high. This request also was granted, and at his command she arose from her couch, healed of her sickness. He wrote to Mary Campbell, inform- ing her what the Lord had done and charging her also to THE ‘THIRD. MISSION 301 ‘rise up and walk.’ She obeyed; her disease left her; the gift of tongues remained with her, and she entered on the career of an inspired prophetess. The gifts, especially prophecy and tongues, continued and Erskine of increased ; and the fame of so marvellous a manifestation ‘iniathers spread abroad and the two dwellings were frequented by curious visitors from near and far. One of these was the wise and saintly Thomas Erskine of Linlathen, who after so- journing six weeks with the Macdonalds published this testimony: ‘ Whilst I see nothing in Scripture against the reappearance, or rather the continuance, of miraculous gifts in the Church, but a great deal for it, I must further say that I see a great deal of internal evidence in the west country to prove their genuine miraculous character, especially in the speaking with tongues. . . . After witnessing what I have witnessed among these people, I cannot think of any person decidedly condemning them as impostors, without a feeling of great alarm. It is certainly not a thing to be lightly or rashly believed, but neither is it a thing to be lightly or rashly rejected. I believe that it is of God.’ 4 It is the gift of tongues that is our immediate concern, Nature of and the accounts which Erskine and other witnesses have rae left, are very instructive. .-Three facts emerge. (1) The (1) Actual experience was regarded by the subjects as an actual pos- δον session. ‘They declare,’ wrote a London solicitor, who visited Port-Glasgow to investigate the phenomenon,’ ‘that their organs of speech are made use of by the Spirit of God; and that they utter that which is given them, and not the expressions of their own conceptions, or their own intention.’ ‘The voices,’ says Erskine,? ‘struck me very much, perhaps more than the tongues. It was not their loudness, although they were very loud, but they did not sound to me as if they were the voices of the persons speaking ; they seemed to be uttered through them by another power.’ (2) The tongues were not mere babbling. ‘ The languages,’ (2) A truc says Erskine,‘ ‘are distinct, well-inflected, well-compacted '*"8"*5° languages ; they are not random collections of sounds; they are composed of words of various length, with the natural variety, 1 Erskine, Ze¢éers, pp. 182 ff. 2 Jbid., p. 181. * Jbid., p. 186. 4 Jbid., Appendix ν Π|, pp. 392 f. (3) Unin- telligible even to the speak: rs without in- terpreia- tion. Similarity of the Corinthian tongues. The gift of prophecy and the gift of tongues. 265. LIFE AND LETTE Ro- OF, Sis. ie and yet possessing that commonness of character which marks them to be one distinct language. I have heard many people speak gibberish, but this is not gibberish, it is decidedly well-compacted language.’ Specimens have been preserved as they were written down by hearers, and one of these runs : ‘O Pinitos, Elelastino Halimangotos Dantita, Hampooteni, Farini, Aristos, Ekampros.’ (3) The tongues were unintelli- gible to the speakers unless the additional gift of interpretation was vouchsafed. Erskine relates how on one occasion, after James Macdonald ‘ had prayed a considerable time, first in English and then in a tongue, the command to pray for an interpretation was brought to his mind, and he repeated “ It is written, ‘ Let him that speaketh in a tongue pray that he may interpret.’’’ He then prayed for interpretation with great urgency, until he felt that he had secured the answer, and when repeating over the concluding words of what he had spoken in the tongue, which were “ disco capito,”’ he said, “‘ And this is the interpretation: the shout of a King is among them.”’’ } Precisely these are the characteristics of this singular phenomenon as it presented itself in the Corinthian Church. Its reality is attested by its persistence and its spontaneous recurrence in seasons of spiritual excitation ; and the ques- tion is whether it be possible to ascertain its actual nature and define the principles underlying it. It is an illuminating fact that the gift of tongues was closely related to the gift of prophecy, and both were con- 1 Jbid., p. 186. The gift of tongues is claimed by ‘the Pentecostal Brethren,’ and this testimony has been communicated by a Welsh correspondent (April 10, 1911): ‘I have recently heard ‘“‘the gift of tongues”; and some time ago in Swansea Pentecostal Brethren from Bournemouth held special meetings. They claim to speak and pray in ‘‘unknown tongues.” During the meeting I heard several of the congregation pray, with the “‘gift of tongues,” in a language un- known to themselves ; but, as soon as they ceased praying thus, one of the Pente- costals interpreted. I have heard even some Welshmen in my own district speak with ‘‘the gift of tongues.” One friend of mine, a Welshman, said that he went to his room one afternoon to pray for a special blessing, and the blessing asked for was ‘‘the gift of tongues.” Before leaving the room he had the ‘‘gift.” I have heard the strange language, the pronunciation similar to this :—‘‘ Sacra cara me a provi prori prori, etc.” This friend told me there was no connection whatever between him and the ‘‘ Pentecostals,” and I have every reason to believe his statements.’ THE THIRD MISSION 303 omitants of the Baptism of the Spirit. ‘When Paul had ac. xix. 6; aid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and “ * 444° they began to talk with tongues and to prophesy.’ And what was the difference between prophesying and talking with tongues ? It was a difference not of kind but of degree. In its scriptural sense prophecy was not prediction. It was ‘the proclamation of a divine message, the telling of a vision, the glowing testimony of a heart moved by the Holy Spirit. “One who prophesies,’ says the Apostle, ‘talks to mem: Cor. xiv edification and encouragement and consolation.’ A‘ teacher’ * ‘repeated and expounded the sacred tradition ; 1 a ‘ prophet’ ttered a revelation, he preached the word which God had spoken to his own soul. Prophecy was a rapturous out- pouring of mingled exhortation, adoration, prayer, and praise; and it would frequently happen that the prophet was overwhelmed by the fulness of his vision of God. The glory was ineffable; language failed him, and, like the Apostle, he could utter nothing but ‘ inarticulate groanings.’ Rom. viii. This was ‘ talking with tongues ’"—the crying of a surcharged ne soul.2. And here lies the difference between ‘ prophesying ’ and ‘talking with tongues.’ Both were the utterance of souls possessed by the Holy Spirit, but in the one case the language was intelligible, in the other it was unintelligible. _ ‘Talking with tongues’ was an actual experience, and the Abuse of Apostle knew it well. ‘ Thank God,’ he says, ‘I talk with = tongues more than any of you.’ It was not the experience 7,0 Ἦν ‘that was objectionable in his eyes and that created the scandal at Corinth; it was the abuse of it. His attitude is identical with that of Erskine of Linlathen. Erskine was profoundly impressed by the revival of spiritual gifts in his day. In its initial stage he recognised it as indubitably a divine operation. Yet he never identified himself with the ovement. He maintained an attitude of critical though 1 Cf. p. 80. _ *® ‘Most frequently,’ says Irving (Oliphant’s 2272, p. 329), ‘the silence is broken by utterance in a tongue, and this continues for a longer or a shorter period, some- times occupying only a few words, as it were filling the first gust of sound ; some- times extending to five minutes, or even more, of earnest and deeply-felt discourse, with which the heart and soul of the speaker is manifestly much moved to tears, and sighs, and unutterable groanings, to joy, and mirth, and exultation, and even laughter of the heart.’ Prophecy the best gift. Cf, xii. 28. Limitation 304 «LIFE: AND LET TERS OF pone, reverent observation; and while he never questioned the possibility or the desirability of the restoration of spiritual gifts to the Church, yet in view of subsequent developments, especially in the community which gathered round Edward Irving, he saw reason to revise his judgment of the actual situation. ‘We have had great trial,’ he wrote at the beginning of the year 1834,! ‘ about the spiritual gifts. The spirit which has been manifested has not been a spirit of union, but of discord. Ido not believe that the introduction of these gifts, whatever they may be, has been to draw men simply to God. I think the effect has rather been to lead men to take God, as it were, on trust from others; to be satisfied with God having declared something to another, and not to expect the true fulfilment of the promise, “ They shall all be taught of the Lord.’”’’ ‘ God,’ he had written a month previously,” ‘ is our all, and having God, we have lost nothing. These gifts are but signs and means of grace ; they are not grounds of confidence; they are not necessarily intercourse with God; they are not holiness, nor love, nor patience; they are not Jesus. But surely they shall yet appear, when God has prepared men to receive them.’ Precisely similar was the situation which had emerged at Corinth. Emulation had created discord ; and the reason was that in their zeal for gifts of grace the Corinthians had forgotten the highest gift of all—the grace of Love. And so the Apostle recalls them to this sovereign way. It would not lessen their zeal for spiritual gifts; it would rather aid them in attaining these. And so in counselling them to pursue Love he bids them also not only strive for spiritual gifts but strive for the highest within their reach. And that was the gift of Prophecy. There was indeed, according to the Apostle’s classification, one still higher—the grace of Apostleship ; but it was a divine vocation beyond the grasp of human ambition, and the gift of Prophecy was the loftiest goal of legitimate aspiration. xiv.r Pursue Love; but strive zealously for spiritual gifts, most of all that you may prophesy. And now he proceeds to deal with that troublous business 1 Letters, p. 206. 8. Jbid., p. 204. THE THIRD MISSION 305 —‘talking with tongues.’ It was a phase of the gift of Prophecy. It was prophetic rapture, and it was indeed a sacred and solemn experience to be highly and reverently prized. Yet it was subject to this practical limitation, that it was talking to God, and it was unintelligible to men, and thus it could not serve that precious use of Prophecy—the edification of the Church. And therefore Prophecy was a better gift and more to be desired. 2 For one who talks with a tongue talks not to men but to God ; for no one understands, but in spirit he talks mysteries ; 3 whereas one who prophesies talks to men edification and 4encouragement and consolation. One who talks with a tongue edifies himself; whereas one who prophesies edifies sthe Church. I wish you all talked with tongues, but most of all that you should prophesy. Greater is one who prophesies than one who talks with tongues, unless it be that he interprets, that the Church may receive edification. Edification is the supreme end of public worship, and its essential condition is intelligibility. The end was served by the presentation of a revelation and the knowledge which it supplied, or by prophecy, or by a Teacher’s repetition of the Evangelic Tradition; but what profit could accrue from listening to ‘inarticulate groanings’? These were indeed a language, but the meaning was hidden from the hearers. The ecstatic outpouring might be, as Edward Irving claimed,? no ‘unmeaning gibberish, as the thoughtless and heedless sons of Belial have said,’ but ‘regularly formed, well-pro- portioned, deeply-felt discourse, which evidently wanteth only the ear of him whose native tongue it 1s, to make it a very masterpiece of powerful speech’; yet, so long as that ear was wanting, it was, for practical purposes, no better than a foreign language, and it remained unprofitable though it were ‘ the tongue of the angels.’ 6 This being so, brothers, what shall I profit you if I come to you talking with tongues and do not talk to you in the way of revelation or of knowledge ® or of prophecy or of teaching ? 7In the case of mere lifeless instruments giving sound—say a 1 ἀκούει, cf. Dt. xxviii. 49 LXX : ἔθνος ὃ οὐκ ἀκούσῃ τῆς φωνῆς αὐτοῦ, 53. Life, p. 329. ες Cf. n. on xii. 8, U of the gift of tongues Futility of unintelli- gible speech. xiii. 2. Cf. ix. 26. No ‘speak- ing with tongues’ without interpreta- tion. 306 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL flute or a harp—if they give no distinction in their notes, how will it be recognised what it is that is being played on either ? 8 Ay, and if a trumpet give an uncertain sound, who will prepare οἷοι war? So with you also in using the tongue, if you give unintelligible speech, how will it be recognised what it is that το you are talking? You will be talking ‘into the air.’ There are, it may be, such and such a number of different languages r1in the world, and nothing lacks a language. Τί, then, I do not know the force of the language, I shall be to the man who is talking it a foreigner, and the man who is talking it will be a 12 foreigner in my esteem. So with you also, since you are striving so zealously for spirits, let it be for the Church’s edification that you seek to abound in them. The remedy was that the gift of tongues should never be exercised in public assembly without interpretation. This was a distinct gift. Sometimes it accompanied the gift of tongues, and then, when his ecstasy passed, the enthusiast could explain the significance of his inspired utterances. But sometimes he lacked it, and then, unless one who possessed it were present to interpret them, they remained unintelligible to speaker and hearers alike. What was this gift of interpretation if the tongues were not, as they were popularly conceived, unknown languages? Articulate speech is not the sole language. It is man’s peculiar gift, distinguishing him from the rest of the animals, which express their emotions by inarticulate cries. These cries, however, are also a language, and each has its proper signifi- cance. ‘ With the domesticated dog,’ says Darwin,? ‘ we have the bark of eagerness, as in the chase; that of anger, as well as growling ; the yelp or howl of despair, as when shut up; the baying at night; the bark of joy, as when starting on a walk with his master; and the very distinct one of demand or supplication, as when wishing for a door or window to be opened.’ And, besides the articulate speech which is his normal mode of expression, man, in certain moods, ‘ uses, in common with the lower animals, inarticulate cries to express his meaning, aided by gestures and move- ments of the muscles of the face. This especially holds good with the more simple and vivid feelings, which are but little τ The Descent of Man, 1. iii. THE THIRD MISSION 307 connected with our higher intelligence. Our cries of pain, fear, surprise, anger, together with their appropriate actions, and the murmur of a mother to her beloved child, are more expressive than any words.’ Such cries were the ‘ inarticu- late groanings ’ of the enthusiasts, and they were a language. They expressed distinct emotions—prayer, praise, adoration, thankfulness ; and, meaningless as they were to others, they were intelligible to one who shared the emotions which prompted them. The spiritual expert understood the language of the spirit. He had ‘ the gift of interpretation.’ 13 Wherefore let one who talks with a tongue pray that he 14may interpret. For, if I pray with a tongue, my spirit 1sprays but my mind is barren. What follows, then? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also ; I will praise with my spirit, but I will praise with my r6mind also. Else, if you bless with spirit only, how shall one who fills the place of the plain man? say the Amen at your thanksgiving, since he does not know what you are 17saying ? Your thanksgiving indeed is beautiful, but your 18neighbour is not edified. Thank God, I talk with tongues tgmore than any of you; yet in Church I had rather talk five words with my mind, so as to lodge them in the memories of others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue. And now he appeals to the good sense of the Corinthians. an appeal Was there not something childish in those unintelligible po eeed raptures? What end did they serve? They availed neither for conversion nor for edification. There was a lesson for the Church in the ancient Scriptures. Long ago, when the scornful men of Jerusalem scoffed at the simplicity of his message, the Prophet had warned them that the Lord would address them after another fashion. The Assyrians would invade Jerusalem, and she would hear their foreign tongue. It was because they would not hearken to His gracious Word that the Lord had spoken to His people in a language which they could not understand ; and so, argues the Apostle, was it still. There was no grace in those unin- telligible tongues of which the Corinthians were so proud. 1 ὁ ἰδιώτης, ‘the plain man’ as distinguished from ‘the expert,’ ὁ τέχνην ἔχων, whatever his réxvy—the statesman, the physician, the poet, the soldier, the churchman. Precisely equivalent to ‘layman’ in its old use. Cf. Sir Philip Sidney, Soret 74. g08 LIFE*AND LETTERS OF ΒΘ PAUL They neither edified believers, as prophecy did ; nor did they, like prophecy, convert unbelievers, though they might make the latter wonder and scoff. zo Brothers, do not prove children in your wits. No, in evil 21 be very babes, but in your wits prove full-grown men. It is Is. xxviii, | Written in the Law: ‘ By men of strange tongues and by lips awe of strangers will I talk to this people, and not even thus will 22 they hearken to Me, saith the Lord.’! And so tongues serve as a sign not for those who hold the Faith but for strangers to it; whereas prophecy serves not for strangers to the Faith 23 but for those who hold it. If, then, the whole Church assemble together and all talk with tongues, and there enter plain men or strangers to the Faith, will they not say that you are mad? 24 But if all prophesy and there enter a stranger to the Faith or 25a plain man, he is convicted by all, he is examined by all, the secrets of his heart become manifest ; and so he will fall on his Is. xlv.14. face and worship God, proclaiming that ‘ God is indeed among you.’ A practical And so the Apostle lays down a practical rule. The plague regulation. OF the Corinthian Church was the profusion of its spiritual gifts. At each meeting so many were eager to bear a part. One would lead in a psalm of praise, another would recite a lesson from the Evangelic Tradition, another had a revela- tion to communicate, another would break out with a tongue, while another would furnish the interpretation. It was a scene of wild and unedifying confusion. The worst disorder was occasioned by talking with tongues, and when several enthusiasts talked simultaneously, it was a very babel. And so for the regulation of this exuberant gift the Apostle enjoins that it should never be exercised without interpreta- tion: where there was no interpreter, there should be no talking with tongues. And in any case it should be exercised sparingly—twice or, at the utmost, thrice at a single meeting, and always one at a time. a6 What follows, then, brothers? Whenever you assemble, each has a psalm, has a lesson, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation: let everything be done with a view to 27 edification. In the case of talking with a tongue: let two or, 1 Not the LXX rendering, which is here very erroneous. Origen (P&sloe. 1X. 9) says he had found the equivalent of the Apostle’s rendering in Aquila’s Version. THE THIRD MISSION 309 at the most, three talk at one meeting, and each in turn; and a8let one interpret. But if there be no interpreter, let the man keep silence in Church, and talk to himself and to God. The Apostle is here content with imposing these stringent Regulation limitations on the exercise of the gift of tongues, but it would ig seem that ere long, like Erskine of Linlathen, he adopted a less tolerant attitude and absolutely discountenanced it. At all events ‘talking with tongues’ has no place in his Cf. Rom. subsequent enumerations of spiritual gifts. Meanwhile he ok allows that it is indeed a divine endowment, but he pro- ™ ‘? nounces the gift of Prophecy better, inasmuch as it served the grand use of spiritual edification. Yet even the gift of Prophecy was liable to abuse, and apparently it was doubly abused at Corinth. It fostered spiritual pride and self- deception. The former displayed itself in the eagerness of the Prophets to thrust themselves forward and proclaim their revelations. Several would rise simultaneously and endeavour to speak each other down. Their inspiration was their pretext: they must utter the divine message. And the result was disorder and strife. Moreover, they were prone to self-deception. Erskine tells how on two occasions he heard James Macdonald prophesy with remarkable power, -and afterwards ‘ discovered the seed of his utterances in the newspapers.’1 It was not imposture ; it was self-deception. What he had read had lodged in his mind, and he had brooded over it until at length he mistook it for a revelation. ‘I thus see,’ remarks Erskine, “how things may come into the mind and remain there, and then come forth as supernatural utterances, although their origin be quite natural.’ It appears that similar deceptions had chanced at Corinth, demonstrating the necessity of ‘ discerning’ the prophetic spirits.? 29 And as for Prophets: tet two or three talk, and let the 30 others discern. And if a revelation be made to another sitting 3 by, let the first keep silence. For you can all prophesy one 1 Letters, p. 209. Several of Irving’s followers ultimately recognised and con- fessed that their inspiration had been a delusion. Cf. Zzfe, pp. 323, 357 f., 364. ® Irving’s test of the prophets was twofold: ‘blameless walk and conversation’ and ‘nothing contrary to sound doctrine, but everything for edification, exhorta- tion, and comfort’ (Zzfe, p. 319). Women prophesy- ing. Ac. Xxi, 9, Gal. iii, 28. Cf. Gen. 111. τό. Catholic usage. ΟἿ σι; τὸ; 310, LIFE AND ΤΕΤΕΕΒ OF τ σὺ 34 by one, that all may learn and all be encouraged. And Pro- 33 phets’ spirits are subject to the Prophets; for God is not a God of disorder but a God of peace, as He is in all the churches of His saints.? Here arose the question of the legitimacy of women prophesying. There had been prophetesses in ancient Israel, and there were prophetesses also in the Apostolic Church like the four daughters of Philip the Evangelist. The gift was a divine endowment, and its possession attested its legitimacy ; and Paul, recognising as he did the oneness of male and female in Christ Jesus, would have been the last to ‘ make channels for God’s Spirit, as men make channels for the water-courses, and say, ‘‘ Flow here, but flow not there.” ’ He acknow- ledged the legitimacy of women prophesyip, 1 view of the scandals which he has already censurea in dealing with the question of the veil,« he prohibits them from public exercise of the sift. 34 Let the women keep silence in the Churches ; for it is not permitted them to talk. No, let them be subject, as the Law 35also says. And if they wish to learn anything, let them question their own husbands at home. For it is disgraceful for a woman to talk in Church. The Apostle knew by experience how wilful the Corinthians were, and he reminds them once more of the deference due to catholic custom. The Corinthian Church was not Christen- dom but merely a Christian community, and they had no right to practise innovations at their own discretion. They must reverence the Lord’s authority and the consensus fidelium. 36 Was it from you that the Word of God went forth, or did 3711 reach to you alone? If any one fancies he is a prophet or a spiritual, let him fully recognise that what I am writing to 38 you is the Lord’s commandment ; and if any one ignores it, he is to be ignored.’ ἢ 1 This last clause is otherwise construed (1) with ver. 31, vers. 32, 3234 being parenthetical (W. H.); (2) with ver. 74,(Tisch.)—‘as in all the churches of the saints, let the woman keep silence in your churches.’ * Cf. p. 282. * ἀγνοεῖται, pres. (cf. Mt. xxiv. 40, xxvi. 2), ‘this is his doom—to be ignored.’ For the variant dyvoelrw, ‘if any one ignores it, let him ignore it,’ cf. vii. 15; Rev. xxii. 11. THE THIRD MISSION 31 39 And so, my brothers, be zealous for prophesying and do gonot hinder talking with tongues; but let everything be done in a seemly and orderly fashion. The next question which the Corinthian rescript submitted s. The concerned the resurrection of the body; and it is not sur- Res" prising that this problem should have been debated in a. of ΠΡ Gentile community. The constant burden of the Apostle’s — ᾿ preaching was twofold: the Lord’s Death and His Resur- cf. Ac. rection with its corollary, the resurrection of believers ; and **"" > while the former presented a special difficulty to Jewish minds with their secular ideal of the Messiah as a victorious cf. τ Cor. King, it was the latter that chiefly offended the philosophic * 73 Greeks. To the Apostle’s audience in the Court of the Ac. xvii. Areiopag. * seemed a grotesque impossibility, and it 55 had been greeted with contemptuous ridicule; and a like sentiment prevailed at Corinth. It was a postulate of ancient philosophy that matter is essentially and necessarily evil; and hence impurity is inseparable from our present condition. The mortal body is the prison-house of the im- mortal spirit, and only when it attains disembodiment will the latter escape corruption. Meanwhile impurity is inevit- able, and it has no moral significance. The Apostle had dealt with this mischievous theory in his first letter. He had , Cor, vi insisted on the sanctification of soul and body alike, since '??° the body is no perishing vesture one day to be cast aside. It was worn by the Lord in the days of His flesh, and even as His body was raised by the power of God, so will ours. His doctrine had excited a lively controversy in the Corin- The thian Church. The idea of the resurrection of the body Rese. presented insuperable difficulties to the Greek intellect, and Lord. these were submitted to the Apostle. It was indeed a pro- found problem, and his argument ranks as his noblest achieve- ment. It is a truly prophetic vision, and the subsequent progress of human thought has only served to illumine it and discover more of its inexhaustible fulness. He begins with a reaffirmation of the historic faet of the Resurrection of the Lord and a repetition of the Evangelic Tradition which he had already delivered to the Corinthian Church—the eye- © CE p: 256, No resur- rection, no salvation. gro SLAP ER AND CETTERS OF ai rye: witnesses’ testimonies to the manifestations of the Risen Lord during the forty days betwixt His Resurrection and His Ascension,! besides his personal testimony to the mani- festation which had been vouchsafed to himself on the road to Damascus. xv.1 I recall to you, brothers, the Gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand 2firm, through which also you are being saved—the very terms in which I preacned it to you, presuming you hold it 3 fast—unless it be that your faith was all to no purpose. I delivered to you primarily ? the tradition which I had also received : Christ died for our sins according to the Scrip- 4tures, and He was buried, and He has been raised 3 on the 5 third day according to the Scriptures; and He appeared 6to Cephas, then to the Twelve; next He appeared to upwards of five hundred brothers all at once, of whom the greater number remain to this day while some have 7 gone to their rest ; next He appeared to James, then to all 8the Apostles. Last of all, He appeared also to me, as it gwere, the poor weakling. For I am the least of the Apostles ; I am not fit to be called an Apostle, inasmuch 1oas I persecuted the Church of God. But by God’s grace I am what I am. And the grace which He showed me proved no empty thing. No, I toiled more abundantly than any of them; yet it was not I but the grace of God traiding me. Whether, then, it be I or they, this is the message we are proclaiming and this the faith you embraced. It does not appear that the Corinthians questioned the Resurrection of the Lord. It was merely the resurrection of believers that they denied; but they could not stop there. 1 Cf. The Days of His Flesh, p. 520. 3. ἐν πρώτοις, not ‘at the beginning of my teaching’ (Chrys. : ἐξ ἀρχῆς, οὐ νῦν), but ‘in the place of primary importance’ (Grot.: ‘inter precipua que credere debetis’). 3. ἐγήγερται, perf., since His Resurrection is not merely an historic fact (ἠγέρθη) but a present and abiding force. * ἔκτρωμα (cf. LXX Num. xii. 12; Job iii. 16; Eccl. vi. 3), ‘an abortion’ or ‘premature birth,’ and so a stunted weakling. The idea, as explained in next ver., is twofold: (1) the «regularity, not the /ateness, of Paul’s conversion ; (2) the imperfection of his growth: he was, in his own estimation, the weakling of the apostolic brotherhood. He was always ready to confess this. It was not the quality but the reality of his apostleship that he asserted, and the necessity of asserting it was distasteful to him. His achievements were not his own but triumphs of God’s grace through his poor instrumentality. THE THIRD MISSION 313 Their contention that ‘ there was no such thing as a resur- rection of the dead’ ruled out not merely the resurrection of believers but the Resurrection of Christ as well; and see what would then ensue. Not only would the testimony of the Apostles be discredited, but the faith of their converts would be betrayed. Salvation lay in union with Christ— crf. Rom. identification with Him in His Death, His Burial, His Resur- δ **” rection, and His Life ; and if He had never been raised, their hope of salvation was belied, and their expectation of reunion with their beloved dead was an idle dream. They were the pitiable dupes of a fond delusion. 12 Nowif it is proclaimed that that Christ has been raised from the dead, how is it that some among you are saying that 13‘ there is no such thing as a resurrection of the dead’? If ‘there is no such thing as a resurrection of the dead,’ neither 14has Christ been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, it turns out that the message we proclaim is an empty thing, 15 your faith also is an empty thing. Yes, and we are being found false witnesses of God, because we bore witness against God that He raised Christ; and He did not raise Him, if 16indeed it turns out that the dead are not raised. For, if the 17dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile: you are still 18in your sins. It turns out also that those who have gone 19to their rest in Christ, have perished. If it be for this life that we have set our hope in Christ, and that be all, we are the most pitiable of mankind. It was an appalling issue, and the Apostle dismisses it and The turns with exultant relief to the glorious reality. Christ ass has been raised, and His Resurrection is the prophecy and pledge not only of the future resurrection of all who are united to Him but of the final triumph of God’s redemptive purpose. He is the new head of humanity. Adam was the original head, and by the profound principle which links the generations and makes each the heir of the last, his sin be- came the heritage of the race. And, conversely, since Christ is the new head of humanity, His grace flows down the ages like a healing stream ; nor will its beneficent operation cease until evil has been purged from the Universe and God the Father reigns in undisputed dominion, 41. "LIFE AND LETTERS OR oir au ao But, as it is, Christ has been raised from the dead, the a1 first-fruits of those who have gone to rest. For, since it is through a man that there is death, it is also through a 22man that there is a resurrection of the dead. For, just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made live. 23 But each in the proper order: Christ the first-fruits; next 24Christ’s people at His Advent; then the end, when He surrenders the Kingdom to the God and Father, when He shall have crushed every principality and every authority Pss. viii. 6, 25 and power. For He must be King until ‘ He put all things er 26under His feet.’ The last enemy to be crushed is death ; 27for ‘He has subjected all things under His feet.’ And when He shall say: ‘All things have been subjected’ (plainly with the exception of Him who subjected them 28 all to Him)—when they shall all be subjected to Him, then the Son shall Himself also be subjected to Him who sub- jected them all to Him, that God may be all in all. Theissues Such was the Christian faith in the Resurrection ; and the sans Apostle proceeds to remind his converts how precious it was to their own hearts, and what sacred issues depended on it. Their dearest affections were at stake. Those were sorrowful days at Corinth. A pestilence had visited the city,’ and death was busy in her dwellings. It was the call of God, and many had hearkened to it. Unbelieving husbands or wives, bereaved of their beloved, turned in their desolation to the Saviour whom they had hitherto rejected and, moved by the hope of a blessed reunion, confessed their faith in the Gospel. They were ‘ baptised for the sake of their dead.’ If there was ‘ no such thing as a resurrection,’ that tender hope was a fond delusion. And there was more at stake. The Corinthian Christians were bearing constant sacrifice and suffering for their Lord. The Apostle reminds them of the persecutions which he had endured in their midst and those which he had endured and was still enduring at Ephesus. He wae facing death daily in the hope of winning the glory of the Resurrection. If that hope were a dream, then his sacrifices and theirs were unavailing, and it were better to embrace the Epicurean philosophy and snatch the fleeting pleasures of the passing hour. c 2 Cf. p. 288. THE THIRD MISSION 315 s9 Else, what will they do who are baptised for the sake of their dead ?1 If the dead are not raised at all, why are they 3oactually baptised for their sake? Why, too, are we running 3rrisks every hour? Daily I am facing death—ay, by that of. 2 Cor, boasting in you, brothers, which is mine in Christ Jesus our’ 32Lord. If it was from merely human motives that I fought with wild beasts at Ephesus,? what am I the better for it? If the dead are not raised, ‘let us eat and drink, for on the Is. xxii. 13. morrow we die.’ ὃ The Apostle had a purpose in quoting that Epicurean aes maxim. Too many of the Corinthians were actually prac- figertinism. 1 A much vexed passage. A mere enumeration of all the various interpretations would require, says Bengel, a dissertation. Cf. collection in Poole’s Synops. Crit. occupying four folio pages. The clue to the Apostle’s meaning lies in ver. 18: the hope of reunion in Heaven with their beloved dead who had ‘gone to their rest in Christ,’ had induced some, hitherto unbelieving, to profess faith and be baptised. Of other interpretations suffice it to indicate three which have had a long and wide vogue: 1. Vécarium baptisma, ‘Vicarious Baptism’ (Ambrstr., Grot.). Believers submitted themselves to the Sacrament in name of their un- baptised dead, that these might rank as Christians and share in the felicity of the Resurrection. The practice certainly prevailed in the time of Tertullian (cf. De Resurr. Carn. 48; Adv. Marc. v. 10), but only, it would seem, among heretics— the Marcionites (cf. Chrys.) and the Cerinthians (cf. Epiphan. Hr. xxviii. 7). There is, however, no evidence that it was known at Corinth, and it probably originated in a misunderstanding of the text. 2. After pouring scorn on that heretical practice Chrys. propounds his own view. He explains the passage by the fashion obtaining in his time at the administration of Baptism : the catechumen repeated the article of the Creed ‘I believe in the Resurrection of the Dead,’ and on the strength of this confession of his faith he was then immersed in token of his burial and resurrection with Christ. Thus ‘baptism for the dead’ was sup- posed to mean ‘baptism on the ground of faith in the resurrection of the dead.’ 3. Baptisma clinicorum, ‘Death-bed Baptism,’ administered on the approach of death to those who had postponed the observance of the Sacrament for fear of mortal sin (Epiphan., Calv., Beng.). But (1) ὑπὲρ τῶν νεκρῶν cannot mean ‘on the verge of death,’ 7am mortturé; and (2) it was not until a later period that the custom of delaying Baptism arose (cf. Append. VI). 3 The same metaphor occurs in iv. 9 (cf. p. 254). θηριομαχεῖν is certainly figura- tive. It is incredible that Paul, a Roman citizen, should actually have fought in the circus as a destiarius. Cf. Ignat. Rom. v, where the saint, on his way to martyrdom at Rome, says he is ‘fighting with wild beasts all the while,’ évdedepé- vos δέκα λεοπάρδοις, meaning his brutal guards. ‘Wild beasts’ was a common metaphor for savage men (cf. Pompey in Appian, 11. ix. 61: οἵοις θηρίοις μαχόμεθα, Ps. xxii. 12, 13), especially the mob or tyrants (cf. Philostr. V2t. Afoll. 1v. 38). For a graphic picture of θηρομαχία cf. Act. Paul. et Thecl. 33 ff. ; Martyr. Polye. ii-iv. 5 ‘Epicureorum vox’ (Wetstein, who quotes classical parallels). Cf. Hor. Od, I. xi. 7, 8. Two objections : (1) The dissolution ofthe body. τὰ LIFE“AND LETTERS OF otrArt tising it. They reasoned from the philosophical principle of the essential evil of matter that, since the body was a perishing thing, they might indulge its appetites as they would. It was a mischievous delusion, and it came of their converse with pagan thought and pagan manners, exemplify- ing that saying of the Greek poet:1 ΠῚ company corrupts good characters.’ In truth their doubt of the Resurrection was moral as well as intellectual. 43 Be not deceived. ‘Ill company corrupts good characters.’ 34 Awake from your debauch to righteousness, and give over sinning ; for there are some who have no recognition of God. It is to move you to shame that I am talking. And now the Apostle addresses himself to a consideration of the intellectual problem of the Resurrection of the Body. Two difficulties had presented themselves to the minds of the Corinthians. 35 But some one will say: ‘ How are the dead raised? And with what sort of body do they come ? ’ These are difficulties which have been felt all down the ages and are still as vital as ever. The first is presented by the experience of our mortal bodies after death. The early Christians abhorred the pagan fashion of burning their dead in funeral pyres and preserving the ashesin urns. The body was sacred in their eyes, and they committed it reverently to the earth.2 Reverence was their sole motive, but the pagans imputed to them a fond solicitude to preserve the body intact until it should be reanimated at the Resurrection ; and it is told that during the persecution in the reign of the Emperor Verus they outraged the bodies of the martyrs at Lyons and Vienne, and then burned them and cast the ashes into the river Rhone, that they might have no hope of re- surrection. ‘ Now let us see,’ they jeered, ‘if they will rise again, and if their God can succour them and snatch them out of our hands.’* It would indeed have been a just taunt had the Christians entertained that notion. For when the Ch nega: 5 Cf. Minuc. Fel. Oct. 11, 34. 3 Eus. Hést, Eecl. v. 1 (ad fim.). THE THIRD MISSION 317 body is committed to the earth, it does not lie there ‘ with meek hands folded on its breast,’ awaiting the Resurrection- morning. It decays and turns to dust. Thesum of matter is definite and constant, and our bodies are composed of the common stuff; and even as the leaves of autumn do not perish when they wither and fall, but are cast into Nature’s alembic, and the mantle which arrays her each spring-time is no new garment but the old fabric refashioned, rewoven, and dyed with fresh colours, so our bodies when they die are resolved into their elements. They ‘melt into the general mass of nature, to be recompounded in the other forms with which she daily supplies those which daily dis- appear, and return under different forms—the watery particles to streams and showers, the earthly parts to enrich their mother earth, the airy portions to wanton in the breeze, and those of fire to supply the blaze of Aldebaran and his brethren.’ And how, then, are the dead raised? Can the dispersed elements ever be re-collected and redintegrated ? These bodies which are ours now, have served other uses in the bygone ages, and they will serve yet others in the ages to come; and at the Resurrection where will they be and to whom will they belong ? Nor is this the only difficulty. If the dead are raised, (2) Unsuit. ‘with what sort of body do they come?’ The Eternal 227 of World is a spiritual realm, and what place will there be there mee Ae for material bodies? ‘ Flesh and blood,’ said the Corinth- world. ians, ‘ cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, nor does corrup- tion inherit incorruption.’ The Anthropomorphites solved the problem by materialising the spiritual world. They read in the Scriptures of the image of God, His face, His eyes and ears and hands and feet; and taking this language literally they accounted the doctrine of His incorporeality a blasphemy and anathematised the books of Origen where it was taught. It is told of Serapion, that venerable monk of the Nitrian Desert, that when the doctrine was presented to him, he wept and wailed and cast himself on the ground. “Woe is me!’ he cried. ‘ They have taken away from me my God; and I have none to hold now, nor know I any longer 2 Cf. Socr. Zech, Hist. v1. 7; Aug. Contra Epist. Manich. 25. Analogy of seed and harvest. Varieties of body. 316 LIFE AND LETTERS OF SEA g whom to adore or address.’ And so precisely reasoned the Corinthians from their diverse point of view. As Serapion saw no place in the Eternal World for an incorporeal God, so they saw none for a material body. These are no frivolous objections. The difficulties were very real, and they were propounded in all seriousness ; yet how does the Apostle receive them? ‘Senseless man!’ he exclaims ; and it seems a sorry beginning. But consider what the epithet means. It is well defined by the use which Socrates makes of it when, in the course of his theistic argument, he applies it to a statue.” A sculptor’s noblest creation is but ‘a senseless image,’ seeing nothing, hearing nothing, understanding nothing. And this is the idea which leaped into the Apostle’s mind when those doubting questions were presented to him. ‘Senseless man!’ he cries; ‘ un- perceiving as an inanimate statue! open your eyes to the wonders which surround you. Look at the fields and see the seed cast into the ground and springing up in a rich and golden harvest: there is the miracle of the Resurrection enacted before your eyes.’ The seed dies, but it dies that it may live again, and live more abundantly. For death is not merely, in St. Bernard’s phrase, ‘ the gate of life’ ; itis the pathway to an ampler and nobler life. 36 Senseless man! what you yourself sow is not made live 37 unless it die. And what you sow—it is not the body which is to come into being that you sow, but a bare grain of 98 wheat, perchance, or some of the other sorts; and God gives it a body as He has chosen, and each of the seeds its proper body. But will this suffice? The harvest is no less material than the seed, and will the nobler body which will spring from it be less material than the mortal body or better fitted to inherit the Kingdom of God ? Consider, argues the Apostle, what ‘body’ is. It is a larger term than ‘flesh.’ There are indeed bodies of flesh, but even these are widely diverse. There is human flesh, and there is the flesh of beast and bird 1 Cassian. Collat. Patr. Scet. X. 2. ® Xen. Mem. 1. iv. 4: πότερά σοι δοκοῦσι ol ἀπεργαζόμενοι εἴδωλα ἄφρονά τε καὶ ἀκίνητα ἀξιοθαυμαστότεροι εἶναι ἢ οἱ ζῶα ἔμφρονά τε καὶ ἐνεργά ; THE THIRD MISSION 319 and fish; and these are all different, yet they are all flesh. And they are all bodies, but they are not the only sorts of body. There are heavenly bodies as well as earthly bodies, and the heavenly bodies are not bodies of flesh. And, moreover, like the earthly bodies, they are of different sorts. Sun, moon, and stars have each a peculiar glory. 39 Every flesh is not the same flesh, but men’s is one kind, cattle’s flesh another, fowls’ flesh another, and fishes’ another. 4o And there are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one sort, and that of the earthly 410f another. There is one glory of sun, and another glory of moon, and another glory of stars ; for star differs from star in glory. ‘ Flesh,’ then, and ‘ body’ are not synonymous terms ; τῆς and while flesh cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, it by no a means follows that body cannot. And hence the Apostle the piri carries forward the argument. He distinguishes between ‘#! body “animal bodies’ and ‘spiritual bodies.’ The former are bodies of flesh, and they are earthly and cannot inherit the Kingdom of God; but the latter are heavenly bodies, and they can. ‘In the heavenly,’ says St. Augustine,! ‘ there is no flesh, but bodies simple and lucid, which the Apostle styles ‘“‘ spiritual,’’ while others call them “ ethereal.”’’ And, furthermore, there is a relation betwixt the two. The animal body is in truth the rough cast of the spiritual body. There is, “as it were, a brain within the brain, a body within the body, something like that which the Orientals have for ages spoken of as the “ Astral Body’’’;? and in due season the scaffolding will be taken down, ‘ this muddy vesture of decay ’ will fall off, and the spiritual body will emerge purged of its grossness and fit to inherit the Kingdom of God. Our bodies meanwhile are only in the making. Their evolution began when ‘ the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, ke ey, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life’; and the agelong process will be complete when the Lord Jesus Christ has ‘refashioned the body of our humiliation into conformity pya πὶ, with the body of his glory,’ and we wear no longer ‘ the 21- 1 De Fid. et Syms. 24. ® McConnell, Evo/. of Jmmort., Ὁ. 166, Gen. ii. 7. Gen. ν. 3. Final glorifica- tion of living and dead. Cf. vers. 20-23. th} iv; 13-18, 220. LIFE AND, LETTERS*OP ei 2 Aus image of the earthly man’ but ‘ the image of the Heavenly Man.’! And the Resurrection is the achievement of this consummation. 42 Thus also the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in cor- 43ruption, it is raised in incorruption; it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in 44 power ; it is sown an animal? body, it is raised a spiritual. 45 If there is an animal body, there is also a spiritual. Thus also it is written: ‘The first man Adam became a living soul’: 46 the last Adam is become a life-giving spirit. But what comes first is not the spiritual but the animal; then comes the 47spiritual. The first was ‘a man formed of the dust of the 48 ground’; the second is a Man from Heaven. What the man formed of the dust was, that also are the men formed of the dust ; and what the Heavenly Man is, this also are the heavenly 49men. And as we wore the image of the man formed of the dust, we shall wear 3. also the image of the Heavenly Man. Thus it was a just contention that ‘flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God,’ but it was no disproof of the Resurrection of the Body. For when the body is raised, it will be no longer flesh and blood but a spiritual body. And this, adds the Apostle, is a sure prospect ; for it is no mere speculation: it is ‘a mystery.’ And, as he employed the term, ‘a mystery’ signifies not a hidden truth but a truth once hidden and now revealed.4 Such a truth was the Resurrection of the Body. In bygone ages it had been a vague dream, a yearning inspired by the heart’s rebellion against dissolution and disembodiment ; but the Resurrec- tion of Christ had triumphantly confirmed it. He had been raised from the dead, ‘ the first-iruits of those who have gone to rest.’ One with Him in His Death and Burial, they will at His Advent share also His Resurrection and Glorifica- tion. Some three and a half years previously the Thessal- onians, uninstructed as yet in the hope of the Resurrection, had vexed themselves with the question whether their friends who had already gone to rest would be excluded from the ΠΟΥ (ps 452: 2 Cf. p. 249. * Though φορέσωμεν, ‘let us wear,’ is more strongly supported, φορέσομεν, ‘we shall wear,’ is certainly authentic. The exhortation is impossible, since the resurrection of the body is God’s work. Such itacism is frequent. Cf. Rom. Vik. 4 Cf. p. 440. THE THIRD MISSION 321 triumph of the Second Advent, which they regarded as im- minent ; and the Apostle had reassured them by telling them that the appearance of the Lord would be the signal for the resurrection of all who had died in faith.1 And now it seems that a converse misgiving had assailed the minds of the Corinthians. They too believed in the imminence of the Second Advent; and since it is through death and re- surrection that the corruptible body attains incorruption, they wondered what would happen to those who survived until the Lord’s Appearing and never died. Would their bodies remain mortal and corruptible, unfit to inherit the Kingdom of God? The Apostle answers by assuring them that all, whether asleep or awake, would share the glorious transformation. so And this I admit, brothers, that ‘flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit stincorruption.” Look you, it isa mystery that I am telling you. 52 We shall not all be laid to rest, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkle of an eye, at the last trumpet. For cf. 1 Th, the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incor- iv: 16: 53 ruptible, and we shall be changed. For this that is corruptible must clothe itself with incorruption, and this that is mortal 54 Clothe itself with immortality. And when this that is cor- ruptible has clothed itself with incorruption and this that is mortal has clothed itself with immortality, then will come to pass the word that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in Is. xxv. 8; 55 victory.’ ‘Where, death, is thy victory? where, death, is ies et, s6thy sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin ἢ 5715 the Law; but thanks to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 And so, my beloved brothers, prove steadfast, immovable, abounding in the work of the Lord always, knowing that your toil is no empty thing in the Lord. The last question in the rescript concerned the Gentile 6. Cottec- collection on behalf of the poor Christians at Jerusalem.? or ct The scheme had been submitted to the Corinthians by Titus Jerusalem. and the colleague whom the Church of Antioch had associated with him in the management of the business,’ and it had in the first instance been well received; but amid the subse- quent dissension it had encountered opposition. Already, MICE (p. 163. Ci. .p. 223 * CE 'p.. 234 ἋἊ 322 LIFE AND LETTERS ΓΝ PAUL it would seem, there were mutterings of a calumny which was afterwards unblushingly alleged—that in his zeal for the poor Paul had a dishonest end in view, and under the pretext of charity was seeking his own enrichment; and apparently these had reached his ears. The rescript, how- ever, made no mention of the odious insinuation, raising merely a question of procedure—whether the Church should proceed immediately with the collection or await his arrival. His answer is that the Corinthians should adopt the method which he had instituted in the Churches of Galatia, and lay by each Lord’s Day as much as they could afford of their week’s earnings. There was a double advantage in this method : not only would a gradual accumulation prove less burdensome but it would yield a better result.1_ The col- lection would, moreover, be ready when he arrived, and it could be at once forwarded to its destination. And, he adds significantly, he would not himself undertake its conveyance thither. They must appoint deputies, and these he would furnish with a letter of credit to the Church at Jerusalem ; or else, he says, evidently to incite their liberality, if the contributions proved sufficiently generous, he would, instead of furnishing the deputies with a letter of credit, accompany them in person and introduce them to the Church. xvi.t Regarding the collection for the saints: Follow the order 2which I prescribed to the Churches of Galatia. Every First Day of the Week let each of you lay by him in store as he may be prospered, that, when I come, there may 3 then be no making of collections. And when I arrive, the persons whom you approve I shall send with a letter of 4credit? to convey your benefaction to Jerusalem. Τί, however, it be worth my going too, they will go in my company. The And now the letter closes with various personal concerns. a ae First, the Apostle explains his plans for the future. He had intended leaving Ephesus at an early date and sailing 1 Cf. Ambrstr.: ‘quia quod paulatim colligitur, nec grave est, et invenitur multum.’ 3 Literally ‘letters’ (δι᾽ ἐπιστολῶν) > but it is unlikely that each of the deputies would be furnished with a letter, and ἐπιστολαί was used of a single letter. Cf. Lightfoot, Pz. pp. 140 ff. THE THIRD MISSION 323 direct to Corinth; but this purpose had been overruled by the emergence at once of large opportunities and of cor- responding difficulties which required his presence yet a while in Asia. In truth there was another reason for delay. Had he proceeded forthwith to Corinth, he must have dealt Cf. 2 Cor. sternly with the Church; and his hope was that, if he” *?""" postponed his visit, wiser counsels would in the interval prevail, and he would then be absolved from that hateful necessity. This motive, however, he meanwhile conceals and simply intimates his intention of remaining at Ephesus until Pentecost of next year and then travelling overland through Macedonia. He would thus reach Corinth in the autumn of 56, and perhaps he might be able to spend the winter there. 5 I shall come to you after travelling through Macedonia ; 6 for through Macedonia I am to travel. And with you, perhaps, I shall make a stay or even spend the winter, that you may 7send me on my way wherever I may be going. For I do not wish to pay you just now merely a passing visit: I hope 8to stay some time with you, if the Lord permit. I shall, 9 however, stay on at Ephesus until Pentecost ; for a wide door for active work has opened to me, and there are many opposing. Another matter he mentions with peculiar solicitude. Recom- Timothy and his party were on their way to Corinth by the mend overland route through Macedonia, and Paul reckoned that Timothy their arrival would synchronise with the delivery of his letter.? He apprehended that the Corinthians might make it a griev- ance that he had sent them so youthful an ambassador on so delicate an errand, and he bespeaks for him a kindly reception. He was indeed young, but he was, as they knew by experience, a true comrade of the Apostle. It would have been well that a more experienced delegate should have been sent, and Paul had been anxious that Apollos should undertake the office ; but he had declinedit. The unpleasant experience which had driven him from Corinth was fresh in his remembrance, and he judged, perhaps wisely, that his presence there would meanwhile be inopportune. So Timothy was being sent, and they must receive him graciously. Cf. p. 260. Apprecia- tion of the Corinthian deputies, Greetings, 324 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL The Apostle was anxiously awaiting the report which he and his companions would bring back from Corinth. ro If Timothy comes, see to it that there is nothing to affright him in his intercourse with you; for he is doing the Lord’s τι work like myself. Therefore let no one set him at naught. Seid him on his way in peace, that he may come to me; for 121 am expecting him and the brothers with him. Regarding our brother Apollos, I repeatedly besought him to go to you with the brothers, and he would on no account go at present. He will go, however, whenever it is opportune. He pleads with them to rally their faith and love. Their letter and the personal statements of their three messengers had gladdened him; and he makes special mention of his friend Stephanas, who with his household had been stead- fastly loyal during the trouble, and begs them to be guided by that example. 13 Be vigilant ; stand firm in the Faith; play the man; 14,15 be strong. Let all that you do be done in love. I beseech you, brothers—you know the household of Stephanas, how they are the first-fruits of Achaia, and they enlisted in the 16service of the saints—that you on your part enlist under men of this sort and under everyone who shares their 17 work and toils hard. It is a joy to me that Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus have come: the service which 18 you could not render me, they have made up. They have refreshed my spirit and yours too. Recognise the full worth of men of their sort. This ends the letter, and here the customary greetings are entered. The first is a fraternal greeting to the church of Corinth from the churches of Asia, not merely the church of Ephesus but all the churches of the Province; and this indicates how protracted had been the stay of the Corinthian delegates and how widespread was the interest which their visit had created. The second is a greeting from Aquila and Prisca. Corinth was their former home, and they had many friends there; and so they send ‘ many greetings.’ Their house was one of the meeting-places of the Ephesian Christians, and they associate their fellow-worshippers in their expression of good-will. And since the Corinthian trouble had excited general solicitude at Ephesus, a third greeting is added—from ‘ all the brothers.’ THE THIRD MISSION 325 19 The churches of Asia greet you. Aquila and Prisca send you many greetings in the Lord, and in these the church at zotheir house joins. All the brothers greet you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. And now the Apostle appends his sign-manual. The Apostle’s 21,22 My GREETING WITH MY OWN HAND—PAUL’S. IF ANY autograph. ONE DOES NOT LOVE THE LORD, LET HIM BE ACCURSED. 23‘ O OUR LorD, COME!’! THE GRACE OF THE LorD JESUS 24BE WITH YOU. My LOVE BE WITH YOU ALL IN CHRIST JESUS. The letter was forthwith conveyed to Corinth by Stephanas, Corinthian Fortunatus, and Achaicus. Stephanas had been steadfastly °b44"@¢y- loyal to the Apostle; and if his companions had been dis- affected in the recent controversies, their experience at Ephesus had disarmed their hostility, and on their return to Corinth they would co-operate with Timothy. There is no record of what transpired, but the issue is indubitable. The effort at conciliation proved futile, and Timothy and his companions returned to Ephesus with a disheartening report. The feud between the dissident parties of the Judaists and the Spirituals continued, and both alike were incensed against the Apostle and assailed him with cruel and insulting charges. The former persisted in their denial of his apostleship; and his explanation of the generous cr, x Cor. motives which had prompted him to waive his apostolic ™ privileges, was contemptuously flouted. His forgoing of the right to maintenance they construed as a cunning device to ingratiate himself, and they insinuated that his collection 2 Cor. xii. for the poor at Jerusalem was a selfish imposition. And as ᾽ν for the Spirituals, they maintained their antinomian attitude, and accused him of carnality in insisting upon moral obliga- x. 2. tions; and, as though conscious of the untenability of their position, they resorted to personal abuse. They raised the old cry of the simplicity of his preaching. His letter indeed 1 μαραναθά, an Aramaic prayer which passed into a Christian watchword. It is a question how the phrase should be divided. (1) μαρὰν 464, ‘our Lord has come,’ or rather ‘is coming’ (patristic) Cf. Phil. iv. 5: ὁ Κύριος ἐγγύς. (2) μαράνα θά (SM NID), ‘our Lord, come!’ Cf. Dalman, Words of Jesus, p. 328. The latter is preferable. Cf. Rev. xxii. 20: ἀμήν, ἔρχου, Κύριε ᾿Ιησοῦ, The phrase occurs at the close of the eucharistic prayer in the Didache, x: εἴ tts ἅγιός ἐστιν, ἐρχέσθω" εἴ τις οὐκ ἔστι, ueTavoeiTw., μαραναθά" ἀμήν x. 10, Xi. 6. xi. i, x6: xi. 23; cf. τ 13: Hasty and ineffectual visit to Corinth. ΟΣ a; 9, 10, eer yaek Ὧν ΠΥ ΜΝ; ΣΙ. A stern letter. Cf, xili, 2. Cf, ii. 2-4, vii. 8. 326° ‘LIFE AND LETTERS OR SFE PAUL was characterised by strength of argument and fulness of knowledge ; and, unable to dispute this, they sneered not only at the rudeness of his speech but at his physical weakness and the ungainliness of his appearance; they called him ‘ senseless,’ and they even went the length of suggesting that his enthusiasm was stark madness. Such was the report which his deputies brought ; and so grievous was it to the Apostle that he interrupted his ministry at Ephesus and paid a hasty visit to Corinth.!_ His faith in the erring church had been sorely tried, but he still clung to the hope that reason would prevail, and he went in a gracious and conciliatory spirit. The issue was a bitter disappointment. His forbearance was misconstrued. His critics contrasted it with the ‘ courage,’ the ‘ confidence,’ the ‘ boldness’ which his letter had exhibited; and they accused him of pusillanimity. His language, they sneered, was very stout when he was writing to them at Ephesus with the breadth of the Egean betwixt him and them ; but when he met them face to face, he was all meekness—a faltering and pitiful weakling. His loudest detractors were the Judaist propagandists, especially their leader, who had come from Jerusalem with a ‘ letter of commendation’ and boasted of his authority, his commission from ‘ the super- lative Apostles.’ It was an impracticable situation. Remonstrance was useless ; reason was unavailing: it would only have pro- voked recrimination and created fresh exasperation. And so the Apostle took his departure with an intimation that he would ere long return and deal decisively with the prime offenders. On reaching Ephesus he wrote a letter, defining the situation and reiterating his warning. It was a stern message ; and it seems that, like St. Ambrose in the brave protest which he addressed to the Emperor Theodosius on the Thessalonian massacre in the year 300,8 he wrote it with his own hand, dispensing with the service of an amanuensis.* 1 Cf. Append. I. * Cf. Append. I. ® Epist. li. 14. * This seems the most reasonable interpretation of αὐτὸς δὲ ἐγὼ Παῦλος (x. 1), which is otherwise explained either (1) as contrasting Paul with Timothy and the others whom he had previously sent to Corinth, or (2) as contrasting his gentleness with the undutiful behaviour of the Corinthians, or (3) as contrasting his present for- bearance with the apostolic severity which he would shortly display. Cf. Bengel. ee THE THIRD MISSION 327 Not only was his grief too poignant for deliberate expression but he would not put his erring Church to heedless shame. No unsympathetic ear must hear his reproaches. He wrote with strong emotion, with a trembling hand and dim eyes ; and there are passages which, as even without his express ce. ii, 4. testimony one might well imagine, were blotted with tears. It was indeed a stern letter, the sternest perhaps that he a tast ever wrote. It flashes keen sarcasm and breathes indigna- *PP*!: tion and scorn; nevertheless it is instinct with tenderness, “the meekness and sweet reasonableness of Christ.’ It is not a sentence of condemnation ; it is rather a warning of Cf.x.r the impending judgment and a final appeal to the Corinthians σ΄ ἐν to repent and spare him the grief of dealing severely with them. He recognised that the blame rested on the ring- leaders. They indeed were hopeless, and their doom was cy, xiii. 5- inevitable ; but the mass of the Church were mere dupes, τ and he would fain believe that they were sound at heart and would bethink themselves betimes. THIRD LETTER TO CORINTH (2 Cor. x-xili. 10) It is only the body of the letter that has been preserved, Obscurity and the opening address and the final greetings are lacking. ae There is no writing of the Apostle which is so obscure ; and the reason is that it abounds in personal references. It bristles with quotations—words and phrases which had been hurled at the Apostle during his unhappy visit to Corinth and which rankled in his memory. These the Corinthians would recognise, but they are frequently puzzling to ourselves. He begins with the charge of cowardice. His letters from The his secure vantage-ground at Ephesus, it was alleged, were aoe very ‘courageous,’ but when he came to Corinth and faced his critics, he was all meekness and humility, ‘ valiant as the wrathful dove or most magnanimous mouse.’ This was the taunt especially of the party which posed as ‘ the Spirituals ’ and resisted his disciplinary mandate on the ground that flesh and spirit were distinct domains, charging him, when he insisted on moral purity, with ‘comporting himself 128. LIFE AND LETTERS OFS Porn according to the flesh’ and not ‘ according to the spirit.’ His answer is that they misconstrued his attitude. His gentleness was not cowardice; it was forbearance. The Corinthian Church was like a revolted city, and he had laid siege toit. Meanwhile he would not assail it with the weight of his artillery and raze it to the ground, but after the Lord’s example would summon it to surrender and recall it to its allegiance. Only in the event of persistent obduracy would he resort to severity. And this was no empty threat ; for, Cf. x Cor. let the Judaists deny it as they would, he was armed with 1, 12, apostolic authority : he too, ‘ held by Christ.’ x.1 I Paul myself exhort you by the meekness and sweet reasonableness of Christ—I who ‘to your face am humble among you, but when far away am so courageous against 2you ’—I beg that I may not when with you show my ‘courage’ with the ‘confidence’ wherewith I reckon on ‘dealing boldly ’ with some that reckon us as ‘ comporting 3 ourselves according to the flesh.” Though it is in the flesh that we are comporting ourselves, it is not according to the 4flesh that we are warring; for the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly but divinely powerful! for the pulling down sof strongholds. We pull down ‘ reckonings ’ and everything - that lifts itself on high against the knowledge of God; and we bring every thought captive into submission to Christ ; 6and we are in readiness to take vengeance on every rebellion 7 whenever your submission is complete. It is at the face- value of things that you look. If any one has confidence in himself that he ‘ holds by Christ,’ let him bethink himself and take this into his reckoning that, just as he ‘ holds by 8 Christ,’ so also do we. For if I boast somewhat too abund- antly of our authority which the Lord gave for your up- building and not for your downpulling, I shall not be put gto shame. That I may not seem as though I were merely ro ‘ terrifying you through my letters ’—‘ his letters,’ says my critic, “are indeed weighty and vigorous, but his bodily 1x presence is weak and his speech contemptible ’—let such a man take this into his reckoning,? that what we are in our 1 δυνατὰ τῷ Θεῷ, a Hebraism, equivalent to a superlative. Cf. Jon. iii. 3: πόλις μεγάλη τῷ Θεῷ, ‘an exceeding great city.’ Ac. vii. 20: ἀστεῖος τῷ Oey, ‘ exceeding fair.’ 3 So Chrys., beginning a new sentence with ἵνα μή, connecting ver. 9 with ver. 11, and regarding ver. 10 as parenthetical. Ver. 9 is commonly attached to οὐκ αἰσχυνθήσομαι, and ἵνα μή is then elliptical: ‘(and this I say) in order that I may not seem’; ‘non addam plura ea de re, ne quis inania esse putet terriculamenta’ (Grot.) ; ‘hoc eo dico, me, etc.’ (Beng.). THE THIRD*MISSION 329 speech by letter when far away, that shall we be also when we are among you and take action. And now he assails the Judaists with keen sarcasm. They Sarcastic arrogated to themselves a superiority which he would never [jut have had the ‘ boldness’ to claim; and their pretensions sriticism. had no better foundation than their colossal self-complacency. They saw themselves fair “none else being by, Themselves poised with themselves in either eye.’ They stigmatised him as a usurper of apostolic functions, but in truth they were the usurpers. His rule was to preach the rom. xv. Gospel only where it was still unknown, always respecting 7 the boundary between his field of operations and another man’s. Corinth was his domain, for he had been the first to preach there; and his hope—a hope which was actually rom. xv. realised ere long when he carried the Gospel thence to Epirus '* and Illyricum and Dalmatia —was that he might advance beyond Achaia into regions yet untrodden. And this was his complaint against the Judaists, that with the world before them they had dogged his footsteps and sown dissen- sion in the Churches which he had founded. 12 We have not indeed the ‘boldness’ to class or compare ourselves with some of the self-commenders. No, in their measurement of themselves by themselves and their com- parison of themselves with themselves they have no under- 13Standing. As for us it is not outwith our measured domain that we shall boast, but according to the measure of the boundary-line which God apportioned to us for a measure to 14reach as far as you. There is not, as there would be if we did not reach to you, any overstretching on our part; for we were the first to get as far as you in the preaching of the 15Gospel of Christ. We do not boast ourselves outwith our measured domain in other men’s toils, but our hope is that, as your faith grows, we may, still keeping to our boundary-line, 16 be so abundantly enlarged among you as to preach the Gospel in the regions beyond you, without intruding on another’s boun- 17 dary-line or boasting of work which we found alreadydone. ‘He Jer, ix, 23. i8that boasts, let him boast in the Lord’; for it is not the 24: cf τ self-commender, it is not he, that stands the test; no, it is °° " 3* the man whom the Lord commends. © Ct. sp. Oia, Apology for his self- vindica- tion. Gen, ili, 13. His preaching without salary. Ch-x Gor. ix. 1-18, Gio aiCor. 1X. 15. 425 LIFE AND LETTERS ΘΕ ΕΑ It was distasteful to the Apostle to write thus. It looked like boasting, and it might seem to justify his enemies’ designation of him as ‘senseless.’ But he had a good excuse. He was actuated by solicitude for his Corinthian converts, lest they should be seduced from the Gospel of salvation by faith in Christ. They showed a fine patience with that aggressive person, the ringleader of the Judaist propagandists who were subverting the true evangel ; and surely they might bear with him. He had no less authority than ‘ the superlative Apostles’ whom the Judaists exalted at his expense, denying the validity of his ordination and pronouncing him a mere “layman’; and, say what his critics would about the rudeness of his speech, they could hardly disparage his knowledge, at all events at Corinth, where it had been so amply displayed. xii t Would that you could have patience with me in some z2little senselessness! Nay, do have patience with me. I am jealous for you as God is jealous; for I betrothed you 3 to orie husband to present a pure virgin to Christ, and my fear is that, as ‘ the Serpent beguiled ’ Eve in his craftiness, vour thoughts may be corrupted from their simplicity and 4purity toward Christ. For if your visitor is proclaiming another Jesus whom we did not proclaim, or you are receiving a different Spirit which you did not then receive or a different Gospel which you did not then accept, your 5 patience is beautiful!! For I reckon that I am nothing 6inferior to ‘the superlative Apostles.’ And though I be a mere ‘layman’?in speech, Iam no layman in knowledge. No, in every respect we made this manifest in every one’s judgment in our relations with you. The Judaists were making a vast ado about Paul’s re- ceiving no remuneration during his ministry at Corinth. Despite what he had said in his previous letter, they con- strued it as a confession that he lacked apostolic authority, and with stupid inconsistency they alleged further that it evinced an ungracious attitude toward hisconverts, adducing perhaps his proud protestation that he would rather starve than accept a grudging requital. It was a preposterous con- Σ καλῶς, ironical; cf. Mk. vii. g. Instead of bearing with him they should have counted him accursed (ef. Gal. i. 8). 5. ΟΕ ΡΞ ΟΣ THE THIRD MISSION 331 tention, and he makes merciless sport of it. At all events it could be no grievance to the Corinthians that he had re- frained from making himself a burden to them. If there was any grievance in the matter, it belonged rather, he re- marks with a touch of sarcasm, to his Macedonian converts whom they had allowed to come to his rescue. The truth was that the Judaists were feeling sore about it. They were greedy men and exacted their own salary, and the contrast between them and him was the talk of the whole Province of Achaia; and he certainly would not dam up the stream of boasting in regard to himself by altering his practice and demanding payment. That would be playing the game of the Judaists. It would put him and them on a level, and would afford an outlet for their boasting which his generosity had dammed up. Their complaint was their condemnation. It revealed what sort of men they were. They were false Apostles. They called him ‘a trickster’ and accused him cz. xii. τό, of ‘ craft’; but they were the tricksters, ‘ crafty workmen ’ masquerading as Apostles of Christ. 7 Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself that you might be exalted, inasmuch as I preached the Gospel of God to you 8 gratuitously ? Other churches I despoiled by taking a salary 9from them in order to minister to you. And when I was with you and had lack, I cramped no one ; ! for the brothers came from Macedonia and supplied my lack, and in everything 101 kept myself and will keep myself unburdensome to you. As Christ’s truth is in me, this boasting in regard to me will not 11 be dammed up? in the regions of Achaia. Wherefore? Be- x2 cause I do not love you? God knows. But what I am doing I shall keep on doing, that I may cut off their outlet who are desirous of an outlet 8 that, wherein they boast, they may be 13found on a level with us. For men of this sort are false Apostles, ‘crafty workmen,’ assuming the guise of Apostles 140f Christ. And no wonder; for Satan himself assumes the 1 καταναρκᾶν, ‘benumb,’ from νάρκη, torpor (whence ‘ narcotic’); cf. Aristoph. Wasps, 713. : οἴμοι, rl ποθ᾽ ὥσπερ νάρκη μου κατὰ τῆς χειρὸς καταχεῖται ; [καὶ τὸ ξίφος οὐ δύναμαι κατέχειν ἀλλ᾽ ἤδη μαλθακός εἰμι, ‘Why is a numbness poured upon my hand? I cannot grip my sword.’ The verb occurs in Ν, T. only here and xii. 13, 14; and it is said to have been one of Paul’s Cilician provincialisms (cf. Hieronym. Algas., Quest. x.). 3 φράγησεται, cf. Rom. iii. 19; Heb. xi. 33. φράσσειν, ‘block up,’ 4g, 8 stream (cf. Herod. 11. 99), the entrance of a harbour (cf. Thuc. Iv. 13). 3 ἀφορμήν (cf. p. 215), continuing the metaphor of οὐ φράγησεται. Apology for boast- ing. Cf. ver. 1. Cf, Ac. xv. to; Gal. v. Xe Cf. Mt. Xxiil. 4. Cf. Mk. xli. 40. Cf. Mt. v. 39: xr Tim. iii, δὺς MCS hy é 332 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL 15 guise of an angel of light. It is therefore nothing great if his ministers also assume a guise aS ministers of righteousness. Their end will be according to their works. It was more particularly on the score of his preaching without remuneration that the Judaists had branded the Apostle with the insulting epithet of ‘senseless.’ He has already scornfully alluded to it ; and now after his merciless castigation of his critics he reverts to it. They had his answer, and if they still called him ‘senseless,’ he would exercise his privilege and indulge in a little boasting—a senseless employment which they practised largely. And what boasting theirs was! what arrogance! what insolence ! Not only had they enslaved the Corinthians by imposing on them the yoke of the Law and all its heavy burdens, but they emulated the methods of the Jewish Rabbis—their greedy exactions! and their tyrannous contumelies. They thought nothing, when one offended them, of smiting him on the face; and if this seem incredible, it should be re- membered how by and by it was necessary for the Apostle to require of an aspirant to the office of Overseer that he should not be ‘ ready with his fists,’ and how, moreover, in later days corporal chastisement was inflicted not merely by abbots on their monks but by bishops on their inferior clergy. If the Corinthians endured the insolence of the Apostle’s Judaist traducers, surely they might have patience with a little boasting on his part, a little vindication of his title to honour. τό I repeat, let no one fancy me to be ‘senseless’; or else even as ‘senseless’ accept me, that I too may boast some r little. Here it is not according to the Lord that I am talking, but as in ‘senselessness,’ in this well founded 18 boasting.? Since many are boasting according to the flesh, 1 Cf. The Days of His Flesh, p. 414. 3. Cf. Bingham, Anfig. VII. iii, 12; XVII. iv. 12. ® ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ ὑποστάσει τῆς καυχήσεως, ‘in this standing-ground of boasting.’ His boasting might be called ‘senseless,’ but it was really well founded. ὑπόστασις, properly ‘underlying basis’; cf. Ps. Ixix. 2 LXX: ἐνεπάγην εἰς ἰλὺν βυθοῦ καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ὑπόστασις. Hence, as a philosophical term, the ‘underlying reality’ of a thing, its ‘substance,’ substantia (cf. Heb. i. 3). So (1) ‘assurance’ objectively . (cf. Heb. xi. 1) and (2) subjectively ‘confidence,’ the feeling of assurance (cf Heb. iii. 14; 2 Cor. ix. 4), THE’ THIRD MISSION 333 191 shall do it too. For you are sweetly patient with the zo‘ senseless,’ having your own senses about you. You are patient if one enslaves you, if one devours you, if one ‘catches’ you,! if one gives himself lofty airs, if one strikes you on the face. And now he makes his boast. His enemies sneered at his forbearing gentleness, so conspicuous during his hasty visit to Corinth, and called it ‘ weakness,’ construing it as a con- fession that he lacked apostolic authority ; and he retorts that he had more reason for ‘ boldness’ than any of them. Which of the Judaists could claim a purer lineage than his ? They boasted themselves ‘Hebrews ’—members of the chosen race; ‘ Israelites’—members of the theocracy ; ‘the seed of Abraham ’—heirs of the Promise: all these dignities were his no less than theirs. And in the matter of service to the cause of Christ, which of them had a record like his? He recites his experiences as a missionary of the Cross—his ‘ moving accidents by flood and field,’ his toils, his persecutions, his privations. It is a long catalogue that he gives, yet, as he remarks, it was incomplete. He could not tell the whole story, and even the history of the Book of Acts omits much. It says nothing, for example, of his five scourgings in Jewish synagogues, of two of his three floggings by Roman lictors, or of his three shipwrecks and his drifting on a broken spar. Only a meagre record of his ordeals has survived, and the heaviest of them all was one which could not be written—his ceaseless solicitude for the welfare of his churches. His letters are its best memorial, yet how inadequate itis! His extant letters are the merest fragments of his voluminous correspondence: had it all survived, it would fill a library. 2t I am speaking self-disparagingly, supposing that we have been ‘weak’; but, whatever ground any one has for ‘ bold- ness ’—it isin ‘senselessness’ that I am speaking—I have it too. 22 Are they Hebrews? SoamJI. Are they Israelites?) So am 231. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am 1, Are they ministers of Christ? (It is in very ‘madness’ that I am talking.) So am I still more than they. My toils outnumber 1 Referring to the charge that he had ‘caught them by craft’ (xii. 16). The Judaists caught them with violent hands. His heroic ministry. Cf. Ac. xvi. 22, 23. Cf. Ac. xiv. 19. Chr Th: ii. 9; 2 Th. iii. 8. His visions and revela- tions, Gf. Ac. ix. 23-25. Two ineffable experi- ences, 334 LIFE AND LET SERS Of ST. PAUL theirs ; my imprisonments outnumber theirs ; my stripes have been more severe; I have been many a time at death’s 24 door. At Jewish hands I five times got forty lashes save one ; ἢ 2s thrice I was beaten by the lictors’ rods; once I was stoned ; thrice I was shipwrecked ; a night and a day I have drifted on 26the deep.2- My journeyings have been many; I have faced dangers in fording rivers, dangers of brigands, dangers from my own race, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wild, dangers at sea, dangers among false 27 brothers. I have borne toil and moil; I have kept vigil many a time, have hungered and thirsted, have fasted many a 28 time, have suffered cold and nakedness. Besides all else that I omit, there is my daily besetment—my anxiety for all the 29 churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and my heart is not fired ? It was a moving story. ‘’Twas pitiful, ‘twas wondrous pitiful.’ It showed his ‘ weakness,’ but not the sort of weak- ness which his enemies imputed to him. It was heroic weak- — ness. Boasting was distasteful to him, but if he must boast, he would boast of that record of ‘ weakness’; and God knew it was all true. At the same time he had another and higher ground for boasting in the marvellous revelations which the Lord had vouchsafed him. 30 ~=If boast I must, it is of the things which show my ‘ weak- 31 ness ’ that I shall boast. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus knows—He who is blessed evermore—that I am not 3zelying. (At Damascus the governor under King Aretas was 33 guarding the city of the Damascenes to apprehend me, and through a window I was lowered in a hamper through the xii. 1 wall and escaped his hands.)# Boast I must—indeed it is unprofitable, but I shall come to visions and revelations of the Lord. He cites two transcendent and ever memorable experiences which had befallen him in the course of the nine years which 1 Forty lashes and no more were the punishment prescribed by the Law (οἴ. Dt. xxv. 2, 3); and by a later ordinanee the fortieth was omitted lest the limit should be exceeded through an error in enumeration. Cf. Wetstein. 7 3. Cf. the experience of Josephus when in the course of his voyage to Rome his — ship foundered in the Adriatic: wept ἑξακοσίους τὸν ἀριθμὸν ὄντες δι᾽ ὅλης τῆς νυκτὸς . ἐνηξάμεθα (Vit. 3). ' * A manifest interpolation, interrupting the argument. Most probably another — marginale—a note entered by the Apostle on the margin after the letter was ὦ written as an example of ‘dangers from my own race, dangers from Gentiles, — dangers in the city’ (ver. 26). ; - wre ὟΝ THE THIRD MISSION 335 he had spent in his native Province between his conversion and his commission as Apostle of the Gentiles. That was a heart-stirring period, and his soul, employed in earnest meditation and heavenly communion, had been marvellously visited. What happened remained mysterious to him, and he describes it in the religious language of his day. The Jewish imagination pictured not one heaven but seven— The ‘the heavenly regions’ as they were designated. The ae lowest was denominated ‘the Veil’; and it was gloomy, Eph 1.3, “since it beholds all the unrighteous deeds of men.’ In the iii. το, vi. second, ‘the Firmament,’ are ‘ fire, snow, and ice made ™ ready for the Day of Judgment.’ In the third, ‘ the Clouds,’ are the angelic hosts ordained for the Day of Judgment. In the fourth, ‘ the Habitation,’ are thrones and dominions, Cf. Col. i. always praising God. In the fifth, ‘the Dwelling,’ are the πο ΡΣ angels who carry the prayers of men to ‘ the angels of the presence of the Lord,’ who in turn present these before the Throne. In the sixth, ‘the Place,’ are ‘the archangels, who minister and make propitiation to the Lord for all the sins of ignorance of the righteous.’ The seventh was Avaboth, ‘the Broad Fields,’ or Paradise, ‘the Garden.’ It was ‘ the τ Ki. viii. Heaven of Heavens’ ; and there ‘ dwelleth the Great Glory, *” far above all holiness.’ # It was thus that the Jewish mind envisaged the Unseen at vision of Universe, and the Apostle employs the familiar imagery to Heaven. express his ineffable visions. The first was an elevation to ‘the Third Heaven’; and this, since the Third Heaven was the abode of ‘ the angelic hosts ordained for the Day of Judgment,’ would be a terrible vision of the righteousness of God. What precisely it was that happened—whether 1 Cf. p. 62. 2 Cf. Test. XII Patriarch., Levi, τι, ut. The Rabbinical designations of the Seven Heavens were (1) ἤδη), Latin velum, ‘the Veil’; (2) yp, ‘the Firmament’ (cf. Gen. i. 6, 7, 8; Ps. xix. 1); (3) pYpnw, ‘the Clouds’ (cf. Job xxxvii. 18, xxxviii. 37) ; (4) 2}, ‘the Habitation’ (cf. Ps, xlix. 143 15. Ixiii. 1 5; Hab. iii. 11); (5) j pip, ‘the Dwelling? (cf. Pss. xxvi. 8, lxviii. 5; Dt. xxvi. 15); (6) jan. ‘the Place’ (cf. Ps, xxxiii. 14; Ex. xv. 17); (7) nia, ‘the Broad Fields’ (cf. Ps. xviii. 4) or DAB (παράδεισος), “ Paradise,’ ‘the Garden’ ‘or ‘Pleasance’ (cf. Neh. ii. 8; Eccl. iis 5; Song iv. 13). 336 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL he was rapt away bodily or his soul parted from his body and conversed in the Unseen while his body remained in- animate on earth—he confesses that he knew not, warning his readers, as St. Chrysostom remarks, against futile curiosity. 2 I know a man in Christ fourteen years ago—whether in the body I know not, or out of the body I know not : God knows— such a man rapt away as far as the Third Heaven. Avisionof | This experience was followed by another more wonderful Paradise. . “ 5 and more gracious. It was an elevation to Paradise ; and, since Paradise is ‘ the dwelling-place of the Great Glory ’ or, cf.Lk. in Christian language, the abode of God and the Glorified Rev. #7. Lord and His redeemed, this was no mere ecstasy. It was a revelation of the Risen Christ. The Apostle saw Him and heard His voice. 3 And I know such a man—whether in the body or parted 4from the body I know not: God knows—that he was rapt away into Paradise and heard ineffable words which a human being may not talk. Why he One sotranscendently privileged might justly have boasted, yout but it was not his high privileges that were his boast ; it was rather his weaknesses. And what was the reason why he (1) His was thus minded? It was, in the first instance, a sense of sense his unworthiness. It is told of St. Francis of Assisi that one BESS: day, as he was returning from the forest where he had been in prayer, Brother Masseo to try his humility exclaimed : ‘Why after thee? Why after thee? .. . Thou art neither comely nor learned, nor art thou of noble birth. How is it, then, that men go after thee?’ ‘ Wouldst thou,’ was the answer, ‘learn the reason? Know that it is because the Lord, who is in heaven, who sees the evil and the good in all places—because, I say, His holy eyes have not found among men a more wicked, a more imperfect, or a greater sinner than I am; and to accomplish the wonderful work which He intends doing, He has not found a creature more vile than I am on earth; for this reason He has chosen me, to confound force, beauty, greatness, birth, and all the science of the world, that man may learn that every virtue and every good gift comes from Him, and not from the creature ; that THE THIRD MISSION 337 none may glory before Him; but if any one glory, let him glory in the Lord, to whom belongeth all glory in eternity.’ ἢ And even such was the thought of the Apostle, His high privileges were of the Lord’s amazing and unmerited grace, and they belonged not to himself. It was not himself, so weak and worthless, that had been so highly honoured ; and therefore, when he tells the story, he tells it as of another : ‘T know a man in Christ rapt away.’ 5 Onsuch a man’s behalf I shall boast, but on my own behalf 61 shall not boast except in my weaknesses. If I desire to boast, I shall not be ‘ senseless,’ for it is truth that I shall be telling; but I refrain, lest any one should reckon to my account more than he sees in me or hears from me. And, moreover, he had been taught a needful and salutary (2) His lesson. He had been in danger, after those transcendent oe experiences, of spiritual pride, and he had been delivered by the Lord’s stern mercy. In the course of his first mission he had been stricken by that distressing malady which ever since had clung to him, humbling him in the sight of the world and thwarting his purposes; and for a while it had seemed to him an emissary of Satan, the Enemy of the Gospel. He had carried it to the Throne of Grace and repeatedly prayed for its removal; but his request had always been denied. At length he had bowed to the Lord’s will; and no sooner had he accepted his affliction in loving trust than it was trans- figured. What had appeared a frustration of his purposes was recognised as a hedge of thorns enclosing the way which the Lord would have him take and deterring him from futile paths of his own choosing. His weakness had proved his strength and his painful experience a gracious discipline. And now it seemed to him a very Shekinah, the Cloud of the Lord’s presence overshadowing his life.? 7 And lest by the transcendence of the revelations I should be uplifted,? there was given me a thorn for my flesh, a mes- ~8senger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be uplifted. On this behalf I thrice besought the Lord that I might be rid of 1 Fiorettt di 5. Francesco, X. 2 Cf. Append. ITT. 5 Reading with Tisch. ἐξ ἐμοῦ. καὶ τῇ ὑπερβολῇ τῶν ἀποκαλύψεων ἵνα μὴ ὑπεραίρωμαι. which is the Western emendation of an evidently corrupt passage. εὐ A pained remon- strance. 195 Be Be 338 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL git. And He has said to me: ‘ My grace suffices you; for power is perfected in weakness.’ Most gladly then will I rather boast in my weaknesses, that the Cloud of Christ’s Power may το overshadow me.!_ Wherefore I am well pleased in weaknesses, in contumelies, in necessities, in persecutions and straits on Christ’s behalf; for when I am weak, then it is that I am powerful. Here ends the Apostle’s self-vindication, and he turns from it with relief. It had indeed been a ‘senseless’ em- ployment, and his excuse was that it had been forced upon him by the Judaist aspersions. He would have been spared the odious task had the Corinthians rated these at their proper worth. His apostolic ministry among them was a sufficient evidence of his apostleship; and if it was a grievance with them that he had neverexacted remuneration from them, he craved their pardon, but he would promise no amendment. He contemplated paying them a third visit, and he would then pursue his accustomed course. Not, he playfully re- peats, that he did not love them; on the contrary, they were his spiritual children, and he would perform a father’s part by them, grudging no sacrifice. And what of the base insinuation that he was making a good thing of the collec- tion for the poor at Jerusalem, and his forgoing remuneration was a mere blind? Its refutation was that in this business he had never had any personal dealings with them. It had been negotiated by Titus and his companion-delegate of the Church of Antioch.2 They were his deputies, and their conduct had been irreproachable. ι: I have proved ‘senseless’: it was you that compelled me. I ought to have been commended by you ; for nothing inferior a ἵνα ἐπισκηνώσῃ ἐπ᾽ ἐμὲ ἡ δύναμις τοῦ Χριστοῦ. Later Jewish theology was dominated by the thought of Divine Transcendence, and the idea was jealously guarded by the Targumists. An example of their devices is their manipulation of those O. T. passages which speak of the Lord as ‘dwelling (}3y%) with men.’ They coined the noun ΠΣ 5 Ὁ), and employed a reverential periphrasis. Thus in Ex. xxv. 8 Ongelos has: ‘I will cause My Shekinah to rest among them.’ The Shekinah was the Cloud of the Lord’s Presence which had accompanied the Israelites in the Wilderness and overshadowed the Mercy-seat; and it was_ represented in Greek, on the strength of the assonance, by σκηνή, σκηνόω (cf. Rev. xxi. 3, vii. 15; Jo. i. 14). Cf. The Atonement in the Light of History and the Modern Spirit, p. 162 3 Cf. p. 234. “υὐὐστ πιὰ ἂν δι ἃ νὰ Ὁ. THE THIRD MISSION 339 was I to ‘the superlative Apostles,’ though I am nothing. 12 The signs of an Apostle were wrought among you in unflagging r3endurance by signs and portents and powers. For what dis- advantage is there that you were put to above the rest of the churches, except that I personally never cramped you? 14 Forgive me this injustice! Look you, this is now the third time that I am ready to visit you, and I will not cramp you ; for it is not your money that I am seeking but yourselves. It is not the children that should store up for the parents ; 15it is the parents that should store up for the children. And for my part most gladly will I spend and be spent to the utter- most on your souls’ behalf. If I love you more abundantly, 16am I to be the less beloved? So be it; I was never a burden on you, but I was all the while ‘a trickster ’ and ‘ caught you 17 by craft.’ Is there any of the deputies I have sent to you 18through whom I overreached you? I enlisted Titus and deputed the brother to accompany him : did Titus in anything overreach you? Did we not comport ourselves by the same spirit ? Did we not tread the same path ? And now the Apostle closes with some plain yet affection- An ex- ate speaking. First he corrects a possible misapprehension #7": in the minds of the Corinthians. His letter was not a personal apologia; else it would not have been addressed to them, since God alone was his Judge. It was a call to repentance, and his only personal concern was their welfare. το You have been fancying all this while that we are making our defence to you. It is before God in Christ that we are 20 talking, and it is all, beloved, for your upbuilding. My fear is that I may come and find you not what I desire, and that I may be found for you what you do not desire; that there may be strife, jealousy, frenzies, intrigues, slanders, whisper- 21ings, windy braggings, disorders; that on my return my God may humble me among you, and I may have to mourn many of those who have sinned in the past and never repented for the uncleanness and fornication and sensuality which they practised. Continued obduracy would have serious and distressing A warning. consequences. He contemplated a third visit to Corinth, and he reiterates the intimation which he had left with them on the painful occasion of his last visit. On his return, unless the situation had been meanwhile amended, he would take severe measures. He would arraign the offenders and deal with them no longer in the way of remonstrance but by 340 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL judicial process, leading evidence and pronouncing sentence. Thus he would furnish the proof which was desiderated that he was indeed an Apostle, and that, while one with Christ in the weakness of His incarnate Humiliation, he was one with Him also in the power of His glorious Exaltation. Dt.xix. 15. xiii 1 This is the third visit that I am paying you: ‘at the ΘΟΕ χ. 8, Titus the bearer of the letter. Cf. 2 Cor i. 133 vil 13-15. mouth of two witnesses and three shall every word be zestablished.’ I have given warning, and that warning which I gave when I was with you the second time, I repeat now when I am far away, to those who have sinned in the past and to all the rest, that if I come back, I shall not 3Spare, since you are seeking proof! that it is Christ who talks in me. He is not ‘weak’ toward you; no, He is 4powerful among you. For though it was weakness that brought Him to the Cross, yet He lives by God’s power ; and though we are weak in Him, yet by God’s power we sshall share His life in dealing with you. Try yourselves whether you are in the Faith; put yourselves to proof. Or have you no clear recognition regarding yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you? He is, unless indeed you be 6counterfeits. I hope you will recognise that we are no 7 counterfeits ; but our prayer to God is that you do nothing evil, not that we may show good coin, but that you may 8ring true though we should be as counterfeits. For it is not against the Truth that we have any power but only on g9the Truth’s behalf. We are glad when we are weak and you are powerful; this is also our prayer—your knitting rotogether.2. Therefore it is that I am writing thus when far away, that when with you I may not handle you severely in the exercise of the authority which the Lord gave me for upbuilding and not for downpulling. The business of conveying the letter to Corinth and not merely presenting it to the Church but enforcing its appeal was a difficult office, demanding both courage and tact, . qualities which are seldom combined. Happily a competent ' delegate was available in Titus, that young Antiochene who had been attached to the mission as superintendent of the Gentile collection for the poor at Jerusalem, and who had acquitted himself so successfully when with his colleague he visited Corinth in its interest some two years previously.® He was a young man, and on that occasion it was not without ΘῈ n. on 1’ Th. ΟἹ, Ὁ E66. * Cf. n. ont Th. iii. το, p. 164. ® Cf. p. 234. THE THIRD MISSION 341 reluctance that he had faced the ordeal, and it was only the Apostle’s encouragement that had conquered his diffidence.! It was a still harder ordeal that he was now called to encounter, and he would doubtless dread it. Nevertheless he faced it stoutly. Its very difficulty was a challenge, and how nobly he met it the event proves. Ac, xix. 23 41; 2Cor. i. 8-10; IV ACh Xxur: a Cor. ii. 12, 13; Vii. RETREAT TO MACEDONIA ee πρὶ II-I4. It was toward the close of the year 55 when the letter was ick ὦ despatched to Corinth ; and thereafter the Apostle resumed PPB*s"S- his ministry at Ephesus. His design was to remain in the Asian Capital until the ensuing May, but it was presently overruled by a distressing dénouement. His situation had for some time been difficult, and six months previously in cr, x Cor. his second letter to Corinth he had referred to the dangers Ἦν % which beset him. It was the animosity of the heathen populace which then threatened him; and so far from abating it had increased, and now it culminates in an out- break of violence. The grievance was ostensibly religious, but in fact it was Grievance commercial. The worship of Artemis had created an ex- (Re tensive and lucrative industry, especially in the manufacture smiths. and sale of silver models of the celebrated Temple ;? and this had been seriously curtailed by the progress of Chris- tianity not alone in the city but throughout the Province.® It was natural that the craftsmen and merchants whose interests were involved should take alarm; and their resentment found vent when Demetrius, a silversmith who employed numerous workmen, convened the latter, probably 1 Cf. 2 Cor. xii. 18: παρεκάλεσα Τίτον, ‘I exhorted’ or ‘encouraged Titus.’ ΣΡ: 2275 ® Here as at Philippi (cf. pp. 129 ff.) it was when their worldly interests were affected that the Gentiles opposed the Gospel. And similarly it was its interfer- ence with trade, especially the sale of sacrificial victims, that provoked the persecution in the Province of Bithynia during the reign of Trajan (cf. Plin. Epist. X. 10 Cf. Ac. xx. 4. Cf. Col. iv. 10; DX. Scene in the theatre. 342) LIFE AND LETTERS OF St fan el in their guildhall, and represented the seriousness of the issue were Paul suffered to pursue his propaganda and discredit the worship of the Great Goddess. It was an appeal to self-interest in the name of religion, and it fired the assem- blage. They raised the cry ‘ Great Artemis of the Ephesians !’ —the accustomed acclamation at sacred processions ; 1 and it was taken up by the populace. An excited mob surged through the streets, headed by Demetrius and his craftsmen. They would have seized Paul but he happened to be out of the way, and they found two of his associates, Gaius of Derbe and Aristarchus, a Jewish Christian of Thessalonica who was then at Ephesus perhaps as a delegate from the troubled churches of Macedonia. They laid hands on both and tumultuously dragged them to the theatre, the customary scene of popular gatherings.* Tidings of their predicament reached the Apostle, and he would have hastened to their support had he not been restrained at once by the remon- strance of his followers and by the authority of some of the Asiarchs * who, concerned both for his safety and for the preservation of order, sent him a message to keep away. The theatre was meanwhile a scene of wild confusion. The rabble had merely caught up the cry of Demetrius and his company, and concluded that some affront had been offered to their goddess ; but what it might be they did not know, and various theories were bandied about. The Jews in the assemblage took alarm lest the blame should be attached to them on the score of their general unpopularity and their notorious antipathy to image-worship; and so they prompted one of their number named Alexander to 1 According to the reading of Cod. Bez. (D)* in vers. 28, 34, μεγάλη “Apress Ἐφεσίων. * The best attested reading in Ac. xix. 29 is Μακεδόνας, making Gaius and Aristarchus both Macedonians and differentiating the former from Gaius of Derbe (cf. xx. 4). Several MSS., however, have ’Apiorapxov Maxédova, ‘ Aristarchus a Macedonian’—a probable reading, Μακεδόνας being dittographic. συνέκδημος apparently denoted a deputy appointed by his church to travel with the Apostle to Jerusalem in connection with the collection for the poor (cf. 2 Cor. viii. 19) ; and Aristarchus is so designated here by anticipation, since the Macedonians had not yet made their collection (cf. 2 Cor. ix. 2, 3). 5. Wetstein, Cf. the horrible story of a popular atrocity in the theatre of Ephesus in Philostr. Afol/. Tyan. iv. 10. * CE. p. 225. THE THIRD MISSION 343 protest their innocence.! He essayed to address the crowd, but when they recognised him for a Jew, they would not listen to him and shouted as with one voice : ‘ Great Artemis of the Ephesians ! ’ For two hours the uproar continued, until the town-clerk arrived on the scene. His appearance calmed the tumult, and he remonstrated with the rabble. It was quite un- necessary for them, he represented, to protest their devotion to the Great Goddess. Her honour was safe, and Gaius and Aristarchus had never impugned it. If Demetrius and his craftsmen had any grievance, they could obtain redress in the law-courts. And such tumultuary proceedings were dangerous: they were an affront to the majesty of Roman law, and they would be sternly handled. It was a salutary reminder, and the mob dispersed. The riot was ended, but the hostility against the Apostle remained unabated. It was very bitter. He was menaced with actual violence. His lodging was attacked, and his host and hostess, Aquila and Prisca, shared his peril. It seemed to him a veritable miracle that he survived. By the mercy of God and the help of his friends he escaped from the city and got away by sea. He did not go alone. Timothy accompanied him, and so apparently did the Ephesians Tychicus and Trophimus as well as Aristarchus of Thessa- lonica and Gaius of Derbe. His intention had been that on leaving Ephesus he should proceed to Macedonia and thence betake himself to Corinth ; and now that his departure had been so rudely precipitated he adhered to his plan, all the more that he would thus meet Titus on his return journey and learn how his mission had prospered. It was the month of 1 The best attested reading (ver. 33) is συνεβίβασαν, ‘instructed’ (cf. 1 Cor. ii. 16). The subject is ἐκ τοῦ ὄχλου, sc. τινες (cf. Jo. vii. 40, xvi. 17; Rev. xi. 9 ‘some of the multitude,’ and the parenthesis προβαλόντων αὐτὸν τῶν ᾿Ιουδαίων explains who these were. T. R. προεβίβασαν (cf. Mt. xiv. 8), ‘they advanced Alexander out of the multitude,’ means that his co-religionists put him forward and the crowd hustled him to the front. Another variant is κατεβίβασαν, detraxerunt (Vulg.), evidently ‘put him down out of the press into the arena.’ If there were any reason for identifying him with ‘ Alexander the coppersmith’ who was 50 active in procuring Paul’s condemnation at Rome (cf. 2 Tim. iv. 14), it might be supposed that he was one of Demetrius’ craftsmen, and therefore qualified to explain the situation. The town- clerk’s in- tervention, Paul’s de- parture to Troas. Cf, 2 Cor. Cf. Rom. ἀν 3,14. Cf, 2 Cor, i. 1 7 Ac. xx, 4. Cf, 2 Cor. 11. 12, Removal to Mace- donia. Cf2'Cor: il, 13. Cf. 2 Cor. Vii. δ. A healing ministry. ΘΕ ΟΣ: viii. 18, Cf. Ac. xx. ἘΠ 2 Cor; vil. 5. Cf. viii, 1- 4. 344 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL January, and there was meanwhile no direct communication between Ephesus and Macedonia. Not until spring could ships venture out on the broad Aigean; but he found a coasting vessel bound for Troas, and he sailed thither. That seaport lay on the route which Titus must follow, and Paul awaited him there with the less impatience that an unex- pected opportunity presented itself for preaching the Gospel. Time passed, and still Titus never appeared ; and at length the Apostle could no longer repress his anxiety and deter- mined to push forward to Macedonia. It would be early summer when he left Troas, and he would follow the familiar route of the autumn of the year 50,! sailing to Neapolis and settling at Philippi. There he would receive a gracious welcome from the friends who had cherished him in affection- ate remembrance and repeatedly succoured him in his need ; and he would meet Luke, ‘ the beloved physician,’ whom he had left there at the close of the year 50 and who had minis- tered there ever since.” It was a glad reunion ; nevertheless he was confronted by a situation which oppressed his already overburdened spirit. The controversy which the Judaist propagandists had excited in Macedonia in the course of their mischievous progress from Galatia to Achaia was still raging, and he had to address himself to its settle- ment with anxiety for Corinth gnawing at his heart all the while. It was a large and difficult task, but he was effectively reinforced by his followers from Ephesus and more especially by Luke who was known and beloved all over the Province. In their company he passed from town to town, visiting the distracted churches and allaying the strife. He encountered fierce opposition, since there was no abatement of the Jewish hostility which had threatened his life at Thessalonica and Beroea five years previously ; nevertheless his efforts pre- vailed, and by the autumn he had not merely restored peace but engaged the churches in zealous support of the collection for the poor at Jerusalem. In Macedonia as in Galatia that generous enterprise served to heal the estrangement of the Jewish and Gentile Christians.® BCE; p. 126. 5 CE. p. 135. 5 Cf. p. 224. THE THIRD MISSION 345 It was now the month of September,! and the Apostle’s success of cup of gladness was filled to overflowing by the arrival of Τὰ Titus, bringing good news from Corinth. His mission had νῃ, 6.16, been crowned with complete and triumphant success. He had delivered the Apostle’s letter, so stern yet so compassion- ate, and had reinforced it by his personal appeal. The Corinthians, already assailed with misgivings, had been over- come. They had recognised the unreasonableness of their lawless attitude and the gravity of the issues which it in- volved ; and when he reminded them how much they owed to the Apostle and told them how sorely they had grieved him, they were overwhelmed with shame, and addressed themselves in good earnest to the business of reformation. The fons δέ origo mali was that flagrant scandal which had emerged a year previously, and which the Apostle had so cr, x Cor. sternly condemned, requiring that disciplinary proceedings “ >> should be instituted against the offender. It had, however, been thrust out of sight by the ensuing controversies, and the culprit had hitherto gone free. He was now arraigned, and he was unanimously condemned. Thus far there was no divergence of sentiment. All recognised his guilt, but a cf. 2 cor. difference arose on the question of his punishment. Some * δ᾽ 7: advocated extreme severity ; and these were doubtless the Apostle’s party, who had throughout stood loyal to him and now desired to honour him by a complete and unqualified execution of his original mandate. But there were others who favoured a more lenient sentence. It appears that the offender shared the general repentance. He confessed and mourned his sin, and it seemed right that he should be pardoned and suffered to continue in the Church’s fellowship. This counsel was approved by the majority, but a minority remained dissatisfied and protested against the decision. And not without reason, since there were certain of the majo- rity who hardly realised the enormity of the offence. They condemned it indeed, but they were disposed to make light of it. ® Cf. Append. 1. 4716 LIFE AND LETTERS OF St Paul FourtH LETTER TO CORINTH (2 Cor. i-1x, xii. 11-14) The It is uncertain where precisely Titus found the Apostle. ὌΠ ΕΣ It was in Macedonia, but whether at Philippi ! or some other ‘of the Macedonian cities does not appear. Wherever it may have been, his tidings were right welcome. Paul was already rejoicing in the happy termination of the Macedonian trouble; and when he learned of his deputy’s success at Corinth, his heart overflowed and he poured forth his gladness in a gracious letter to the penitent Church. By a felicitous coincidence it was the season of the Feast of Tabernacles, the joyous harvest thanksgiving,? and his heart kept festival, ‘ rejoicing according to the joy in harvest.’ His last letter to Corinth he had written with his own hand, hiding the shame of his erring converts; but concealment was now unnecessary, and he employed Timothy as his amanuensis. And, more- over, he addressed the letter not alone to the Church of Corinth but to ‘all the saints in the whole of Achaia.’ It was a chivalrous thought. The Corinthian scandal was notorious throughout the Province, and he would have the Church’s repentance as widely published. And therefore he desired that his letter should be treated as an encyclical and circulated among the neighbouring Churches. ix Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus through God’s will, and Timothy the brother, to the Church of God which is at 2 Corinth with all the saints in the whole of Achaia. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Distress He begins with a glad thanksgiving. The penitent ‘ot. Corinthians had apparently expressed through Titus their sorrow not only for the grief which they had occasioned him but for the tribulation which he had of late been experiencing at Ephesus. The latter was indeed, as he tells them, more 2 According to the subscription: πρὸς Κορινθίους δευτέρα ἐγράφη ἀπὸ Φιλίππων τῆς Μακεδονίας διὰ Τίτου καὶ Λουκᾶ. 5 Cf. The Days of His Flesh, pp. 300, 330 ἔ. * E.g., Cenchree (Rom. xvi. 1). Cf. p. 189. THE THIRD MISSION 347 serious than they knew; for it was after the departure of Titus for Corinth that the malice of his enemies had reached its height and driven him from the city. But now he could bless God for it all. His distress had been a sacred fellowship ct. σοὶ, & in the sufferings of Christ; and if he had shared Christ’s 7” sufferings, so he had experienced also Christ’s comfort, and had thus been better fitted for the task of comforting and confirming the Corinthians. 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 4the Father of compassions and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our distress in order that we may be able to comfort the distressed of all sorts through the comfort s with which we are ourselves comforted by God. For, just as the sufferings of Christ overflow on us, so through Christ our 6 comfort also overflows. And if we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is put in operation by endurance of the same 7sufferings which we are experiencing. And our hope is firm on your behalf, since we know that, as you are partakers of the 8 sufferings, you are partakers also of the comfort. For we do not wish you to beignorant, brothers, of our distress which befell in Asia. Its weight was excessive, so overpowering that we 9 despaired even of life; nay, in our hearts we had come to the decision! that we must die, that our confidence might not rorest upon ourselves but upon God who raises the dead. And from so terrible a death He rescued us and is rescuing us ; 3 and we have set our hope in Him that He will rescue us in the 11 future also, while you also co-operate on our behalf by prayer, so that for the blessing which they have played a part in winning for us,* thanks may be rendered by many on our behalf. 1 ἀπόκριμα, an official decision (cf. Moulton and Milligan, Vocad.). ἑἐσχήκαμεν, aoristic perf. (cf. ii. 13, vii. 5). The perf. of ἔχω was thus used since the aor. ἔσχον had acquired the meaning ‘got,’ ‘received’ (cf. i. 15). Cf. Moulton, Froleg., Ῥ. 145. 3 ῥύεται DV9EFGKLM, Vulg., Ambrstr. ῥύσεται, though strongly attested (SBCP), is hardly possible with the future following. It is the emendation of a copyist who failed to perceive that Paul is referring to his immediate dangers in Macedonia (cf. vii. 5). 3 ἐκ πολλῶν προσώπων, ‘from many actors,’ connected with τὸ χάρισμα. πρόσωπον, (1) ‘face,’ (2) ‘mask,’ particularly an actor’s mask (cf. sersona), (3) an actor, dramatis persona, (4) an actor on the stage of life, ¢.¢., ‘a person’— a late use. The word may here be taken in the sense of ‘face,’ ἐκ πολλῶν προσώπων being then connected with e’xapcorn#7—‘ that thanksgiving may be made from many faces,’ the glad faces bespeaking grateful hearts. The Apostle's constant affection, Complaint that he had broken his promise to visit Corinth. 1 Cor, xvi. 5-9. 2,8. LIFE AND LETTERS ΘΕ PAUL The Apostle had merited their affection. He could claim with a clear conscience that his devotion to them had never wavered. The tenderness which he was now expressing was no new thing. Even when he had dealt sternly with them, it had been ever present alike in his correspondence and in his personal intercourse, as some of them had always per- ceived and, as he hoped, they would all henceforth recognise. 1z For this is our boasting—the testimony of our conscience that it was in God-given holiness and sincerity, not in carnal wisdom but in God’s grace, that we conducted ourselves in 13 the world and most of all in relation to you. For it is nothing else that we are writing to you than what you know from our letters or indeed from personal recognition—and I hope you 14 will recognise our disposition to the full, as indeed you have done in a measure—that we are your boast, even as you are ours, on the Day of our Lord Jesus. What prompted this asseveration was the old grievance of his tardiness in visiting Corinth despite his promise.? He had already explained it in his second letter, but even yet, in their longing to see him and demonstrate their newborn affection, they were inclined to think hardly of him. They were suspecting him of levity and of a disposition, after the way of the world, to play fast and loose with his promises. 15 And it was with this confidence that I purposed formerly 16to visit you, that you might receive a second grace, and to pass by way of Corinth to Macedonia, and return from Mace- donia to you and be sent by you on my journey to Judea. 17 This, then, being my purpose, did I, as it has turned out, show levity? Or are the plans I lay laid on the carnal prin- ciple that I may say with one breath ‘ Yes, yes’ and with the next ‘No, no’? 8 1 ἕως τέλους, like els τέλος (cf. The Days of Hts Flesh, Pp. 436, ἢ. 2), not “to the end’ but ‘to the full,’ contrasted with ἀπὸ μέρους. ΘΕ Bee oe * The word of one who is guided by mere worldly wisdom, ἐν σοφίᾳ σαρκικῇ (ver. 12), is unreliable; it is ‘Yes’ to-day and ‘No’ to-morrow. On the emphatic iteration cf. Mt. v. 37. Chrys. (followed by Beng.) takes the second vai and the second οὔ as predicates (cf. Ja. v. 12): ‘that my ‘‘ Yes” should be “Yes” and my ‘‘No” ‘‘No”’—an unalterable decision, regardless of providential eventualities. This is ‘planning according to the flesh,’ and it is the way of “the carnal man’ (ὁ σαρκικὸς ἄνθρωπος, τουτέστιν, ὁ τοῖς παροῦσι προσηλώμενος καὶ ἐν τούτοις διαπαντὸς ὧν καὶ τῆς τοῦ Πνεύματος ἐνεργείας ἐκτὸς τυγχάνων) ; whereas THE THIRD MISSION 349 He meets the insinuation with a flat denial: ‘ our word to A promise, conaitiona! you is not ‘‘ Yes” and ‘‘ No”’’; and then he delicately in- 95 the dicates that the blame lay not with him but with themselves, recipients There are always two parties to a promise, and its fulfilment rests with both. Think, for example, of the promises of God. He says ‘ Yes’ in Christ, but is this enough? Nay, it is faith that receives the promise ; and it is only when His ‘Yes’ is answered by our ‘ Amen’ that the promise is fulfilled. Perhaps indeed it is not fulfilled immediately, but in the grace of His Holy Spirit we have ‘ the earnest ’ of its ultimate fulfilment. Here is a thought which the Apostle loved. The Greek ‘The term is avrhabon,1and it signified the caution-money deposited τὰς σοῖο, on the conclusion of a bargain as a pledge of full payment in due course.? Originally a Phoenician word, it was naturally borrowed from that nation of merchants by the Hebrews, the Greeks, and the Romans. In the Apostle’s day it was a common business-term,? precisely synonymous with the Scottish ‘ arles’ # and the Old English ‘ wedde’*®; and he enlisted it in the service of the Gospel. The idea is that the operation of the Holy Spirit in our souls constitutes a guar- ‘the minister of the Spirit’ (ὁ ὑπηρέτης τοῦ Πνεύματος) is like a good slave who makes a promise to his fellow-slaves and then, finding that his master disapproves, does not fulfil it. So the Apostle’s promise was conditioned by the will of God. This makes excellent sense, but it appears from vers. 18-20 that Nai vai and Οὔ οὔ are merely reduplications. 1 ἀρραβών, paw (cf. Gen. xxxviii. 17, 18), avrhabo, arrha. 2 Suid. : ἡ ἐν ταῖς ὠναῖς περὶ τῶν ὠνουμένων διδομένη πρώτη καταβολὴ ὑπὲρ ἀσφαλείας. 3 Cf. Oxyrh. Pap. 299 (a letter of late 153 ς.): ‘As regards Lampon the mouse- catcher, I gave him as earnest-money (ἀραβῶνα) on your account 8 drachme to catch the mice while they are still with young.’ Also Milligan, Se/ec/. 45. * Cf. Scott, Redgauntlet, Letter x1: ‘he had refused the devil’s arles.’ Addr, chap. x1: ‘St. Catherine broke up house-keeping before you had taken arles in her service.’ 5 Wycl. : ‘a wedde (or ernes) of the spirit.’ Chaucer, Anzghtes Tale, 1218: ‘Let him be war, his nekke lyth to wedde!’ There was also a verb ἀρραβωνίζειν, ‘hire’ or ‘take into one’s service.’ As an ecclesiastical term it signified ‘espouse’ ; and in Mod. Gk. ἡ ἀρραβωνι(α)σμένη is ‘the betrothed’ and ἡ ἀρραβῶνα ‘the engagement-ring’—an earnest of the full payment of the marriage-debt (cf. Moulton and Milligan, Vocad.). In the early Church sfonsalitie arrhe were presents which a man made to his betrothed as tokens and pledges of the espousal (cf. Bingham, Af, XXII. lil. 3). 350 LIFE AND LETTERS {OF SP FAUL antee of God’s propriety in us and the ultimate consumma- Cf. Eph. i. tion of His gracious design. It is His ‘ seal’ marking us His, ie ποις, 8 foretaste of our full heritage, a pledge that the good work 6. Which He has begun in us, He will perfect until the Day of Rom, viii Jesus Christ. It is ‘ the first-fruits of the Spirit,’ the earliest Be sheaf of the rich harvest. 18 But, as God is faithful, our word to you is not ‘ Yes’ r9and ‘No.’ For the Son of God, Christ Jesus, who was proclaimed among you through us—through me and Silvanus and Timothy—did not prove ‘Yes’ and ‘No’; zonay, it has proved ‘ Yes’ in Him. For to every promise of God in Him is the ‘ Yes,’ and therefore also through Him 21:15 the ‘Amen’ that God may have glory through us. And He who is confirming us and you together in Christ and put 22 His chrism on us, is God, who also sealed us and gave us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. Why he And just as our response to God’s promises is the condition away." of their fulfilment, so it was with the Apostle’s promise to the Corinthians. It was their behaviour that had prevented its fulfilment. While the trouble was in progress, he had pleaded the emergence in Asia of unexpected claims; but there had been another and more potent reason, and now that the trouble was so happily ended, he was free to avow it. It was consideration for them that had kept him away. Had he visited them at that distressful crisis, he must have dealt sternly with them ; and he had remained away in the hope that wiser counsels would prevail among them. He had indeed been compelled eventually to pay them a hasty visit, Cf.2Cor. and it had confirmed his worst apprehensions. It was an to experience which he would not willingly repeat, and so he had told them in the stern letter which he had written them on his return to Ephesus. That was indeed a stern letter, but it was love for them that had inspired it, and he had written it with a breaking heart. 23 But I call God to witness, as my soul shall answer it, that it was by way of sparing you that I came no more to Corinth. 24 Not that we have lordship over your faith; no, we are helpers in working out your joy, for it is by faith that you fiirstand fast. And this was my determination in my own interest, that I should not visit you again on a grievous THE THIRD MISSION 351 aerrand. For if I grieve you, then who is it that gladdens 3me but the man who has grief from me? And I wrote precisely this, that I might not, when I came, receive grief from those who should have given me joy, confident as I was regarding all of you that my joy is the joy of you all. 4 For out of great distress and anguish of heart I wrote to you through blinding tears, not that you might be grieved, but that you might perceive how my heart was full to over- flowing with love for you. This reference to his own sorrow was skilfully designed to Approval introduce the vexed question of the Church’s decision on ΣΑΙ the case of immorality. It had been a disputed judgment, judgment and in approving it he at the same time deftly rebukes both case of im. the extreme parties. His sorrow had indeed been poignant, ™™™"™” but it was rather a vicarious than a personal sorrow. It was not himself but the Church that had been injured, and it was the Church that had been grieved, at all events, he adds, ‘in a measure,’ ostensibly extenuating the culprit’s offence yet withal suggesting that it were well had there been no extenuation, had the Church’s grief been not merely partial but universal. Nevertheless the sentence was right. Cen- sure was sufficient, and the dissentients must acquiesce in the decision and admit the penitent to loving fellowship. They were the Apostle’s friends, and they would best evince their loyalty to him by following his example in this particu- lar. Severity would only play into Satan’s hands by driving the penitent to despair. s But if some one has caused grief, it is not to me that he has caused it ; no, in a measure—not to be too hard on him— 6it is to you all! Sufficient for such a man is this censure 7pronounced by the majority; so that you should reverse your attitude toward him and rather forgive and comfort him, lest such a man should be swallowed up by his excessive sgrief. And therefore I exhort you to assure him of your love ; 9 for it is to this end indeed that I am writing,” that I may put you to the proof and discover whether you are obedient in roevery respect. One whom you forgive anything, I also forgive. For indeed what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven 1 ἀπὸ μέρους anticipates ὑπὸ τῶν πλειόνων (ver. 6). The qualification has a double purpose: (1) to alleviate the responsibility of the offender ; (2) to rebuke the lax minority : the censure should have been unanimous. 3 ἔγραψα, epistolary aorist. Cf. p. 219, 8 5. LIFE AND LETTERS OF Sifraue 11anything, is on your account in the presence of Christ, that we may not be overreached by Satan; for we do not ignore his devices. Titus’ And now the Apostle resumes his personal narrative. CP’'g-1r, Driven from Ephesus he had betaken himself to Troas. His ministry there was successful, but all the while Corinth was in his thoughts, and he was wondering how Titus had fared and what report he would bring. Still Titus never appeared, andatlength, that hemight meet him thesooner, he had quitted Troas and passed over to Macedonia. There he had heard the joyful tidings ; and now, as he looks back on those days, so dark and troubled yet so rich in blessing to Troas and Macedonia, he recognises how God had been leading him all the while, and he breaks into a pean of thanksgiving. He likens his experience to the magnificent pageant of a Roman triumph.! The victorious general, followed by his troops and preceded by his fettered captives, entered the city and rode in his chariot along the Via Sacra and up the slope of the Capitol to the Temple of Jupiter amid the applause of the spectators and the fragrance of floral garlands and the odour of incense from the altars in the open temples.2 And just as the Apostle elsewhere boasts himself ‘ the slave’ and ‘the prisoner ’ of Christ, so here he conceives of himself and his comrades as Christ’s captives adorning His triumphal progress. He had been Christ’s captive ever since the day when his rebellious will was broken on the road to Damascus; and it was a blessed condition. For the Victor was Sovereign Love, and His dominion was liberty and peace. ‘TI have no cares, O blessed Will ! For all my cares are Thine ; I live in triumph, Lord! for Thou Hast made Thy triumph mine.’ The captives were the conqueror’s trophies, publishing his _ renown; and even so the Apostle was a trophy of Christ, } Cf. the descriptions of the triumphs of Pompey (Appian. Be//. Aftth. 116, 117), “milius Paulus (Plut. 7. Paul. 32-34), and Vespasian and Titus (Jos. De Bell. Jud. vit. v. 4-6). 2 Cf. Plut. 4m. Paul. 32: πᾶς δὲ ναὸς ἀνέῳκτο καὶ στεφάνων καὶ θυμιαμάτων ἣν πλήρης. Hor. Od. Iv. ti. 51, 52. Dion Cass. Ixxiv. 1. THE THIRD MISSION 353 and Christ’s glory was the end of his ministry. His sufferings for Christ’s sake were the odours which breathed on the Conqueror’s path. They were ‘ a fragrance of Christ,’ though to the world they seemed mere ignominy, even as, says St. Chrysostom, the light is darkness to weak eyes and honey bitter to distempered palates. 12 And when I came to Troas to preach the Gospel of Christ, 13 though a door had been opened for me in the Lord, I had no relief for my spirit through my not finding Titus my brother. 14No, I bade them farewell and set out for Macedonia. But thanks to God who always leads us in His triumphal train 1 in Christ and wafts the odour of His knowledge abroad through 15 us in every place! For we are a fragrance of Christ for God’s honour among those who are on the way to salvation and 16among those who are on the way to ruin: to the latter an odour death-exhaled and death-exhaling, to the former an odour life-exhaled and life-exhaling. It was a tremendous claim, nothing less than this—that Efticacy the Apostle’s ministry had an inherent and inevitable efficacy hes whether for weal or for woe ; and now he proceeds to justify message. it. The efficacy lay in his message, inasmuch as it was the pure Word of God, unadulterated, like the teaching of the Corinthian intellectuals, with human wisdom or, like that of the Judaists, with dead tradition. Here he was not resuming the odious employment of self-commendation. There had been enough of that in his last letter, where he had perforce vindicated himself from the aspersions of the Judaists, and he would leave the graceless business to them. They had come to Corinth armed with letters of commenda- tion from their superiors at Jerusalem, but he needed no such credentials. His converts were his letter of commendation, a letter written by Christ, not with ink but with the Holy Spirit’s grace. 17 And for this who is qualified? Well, we are not, like so many, adulterators of the wine of God’s Word. No, it is in + A.V. ‘causeth us to triumph’ represents the Apostle and his companions as occupying the place of the honoured friends who sat beside the victor in his triumphal chariot (cf. Dion Cass. li. 16, Ixiii. 20), This, however, is an impossible rendering, since θριαμβεύειν is always ‘lead in triumph.’ Cf. Plut. Rom. 4: βασιλεῖς ἐθριάμβευσε. Ant. 84 (Cleopatra to dead Antony): μηδ᾽ ἐν ἐμοὶ περιίδῃς θριαμβευόμενον σεαυτόν, ‘suffer not thyself in my person to be led in triumph.’ Z Ex, xxxiv. I. Prov. iii. 3, Vii. 3. Its twofold excellence: (τ) A min- istry of life. ΧΧΧΙ, 31-34. 34: LIFE AND LETEERS:' OF Si, PAUL its purity, it is just as God gave it, that we speak it before fii, 1 God in Christ.! Are we beginning again to commend our- selves? Or do we need, like some, commendatory letters 2to you or from you? You are our letter, inscribed on our 3 hearts, recognised and read by all men, since it is manifest that you are a letter of Christ, ministered by us, inscribed not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on ‘tablets of stone’ but on ‘ the tablets of the heart,’ tablets of flesh.” Here was the Apostle’s answer to the question ‘ Who is qualified for this ’’ the justification of his claim that he was ‘a fragrance of Christ,’ an odour life-exhaled and life-exhaling or death-exhaled and death-exhaling according to the atti- tude which men assumed toward him. The efficacy lay not in himself but in his message. And what was the tran- scendent excellence of his message ? It was twofold. In the first place, it was, in the language of the Prophet Jeremiah, the Gospel of ‘a new covenant.’ The Old Cove- nant was embodied in the Law, the written code of Mount Sinai. It was a series of stern and inexorable command- ments, and since these were too hard for weak and sinful man, it issued in condemnation and death. But the New Covenant is a covenant of grace. It is not a written code; it isa ministry of the Spirit. It does not command ; it succours and strengthens, and it issues in life. 4 And such is the confidence which we have through Christ stoward God. Not that by our own resources we are qualified 6for any reasoning as proceeding from ourselves. No, our qualification proceeds from God, who also qualified us for the ministry of a New Covenant, not a written code but a Spirit ; for the written code kills, but the Spirit gives life. 1 ot γάρ, ellipt.: ‘(we are qualified), for we are not.’ κάπηλος, ‘a trader,’ especially ‘an innkeeper’ (cawfo). Hence καπηλεύειν (1) ‘trade,’ espeeially as an innkeeper (caup~onari); (2) ‘trade dishonestly,’ especially as an innkeeper who adulterates his wine. Cf. Is. i. 22 LXX: τὸ ἀργύριον ὑμῶν ἀδόκιμον" οἱ κάπηλοί σου μίσγουσι τὸν οἷνον ὕδατι. Ecclus. xxvi. 29. ἐξ εἰλικρινίας carries on the metaphor, according to the old and in no wise discredited etymology which explains εἰλικρινής as ‘tested in the sunlight (eiAn)’; the idea being that the glass of wine is held up against the light and no impurities are discovered by the searching rays. ® The chief MSS. read πλαξὶν καρδίαις σαρκίναις, ‘hearts of flesh as tablets’; but T. R. πλαξὶ καρδίας capxivais has the more ancient attestation of Iren. (v. xiii. 4), at all events according to the Latin translation. THE THIRD MISSION 355 And, in the second place, it was a ministry of transcendent Ὁ 6 nine and unfading glory. Here he bases his argument on that irae, passage which relates how, when Moses descended from the Ex. xxxiv. Mount, bearing the two tablets of stone, ‘ the skin of his face “5.55 shone’ or, as the Septuagint Version has it, ‘ was glorified.’ It was the lingering reflection of the glory which had shone upon him while he communed with the Lord; and when they saw it, the people were afraid. That was only a transi- ent glory, and it quickly faded away ; but the glory of the |New Covenant is permanent. It is no mere reflection on the face of a human mediator ; it is the divine glory which shines Ct. iv. 6. in the face of Jesus Christ—not a glorified but the glorifying face. 7 And if the ministry of death, engraved on stones in written characters, was invested with glory, so that the children of Israel could not gaze on the face of Moses by reason of the glory 8of his face—the transient glory, how shall not rather the gministry of the Spirit be invested with glory? For if the ministry of condemnation be glory, far rather does the ministry 10 Οἱ righteousness abound in glory. For the glorified has been dimmed of its glory in this particular on account of the tran rrscendent glory.!_ For if the transient was attended with glory far rather is the permanent invested with glory. Here lay the inspiration of the Apostle’s preaching. He Transience was proclaiming a full and abiding revelation, and it was τος Οἱ fitting that he should use ‘ much boldness of speech.’ The Gospel was the fulfilment of the Law, and the transience of the latter had appeared in the very hour of its promulgation. The glory which lit the face of Moses was a transient thing, a lingering reflection of the awful glory which had shone upon him while he communed with the Lord on the Mount. The people saw it while he talked with them, but he would not have them witness its disappearance lest they should think it meant that the Lord had forsaken him ; and so, ‘ whenever Ex. xxxiv, he had done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face,’ 33” and took it off only ‘ when he went in before the Lord to speak with Him.’ It was an attempt toconceal the transience of the Law, and the Jews had never to that day discovered it. The glory of the Old Covenant had faded before the 3 ‘The glory of the New Covenant, overshadowing and hiding the glory of the Old, as the light of the sun that of the other stars’ (Euth. Zig.). g50°. LIFE AND LETTERS OF 31. 2a glory of the New as the light of the stars is quenched by the > sunrise, but this they had not perceived. For their thoughts — were dull. It was as though a veil covered their heart, and just as they had not seen the glory fading from the face of Moses, so they had not seen it fading from the Law. They did not recognise that a new glory had dawned, nor would they recognise it till they turned from the written code to the life-giving Spirit. As it was only ‘when Moses went in — before the Lord to speak with Him ’ that the ‘ veil was taken from his face,’ so only when their heart turned to the Lord, would its veil fall off. Then they would be emancipated from the bondage of the Law. They would see the glory of the Spirit, the tender grace of redeeming love, shining in the face - of Jesus Christ, and it would irradiate and transfigure them. 12 Since, then, we have such a hope, we use much boldness 130f speech, and are not like Moses who ‘put a veil on his face’ in order that the children of Israel might not gaze 14at the end of the transient thing. But their thoughts were dulled ;! for to this day the same veil remains upon the reading of the Old Covenant, since the fact is not unveiled 15to them that in Christ it is passing away.2 No, down to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart ; 16 but whenever it turns to the Lord, the veil is taken off. 17‘ The Lord’ is here the Spirit; and where the Spirit of 18the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, seeing with unveiled face the reflection * of the Lord’s glory, are trans- 2 πωρόω, properly ‘petrify,’ λιθοποιώ (Suid.). So ‘make dull.’ Of the heart, *make hard’ or ‘callous’ (cf. Mk. vi. 52, viii. 17); of the eyes, ‘make dim’ or * blind’ (cf. Job xvii. 7 LXX). 2 ἀνακαλυπτόμενον, accus. absol., ‘the fact not being unveiled that it (the Old Covenant) is being done away’ (R.V. marg., Meyer). Otherwise (1) μένει μὴ ἀνακαλυπτόμενον" ὅτι, k.7.4., “remains unlifted, because it (the veil) is being done away in Christ’ (Vulg., Ambrstr.) ; (2) ἀνακαλυπτόμενον᾽" 6, Tt, K.7.A., ‘remains unlifted ; which (veil) is being taken away’ (Bez., Luth., A.V., R.V.). It rules out both these constructions that the subject of καταργεῖται is not ‘the veil’ but “the Old Covenant’ (cf. vers. 7, 11, 13). The verb for ‘removing the veil’ is not καταργεῖν but περιαιρεῖσθαι. * κατοπτριζόμενοι, not ‘reflecting as a mirror’ (R.V.), which would require the act. κατοπτρίζοντες. κατοπτρίζεσθαι (mid.) is ‘to see the reflection’ either (1) of oneself (cf. Diog. Laert. Socr. 11. 33: ἠξίου δὲ καὶ τοὺς νέους συνεχῶς κατοπτρίζεσθαι, tv’, εἰ μὲν καλοὶ elev, ἄξιοι γίγνοιντο. Plat. 1. 3g: Tots μεθεύουσι συνεβούλευε κατοπτρίζεσθαι" ἀποστήσεσθαι yap τῆς τοιαύτης ἀσχημοσύνης.) or (2) of another (cf. Phil. Leg. Alleg. 11. p. 107, Mangey: μηδὲ κατοπτρισαίμην ἐν ἄλλῳ τινὶ τὴν σὴν ἰδέαν ἣ ἐν σοὶ τῷ Θεῷ). The mirror which reflects the glory of the Lord the Spirit, is the face of Christ (cf. iv. 5, 6). THE THIRD MISSION 357 formed into the same image from glory to glory according to the wonted operation of the Lord the Spirit.1 In this glad letter to his penitent converts the Apostle is in The no mood for controversy, yet he cannot forget the strife i nel which had so lately raged among them and which might so easily be revived, all the more that the Judaists remained in their midst. And therefore all through his exultant con- gratulation there runs a note of anxious solicitude and covert admonition. That argument, so impassioned yet so re- strained and elusive, on the transience of the Old Covenant and the transcendent and abiding glory of the New is a refutation of the Judaist insistence on the permanent obliga- tion of the Law ; and now he proceeds to deal with some of the personal allegations of his traducers. The first is that coarse calumny which branded him as ‘a trickster,’ seeking cf, xii, 16, selfish ends and deceiving his dupes by flattering speech and professions of disinterestedness. His answer is that trickery was impossible for one who had been entrusted with so lofty aministry. Its glory put cowardice and duplicity to shame. His constant appeal was to men’s consciences ; and if they failed to respond, the reason was that their moral sense was blinded ; as he had already said, there was ‘ a veil on their heart’ and the light of the Gospel could not penetrate it. The light which shone in the face of Christ had illumined his own heart, and his divine call was to illumine others. It was Christ, not himself, that he proclaimed ; and if he proclaimed himself, it was as an example of the Gospel’s illuminating efficacy. ἵν: Therefore, having a ministry like this, in view of the 2mercy we have experienced, we never lose heart. No, we have renounced shame’s concealments, never playing ‘ the trickster’ or sophisticating the Word of God,? but by the 1 As in the renewal of the earth (cf. Mk. iv. 28), so in the renewal of the soul the operation of the Creator Spirit is gradual, from one degree of glory to another. 3 δολοῦν is synonymous with καπηλεύειν, ‘adulterate’ (ii. 17). Cf. ἄδολος, ‘pure,’ ‘unadulterated,’ used of milk (1 Pet. ii. 2), grain (Oxyrh. Pap. 1124. 11: πυρὸν νέον καθαρὸν ἄδολον ἄκρειθον), wine (252d. 729. 19: τὸν μὲν οἶνον παρὰ ληνὸν νέον ἄδολον). Cf. Moulton and Milligan, Vocab, Precisely equivalent is the old 358 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every 3human conscience in the sight of God. If, however, our Gospel is veiled, it is in the case of those who are on the Cf.ii.ts. 4 Way to ruin that it is veiled; and in their case the god of this age has blinded the thoughts of the faithless to shut out the illuminating beams of the Gospel of the glory of the Gen. i. 27. 5 Christ who is ‘ the image of God.’ For it is not ourselves that we proclaim; it is Christ Jesus as Lord and ourselves 6as your slaves for Jesus’ sake, because it is the God that said ‘ Light shall shine out of darkness,’ who shone in our hearts that we might illumine others with the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. * The taunt Next he notices his adversaries’ sneer at his physical in-| of bodily firmity. It was indeed a graceless taunt, yet on the lips o the Judaists it was not without excuse, since the ancient La cf. Lev. had required that not only the sacrificial victim but the priest *xl 16-24 ho offered it should be ‘ without blemish,’ and later legis- lation so far from relaxing the restriction had strengthened it, specifying no fewer than a hundred and forty-two physical defects as disqualifying for the sacred office. Jt was thus” Οἵ, κι το. natural that the weakness of Paul’s bodily presence should figure in the Judaist indictment against his apostolic claim. And what is his reply ? The fact was indisputable. He was little of stature; he was the victim of a chronic malady ; and he was worn with toil and travel and bore the scars of stoning and scourging. But this was no disqualification. On the contrary, it redounded to the glory of God. Asa jewel _ shows the more resplendent in a base setting, so the power. which employed so feeble an instrument, was the more con- spicuously divine. And, moreover, since his bodily infirmi- ties were the scars of his apostolic service, they were invested with a double glory. They were his portion in the sufferings of Christ and the evidence of his devotion to the souls of men. ΤΕ is all for your sakes.’ ash use of ‘sophisticate’ in the sense of ‘corrupting by admixture.’ Cf. Scott, © Woodstock, chap. X: ‘there was a vintner, his green apron stained with wine, and every drop of it sophisticated.’ Similarly O. E. ‘card.’ Cf. Shak. 1 King Hen. JV. III. il. 62 f.: ‘carded his state, | Mingled his royalty with capering fools’; where Temple ed. quotes Green’s Qutp for an Upstart Courtier: ‘You card your beer if you see your guests begin to get drunk, half small, half strong.’ ; 1 Cf. Schiirer, 11. i. p. 214. THE THIRD MISSION 359 7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels! that the transcendence of the power may be God’s and no achieve- 8ment of our own. At every turn we are distressed yet never gstraitened; perplexed yet never at our wits’ end; hard pressed yet never left in the lurch; stricken down yet never rodestroyed ; always carrying about in our body the mortal agony of Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested 1rin our body. Ever are we that are alive being delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be mani- 1zfested in our mortal flesh. And so death is operative in us 13 but life in you. Having, however, the same spirit of faith expressed in that scripture ‘ I had faith, and therefore I spoke,’ Ps. exvi. το. 14 we also have faith, and therefore also we speak ; knowing as we do that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with 15 Jesus and will present us with you. For it is all for your sakes, that grace may spread from soul to soul and make thanksgiving abound to the glory of God. The Apostle had a double purpose in introducing the The com- thought of the Resurrection. He desired, in the first instance, Ror th to display the comfort which that glorious hope afforded to and which sustained him amid his mortal sufferings. 16 And therefore we never lose heart. No, though our outward man is wasting away, yet our inward man is being renewed 17day by day. For the light distress of the moment is working out for us, ever more and more transcendently, an eternal 18 weight of glory ; while we look not at the things visible but at the things invisible ; for the things visible are temporary, but the things invisible are eternal. The hope of the Resurrection was impressively presented The horror at that juncture, at all events to the minds of Jewish Chris- p.4ise™ tians. For it was the season of the Feast of Tabernacles, which was at once a celebration of the ingathering of the harvest and a commemoration of the wilderness wanderings. For forty years the children of Israel had made their weary pilgrimage in quest of the Promised Land, pitching their tents at nightfall and striking them on the morrow to con- tinue their march; and their experience served in after 1Chr. xxix. generations as a parable of this earthly life. So the Apostle ** now employs it, and the image would appeal the more to the Corinthians when they recalled how he had earned his bread 1 ἐν ὀστρακίνοις σκεύεσιν, ‘in britel vessels’ (Wycl.), worthless and fragile earthenware (cf. Ps. ii. 9). On σκεῦος cf. n. on I Th. iv. 4, p. 161. Cf, x Th. iv. 16, 1 Cor, xv. 53. 460 LIFE AND: LETBERS*OFP oi PAUL among them by plying his craft of tent-making. He likens the mortal body to a tent, ‘ the soul’s frail dwelling-house.’ When it is dismantled by the rude hand of death, the soul is not left shelterless ; for there awaits it a nobler habitation —that spiritual body whereof he had told them in his second letter. It was indeed a glorious prospect, yet it would seem that despite his masterly handling of the problem a perplexity still remained in their minds, and its solution is his second and main concern. Even where the hope of immortality is cherished, there is an instinctive horror in the thought of death. For how will the soul fare when it is stripped of its corporeal vesture and goes forth naked into the unknown, © ‘To bathe in fiery floods, or to reside In thrilling regions of thick-ribbed ice ; To be imprison’d in the viewless winds, And blown with restless violence round about The pendent world ’ ? The blank misgiving which the thought inspires is poignantly expressed in that question of the dying Emperor Hadrian: } ‘Soul of mine, thou fleeting, clinging thing, Long my body’s mate and guest, Ah now, whither wilt thou wing, Pallid, naked, shivering, Never, never more to sport and jest ?’ There was indeed reassurance in the Christian revelation of the resurrection of the body, yet it was but partial. For it is. at the Second Advent that the dead will be raised, and mean- while their souls must remain naked, divested of their mortal bodies and yet unclothed with their ‘ heavenly habitation.’ Here, in large measure, lies the raison d étre of the hope which animated the primitive Christians that the Coming of the Lord was at hand. Their longing was that they might live to witness it and thus escape death and never experience the desolation of disembodiment. For then, ‘in a moment, in 4 € Animula vagula, blandula, Hospes comesque corporis, Οὐ nunc abibis in loca, Pallidula, rigida, nudula, Nec, ut soles, dabis jocos?? THE THIRD MISSION 361 the twinkle of an eye,’ the transformation would be wrought and ‘ the mortal thing be swallowed up by life.’ The Apostle shared this hope, this eager longing ; yet even though it were denied him, he was undismayed. For in any case the re- surrection of the body was a blessed certainty. It was the end which God had in view, and the present experience of the sanctifying operation of the Holy Spirit was ‘ the earnest ’ of its ultimate consummation. With this prospect in view he went his way with a stout heart ; and while he would fain be home, his only ambition was that, whether here or there, he might please the Lord and be ready for the inquisition of His Judgment-seat. νι For we know that if our earthly tent-dwelling be dis- mantled, we have one of God’s building, an house which no 2hands have made, eternal, in the heavens. For in this we groan, longing to put on over it our heavenly habitation, 311 so be that by putting it on we shall not be found naked. 4 For indeed we who are in the tent groan under its weight, on the understanding that it is not our desire to put off our vesture, no, but to put on a vesture over it, that the mortal 5 thing may be swallowed up by life. But He who wrought us for this very end is God, who gave us the earnest of the 6Spirit. Therefore, being always courageous and knowing that, while we are at home in the body, we are exiled from 7the Lord; for it is by faith that our steps are guided, not 8 by sight—ay, we are courageous and are well content rather 9 to be exiled from the body and get home to the Lord. And therefore also our ambition is that, whether at home or in το exile, we should be well pleasing to Him. For all of us must appear in our true colours before the Judgment-seat of Christ, that each may receive what his body has earned according to his actions, whether a good award or an evil. This was the Apostle’s attitude. He left the unknown The future in God’s hands, confident that it would be wisely and MBSt' οἱ mercifully ordered. He was animated by that spirit which ton. the Old Testament Scriptures so largely inculcate—‘ the fear of the Lord,’ that spirit of reverent and trustful submission to the Sovereign Will of Almighty God which is evermore Ps. cxi. 10; ‘the beginning of wisdom,’ ‘a strong confidence’ and ‘a prov si fountain of life.’ He left the future in God’s hands, and his 25:37. one concern was the discharge of the ministry which had Cf. Gal. ii. 19, 20. 402. LIFE AND LETTERS OF Si?) PAUL been entrusted to him. His ambition was to ‘ persuade men’; and though his pleading was construed by his Judaist adversaries as unscrupulous plausibility, God knew his motive, and he hoped he was justified by the consciences of the Corinthians. In saying that he was not ‘ commending himself’ to them ; he was rather seeking to show them the realities. His critics called him ‘mad,’ but what they deemed madness was a passion for God and for the souls of men. The love of Christ had possessed him, and it had revolution- ised his estimate of life, of men, and of the world. Life for him was now life in Christ, since he had died with Christ and had been raised with Him. And his estimate of men was_ correspondingly altered. Earthly distinctions no longer counted. He ‘ knew no man according to the flesh.’ He is | thinking here of the Judaists and their insistence on the efficacy of external rites and more especially their denial of his apostleship because he had never known the Lord in the days of His flesh. That contention was valid only if the Lord were a mere historic personage, ‘a Christ according to the flesh’; and though the Apostle had once shared that Jewish ideal of a secular Messiah, he had now attained to a loftier conception. Christ was for him the Risen and Glorified Saviour, truly known not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit, not by historic tradition but by immediate and vital fellowship. And thus, furthermore, the universe was transfigured in his eyes. The old order had passed away and a new order had arisen; and what made the difference — was Christ’s revelation of God’s thoughts and purposes. The world was alienated from God. It had rebelled against Him; and it had seemed that there was no hope for guilty sinners save the averting of His wrath. It lay with them to approach Him with overtures of reconciliation. And, behold, He had visited the world in Christ, and had taken on Himself the burden of its guilt and demonstrated that the enmity is all on man’s side. It is the world that needs to be reconciled to God, not God that must be reconciled to the world.2 And this amazing revelation defined the Apostle’s SCE. p. 107. * On the Pauline doctrine of ‘reconciliation’ cf. Zhe Atonement in the Light of History and the Modern Spirit, pp. 111 ἔ, THE THIRD MISSION 363 ministry. He was Christ’s ambassador, presenting God’s overtures and offering a full atonement and a free forgiveness. τι It is, then, because we know ‘ the fear of the Lord’ that we cr. Gal, i. ‘persuade men’; and to God we have appeared in our true τὸ, _ colours, and I hope that at the bar of your consciences also 1zwe have so appeared. We are not again commending our- selves to you; no, we are giving you an outlet 1 for a boast on our behalf, that you may counter those whose boasting is 13 all concerned with face-value and not with heart-reality. If 14 we are ‘ mad,’ it is for God ; if we are sane, it is for you. For the love of Christ has us in its grasp, and this is our judgment : 15 One died on behalf of all, consequently all died ; and He died on behalf of all that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who on their behalf died and was r6raised. And so we henceforth know no one according to the flesh. Though we have conceived of a Christ according to 17 the flesh, yet now that is no longer our conception. And so, if one be in Christ, there is a new creation : 2 the old order 18has passed away ; see, a new order has arisen. And it is all from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and 19 gave us the ministry of reconciliation, to this effect—that God was in Christ, reconciling a world to Himself, not reckoning their trespasses to them and having entrusted to us the message 20 Οὗ reconciliation. On Christ’s behalf, then, we are ambas- sadors, as though God were appealing to you through us. We 21 pray you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. Him who never knew sin, He made sin on our behalf, that we might become God’s righteousness in Him.? This is the message of the Gospel, and the Apostle now A personal enforces his argument with a personal appeal. The Corinth- *??**" ians had welcomed the message when they heard it from his lips during his ministry among them, and would they now disown it and embrace the teaching of his Judaist adversaries? It was a momentous issue; and it would commend his appeal and determine their decision if they remembered his credentials—his constant devotion and his many sufferings in the ministry of the Gospel. vi.r And in co-operation with Him we also appeal to you that 2it be not in vain that you welcomed the grace of God. For He says : A ee ae * Cf. p. 220. 8 Cf. n. on Gal. iii. 13, p. 204. Is, xlix. 8. Pgs, exviil, 17, 18, Apology for digres- sion, Pss. li. τς, ΟΧΙΧ, 32, Cf. ix. 3, 364 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL ‘At an acceptable moment I hearkened to thee, And in a day of salvation I succoured thee.’ See, now is the right ‘acceptable moment’; see, now is | 3‘the day of salvation.’ Never in anything do we put ἃ hindrance in the way, lest blame be cast upon the ministry. ΝΟ, in everything we commend ourselves as God’s ministers | should—in much endurance, in distresses, in necessities, in sstraits, in stripes, in imprisonments, in riots, in toils, in 6 vigils, in fastings, in purity, in knowledge, in long-suffering, 7in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in unaffected love, in the preaching of the Truth, in the power of God ; by the weapons 8 of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; by glory and dishonour ; by ill report and good report ; as deceivers gand true men; as ignored and acknowledged; as ‘dying’ and, see, we ‘live’; as ‘chastened and not put to death’; : roas grieved yet always rejoicing; as poor yet enriching — many ; as having nothing yet possessing everything. 4 Here the Apostle bethinks himself. He has wandered far from the path of his argument, and he playfully apologises. His long digression was an outpouring of his overflowing tenderness, and it proved how large a space the Corinthians occupied in his affection. If there was any narrowness of heart, it was manifestly not on his side; and he begs them to open their hearts to him as he had opened his to them. He deserved it ; for he had always treated them generously. No one had ever been the poorer for him during his ministry among them. Here, he need not reassure them, he was not. reproaching them. He was talking frankly in the fulness of his pride and gladness. 1x ‘Qur lips have been opened’ to you, Corinthians; ‘ our 1zheart has been enlarged.’ It is not in us that you are straitened for room; it is in your own affections that you 13are straitened. And as a recompense in kind—I say it vii. 2 85 to my children—be you also enlarged.1_ Make room for us. We wronged no one, we damaged no one, we overreached 3no one. I am not saying it to condemn you; for I have already said that you are in our hearts to die with us and to 4live with us. I am very frank with you; I am always boasting on your behalf. I am filled with comfort ; my joy is overflowing upon all our distress. * Vers. 14—vii. I, a fragment of the first Corinthian letter. Cf. p. 236. THE THIRD MISSION 365 _ After his long digression he resumes his personal narrative. The good He has told how, in his anxiety to meet Titus and learn how εὐ ὃ fro" he had fared at Corinth, he quitted Troas and crossed over cf. ii. 13. ‘to Macedonia ; and now he tells what happened there. The Judaist controversy was raging, and it was a difficult and indeed a dangerous situation since he had not only to deal with internal dissension but to face the violence of his ancient and inveterate enemies, the Macedonian Jews. And thus it was an unspeakable comfort and gladness to him when Titus arrived and reported the successful issue of his mission. 5 For after we had come to Macedonia our flesh had no relief. At every turn we were distressed—fightings without, fears 6within. But the Comforter of the humble, even God, com- 7forted us by the arrival of Titus ; and not only by his arrival but by the comfort which the thought of you afforded him in telling us the story of your longing, your lamentation, your 8 zeal on my own behalf to the enhancement of my joy, because, though I grieved you in my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it, perceiving 1 that that letter grieved you, though 9 but for a brief hour, I now rejoice, not that you were grieved, but that your grief issued in repentance ; for you were grieved as God would have you, that in nothing might you suffer loss roby us. For the grief which God would have works a repent- ance which issues in salvation—a repentance which is never 11regretted ; whereas the world’s grief works out death. For see, this very circumstance that you were grieved as God would have you—what earnestness it wrought out in you, ay, what self-defence, what vexation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what vindication! In everything you proved yourselves 12to be pure in the affair.2 The fact 1s that, though I wrote you, it was not that the wrong-doer might be punished or his victim righted but that your earnestness on our behalf might 13 be manifested among you in the sight of God. On this score it is that we have been comforted. _It was the Apostle’s stern letter that had achieved the Anachieve happy result, yet it would have availed nothing without the 7m." personal address of Titus. By his courage, wisdom, tact, and kindliness he had succeeded where the gentle and timor- ous Timothy had failed. He had amply justified theApostle’s 1 Reading βλέπων with Vulg. (vedens), which satisfactorily rectifies a manifestly corrupt passage. The MSS. have βλέπω or βλέπω γάρ. 2 τῷ πράγματι, a delicate reference to the unnamable scandal. Cf. 1 Th. iv. 6. 306. LIFE AND LETTERS OF Sf. PAUL confidence, and he was well entitled to the satisfaction which | so signal a triumph afforded him. | And besides our comfort we were still more abundantly rejoiced at the joy of Titus because his spirit has received | x4 refreshment from you all. However I may have boasted to him on your behalf, I was not put to shame ; no, as it was all truth that we spoke to you, so our boasting to Titus also turned r50ut truth. And his affection is flowing out to you the more at the remembrance of your unanimous obedience=how with | τό fear and trembling you received him. I rejoice that in every- | thing I have courage in you. Neglectof | There was one alloy in the Apostle’s gladness: the Corinth- tne corGe ians had neglected the collection for the poor at Jerusalem. hectic Soon after his settlement at Ephesus he had sent Titus and his Antiochene colleague to Corinth to commend the bene- ficent enterprise, and it had been espoused with much good will. Presently, however, a dispute had arisen regarding the method to be pursued in taking the collection, and the Cf.1 Cor. question had been referred to the Apostle in the consultative xv I rescript which the Corinthians had addressed to him the previous summer. The dispute was concerned merely with the mode of procedure, and after his decision he had assumed that the business was in progress until, to his discomfiture, | he learned from Titus that nothing had been done. Mace- And so he appeals to them to repair their neglect ; and liberality. by way of incentive he begins by telling them of the splendid generosity of the Macedonian churches, which was the more remarkable since Macedonia was at that period groaning under an oppressive burden of imperial taxation.2 The people were desperately poor, yet they had insisted on bear- ing their part in the charity. It was an act of self-consecra- tion, signalising their happy deliverance from the Judaist controversy, and it had occurred to the Apostle that the Corinthians might well follow the example and attest their © penitence by a like devotion. And so he had enlisted Titus ; to revisit them and complete his good work by engaging | their liberality. Cr pasa: * Cf. Arnold, Later Roman Commonwealth, 11. pp. 381 ff. THE THIRD MISSION 367 viii.s But we acquaint you, brothers, with the grace of God a vouchsafed among the churches of Macedonia—that it is in the thick of a distressing ordeal that their joy is so abundant, and their deep poverty issued in the abundant 3riches of their liberality. According to their ability, | 4testify, and beyond their ability, of their own free will with much appeal they begged of us the privilege of participating 5in the ministry to the saints. And it was not merely as we had hoped ; no, they first gave themselves to the Lord 6and to us through the will of God, insomuch that we appealed to Titus that he should follow up the good begin- ning he had already made by accomplishing among you this 7grace also. Ay, as you abound in everything—faith and eloquence and knowledge and the love which we have inspired in you—see that you abound in this grace also. It was not a command that he was addressing to them ; it was an appeal to their honour. And their incentive was threefold : the example which their Macedonian neighbours had set ; the gratitude which they owed to Christ for His infinite self-sacrifice ; and, furthermore, the obligation which, in the Apostle’s judgment, rested upon them, for their own credit, to make good the enthusiastic protestations of last year. The collection was no oppressive or inequitable imposition. They were asked to contribute according to their resources ; and the appeal was addressed not to Corinth alone but to all Gentile Christendom, and they were required merely to play their proper part. 8 Iam not saying it in the way of a commandment ; no, I am employing the earnestness of your neighbours to prove the 9 genuineness of your love. For you recognise the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ—that for your sakes, when He was rich, He became poor, that you by His poverty might become rich. 1oAnd I give you an opinion in this matter: this is to your advantage, since you made a beginning a year ago not merely 1rin doing it but also in desiring it. And now accomplish the doing also, that your eagerness in desiring it may be matched by your accomplishment of it out of the resources you have. 12 For if the eagerness be there, it is acceptable according to the 13Means it may have, not according to what it has not. The intention is not that others should be relieved and you dis- 14 tressed. No, it is that, on the principle of equality, at the present crisis your abundance may meet their lack in order that their abundance in turn may meet your lack, so that An appeal of honour. Ex, xvi, 18. Delegates to Corinth. 368 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL 15 equality may result, as it is written: ‘ He who gathered much | had no more, and he who gathered little had no less.’ It was not without reluctance that Titus had undertaken | his first mission to Corinth some two years previously ; but after his recent experience he was otherwise disposed. He welcomed the Apostle’s proposal and was eager to set out. He was not going alone. Two others would bear him com-_ pany. One was a preacher who had gained a distinguished © reputation in Macedonia, and who had been elected by the churches of the province to accompany Paul when he returned to Jerusalem, and convey their contributions thither. This the Apostle is careful to mention, and it would bring the blush to the faces of the Corinthians. His enemies in their midst had charged him with malfeasance in the administration of the collection,! and it was that cruel calumny which had dictated this arrangement. He would not handle the fund : each church must appoint a delegate to convey its contribu- tion to the Holy City. It would seem that this distinguished delegate was none other than Luke, who for the last five years — had laboured in Macedonia 3 and henceforth bore the Apostle — company. Philippi had been the headquarters of his Mace- donian ministry, and the Philippian church would naturally entrust him with the conveyance of its contribution. The other companion of Titus was doubtless his Antiochene ᾿ C—O ᾽ γον colleague who had attended him on his first eleemosynary mission to Corinth and who had abundantly proved his capacity. For all three the Apostle bespeaks a gracious — reception. Titus needed no introduction, and it was a strong recommendation of his companions that they were ‘ com- — missioners of churches.’ It became the Corinthians to show them honour not only in their personal but in their repre- sentative capacity. Their slighting would be an affront to the churches which had commissioned them. 16 And thanks be to God who is putting the same earnestness 170n your behalf into the heart of Titus. He not merely accepts our appeal but his reluctance is all gone and of his own free 18 will he is setting out to visit you. And we are sending with i 2 Ch pp. i220 f: *) Chips 135: j 5 ἐδέξατο, ἐξῆλθεν, συνεπέμψάμεν (vers. 18, 22), ἔπεμψα (ix. 3), epistolary aorists. Cf. p. 219. THE THIRD MISSION 369 him the brother whose praise in the Gospel is all over the το churches, and who, moreover, has been elected by the churches as our fellow-traveller in connection with this grace which is being ministered by us. It is the Lord’s own glory and our zoeagerness that we have in view; this being our concern— that no one should blame us in connection with this rich store 2t which is being ministered by us ; for we are ‘ safeguarding our Prov. iii. 4 honour’ not only ‘in the Lord’s sight’ but ‘in the sight of ΕΧΧ. 2zzmen.’ And we are sending with them our brother whose earnestness we have proved many a time in many a matter and now find largely increased by his large confidence in you. 23 As regards Titus, he is my comrade and fellow-worker for you ; and as for our brothers, they are commissioners of churches, 24they are the glory of Christ. Therefore in demonstrating toward them your love and our boasting on your behalf vou are doing it in the face of their churches. And now the Apostle commends the collection to the Incen- liberality of the Corinthians. First, he reminds them that ji" raity. their credit was at stake. On the strength of their protesta- tions a year ago he had boasted to the Macedonians how much Corinth was doing, and now it turned out that Corinth had done nothing. Some of the Macedonians intended accompanying him to Achaia presently, and what would they think if they discovered on their arrival that his boasting had been groundless ? It was to obviate this unpleasant dénoue- ment that he was sending the three delegates in advance ; and he bids the Corinthians retrieve their neglect and save his face, and their own faces too. Then he reminds them of the religious motive. It is the testimony of Scripture that “God loves a blithe giver’ and recompenses liberality. It is the sowing of a rich harvest. And there was a peculiar incentive in the present instance. The Gentile collection 1 The general opinion of the Fathers that this distinguished brother was Luke (Orig. in Eus. Hist. Eccl. v1. 25; Hieronym. ; ‘certain’ quoted by Chrys. Cf. Grot.) has been discredited by their fancy that ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ refers to his Gospel, which in fact was not yet written. Nevertheless the identification is highly probable. He had laboured for over five years in Macedonia, and of no other, so far as evidence goes, could it have been said that ‘his praise was all over the churches.’ And from his introduction of the first pers. pron. in Ac. xx. 4, 5 it appears that he had been with Paul at Corinth and accompanied him on his return journey through Macedonia. From ver. 2 it appears that he did not accompany him from Macedonia to Corinth, and it is a reasonable supposition that he was one of the delegates who had preceded him (cf. ix. 3-5). ZA Prov. an 8 LX Ps. exii. 9. Is, lv, to. Hos. x. 12 Lixo. 370 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL for the Jewish poor was not merely a worthy charity; it was a statesmanlike enterprise. It was an effective irenicon, tending to the reconciliation of Christendom by demonstrat- ing to the Jewish Christians that Gentile Christianity was a practical reality. ‘Thanks to God,’ cries the Apostle, ‘for His unspeakable bounteousness ’—the regal munificence of His grace!1 That was the supreme and overmastering incentive. ix.t Regarding the ministry to the saints ? it is indeed super- 2fluous for me to write you. For I know your eagerness, and I am boasting of it on your behalf to the Macedonians— that Achaia has been prepared a year ago; and your zeal 3 stimulated most of them. And I am sending the brothers that our boast on your behalf may not be an empty one in this particular—that, as I was saying, you may be prepared, 4lest it be that, if Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we—to say nothing of you—may be put to 5 shame where we thought we had standing-ground.? There- fore I deemed it necessary to appeal to the brothers that they should go beforehand to you and arrange beforehand your promised blessing, that it may thus be ready as a bless- 6ingand not asanexaction. Andhereistherule: ‘ Niggardly sowing, a niggardly harvest ; bountiful sowing, a bountiful 7harvest.’4 Let each give as he has decided beforehand in his heart, not as a grievous or necessary duty; for ‘God 8loves a blithe giver.’ And God has the power to bestow abundance of every grace upon you, that you may in every- thing ever have every sufficiency ὃ and abound in every good 9 work, as it is written: ‘ He scattered ; he gave to the poor ; rohis righteousness abides for ever.’ And He who furnishes “seed to the sower and bread for eating’ will furnish and multiply your seed, and make ‘ the fruits of your righteous- irness’ grow ; while at every turn you are enriched for every sort of liberality which through us works out thanksgiving 12 to God, because the ministry of this sacred service does not only supply the wants of the saints but also overflows in Cf. ἢ. on Rom. v. 15, p. 407. περὶ μὲν yap τῆς διακονίας, ‘I have written of my delegates and not of the collection, for it is superfluous to write of the latter’—a courteous expression of confidence in their liberality. * Cf. τ on xi. .17, p. 319. * A proverb. Cf. n. on Gal. vi. 7, p. 218. Ὁ αὐτάρκεια, properly a philosophical term, ‘ self-sufficingness,’ ‘independence,’ but frequent in Common Greek in the sense of ‘the necessary and fitting amount.’ Cf. Moulton and Milligan, Vocad, THE THIRD MISSION 371 13a stream of thanksgiving to God. The proof of you which this ministry affords moves them to glorify God for your confessed allegiance to the Gospel of Christ and the liberality 140f your impartation to them and to all; while they also in prayer on your behalf long for you by reason of God’s issurpassing grace toward you. Thanks to God for His unspeakable bounteousness ! The letter closes with exhortations to reconciliation, unity, Exhorta- and peace, befitting the penitent Church ;! and the Apostle [275 κα appends his accustomed sign-manual. manual. xiii.1x And now, brothers, farewell. Be knit together,? be com- forted, be of the same mind, be at peace; and the God 120f love and peace will be with you. Greet one another 13 With a saintly kiss. All the saints greet you. 14 THE GRACE OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST AND THE LOVE OF GOD AND THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE HOLY SPIRIT BE WITH YOU ALL. Υ SOJOURN AT CORINTH Ac. xx. 24, 3a; Rom, It was in the month of September, 56 a.p., that the glad Paul's de- letter was despatched to Corinth. The Apostle remained Pe") '° yet a while in Macedonia not merely to complete his ministry there but to afford the Corinthians time to make their col- cr. 2 Cor. lection ere he should arrive among them ; and it was prob- ‘> ably about the beginning of December when he set out. He did not go alone. Several of the Macedonians ac- companied him—a Bercean named Sopater, the son of Pyrrhus, and two Thessalonians, Aristarchus who had been Cf. Ac. at Ephesus when the riot took place and had been rudely ὅτ *™ handled by the mob, and his fellow-townsman Secundus. He was attended also by Gaius of Derbe 8 who had suffered with Aristarchus in the riot, and by Tychicus and Trophimus, Δ x-xili. 10, the stern letter. Cf. pp. 327 ff. ? Cf. n. ont Th. iii. 10, p. 161. Σ He is styled ‘Gaius of Derbe’ (Ac. xx. 4) to distinguish him from Gaius of Corinth, Paul’s host. Valckenaer, followed by Blass, emends Γάϊος Δερβαῖος καὶ Τιμόθεος into Idios, AepBatos δὲ Τιμόθεος, ‘Gaius, and Timothy of Derbe’ in view of the reading Μακεδόνας in Ac. xix. 29 (cf. p. 342). Timothy, however, belonged not .» Derbe but to the neighbouring Lystra. Cf. p. 100, Cf. 2 Cor. Vlii, 19, 20; Rom. xy, 25, 26. His em- ployment there. Cir Gora. 14; Rom. ΧΥΪ. 23. A treatise on the Judaist contro- versy. ἄγ. LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST, PAGEL the two Ephesians who had shared his flight from the Asian Capital.1 All these, at all events, were with him when he took his departure from Corinth three months later, and it is likely that they accompanied him thither. Corinth was merely a station in his journey to Jerusalem, and the three Macedonians had doubtless been delegated to convey their churches’ contributions. He had a gracious reception on his arrival. He no longer needed to earn his daily bread; for his convert and friend, the large-hearted Gaius, welcomed him into his home and hospitably entertained him. His visit lasted three months, and to outward appearance it was an uneventful time. He engaged in no missionary activities ; indeed, in view of the perils and anxieties which he had recently sustained in Asia and Macedonia, it may well be supposed that he had need of repose and welcomed the breathing-space which his sojourn at Corinth afforded. Yet the days did not pass unprofitably. His mere presence was a benediction, and his gracious con- verse would comfort and confirm the penitent church. Above all, he employed himself in a task of measureless and enduring value; for it was then that he composed the grandest of his extant Epistles, a work which ranks as his chief literary monument and constitutes not the least precious of Christendom’s sacred possessions.” From the outset of his career Jewish hostility had been the Apostle’s chief obstacle; and more embarrassing than the enmity of the unbelieving Jews who accounted him a renegade, a traitor to his people and his God, was the opposi- tion of those Jewish Christians who insisted on the permanent obligation of the ceremonial Law and reprobated his Gospel of salvation for Jews and Gentiles by faith in Christ. It had seemed as though the controversy were settled by the decree of the Council of Jerusalem at the beginning of the year 50, and he had gone on his second mission with a light heart ; Ὁ For ᾿Ασιανοί (Ac. xx. 4) Cod. Bez. (D) reads ᾿Εφέσιοι. Trophimus was certainly an Ephesian (cf. Ac. xxi. 29), and so, it would appear (cf. Eph. vi. 21 ; 2 Tim. iv. 12), was Tychicus also. * Cf. Coleridge, Zad/e Talk, June 15, 1833: ‘St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans is the most profound work in existence ; and I hardly believe that the writings of the old Stoics, now lost, could have been deeper.’ THE THIRD MISSION 373 but on his return to Syrian Antioch in the spring of 53 he learned that Judaist propagandists had followed him through Galatia and sown dissension in his churches there. He had remedied the mischief first by a hasty letter and then by a personal visit ; but as he proceeded on his third mission it appeared that they had tracked his footsteps westward and poisoned the minds of his converts in Macedonia and Achaia. It was a grave menace to the progress of the Gospel, demanding more serious and effective treatment than he had hitherto, amid his manifold distractions, been able to accord it. His sojourn at Corinth afforded him a fitting opportunity, and he availed himself of it. He resumed the argument which he had roughly sketched in his impassioned remonstrance with the churches of Galatia, defining the relation between the Law and the Gospel, expounding and enforcing his doctrine of Justification by Faith, and examining the pro- blems which it involved. This treatise is the letter which is commonly known as The pro- ‘the Epistle to the Romans’ ; and though the title is merely ?°7.% traditional, yet it seems to carry the Apostle’s express tination. attestation. For he addresses ‘all who are at Rome’ and i.7, rs. presently affirms his eagerness to ‘ preach the Gospel to you also who are at Rome’; and thus it would appear that the destination of the letter was the Christian community in the Imperial Capital. On closer scrutiny, however, a difficulty emerges. Turn to the closing chapter. This is a personal appendix. The _ It begins with a ‘commendation’ of Phcebe, the bearer of Bee the letter, attesting her bona fides and bespeaking a welcome ©} his for her ; and then follows a long series of greetings to friends of the Apostle in the church which he is addressing. It is here that the difficulty lies; and it is twofold. On the one Ct. xv. 22. hand, though this was an ambition which he had long cherished ;. το. and hoped ere long to realise, he had never visited Rome ; 15: and how then is it possible that in a church which he had never seen he should have had so many acquaintances, nay intimate, personal friends—all that extensive catalogue of 1 Cf. Lightfoot, Galatians, p. 49: ‘The Epistle to the Galatians stands in relation to the Roman letter, as the rough model to the finished statue.’ Ephesians #mong them. Ci, 2 Tim, iv. 10. The des- tination apparently not Rome bat Ephesus. 94° LIFE AND LETPERS OF Sf σον men and women whom he specifies by name and gece with — such close knowledge and tender affection ? Again, while the majority are strangers to us, there are three whom we recognise, and these belong not to Rome but to Ephesus. First of all, and with special honour and affection, he mentions Prisca and Aquila. It is true that they belonged originally to Rome; but they had been banished thence by the anti-Jewish edict of the Emperor Claudius and had migrated to Corinth, where Paul had made their acquaintance in the autumn of the year 51.1. They had left Corinth with him in the spring of 53 and accompanied him to Ephesus.2 There they settled, and they were still there when he returned in the ensuing October.* Their house was his abode during his Ephesian ministry, and they risked their lives on his behalf in the riot which so abruptly terminated it in January, 56.4 They were still at Ephesus some ten years later; and hence it would appear that they were there at the time of the Apostle’s sojourn at Corinth betwixt December, 56, and February, 57. Another to receive a greeting is Epenetus; and he is designated ‘ Asia’s first- fruits for Christ.’ ® That is to say, he was the earliest convert in the Province, and it was doubtless during the Apostle’s brief stay at Ephesus in the year 53, on his return journey to Syrian Antioch, that he was won.® In any case, he was an Ephesian, since it was at Ephesus that the Gospel was first preached in the Province of Asia. The situation, then, is that this closing chapter of the letter is addressed, not to a community which, like the church at Rome, Paul had never visited, but to one where he was well known and had numerous intimates. Such a community was the church at Ephesus; and it is to it that the only familiar names in the catalogue of the Apostle’s friends actually belonged. This circumstance, if it stood alone, would indicate that Ephesus was the destination of the PCE. tae * Cf. p. 189. CF. p. 228. oat es ome Ce * Rom. xvi. 5: ἀπαρχὴ τῆς ᾿Ασίας NABCD*FG. T.R. ᾿Αχαΐας is disproved not only by documentary evidence but by the fact that ‘the first-fruits of Achaia’ were the household of Stephanas (cf. 1 Cor, xvi. 15). POF. ριον. THE THIRD MISSION 375 letter ; but the fact remains that it is expressly addressed to the church at Rome. The truth is that ‘ the Epistle to the Romans’ is an en- Anencye) cyclical or circular letter.1_ It deals, not with a local question, sa but with a matter of universal concern, a far-reaching con- troversy which had already disturbed the Churches of Galatia, Macedonia, and Achaia, and menaced the future progress of the Faith. The Apostle had dealt with it personally in those particular arenas; but his adversaries were prosecut- ing their malign activities, traducing him where he was yet unknown and creating a prejudice which would be hard for him to overcome when he should journey thither. To obviate this embarrassment he wrote an encyclical dealing exhaus- tively with the question, and despatched it to the communities which were exposed to the assaults of the Judaist propagan- dists. His solicitude turned mainly in two directions. In the Province of Asia there were numerous Churches which, though he had never seen them, had been created by his ministry at Ephesus, particularly in the valley of the Meander and the Lycus, that populous district whence his physical malady had hitherto debarred him.? Among these were the Churches of Colosse, Laodiceia, and Hierapolis, and others which had been established by the labours of his Ephesian colleagues and converts but which had never ‘ seen Cf. Col. ii, his face in the flesh.’ Then there was Rome, the Imperial ἡ Capital. She was the goal of the Apostle’s desire. The Gospel would never dominate the world until the mistress Cf. Ac. xix. of the world was won; and as he travelled ever farther Rn" westward, he yearned more and more for the day when he 77-74: would reach Rome. 1 This was first perceived by Renan, who distinguished four copies. The encyclical is i-xi ; and it was sent to (1) the Roman Church with xv added ; (2) to the Ephesian Church with xii-xiv, xvi. 1-20 added ; (3) the Thessalonian Church with xii-xiv, xvi. 21-24 added; and (4) an unknown Church with xii-xiv, xvi. 25-27 added. His view is criticised by Lightfoot (476/. Ess., pp. 287 ff.), who supposes that the Epistle as it stands was addressed to the Roman Church, and the Apostle subsequently adapted it for use as an encyclical by cutting off chaps. xv, xvi and substituting the doxology (xvi. 25-27), and also omitting ἐν Ῥώμῃ (i. 7, 15). Cf. Hort’s criticism in same volume (pp. 321 ff.) ; also Appendix to W. H., pp. 110-13). The question is luminously treated by Lake (Zarlier Epistles of St. Paul, chap. v1). * Ch. pp. Satie, 244: Original address. Multi- plicity of bene:lic- tions. Xvi. 20, 376. LIFE AND LET RERS OF So, Pau. It was thus needful, in the interest of the cause which lay so near his heart, that the truth should be presented in Asia and, above all, in Rome; and it was for the Christians in the Imperial Capital especially that he composed this treatise, this exposition of the issues involved in the Judaistic con- troversy. As it stands, it is addressed ‘ to all who are at Rome, God’s beloved,’ ‘ to you also who are at Rome’; but this is not the original text. Our earliest manuscript dates from the fourth century,! and in the text which Origen employed a century earlier the words ‘in Rome’ are absent from the address.2_ This means that in the original draft of the encyclical the destination was left undefined. The address ran: ‘to all who are at , God’s beloved,’ ‘ to you also who are at ᾿; and when the letter was assigned to a particular locality, the destination was entered in the blank space. The copies for the Province of Asia would be addressed ‘to all,’ ‘to you also, who are at Colosse,’ ‘ Laodiceia,’ and so forth; and the copy for Rome ‘to all,’ “to you also, who are at Rome.’ And now turn to the close of the letter. What here arrests attention is the multiplicity of benedictions. A benediction commonly marks the conclusion of a letter, yet there are here no fewer than three. The first closes the fifteenth chapter: ‘ Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.’ This should be the end; but the Apostle proceeds further, and then he pronounces a second benediction: ‘ The grace 1 Codex Sinaiticus (δ). ® Origen’s commentary on Rom. exists only in a Latin version, and this reads ‘omnibus qui sunt Rome, dilectis Dei’ (ver. 7), ‘et vobis qui Romz estis’ (ver. 15); but that ἐν Ρώμῃ was absent from his text is proved by a scholium in 5 (Codex Athous Laure, 8 or 9 c., based on the lost text of Origen’s com- mentary): τοῦ “ἐν Ῥώμῃ᾽ οὔτε ἐν τῇ ἐξηγήσει οὔτε ἐν τῷ ῥητῷ μνημονεύει, ‘he mentions ‘‘at Rome” neither in the exposition nor in the passage’ (z.¢., the text prefixed to the exposition). This means that, while inserting ἐν ‘Pay in his text in deference to the MSS. of his day, the scribe explains that the phrase was absent from the text of Origen which he is reproducing. It was necessary that the hiatus should be supplied in lectionary use, and ἐν Ρώμῃ was naturally inserted, since the encyclical was destined zz frimzs for the Roman Church. Another device, however, appears in G (Codex Boernerianus Dresdensis, 9 c.), which in ver. 15 omits τοῖς ἐν Ρώμῃ and in ver. 7 reads τοῖς οὖσιν ἐν ἀγάπῃ Θεοῦ, ‘to all who are in the love of God.’ This was an early reading. Cf. Ambrstr. (4 c.): ‘Quamvis Romanis scribat, illis tamen scribere se significat qui in charitate Dei sunt.’ THE THIRD MISSION 377 of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.’ And neither is this the end. Fresh greetings follow, and then a third bene- Ver, 24. diction : ‘ The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.’ And thereafter the letter at length closes with a vers, 2<. doxology. ai It seems a bewildering tangle; but a clue to its unravel- Appendix ment is furnished by the fact that the final doxology is placed loam by numerous authorities at the close of the fourteenth chapter.t And this, it appears, was its original position. The fourteenth chapter concluded the encyclical, which, being properly a treatise and not a letter, fitly closed with a doxology rather than a personal benediction. And conceive what happened when the encyclical was despatched to its various destinations. Not only was the address inserted at the beginning but a personal message was appended at the close. It was sent to Rome, and indeed it was Rome that lay chiefly on the Apostle’s heart when he wrote it; and then the fifteenth chapter was added by way of a personal message. It was sent also to the Churches of Asia; and then it was addressed to the mother-church at Ephesus for circulation in the Province, and it was accompanied by a personal message to the Ephesian Christians—the first twenty verses of the sixteenth chapter. And what of the ensuing paragraph ? It is a special greeting from the inner Vers, a1- circle of the Apostle’s friends and hisamanuensis; and it would ** be inserted after his personal message in every copy of the encyclical. All that he had written was accounted precious in after days, and it was inevitable that his messages to the great Churches of Rome and Ephesus should be perma: ently incorporated. The doxology, properly the close of tiie en- cyclical, was generally transferred to the end as a fitting 1 L (Cod. Angel. Rom., οἷ c.), Syr. and Arm. Verss., Chrys. Origen (7972 Ep. ad Rom. Comm. X. 43) observes that the heretic Marcion (2™4 c.) had cut away not only the doxology but the whole of chaps. xv, xvi, making xiv. 23 the close of the Epistle ; while in the other copies, uninfluenced by Marcion, he found the doxology diversely placed. In some codices it followed xiv. 23, whereas in others it stood at the end of the Epistle, zt nance est positum. The fact is that Marcion’s text was not, as Origen supposes, a deliberate mutilation of the Epistle ; it was the original encyclical. And Tertullian also seems to have known the Epistle in that abbreviated form ; at all events, he refers to xiv. 10 as occurring ‘in the closing section’ (772 clausula). Cf. Adv. Marc. ν. 14. xvi, 24. Ver. 20. The amanuen- 515, Cf, xvi. 21, 22. The address. a8 LIFE AND LETTERS OF Silat aw conclusion of the whole ;+ and then the preceding benedic- tion appeared superfluous. It seemed to copyists an acci- dental repetition of the previous benediction ; and hence it is omitted in the principal manuscripts.? Though Timothy was with the Apostle, he did not on this occasion serve as his amanuensis. The office was performed by one Tertius, who is otherwise unknown. An expert hand was required for the execution and reduplication of so im- portant a document, and Tertius was doubtless a professional scribe; possibly he may have been the private secretary of Gaius. In any case he was a Christian; and it is evident that he was a personage of some consequence in the Corinth- ian Church, else he would hardly have presumed to send his greeting to the various Churches which received the ency- clical, ENCYCLICAL ON JUSTIFICATION (‘ Epistle to the Romans’) INTRODUCTION (i. I-15) The letter opens with the customary address; and the Apostle with characteristic skill elaborates the stereotyped formula, and defines at the outset the main issues of the controversy. The Judaist attack was directed principally against his Apostleship and his Gospel; and here he vindi- cates both. His Apostleship rested on a double basis. He was an Apostle by redemption, since he was ‘a slave of Jesus Christ,’ ‘bought for freedom’;*% and by divine appointment, since he had been ‘ set apart,’ first, in God’s eternal purpose and, then, by his ‘ calling’ in due season. And as for his Gospel, his message of salvation for Jew and Gentile, it was no innovation, as the Judaists alleged, but the fulfilment of an ancient promise enshrined in the prophetic Scriptures— the Saviour’s Incarnation and His glorious Resurrection. 1 The theory that the doxology is a liturgical addition (cf. Lake, Zarlier Paes, Pp. 359 ff.) is so far supported by 3 omission from Marcion’s text. * SABC. * Cf. p. 265. | ᾿ THE THIRD MISSION 379 1 Paul, a slave of Jesus Christ,’ by calling an Apostle, set Cf. Gal. i. 2apart to preach God’s Gospel which He promised in advance 15. ae 3through His Prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was a descendant of David according to the 4 flesh and was defined ‘Son of God’ in power, according to the Spirit of Holiness, by the resurrection of the dead *— 5 Jesus Christ our Lord. Through Him we received grace and apostleship for the achievement of faith’s surrender among 6all the Gentiles on His Name’s behalf, including you who by 7calling are Jesus Christ’s. To all who are at , God’s beloved, by calling saints. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle was addressing churches which he had never Persona! explana- yet visited, and he apprehended that they might be aggrieved {io,.5. at his seeming neglect. Indeed it is likely that during his long ministry at Ephesus he had intended visiting the numer- ous churches in the Province and they had complained of his remaining all the while in the capital and denying them the privilege of seeing his face and hearing his voice. And so, ere entering upon his argument, he absolves himself from blame. He assures his readers of his affectionate and prayerful interest in them, his desire to see them, and his hope that he might ere long achieve it. It was notorious how his purpose had hitherto been overruled by the provid- ence of God, and it could simply be ‘ wilful ignorance’ on their part if they persisted in suspecting him of deliberate neglect. 8 First,? 1 thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, 1 The authorities vary between Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ (NAEGKLP, Chrys.) and Χριστοῦ ᾿Ιησοῦ (B, Arm., Orig., Aug., Ambrstr.). The distinction is that “I. X. starts from our Lord’s humanity and rises to His deity (cf. Chrys. : καὶ τὰ τῆς oixovoulas ὀνόματα προβάλλεται, κάτωθεν ἀναβαίνων &vw)—the Synoptic order; whereas X.’I. starts from His deity and descends to His humanity—the Johannine order. 3 The Christ (Messiah) of Jewish expectation was ‘the Son of God’ merely as the King of Israel (cf. Pss. ii. 6, 7, lxxxix. 27) of David’s lineage ; but our Lord was defined ‘Son of God’ in a deeper sense by (1) His miraculous power, ev δυνάμει (cf. xv. 19), (2) His perfect holiness, κατὰ πνεῦμα ἁγιωσύνης, and (3) His Resurrection. ἐξ ἀναστάσεως νεκρῶν, not simply the resurrection of Christ (which would be ἐξ ἀναστάσεως αὐτοῦ ἐκ νεκρῶν), but that also of all who are united to Him. His resurrection was not solitary: it involved the resurrection of believers (cf. 1 Cor. xv. 20-23). 3 πρῶτον μέν should be balanced by εἶτα δέ, but grammatical sequence is characteristically overborne by the rush of thought. The thesis. 300. LIFE “AND LETTERS OF si. rae. 9 that your faith is being noised all over the world. God whom I serve in my spirit in the Gospel of His Son, is my witness τὸ how unceasingly I make mention of you, always in my prayers asking that now at length the way may, in the will of God, 11 be cleared for me to visit you. For I am longing to see you, to impart to you some spiritual gift that you may be 12 Strengthened, or rather that we may both be comforted while 131 am among you by our mutual trust, yours and mine. And I do not wish you to ignore the fact,! brothers, that many a time I have proposed to visit you—and I have been prevented up to this point—that I might win some harvest among you 1485 I have done among the rest of the Gentiles. Both to Greeks and to Barbarians, both to wise and witless,2 I am 15a debtor ; sol am all eagerness? to preach the Gospel to you also who are at . I DOCTRINAL (i. 16—v) The A postle’s Conception of Christianity ὃ Justification by Faith (i. 16-iv) First he enunciates his thesis in a twofold proposition : salvation ts by faith and 1έ 15 universal—not for the Jews only but for ‘ every one who has faith, both the Jew, in the first instance, and the Greek.’ It may seem as though he invalidated his argument by inserting the phrase ‘in the first instance’ and thus, apparently, according the Jews a position of preference.t This, however, were a misconstruc- tion of his thought. He indeed ascribes a priority to the 1 ἀγνοεῖν, cf. n. on 1 Th. iv. 13, p. 163. * A comprehensive designation of the Gentile world. The Greeks were the cultured and enlightened Gentiles (σοφοί), and the Barbarians the rude races (ἀνόητοι). Cf. Hesych.: Ἕλληνες, φρόνιμοι εἴτε σοφοί" βάρβαροι, ἀπαίδευτοι. βάρβαρος is onomatopoetic, and denotes a foreigner who spoke an unintelligible language, mere ‘ babble’ in Greek ears. 3 Three possible constructions : (1) τὸ κατ᾽ ἐμέ (cf. Eph. vi. 21; Col. iv. 7; Phil. i. 12) subj. and πρόθυμον pred.: ‘my disposition is eager to preach the Gospel.’ τὸ κατ᾽ ἐμέ is then a periphrasis for ἐγώ. (2) τὸ κατ᾽ ἐμὲ πρόθυμον subj. and εὐαγγελίσασθαι pred.: ‘my eager desire (Jropensto ad me attinens) is to preach the Gospel.’ (3) τὸ κατ᾽ ἐμέ adverbial and parenthetic and πρόθυμον nominal: “thus, so far as I am concerned, there is an eager desire to preach the Gospel,’ * Hence πρῶτον is omitted by several authorities (BG, Tert.), THE THIRD MISSION 381 Jews, but it is a priority in opportunity and responsibility and not in privilege. They were the elect nation, and their history had been a preparatio Evangelit. They were God’s witnesses, the repositories and vehicles of His universal grace. The Synagogue was a divinely prepared nidus for the Gospel ; and therefore it was that wherever the Apostle arrived in the prosecution of his world-wide mission, he first cf, Ac. of all sought the Jewish community and presented his (2 hiss. message to them ; and it was only when they rejected it and 17-28. refused their vocation, that he turned to the Gentiles. The Jews stood first in opportunity, and when they failed, they stood first in condemnation. 16 I am not ashamed of the Gospel: it is God’s power for salvation to every one who has faith, both the Jew, in the 17 first instance, and the Greek. For God’s righteousness is evermore revealed in it as faith grows from more to more,! as Hab. ii. 4, it is written: ‘ The righteous man on the score of faith will ἣν Gal. iti. live.’ And now he proceeds to demonstrate his thesis. His tts demon- argument is that other methods have been tried and have S“*"°" conspicuously and lamentably failed. He adduces succes- sively the experiences of the Gentile world and the Jewish, and shows how neither has attained righteousness ; and then he introduces the divine remedy. What mankind has failed to achieve has been made possible in Christ. 1. Failure of the Gentiles to attain Righteousness (18-32) The law of the moral order is twofold : first, unrighteous- Neglect of ness is ever pursued by the wrath of God, the indignation ° "= tion in wherewith, inasmuch as He is holy, He must needs regard Nature. it and which, however its operation be delayed, issues in Cf. , inevitable judgment ; and, second, knowledge is the measure 1 ἐκ πίστεως els πίστιν, a Jewish phrase denoting gradual progress, advancement from stage to stage. Cf. the Rabbinical maxim (quoted by Wetstein): ‘A man sitting and studying in the Law advances from law to law, from ordinance to ordinance, from verse to verse.’ This is the principle of intellectual progress, and it is the principle also of spiritual progress. Cf. 2 Cor. iii. 18: ἀπὸ δόξης els δόξαν. Cf. ili. 20; Lk. xxiii. 34; 1 Tim. i, 025. Idolatry. 382 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL of guilt: there is no guilt where there is no knowledge, no transgression where there isnolaw. It may seem as though the latter clause cleared the Gentiles. They had no Law like the Jews, and their ignorance should have absolved them. In fact, however, they were not ignorant. They ‘ possessed the truth,’ and their condemnation was that they ‘ possessed it in unrighteousness.’ They had indeed neither the Jewish revelation in the Law nor the better revelation in Christ ; but they had the revelation in Nature, ‘ that universal and public manuscript that lies expans’d unto the eyes of all,’ proclaiming the existence, the power, and the beneficence ! of God. It was indeed meagre in comparison with the revela- tion of grace; yet it was amply sufficient to render the un- righteousness of the Gentiles inexcusable. They had a revelation, and they perverted it. They closed their eyes to the light, and they were stricken with judicial blindness.2 The tragedy began in pride, and it ended in folly—the folly of idolatry. There were two sorts of idolatry in the ancient world. One was the idolatry of the Greeks—the worship of the human. Their gods were ‘magnified men,’ more beautiful than mortals and also more passionate. They deified human attributes, and worshipped not only Apollo, the god of light and beauty, but Dionysus, the god of the wine-cup; not only Athene, the goddess of wisdom, but Aphrodite, the goddess of lust. Then there was animal-worship, which had its chief home in Egypt, that land of prehistoric civilisation. It was a gross superstition, and it was derided by the heathen of the West,? who were thus far at least superior, that in worshipping the human they worshipped a true ‘image of God.’ Nevertheless both kinds of idolatry degraded their votaries. The law is that men grow like the objects of their worship ; and the heathen were like their idols—licentious and brutal. 18 For God’s wrath is evermore revealed from heaven against all impiety and unrighteousness of men who possess the truth 1 Implied in ηὐχαρίστησαν (ver. 21). Cf. Ac. xiv. 17; xvii. 25. 3 Cf. vers. 21, 22. Observe the transition from act. (ἐδόξασαν, nbxapiorycar) to pass. (ἐματαιώθησαν, ἐσκοτίσθη, ἐμωράνθησαν). The perversion of the revelation was their own act, and the consequence was God’s judgment. They closed their eyes, and God blinded them. * Cf. Juv. xv. 1-4. THE THIRD MISSION 383 19in unrightcousness,! inasmuch as what may be perceived of God is manifest among them ; for God manifested it to them. 20 For ever since the creation of the world His invisible attributes —His everlasting power and divinity—have been clearly seen,” being conceived by His works, that they might be inexcusable, z1inasmuch as, though they had recognised God, they did not glorify Him as God or give Him thanks. No, they were stricken with futility in their reasonings, and their stupid 2z2heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they were be- 23fooled, and ‘changed the glory’ of the incorruptible God Ps. evi. ao. ‘for the similitude ᾿ of an image of corruptible man and fowls and quadrupeds and reptiles.® The evidence lay before all eyes in the actual condition of Moral the heathen world in those days; and the Apostle points rit eae to the prevalence of that unnatural vice which disgraced pagan society and stains so many pages of classical literature. He sees in it a direct judgment of God. The heathen abandoned God, and God abandoned them to uncleanness, Nor did the tragedy end there. Lust is, in the first instance, self-degradation; but its malignant operation extends beyond the individual. ‘It hardens all within, and petrifies the feeling,’ and it makes the sinner a curse to his fellows. The prevailing licentiousness blasted the heathen world ; and the Apostle depicts this final stage of the moral declen- sion. 24 And therefore God abandoned them in the lusts of their hearts to uncleanness, that their bodies might be degraded 25 among them ; 4 since they exchanged the truth of God for the 116,5 and adored and served the creature rather than the 26 Creator,® who is blessed for ever. Amen. For this reason it is that God abandoned them to degrading passions. Their 27females exchanged the natural use for the unnatural; and 1 κατέχειν, not ‘hold down’ (R.V.), but a strengthened ἔχειν, ‘have in one’s grasp,’ ‘ have and hold,’ ‘ possess.’ Cf. 2 Cor. vi. 10. 2 καθορᾶν (cf. κατέχειν), a strengthened ὁρᾶν. Cf. Job x. 4: ἢ ὥσπερ βροτὸς ὁρᾷ, καθορᾷς ; ‘Is Thy clear vision as a mortal’s vision ?’ 3 Cf. Strabo, 812. 4 The MSS. vary between ἐν αὐτοῖς (the better attested) and ἐν ἑαυτοῖς. With the former ἀτιμάζεσθαι is pass. : “that their bodies might be dishonoured among them’; with the latter, mid.: ‘that they might dishonour their bodies with one another.’ ~ * That is, ‘the idol’ (cf. Rev. xxi. 27, xxii. 15), since an idol (1) is itself false and (2) deceives its worshippers. Gis pages s8a-EIBE AND LET TRS OF Sa. 4 Gi. the males likewise forsook the natural use of the female and were inflamed in their desire for one another, males with males working unseemliness and receiving in their own persons the 28inevitable retribution of their error. And as they did not think God worth keeping in recognition, God abandoned them 29to a worthless mind to do unfitting things.1 They were replete with every sort of unrighteousness, rascality, greed, malice ; they were laden with ‘ murdering mischief,’ 2 strife, 30 craft, spitefulness ; whisperers, calumniators, haters of God,? bullies, swaggerers, braggarts,* inventors of evils,5 disobedient 31 to parents, stupid, faithless, destitute of natural affection, 32 pitiless. Fully cognisant of God’s righteous ordinance, that those who practise such things are worthy of death, they not only do them but applaud those who practise them. Justifica- It is a ghastly picture of cruelty and terror and despair, ce a yet it is a sober delineation. It is drawn from life, and inietneat perhaps the surest demonstration of its verisimilitude is a ΟΙ neathen- dom : recital of certain large and definite enormities which cast a lurid light on the multitudinous details of the Apostle’s indictment. (1) The ; (rt) The practice of delation. A despot is never secure, practice o velation. 20d the Roman Emperors were haunted by continual 1 A play upon δοκιμάζειν and ἀδόκιμος (cf. note on 1 Th. v. 21, p. 165). Literally, ‘as they did not approve God to have Him in full recognition, God abandoned them to a reprobate mind.’ 2 φθόνος φόνος, a jingling byword (cf. Gal. v. 21 T. R.), not to be pressed literally. Cf. Iamblichus (in Suidas): τὸ δεύτερον τοῦ φθόνου ypaupa ξέσας εὕροις ἐν αὐτῷ τὸν φόνον γεγραμμένον. 5 Either θεοστύγεις (act.), ‘hating God,’ Dez osores (Cypr., Euth. Zig.) or θεοστυγεῖς (pass.), ‘hated by God,’ ‘hateful to God,’ Deo odibzles (Vulg.). The former is the more suitable to the context, all the other epithets being active. *‘ Agitur enim de vitiis, non de pcenis’ (Grot.). It is true that, wherever else it occurs in extant literature, the word is passive; but the active use is equally possible, and Suidas assigns both uses to it and takes it as act. here: of ὑπὸ θεοῦ μισούμενοι, Kal of Θεὸν μισοῦντες. παρὰ δὲ τῷ ᾿Αποστόλῳ ‘ θεοστυγεις᾽ οὐχι οἱ ὑπὸ Θεοῦ μισούμενοι ἀλλ᾽ οἱ μισοῦντες τὸν Θεόν. 4 ὑβριστάς, ὑπερηφάνους, ἀλαζόνας. ὕβρις, coarse insolence, exhibited in physical violence (cf. Mt. xxii. 6; Lk. xviii. 32). ὑπερ φανία, insolent, overweening pride, the spirit of a haughty and scornful aristocrat (cf. Lk. i. 51). ἀλαζονία, ‘ braggadocio,’ vain and unwarranted pretension. Def. Plat.: ἕξις προσποιητικὴ ἀγαθοῦ ἢ ἀγαθὼν τῶν μὴ ὑπαρχόντων. Cf. 1 Jo. ii. 16: ἡ ἀλαζονία τοῦ βίου, ‘the braggart boast of life.’ This article of the Apostle’s indictment is illustrated by Juvenal’s picture of the dangers of the city streets after nightfall (111. 268 ff.). 5 Existing vices lost their piquancy, and men taxed their ingenuity to invent new ones. Cf. Tac. duu. vi. 1: ‘tuncque primum ignota antea vocabula reperta sunt.’ THE THIRD MISSION 385 apprehension of conspiracy. What reason they had appears from the startling fact that of the twelve who reigned during the first century, only three were suffered to die natural deaths ; and it is little wonder that, breathing an atmosphere of suspicion, they pursued a policy of jealous surveillance and ruthless intimidation. It was a reign of terror. The merest trifle—a word, a jest, a look, a gesture—was liable to a sinister construction, and was visited with condign vengeance. The only safety lay in fulsome adulation and denunciation of offences against the imperial majesty ; and a law of Tiberius, assigning to the informer a share in his victim’s property,? encouraged the iniquity which darkened the life of Rome until it was abolished during the brief reign of Pertinax (A.D. 192-193). A mere accusation sufficed. Condemnation was certain, and the victim generally an- ticipated his doom by self-destruction. It is told that during the dark days of Nero’s reign a drunken fellow used to go about the city singing the Emperor’s songs and de- nouncing all who did not listen admiringly and contribute liberally. The Roman satirist speaks of an informer “slitting throats with a fine-edged whisper ’ ; * and it is the informers that the Apostle has in view when he speaks of ‘whisperers, calumniators.’ (2) The prevalence of suicide. Here is the conclusion (2) The of an epistle where the philosopher Seneca discourses on the Prevaugee uncertainty of the world:® ‘ You know this—to how many death is useful, how many it frees from tortures, poverty, complaints, punishments, disgust. We are not in the power of any so long as death is in our own power.’ ‘Nor stony tower, nor walls of beaten brass, Nor airless dungeon, nor strong links of iron, Can be retentive to the strength of spirit ; But life, being weary of these worldly bars, Never lacks power to dismiss itself. If I know this, know all the world besides, 2 Tac. Ann. 11: 32. 3 Cf. Sen. De Benef. 111. 26. 8 Philostr. Vit. Apoll. Tyan. v. 39. 4 Juv. tv. 110: ‘tenui jugulos aperire susurru.’ § Epist. xci. 28 (3) The cruelty of heathen society. 386 LIFE AND LETTERS OF Sf FAUL That part of tyranny that I do bear I can shake off at pleasure.’ 1 Suicide was appallingly frequent in that age and, it is significant, less among the lower orders than among the wealthy and distinguished members of society. Sometimes it was resorted to as an escape from tyranny, but in most cases the motive was sheer weariness of life, the disgust of hearts sated with pleasure and sick of disillusionment. Amid the wealth and luxury and pride of her high civilisation Rome was stricken with the curse of her own iniquity. ‘On that hard Pagan world disgust And secret loathing fell. Deep weariness and sated lust Made human life a hell.’ (3) The sadness of heathen society was matched by its cruelty. It was, as the Apostle observes, not merely ‘ piti- less’ but ‘ destitute of natural affection,’ that tenderness which the very brutes have for their kind and especially for their offspring. If evidence be required, there is no lack. There is, for example, the horrible custom of destroying weakly children. Realise what it means that Seneca, a Roman scholar and gentleman, could write thus with never a qualm :% ‘ We strike down mad dogs; we butcher a fierce and wild ox, and knife sickly cattle lest they infect the herd ; we destroy monstrous offspring ; children too, if they are born weakly and deformed, we drown. It is not anger but reason to separate the useless from the healthy.’ And there is the barbarity of exposing infants. As soon as a child was born, it was brought and laid at its father’s feet. If he ‘ took it up,’ 4 it was reared in his family ; but he need not take it up unless he chose. If he shrank from the trouble and expense of rearing it or had already as many children as he desired and objected to further subdivision of the inheritance, he would let it lie; and then it was ‘ exposed ’—thrown out to die on a mountain-side or other desolate place, like the ¥ Shak. Jud. Ces. 1. iti. 93 ff. ἢ στοργή. Chrys. compares Ecclus. xiii. 15: πᾶν τὸ ζῶον ἀγαπᾷ τὸ ὅμοιον αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἄνθρωπος τὸν πλησίον αὐτοῦ. a De ira, 1, 1 4 Sustulit, susceptt. τῳ ρρν ey peor THE THIRD MISSION τς δὴ infant CEdipus on Mount Citheron. It is an eloquent fact that, though the Greek and Latin languages have each several words for ‘ house,’ neither has a word for ‘ home.’ And the reason is that it is ‘natural affection’ that makes a home, and lust had banished natural affection from the heathen world. Natural affection, and pity too. What pity was there in a society which tolerated the institution of slavery 1 and was entertained with gladiatorial combats and fights between criminals and wild beasts in the circus ? 2 And these enormities provoked no protest. The heathen ‘not only did such things but applauded those who practised them.’ That was the climax of their guilt, their utter con- demnation. The mere doing of evil need not argue depravity, since one may be hurried by passion into conduct which he disapproves in calmer mood, and one never realises the enormity of a sin until it has been committed and stands before him in hideous actuality. But it condemns a man if he contemplates wickedness and accords it his sympathy and approval. 2. Failure of the Jews to attain Righteousness (ii, iii) The Apostle’s indictment of heathendom would command Indictment the approval of his Jewish readers. They despised the pay Gentile world, and the exhibition of its depravity would gratify their national prejudice. But now he turns to the other side of his argument and shows that, if the Gentiles have failed to attain righteousness, the Jews have failed no less signally and with far less excuse. The very iniquities which they condemned in the Gentiles, they practised them- selves. n.x And therefore you are inexcusable, you man whoever you are that judge. In passing judgment on your neighbour you pronounce judgment against yourself ; for you practise the self-same things, you that judge. It vitiated the moral judgment of the Jews that they Refutation conceived themselves as occupying a privileged position. pare They were Abraham’s descendants, and they reasoned that, fidence: 1 Cf. pp. 569 ff. * Cf. p. 254. Cf. Mt. iii. 8-10; Jo, viii. 33, 30. (τ) Impar- tiality of God’s judgment. Ps. Ixii. 12; Prov, xxiv. 12. (2) Univer- sality of moral obli- gation, 388 LIFE AND LETTERS OF Si) PAUG since God had made a covenant with Abraham and his seed after him to all generations, they were permanently secure: whatever they might do, the engagement stood. Against this fatal confidence the Apostle arrays two stern truths. One is the impartiality of God’s judgment. His sentence is ‘ according to truth’: it is not arbitrary ; it is determined by realities. The sole test recognised by Scripture is conduct: “He will render to each according to his works’; and the mistake of the Jews lay in their failure to perceive that their peculiar privileges were gracious appeals, and if they dis- regarded these, they would then receive the heavier doom. First in opportunity, they would be first in condemnation. 2 We know that the doom of God lights according to truth on 3 those who practise such things. But is this your reckoning, you man that pass judgment on those who practise such things and do them the while—that you will escape the doom of 4God? Or is it that you despise the riches of His kindness and forbearance and long-suffering, ignoring the fact that the 5 kindness of God is drawing you to repentance ? But, obdurate as you are and impenitent in heart, you are storing up for yourself wrath on the Day of Wrath—the Day when the 6 righteousness of God’s judgment will be revealed. He ‘ will 7render to each according to his works’: to those who by the path of persistence in good work are seeking glory and honour 8 and incorruption, life eternal ; while to those who are factious and disobedient to the truth but obedient to unrighteousness, g the award will be wrath and fury. Distress and anguish will light upon every human being who works out evil, both the το Jew, in the first instance, and the Greek. But glory and honour and peace are the portion of every one who works 11 good, both the Jew, in the first instance, and the Greek. For there is no respect of persons with God. The other truth is the universality of moral obligation. Neither Jews nor Gentiles were exempt. For both alike sin involved condemnation—for the Gentiles who have no Law, since they have the revelation in Nature and Conscience; and for the Jews who have the Law, since it is not the know- ledge of the Law that avails but its observance. 12 All who have sinned without the Law, without the Law will also perish ; and all who have sinned within the Law, in terms 2 An epigram disposing of the Jewish claim to special privilege. Οἱ φτροσωπολημψία cf. p. 199. THE THIRD MISSION 389 13 of the Law will be judged. For it is not the hearers of the Law that are righteous with God; no, it is the doers of the Law 14 that will be accounted righteous (For, when Gentiles who have no Law, do by natural instinct the Law’s requirements, these men, though they have no Law, are a Law to themselves, 15Since they display the Law’s work written on their hearts, their conscience bearing witness with it and their reasonings 16debating in condemnation or defence.)! on the Day when God judges the secrets of men according to my Gospel through Christ Jesus. Here is the principle which condemned the Jews and justified The vain the Apostle’s indictment of them as no less guilty than the tetgv. Gentiles. Their very name was a proud distinction, since in the Hebrew Jew means ‘ praised’; and they boasted of Cf. Gen. their high privileges, oblivious that these were their heavy xj," 60 condemnation. Here he has the Rabbis particularly in view—those Scribes and Pharisees whom the Lord had so Mt. xxiii, terribly impeached. They were the custodians and inter- preters of the Sacred Law, ‘ the Teachers of Israel’ ; and the Jo. iii. το. Apostle’s allegation, like the Lord’s, is that their conduct was a flagrant violation of their teaching and a stark in- validation of their pretensions. The Law forbade theft, and cf. Mt. the Rabbis practised it in the most heartless fashion by their 3¢"" “” cruel impositions and greedy exactions in the name of religion. The Law forbade adultery, and they were grossly inconti- nent.2, They abhorred idols, yet, says the Apostle, they had no scruple in enriching themselves by the plunder of heathen temples. And the charge is amply authenticated. It is recorded 3 that in the year 19 A.D. a Jew, who had committed 1 Another marginale (cf. p. 245). The Apostle is here enforcing the universality of moral obligation, and in order to beat down the Jewish pretension to special privilege he has affirmed that the obligation rests no less on the ἔννομοι than on the ἄνομοι. On reading over the manuscript he perceives the probability of the objection being raised that, while it is just that the Jews who sinned in spite of the restraint of the Law should be punished, it were unjust that the Gentiles, lacking that advantage, should be held guilty. And so he adds this marginal comment, recalling his previous statement (cf. i. 19, 20) that, though they have no special revelation, the Gentiles have the revelation in Nature and Conscience and are therefore inexcusable. Observe the graphic metaphor: a law-court with legal code, witness, prosecutor, advocate, judge. The Unwritten Law (γραπτὸν ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις αὐτῶν) is the statute, Conscience the witness, their reasonings prosecutor and advocate, God the Judge. 3 Cf. The Days of His Flesh, p. 414. 5 Jos. Ant. XVIII. iii. 5. Cf. Ac. xix. 37.° 390 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL some illegality in his own country and escaped to Rome, set up there as a Rabbi, and gained such influence over a wealthy proselyte, a Roman lady named Fulvia, that she entrusted him and three accomplices with the conveyance of a costly offering of purple and gold to the Temple at Jerusalem, and they appropriated it to their own use. The rascality which plundered the Lord’s treasury, would not spare heathen shrines; and the Jews of the Dispersion were notoriously addicted to temple-robbery, insomuch that a notion prevailed in the Gentile world that the name of their capital was originally Hzerosyla, ‘the Temple-robber,’ and they had subsequently altered it to Huterosolyma.1 Such was the odium which they thus incurred that a Jewish Law was enacted for the repression of the scandal. ‘ Let no one,’ it ran,? ‘ blaspheme the gods which other cities recognise. No one must plunder alien temples or reset a treasure dedicated to any god.’ 17 But if you bear the grand name of ἡ Jew,’ and pillow your 18 head on the Law,? and boast in God, and read His will, and το are an adept in casuistry,4 having the Law by heart,° and are confident that you are yourself ‘a guide of the blind,’ ‘ a light 20to those in darkness,’ ‘an instructor of the senseless,’ ‘a teacher of babes,’ possessing the embodiment of knowledge 21 and truth in the Law ; *—you, then, that teach your neighbour, do you not teach yourself? You that preach against stealing, 22do you steal? You that talk about not committing adultery, do you commit it? You that abhor idols, do you pillage 1 Jos. Contra Apion. 1. 34. 3 Jos. Ant. IV. viii. 10. * Alexander the Great so admired Homer that he slept with the volume under his pillow. Cf. Plut. Alex. 8. Eustath. Prefat. Iliad. i. 20: τὴν ‘Opnpixhy βίβλον ἀπαγόμενος καὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν, dre ὑπνοῦν δέοι, ἐπαναπαύων αὐτῇ. 4 δοκιμάζεις τὰ διαφέροντα. δοκιμάζειν, either ‘test’ or ‘approve’ after testing (cf. note on 1 Th. v. 21, p. 165). διαφέρειν, either ‘differ’ or ‘be better than.’ Hence δοκιμάζειν τὰ διαφέροντα, either ‘test the things that differ’ or ‘approve the things that are excellent.” The former is preferable, the reference being to the Rabbical Jenchané for casuistical refinements, nice distinctions. Cf. The Days of fits Flesh, pp. 132, 299, 413. δ κατηχούμενος ἐκ τοῦ νόμου, ‘ being catechised out of the Law.’ ral instruction was the method in the Jewish schools, and a Jew had the Law committed to memory in childhood. Cf. p. 23. The Days of His Flesh, p. xvii. 5 μόρφωσις, either ‘shaping,’ or ‘the thing shaped,’ ‘embodiment.’ Suid. : μόρφωσιν" σχηματισμόν, εἰκόνα. Here ‘embodiment.’ What a statue is to the sculptor’s conception, that the Law is to knowledge and truth. THE THIRD MISSION 391 a3temples? You who boast in the Law, do you by the trans- Is. lii. 5; 24 gression of the Law dishonour God? For ‘the name of God E* *xx¥i. ξ % ‘i β 20; 2Sam. is on your account being calumniated among the Gentiles,’ as xii, τα; it is written. Neh. ν, 9. And no less futile was the Jewish confidence in the rite The vain of Circumcision. It was the seal of the Covenant between Post of God and Abraham and his seed after him throughout their Gsm. generations, the symbol of Israel’s separation from defilement, xvii. 7-13. her consecration, her fellowship with God.! In course of time, however, the Jews had fallen into the crass error of confounding the symbol and the reality. They ascribed a magical efficacy to the mere rite and conceived it as con- stituting them heirs of the Promise and differentiating them from the Gentiles whom they stigmatised as ‘ uncircumcised dogs.’ And thus, instead of keeping ever before them the necessity of purity of heart and life, it rendered them heed- less of ethical distinctions and inspired them with a spirit of national pride and religious bigotry. To this fatal mis- conception the Apostle opposes a twofold principle: since the value of Circumcision lies not in the mere rite but in its spiritual significance, it follows that, though the rite be ob- served, thereisno true Circumcision where the spiritual reality is lacking, and, conversely, wherever there is the spiritual reality, there also is Circumcision, though the rite be lacking. A circumcised transgressor of the Law has no title to ‘ the grand name of Jew’; and an uncircumcised Gentile who keeps the Law is a son of Abraham and an heir of the Promise. 25 For circumcision profits if you practise the Law ; but if you be a transgressor of the Law, your circumcision has turned 26out uncircumcision. If, then, one who is circumcised keep the righteous requirements of the Law, will not his uncircum- 27 cision be reckoned as circumcision ? And the man who from natural circumstances is uncircumcised, will in performing the Law judge you who, in possession of a written code and of 28 circumcision, are a transgressor of the Law. For it is not the visible Jew that is really a Jew, nor is it the visible circum- 1 Circumcision was older than the time of Abraham, and it was practised in after days not by the Jews alone but by the Edomites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Phcenicians, and the Egyptians (cf. Jer. ix. 25, 26). It was a Semitic usage, and its distinction in Israel was the significance attached to it. Cf. Hardwick, Christ and Other Masters, pp. 490 ff. Jewish objections : τ. What of Israel’s pre-emin- δι ΟΡ δ 2. What of God's faithful- ness? 392° LIFE AND LETIERS GRIST ΒΑ 29 cision in the flesh that is really circumcision. No, it is the secret Jew that is really a Jew; and his circumcision is circum- cision of heart, in spirit, not in a written code. And his ‘praise ’ is not from men but from God. The Apostle has now established his thesis. He has demonstrated the failure of mankind, the Jews no less than the Gentiles, to attain righteousness ; and it remains that he should press home the inevitable conclusion and exhibit God’s remedy for the universal malady—Justification by Faith. But here he pauses and, to ‘make assurance double sure ’ and close every loophole of escape, he reviews a series of objections which a Jew might urge. They are the diffi- culties which had engaged his own mind at the crisis of his religious experience; and he presents them in a sort of musing soliloquy. Meanwhile he merely states them summarily and dismisses them abruptly, reserving their discussion. And he resumes them in the subsequent course of his argument. First, on the principle of Justification by Faith in Christ apart from the Works of the Law, what becomes of Israel’s historic pre-eminence ? If her distinctive rite of Circum- cision was worthless, she was reduced to the common level of the nations of mankind. The answer is that Israel’s supreme distinction was that she had been the repository of revelation ; and that was an imperishable glory. iii: ‘What becomes, then, of the pre-eminence of the Jew, or 2of the profit of the Circumcision?’ It is a great thing from every point of view. Primarily because they were entrusted with the Oracles of God. Again, what of the faithfulness of God? He was pledged to Israel by an inviolable covenant; and whatever her unfaithfulness, He would stand true. Of course a covenant is a mutual agreement and it is cancelled by the disloyalty of either party ; but the Apostle does not stay to expose the fallacy. He simply repudiates the vain argument. 3 ‘Very well; if some proved unfaithful, will their unfaithful- 4ness invalidate the faithfulness of God?’ Away with the 1 λόγιον in classical literature ‘an oracle’; so generally ‘a divine utterance.’ Cf. Philo’s περὶ τῶν δέκα λογίων, the Ten Commandments (cf. Ac. vii. 38). Here, the O. T. Scriptures. THE’ THIRD 'MiSstONn 393 idea! No, let God prove true and ‘ every man a liar a as it Ps. exvi. is written, ‘that Thou mightest be found righteous in Thy 52 causes and prevail when Thou pleadest.’ 1 Further, according to the teaching of the Gospel, our 3. What unrighteousness serves to illustrate God’s righteousness, ti:te to which shows all the clearer against the dark ‘background ; condemn? and this suggests the question whether He can fairly visit us with His displeasure. The Apostle dismisses the sugges- tion as preposterous. It is a denial of the moral government of the world. 5 ‘ But if our unrighteousness commends God’s righteousness, what are we to say? Is God unrighteous who inflicts wrath ? 6It is mere human language that I am using.’ Away with the idea! In that case how will God judge the world ? And here emerges also a moral problem: If sin redounds 4. What " ἶ Shee f ἢ to the glory of God, there is no harm in sinning. Rather ομπκαιίοη» should we sin the more that God may be the more glorified. This is the odious charge of antinomianism which the Judaists urged against the Gospel and which the Apostle presently cr. vi, vii. handles at length. Meanwhile he dismisses his traducers with indignant contempt: ‘ Their doom is righteous.’ 7 ‘But if my lie advanced God’s glory by magnifying His 8truth, why am J still judged as a sinner? And why not ’—as we are calumniously represented and some allege that we say— ““let us do evil that good may come’’?’ Their doom is righteous. He has thus swept away every subterfuge. His opponents Jews and have shot their last bolt but, reluctant to acknowledge Ee defeat, they petulantly exclaim: ‘So it comes to this, that ferred : y Scrip we -Jews are actually worse than the Gentiles!’ ‘ Not at ture. 411, he answers. ‘ That is not my contention. My charge is not that the Jews are worse than the Gentiles, but that 1 ἐν τοῖς λόγοις gov, ‘in Thy causes’ (cf. Ac. xix. 38). κρίνεσθαι, mid., ‘plead,’ ‘go to law’ (cf. 1 Cor. vi. 6), not pass., ‘be judged.” The LXX rendering, which the Apostle follows, is a mistranslation. The Hebr. means: ‘that Thou mightest be justified when Thou speakest, and be clear when Thou judgest,’ where the Psalmist (not God) is on trial and confesses the justice of God’s sentence. The Apostle’s use of the O. T. is literary rather than dogmatic, and the LXX rendering here illustrates his argument. Ps, xiv. I- Ps. v. Ὁ, Ps; ὌΧΙ. 3: Ps: 17. {εἴτ 7, 8. Ps, xxxvi. Ps, exhiii. 2. 304 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL they are both in the same case: both alike have failed to attain righteousness and stand condemned before God.’ And he appeals to the Scripture, that tribunal which was authoritative and final in Jewish eyes. It pronounced a verdict of universal guilt, bringing not the Gentiles alone but the whole world under condemnation. 9 ‘What, then? Are we worse than they?’! Not at all; we have already laid it to the charge of both Jews and Greeks το that they are all under sin. And so it is written: ‘ There is none righteous, not even one ; II There is none that understands, there is none that seeks after God ; 12 They have all turned aside, they have all with one accord become unprofitable ; There is none that does kindness, there is not so much as one. 13 A sepulchre wide open is their throat ; With their tongues they have spoken guile. The poison of adders is under their lips. 14 Whose mouth of cursing and bitterness is full, 15 Swift are their feet to shed blood ; 16 Destruction and wretchedness are in their ways, 17 And the way of peace have they not recognised. 18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.’ 3 19 Now we know that every word of the Law is spoken 8 to those who are within the Law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world be brought under the condemnation 200f God; because on the score of works of law ‘ shall no flesh 1 So R.V. (‘are we in worse case than they?’), taking προεχόμεθα as pass. : ‘are we excelled’ or ‘surpassed’ (by the Gentiles)? A petulant question of the bathed Jews. Otherwise: (1) προεχόμεθα in act. sense: ‘are we better than they?’ So A.V. after Vulg. precellimus eos? That is, ‘have we Jews any superiority over the Gentiles?’ And then the Apostle’s answer is: ‘None what- soever ; for we have just found Jews and Gentiles equally guilty.’ It is a fatal objection to this construction that it would require προέχομεν. The mid. προέχεσθαι never occurs in the sense of ‘excel.’ (2) προέχεσθαι in mid. sense: “do we excuse ourselves?’ (R.V. marg.), ‘have we any plea to urge, any excuse to offer, any defence to make?’ προέχεσθαι is frequent in the sense of ‘hold out a πρόσχημα, z.e., a defence or excuse; but this is here inadmissible, since the verb in this sense is always followed by an accus. denoting the pretext offered. 3 This array of O. T. proof-texts was probably derived from a primitive collection of ‘testimonies’ (cf. p. 229). The entire passage (vers. 10-18) stands in LXX Version of Ps. xiv, having doubtless been interpolated from the Epistle by a Christian copyist. * λέγειν refers to the meaning, λαλεῖν to the language. Cf. Mt. xxvi. 73; Jo. iv. 41, 42, vill. 43. Δ Ὁ THE THIRD MISSION 305 be accounted righteous in His sight.’ For through law is full recognition of sin.4 3. God’s Way to attain Righteousness (iii. 21-31) The Apostle’s argument has now reached its goal. He has Justifica. demonstrated the failure of the Gentiles to attain righteous- #07,” ness and the no less disastrous failure of the Jews despite their privileges ; and so he proceeds to the inevitable con- clusion. Other methods have failed, and we are shut up to God’s method—Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This he cg. i. τό, has already defined in stating the thesis of his argument ; *”: and here he presents a more precise definition as a basis for subsequent discussion. First, it is no novel device. It is attested by the Old Testament Scriptures ; and even as the Incarnation was a ‘ manifestation’ of the Eternal Saviour, cr co), 1. so the Gospel is the ‘ manifestation’ of an eternal grace. 36) 119. Further, it is the satisfaction of a universal need. Jews and Gentiles alike are under condemnation, and justification is a free gift of God. It is offered in Christ, and it is appropriated by faith. And, finally, it offers a righteous remission, at once meeting the requirements of the moral order and satis- fying the moral instincts of the soul. And the reason is that it rests on ‘redemption.’ Sin has been expiated by the vicarious love of God in Christ. Christ is the Mercy-seat, the meeting-place between God and sinners ; and the Mercy- seat is sprinkled with sacrificial blood. 21 . But, as the case stands, apart from the Law a righteousness of God has been manifested, being attested by the Law and z2the Prophets; a righteousness of God, however,? through faith in Jesus Christ reaching all who have faith. There is 23no distinction ; for all have sinned and lack the glory of God.* 24 They are freely accounted righteous by His grace through the 25 redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth 1 This principle is elaborated in vii. 7-25. * Not righteousness simply, but a righteousness of ἃ particular sort. Cf. ix. 30. 8 ἥμαρτον, aor. defining the past as one great aggregate of transgressions. ὑστεροῦνται, mid., ‘feel their want of’ (cf. Lk. xv. 14). Sin is not merely a past fact but a present and conscious misery. ‘The glory of God’ is His irradiating and gladdening presence, and sinners feel sorrowfully their lack of it. 3906 “LIFE AND LETTERS; OF 38 PAUL as a Mercy-seat } through faith, besprinkled with His blood, for a demonstration of His righteousness on the score of the pretermission of sins previously committed during the for- 26 bearance of God *—to demonstrate, I repeat, His righteousness at the present hour, that He may be Himself righteous while accounting the man righteous who holds by faith in Jesus. Cf. ii. 17, 27 Where, then, is the boasting? It is excluded. Through 23. what manner of law? That of works? No, but through 28 faith’s law. For we reckon that a man is accounted righteous 29 by faith apart from works of law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles 30 also, seeing that God is one, and He will account the circum- cised righteous on the score of faith and the uncircumcised through their faith.’ 3: Are we, then, invalidating the Law through faith? Away with the idea! No, we are establishing the Law. 4. Consonance of Justification by Faith with Scripture (iv) Scriptural The Apostle has concluded his definition of the doctrine evidence ae the of Justification by Faith in Christ with an emphatic contra- Apostle’s diction of the Jewish objection that it invalidated the Law. doctrine, This was prima facie a reasonable objection; and he proceeds to consider it and prove that his doctrine was consonant with the Law. ‘The Law’ had a double signification. In its narrower use it denoted the Mosaic code of ceremonial pre- scriptions, and this had indeed been abrogated by the Gospel. It was merely a preparatory discipline, and it had served its function. In its larger use, however, the term signified the Scriptures of the Old Testament—the Prophets and the 1 ἱλαστήριον. Cf. The Atonement in the Light of History and the Modern Spirit, pp. 160 ff. 2 Until Christ came and made atonement for the sin of the world, there was no ἄφεσις, ‘remission,’ ‘letting go’; only πάρεσις, “ preetermission,’ z.¢., ‘letting go in the meantime’ in view of a future settlement. The disposition which prompted the πάρεσις was «vox, ‘forbearance.’ Cf. Ac. xvii. 30. 2. ἐκ and διά are here practically interchangeable, yet there is a subtle dis- tinction. ἐκ denotes the sezrce, διά the zustrament. The Jews derived justification from works, and the Apostle derived it from faith. The Law, again, is the instrument of salvation ; and since the Gentiles had no Law, it might seem that they had no instrument. But, says the Apostle, the true instrument of salvation is faith. The Jews regarded the Law as the source of salvation, and he tells them that faith is the source; the Gentiles might regard the Law as the means of salvation, and he tells them that faith is the means and they do not need the Law. THE THIRD MISSION 397 Hagiographa as well as the Law of Moses ;1 and with these, the Apostle will now demonstrate, the doctrine of Justifica- tion by Faith is in profound agreement. He appeals to the history of Abraham, the father of Israel ; The 5 . ; 3 case of and there are three links in the chain of his argument. pat alae Abraham was justified not by works but by faith. He (1)Justifiea did not earn righteousness ; he received it. It was a free oP but gift of grace. Nor was his experience singular. It was the Ὁ. faith. experience of the Psalmist long afterwards. Justification by Faith is thus the doctrine of the Scriptures. They recog- nise no other way. iv. 1 What, then, shall we say of Abraham, the forefather of 2our race? If Abraham was accounted righteous on the score of works, he has something to boast of. But he has 3 nothing to boast of in relation to God. For what says the Scripture? ‘And Abraham had faith in God, and it was Gen. xv. 6, 4reckoned to him as righteousness.’ Now to one who works the wage is not reckoned in terms of grace but in terms 501 debt ; whereas to one who does not work but reposes faith on Him who accounts the impious righteous, his faith 6is reckoned as righteousness. Thus David also speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God reckons righteous- ness apart from works : 7 ‘Blessed are they whose lawlessnesses have been remitted Ps, xxxii. and whose sins have been covered ; I, 2. 8 Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never reckon.’ Circumcision was not the ground but the seal of Abraham’s (2) Cir- justification. The Jewish doctrine was that, unless a man was ὉΠ the ᾿ circumcised, he could not be saved. He was outside the nn Covenant. Look, says the Apostle, at Abraham. He was tion. accounted righteous on the ground of his faith, and then he τ “So received the rite of Circumcision. It was not the ground of his justification but merely its seal. The order was Faith, Justification, Circumcision; and the Jewish error lay in omitting Faith and putting Circumcision before Justification as its antecedent and necessary condition. 1 Cf. iii. 19 (referring to the foregoing quotations from Psalter and Isaiah) ; 1 Cor, xiv. 21; Jo. x. 34, ? Most authorities insert εὑρηκέναι either (RACDEFG) after ἐροῦμεν (‘ what shall we say that Abraham, our forefather after the flesh, has found?’), or (KLP) after τὸν προπάτορα ἡμῶν (‘that Abraham, our forefather, has found after the flesh?’), It is omitted by B 27 Chrys., and is probably a grammatical gloss. 308 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 37> 24UL 9 Is this blessedness, then, the portion of the circumcised or of the uncircumcised also? Wesay: ‘ His faith was reckoned roto Abraham as righteousness.’ How, then, was it reckoned ? When he was circumcised or while he was still uncircumcised ? Not when he was circumcised but while he was still uncircum- Gen, xvii, τι cised. And he received ‘ the sign ’ of Circumcision, a seal of ae the righteousness which his faith, while he was still uncir- cumcised, won him; that he might be the father of all who have faith though i in a state of uncircumcision, that righteous- 12 Π655 might be reckoned to them, and a circumcised father for those who do not hold by Circumcision only but also tread ἢ in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham displayed while still uncircumcised. (3) The The Promise did not rest on the Law but on Faith. The ee Apostle has already demonstrated this proposition in his rot: letter to the Galatians by appealing to the historical fact Baath. that the promise to Abraham preceded the delivery of the Gal. iii. 17. Law to Moses at Mount Sinai by fully four centuries. Here, however, his argument is theological. He shows that the idea of Promise is alien from the domain of Law. It belongs to the domain of Grace, and the domains of Law and Grace are incompatible, mutually exclusive. In the former it is merit that counts; and if the inheritance is to be won by merit, then the Promise and the faith which grasps it are eliminated: faith has been made an empty thing and the Promise invalidated. Experience attests this. For there is no merit in sinful man ; the Law merely discovers his sinful- ness and establishes his liability to the wrath of God. It brings not promise but condemnation. Where there is no Law, there is sin indeed, but no transgression, no guilt, and hence no wrath. And the Promise belongs not to the domain of Law but to the domain of Grace. It is received by faith. It was indeed on the ground of his righteousness that Abra- ham received it ; but then it was on the ground of his faith that he was accounted righteous, and it was his faith that . held fast the Promise in face of all that seemed to belie it. 1 The art. (τοῖς) before στοιχοῦσιν is superfluous, making it appear as though two distinct classes were intended—‘ those who hold by faith’ and ‘those who tread in the steps of Abraham’s faith’ ; whereas there is only one class—believing Jews who are circumcised and at the same time share the faith which justified - Abraham while still uncircumcised. THE THIRD MISSION 399 13 It was not the Law that brought the Promise to Abraham or his seed, that he should be heir of the world; no, it was the 14Tighteousness which faith won him. If it be those who hold by Law that are the heirs, faith has been made an empty 15 thing and the Promise invalidated. For the Law works out wrath ; but where there is no Law, neither is there trans- 16 gression. Therefore it is on the score of faith, that it may be in terms of grace, in order that the Promise may be firm for all the seed—not those who hold by the Law only but also those who hold by the faith of Abraham, who is the father 170f us all, as it is written: ‘ The father of many nations have Gen.xvii. s, I made you.’ And they hold by Abraham’s faith in the sight of Him in whom he reposed it, even God who makes the dead live and calls things which have no being as though they cf. 1Cor.i, 18had. On hope where hope there was none, he built his faith, 28. that he might become ' the father of many nations,’ according 19 to the saying : ‘ So shall your seed be.” And without weaken- Gen. xv. 5. ing in his faith he contemplated his own body with its vitality gone, since he was some hundred years old, and the devitalisa- 20 tion of Sarah’s womb; yet in view of the promise of God he never wavered for lack of faith. No, his faith put power into 2thim, and he gave glory to God, satisfied ! that what He has 22 promised He has power also to do. And therefore also ‘ it was reckoned to him as righteousness.’ 23 Nowit was not written for his sake only that ‘ it was reckoned 24 to him,’ but also for the sake of us to whom it shall be reckoned —us who repose faith on Him that raised Jesus our Lord from 25 the dead, who ‘ was delivered up for our trespasses ’ and raised Is. "||, τὰ that we might be accounted righteous. ai 5. A Devotional Interlude (v) The Apostle has now accomplished his main task: he has A pause in established his thesis that Justification is by Faith in Christ ‘¢3"8™ and not by the Works of the Law. Serious problems still remain, but ere addressing himself to these he pauses to commend his doctrine and enforce its blessed consequences. He begins with an exhortation. Our faith in Christ has The privi- won us a new standing in God’s sight : let us realise it and μύριοι eS appropriate its privileges. Ὁ πληροφορηθείς. The verb was used in the Common Greek of satisfying a person by paying him his due. Cf. Oxyrh. Pap. 509, 10 f.: τυγχάνω δὲ πεπληροφορημένος τοῖς ὀφειλομένοις μοι, ‘it happens that I have been satisfied in respect of the sums due to me.’ So "τῷ the idea is that Abraham regarded God’s promise as equal to the fulfilment, 2400 LIFE- AND, LETTERS. OR S32: PAUL (1) Peace The first of these is peace with God—the peace of recon- | wih God. Ciliation. We are done with our guilty past. Christ has dealt with it. His infinite Sacrifice has expiated the sin of the whole world, and forgiveness is ours. The invitation of the Gospel is not ‘ Have faith in Christ, and you will be | forgiven,’ but ‘ You are forgiven : have faith and be at peace.’ ἘΝ oon Nor is it the past alone that Christ has transfigured. He ' has transfigured the future also; and the second privilege of the justified is a glorious hope. Our destiny is Heaven, Cf. iii 27, our heritage the Glory of God ; and though we may not boast abe in the Law, we may well boast in this. (3) Apree And our third privilege is a present comfort. It is ours | ae Bhi merely to boast in the glory which awaits us but to boast in the distresses which now encompass us. And the secret lies in recognising the precious use which life’s sorrow and > suffering are designed to serve, the blessing which, when they are employed aright, they surely bring. Distress is a sacred discipline. It is like the testing of a bar of metal. First, it ‘ works out endurance,’ discovering our weakness and our strength. If we be weak, it breaks us; if we be strong, we stand the strain. And then we are ‘approved.’ And, finally, ‘approbation works out hope.’ It confirms our “hope in the glory of God’; for it is only a present experi- ence of the operation of grace that assures us of its future consummation. What God has already done for us is an earnest of the greater things which He will yet do. v.t Being, then, accounted righteous on the score of faith, let us have! peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have gained the entrée 5 by faith into this grace in which we stand; and let us make the hope 3 of the glory of God the ground of our boasting. And, more than that, let us boast in our distresses; knowing that 1 The overwhelming weight of documentary evidence supports ἔχωμεν. The — variant ἔχομεν is a mere itacism, and even if it were more strongly supported, it should be rejected on internal evidence. Cf. 1 Cor. xv. 49, where the weakly attested φορέσομεν is certainly authentic. ® προσαγωγή (cf. Eph. ii. 18, iii. 12 ; 1 Pet. iii. 18), ‘introduction,’ admission to the king’s audience, presentation at court (cf. Xen. Cyrof. τ. iii. 8; vit. v. 45). Christ is our tpocaywyets. Cf. Heb. vi. 20. * καυχώμεθα may be either indic. or conj. Both here and in next ver. it is best regarded as conj., continuing the exhortation of ἔχωμεν, THE THIRD MISSION 401 4distress works out endurance, and endurance approbation,! sand approbation hope. And the ‘hope does not put to Ps. xxii, 5; shame,’ because the love of God has been poured forth in our cf Ps. hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given us. E eee. Io, II. Perhaps, it may be objected, our hope of the glory of God Their is no better than a mere dream, a fond illusion ; and when Secs the cold reality is discovered it will put us to shame. No, the Apostle answers, it is no empty dream, and its guarantee is not simply the subjective testimony of the Holy Spirit’s revelation of God’s love but the objective testimony of our Lord’s Death. Here is the supreme demonstration of the love of God; and it is an amazing love, transcending the utmost range of human devotion. ‘Greater love,’ says our Jo. xv. 13 Lord, ‘ has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.’ He would never die for an enemy ; he would hardly die for ‘ a righteous man ’—one like the Roman Cato, upright and just yet stern and pitiless; he might die for ‘a good man,’ kindly and generous. This is the farthest reach of human love; but here is the wonder of the love of God— that, when we were not ‘ good,’ when we were not even ‘righteous,’ when we were ‘sinners,’ nay, ‘ enemies,’ Christ died for us. And this is the guarantee that our hope of the glory of God is no fond illusion. A love like that will never failus. It will carry our salvation to its eternal consumma- tion. 6 For if Christ, while we were still weak,? in due season died 7for the impious (Hardly for a righteous man will one die; it is for the good man that perhaps one even has the hardihood et. me.on ΠΗ ἵν. 21,0p. 168: 2 The text is very uncertain. (1) The best supported reading is ἔτι yap Χριστὸς ὄντων ἡμῶν ἀσθενῶν ἔτι. This simplifies the construction of the passage, but the double ἔτι is intolerable. (2) εἴ ye (B, Aug.), ‘seeing that,’ guandoguidem (a questionable rendering), making ver. 6 a continuation of ver. 5. (3) eis τί γάρ (D°FG, Iren., Vulg. wt gud enim), ‘for wherefore?’ (4) εἰ γάρ (Isid. Pel. Ep. il. 117, and a few Latin authorities, sz ezm), making ver. 6 the. protasis, vers. 7, 8 a parenthesis, and ver. 9 the apodosis. This is probably the original reading. Vers. 7, 8 are, as the omission of οὖν in ver. 9 by numerous authorities indicates, a marginale (cf. p. 245 and n. on ii. 14, 15) ; and the various readings are copyists’ devices to smooth the construction after the comment had been intro- duced into the text. Vers. 6, 9 and ver. 10 are thus similarly constructed sentences. 20 The prin- ciple of Reconcilia- tion—Im- putation. 2Cor. Vv. το. 402 LIFE AND: LET SERS OF) S70. PACE 8 to die ; } but God commends His own love toward us inasmuch gas, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.), much more, being accounted righteous now that we are sprinkled with His blood,?.we shall be saved through Him from the ro Wrath. If, being enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall τι be saved in His life—being reconciled and, more than that, boasting in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now obtained the reconciliation. Reconciliation was a master-thought in the Apostle’s theology,? and his contemplation of the privileges which it brings has kindled his heart; and now, ere resuming his argument, he lingers over it and unfolds its significance. First he exhibits the principle which underlies it. It is the principle which theologians have denominated Imputation and which modern science has illumined by its doctrines of Heredity and the Solidarity of the Race.t Humanity is not a congeries of isolated individuals but a vital organism ; and generations and individuals are all interrelated. The principle has a twofold operation. On the one hand, the sin of the fathers is their children’s heritage and the curse of wrong rests upon the innocent. And, on the other hand, the righteousness of the fathers is likewise their children’s heritage, and each noble life blesses the race. Hence not only is the sin of Adam, its first head, imputed to mankind, but so also is the righteousness of Christ, its Second Head; and thus God is ‘in Christ reconciling the world to Himself.’ 1 δίκαιος, ‘righteous,’ observing the letter of the law, doing strict justice—a character of rigid rectitude not without severity. ἀγαθός, ‘good,’ ‘kindly,’ an epithet of Barnabas (Ac. xi. 24). The idea appears in Marcion’s distinction between the jzstus Deus of the Old Testament and the donus Deus of the New. Cf. Sayings of the Fathers, v. 16 (Taylor, p. 89): ‘There are four characters in men. He that saith ‘‘ Mine is mine, and thine is thine” is an indifferent character : he that saith ‘‘ Mine is thine, and thine is mine” is a worldling [practising ‘give — and take’]: ‘‘ Mine and thine are thine,” pious: ‘‘ Thine and mine are mine,” | wicked.’ Cf. Plut. Cat. Maj. ν : καίτοι τὴν χρηστότητα τῆς δικαιοσύνης πλατύτερον τόπον ὁρῶμεν ἐπιλαμβάνουσαν, ‘goodness moves in a larger sphere than justice.’ * Cf. iii. 25. The worshippers as well as the Mercy-seat were sprinkled with sacrificial blood (cf. Ex. xxiv. 8; Heb. ix. 19). * Cf. Zhe Atonement in the Light of History and the Modern Spirit, pp. 111 f. * Jbid., pp. 182 ff. THE THIRD MISSION 403 The Apostle does not merely affirm the principle of Im- The impu. putation: he demonstrates it. And his argument is that eee death is the penalty of sin, and since death is universal, it Proved by follows that sin is universal also. But ‘ where there is no sality of Law, neither is there transgression.’ There may indeed be oops 15. sin where there is no Law, but there is no guilt, since ‘ sin is not taken into the reckoning when there is no Law.’ Now it was ages after the Fall that the Law was delivered at Sinai. Throughout the long interval between Adam and Moses there was no Law and therefore there should have been no death. But in fact death reigned even then. Sin was taken into the reckoning, and was visited with the penalty of death ; and what wasthereason ? It might be alleged that mankind had never lacked the knowledge of God. Ere the Law was Cf i. 19- given at Sinai, it was written on their hearts ; and thus they 7; coe ‘sinned after the similitude of the transgression of Adam.’ They sinned with open eyes, and merited the penalty of death. This, however, will not suffice, since death was absolutely universal. It was the portion of unconscious infants and those who lacked the light of reason. And thus no other reason remains save that Adam’s sin was imputed to his posterity. Ommnes peccarunt, Adamo peccante. His sin was theirs; and, sharing his sin, they shared also its penalty. 12 Therefore, as through one man sin entered into the world, and through sin death, and thus death spread to all mankind 13inasmuch as all sinned ; !—for prior to the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not taken into the reckoning when there is 14no Law; yet death reigned from Adam on to Moses even over those who did not sin after the similitude of the transgres- sion of Adam, who is the type of the future Saviour. The apparent flaw in this chain of reasoning is the assump- Ἰπιἀκαία. " tion, which the Apostle treats as a self-evident axiom, that ofsin? death is the penalty of sin. That was indeed the Jewish 1 ἐφ᾽ ᾧ, (1) ‘because,’ ‘inasmuch as,’ propterea guod; (2) ‘on condition that,’ “ἃ lege ut. Cf. Moulton and Milligan, Vocad. Vulg., with Fathers, #7 guo, ‘in whom (z.¢., Adam) all sinned.’ This construction is impossible, since (1) the anteced. ἑνὸς ἀνθρώπου is too remote, and (2) it would require ἐν ¢. Neverthe- less it truly defines the Apostle’s thought: ‘all sinned,’ not actually but in Adam, as he proceeds to explain. Cf. Gen. ii, 17. Jo. xii. 24. The Apostle’s use of the term ‘death.’ t Cor. xv. 22. yon “LIFE AND ΤΕ ΓΕ ΒΘ fot. Pawe doctrine. ‘There is no death,’ taught the Rabbis, ‘ without sin, and no chastisement without iniquity ’;! and the idea established itself in Christian theology. It was accounted a heresy by St. Augustine and St. Jerome when Pelagius denied it and maintained that Adam was created mortal and would have died though he had never sinned. Never- theless it is an untenable notion. Death is no curse entailed by sin. Itis, as the Stoic philosophers recognised,? an ordin- ance of Nature; and, says our English essayist,® ‘ all that Nature has prescribed must be good ; and as Death is natural to us, it is absurdity to fear it.’ It is a natural law, and its operation is universal. The leaves and flowers, the birds and beasts, no less than sinful man, obey it. And it is a bene- ficent ordinance. ‘ Death,’ says St. Bernard, ‘is the door of life.’ It is not destruction but transition into a larger, richer, and nobler condition. ‘All that lives must die, Passing through nature to eternity ’“— a truth which our Lord proclaimed when He said: ‘ Unless the grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it remains itself alone.’ Yet the Apostle affirms that death is the con- sequence and penalty of sin: ‘ through one man sin entered into the world, and through sin death.’ It may seem at the first glance as though, like St. Augustine and St. Jerome, he were here following in the footsteps of the Rabbis and repeating the doctrine which he had learned in the school of Gamaliel ; but this were a hasty conclusion, and on closer scrutiny the profound truth of his argument is recognised. His affirmation is that ‘ through one man sin entered into the world, and through sin death,’ and ‘ just asin Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made live’; and the essential question is what the term ‘ death’ here signifies. If it be merely the dissolution of the body, then the Apostle’s argu- ment breaks down. For Christ does not exempt His people from death in that sense of the term. All still die, believers i Cf. Wetstein on Rom. v. 12. 5 Cf. Sen. Nat. Quest. νι. 32: * Mors nature lex est, mors tributum officiumque mortalium, malorum omnium remedium est,’ ὃ Addison, Spect. 152. THE THIRD MISSION 405 and unbelievers alike. It is incredible that this flaw in his reasoning, at once so fatal and so obvious, should have eluded his acute observation. He must have attached another significance to the term; and that he actually did appears from the fact that in the course of his magnificent argument on the Resurrection of the Body he expressly affirms the necessity of the dissolution of the physical organism in order to the fuller life which is the goal of re- demption. ‘ What you sow,’ he says, ‘is not made live Cf. x Cor. unless it die.’ The ‘ animal body’ must die that it may be *” 3°** raised ‘a spiritual body.’ Hence it is evident that, when he affirms that ‘ through Not physi- sin death entered into the world,’ it is not the mere dissolu- πεῖς ores tion of the physical organism that he has in view. This is ‘stressing a necessary, and not merely a necessary but a beneficent tants. process ; and by ‘ death’ he means not the process but its distressing concomitants. And these have resulted from sin ; they are the curse which it has entailed. ‘ This death,’ says William Ames, that profound and saintly theologian of Puritan England,! ‘the punishment inflicted on man_ for Gen. ii. 17; sin, is the miserable privation of life. It is not privation of “°""'* life simple and bare but conjoined with subjection to misery ; and therefore it is not the annihilation of the sinner, because, were the subject of the misery done away, the misery itseli would be done away.’ Hence the Apostle’s affirmation that ‘through sin death entered into the world’ does not mean that, if man had never sinned, he would have continued for ever on the earth—an event neither possible nor desirable, since space would quickly have failed on this little planet for the accumulating generations, nor is this man’s perfect condition but merely a stage in the progress toward his goal. It means rather that, had man never sinned, his dissolution would have been, according to the Creator’s design, a natural and easy transition, without grief or apprehension, from the lower condition to the higher, like the passage from childhood to manhood or the bursting of the bud into the flower. That this is indeed the Christian conception is attested Death by the teaching of our Lord. He never spoke of His people's aa ῊΝ 2 Theol. Med. τ. xii. 28, 29, 32. 406 LIFE AND: LETTERS: OF SY FAVE ‘death.’ For them there is no ‘ miserable privation of life.’ He has ‘ undone’ this: yet the natural process of dissolution remains, and they must sustain it in order that they may attain the full and perfect life. And this transition He always designated ‘ falling asleep.’ } Thus, in Christian phraseology, ‘death’ never signifies the mere dissolution of the physical organism, but the gloom and terror wherewith sin has invested that natural, necessary, and truly beneficent process. It is in this sense that the Apostle employs the term when he affirms that ‘ through sin death entered into the world’ ; and when he says that ‘ our Saviour Christ Jesus has undone death,’ he means that the natural process has, in the believer’s thought, been divested of its alien associations and reconstituted what it was in the Creator’s purpose—the perfecting and consummation of life. The process remains, but the terror is gone. In truth our Lord’s dealing with death is but an instance of His redemptive ministry, His undoing of the work of sin. Sin creates nothing; it only mars God’s creation. Thus, the Scriptures represent work no less than death as a curse which sin has entailed on the race. And Christ removes the curse, not by absolving us from work, but by restoring its primal and proper idea. ‘After Adam work was curse: The natural creature labours, sweats, and frets. But, after Christ, work turns to privilege ; And henceforth one with our humanity, The Six-day Worker, working still in us, Has called us freely to work on with Him In high companionship.’ ? And it is precisely thus that He has removed the curse of dissolution also—not by cancelling the necessity but by . revealing its true significance, its proper glory. He has ‘ given believers a new idea of it, and thus He has robbed it ' of its sting. Here, then, is the principle of redemption: ‘as through one man sin entered into the world, and through sin death, eae y so through one man righteousness entered into the world, CE. Ὁ. 163. 9 E. Β. Browning, Aurora Leigh, viii. THE THIRD MISSION 407 and through righteousness life.’ The work of Christ is an undoing of the work of Adam; but, the Apostle proceeds, it is incomparably grander. Grace is matched against the Curse, but it is no equal conflict. Look at the quality of the antagonists : on the one side, the trespass of Adam and, on the other, the grace of God in Christ, so bountiful and overflowing. And look again at the issues: on the one side, humanity doomed for a single trespass and, on the other, humanity acquitted of a multitude of trespasses for the righteousness of one man. And here is the attestation of the doctrine of Justification by Faith. Salvation isa gracious gift, a magnificent bounty o1 God. It is not earned by the works of the Law; it is received by faith in Christ. The Law cannot save. Its function is not justification but con- demnation. ‘ Where there is no Law, neither is there trans- gression’; and the Law’s office was not to heal the malady but to reveal it, to show men their sinfulness and lead them to the Saviour. 15 Yet the trespass and the gift of grace did not correspond. For if by the trespass of the one the race! died, much more the grace of God and the bounteousness ? in grace—the grace of the one 16man, Jesus Christ—overflowed to the race. Neither did the result of the one’s sinning and the bounty correspond. For the doom on the score of one trespass issued in a verdict of guilt ; while the gift of grace on the score of many trespasses 17 issued in a verdict of righteousness.* For if by the trespass of 1 οἱ πολλοί, not ‘many’ (A.V.), but ‘the many,’ z.¢., not merely the majority, but the mass of mankind, the race as distinguished from ὁ εἷς, ‘ By this accurate version some hurtful mistakes about partial redemption and absolute reprobation had been happily prevented. Our English readers had then seen what several of the Fathers saw and testified, that of πολλοί the many, in an antithesis to che one, are equivalent to πάντες a// in ver. 12 and comprehend the whole multitude, the entire species of mankind, exclusive only of the one’ (Bentley, Works, 111. Ρ. 244). 3 δωρεά, in the Papyri the Emperor’s /avgesse to his soldiers (cf. Moulton and Milligan, Vocab.) ; in N. T. God’s regal munificence, the bounteousness of His grace (cf. Ac. ii. 38; Heb. vi. 4). δώρημα (ver. 16) is His dounty, His χάρισμα. 3 δικαίωμα, (1) ‘a righteous ordinance’ (cf. i. 32, ii. 26, vili. 4; Lk. i. 6) (2) ‘a righteous act,’ ‘an achievement of righteousness’ (cf. Rev. xv. 4, xix. 8); (3) ‘a verdict of acquittal,’ δικαίωσις (ver. 18; cf. iv. 25) being the pronouncing of the verdict. Here ‘a verdict of acquittal,’ since els δικαίωμα stands in antithesis to els κατάκριμα (‘a verdict of guilt’). In ver. 18, where the antithesis is δι’ évos παραπτώματος, δι᾽ ἑνὸς δικαιώματος, the meaning fs ‘an achievement of righteousness.’ Problems presented by the doctrine of Justifica- tion by Faith : (1) Em- bolden- ment to persist in sin. 468 LIFE AIND LETRERS OF-ST. PAUL the one death reigned through the one, much more will those who receive the flood of grace and of the bounteousness of righteousness, reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ. 18 So then, as one trespass resulted for mankind in a verdict of guilt, so also one achievement of righteousness resulted for mankind in a life-giving pronouncement of them righteous. το for, as through the disobedience of the one man the race was constituted sinful, so also through the obedience of the one 20 the race will be constituted righteous. And as for the Law, it stole in that trespass might multiply ; but where sin multi- 21 plied, grace overflowed the more, that, as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to life eternal through Jesus Christ our Lord. I APOLOGETIC (vi-xi) The Apostle has demonstrated his doctrine of Justification by Faith, but his task is still incomplete. For the doctrine was open to grave perversion and presented a serious stum- bling-block, especially to Jewish minds; and he now proceeds to vindicate it from misconstruction and solve the problems which it involved. 1. The Ethical Problem (vi) First there was an ethical problem, and this was defined by two Jewish objections to the doctrine of Justification by Faith. One was a specious sophistry which would doubtless commend itself all too readily to the laxer sort of believers —that, since salvation is a gift of grace, not won by works but bestowed on faith, it was actually a pious duty to ἡ persist in sin’ that the grace of God might be the more displayed. ‘Are we,’ asks the Apostle, ‘ to “ persist in sin that grace may multiply’ ?’ and he first answers with his indignant repudiation ‘ Away with the idea!’ and then meets the suggestion with a profound argument. 1 Resuming the interrupted protasis of ver. 12, The sentence should have run: ‘As through one man sin entered into the world, and through sin death, so through one man righteousness entered into the world, and through righteousness life.” Wer. 18 is elliptical. Supply from ver. 16 τὸ κρίμα (éyévero), τὸ χάρισμα (ἐγένετο). tHE THIRD MISSION 409 vi.c What, then, shall we say? Are we to ‘persist in sin athat grace may multiply’? Away with the idea! We who died to sin—how shall we any more live in it ? The argument rests upon the mystic union between Christ The and believers, Faith unites us with Him. We are one with s?o'"* Him in His Death, His Burial, His Resurrection, and His Life; tH oO. Ἢ and this mystic experience is symbolised by the Sacrament Christ. of Baptism according to the mode of Immersion.’ Consider, says the Apostle, what your Baptism into Christ signified. Your plunging in His name beneath the water symbolised your burial with Him, and your re-emergence your resurrec- tion with Him. You died with Him, you were buried with Him, you were raised with Him, and henceforth you live with Him. His death was crucifixion, and crucifixion was a servile supplicitum. When you died with Him, you died a slave’s death. You were sin’s slave; and now you are acquitted from its thraldom, since“ the end of life cancels all bands.’ This is the mystic union between Christ and the believer ; AChristian and, as it is stated here in theological terms, it wears an arti- “Po ficial look. What is the vital nexus which unites the be- liever to Christ and welds him to Christ as the graft is welded to the tree? The answer transcends theology. It is furnished by Christian experience, and the Apostle stated it when he wrote to the Corinthians: ‘ The love of Christ 2 Cor. v. has us in its grasp, and this is our judgment: One died on ™ "> behalf of all, consequently all died ; and He died on behalf of all that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who on their behalf died and was raised.’ This is not theology : it is experience ; and it is a blessed reality fer every true believer whom the love of Christ has mastered and inspired with a responsive devotion. The Apostle’s readers knew the glorious mystery. They confessed it in their hymns of praise; and it has been the experience of myriads of souls in succeeding generations. ‘For ah! the Master is so fair, His smile so sweet to banished men, That they who meet it unaware Can never rest on Earth again, 1 Cf. Append. VI, A Stoie thought. 410 - LIFE AND LET EER S OF oi rave ‘ And they who see Him risen afar At God’s right hand to welcome them, Forgetful stand of home and land, Desiring fair Jerusalem.’ } The true life, taught the Stoic philosophy, was ‘life accord- ing to Nature,’ and the secret of attaining it lay in accounting oneself dead to the past. ‘Consider that you have died,’ says Marcus Aurelius,” ‘ and at this point ended your exist- ence ; and henceforth live according to Nature.’ The true life, teaches the Apostle, is ‘lifein Christ’; and his precept is: “Reckon yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.’ You are absolved, he argues, from the bond- age of sin: be its slaves no longer. God is now your King, and it is His battles that you must henceforth fight. It is a debt of honour. You owe it to grace. It were a shame to be irresponsive to the Love of Christ. Sin must not, it will not, be your lord. 3 Are you ignoring the fact that all of us who were baptised 4into Christ Jesus, were baptised into His death? With Him, then, we were buried through our baptism into His death, that, as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also may comport our- sselves in a new order of life. For if we have been vitally welded with Him 3 by the similitude of His death, then so 6shall we be by that also of His resurrection; recognising this—that our old self was crucified with Him, that sin’s thrall* might be invalidated, so that we should no more be yslaves to sin. For one who has died is acquitted from sin.® 8 And ‘if we died with Christ,’ our faith is that ‘ we shall also glive with Him’; since we know that Christ ‘Once raised from the dead, dies no more} Death is His lord no more. Δ The Desire to Depart in Ezekiel and Other Poems by B. M. Β vir. 56. * σύμφυτοι, ‘grown together with Him,’ like a graft with the tree. Cf. Shak. 2 King Henry IV, τι. ii. 67: ‘so much engraffed to Falstaff.’ “ τὸ σῶμα τῆς ἁμαρτίας, not ‘the body of sin,’ ‘the sinful body,’ but ‘the slave of sin.’ σῶμα in the sense of ‘slave’ is frequent in Biblical and Common Greck. Cf. Gen. xxxiv. 29; Rev. xviii. 13. δ δεδικαίωται ἀπὸ τῆς ἁμαρτίας, a legal maxim. In old Scottish phrase a criminal was ‘justified’ when he was hanged: he had ‘tholed assize,’ paid the penalty and satisfied justice; and the law no longer had a hold on him. Cf. Shak. Zem. 111. fi. 140: ‘He that dies pays all debts.’ THE THIRD MISSION 411 10 For the death He died, He died to sin once for all 3 And the life He_lives, He lives to God.’ 1 11So with you also: reckon yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Let not sin, then, reign in your mortal body, that you 13Should obey its lusts. And never present your members to sin as weapons of unrighteousness, No, present yourselves to God as men once dead and now alive, and your members 14aS weapons of righteousness to God. Sin must not be your lord ; 3 for you are not under Law but under Grace. This leads the Apostle to the second perversion of his (2) The doctrine. It was the charge of antinomianism which the S>3"e* Judaists had so often urged, and which derived a show of mianism. reason from the frequent laxity of his Gentile converts. Since, it was alleged, we are justified by Faith, we are done with Law and absolved from moral restraint. Solicitude for good works is mere legalism. The believer is above Law. The spirit is his domain, and the passions of the flesh belong for him to the category of ‘ things indifferent.’ He is at liberty to sin as he pleases. 15 ‘What then? Are we to sin because we are not under Law but under Grace ? ’ The Apostle’s answer is that lawlessness is not liberty ; Lawiess. and the libertines, who fancied that their emancipation from firey but the Law absolved them from moral obligation, simply ex- Sere changed their old bondage for another and a still worse Ἦ bondage. Some master we must always have. Whatever we obey is our master, and the choice lies between three masters—the Law, Sin, and Righteousness. The service of the Law was indeed, as it had proved in the experience of the Jews, an intolerable bondage ; but the service of Sin is far more grievous, and so the Gentiles had found it. It brings shame and issues in death. The service of Righteous- ness is the true emancipation. God’s slaves are the only free 1 Snatches of Christian hymns. Cf. 2 Tim. ii. 11. 2. ἁμαρτία γὰρ ὑμῶν οὐ κυριεύσει, not a promise but an expectation, a confident challenge. Noblesse oblige. Cf. Mt. v. 48: ἔσεσθε οὖν ὑμεῖς τέλειοι, > Cf. p. 161. 413 LIFE AND LETTERS: OFS PAUL men. Take Him, says the Apostle, for your Master, and serve Him henceforth as devotedly as you have served Sin. It is told of an Egyptian monk, named Pambos, that he once visited Alexandria on the invitation of the Bishop Athanasius and, encountering an actress in the city, he burst into tears. His companions inquired what ailed him. ‘Two things,’ he answered: ‘the creature’s perdition, and the thought that my zeal to please God is less than hers to please base men.’? And this is the Apostle’s argument: ‘As you presented your members as slaves to uncleanness and to lawlessness waxing ever worse, so now present your members as slaves to Righteousness issuing in increase of holiness.” God’s is the best, the most profitable service. Sin is a cruel tyrant, and its soldiers’ pay is death—the in- glorious death of ignominious defeat; but God’s kingly largesse, His precious donative, is life eternal—the victor’s unfading crown. 16 Away with the idea! Do you not know that whatever you present yourselves to as slaves to obey it, you are slaves of what you obey, whether sin issuing in death or obedience 17issuing in righteousness? And thanks to God that, though you were once slaves of sin, you have heartily obeyed the 18standard of teaching to which you were given over.’ Set 19 free from Sin, you were enslaved to Righteousness. (I am speaking after the fashion men use in consideration of your human weakness.*) As you presented your members as slaves to uncleanness and to lawlessness waxing ever worse, so now present your members as slaves to Righteousness 1 Socr. Eccl. Hist. 1V. 23. 5 γύπος, either (1) a type or image of something yet future (cf. v. 14) or, more commonly, (2) a pattern or exemplar for imitation or avoidance (cf. 1 Cor. x. 6; Phil. ii. 375. 1 Tho. 75 2° ΤΠ 11... 93. Tit. 17 seb. vi. § 7 Pete eee Here the latter. τύπος διδαχῆς does not mean the distinctively Paul doctrine. It is an anachronism to conceive of distinct types of Christian teaching at that period. In those days when the N. T. was only in the making, there was no regula fidez morumgie, no authoritative rule of Christian faith and conduct; and it appears that, to supply the lack, concise statements, like Luke’s manual (cf. pp. 594 f.), were formulated (cf. 2 Tim. i. 13; 2 Jo. 9; Jud. 3; Polycrates in Eus. Ast. Eccl. v. 24: ὁ κανὼν τῆς πίστεως), less theological than religious and ethical. Eph. iv. 20-24 is evidently a reference to such a ‘rule of faith.’ Cf. Hatch, Jufluence of Gk. Ideas, p. 314; Hort, Rom. and Eph., p. 32. The rule of faith was not ‘delivered to the believers’; they were ‘delivered to it,’ to be shaped by it like metal in a mould. Ὁ An apology for the expression ‘enslavement to righteousness.’ THE THIRD MISSION 413 azoissuing in increase of holiness. For while you were slaves of axSin, you were free as regards Righteousness. What, then, was the fruit that you had in those days? Things of which you are now ashamed ;! for the end of those things is death. 22 But now that you are set free from Sin and enslaved to God, the fruit you have makes for increase of holiness, and the end 23is life eternal. For Sin’s pay is death, but God’s donative is life eternal in Christ Jesus our Lord.’ 2. The Position of the Law (vii, viii) And now the Apostle addresses himself to a problem of Abroga- poignant interest to every Jewish heart—the question of the [02° δε position of the ancient Law in the new order of Grace. According to the doctrine of Justification by Faith the Law was abrogated. The very idea was sacrilege in the eyes of devout Jews, and he seeks to demonstrate its reasonableness and reconcile them to the inevitable dénowement. Following up occasional suggestions which he has already dropped, he defines the proper office of the Law and displays its essential and necessary insufficiency as an instrument of salvation. Its abrogation was inevitable. A law by its very nature Analogy of is necessarily temporary, since it is designed for the regula- ae tion of a particular situation and its obligation ceases when the situation changes. This was plain to the Apostle’s readers, living as they did under the rule of Imperial Rome and enjoying her just and wise administration; and he quotes an apposite instance. The law of marriage imposes on a wife the obligation of fidelity ; but the obligation is not interminable. She is bound to her husband as long as he lives ; but with his death her obligation ceases and she is at liberty to contract another marriage. And here is a parable. The believer was formerly wedded to Sin or the Old Self; and it was a grievous union. It was the Law that made it hard by its stern prohibition of sinful passions. But now 1 Punctuating εἴχετε τότε; Otherwise τότε ἐφ᾽ οἷς viv ἐπαισχύνεσθε; The sentence is then elliptical: ‘What fruit had you then of those things whereof (ἐκείνων ἐφ᾽ οἷς) you are now ashamed? [None]; for the end, etc.’ ? A military metaphor (cf. vers. 13, 14). ὀψώνια, the soldier’s ‘ pay’ (s¢¢fendia), properly the small sum which he received to purchase relish (ὄψον) for eating with his rations (σιτομέτρημα). χάρισμα, the donativum in recognition of good service. “Solent Reges Sarees militibus preter stipendium dare coronas, laureas, honores ἡ (Grot.). Gf. vi. 6. Evidence of the Apostle’s personal experi- ence. 41 LIFE AND LETTERS OPS Page the Old Self has been ‘ crucified with Christ’; it is dead, and the believer is absolved from the galling obligation and. has entered into a new and blessed union. The analogy seems somewhat fanciful, and indeed it is playfully pro- pounded; yet the principle which it illustrates is real and conclusive. Law is provisional and temporary ; and when a new order emerges, the obligations of the old order cease. And so it happened with the Jewish Law. Christ has in- stituted a new order, and in Him we are no longer under Law but under Grace. vii.r Are you ignoring the fact, brothers—I am talking to men who know what law is—that the law lords it over the person 2 during his life-time ? The woman who is under a husband is bound by the law to the living husband; but if the husband die, the law which held her to him is invalidated. 350 then, during the husband’s life, she will be termed an adulteress if she pass to a second husband; but if the husband die, she is free from the law, so that she is not 4an adulteress by passing to a second husband. And so, my brothers, you also were put to death as regards the Law through the body of Christ, that you might pass to a second—Him who was raised from the dead in order that 5 we may bear fruit for God. For, while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions provoked by the.Law were ever being set in operation in our members to bear fruit for death ; 6but, as the case stands, the law which bound us was invalidated by our dying to what held us fast, so that we are slaves in the new order of the Spirit and not the old order of a written code. Here arises an objection—the petulant objection of a Jew who perceives the principle yet is loath to acknowledge it : Is the Law synonymous with Sin? The Apostle repudiates the suggestion, and proceeds to define the difference between the Law and Sin and their mutual relation. His argument is a personal testimony. He narrates his spiritual auto- biography, and shows how, beginning as a Pharisee, he had sought righteousness by the Works of the Law and had been driven by painful experience to the blessed refuge of Faith in Christ.? 1 Cf. pp. 32f. The passage is plainly autobiographical. The Apostle speaks in his own name and not merely as a representative either of the Jews (Euth. Zig.) or of the human race (Theophyl.). It is a personal confession exemplifying the universal experience. THE THIRD MISSION 415 His youth had been serene, unvexed by the consciousness (1) Fis of alienation from God; but one unforgotten day his peace eae had been broken. Lust had mastered him, and immediately the flood-gates were opened. Conscience gripped him. The Law intervened, and its commandment ‘ Thou shalt not lust ’ rang in his ears, and he recognised himself a sinner. It was the Law that brought him the discovery ; and this indeed is the Law’s proper function. ‘ Through law is full recogni- iii. 20; iv tion of sin,’ and ‘ where there is no law, neither is there >’ ‘* transgression’; for ‘ sin is not taken into the reckoning when there is no law.’ Had there been no law, the Apostle’s sin would have been dead ; but conscience quickened it, and he found himself in the Law’s deadly grasp. The Law was not Sin; it was the discoverer of Sin. It was holy, and its prohibition of lust was holy and righteous and good. It had been instituted as a deterrent for the gracious purpose of preventing sin, and had he obeyed it, it would have been his friend ; but when it was violated, it became his remorseless enemy. 7 What, then, shall we say? Is the Law sin? Away with the idea! No, I had never recognised sin save through law. For I had never known lust had not the Law kept saying 8‘ Thou shalt not lust.’ And sin got an outlet! through the commandment to work out in me every sort of lust; for gapart from law sin is dead. I was alive apart from law once ; but when the commandment came, sin sprang into life, while 1oas for me, I died; and the commandment which aimed at trlife—I found it resulted in death. For sin got an outlet through the commandment to ‘deceive’ me and through it Cf. Gen. 12to slay me. And so the Law is holy, and the commandment 3}: 18. 13is holy and righteous and good. Did what is good, then, prove death to me? Away with the idea! No, but sin did, that it might be shown as sin, by working out death for me through what is good, that sin might come out in its tran- scendent sinfulness through the commandment, From that day his career of Pharisaic zeal was a struggle (2) His against sin, a feverish effort to rehabilitate himself. with the °""* Law and avert its condemnation by obedience to its com- mandments. But the struggle always issued in defeat ; his efforts proved always unavailing. Sin was too strong for 1 ἀφορμήν, cf. p. 215. 416 LIFE AND LET EERS OF Si ΤΑ. him. It held him in thraldom, thwarting each resolution and compelling him to do the evil which he hated. In the language of the Latin poet,! ‘if he could, he would have been saner; but a strange force dragged him unwillingly. Lust prompted one thing, reason another. He saw the better things, and approved them; he followed the worse.’ And here he made a second discovery. There was within him a dual personality—a higher self and a lower, his reason and his flesh, and these were in conflict. His reason would fain obey the Law of God, but his flesh obeyed the law of Sin. Here he found a measure of comfort, since his reason was his true self; yet his plight remained pitiful. The struggle seemed hopeless, and he saw no prospect of emancipation. ‘Wretched man that I am!’ was his lament, ‘ who will rescue me from the body laden with this death ? ’ 14 For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am a creature 15 of flesh,” sold into sin’s thraldom. What I am working out I do not recognise ; for it is not what I will that I practise ; no, 16 what I hate, it is this that I do. But, if it be what I will not 17 that I do, I admit the beauty of the Law; and, as the case stands, it is no longer I that am working out the thing but the 18sin which has its dwelling in me. For I know that there dwells in me, that is, in my flesh, no good. It lies within my reach to will what is beautiful, but to work it out does not ; 19 for it is not the good which I will that I do, but the evil which 201 will not, it is this that I practise. But if it be what I will not that I do, it is no longer 1 that am working out the thing ; 21 00, it is the sin which dwells in me. I find therefore the law: when I will to do what is beautiful, it is what is evil 22 that lies within my reach. For my delight is with the Law of 23 God, so far as my inmost self is concerned ; but I perceive a different law in my members warring against the law of my reason and taking me captive under the law of sin, the law 24 Which isin my members. Wretched man that Iam! who will rescue me from the body laden with this death ? 3 ® Ovid, Med. vii. 18-21. ® σάρκινος, ‘carneous,’ “made of flesh’ (cf. p. 249). He was not σαρκικός, ‘carnal,’ else there would have been no spiritual conflict. He was a spiritual being inhabiting flesh. 3 ἐκ τοῦ σώματος τοῦ θανάτου τούτου, the body which is the seat of sin (cf. vi. 6), which in turn works out death (cf. ver. 13). If it were permissible to construe τούτου with σώματος, ‘this body of death,’ z.¢., ‘this dead body’ (Erasm., Calv.), the idea would be that the Apostle regarded himself as a living man bound to a corpse, like the victims of the tyrant Mezentius (cf. Verg. 42”. vitr. 485-8). THE THIRD MISSION 417 Brought thus low he made a final discovery. He found in (3) Peace Christ the rescue of which he had despaired. The conflict '"“'*: continued, but victory was assured. Deliverance was in sight. 25 Thanks to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So, then, I my own self with the reason am a slave to the Law of God but with the flesh a slave to the law of Sin. And now he proceeds to unfold the happy situation. He Contro- pictures a controversy before the Law between himself and ‘ery! Sin. The Law was his friend, and it would fain have ἘΠ ΠΕΣ one nounced a verdict in his favour; but its benevolent intent the Stay was frustrated : ‘it was weak through the flesh.” There was a moral antinomy in his nature. His reason approved the Law of God, but his flesh was enslaved to the law of Sin, and the flesh had proved too strong for the reason. He had obeyed its unholy dictates, and thus there was nothing for it but that the holy Law should pronounce a verdict against him. It would fain have acquitted him, but it could not : “it was weak through the flesh,’ and it had to condemn him. Here redemption interposed. Christ had assumed frail, sin-laden humanity, and He had conquered the allurements of the flesh. He had resisted the law of Sin and obeyed the Law of God. And thus what the Law could not do in our case it was abJe to do in His: it found Him nghteous, and “condemned Sin in the flesh ’—the Sin which had invaded humanity and which the Incarnate Saviour had resisted. viii.x So, as the case stands, there is no condemnation for those 2who are in Christ Jesus; for the law of the Spirit of life freed you in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the Law could not do inasmuch as it was weak through the flesh, God by sending His own Son in the similitude of sinful flesh ! and to deal with sin condemned 4sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us who follow not the ways of the flesh but those of the spirit. 1 Cf. Phil. ii. 7; Heb. ii. 17. Our Lord assumed not ‘sinful flesh’ but a human body like Adam’s at his creation—‘a true body’ yet different from the bodies of the children of men inasmuch as it was untainted by Original Sin, Cf. The Days of His Flesh, Append. I, 2D Abiding antinomy between flesh and spirit. Life in the spirit by union with Christ and surrender to His Spirit. 418° LIFE AND LETTERS Ofss FAG It was thus that the Apostle found by faith in Christ the peace which he had vainly sought by the works of the Law. The antinomy remained, but the condemnation was gone. And this happy issue resulted from his mystic union with Christ. The Son of God had by His Incarnation been identi- fied with humanity, and by conquering its solicitations had mastered the sin inherent in our flesh. He had died and had been raised and glorified ; and the Apostle, united with Him by faith, had died with Him, had been raised with Him, and lived with Him. It was indeed true that his old self, though crucified, still lived, and the conflict between the Law of God and the law of sin still persisted and would persist while he tenanted the sin-laden body; but his union with Christ had effected a momentous and blessed difference. His life in Christ was his true life, and his peace lay in resolutely maintaining it. 5 For those who take the ways of the flesh espouse the cause of the flesh ; while those who take the spirit’s ways espouse 6the spirit’s cause.1 The espousal of the cause of the flesh is death ; while the espousal of the spirit’s cause is life and 7 peace because the espousal of the cause of the flesh is enmity against God, for it is not subjected to the Law of God, indeed 8it cannot be; and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. The Apostle’s argument here is illumined by recollection of his conception of the two hostile domains, the two antagon- istic forces in human nature—the flesh and the spirit.? The flesh is not simply the body—man’s physical nature, that side of his complex being which relates him to the animal creation. It is the body enslaved and corrupted by sin. It is the domain where the law of sin prevails. The spirit, on the other hand, is that side of our nature which is akin to God. It is the domain dominated by the Spirit of God. And thus our destiny depends on our relation to these two domains. The flesh is mortal, and if we live in it and obey 1 φρονεῖν τὰ τῆς σάρκος, ‘take the side of the flesh,’ ‘support its cause.’ Cf. The Days of His Flesh, p. 268. Socr. Eccl. Hist. 1. 24, where τὰ Σαβελλίου φρονεῖν is synonymous with Σαβελλίξειν. It is a political phrase, and the idea is continued by ἔχθρα els Θεόν and Θεῴ ἀρέσαι (vers. 7, 8). ἀρέσκειν occurs in inscriptions commemorating services to the state (cf. Moulton and Milligan, Vocab.). ΟΕ p.:al4. THE THIRD MISSION 419 the law of sin, our destiny is death. If, on the contrary, we live in the spirit and surrender ourselves to the Holy Spirit’s dominion, then our destiny is life. And in this destiny our mortal bodies will participate ; for they will be delivered from the debasing tyranny of sin and share the Resurrection of Christ. The flesh will be redeemed from corruption and raised incorruptible, a body of glory. But you are not in the flesh; no, you are in the spirit, if indeed God’s Spirit is dwelling in you. If one has not Christ’s το Spirit, this man is not His. And if Christ be in you, then, while the body is dead by reason of sin, the spirit is life by 1rreason of righteousness. And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is dwelling in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will make even your mortal bodies live through His Spirit who has His dwelling in you. Hence the secret lies in eschewing the domain of the flesh A debt of and resolutely living in the domain of the spirit; and this ""°"" the Apostle designates ‘a debt ’—a debt of honour, a sacred obligation. He is thinking here of the mystic union between the believer and Christ and is recalling his previous argument: ‘We who died to sin — how shall we any more live in it ? wi. 2, 1. Reckon yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.’ 12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh that we 13 Should live in accordance with the flesh. For if you are living in accordance with the flesh, you will soon die; but if by the spirit you are putting the body’s practices to death, you will live. The antinomy indeed persists and the conflict continues ; A threefold but it is no longer a hopeless conflict, for our union with fimoree Christ and our surrender to the dominion of His Spirit have brought us magnificent reinforcements. And these the Apostle proceeds to display. The first is the restoration of our divine sonship. Son- (τ) The ship is our primal birthright, and even while we are following hl ea the ways of the flesh, we are still God’s sons, though, as our divine | Lord has it, lost sons, sons who have wandered from the Father’s House, forgotten Him, and forfeited their heritage.! 1 Cf. The Atonement in the Light of History and the Modern Spirit, pp. 143 ff. 420° LIFE AND“LETTERS: OF ST? PAUL When we forsake the ways of the flesh and follow the Spirit’s ways, then our faces are turned homeward and we cry ‘Abba, our Father!’ Perhaps there is a reference here to that Jer. iii. 19. prophetic word of the Lord: ‘ How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, the goodliest heritage of the nations? And I said, Ye shall call Me, My Father ; and shall not turn away from following Me.’ When our hearts turn homeward and we yearn for our Father, that is the awakening within us of the spirit of sonship, but we are not yet reinstated in our heritage, ‘not inheritors as yet Of all our own right royal things.’ Sonship is ours in possession, but the heritage is ours only in prospect. It will be ours in possession when we get home, and meanwhile we must travel the painful road in eager expectatian. Christ won His glory by suffering, and we must share His suffering if we would share His glory. 14 For they who are led by God’s Spirit, these are all God’s 15sons. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to be again in fear; no, you received a spirit of restored sonship in which 16we cry ‘Abba, our Father!’! The Spirit Himself testifies 17 With our spirit that we are God’s children. And if we are children, we are also heirs—God’s heirs and Christ’s fellow- heirs, if indeed we are His fellows in suffering that we may be made also His fellows in glory. (2) The And this golden hope is the second reinforcement which elorywhich surrender to the Spirit’s dominion brings. Our present sufferings dwindle into insignificance in view of the glory which awaits us. They are our portion in the universal curse, that tide of woe which streamed from Adam’s sin and has flooded all nature, animate and inanimate, ‘ turning to dross the gold of nature’s dower.’ Our Lord endured it Gal. iii. 13.in His vicarious anguish when He ‘submitted Himself to cursing on our behalf,’ and He is calling us to take up the cross and follow Him, His fellow-workers in the universal redemption. 18 I reckon that the sufferings of the present crisis are not worth mentioning in view of the glory which will soon be 2 Cf. p. 209. THESTHIRD MISSTON 421 rgrevealed as our portion. For the creation, eagerly intent, is aoawaiting the revelation of the sons of God. The creation was subjected to futility,1 not of its own choice but because of 21 him who subjected it ;? yet was there a hope to sustain it, forasmuch as the creation itself also will be freed from en- slavement to corruption and attain the freedom belonging to 22the glory of the children of God.? For we know that all the creation has been groaning and travailing with mankind * 23to this day. And, more than that, ourselves also, though we have the first-fruits of the Spirit '—we ourselves also are inly groaning while we await our restoration to sonship—the 24redemption of our body. It is by the hope that we were saved ; but when a hope is seen, it is not a hope; for a thing 25 which one sees, why is he hoping for it? But if it be for a thing which we do not see that we are hoping, we enduringly await it. And a third reinforcement is the Spirit’s help. We are (3) The not alone on the painful road: ‘ the Spirit lends a helping hand to our weakness.’ It is a homely and kindly word that the Apostle employs here. It occurs in only one other pas- sage in the New Testament—the Evangelist Luke’s story of the supper at Bethany, where it is told how Martha, ΄ dis- tracted about much service,’ appealed to the Master to bid Mary ‘lend her a helping hand.’ It is a long compound—the simple verb, meaning ‘ to lay hold of,’ and two prepositions, one signifying ‘along with’ and the other ‘ over against,’ ‘at the opposite side.’ And thus the idea is that you are 1 Cf. Ps. xxxix. 5: τὰ σύμπαντα ματαιότης, πᾶς ἄνθρωπος ζῶν. * That is, Adam, whose sin cursed not only his posterity but the whole creation, even inanimate nature (cf. Gen. iii. 17), which consequently ‘groans and travails with sinful man’ (cf. ver. 22). So Chrys. Not God (Orig., Ambrstr., and most moderns). It was sin, not God, that inflicted the curse. Adam by his sin subjected the creation to futility; God redeems it by subjecting it to Christ (cf. 1 Cor. xv. 27, 28). ® ἐπ᾽ ἐλπίδι, ‘in reliance on hope,’ with ὑπετάγη. On the view that διὰ τὸν ὑποτάξαντα refers to God, ἐπ᾽ ἐλπίδι may be construed either with ὑπετάγη or with ὑποτάξαντα.. In the latter case it is necessary to read, not διότι, ‘because’ (ND*FG), but ὅτι, ‘that’ (ABCD°EKLP)—‘ with hope that.’ * The present sufferings are ‘the birth-pangs’ of a new creation, a better world (cf. Mt. xxiv. 8=Mk. xiii. 8: ἀρχὴ ὠδίνων») ; and all nature, cursed by man’s sin, shares his anguish. On the view that διὰ τὸν ὑποτάξαντα (ver. 20) refers to God, συν in συνστενάζει and συνωδίνει must be regarded as a mere strengthening of the simple verbs or as introducing the idea of a chorus of groaning in Nature. On this use of the pres. cf. Jo. xiv. 9: τοσοῦτον χρόνον μεθ᾽ ὑμῶν εἰμι; ΟΕ»: 350: Spirit’s help. Lk. x. 40, ἡδὺ LIFE AND LE TREES OF sot tee struggling to lift a burden beyond your strength, and a friend comes to your aid. He lays hold of it, and then betwixt you—you on this side and he on that—it is lifted easily. This is the office of the Holy Spirit. He does not relieve us of our burdens: He ‘lends us a helping hand.’ And the Apostle adduces a particular case—the task of prayer. We are ignorant and bewildered. Our prayers are only con- fused cries, ‘inarticulate groanings’; but the Spirit pours meaning into them; He pleads for us; and, interpreted by Him, our ‘inarticulate groanings’ are prevailing supplica- tions in God’s ear. This is the Spirit’s ‘intercession,’ It Cf. ver. 34. is the complement of the intercession of Christ. The Holy pares Spirit is our Lord’s Successor. In the days of His flesh our 26. Lord was the mind of God and the love of God in contact with human need. When He took His departure, that point of contact was removed; but another was established by the Holy Spirit’s advent. He is now what our Lord was in the days of His flesh—God’s earthly representative, on the one hand advocating God’s cause with men, and on the other conveying their responses to God. His intercession is the pledge of our acceptance. It is the taking up of our prayers by God, their entrance into His very heart. It is God’s espousal of our cause. 26 Likewise the Spirit also lends a helping hand to our weak- ness. For what to pray for as we should we do not know, but the Spirit Himself pleads for us with inarticulate groanings ; } 27 and the Searcher of hearts knows what cause the Spirit espouses, because it is as God would have it ? that He pleads the cause 28 οὗ the saints. And we know that with those who love God He co-operates in everything for good *—with those who are 29 called in accordance with His purpose. For those whom He 1 The groanings are ours, not the Spirit’s. Cf. Aug. Jw Joan. Ev. Tract. vi. 2: ‘In nobis gemit, quia gemere nos facit. Nec parva res est, quod nos docet Spiritus sanctus gemere: insinuat enim nobis quia peregrinamur, et docet nos in patriam suspirare, et ipso desiderio gemimus.’ 3 κατὰ Θεόν, cf. 2 Cor. vii. 9-11. 5. This construction makes the sentence an amplification of κατὰ Θεόν, and it is attested by (1) the addition of ὁ Θεός after συνεργεῖ in AB, and (2) the absence of ὁ Θεός in ver. 29, implying that συνεργεῖ and προέγνω have the same subj. The rendering ‘for those who love God all things co-operate for good’ is, however, grammatically no less possible. THE THIRD MISSION 423 foreknew, He also foreordained for conformation to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among gsomany brothers; and whom He foreordained these He also called ; and whom He called, these He also accounted right- eous; and whom He accounted righteous, these He also Ci. ver. 17. glorified. And now the Apostle draws to a conclusion. He surveys The his argument, and exults in the believer’s eternal security {177 confirmed by a double guarantee. God is on our side, and oe be- the evidence is the Cross of Christ: ‘ He did not spare His own Son but surrendered Him for us all.” The love which faced that supreme Sacrifice will withhold nothing. And our acquittal is absolute. It is God’s verdict, and God’s verdict is final. We are one with Christ, not only in His Death but in His Resurrection; and the presence of our Representative at God’s right hand is the pledge of our future glory. His love is our security, and it is an unfailing love. It holds us in its grasp, and it will never let us go. That was the Apostle’s persuasion, and it was born of experience. The love of Christ had succoured him in all the manifold distresses of the bygone years, and brought him ce. 2 Cor. through every conflict a conqueror and more than a conqueror; *” 757" and he recognised in the experience of the past a prophecy of the future. The love which had blessed him hitherto, would never fail him. It would attend him to the end of his days, nor would it cease there. It would reach out into the unknown Eternity. He conjures up the mysterious terrors of the Unseen, marshals them in grim array, and sets them at defiance. ‘ Neither death ’—that black shadow which is ever travelling toward us across the waste and will presently engulf us. ‘ Nor life ’—a worse terror still, more mysterious, more perilous. ‘ Many there be that seek Thy face To meet the hour of parting breath 3 But ’tis for life I need Thy grace: Life is more solemn still than death.’ What dread chances it holds! what appalling possibilities of disaster, suffering, and shame! ‘ Nor angels nor principal- ities nor powers ’—the innumerable hosts which encompass Is. 1. 8. Ps. xliv. 22. 424 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL us, those mysterious forces which play upon our lives, in- calculable, uncontrollable. “Nor things present nor things future, nor height nor depth ’—all dimensions of time and space; this world, the next; Heaven, Hell. And what more remains? The Apostle sums up every possibility under one final and comprehensive category—‘ nor any different creation.’ ‘ I know not,’ he means, ‘ what new environment may yet confront me, what strange world, what unimagined order, what play of forces more dread and solemn than I have hitherto experienced ; but I fear not even that. For there is nothing here, nothing there, nothing anywhere which I need dread, since, wherever I may be and whatever may emerge, the Love of Christ will be with me, my comrade and my portion.’ It is told of Robert Bruce, the Scottish saint in the genera- tion succeeding the Reformation, that, as he lay a-dying, attended by his daughter, he suddenly exclaimed: ‘ Hold, daughter, my Master calls me.’ And then he bade her fetch the Bible. ‘Cast me up,’ he said, ‘ the eighth chapter of Romans, and place my finger on these words, ‘‘ I am per- suaded.’”’’ And thus he died, with his finger and his heart resting there. 31 What, then, shall we say in view of all this? If God is 32for us, who is against us? Seeing that He did not spare His own Son but surrendered Him for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously bestow everything upon us ? 33 Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God 34‘ that accounts righteous: who is it that condemns?’ It is Christ Jesus that died, or rather, was raised, He who is 35at the right hand of God, who is also pleading for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will distress or anguish or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or 36sword ? As it is written: r ‘ For Thy sake we are being put to death all the day long ; We were reckoned as sheep for slaughter.’ 37 But amid all this we more than conquer through Him who 38loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers,! nor things 1 The νομῆς οὔτε δυνάμεις in the vast majority of MSS. stand after μέλλοντα, but they should certainly stand after ἀρχαί, forming a triple category οὔτε ἄγγελοι οὔτε ἀρχαὶ οὔτε δυνάμεις. Unless indeed they are a mere interpolation (cf. 1 Cor. xv. 24; Eph. i. 21; 1 Pet. iii. 22), their transposition is probably due to their THE PHTRD Mission 425 39 present nor things future, no height nor depth, nor any - different creation ! will have the power to separate us from the love of God, the love which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 3. The Problem of the Election of Israel (ix-xi) The Apostle’s task is accomplished. He has defined and The demonstrated his doctrine of Justification by Faith, and }28e¢y of answered the objections which were urged against it. But jection. he does not conclude here. A problem still remained which was very grievous to his own heart and well-nigh disposed him to wish that a doctrine involving so terrible a consequence might be false. Its offence in the eyes of the Judaists lay in its obliteration of the distinction between Jews and Gen- tiles ; but the Apostle recognised that a heavier disaster had befallen Israel than the loss of her ancient prestige, her exclusive privilege. It was the tragedy of her utter rejection. She had refused her Saviour, the promised Messiah, and her heritage had passed to the believing Gentiles. They were now the people of God, and she was an outcast from His grace. It was a dire catastrophe, and well-nigh broke the Apostle’s heart. For he loved his people. Their sacred tradition was precious and glorious in his eyes; and when he contemplated the tragic dénouement, the prayer of Moses rose to his lips: ‘Oh, this people have sinned a great sin. kx. xxxii Yet now, if Thou wilt forgive their sin . . .; and if not, blot 3" 35 me, I pray Thee, out of Thy book which Thou hast written.’ ix.: It is truth that I am telling in Christ, it is no lie, my conscience supporting me with its testimony in the Holy 2 Spirit—that I have great grief and my heart has ceaseless 2 3pain. I caught myself praying that I should be myself an accursed outcast from the Christ for the sake of my 4 brothers, my kinsfolk according to the flesh. For they are accidental omission from the text of an early MS. They would then be noted on the margin and might easily be misplaced in the text by a subsequent copyist. The Apostle is here alluding to the elaborate Jewish angelology which, especially in Gnostic circles, tended to develop into angelolatry. Cf. p. 550. 1 Cf. Chrys. : ὁ δὲ λέγει τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν" εἰ καὶ ἄλλη τοσαύτη κτίσις ἣν ὅση ἡ ὁρωμένη, ὅση ἡ νοητὴ, οὐδέν με τῆς ἀγάπης ἐκείνης ἀπέστησε. 4 ἀδιάλειπτος, ‘incessant,’ ‘unremitting’; used of a racking cough—d διαλίπτως δὲ ἐπαγωνιζόμενος (Moulton and Milligan. Vocaé.), Cf, Heb. ix. 3, ἃ; Its three- fold justifi- cation: (1) Elec tion, 426 “LIFE AND LET EERS OF Si-rPagL Israelites ; theirs are the restoration to sonship, and the Glory,! and the Covenants, and the Lawgiving, and the 5 Temple-service, and the Promises; theirs are the Fathers, and of them sprang the Christ according to the flesh—He who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.? To the discussion of this bitter problem he now addresses himself, and he grapples with it in anguish of soul: now vindicating God’s righteousness and laying the responsibility on Israel; then gladly recognising that her rejection is only partial, and there is still ‘a remnant according to the election of grace’; and finally emerging into the triumphant assurance of her ultimate restoration and humanity’s uni- versal salvation, His argument turns on three ideas which figured largely in Jewish theology—Election, the Sovereignty of God, and His Irresponsibility. Israel was the elect nation, and the Jews derived thence a fatal assurance of unassailable security. God had promised 1 The Shekinah (cf. Jo. i. 14; Heb. ix. 5). Cf. n. on 2 Cor. xii. 9, p. 338. 2 The great Fathers and the ancient versions agree in attaching ὁ ὧν ἐπὶ πάντων Θεὸς εὐλογητὸς εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας to ὁ Χριστός, but this construction was early challenged in the interests both of orthodoxy and of heresy. On the one hand, the text was quoted, as identifying Christ with God, by the Patripassians (cf. Hippolyt. Contra Noet. vi; Epiphan. lvii. 2, 9); while, on the other hand, it offended the Arians (cf. Epist. of Co. of Antioch to Paul of Samosata, A.D. 269, Routh, Relzg. Sacr., U1. pp. 291 f.). And so the construction was altered by manipulation of the punctuation—a legitimate procedure, since punctuation was lacking in the earliest MSS. 1. A period was placed after σάρκα, and the ensuing words were rendered either (1) ‘He who is over all, even God, be (or ‘is’) blessed for ever,’ or (2) ‘He who is over all is God blessed for ever.’ 2. The period was placed after πάντων : ‘the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all (cf. x. 12; Ac. x. 36). God be (or ‘is’) blessed for ever.” The objection to these latter constructions is that an ascription of glory to God is here abrupt and purposeless ; and, moreover, in a doxology εὐλογητός always stands at the beginning (cf. Lk. i. 68; 2 Cor. i. 3; Eph. i. 3; 1 Pet. i. 3). It is a decisive confirmation of the former construction that it provides a natural and necessary antithesis to τὸ κατὰ odpxa: the Christ who was an Israelite ‘according to the flesh’ was in truth the blessed and eternal God. It is no valid objection that nowhere else does Paul expressly designate Christ ‘God,’ but always ‘the Lord’ as distinguished from ‘God the Father’ (cf. 1 Cor. viii. 6); for the designation is in no wise alien from his thought. Cf. the interchange of Πνεῦμα Θεοῦ and Πνεῦμα Χριστοῦ in viii. 9-11. The Apostolic Father St. Ignatius could not have used phrases like ᾿Ιησοῦς Χριστὸς ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν so freely as he does (cf. Eph. inscr., 1, xviii; Rom. inscr., iii, vi; Pelyc. viii; Smyrn. i) unless the idea had been apostolic. εὐ δϑὼω - νΌΔ -? THE THIRD MISSION 427 to be the God of Abraham and his seed after him ; and thus, they argued, He was bound by an inviolable pledge, and could never disown them. The Apostle meets this conten- tion by demonstrating from the Scriptures that Election had a narrower compass than they supposed. Not all Abraham’s descendants are his children and heirs of the Promise. There is an election within the election. The Scriptures recognise this, and he adduces an historic instance. Ishmael was a son of Abraham no less than Isaac, yet Ishmael was not ‘a child of the Promise.’ He was indeed Abraham’s son by a heathen concubine, and it might be urged that this invalidated his title to rank with Isaac, the child of Sarah; but then Jacob and Esau were sons of Isaac by the same mother, Rebecca, yet God, in the prophet’s grim phrase, ‘loved Jacob and hated Esau.’ 6 Not that the word of God has lapsed. For not all who are 70f Israel’s race are Israel; nor because they are Abraham’s seed are they all his children. No, ‘in Isaac shall thy seed 8be called.’ That is, it is not the children of the flesh that are Gen. xxi, children of God; no, it is the children of the Promise that 15 gare reckoned as seed. For the word is a word of promise, and it is this: ‘At this season next year I will come, and Sarah roshall have a son.’ And, more than that, there is also the case xviii. τὸ, of Rebecca when she conceived by one man, our father Isaac. 11 Ere the children were born or had done aught good or ill, that God’s elective purpose might abide on the score not of works 12 but of His call, it was told her: ‘The elder shall be slave to xxv. 23, 13 the younger’; and accordingly it is written: ‘ Jacob I loved, Maz. i. 2, 3. but Esau I hated.’ Here the question emerges whether this was fair: and the (2) The Apostle answers it by asserting the Sovereignty of God— {Gnj2"” that stern truth which finds exemplification in the story of Pharaoh. God shows mercy where He will, and where He will He hardens men’s hearts ; and there is here no unfairness, since none hasa claim upon Him. None is entitled to mercy or compassion, and where He displays either, it is pure un- merited grace. 14 What, then, shall we say? Is there unrighteousness with 15God ? Away with the idea! He says to Moses: ‘ It will be Ex. xxxiii mercy wherever I have mercy, and compassion wherever I 79 16have compassion.’ So then it depends not on man’s will or ix. τό. Cf. Ex. iv. 2, Vii. 3, ix, £2, Xiv. t, 17. (3) His irresponsi- bility. Cf. Is. xxix. 16, xlv. 9; es xviii; isd. xv. 7-175 Ecclus. Xxxili, 13. Is, xxix. 16, xlv. 9. Jer. xviii. 6. Jer. πε Is, liv. 16. 428 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL 17 effort but on God’s mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: ‘For this very end I raised thee up, that I might demonstrate in thee My power, and that My name might be proclaimed 18 abroad in all the earth.’ So then on whom He will He has mercy, and whom He will He ‘ hardens.’ But then, it may be urged, if it be God that has hardened our hearts, why should He blame us for our unbelief? This objection the Apostle meets by affirming the Irresponsibility of God, borrowing an image which figures largely in Jewish literature and likening God to a potter and man to the clay which the potter fashions as he will. ‘For the potter, pressing soft earth toilsomely, fashioneth each vessel for our service ; Nay, of the same clay he is wont to fashion both the vessels which minister pure offices and those of a contrary sort, all alike ; And what is the use of each vessel of either sort the workman is judge.’ Here, suggests the Apostle, may lie the answer to that Jewish question why God first hardened Israel’s heart, and then condemned her for her unbelief. Perhaps her privilege had an ulterior purpose. Perhaps the Jews were all the while “vessels of wrath’ doomed to destruction, and His long forbearance with them was nothing else than the working out of His gracious purpose toward His ‘ vessels of mercy ’—His believing people whether Jews or Gentiles. The idea found support in Scripture. Was it not the Gentiles that Hosea meant when he prophesied of the calling of those who were no people to be the people of God? And did not Isaiah declare that, however numerous the nation of Israel might be, only ‘ the remnant ’ would be saved ἢ 19 You will say to me, then: ‘ Why does He still find fault ? 20 For who is withstanding His will?’ Nay, rather, man, who are you that are bandying words with God ? ‘ Shall the thing moulded say to him who moulded it: ‘‘ Why didst thou make 21methus?’’’ Has not ‘ the potter’ authority over ἡ the clay,’ of the same lump to make one vessel for honour and another 22for dishonour? Suppose that, while it was God’s will to demonstrate His wrath and publish His power, He bore in much long-suffering with ‘ vessels of wrath ’ fitted ‘ for destruc- ἜΤΕΣΙ MisSstONn 430 33tion,’ that He might publish! the riches of His glory toward vessels of mercy which He prepared beforehand for glory— 24even us whom He also called, not only from among the Jews 25 but from among the Gentiles also? As He says also in Hosea : “T will call them that are no people to be My people ii, 23. and her that is not beloved to be beloved. 26 And it shall be that in the place where it was said to them, i. “No people of Mine are γε, There shall they be called to be sons of the Living God.’ 27 And Isaiah cries concerning Israel: ‘ Though the number of »- 22, 23 the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, it is but the remnant 28that shall be saved. For a reckoning complete and concise 29 Will the Lord make upon the earth.’ And, as Isaiah has previ- | ously said, += ‘Unless the Lord of Hosts had left us a seed, as Sodom we would have become, and like Gomorrah would we have been made.’ ~ Thus the long history of humanity had issued in a sur- An amaz. prising dénouement. The Gentiles had won the prize which "* “*"* they had never sought; and the Jews, though they had pursued it, had never reached the goal. The prize was right- eousness, and the Jews had missed it because they had pursued it along a false track. They had sought to win it by the works of the Law; and the Gentiles, in their need and helplessness, had found it by faith in Christ. 30 What, then, shall we say? That Gentiles, who were not pursuing righteousness, won righteousness, a righteousness, 31 however, which comes of faith; whereas Israel, though pur- 32Suing a law of righteousness, never reached one. Wherefore ? Because their starting-point was not faith but what they deemed works. They stumbled over ‘the stone of stumbling,’ 2 33 as it is written: ‘Behold, I place in Sion a stone of stumbling and a rock of Is. viii. τὰ tripping, XXVili. 16. and he who rests his faith on Him shall not be put to shame.’ 3 4 Omitting καί before ἵνα γνωρίσῃ with W. H. ΒΑ continuation of the metaphor of the race in ver. 16 (τοῦ rpéxovros) and vers. 30, 31. Cf. the description of a disaster at the Pythian Games through a cnariot striking the turning-pest in Soph. Zlect. 743-48. 2 These two passages are similarly conjoined in 1 Pet. ii. 6. The quotation fs evidently taken from a collection of * testimonies.’ Cf, p. 220. Purpose of the preced- ing argu- ment. Its limita- tions. Gen, xvi. 12. Ps, cxxxvii. 7 Σ Pet. iv. 10. 430° LIFE AND-LET SERS: OF ΘΙ ΣΤΙ To appreciate this passage it should be observed that the — Apostle is grappling in anguish of soul with a grim and — baffling problem ; and he thus far presents no adequate and final solution. He merely throws out a series of suggestions based on theological postulates which were indubitable to the Jewish mind but which appear less cogent from the Christian point of view. It was enough at the moment that he should silence the objections of his Jewish readers and lead them to recognition of the dire fact of Israel’s rejection, and he presently emerges into a larger conception of God’s providential dealings. Stern as it is, his idea of Election hardly admits of criticism, since it is nothing else than a reading of history. Ishmael and Esau stood in his thought for their descendants; and the descendants of the former were the fierce tribe of the Ishmaelites, whose hand was against every man and every man’s hand against them, and the accursed Edomites, the enemies of Israel and Israel’s God. He reasons back from the actual issue to the eternal purpose. But the Christian spirit refuses to acquiesce in the Jewish dogmas of the Sovereignty and Irresponsibility of God. It repudiates the idea that God owes nothing to man. The creature has a claim on his Creator; the child has a claim on his Father. It is indeed true that ‘ wherever He has mercy, it is mercy, and wherever He has compassion, it is compassion’; but He owes both, since He is ‘ a faithful Creator ’ and, still more, since He is a Father. He would not be a Father if He did not love His children, especially His lost children, and do the utmost which love can devise to bring them home.! And as for the assertion of the Irresponsibility of God, it is open to obvious and fatal objections. Grant that we are but as clay in the hands of the potter, and He may make of us what He will—a vile utensil or a festal cup; yet it were a shame 1 Cf. George Eliot, Zzfe, Append. to Chap. x by Mrs. John Cash: ‘To something that followed from her intimating the claim of creatures upon their Creator, my father objected, ‘‘ But we have no claim upon God.” ‘‘ Noclaim upon God!” she reiterated indignantly ; ‘‘we have the strongest possible claim upon Him.”’ . . . ‘*‘ There may be,” she would say, ‘‘conduct on the part of a parent which should exonerate his child from further obligation to him ; but there cannot be action conceivable which should absolve the parent from obligation to serve his child, seeing that for that child’s existence he is himself responsible.” ’ THE ‘THIRD MISSION 431 to Him if He deliberately fashioned vessels for destruction and not for use. His character as a good craftsman is at stake, and He owes it to Himself to make the best of His material and compel it to His purpose. ‘So, take and use Thy work: Amend what flaws may lurk, What strain οὐ the stuff, what warpings past the aim ἢ My times be in Thy hand! Perfect the cup as planned ! Let age approve of youth, and death complete the same!’ This is indeed God’s way. ‘The Lord will perfect that Ps. _ which concerneth me: Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for πο * ever ; forsake not the works of Thine own hands.’ Nor is this the final definition of the relation between God and man. We are more, much more, than senseless clay in the Potter’s hands. We are God’s reasonable creatures; we are His children created after the image of His Eternal Son, and He owes us a Father’s love and sympathy and care. All this the Apostle duly recognises in the sequel ; and the fact is that he is not here expounding his own doctrine. His purpose is to beat down Jewish arrogance, and he confronts its pretensions with its own theological postulates. He has been writing hard things of his people; and Isract’s since he has harder things still to write, he reasseverates pijy. the undying affection which he bore them, and his grief at the disaster which had overtaken them. He was not exult- ing in their humiliation. On the contrary, their salvation was his constant and eager desire ; yet he could not close his eyes to their unhappy plight, and he proceeds to show that it was their own doing. They had indeed sought righteousness, but they had sought it in their own laborious and futile way by the works of the Law, and had refused God’s way—the easy and sure way of faith in Christ. x.1 Brothers, my heart’s craving ! and my prayer to God on 2 their behalf are for their salvation. I bear them testimony that they have a zeal for God, but it is an uninstructed zeal. 3 For, ignoring God’s righteousness and seeking to set up one 1 ἡ εὐδοκία τῆς ἐμῆς καρδίας, ‘the good pleasure of my heart,’ what would con- tent it. Chrys. : εὐδοκίαν ἐνταῦθα τὴν σφοδρὰν ἐπιθυμίαν φησί, (1) The accessi- bility of the Word. Dt, xxx. 11-14. 432 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL of their own, they were not subjected to the righteousness of God. And they were inexcusable, since the very Law which required Works revealed the better way of Faith. He ad- duces a passage in Moses’ address to the Israelites when he was giving them the Law: ‘ This commandment which I command thee this day, it is not too hard for thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, “Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it?” Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, ‘‘ Who will go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it?”’ But the word is very nigh unto thee, on thy lips, and in thy heart, that thou mayest doit.’ The Lawgiver is here warning the Israelites of their responsibility. They knew God’s requirement, since it was plainly written in the Law which he had delivered to them. It was no unrevealed mystery, no inaccessible lore. The passage is an assertion of the simplicity and sufficiency of the Law, but the Apostle, handling the ancient Scriptures with his accustomed freedom, invests it with a significance which Moses never intended. In fact his reference is not a quotation but an adaptation, a mere literary allusion. He recalls the familiar words and fits them to his purpose. Here, he says, is the difference between the Law and the Gospel. The Law says: ‘ Do, and thou shalt live’; but the Gospel inculcates no laborious observances. Its command is: “Have faith in Christ.’ He has wrought out salvation by His Incarnation and Resurrection, and these are accomplished facts. You need not ask: ‘ Who will go up to heaven and bring Him down ?‘ for He came down and lived and died. Nor need you ask : ‘ Who will go down to the deep and raise Him from the dead ?’ for He is risen and ascended. He is the Living and Glorified Saviour, and nothing is required but a glad, brave faith in Him. ‘ We need not,’ St. Chry- sostom puts it, ‘go a far road or sail the ocean or cross mountains in order to be saved. No, though you will not so much as step over your threshold, you may be saved sitting at home,’ THE THIRD MISSION 433 Faith is all; for is it not written that ‘no one who sets his faith on Him shall be put toshame’? Thisis the charter of universal salvation. Salvation is by faith in Christ, and it is offered to Jew and Gentile indiscriminately. His mercy is for all who ‘call upon His name’ ; and here lay the Apostle’s justification in preaching to all, Jews and Gentiles alike, 4 For the Law’s goal is Christ,! that righteousness may accrue 5 to every one who has faith. For Moses writes that ‘ the man Ley. xviii, who doeth ’ the righteousness which comes of the Law ‘ shall 5: 6live in it.’ But the righteousness which comes of Faith speaks thus: ‘Say not in thy heart: ‘‘ Who will go up to heaven ? ”’ 7 that is, to bring Christ down ; or, ‘‘ Who will go down to the deep? ’”’? that is, to bring Christ up from the dead.’ No, 8what is it that it says? ‘The Word is nigh thee on thy lips and in thy heart,’ that is, the Word of Faith which we are 9 proclaiming—that, if you take the confession ‘on thy lips’ Jesus 1s Lorp, and have the faith ‘in thy heart’ that God cr. 1 Cor. το raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. It is with the *i. 3. heart that one has faith and attains righteousness, and it is with the lips that one makes confession and attains salvation. 11 For the Scripture says: ‘No one who rests his faith on Him Is. xxviii. 12Shall be put to shame.’ There is no distinction between Jew 16: and Greek ; for the same Lord is Lord of all, rich toward all 13 Who call upon Him. For ‘ whosoever calls upon the name of Joel ii, 32, 14 the Lord shall be saved.’ How, then, are they to call upon One in whom they never had faith? And how are they to have faith in One whose message they never heard? And 5 how are they to hear it without one to proclaim it? And how are they to proclaim it unless they be commissioned? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach Is. lii. 7. the Gospel of good things ! ’ So Chrys., taking τέλος as ‘the aim,’ ‘the end sought’ (cf. 1 Tim. i. 5). The end of the Law is Christ and the righteousness He bestows (cf. Gal. iii. 24), just as the end of the physician’s art is health. Most of the Fathers understand by τέλος ‘fulfilment’ (cf. Lk. xxii. 37). Clem. Alex. De Dzv. Serv. 9, where πλήρωμα (cf. Rom. xiii. 10) is read for τέλος, Aug. Contra Adversar. Leg. et Proph. τι. 26: ‘Finis perficiens, non interficiens.’ 4d Ovos. contra Priscill. et Orig. 8: ‘finem non consumentem sed perficientem significat . . . quo lex perficiatur, non quo aboleatur. Quod et illic significat, ubi ait: Mon vend legem solvere sed adimplere (Mt. v. 17).’ Similarly Orig., Ambrstr. Most moderns take τέλος in the sense of ‘termination’: ‘Christ has put an end to the Law’ (cf. Mt. xi. 13; Lk. xvi. 16). 4 ἄβυσσος, ‘the depth of the sea’ (cf. Ps. evii. 26). Quoting freely, the Apostle writes τίς καταβήσεται els τὴν ἄβυσσον ; for τίς διαπεράσει ἡμῖν els τὸ πέραν τῆς θαλάσσης ; making the two questions correspond, Z2E (2) Her disregard of it. Cf. xv. 19. ΟΣ ἘΞ χιχ. 1-6. 1}, x. Ps. xix. 4. Dt. xxxil. al. 1XVs σὲ, 2. Assurance of Israel's restora- tion: 434 LIFE AND LET PERS/OFP ST. PAUL And this was the condemnation of the Jews: they had not hearkened to the Gospel. And what was the reason ? It was not that they had never heard it; for it had been published near and far. There was no corner of the wide- spread Empire whither it had not penetrated. In truth it was like ‘ the music of the spheres,’ filling the broad firma- ment and unheard only by inattentive ears, unperceived only by dull hearts. And this was the reason of Israel’s faithless- ness. The music of the Gospel was in her ears, but she had never perceived it. And the Gentiles had perceived it and hearkened to it—the stupid, despised Gentiles. 16 But they did not all hearken to the Gospel. No, for Isaiah says: ‘Lord, who had faith in the message he heard from 17 05 δ᾽ So faith springs from the message one hears, and the 18 message one hears is conveyed by the word of Christ. But, I say, did they never hear it? Yes, indeed : ‘To all the earth went forth their speech, and to the limits of the world their words.’ 19 But, I say, did Israel never perceive it? First there is Moses, and he says: “Ἴ will stir you to jealousy against a nation which is no nation, against a nation without understanding will I stir you to wrath.’ 20 But Isaiah speaks out boldly : ‘I was found by those who were not seeking Me ; I was made manifest to those who were not inquiring of Me’; ar while with reference to Israel he says: ‘ All the day long I stretched forth My hands to a people disobedient and rebellious.’ There was no evasion of the tragic fact. Israel by her faithlessness had forfeited her ancient glory. She was no longer the holy nation, the people of God. But was her rejection complete and irrevocable? The very suggestion was intolerable to the Apostle. It was ruled out, in his judgment, alike by personal and providential considerations. He was himself an Israelite, and not only did the destiny of his people engage his sympathy but it involved his own. He knew that he was saved by faith, and this sufficed to 1 Cf. Chrys. : οὐδὲ yap ἐν γωνίᾳ μικρᾷ τὸ γενόμενον ἣν, GAN’ ἐν γῇ καὶ θαλάττῃ καὶ πανταχοῦ τῆς οἰκουμένης, THE THIRD MISSION 435 assure him that the Israelites were not outcasts from grace. And, moreover, God’s purpose was invincible and His love inexhaustible. He ‘ never regrets His gifts of grace and His cr, xi. 29. calling.’ Where He once loves, He loves for ever. This is the assurance on which the Jews built their false security ; and the assurance was just: it was their inference that was delusive. God’s faithfulness did not bind Him to them despite their disloyalty ; it was rather a pledge that He would yet conquer their disloyalty and make them true to their vocation. And so the Apostle sets himself con amore to the task of vindicating the faithfulness of God and disclosing the golden hope which shone for Israel behind the dark cloud of her present shame. God had not, and He never would, cast her off. xix I say, then, ‘did God cast off His people?’ Away with Pss. xciv. the idea! I am an Israelite, sprung of Abraham’s seed, Me ee 2member of the tribe of Benjamin. God never cast off His 1 sam. xii. people whom He foreknew. 22. The argument is twofold. First, the Apostle resumes and (x) Tn. alt elaborates the idea which he has already introduced of a pennant. faithful remnant in Israel. In all ages there had been an ©. ἵν: 27. election within the election, and this was the true Israel. cf. ix. 7- In Elijah’s day Israel was not the idolatrous nation but the ** seven thousand who had stood faithful and had never bowed a knee to Baal ; and now in like manner she was represented by those Jews who had welcomed the Gospel and inherited by faith the ancient promises. Do you not know what the Scripture says in the story of x Ki. xix. 3 Elijah—how he pleads with God against Israel? ‘Lord, 19; 18. they have killed Thy prophets, they have dug down Thine altars; and I am left alone, and they are seeking my life.’ 4But what says the divine response to him? ‘I have left for Myself seven thousand men, who never bowed a knee to 5 Baal.’! Thus, then, at the present crisis also there has 1 τῇ Βάαλ (LXX τῷ Βάαλ). The fem. was formerly explained either by an ellipse of εἰκόνι, ‘the image of Baal’ (Euth. Zig., A.V., Grot.) or by the supposition that Queen Jezebel worshipped a feminine idol (Wetstein). The fact is that ἡ Βάαλ, which oceurs frequently in LXX (cf. 1 Sam. vii. 4; Jer. ii. 28, xi. 13, xix. 5, xxxii. 35; Hos. ii. 8; Zeph. i. 4), is Q’ri: in reading the Scriptures αἰσχύνη, ‘shame,’ was substituted for the unholy name ἡ Baal,’ and the fem. art. indicated this. 486 “LIFE AND: LETT EES OF SP ῬΑ turned out to be a remnant according to the election of grace. 6 And if it be by grace, it is no longer on the score of works ; else the grace turns out to be no longer grace. 7 What, then? The thing which Israel is seeking after, she never obtained ; but her elect obtained it. And all the rest Is, xxix. 8 grew callous, as it is written: ‘God gave them a spirit of Sales stupefaction—eyes to see nothing and ears to hear nothing— » 4. ΠΣ Ν : guntil this very day.’ And David says: Ps. Ixix, ‘Let their table be made a snare and a prey 1538 a and a trap! and a retribution to them ; ro Let their eyes be darkened, that they may see nothing, and bow down their back continually.’ (2) Prove But what of the multitude of faithless Jews? Was their cation. rejection final, their ruin irretrievable ὃ It were indeed a less multi- sorry issue of those long centuries of abundant grace that pentance. Only a meagre remnant should be saved from the nation’s wreck. Here the Apostle reverts to the thought which he Cf.x.19 has already quoted from the Scriptures—that the ulterior purpose of God’s mercy to the Gentiles was to stir the faith- less Jews to jealousy and move them, in very chagrin, to repent and seek penitently the grace which they had forfeited. τ: I say, then, did they stumble to their fall? Away with the idea! No, by their lapse salvation has accrued to the Gentiles, Dt. xxxii, 312to ‘stir them to jealousy.’ And if their lapse be the enrich- 31: ment of the world and their loss the enrichment of the Gentiles, how much more their full restoration ! Warning He addresses particularly his Gentile readers. He was ae their Apostle ; he had, in the providence of God, been com- Gentiles. missioned to preach the Gospel to them, and he ‘ glorified his ministry.’ They knew how devotedly he discharged it ; but in truth their salvation was not his sole concern. He had his Jewish countrymen constantly in view, and his hope was that by the success of his Gentile ministry he might “stir them to jealousy’ and turn their hearts. Nor was it an unreasonable expectation. The profound principle of Im- putation ? operated here. The blood of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the saints of old flowed in the veins of the faithless Jews, and even in their faithlessness they were ‘beloved for their fathers’ sake.’ As in the ancient heave- ΠΣ σκάνδαλον, ef. τ. on 1 Cor. viii. 13, p. 272. 2 Cf. pp. gozf. THE THIRD MISSION 437 offering the consecration of the first of the dough sanctified the whole mass, so its fathers’ faith was evermore the nation’s heritage, its inspiration and rebuke. This is a Jewish illustration, and the Apostle immediately The olive passes to another which his Gentile readers could better Pete appreciate. ‘If the root be holy, so also are the branches.’ branches. Israel was the tree—a good olive-tree ; and the Jews were the native branches. Some of them had proved barren. These were the unbelieving Jews ; and they had been broken off, and in their stead shoots of a wild olive-tree had been ingrafted on the stock. These latter were the believing Gentiles, and the purpose of the parable was to warn them against exulting in their preferment. That were a repetition οἱ the offence which had cost the Jews so dear. They were alien branches; and if they departed from the faith which had ingrafted them, the doom which had befallen the native branches would surely befall them. And if the Jews re- pented, they would be restored. They were the native branches, and if it were possible to ingraft alien shoots, it was more possible to reingraft them. 13. It is to you Gentiles that 1 am speaking. Inasmuch as? I 14am an Apostle to Gentiles, I glorify my ministry in the hope of stirring my countrymen to jealousy and saving some of them. 15 For if their rejection be the reconciliation of the world, what 16 will their reception be but life from the dead? If ‘ the first- Num, xv. fruits’ be holy, so also is ‘the dough’; and if the root be 17. ὈΧΧ. 17holy, so also are the branches. And if some of the branches were broken off and you, though but a wild olive, were in- grafted among them, and were given a share in the root which 18 holds the sap of the olive-tree, boast not against the branches. If you do, it is not you that are carrying the root ; it is the root that is carrying you. 19 You willsay, then: ‘ Branches were broken off that I might 20 be ingrafted.’ Very good: it was for their faithlessness that _ they were broken off, while, as for you, it is by your faith that you stand fast. Be not uplifted with conceit ; no, be afraid. 21 For if God did not spare the native branches, neither will He 22Spare you. See, then, God’s kindness and His severity. On the fallen rests God’s severity, and on you His kindness, if you persist in His kindness ; otherwise you also will be cut off. 1 Omitting μὲν οὖν (NABCP) with DEFG. There is no reasonable interpreta- tion of μὲν οὖν, zmo vero; and the simple μέν (L, Vulg., Chrys., Orig., Ambrstr.) implies an unexpressed antithesis (δέ). A technical nexacti- tude. Jo. xv. 6. The Apostle’s inexperi- ence of Nature. Cf. ver. 24. Cf. 2 Cor, Xi. 25, 26, 436 (LIFE: AND: LETTERS’ OF Si. FAVES a3 And as for the others, if they do not persist in their faithless- ness, they will be ingrafted ; for God has the power to ingraft 24them again. If you were cut off from your native wild olive and, contrary to nature, were ingrafted into a good olive, how much more will these, the native branches, be ingrafted on their proper olive-tree ! It is indeed a telling parable; yet ‘it is not,’ observes an ancient commentator,! ‘in accordance with the law of hus- bandry,’ and it is well for the success of the Apostle’s argu- ment that it was addressed to readers who dwelt in cities and had no skill in arboriculture. The use of grafting is to provide the shoots with a vigorous root that they may be nourished by its sap and bear abundance of their proper fruit. Cuttings of an oleaster ingrafted on an olive would still bear their wild fruit, ‘since,’ says St. Jerome, ‘the manner is rather for the branch to assimilate the strength of the root than for the root to change the branch into its own quality.’ And no less impracticable is the idea of the reingrafting of the severed branches. Their fate, as our Lord remarks in His parable of the True Vine, is to be ‘cast out and withered, and gathered and cast into the fire and burned.’ It is vain to allege, in needless solicitude for his technical exactitude, that the Apostle, dealing with a miracle of grace, intentionally describes an unnatural process. His purpose was to demonstrate by a familiar analogy the reasonableness of God’s providential dispensation, and it was essential that the analogy should be true to nature. The truth is that the passage is characteristic. The life of cities was the only life which Paul knew. Tarsus was his birthplace and the home of his childhood ; he had been educated at Jerusalem ; and the cities of Asia Minor, Macedonia, and Achaia had been the exclusive scenes of his apostolic ministry. It was the teem- ing centres of population that he always sought in the course of his missionary journeys. He hastened from city to city ; and it is significant that he has mentioned nothing which he encountered by the way save the obstacles which inter- 1 Ambrstr. Cf. Orig. : ‘Sed ne hoc quidem lateat nos in hoe loco, quod non eo ordine Apostolus olive et oleastri similitudinem posuit quo apud agricolas habetur. Illi enim magis olivam oleastro inserere et non olive oleastrum solent : Paulus vero apostolica auctoritate ordine commutato res magis causis quam causas rebus aptavit.’ TE ΤῸ MISSTON 439 rupted his progress—shipwrecks, floods, and brigands. He had no eye for scenery, no interest in historic monuments ; and he never stayed to preach in the villages along his route. It was not that he despised those. humble peasants, but that they were inaccessible to his message. They kmew only their local dialects, and could not have understood his preaching in the Common Greek. And thus it came to pass that the city was his world, and Contrast his letters abound in allusions to its institutions and manners 1°" —its craftsmen and traders ; its martial glitter and pomp ; Cf. Rom. its law-courts ;! its theatres and games ; its architecture.? 23.7%) 7,. !t is another atmosphere that one breathes in reading the Ppp ὁ ταὶ Gospels. The Lord in the days of His flesh had His home in aa oi Galilee, and He loved its people and looked with kindly and 5 aca τὰ sympathetic eyes on their employments and on all the wild ¥P»- ¥" and beautiful things of field and woodland. Cor 14; om. XIV ‘ The Lake, vier” The lonely peaks, the valleys, lily-lit, Cor. iv. 9, Were synagogues. The simplest sights we met— ix. 24-27 j The Sower flinging seed on loam and rock ; es 3 The darnel in the wheat ; the mustard-tree That hath its seed so little, and its boughs Widespreading ; and the wandering sheep ; and nets Shot in the wimpled waters—drawing forth Great fish and small :—these, and a hundred such, Were pictures for Him from the page of life, Teaching by parable.’ But that page of life was hidden from the Apostle, and his rare allusions to it betray his inexperience. When he quotes τ Cor. ix, that humane ordinance of the ancient Law: ‘ Thou shalt not #0 "is. muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain,’ it seems to him, oblivious of the Master’s word that ‘ not a sparrow falls Μι. x. 29. on the ground without our Father,’ incredible that God should be concerned for oxen; and so he spiritualises the precept and interprets it of the preacher’s nght to main- tenance. And here again, when he essays an illustration from hus- Spiritual h hi bandry, he betrays his inexperience. His blunder would Sei," terest. 1 Cf. the terms δικαιόω, δικαίωμα, δικαίωσις : κρίσις, κρίμα, κρίνειν, ἀνακρίνειν, καγακρίνειν. 3 Cf. the term οἰκοδομή. The ‘mystery of Israel’s restoration and the re- demption of human- ity. 440°. LIFE AND LETTERS ΘΕ - Sf eae hardly be observed by his city-bred readers, nor would it have discomposed him greatly had he been informed that he had misconceived the method of grafting. His concern was not with husbandmen and their management of trees but with God and His ways with men; and his illustration, such as it was, sufficed to enforce his argument, checking the confidence of his Gentile readers and opening an avenue of hope for the faithless Jews. And now he proceeds to a second argument. He recog- nises in the dark tragedy of Israel’s rejection a ‘ mystery’ ; and a mystery, be it remembered,? signified a providential secret, a gracious purpose of God once hidden but now revealed. The supreme mystery in the Apostle’s thought was God’s long neglect of the Gentile world ; and it had been revealed by the discovery in Christ of a limitless grace. Humanity had been dear to God all down the ages, and His election of Israel had been the working out of His purpose of universal redemption. And here the Apostle makes a bold venture of faith. The past was in his sight a prophecy of the future, and he recognised in every dark dispensation a mystery of God, a providential secret still hidden but one day to be gloriously revealed. Such a mystery was Israel’s rejection. It was not, it could not be, final. ‘God never regrets His gifts of grace and His calling.’ ‘My own hope is a sun will pierce The thickest cloud earth ever stretched ; That, after Last, returns the First, Though a wide compass round be fetched ; That what began best, can’t end worst, Nor what God blessed once, prove accurst.’ The enrichment of the Gentiles would discover to Israel her own loss; and her desolate heart would turn to God, and she too would be saved—not a poor remnant but the whole nation. And thus, in God’s unsearchable providence, the ultimate issue would be the redemption of universal humanity. 23 I do not wish you, brothers, to ignore this mystery, lest you harbour conceit—that callousness has partially befallen Israel until the complement of the Gentiles have come in ; a6 and thus all Israel will be saved, as it is written : 1 Cf. p. 320. THE THIRD MISSION 441 ‘ There will come out of Sion the Deliverer ; Is. lix. 20, He will turn away impieties from Jacob. 21; xxvii, 2. ~+And this will be for them My fulfilment of the Covenant— ” when I have taken away their sins.’ ι 28 As regards the Gospel they are enemies for your sake, but as regards the Election they are beloved for their fathers’ 29 Sake ; for-God never regrets His gifts of grace and His calling. 30 As you once disobeyed God but have now experienced mercy 31 by their disobedience, so they also have now disobeyed Him that, by the mercy you enjoy, they also on their part may 32 now experience mercy. For God locked all up in the prison of disobedience that He might have mercy on all. 33 Ah, the depth of God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge ! 1 Cf. Job v. How unsearchable are His judgments and untrackable His 9: ™ το; ways ! XXXIV. 24. 34 ‘Who ever took knowledge of the Lord’s mind? or whos. xl. 13; ever shared His counsels ? a ee 35 Or who first gave to Him that it should be repayed him ? ’ 36 For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory for ever. Amen.? ΠῚ PRACTICAL (xii-Xiv) The Apostle’s theological argument is now complete, but A call to his last word has yet to be spoken. Doctrine is valueless tion. unless it issue in holiness; and the doctrine of Justification by Faith is peculiarly liable to ethical perversion. And so 1 So Orig., Chrys., taking πλούτου, σοφίας, and γνώσεως as co-ordinate genitives after βάθος. πλοῦτος, ‘riches in grace’ (cf. ii. 4, ix. 23, x. 12). σοφία is ratiocinative and γνῶσις intuitive. Ambrstr. takes σοφίας and γνώσεως as depen- dent on πλούτον : ‘the depth of the riches of both the wisdom and the knowledge of God.’ This is grammatically legitimate, but the former construction is established by vers. 34, 35, where the Apostle repeats the three attributes of God in reverse order: His γνῶσις---τίς ἔγνω νοῦν Κυρίου; His σοφία---τίς σύμβουλος αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο; His πλοῦτος---τίς προέδωκεν αὐτῷ, K.T.X. 2 Orig. sees here ‘the mystery of the Trinity’—God the Father from whom are all things, our Lord Jesus Christ through whom are all things, and the Spirit in whom all are revealed ; and also in ver. 33, where ‘depth of riches’ signifies the Father from whom are all things, ‘depth of wisdom’ Christ who is His wisdom (cf. 1 Cor. i. 24), and ‘depth of knowledge’ the Holy Spirit who knows the deep things of God (cf. 1 Cor. ii. 10, 11). Similarly Ambrstr. This is a mere fancy. It would require (1) ἐν αὐτῷ for εἰς αὐτόν and (2), as Aug. (Znarr. ἐπ Psalm. V, 4) observes, αὐτοῖς for αὐτῷ of the Three Persons, Occasions of dissen- ston: (1) Diver- sity of spiritual endow- ments. 1 Cor. xii- xiv. 4q2 LIFE AND ΤΑ ΕΒ OP Sire PAvuE he concludes his encyclical with a series of practical counsels and exhortations. He begins with a call to consecration. xii.1 [exhort you, then, brothers, by the compassions of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice to God. This 2is your spiritual worship.t_ And do not follow the fashion of this age, but be transformed by the renewal of the mind,? so that you may prove what is the will of God, His good and well-pleasing and perfect will. And now he proceeds to deal with three questions which confronted all the communities of Gentile Christendom and disturbed their peace. The first was presented by the diversity of spiritual endow- ments and the heart-burning, the pride and jealousy which it engendered. This unhappy dissension had been rampant at Corinth a year previously. It was one of the questions which had been submitted to the Apostle’s consideration by that contentious community, and he had discussed it ex- haustively in his reply ; 3 and here he merely reiterates his conception of the Church as an organic unity. It is a living body, and each believer is a member with his peculiar func- tion essential to the corporate welfare. Our spiritual en- dowments, whatever they may be, are God’s appointments ; and our duty is to employ them faithfully. And he enforces this duty by a succession of practical precepts, pithy and memorable maxims relating to personal character and con- duct, behaviour to fellow-Christians, and the proper attitude toward outsiders, especially persecutors. 3 By the grace which was given me I bid every one among you not to harbour a higher estimate of himself than he should, but to aim at a sober estimate in accordance with the measure 40f faith which God has apportioned to each. For just as in one body we have many members, and the members have not 2 λογικός, (1) ‘spiritual’ as opposed to σωματικός or σαρκικός (cf. τ Pet. ii. 2, 5). Cf. Chrys. : λογικὴν λατρείαν" τουτέστιν, οὐδὲν ἔχουσαν σωματικὸν, οὐδὲν παχὺ, οὐδὲν αἰσθητόν, in contrast with Jewish sacrifice, ἐκείνη γὰρ σωματική. (2) * Reasonable,’ ‘ rational,’ in contrast with the sacrifice of ἄλογα ἕῶα (cf. 2 Pet. ii. 12; Jude 10). * Cf. n. on Phil. ii. 6, p. 514. 3 Cf. pp. 289 ff. THE THERD MISSION 443 sall the same function, so we, many as we are, are one body in Christ and are individually related to one another as 6members. Since we have gifts of grace differing according to the grace which was given us, if it be prophecy, let us 7 prophesy in proportion to our faith ;1 if it be deaconship,? let us devote ourselves to our deaconship ; if one be a teacher, 8let him devote himself to his teaching ;* if one’s office be exhortation, let him devote himself to his exhortation ; if it be charity, let him do it with a spirit of liberality ; 4 if it be tuling, let him do it with earnestness ; if it be showing com- passion, let him do it cheerily. 9 Let your love be unaffected. Abhor what is evil; cleave 1oto what is good. In the matter of brotherly friendship have a friendly affection for each other; in the matter of honour 1rgive each other precedence ; in earnestness be unslacking, in 12 spirit fervent, the Lord’s slaves; in your hope rejoice, in your 13distress endure, in your prayer persevere; have fellowship 14 with the necessities of the saints ; prosecute hospitality. Bless 15your persecutors; bless, and never curse. Rejoice with 16them that rejoice, weep with them that weep. Share one another’s interests ; harbour no lofty ambitions but embark on the stream of lowly duties. ‘Have a sober estimate of 17 yourselves.’ Never repay evil with evil. ‘Safeguard your 18 honour in the sight of all men.’ If possible, on your part, be 1gat peace with all men. Never avenge yourselves, beloved, but give room to the Wrath.® For it is written: ‘It is for Me zoto avenge: I will repay,’ says the Lord. No, ‘if your enemy is hungry, feed him ; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for 1 Preaching is real only as it is the testimony of faith, the declaration of an actual experience (cf. Jer. xxili. 28; 2 Cor. iv. 13). Or τῆς πίστεως may be understood as ‘the Faith,’ the objective standard of truth to which preaching must conform. ? διακονίαν, not ‘ministry’ generally (Chrys.) but the office of the deaconship. Cf. Pelag. : ‘ministerii sacerdotalis vel diaconatus officii.’ 3 Cf. p. 80. * Cf. Sen. De Benef. 11. vii. : ‘Fabius Verrucosus beneficium ab homine duro aspere datum ‘‘ panem lapidosum ”’ vocabat.’ 5 Cf. 2 Cor. vi. 6. Anne Bronté, 4gnes Grey, chap. xv: ‘ “‘ Stupid things!” muttered she. . . . She greeted them, however, with a cheerful smile, and protestations of pleasure at the happy meeting equal to their own.’ ® Chrys. : ‘What ‘‘wrath”? That of God. For since this is the chief desire of one who has been wronged—to see himself in the enjoyment of redress, He gives this very thing in large abundance. For if he does not himself retaliate, God will be his Avenger. Permit Him therefore, he says, to prosecute.’ Jer. Taylor, The Great Exemplar, 11. xii, Disc. x1, Part i. 1: “Τὸ that ‘‘ wrath we must give place,” saith St. Paul; that is “‘in well-doing” and evil-suffering “commit ourselves to His righteous judgment,” leaving room for His execution, who will certainly do it if we snatch not the sword from His arm.’ τ Th, iv. 9, Prov. iii. 7. Prov. iii. 4LXX; cf. 2 Cor. viii. 21. Dt. χχχὶϊ. 35: Prov. xxv. 21, 22. (2) Obedi- ence to civil rulers. Cf. Ac. xvii. 6-8, A divine ordinance. 444 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL 21 by doing this you will heap coals of fire upon his head.’!_ Be not conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good. The Apostle now turns to a second practical question— the Christian duty of obedience to civil rulers. There is no evidence that the primitive Christians were ever turbulently disposed ; and they ere long proved themselves loyal and serviceable citizens of the Roman Empire.? Nevertheless in those early days they were generally regarded as a mere Jewish sect, and the Jews were the most troublesome of all Rome’s subject races. The Messianic Hope was a powerful incentive to sedition, since the Saviour of Israel was conceived as a mighty king of David’s lineage who should arise and crush the oppressor and establish the ancient throne in more than its ancient splendour; and the fanatical Zealots were continually fanning the smouldering indignation and kindling the flame of insurrection. Their identification with the Jews exposed the Christians to the suspicion of the imperial government ; and the Apostle had learned by experience how his preaching of Christ, the King of Israel, might be misconstrued into a treasonable propaganda. It was thus a counsel of prudence that the Christians should disarm suspicion by loyal submission to the constituted authorities. But it was more. It was an absolute duty inasmuch as civil government is a divine ordinance. ‘The existing authori- ties are ordered by God; and so one who opposes the authori- tative order is in resistance to God’s ordinance.’ It was to this passage that the Royalist divines of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries appealed in vindication of their doctrines of the divine right of kings and the duty of passive obedience;* but they overlooked the essential consideration that, as St. Chrysostom remarks, the Apostle inculcates here sub- mission not to governors but to government. ‘ He did not 1 Cf. Ps. cxx. 4. The burning shame which your kindness will enkindle in your enemy’s heart is the sorest punishment you can inflict upon him. Cf. Aug. De Doct. Chr. 111. 24: ‘ad beneficentiam te potius charitas revocet, ut intelligas carbones ignis esse urentes pcenitentie gemitus, quibus superbia sanatur ejus qui dolet se inimicum fuisse hominis a quo ejus miseriz subvenitur,’ * Cf. Epist. ad Diogn. ν ; Tert. Afol. 37, 42. ® Cf. The Days of His Flesh, pp. 35 f. * Cf. Jer. Taylor, Duct. Dub. 111. 111. 3, THE THIRD MISSION 445 say, “‘ No ruler exists but by God’s appointment.”’ No, it is of the thing that he is discoursing. .‘“‘ No authority,” he says, ‘‘ exists but by God’s appointment; and the existing authorities are ordered by God.’”’ Thus also, when a wise Proy. xix. man says: “A wife is fitted to a man by the Lord,” his aes meaning is that God made marriage, not that it is He who unites every man in his association with a woman. For we see many associating with each other for evil and not by the law of marriage.’ The question of the legitimacy of resistance to tyranny does not here arise. The Apostle has in view a righteous and beneficent government ; and such a government he and his readers enjoyed in thosedays. Roman law was just and impartial; and repeatedly in the course Cf. Ac. xvii. of his travels—at Thessalonica, at Corinth, and at Ephesus— aba ΠΣ its strong arm had succoured him and shielded him alike 35:11: from Jewish and from heathen violence. ‘The authority’ had indeed proved ‘God’s minister for his good’; and he recog- nised what disasters would ensue from its dethronement. ‘Everything,’ says St. Chrysostom, ‘would go to wrack ; neither city nor farm, neither house nor market nor aught else would stand, but everything would be overturned.’ Govern- ment was a beneficent institution. It was the bulwark of society, and anarchy was a crime against God and humanity. xiii.r Let every person be in subjection to the supreme autho- rities. For no authority exists but by God’s appoint- ment; and the existing authorities are ordered by God. 2 Andsoone who opposes the authoritative order is in resistance to God’s ordinance ; and the resisters will bring doom upon 3 themselves. For it is not good conduct but evil that need be afraid of rulers. Would you have no fear of the authority ? 4Do good, and you will win its praise; for it is God’s minister for your good. But if you do evil, be afraid ; for it is not to no purpose that it wears the sword: it is God’s minister taking wrathful vengeance on evil be- shaviour. And therefore you must needs be in subjection not only on account of the wrath but also on account of conscience. It was thus incumbent upon Christians, wherever they Taxes a might be, to revere the civil authority and loyally obey its ον requirements, paying their taxes cheerfully, remarks the Apostle with a smile, though the taxgatherers might play the Cf. Mt. XXil, 34-40. An exhor- tation. 446 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL bully. For governmental imposts are not an exaction ; they are a debt,! and they must be paid ; for it is a religious duty to ‘ owe nothing to any,’ except, adds the Apostle, that debt which can never be discharged—the debt of love, ‘ so burden- some ; still paying, still to owe.’? And this, as our Lord has taught us, is the only and all-sufficient fulfilment of the Law. Love your neighbour, and you will do him no manner of wrong ; all particular precepts will be superfluous. 6 It is for this reason also that you pay taxes. For the tax- 7gatherers are God’s officers devoted to this very task. Pay in every instance what you owe: gear where you owe gear, tribute where you owe tribute, fear where you owe fear, honour 8 where you owe honour. Owe nothing to any except mutual glove. One who loves his fellow has fulfilled the Law. For the commandments ‘ Thou shalt not kill,’ ‘Thou shalt not steal,’ “Thou shalt not covet,’ and every other, are summed up in this word: ‘ Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.’ 10 Love works no evil to one’s neighbour ; therefore love is the fulfilment of the Law. In kindly and dutiful love lies the golden secret of good citizenship; and the obligation was strengthened by the prevailing expectation of the Lord’s immediate Return. It was natural that the Jews with their secular ideal of the Messianic Salvation should entertain seditious dreams of the overthrow of the Roman dominion and the restoration of the kingdom to Israel; but it was a nobler consummation that the Christians had in view—the passing of the long night and the breaking of the Eternal Day. And that hope incited them not to political but to spiritual emancipation. τι And this, knowing the crisis, that it is high time for you to be roused from sleep ; for now is the Salvation nearer to us 12 than when we embraced the Faith. The night is far advanced, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the works of 13darkness and clothe us with the armour of light. Let us comport ourselves becomingly as in the day-time, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, 4 Cf. Mt. xxii. 21. Chrys. : οὐ χαριζόμεθα αὐτοῖς τὴν ὑπακοὴν ἀλλ᾽ ὀφείλομεν. 5 Milton, Par. Lost, Iv. 52-57. 5. Observe the paronomasia φόρον (‘custom’), φόβον (‘fear’). On the oppression of the pudlicant and the resentment which it provoked, cf. The Days of His Flesh, pp. 123 ff. THE THIRD MISSION 447 14not in strife and jealousy. No, clothe you with the Lord Jesus Christ,1 and make no provision for the gratification of your carnal lusts.” And now the Apostle turns to a third practical question. (3) The A tendency to asceticism had invaded the Church and had of {ues0r οἱ late extended widely ; especially, as will appear in due course, in the Province of Asia, where it manifested itself in dietary cr. col. ii, restrictions, in fasting and in celibacy. It had indeed an ec ee affinity with the Jewish prohibition of unclean food and with ©s. that antipathy to meat offered in heathen sacrifice which had recently excited such keen contention in the Church at Cf. 1 Cor. Corinth ; but it was a much larger question than either. It “"* was a creation of the spirit of the age, and it had both its Jewish and its pagan phase. Its Jewish phase was Essenism.*? The Essenes make Essenism. their first appearance in Jewish history about the middle of the second century B.c.; and though never numerous— only some four thousand in the days of Philo and Josephus— they figured conspicuously in the national life and are ranked by the Jewish historian \.th the Pharisees and Sadducees as the third Jewish sect. They were a monastic order, and their principal settlement was in the Wilderness of En-Gedi on the western shore of the Dead Sea. They maintained themselves by industry, chiefly agriculture; and they eschewed sexual intercourse, abstained from flesh and wine, and practised fasting.® Just as Sadduceeism was likened by the Rabbis and the Σ Cf. n. on Gal. iii. 27, p. 207. 3 This (vers. 13, 14) is the passage on which St. Augustine’s eyes lighted when, amid his spiritual distress, he opened his copy of St. Paul’s Epistles in obedience to a voice—a child’s at play in the neighbouring garden—chanting ‘ Take, read ; take, read.’ Cf. Confess. VIII. 12. * On the Essenes cf. Jos. De Bell. Jud. τι. viii. 2-13; Ant. XII. v. 9, XVIII. i. 5; Philo, Quod Omnis Probus Liber, 12 f.; Plin. Nat. Hzst. v. 15. Also Lightfoot, Colossians, pp. 347 ff. ; Schiirer, Jew7zsh People, 11. ii. pp. 188 ff. ; Keim, Jesus of Nazareth, 1. pp. 365 ff. ; Hausrath, MW. 7. Zimes, 1. pp. 153 ff. 4 Jos. Ant. x1. v. 9; De Bell. Jud. τι. viii. 2; Vit. 2. * Their abstinence from flesh and wine is expressly affirmed by St. Jerome on the alleged authority of Josephus (Adv. Jovinian. 11.), and it is implied by the historian in De Bell. Jud. τι. viii. 5. Cf. the Essenic characterisation of James the Lord’s brother by Hegesippus (Eus. Hist. Eccl. 11. 23): οἶνον καὶ σίκερα οὐκ ἔπιεν οὐδὲ ἔμψυχον ἔφαγε. Lightfoot, Co/. p. 84. Neopytha- goreanism. Asceticism in the Church, Cf. ver. 14. Cf. ver. 17. 448 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL Christian Fathers to Epicureanism? and Pharisaism, with more justice, to Stoicism,? so Essenism had its pagan counter- part in Neopythagoreanism. It was, according to Josephus, merely Neopythagoreanism ingrafted on the stem of Judaism ; 3 but the truth is rather that they are kindred manifestations of the spirit which in those days was every- where stirring in the souls of men. The Pythagoreans were vegetarians, and their abstinence from flesh was a corollary of their doctrine of the Transmigration of Souls, since it might happen that in slaying and eating an animal one was guilty of a criminal impiety, ‘unwittingly assailing a parent’s soul and violating by blade or tooth the lodging of some kin- dred spirit.’ But they recommended it also for humanitarian and valetudinary reasons, and it gained numerous adherents. Seneca tells us 4 that in his youth he was won to the practice of vegetarianism by his Pythagorean tutor Sotion, and abandoned it only at the instance of his unphilosophical father to escape the odium which was excited in the reign of Tiberius against alien superstitions.® It is thus no marvel that asceticism should have invaded the Christian Church. It is recorded of St. Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist that he was a vegetarian, living on “seeds and nuts and herbs without flesh’ ;® and of James the Lord’s brother that he ‘ neither drank wine and strong drink nor ate flesh.’ 7 Such examples would be potent with the Jewish Christians, and would facilitate the spread of Neopythagoreanism in Gentile communities. Nevertheless it was an unfortunate development. Asceticism is essen- tially antagonistic to the spirit of Christianity. Its offence is twofold—on the one hand, its underlying assumption of the inherent evil of matter, and, on the other, its despirituali- sation of religion. And apart from its theoretical implicates it was inevitable that its invasion of the Church should occasion grave dissension and hot recrimination, since the ascetics, probably a minority in each community, would fain 1 Cf. Keim, Jes. of Nas., τ. p. 354. 5.0 Ε Jos: Vee 2: BAe RN. Xo 4 Epist. CVI. 5 Cf. Tac. Ann. 11. 85. ® Clem. Alex. Pedag. 11. i. 16. 7 Hegesippus in Eus. Aést. Eecl. τι. 23. THE THIRD MISSION 449 have made their practices universally obligatory. They “passed judgment’ on the laxity of their liberal-minded neighbours, and the latter retaliated by ‘setting them at naught ’ as worthless bigots. The Apostle’s sympathies were with the liberal party, and An open he expressly ranges himself on their side by ascribing the ΚΡ τον. scrupulosity of the ascetics to the weakness of their faith. Yet he recognises that they too were in fault. They had failed, not without provocation, in the paramount duty of Christian charity. He will not enter upon a controversy : that were unprofitable work, issuing only in embitterment, and there was already too much of it. And so he adopts the wiser course of defining the attitude which the two parties should maintain toward each other. xiv.r One who is weak in faith receive—not for discussion of 2disputed opinions. One man’s faith lets him eat every sort of food, while one who is weak eats only vegetables. 3 The man who eats must not set at naught the man who abstains ; and the man who abstains must not pass judg- ment on the man who eats; for God received him. First he asserts the right of personal liberty. Every man Therignht is entitled to think and act according to his own judgment. Pap eaey He may indeed be mistaken, but he is responsible to the Lord alone. 4 Who are you that pass judgment on another’s servant ἢ It is for his own lord that he stands or falls. And stand he 5 will ; for the Lord has power to make him stand. One man judges this day different from that; another judgés every 6day alike: let each be satisfied! in his own mind. The man who observes the day observes it for the Lord. And the man who eats eats for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and the man who abstains abstains for the Lord, and gives thanks to God. 7 None of us lives for himself, and none dies for himself ; 8 for if we live, it is for the Lord that we live, and if we die, it is for the Lord that we die. Therefore, whether we live or 9die, we are the Lord’s. For it was for this purpose that the Lord died and came to life again—that He might be Lord of both dead and living. ro But you—why are you passing judgment on your brother ? Or you, again—why are you setting your brother at naught ? 1 Cf. n. on iv. 21, p. 399. 2+ Is. xlv. 23. The duty of charity. ΘΕ χ δε, Vili. 450° - LIFE AND: LETTERS OF ST PAGE 1: We shall all stand side by side at the Bar of God. For it is written : “As I live, saith the Lord, to Me shall every knee bow, And every tongue shall make confession to God.’ 12 So then each of us will give account of himself to God. In this thought of direct and personal responsibility to God lay the sovereign corrective alike of ascetic censoriousness and of the impatience which it provoked ; and the Apostle proceeds to reprobate the latter disposition, reaffirming the principle which he has already enunciated in dealing with the kindred controversy at Corinth regarding the eating of meat sacrificed to idols, and speaking the more freely inas- much as he shared the liberal sentiment. He recognised the evil of asceticism, but he recognised also the duty of charity and respect even for an unreasonable scrupulosity. No food indeed is unclean per se ; yet if a man deems it unclean, it is unclean for kim, and it were an injury to his soul to insist upon his partaking of it against the dictates, the mistaken dictates, of his conscience. 13 Let us therefore no longer pass judgment on one another. No, let this rather be your judgment—never to place a stumbling- 14 block im your brother’s way or a snare. I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that there is nothing defiling in itself; but if one reckons a thing defiling, it is defiling for shim. If by reason of the food you eat your brother is being grieved, you are no longer walking in the path of love. Do not 16 destroy him by your food—one for whom Christ died. There- 17fore let not your common good be calumniated. For the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking but righteous- 18 ness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. One who 15 herein a slave to Christ is well pleasing to God and approved by men. 19 So then let us pursue the interests of peace and of mutual zoupbuilding. Do not for food’s sake demolish the work of God. All food is clean, but it is bad for one to eat if he has 21 scruples about it. The noble course is to refrain from eating flesh and drinking wine and everything which is a stmbling- 22 block to your brother. As for you, the faith which you hold, hold it for yourself in the sight of God. Blessed is the man who does not pass judgment on himself in what he approves. a3 But one who has misgivings stands condemned if he eats, inasmuch as it is not the outcome of faith; and everything which is not the outcome of faith is sin. THE THIRD MISSION 451 The encyclical concludes with a noble doxology : 1 Doxology conclu xvi.25 Now to Him who has power to strengthen you according the en- ; to my Gospel and the message of Jesus Christ, according to °7°!': the revelation of the mystery kept silent throughout the 26 course of times eternal, but manifested now, and through the prophetic scriptures according to the commandment of the Eternal God made known for the achievement of faith’s 27surrender among all the Gentiles, to the only, the wise God through Jesus Christ—to whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen. It is an effective conclusion skilfully summarising the A retro- argument of the Epistle; and its significance appears when τερον we observe how the Apostle here reverts to his introduction, ™*™+ There he defines his Gospel. Its theme was ‘ the Son of God, Jesus Christ,’ and here he terms it ‘the message of Jesus Christ.’ And it was no innovation, as the Judaists alleged. It was the fulfilment of the.prophetic promise of a world-wide salvation; and here he reiterates this and introduces his grand conception of the ‘ mystery,’ God’s eternal purpose so long hidden from the blind eyes of men but intimated in the prophetic scriptures and illumined by the Christian revela- tion. In his introduction, again, he had spoken of his longing to visit his readers and ‘ impart to them some spiritual gift, that they might be strengthened’; and here he expresses a better wish—that they may be strengthened by God Himself. The most significant feature of the doxology, however, is A confes- its syntactical confusion. The Apostle’s purpose at the out- δον ΟἹ .., set is to ascribe glory to God, and he shapes the sentence deity. with this end in view. ‘ To Him,’ he says, ‘ who has power to strengthen you—the only, the wise God.’ Here he adds ‘through Jesus Christ,’ since it is through Him that God is known and worshipped ; and he would naturally have con- tinued ‘ be the glory.’ But that Blessed Name captivates his thoughts; and, throwing syntax to the winds, he writes ‘through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory.’ Copyists have rectified the construction by omitting the relative and reading ‘ to the only, the wise God through Jesus Christ be 1 On the position of the Doxology (xvi. 25-27) cf. p. 377. 3 That is, ‘the message which has Christ for its theme’ (cf. 1 Cor. i. 23, xv. 12; 2 Cor. i. 19, iv. 5, xi. 4), not ‘the message which Christ preached’ (Chrys. : τὸ κήρυγμα ᾿Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ" τουτέστιν, ὃ αὐτὸς ἐκήρυξε»). 452) LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAVE the glory,’ or by substituting the demonstrative pronoun : * to the only, the wise God through Jesus Christ, to Him be the glory.’ But in thus amending the Apostle’s grammar they have eliminated his thought. It was no mere inadvert- ence when he turned aside and ascribed to Christ the glory which belongs to God. It was a confession of his faith in - the oneness of the Eternal Son with the Eternal Father. PERSONAL MESSAGES TO THE VARIOUS CHURCHES (1) To Rome (xv) Exhorta- The primary motif of the encyclical, be it remembered, was inutus! tO forestall the machinations of the Apostle’s Judaist adver- mutual Bh inated saries; and, since the Roman Church was a mixed com- Jewish and munity, he appropriately begins his personal message with Chuttans, an exhortation to mutual forbearance and sympathy. The more liberal party of the Gentile converts must have patience with the scrupulosity of their Jewish fellows. Christ was the sovereign Exemplar for both. His grace had compre- hended Jews and Gentiles, and they should have room in their hearts for one another. There was here an especial lesson for the Jewish party. The Lord had indeed been ‘a Cf.ix. 5. minister to the circumcised.’ He had been a Jew according to the flesh, and the land of Israel had been the scene of His earthly ministry ; but the reason was purely dispensational —not that He was the Redeemer of the Jews alone but that He might link His universal grace with the historic prepara- tion and ‘ confirm the promises given to the fathers.’ And these promises, as the Apostle shows by a series of scriptural testimonies, culled from the three divisions of the sacred literature—the Law, the Prophets, and the Hagiographa, were not limited to the Jews but embraced the Gentiles too. 1 Now we who have strength ought to bear their weaknesses 2who have none, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbour for his good with a view to his upbuilding. 3For even the Christ did not please Himself. No, as it is Ps. Ixix.9. | written, ‘ the reproaches of them that reproach Thee fell upon 4Me.’ All that was written of old was written for our instruc- tion, that through endurance and the comfort of the Scrip- stures we may have hope. And may God, the giver of this THE THIRD MISSION 453 endurance and comfort, grant you mutual sympathy according 6 to Christ Jesus, that with one mind and voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. γ Therefore receive one another, as the Christ also received 8us! for the glory of God. I mean that Christ has been made a minister to the circumcised in vindication of God’s truthful- ness, that He might confirm the promises given to the fathers gand that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy, as it ΐ 7, ; is written : ‘ Therefore I will give thanks unto Thee among the Gentiles, ps, xviii, and unto Thy name will I sing praise.’ 49. το And again says the Scripture: ‘ Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with His py, xxxii, 11 people.’ And again: 43. ‘Laud the Lord, all ye Gentiles, Ps, cxvii. 1. and let all the people belaud Him.’ 12 And again Isaiah says : ‘ There will be the Root of Jesse, xi, το. And One that ariseth to rule the Gentiles ; on Him the Gentiles will set their hope.’ 13 Now may God, the giver of this hope, fill you with all joy and peace in the exercise of faith, that you may have the hope abundantly in the power of the Holy Spirit. And now, with that tactful courtesy which always char- Personal acterised him, he proceeds to obviate a possible misconcep- ¢XP!"* tion. He had written his encyclical with unrestrained freedom, and he recognised that certain of the sterner pas- sages in the course of his impassioned argument might be personally construed and resented as unjust aspersions on a community which he had never visited. And so he assures his readers that he had harboured no such intention. On the contrary, all that he had heard of them had persuaded him of the excellence of their Christian character and their doctrinal attainments. His argument was merely an affirma- tion of truths which they knew and believed but which they might easily forget ; and his emphasis was inspired by his apostolic authority and the momentousness of the issue. It was a vital cause that he was advocating—the universality of redemption ; and his achievements entitled him to vin- dicate it boldly. He had carried the Gospel for Jew and 1 ὑμᾶς, though more strongly supported (RACD?) than ἡμᾶς (BD"P), is plainly a copyist’s emendation, suggested by προσλαμβάνεσθε. Is. lii. 15. His pur- pose to visit Rome. Cf. Ac, xix. 2i. Οἵ. 2 Cor. ΧΟΣΕ, ΣΟ: 454 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL Gentile to every land in the long circuit from Jerusalem to Illyricum, and his labours had been crowned with signal success. 14 Jam persuaded, my brothers—yes, I am myself persuaded— regarding you, that you are yourselves laden with goodness, replete with all knowledge, well able also to admonish one 15 another. Yet I am writing to you somewhat boldly here and there, with the idea of putting you in remembrance, on the 16 Strength of the grace given me from God, that I may perform the office of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly work of the Gospel of God, in order that the offering up of the Gentiles may prove acceptable, having been sanctified in the 17 Holy Spirit. It is, then, in Christ Jesus that I have the right 18 to boast in my service of God. For I will not make bold to talk of anything save what Christ has wrought through me 19 to win the Gentiles to obedience by word and work in the power of signs and portents, in the power of the Holy Spirit, insomuch that from Jerusalem and all round as far as 29 Illyricum I have fulfilled the Gospel of the Christ; yet always with the ambition of thus preaching it—not where Christ’s name was known, lest I should be building on another 2xman’s foundation, but as it is written : ‘They will see to whom no announcement of Him was ever made ; and they who have not heard will understand.’ It was indeed a magnificent triumph, but it had been hardly won. It had cost him ten weary years of toil and suffering. All the while the Imperial Capital in the West had been the goal of his ambition, and he had hasted to accomplish his eastern ministry that he might betake himself thither. With that end in view he had steadfastly adhered to the rule of never preaching where the Gospel was already known; but this had afforded him little absolution, since he was the only ‘ Apostle to the Gentiles,’ and it had lain with him to evangelise all the wide circuit of Asia Minor, Mace- donia, and Achaia. But for him those lands would never have heard Christ’s name, and others had visited them only to undo his work and excite dissension in his Churches. Thus his cherished design of preaching at Rome had remained hitherto unfulfilled. Now, however, his eastern ministry had at length been accomplished, and the realisation of his dream was in sight. He was on the eve of quitting Corinth THE THIRD MISSION 455 and returning to Jerusalem with the contributions which the Churches of Macedonia and Achaia had entrusted to him for the relief of the poor in the Sacred Capital ; and his purpose was, as soon as he had discharged that errand, to inaugurate a far-reaching campaign in the West. His ultimate destina- tion was Spain, and in the course of his progress thither he would visit Rome. Such was his design, but in the inveterate hostility of the Judaist party he recognised a menace to its fulfilment. He anticipated trouble during his visit to Jeru- salem, and he begs the Christians of Rome to intercede with God on his behalf. 22 And this is the reason why I was so often hindered from 23 visiting you ; but now, since I have no more ground to occupy in these regions and have been longing to visit you for many 24 years past, whenever I journey to Spain—for I am hoping in the course of my journey to get a sight of you and be forwarded to my destination by you, in the event of my first enjoying in 25a measure the satisfaction of your company. Just now, how- ever, I am journeying to Jerusalem on an errand of ministra- 26 tion to the saints. For it was the good pleasure of Macedonia and Achaia to impart something to the poor among the saints 27at Jerusalem. Yes, it was their good pleasure, and they owe it to them; for if the Gentiles have participated in their spiritual blessings, they ought in turn to perform their office 28 by them in their material goods. So, after accomplishing this errand and putting them in possession of this harvest, I shall 29 set out for Spain and take you by the way. And I know that, when I visit you, it will be in the plentitude of Christ’s blessing. 30 But I beseech you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit to join me in wrestling in prayers to 31 God on my behalf, that I may be rescued from the enemies of the Faith in Judza and that the ministration I am conveying 32to Jerusalem may prove acceptable to the saints, so that I may, if God will, visit you in joy and find refreshment in your company. 33 Now MAY GOD, THE GIVER OF PEACE, BE WITH YOU ALL. AMEN. (2) To Ephesus and the other Cities of Asta (xvi. 1-20) The office of conveying the encyclical to Ephesus was commen. entrusted to an old and valued friend of the Apostle—Pheebe, dation of that deaconess of the Church of Cenchreze who had tended him in his sickness four years previously on the eve of his Greetings. Cf. Ac. xviii. 1-3. 456-*LIiFE AND* LETTERS OF s1- Favre departure from Achaia ;? and he begins his personal message to the Churches of Asia with a note of introduction, at once attesting her bona fides and bespeaking for her the considera- tion which she so well deserved. Apparently she had an errand of her own to Ephesus, and she undertook to carry the letter thither. 1 NowI commend to you Phebe our sister, who is a deaconess 2of the Church at Cenchree, that you give her a welcome in the Lord worthy of the saints, and befriend her in any matter where she may need you; for she on her part has proved a friend in need to many and to myself. Then, as was natural in a communication to a city where he had ministered so long, he addresses affectionate greetings to an extensive list of personal friends. First come his ancient and tried comrades, Prisca and Aquila, who had shared his toils and perils ever since he had encountered them at Corinth, and who were now playing a foremost part in the Christian community at Ephesus. Their house was one of the meeting-places of the Church, and he includes in his greeting the company which assembled there for fellow- ship and worship. These two are the only familiar names in the catalogue. The others are mentioned nowhere else, and not a few are names which were common among slaves—Andronicus, Ampliatus, Urbanus, Persis, Rufus, Asyncritus, Philologus, and Nereus. The households of Aristobulus and Narcissus were also slaves—the familia of citizens who do not appear to have been themselves Christians.2 There is not one 1 Cf. p. 189. * On the hypothesis that the epistle is a simple letter to the Church at Rome and the persons mentioned in xvi.I-20 Roman Christians, an interesting explanation of ol ἐκ τῶν ᾿Αριστοβούλου and οἱ ἐκ τῶν Ναρκίσσου has been suggested (cf. Lightfoot, PAz/., pp. 171 ff.). Aristobulus, the grandson of Herod the Great, resided at Rome during the reign of Claudius (cf. Jos. De Bell. Jud. 1. xi. 6; Ant. Xx. i. 2), and it is supposed that he may have bequeathed to the Emperor his retinue of slaves, who would thenceforth belong to the imperial household and be distinguished by the title of She would be a small craft, and she sailed early in the morning to profit by the northerly breeze which on that coast blows all day and falls in the evening. It was thus only by day that she could prosecute her voyage, and her first station for the night would 1 Cf. pp. 124, 344. 2. ‘Spiritual teachers,’ observes Bengel, ‘ought not to be too strictly bound by the clock, especially on a solemn and rare occasion.’ * The third storey of an *#su/a, immediately under the tiling, was occupied by the humbler sort of tenants. Cf. Juv. II. 199. * On the verdict of Luke the physician (ἤρθη vexpés). Had the lad been merely stunned, he would have written ἤρθη ws νεκρός. Paul’s words ἡ yap ψυχὴ αὐτοῦ ἐν αὐτῷ ἐστιν do not mean that his life had been in him all the time but that it had just returned. Cf. Grot.: ‘jam nunc cum loquor vita ei rediit.’ * A regular trader would have followed her own course, and it would have been impossible for Paul to determine what ports she should visit (cf. ver. 16). 462; LIFE AND: LETTERS’ OF°ST: PAUL be Assos. All the others embarked at Troas and sailed round Cape Lectum, but Paul chose to go a-foot across the pro- montory, a distance of fully twenty miles. It would be no hardship for one so accustomed to travel, and he desired a season of solitude that he might ponder what lay before him; and therefore he went all alone, unaccompanied even by Luke. He joined the ship at Assos, and the next day’s run brought her to Mitylene on the east of the island of Lesbos ; the third day (Wednesday) she reached an anchorage on the mainland abreast of the island of Chios, perhaps at Cape Argennum; and, sailing thence next morning, she emerged on the Caystrian Gulf and, striking across and rounding the western extremity of the island of Samos, put in for the night » at Cape Trogyllium,! and on the fifth day (Friday) proceeded to Miletus. Citation There she made a stay, since the Apostle had an office to Tphesian discharge. The murderous plot of the Jews on the eve of Elders. ΠΙ5 departure from Corinth had revealed to him the inveteracy of their hostility, and he had encountered fresh evidences of it in every town he had visited in the course of his journey through Macedonia. It had inspired him with gloomy fore- bodings of the fate in store for him at Jerusalem. He antici- Cf. vers. pated the worst ; he was sure that he was going to his death. 4225 δ would never pass that way again, and therefore he would fain deliver a last message to his friends at Ephesus, all the more that they were threatened with the invasion of a malig- nant heresy. His obvious course would have been to steer from Cape Argennum up the Caystrian Gulf and land at Ephesus; but he was in haste to reach Jerusalem in time for the Feast of Pentecost, which fell that year on May 28, and a visit to a city where he had so many friends would have detained him too long. And so he had held on to Miletus, and thence he summoned the Ephesian Elders to wait upon him and receive his counsels. Confer- It was a short run from Trogyllium to Miletus, and the ship ence with would reach the latter by noon. The route to Ephesus lay 1 According to the interpolation in DHLP καὶ μείναντες ἐν Τρωγυλίᾳ (Τρωγυλλίᾳ, al. Τρωγυλίῳ, Τρωγυλλίῳ). Cape Trogyllium (Τρωγύλλιον ἄκρον») was the western extremity of Mount Mycale, and in front of it lay an islet or rather three islets of the same name. Cf. Strabo, 636; Plin. Vat. Hest. ν. 37. THE THIRD MISSION 463 across the gulf of the Meander, now silted up by the river’s deposit, to the town of Priene, a distance of some ten miles, and thence some twenty miles by land ; and a courier would accomplish the journey in about eight hours. If the Elders set out betimes next morning (Saturday), they would, at their slower rate of travel, reach Miletus in the evening. It was thus in the night-time, after a brief repose, that the Apostle held his conference with them; nor was it, as he cf. ver. 31 reminded them, the first occasion in their experience when he had turned night into day. Luke would be present at the interview, and he has preserved a report of the Apostle’s moving farewell.} xx.18 You know, from the first day when I set foot in Asia, 19 how I conducted myself among you all the time, as the Lord’s slave with all humility and tears and trials which 20 fell to my lot amid the plots of the Jews. I never shrank from declaring to you anything that was profitable and 21 teaching you in public and in your homes, always testifying both to Jews and to Greeks repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus. 22 And now, look you, bound in spirit, I am on the way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, 23except that the Holy Spirit is testifying in city after city 24and telling me that bonds and distresses await me. But I set everything at naught, nor do I count my life precious to me, if only I may accomplish my course and the ministry Cf. 2 Tim, which I received from the Lord Jesus—to testify the Gospel iv: 7. of the grace of God. 25 And now, look you, I know that you will never see my face again—all you amongst whom I went about, proclaiming 26the Kingdom. Therefore I testify to you this day that I cr. xviii. 6 27am clean of the blood of all; for I never shrank from declaring all the will of God to you. 28 Take heed to yourselves and all the flock among which the Holy Spirit appointed you overseers,” that you shepherd 1 The accuracy of the report is attested by its Pauline diction. Cf. δουλεύειν τῷ ἹΚυρίῳ, ταπεινοφροσύνη (ver. 19), συμφέροντα (ver. 20), διακονία (ver. 24), φείδομαι (ver. 29), νουθετεῖν (ver. 31), οἰκοδομεῖν (ver. 32), κοπιᾶν (ver. 35). 4 ἐπισκόπους, ‘bishops.’ Here (cf. 1 Pet. v. 2-4) it is the Elders (πρεσβύτεροι) of the Church that are addressed, and they are designated ἐπίσκοποι. ‘ Bishop’ is simply a corruption of the Greek term, and it should be expunged from the N. T. in view of the ecclesiastical significance which it subsequently acquired. There were not three orders in the Apostolic Church—émloxora, πρεσβύτεροι, and διάκονοι, but only two--mpecBiirepo or ἐπίσκοποι and διάκονοι (cf, Phil. 1. 1; Cf, Mt. vii. tS. Dt. xxxiii. 3) 4- The fare- well. Cf. Rom, xIV. 5. 40a LIFE AND LETTERS OF St. Prue the Church of the Lord which He won with His own 29 blood.1 I know that after my departure grievous wolves 30 will come in among you and will not spare the flock; and from your own midst men will arise and talk perverted 41 things to draw the disciples away after them. Therefore be watchful, and remember that for three years night and day I never ceased with tears to admonish every one. 32 And now I commend you to God and to the Word of His grace which has power to upbuild you and give you the 33‘ heritage’ among ‘all His sanctified.’ No man’s gold or 34silver or clothing did I ever covet: you are yourselves aware that these hands? served my needs and my com- 35panions. I gave you every example that you ought to toil thus and help the weak, and remember the words of the Lord Jesus how He said Himself: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ 3 Thereafter the Apostle kneeled down and prayed with them. They were deeply moved, especially by his announce- ment that they would never see his face again ; and, as they gave him the parting kiss,* they clung about his neck with loud lamentation. It was now morning, and the breeze was rising and the ship was unfurling her sails. It was Sunday, but the Apostle had cast off the bondage of Jewish Sabbata- rianism and had no scruple in pursuing his journey on the 1 Tim. ili. 1-13). ἐπίσκοπος, ‘overseer,’ was ἃ common appellation of a shepherd (cf. 1 Pet. ii. 25), since a shepherd’s business was to ‘oversee’ (ἐπισκοπεῖν) his flock (cf. 1 Pet. v. 2); and the N. T. conception is that Christ is the supreme Shepherd or Overseer of the Church, and its ministers or presbyters His under- shepherds. Hence He is styled ὁ ᾿Αρχιποίμην (1 Pet. v. 4). Cf. p. 590. 1 The chief MSS. are divided between τὴν ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ Kupiov (AC*DE) and τὴν ἐκκλ. τοῦ Θεοῦ (NB), but the oldest authorities (¢.g., Iren. 111. xiv. 2) attest the former. The interchange of Θεός and Κύριος is frequent (cf. ver. 32: τῷ Θεῳ NACDEHLP; τῷ Κυρίῳ B), their abbreviation (ΟΣ, ΚΣ) facilitating their con- fusion. It is decisive in favour of τοῦ Κυρίου that, while the phrases ᾿[ησοῦς Χριστὸς ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν and αἷμα Θεοῦ are frequent in sub-apostolic literature (cf. Ign. Eph. inscr., i), they are alien from N. T., which always maintains the distinction between ‘God,’ the Unseen Father, and ‘the Lord,’ His visible manifestation, Det inaspectt aspectabilis tmago (cf. n. on Rom. ix. 5, p. 426). It would support τοῦ Θεοῦ if the Apostle’s words were regarded as a reference to Ps. Ixxiv. 2; but it would then be necessary to construe τοῦ ἐδίου as a gen. dependent on τοῦ αἵματος, ‘the blood of His own [Son].’ Cf. Rom. viii. 32. See Wetstein’s extensive and erudite critical note. * Displaying his toil-worn hands: ‘callosz, ut videtis’ (Beng.). * A Jogion from the oral tradition, not preserved by our Evangelists. Cf. The Days of His Flesh, p. xix; Unwritten Sayings of Our Lord, pp. 4 f. * Cf. p. 166. THE THIRD MISSION 465 Christian Day of Rest. The Ephesian Elders escorted him from the scene of the interview, probably a house of enter- tainment in the city, to the harbour, and would hardly let him go. The travellers had to ‘ tear themselves away.’ Their course lay direct south, and with the wind astern Voyageto they reached the island of Cos that evening. Next morning ”"” they steered south-east, and still the breeze was fair, since they were entering the Levant, and there the prevailing winds are westerly. That evening they made the port of Rhodes at the northern extremity of the island of the same name ; and next day they reached Patara on the coast of Lycia, ‘a great city with a harbour and many temples.’! There they found a large ship bound for Pheenicia, and, dismissing their little hired craft, they embarked in the more commodious and expeditious vessel. It seems that she coasted along to Myra ;? and thence, putting out to sea, she steered past the west of Cyprus and made for the port of Tyre. Her cargo was consigned to Tyre, but her destination was Sojourn Ptolemais some five and twenty miles southward, and after "“* unlading she would proceed thither. It was a long way from Tyre to Jerusalem, and since he was evidently desirous of husbanding his strength in view of the ordeal which awaited him, the Apostle decided to remain by the ship to the end of her voyage. The unlading occupied a week, but the time _was well employed in fellowship with the Christians of Tyre. - They were a small community ; and, since they were un- apprised of his advent, he had to search them out, and it was not without difficulty that he discovered them in that great city. When, however, he succeeded, they showed him lavish kindness. They were acquainted with the Jewish sentiment toward him, and they confirmed his apprehensions and solemnly warned him to keep away from Jerusalem. Their entreaties were unavailing, and when he took his departure, all the little community, even the women and children, escorted him and his companions to the harbour. They kneeled down on the beach and prayed, and then bade peach other an affectionate farewell; nor was it until the 1 Strabo, 666. ® Cod. Bez. (D) els Πάταρα καὶ Μύρα. ς 8 Cf. Ac. xxi. 4: ἀνευρόντες δὲ τοὺς μαθητάς. Blass: "ἀνευρεῖν est guerende Teperire ; erat enim urbs magna, Christiani pauci,’ 2G ; | . : 466 LIFE AND LETTERS OF Si PAUL travellers were on board that their friends returned sorrow- fully home. At Steering southward along the coast, the ship reached “sree. Ptolemais. This was her destination,! and the travellers quitted her. They spent a day with the Christians of the city, waiting for a coasting vessel to convey them to Czsarea,? fully thirty miles farther on their way. At Cesarea they found a hospitable welcome in the house of Philip the Evan- gelist, one of the Seven Deacons ;® and there they remained “a good many days,’ evidently, in view of what transpired, — a full week at the least. Philip had four maiden daughters” endowed with the spirit of prophecy,‘ and the danger which Cf. 1 Cor. menaced the Apostle would not be hidden from them. Their “34 sex precluded them from free remonstrance, but they would not suffer him to go unwarned to his doom. In the Church at Jerusalem there was a venerable prophet—that Agabus who | had predicted the great famine some fourteen years pre- viously ; ὅ and it would seem that they appealed to him. At all events he appeared on the scene and delivered an im- pressive warning after the histrionic manner of his order.® | ee He entered the assembly of the brethren and, taking Paul’s of Agabus. ,irdle, bound with it his own feet and hands and intimated that the Jews would so bind its owner at Jerusalem and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. The The announcement, chiming with the Apostle’s own fore- Apostles , boding at Miletus and the warning of the Christians at Tyre and deriving from the character of the speaker the authority of a divine oracle, profoundly moved his companions; and the whole assemblage besought him to abandon his purpose of going up to Jerusalem. Their entreaties grieved him. He was going on the Lord’s errand, and he was affected by 1 τὸν πλοῦν διανύσαντες (ver. 7) can only mean ‘having finished the voyage’; and ἀπὸ Τύρου must be construed, not with πλοῦν (as though τὸν ἀπὸ Τύρου πλοῦν, ‘the voyage from Tyre’), but with κατηντήσαμεν, ‘we arrived from Tyre at Ptolemais.’ | * If they had travelled by land from Ptolemais, they would never have gone near Czsarea; they would have struck inland and followed the direct route to Jerusalem. * Cf. pp. 39 f. * Cf. p. 310. PCr p: 2: * Cf. The Days of His Flesh, p. 345. sm el THE THIRD MISSION 467 their affectionate importunity as the Lord had been by Peter’s protest at Caesarea Philippi when He intimated His cz. mt. approaching Passion. It was cruel kindness to dissuade him δ **** thus from the ordeal, and he told them that he was ready not merely to be bound but to die at Jerusalem for the name of _the Lord Jesus. This put them to silence, and they mourn- fully acquiesced. They did not, however, desist from their solicitude on his Progress behalf ; they rather redoubled it. With the fear of a re- [ {ὅταν currence of his chronic malady before his eyes he had latterly, _ doubtless on the advice of Luke the physician, spared him- self unnecessary fatigue ; and now in prospect of the journey they made all provision for his easy transit. Jerusalem was _some sixty miles distant from Cesarea, and they procured beasts of burden for his conveyance.t Nor would they permit him to make a single day’s march of the journey. At a village on the route, perhaps Lydda, there dwelt a venerable Christian named Mnason. He was a native of cf. xi. a0. Cyprus, and had perhaps been won to the Faith by Peter in the course of the latter’s mission in that district quarter of Ct. ix. 35 a century previously. Lydda, situated thirty-seven miles >> from Cesarea and twenty-three from Jerusalem, would be a convenient station, and it was arranged that the Apostle should break his journey there and pass the night at Mnason’s house. Accordingly, when he set out, a deputation of the Cesarean Christians escorted him so far on his way and committed him to the care of his gracious host.2, Next day he continued his journey, and on his arrival at the Sacred cz. xxiv, _ Capital on the eve of the Day of Pentecost he was joyfully ™ _ welcomed. 1 ἐπισκευάσασθαι (Ac. xxi. 15) denoted especially ‘ putting a load on beasts.’ 3 The narrative is here (xxi. 16, 17) very obscure, and it is thus happily elucidated by Cod. Bez. (D): συνῆλθον δὲ καὶ τῶν μαθητῶν ἀπὸ Καισαρείας σὺν ἡμῖν" οὗτοι δὲ ἤγαγον ἡμᾶς πρὸς οὗς ξενισθῶμεν, καὶ παραγενόμενοι εἴς τινα κώμην ἐγενόμεθα παρὰ Μνάσωνί τινι ἱἹζυπρίῳ, μαθητῇ ἀρχαίῳ. κἀκεῖθεν ἐξιόντες ἤλθομεν εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα, ὑπέδεξάν τε ἡμᾶς ἀσμένως οἱ ἀδελφοί, ‘and there went with us also some of the disciples from Cesarea; and these conducted’ us to our entertainers, and on arriving at a certain village we were lodged with a certain - Mnason, a Cyprian, an early disciple. And setting out thence we came toe Jerusalem, and the brothers welcomed us gladly.’ BOOK III PAUL THE PRISONER OF JESUS CHRIST ‘O comrade bold, of toil and pain ! Thy trial how severe, When sever’d first by prisoner’s chain From thy loved labour-sphere ! ‘ Say, did impatience first impel The heaven-sent bond to break? Or, could’st thou bear its hindrance well, Loitering for JESU’s sake?’ JOHN HENRY NEWMAN. ARREST AT JERUSALEM ΠΩΣ 17-xxili, On the following day the Presbytery of the Church convened Reception under the presidency of James, the Lord’s brother ;! and hae: Paul and his companions appeared before it. They would tery. present the contributions which they had brought from the Churches of Macedonia and Achaia, and the Apostle told the story of his ministry among the Gentiles during these last four years. It was a thrilling narrative, and it was received with devout gratitude. It would have been well had this sentiment been universal judaist in the Church of Jerusalem, but the Presbytery was aware 2™™mosity: of the prevalence of a bitter animosity against the Apostle. Most of the Judzan Christians belonged to the Judaist party, and they regarded him as a renegade who went about seeking to pervert the Hellenistic Jews and persuading them to dis- continue the observance of the Mosaic Law, particularly the rite of Circumcision. It was of course a mischievous mis- representation. His actual contention was that Circumcision mattered nothing. Salvation was by faith in Christ and not by the rites of the Law, and he refused to impose Circum- cision on his Gentile converts; but he never forbade it to the Jews. They were free to practise it and other Mosaic cr, 1 Cor. rites if they would, so long as they rested on Christ for “ 155. salvation. His Judaist adversaries, however, ignored this essential distinction, and they had dinned their grievance into the ears of the Judzan Christians.? The consequence was that he was regarded in Jerusalem Associa. with inveterate hostility. The situation was perilous, and Recah the Presbytery had planned a remedy, a politic device for with N openly defining his attitude toward the Law and clearing ins od 1 Again (cf. pp. 60, 111) apparently the original Apostles were absent. 8 κατηχήθησαν, cf. The Days of His Flesh, p. xvii. 471 Riot in the Temple. Cf. Num, vi. 9. 472. LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL himself of those malicious aspersions. It happened that there were four members of the Church who, on account of cere- monial defilement, had five days previously ! assumed the Nazirite vow. It was accounted meritorious in those days that a Jew should associate himself with a poor votary and defray the Temple-charges for his purification;? and the Presbytery’s proposal was that Paul should undertake this charitable office on behalf of the four, and thus publish his reverence for the Law. It would involve no compromise of his principles, since he had himself assumed the Nazirite vow on the occasion of his last visit to Jerusalem.? He agreed, and repaired with the votaries to the Temple and intimated to the priest his association with them and his responsibility for their charges. Since the vow ran for a week, it was accomplished on the following day, and Paul then returned with them to the Temple to discharge his liability. So far he had been un- molested, and it had seemed as though the Presbytery’s stratagem would succeed; but it was frustrated by an unfortunate circumstance. Among the pilgrims who had resorted to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Pentecost were some Jews from the Province of Asia, and it chanced that they encountered the Apostle in the city in company with Trophimus. The latter was an Ephesian, and they recognised him; and presently they espied Paul within the Temple-precincts on his errand to the priest, and leaped to the conclusion that he had brought his Greek follower with him. It was an intolerable desecration that the feet of an ‘uncircumcised dog ’ should tread the sacred court, and they seized the Apostle and shouted ‘ Israelites, to the rescue! ’ A wild tumult ensued. The whole city was roused, and Paul was beset by a mob of fanatics, who dragged him outwith the Temple and, lest he should elude their grasp and find sanctuary by the altar, shut the gates. Once in the street they showered blows upon him, and would have done him to death had not the uproar reached the adjacent barracks of Fort Antonia, and the commander, Claudius Lysias, promptly appeared on the scene witha detachment of soldiers. 1 Cf. Append. I, p. 657. 3 Cf. Jos. Amt. XIX. vi. 1. * Οἱ. p. 190. ARREST AT JERUSALEM 473 He rescued the Apostle from his murderous assailants, The and put him in charge of two soldiers who coupled him to Sa te themselves by a chain on either wrist ; and then he inquired ry nies who he was and what he had done. The only answer was @ confused and unintelligible clamour, and he ordered that the stunned prisoner should be conveyed within the Castle for examination. A suspicion had crossed his mind. Those were troublous days in Judea. The Assassins, that extreme party of the Zealots sworn to undying enmity against the Roman tyranny, were active ; and recently there had been a wild outbreak under an Egyptian Jew who professed himself a prophet and played upon the fanaticism of the populace, It had been suppressed by the Procurator Felix, and the leader had escaped and disappeared. And now the idea had occurred to Lysias that the Apostle might be that desperado and the deluded mob was taking its revenge. The Castle adjoined the Temple to the north, and it was His speech entered by a double stairway in the north-east angle of the ‘0° outer court.2, On the way thither the crowd hustled the prisoner and his guards, shouting ‘ Away with him!’ until on reaching the stair the soldiers had to carry him up the steps. Just at the doorway he accosted the commander for the first time and craved a word with him. ‘Do you understand Greek ?’ was the surprised answer. ‘ Are you not the Egyptian?’ ‘No,’ said the prisoner, ‘I am a Jew of Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no undistinguished city. Pray, permit me to talk to the people.’ Lysias consented, and, taking his stand on the broad landing, Paul faced the tumultuous assemblage in the court beneath, and, with that characteristic gesture which Luke had remarked the first time he ever heard him in the Synagogue of Pisidian Antioch,’ raised his hand to bespeak attention. The tumult subsided, and he addressed the crowd in their Aramaic vernacular. It would be unintelligible to the Roman Lysias, and probably also to the Greek Luke who witnessed the scene from his place in the court; but it was kindly in the ears of the Jewish fanatics and won their attention. The speech was a biographical narrative, designed to His per- 1 Cf. Jos. Ant. xx. viii. 6; De Bell. Jud. τι. xiii. 5. apologia. * Cf. De Bell. Jud. v. νυ. 8. 8 Che p. 92, Renewed uproar. Sentence of 474. LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL justify the Apostle’s attitude toward the Jewish Faith. Me styled his hearers, with all honour, after the Jewish fashion, ‘ brothers and fathers,’ thus claiming kinship with them; and he told them of his Jewish birth at Tarsus, his education in their,own College under the celebrated Rabbi Gamaliel, and how he had once been as zealous for the Law as any of them and a ruthless persecutor of the followers of Jesus. And then he told them how he had been converted on the road to Damascus by a vision of Jesus, Risen and Glorified ; and how, thirteen years later, there in the court of the Temple the Lord had again appeared to him and, © sorely against his will, had imposed on him the office οὗ preaching salvation to the Gentiles. Hitherto they had listened eagerly, but this mention of the Gentiles infuriated them. ‘ Away with such a fellow from the earth!’ they shouted, and struggled and gesticu- lated till the very air was thick with the dust they raised. The uproar discomposed Lysias. He was responsible for scourging. the maintenance of order in the city, and in the hope of His pro- test. pacifying the mob he adopted an illegal course: he ordered that the prisoner should be scourged until he confessed his crime. The illegality was twofold. It was only when a prisoner had refused, in the course of examination, to state the truth that resort was had to torture; and Paul had not refused ; he had not even been put upon his trial. More- over, he was, though Lysias was unaware of this, a Roman citizen, and to inflict the ignominy of the scourge on the sacred person of a Roman was sacrilege.” The soldiers were binding him to the whipping-post when he said to the centurion in charge: ‘ Have you the right to scourge a man who is a Roman and has had not trial δ᾿ The protest was effective. The centurion turned to Lysias. ‘What are you going to do?’ he asked. ‘ This man is a Roman.’ Lysias was aghast. He stepped over to the prisoner. ‘ Tell me,’ he said, ‘are youa Roman?’ ‘ Yes’ was the answer. It seemed incredible. It was indeed common for a rich provincial to purchase that precious privilege,? and it was thus that Lysias had obtained it ; but Paul was only a poor Jew. ‘For a large sum,’ exclaimed 1 Cf. p. 76. * Cf. p. 20. * bid, ARREST AT JERUSALEM 475 the officer, ‘I gained this citizenship.’ ‘ But I,’ was the proud rejoinder, ‘am a Roman born.’ Lysias would have been glad if, like the magistrates of Arraign. Philippi in a similar embarrassment, he could have dismissed PP". 41,, the prisoner with an apology; but Jerusalem was not Sanbedrin Philippi, and he durst not provoke the resentment of the cr, Ac. turbulent Jews. The best he could do was to secure him a ἢ 35°39 fair trial. Since Paul was a Jew, he was under the juris- diction of the Jewish tribunal, and so the commander required the Sanhedrin to meet on the following day. The august court assembled in due course in the Hall of Hewn Stone under the presidency of the High Priest Ananias ; and Lysias, evidently apprehending violence, conducted the prisoner thither from the Castle under a military escort. On his own account he hoped for an amicable issue in view of the illegality which he had perpetrated ; and it appears, moreover, that he was well disposed to the Apostle and desired his acquittal. Paul’s attitude too is remarkable. He had plainly aban- nis stout doned all expectation of justice at the hands of the Jews ; and >e"!"6: it seems as though he had regretted his attempt to conciliate their prejudices by assuming the Nazirite vow and had deter- mined to have done with compromises. Probably also, as St. Chrysostom suggests, he reckoned that a resolute bearing would impress the commander and stiffen his resolution to see justice done. At all events he faced the Sanhedrin fearlessly and indeed Rencontre cavalierly. Instead of meekly awaiting examination he High immediately entered a protest. ‘ Brothers,’ he said abruptly Pst —not ‘ Rulers of the people and Elders of Israel,’ which was Ct. Ae. iv. the customary formula in addressing the supreme court— ~ “I have with a perfectly good conscience been a citizen of Cf. Eph. ἢ, the Commonwealth of God to this day.’ It was an assertion ae ga of his loyalty to the Jewish Faith, and it so angered the High ct. 2 Cor. Priest that he ordered his attendants to silence the audacious τ΄ 2°! ™* prisoner by smiting him on the mouth. It was the grossest of insults, a piece of sheer ruffianism perpetrated by a minister of justice; and the Apostle’s indignation blazed up. ‘God will smite you,’ he cried, ‘ you whited wall!? 1 A proverbial phrase. Cf. Mt. xxiii. 27. Ex. xxii. 28. Cf. Jo. XViii. 22, 23. Embroil- ment of Sadducees and Phari- sees. 8. ἀρ ΟΦ ΠΩΣ Shy Phil. iii. ς. 476 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL And sit you there as my legal judge, and illegally bid me be smitten?’ The tyrant’s minions were horrified, and exclaimed against such language to ‘ God’s High Priest ’ ; but their reproof merely exposed Ananias to a sharper thrust. Paul looked round the court. ‘I knew not, brothers,’ he said, ‘that he was High Priest, for it is written : ‘‘ Thou shalt not speak ill of a ruler of thy people.’’’ It was no apology but a biting sarcasm: ‘Certainly the High Priest should be reverenced, but who could have supposed that this ruffian was a High Priest ὁ } It was indeed a dramatic episode, and the natural heart applauds the Apostle’s brave defiance; yet perhaps he would bethink himself by and by in calmer mood that there was a nobler way. His Lord had once stood like him before the High Priest and been subjected to the self-same con- tumely ; and His only answer had been a gentle remon- strance. ‘ Where,’ asks St. Jerome,? ‘is that patience of the Saviour, who, “led as a lamb to the slaughter, opened not His mouth,” but spoke gently to the smiter: “If I have spoken ill, testify of the ill; but if well, why do you strike Me?” We do not detract from the Apostle but we proclaim the glory of the Lord who, when He suffered in the flesh, rose superior to the injury and weakness of the flesh.’ It was clear to Paul that he would receive no justice in the Sanhedrin, and he resorted to an adroit stratagem. The court was composed of representatives of the rival parties of the Sadducees and the Pharisees, who were sharply divided on the question of Immortality.2 Here lay his opportunity. He was himself a Pharisee by birth and education, and amid the excitement which ensued upon his defiance of the Sadducean President, he appealed to the partisan sympathies of the Pharisaic members. ‘ Brothers,’ 1 This interpretation was common in Chrysostom’s day (τινὲς μὲν οὖν φασὶν ὅτι εἰδὼς εἰρωνεύεται) ; but his own view is that’ Paul spoke seriously: he really did not know that it was the High Priest, since he had been long absent from Jerusalem and was unacquainted with Ananias, and, moreover, in the thronged court he would not distinguish the speaker. But the High Priest was unmistak- able. He occupied the presidential seat in the middle of the semicircle of Sanheduists, and the prisoner stood before him during the trial. ® Dial. adv. Pelag. 111. 5. The Days of His Flesh, p. 42. ARREST AT JERUSALEM 477 he cried, ‘I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: it is on the question of hope for the dead and their resurrection that I am being judged.’. The ruse succeeded. The Scribes, the leaders of the Pharisaic party, »mmediately espoused his cause and asserted his innocence. And so fierce grew the quarrel that he was in danger of being torn limb from limb, until Lysias interfered and had him conveyed to the Castle. There he passed a troubled night. He could have little The _ satisfaction in reviewing the day’s proceedings or indeed the ea part which he had played ever since his arrival in Jerusalem. '"8*- His initial blunder had been his acquiescence in the politic proposal of the Presbytery. This involved indeed no com- promise of principle, but it was alien from the spirit of “simplicity toward Christ.’ Once before, when he had circumcised Timothy in deference to Jewish prejudice, he had resorted to diplomacy, only to discover its unprofit- ableness ; and now again he had essayed it, and it had failed 2Cor. xi. 3 him disastrously. It was perhaps his chagrin that prompted him to assume so defiant an attitude before the Sanhedrin, forgetful of ‘the meekness and sweet reasonableness of Christ.’ This also had proved futile; and then in his desperation he had resorted to an ignoble trick, enkindling the mutual animosity of his enemies, and it was only the 2 Cor. x. 1. intervention of Lysias that had extricated him from his embarrassment. His situation was indeed disquieting, and it was largely His reas- his own creation. It seemed as though there were no escape, ““*"°* but in that dark hour he was visited by a thought which he hailed as a divine assurance. His long-cherished dream that he would crown his ministry by testifying for Christ in the Imperial Capital had become a settled conviction. That was, to his mind, God’s indubitable purpose; and, dark as was his immediate prospect, the cloud would lift. He would not perish in Jerusalem but would live to preach at Rome. . His faith was justified by the event, and already God Α plot was working out His providential design. The Apostle’s pba: escape from the Sanhedrin had been an exasperating dis- 4". appointment to the Jewish rabble; and next morning a company of over forty desperadoes mustered and swore that Its frustra- Gen. Reference to the Pro- curator. 478 LIFE AND LETTERS OF Ὁ Pave they would have his life. They waited upon the rulers of beth parties, and unfolded their plot. It was that a requisi- ten be addressed to Lysias in name of the Sanhedrin, - desiring him to bring the prisoner once more before the court, on the pretext of instituting a stricter examination ; and they undertook to assassinate him on the way from the Castle, though it should cost them their own lives.1 The Sadducees and the Pharisees had so far composed their dissension of the previous day that they were now agreed in desiring the Apostle’s life ; and the plot was sanctioned. Happily, however, it was frustrated. A nephew of Paul, — his sister’s son, was resident in Jerusalem, and he dis- covered what was a-foot. Evidently he was not a Christian but a Jew; and it may be that, like his uncle once, he was a student in the Rabbinical College. At all events, he had access to the inner circle of the Jews and got wind of the plot. Like the rest of Paul’s relatives,” he regarded him as a traitor to the ancestral Faith, but natural affection triumphed over religious animosity, and, repairing to the Castle, he obtained an interview with the prisoner and told him the tidings. Paul desired one of his guards to conduct the lad to the commander ; and it is an evidence of the latter’s good- will toward his prisoner that, when he learned that the business concerned Paul, his interest was at once engaged, and he grasped thelad’s hand and drew him aside and heard hisstory. He took prompt and effective measures not merely to circumvent the conspiracy, but to remove the prisoner from his perilous situation. Since the case had assumed so serious an aspect, he would refer it to the Roman Procurator and have Paul conveyed to Caesarea, where the Procurator had his seat. He enjoined the lad to keep silence and, summoning two trustworthy centurions, instructed them to provide a strong escort of seventy horsemen and two hundred guardsmen, with asses for the prisoner and his attendant Luke.? And he wrote a letter to the Procurator, informing 1 In xxiii. 15 several authorities have ἀνελεῖν αὐτόν, ἐὰν δέῃ καὶ ἀποθανεῖν, ‘to kill him even if we must die for it.’ Δ ΘΕ Ὁ: ΟἹ: 3 The text in vers. 23, 24 is uncertain and confused, and it is simplified by (1) omitting διακοσίους after στρατιώτας with several minuscs., and (2) either omitting καὶ before ἱππεῖς (Fl.) or taktng it as epexeg., ‘even’ (cf. Gal. vi. 16). στρατιώτας is then the entire force, and ἱππεῖς and δεξιολάβους its constituents. ARREST AT JERUSALEM 479 him of the circumstances. He suppressed his own initial error in sentencing a Roman citizen to the scourge, and merely told how Paul had been mishandled by the mob, and in the course of his examination before the Sanhedrin all that had been laid to his charge was some offence against the Jewish religion. He had committed no crime, but it had transpired that a plot was on foot against his life; and so Lysias was sending him to the Procurator and bidding his accusers prosecute their grievance at Czsarea. The danger was that, if the conspirators discovered that Convey. the Apostle was being conveyed from Jerusalem, they might Avectle to attempt a surprise en route; and so the departure was τα delayed until nightfall. At nine o’clock the troop set forth and marched under cover of the darkness as far as Antipatris, a distance of over thirty miles. Once beyond Judza there was no need of apprehension; and from Antipatris the guardsmen marched back to Jerusalem, while the horsemen rode forward apace to Cesarea and delivered the letter and handed over the prisoner to the Procurator at the Preetorium, his official residence, formerly the palace of King Herod the Great. And thus, after an absence of only nine days, the Apostle found himself back in Cesarea. Ac. xxiv- XXVi. The Pro- curator Felix. His evil adminis- tration. His recep- tion of the prisoner, IMPRISONMENT AT CAESAREA THE Procurator at that time was Antonius Felix.) He had held office since the year 52,2 and these had been sorrowful days in Judea. He was a freedman of Antonia, mother of Claudius, and a brother of Pallas, the Emperor’s notorious favourite. He was the first freedman who had ever held a pro- curatorship, and he owed his appointment to his brother’s influence. The taint of his base origin clung to him through- out his career; and, as the historian Tacitus expresses it in his epigrammatic fashion, he ‘ exercised the prerogative of a king, with all cruelty and lust, in the spirit of a slave.’ Cruelty and lust—these were indeed the vices which darkened his Judzan administration. He exhibited the latter in his matrimonial relations. He was thrice married, and each of his wives, it is said,? was a princess. The first is unknown, but the second was a grand-daughter of Mark Antony and Cleopatra, and the third the Jewish princess Drusilla, daughter of Agrippa 1 and sister of Agrippa I. Shortly after his accession to office, though she was already married to Azizus, King of Emesa, he was captivated by her beauty and persuaded her to forsake her husband and ally herself with him. Of his cruelty that insurrection under the Egyptian Jew constitutes one of many instances. It was provoked by his tyranny, and he repressed it with sanguinary ferocity. Such tragedies were frequent during his malign administration. It was a veritable reign of terror, and it ended in his recall by Nero in the year 59. Such was the man who now controlled the Apostle’s destiny. And indeed it was better in his hands; for, with 1 Cf. Tac. Ann. x11. 54; Hist. v. 9. Jos. Ant. XX. viii. 5,6; De Bell. Jud, Il. xiii. 2-6. 8 Cf. Schiirer, 1. ii. p. 174. 5. Suet. Claud. 28: ‘trium reginarum maritum,’ 480 IMPRISONMENT AT CAESAREA 481 all his faults, Felix was a Roman magistrate, and under his administration Paul was sheltered by the strong Lulwark of Roman law. On reading the letter of Lysias he merely inquired of the prisoner what province he belonged to, and then informed him that he would be brought to trial as soon as his accusers presented themselves, and therewith dis- missed him to a cell. Meanwhile the implacable Jews were not idle. The Represen- Sanhedrin appointed a deputation consisting of the High ‘4; Priest Ananias to represent the Sadducees and several Elders Sanhedrin. to represent the Pharisees, and associated with them a Jewish lawyer named Tertullus to submit the case before the Roman tribunal. These preparations and especially the instruction of Tertullus required time, and Paul had lain five days in prison ere the prosecutors appeared at Cesarea. The trial opened with a speech by Tertullus. Though a The indict- Jew and the spokesman of the Sanhedrin, he began with τὴν fulsome and servile adulation of the tyrant. Then he proceeded to the indictment, and laid three distinct charges : treason, heresy, and sacrilege. Paul, it was averred, went about exciting insurrection among the Jews throughout the Empire ; he was a ringleader of ‘ the sect of the Nazarenes,’ as the Jews contemptuously designated the Christians ; and he had attempted to desecrate the Temple at Jerusalem. The deputies corroborated the indictment; and then the Procurator nodded to the Apostle, and the latter replied. His defence was prefaced by no flattering exordium, nor The _ would the omission impair its effectiveness, since Felix fPostle’s would duly appreciate the hollow sycophancy of the Jewish delegates. He simply expressed the satisfaction which he sincerely felt in pleading his cause before one who after five years’ experience was accurately acquainted with Jewish questions ; and then he proceeded to deal with the indict- ment. As for the charge of sedition-mongering, it was palpably absurd. It was only twelve days since he had entered Jerusalem ;! and what was the record of the six days which he had spent there? He had never harangued the people either in the Temple-court or in the Synagogue or in the street. It was indeed true that he was a Christian, 1 Append. I, p. 657. 2H Adjourn- ment of the case. Paul's in- terview with Felix and Drusilla. 432 LIFE: AND LETTERS OF: Si PAVE but that involved no disloyalty to his ancestral Faith. On the contrary, he held by the Scriptures and cherished the hope of the Resurrection, which his accusers, at all events the Pharisees, themselves avowed. His loyalty to the Faith was as unimpeachable as theirs, and it was attested by the errand which, after years of absence, had brought him to Jerusalem. He had come on a mission of charity, conveying alms for the poor Jews; and when the cry of desecration was raised against him by some Asian Jews in the Temple- court, he was actually engaged in the discharge of a legal vow. And in his trial before the Sanhedrin he had been convicted of no wrong. His solitary offence, as he now frankly confessed, was his impulsive provocation of the mutual antagonism of his judges. Felix knew enough of the sentiment of his province to recognise that the Jews were actuated merely by their notorious hostility to the harmless sect of the Christians. He should have dismissed the Apostle forthwith; but experience had rendered him suspicious of seditious designs, and he determined to adjourn the case and detain the prisoner in custody until he had an opportunity of conferring with Lysias. Evidently, like all the Roman officials who had to do with Paul, he was attracted to him; and he directed that, instead of being remanded to his cell, he should be granted the indulgence of libera custodia, enjoying superior fare and the society and ministration of such friends as might choose to visit him. The case had naturally a peculiar interest for the lady Drusilla.1 She was herself a Jewess, and she was curious to see this Jew who had created so much stir and hear some- thing of his novel doctrine from his own lips. To gratify her the Apostle was summoned into the presence of the sinful pair, and he faced them undismayed. He first proclaimed his Gospel of Faith in Christ Jesus, and then, after the fashion of a Hebrew prophet, he spoke home to their consciences, discoursing of ‘ righteousness, self-control, and the future judgment.’ The Procurator’s guilty soul quailed and shuddered. It was the first time, perhaps, that he had ever 1 xxiv. 24 SyrP™s; ‘she asked to see Paul and to hear his word. Therefore, wishing to content her, he sent for Paul.’ IMPRISONMENT AT CAZISAREA 483 been so confronted by his sin, and it might have proved the turning-point in his career ; but he stifled the divine impulse. ‘For the present,’ he said, ‘go, and when I get an opportunity, I shall summon you.’ And he did summon the Apostle again, but in the meantime His Log he had hardened his heart. He shared that lust for gold &. ρα αν ΜΗ which so often disgraced the imperial administration of the provinces; and he had conceived the idea of extorting a bribe from the prisoner as the price of his release. It was indeed no unreasonable expectation ; for not only was Paul liberally befriended in his captivity by the Christians of Cesarea but it would seem that he had brought with him some little store of money. It is likely that he had been well provided by the penitent Corinthians on his departure from their midst. At all events he had the means of hiring the vessel which conveyed him and his company from Troas to Patara and also for defrayii.z the Temple-charges of the four Nazirites on his arrival at Jerusalem. It was indeed ct. Phil. no large store, and it soon dwindled away; but it was *°** sufficient to excite the Procurator’s cupidity, and he detained the prisoner and frequently summoned him into his presence and conferred with him. Thus vexatiously the days passed and lengthened into His em- months until two years had elapsed. It was a weary time, °”™*™"* and the heart of the Apostle, daily expectant of release and daily disappointed, must have sickened with hope deferred. And his ardent spirit must have fretted at his enforced inactivity. That long space is a blank in the narrative of his ministry. There is no extant letter which he wrote from Cesarea ; nor is it recorded that he won a single convert in the garrison of the Pretorium. Yet it is incredible that the two years should have passed idly. He would fain indeed have been prosecuting his mission and achieving his cherished dream of visiting Rome and carrying the Gospel to the Cf. Rom. western limit of Europe ; but he would not neglect the lesser *” *# ** employments which lay to his hand. He would 'be mindful Ce a of his Churches ; and, though none have survived, he would ™ write many a letter of counsel and encouragement. Luke was with him to serve as his amanuensis ; nor would there be lacking among the friends who visited him at the Pretorium, Cf. xxvi. 24. Accession of Festus. Resump- of the case, 4353... LIFE AND LEP TERS OP ois) ao willing hands to perform this and kindred offices on his behalf. And he would be very busy with the Holy Scriptures, searching them and meditating on them and finding in them ever fresh testimonies to the Gospel of salvation in Christ Jesus. In truth his chamber would be no prison but a study, a school of Christ, an house of prayer. It was in the year 59 that his captivity ended.! Felix was recalled from the Procuratorship of Judza, and Porcius Festus was appointed in his room.? It would have been well for the departing tyrant to dismiss the prisoner and thus cover up the wrong he had done by detaining him in the hope of gaining a bribe; but that might have involved him in a worse embarrassment. The Jews were bitter against him for his many cruelties, and it would have intensified their exasperation had he released their victim. And so of the two risks he preferred the lesser, and in the hope of conciliating the Jews he left the Apostle still a prisoner. It appears from the little that is recorded of him that Festus was a prudent and honourable man, and in happier circumstances he might have proved a successful ruler. But he was charged with an impossible task. His province, always a seething hotbed of bigotry, faction, and intrigue, had been inflamed by his predecessor’s maladministration, and within two years he died of despair. On his accession, however, he faced the ordeal hopefully, in the fond belief that justice and generosity would prevail. Czsarea was his seat of government, but Jerusalem was the Sacred Capital ; and, anxious to demonstrate his friendliness toward his tumultuous subjects, he betook himself thither three days after his accession. Immediately he found himself involved in a characteristic web of intrigue. The Jewish authorities were as bitter as ever against Paul, and they begged that the Procurator would have the prisoner conveyed to Jerusalem and forthwith pass sentence on him. Their design was to execute the plot which had been baulked two years pre- viously and have him assassinated in the course of the journey ; and perhaps they had their gang still in readiness despite the oath of the ruffians that they would neither eat 1 Cf. Append. I. ® Cf. Jos. Ant. xx. viii. 9-11; De Bell. Jud. τι. xiv. 1. IMPRISONMENT AT CAiSAREA 485 nor drink until they had killed Paul, for absolution from such a vow was easily obtained.1_ Festus was shrewd enough to suspect a sinister purpose, and he courteously refused their request on the ground that there was no time. He must return to Cesarea in little over a week ; but they might send thither with him a deputation to prosecute the case, and he would dispose of it without delay. They agreed, and a deputation accompanied him to Appeal to Cesarea. The day after their arrival the trial was instituted, ~*°*" The Apostle was arraigned on the old charges of heresy, cf. xxv. . sacrilege, and treason, and he repudiated them. The question could be decided only by taking evidence; and Festus, a stranger to Jewish institutions and. customs, recognised his incompetence to deal with it. It was a ques- tion for a Jewish court ; and, anxious to win the confidence of the Jewish rulers and at the same time do justice to the prisoner, he suggested that the case should be referred to the Sanhedrin, with himself as assessor. It seemed to him a reasonable proposal ; and indeed it would have been the best possible procedure had the Sanhedrin been an impartial tribunal. He did not know its actual disposition, but Paul knew it. He remembered how he had fared in the Hall of Hewn Stone in the time of Felix, and he would not consent to a repetition of the outrage. He was entitled to a fair trial; and since he had no chance of obtaining it under a Procurator ignorant of the Jewish machinations, he claimed a privilege which was his hereditary prerogative. He was a Roman citizen; and it was the right of a Roman citizen, if he were dissatisfied with the procedure of a subordinate tribunal, to enter his protest and appeal to the Emperor’s judgment. Paul availed himself of his privilege: ‘ I appeal to Cesar.’ It was an unexpected dénouement, and it unpleasantly Sanctioned surprised the Procurator. The challenging of his first pe ois administrative act would prejudice him in the eyes of the '™ 1 Cf. Hieros, Abod. Zar. x\. 1: ‘For one who has vowed that he will abstain from food, woe if he eat, woe if he do not eat. If he eat, he sins against his vow ; if he do not eat, he sins against his life. What must he do here? Let him go to the wise, and they will absolve him from his vow, as it is written: ‘The tongue of the wise is health” (Prov. xii. 18),’ State-visit of Agrippa and Bernice. Cf. xxv. 26. ΟΠ - 3, 19-23. Cf. Lk. iii. τ 456 ΣΕΤΡῈ AND LETTERS ΟΕ 5d. PAWL imperial government ; and in the hope of averting this embarrassment he turned to his assessors ! and held a hasty consultation with them. It did not lie with a magistrate to refuse an appeal to the Emperor; and the only question was whether the appeal was valid. Apparently it was the first intimation Festus had received that Paul was a Roman citizen ; and once he was assured of it, he could do nothing but allow the appeal: ‘ You have appealed to Cesar; to Cesar you will go.’ It only remained for Festus to despatch the prisoner to the Imperial Capital; but certain preliminaries were necessary, particularly the preparation of. an official report for submission to the Emperor. And this was a difficult task for the Procurator, ignorant as he was alike of previous proceedings and of the true issues. His perplexity, however, was presently resolved. His main reason for abridging his sojourn at Jerusalem had been that he expected a state-visit from his neighbour, King Herod Agrippa 11.2. This potentate was the son of Herod Agrippa I who figures at an earlier stage in the history of the Book of Acts. He was a great- grandson of King Herod the Great, the tyrant of Judea in the days when our Lord was born at Bethlehem, and a brother of Drusilla, the sinful spouse of Felix. On the death of Herod the Great his kingdom had been apportioned between his three sons, who ruled under the title of tetrarchs; but in the year 37 A.D. the Emperor Caligula restored the regal title to his grandson, who thenceforth ruled as King Herod Agrippa 1 over the tetrarchies of Philip and Lysanias, comprising Batanza, Trachonitis, Gaulanitis, and Abilene. His son, Herod Agrippa u, inherited his dominion, and Nero added to it a large part of Galilee and Perea. He was a mere puppet, reigning by grace of the Emperor and deferring to his master with servile submissiveness. His/ character was weak and indolent, and he was freely charged with the vilest of moral infamy. His widowed sister Bernice resided with him in his palace at Cesarea Philippi, and they were credited with the maintenance of incestuous intercourse.® 1 Cf. Schtirer, Jewish People, τ. ii. Ὁ. 60. Β Cf. Jos. Ant. XIX. ix-xx. ix. ® CE. Jos. Ant. XX. vii. 3; Juv. νι. 156-60. ¥ IMPRISONMENT AT CAESAREA — 4,48) Nevertheless—such moral mixtures will the human heart contain—he was an ardent devotee of the Jewish religion. And Bernice shared his devotion ; at all events, it is recorded of her that she once assumed the Nazirite vow. In due course Agrippa and Bernice arrived with their Agrippa’s retinue. Their errand was to greet the new Procurator. pal It was a state function, and the city was en féte. It was an opportunity for Festus to ingratiate himself with his subjects; and he made the most of it, receiving the native prince with courteous observance and inviting representatives from all parts of the province.* The visit extended over a good many days, and in the course of it he took occasion to confer with Agrippa on the perplexing case which his predecessor had bequeathed to him. He narrated the circumstances, and Agrippa’s interest was aroused. He had heard of Paul, and had been wishing to hear him. Festus grasped at the hint. ‘ To-morrow,’ he said, ‘ you will hear him.’ Agrippa was a Jew, and it would clarify the situation if he conducted an examination of the prisoner in the Procurator’s presence. Next day the royal party, with all the glitter of military paw’s and civic pomp, was ushered into the audience-hall of the SPP&sh Pretorium. The prisoner was introduced, and after a fore him. statement of the case by Festus the King granted him per- mission to speak. He began with his characteristic gesture and, addressing Agrippa, avowed his satisfaction in laying his defence before one so intimately versed in Jewish affairs. His defence was a personal narrative. His antecedents, His state- he claimed, were notorious, especially the fact that at the τὴν outset of his career he had been a Pharisee of the strictest order. Nor had he since proved recreant. The historic faith of Israel was the hope of the Messiah’s Advent and the’ Resurrection of the Dead ; and it was for his advocacy of this hope that he was arraigned. One difference indeed there was. He had seen that hope’s fulfilment ; he had recognised in Jesus of Nazareth the Promised Saviour. And he pro- ceeded to show how he had attained that momentous assur- ance. It had been forced upon him. The name of Jesus 1 Cf. Jos. De Bell. Jud, τι. xv. 1. 2 In xxv. 23 SyrP ™ mentions, with the military officers and magnates of Cresarea, ‘those who had come down from the province.’ The Pro- curator’s astonish- ment. Appeal to Agrippa. 488 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL had at first been abhorrent to him; and by authority of the Sanhedrin he had instituted a ruthless persecution of His followers. He had harried them in Jerusalem and | pursued them to the neighbouring cities; and it was at the very height of his fury that he had been arrested. He was on the way to Damascus, urging the pursuit, when he had an awful vision of Jesus, risen and glorified, and received - from His lips the commission to proclaim His salvation to Jews and Gentiles. From that hour he had obeyed the heavenly vision; and that was the reason why the Jews had arrested him. He was no heretic. His Gospel of a Suffering Messiah, whose Resurrection had illumined the darkness for Jew and Gentile, was no novel invention; it had been foreshadowed by the Prophets and Moses. It is merely a summary that the historian has furnished of the Apostle’s defence ; but even so it is a moving argument, and what would be its effect upon the audience beholding his rapt look and thrilled by his impassioned tones as the torrent of eloquence poured from his lips? It was the first that Festus had ever heard of the miracle of Christian faith, and it amazed him. He was a shrewd, practical, unimaginative Roman, and the idea crossed his mind that the nervous, studious prisoner, whose cell was littered with volumes, was a crazed idealist. As he listened, he forgot his surroundings ; and when the flood of eloquence ceased, he cried out: ‘ You are mad, Paul! Your great learning is turning you mad.’? ‘No,’ answered the Apostle, “1 am not mad, Festus your Excellency. They are words of truth and sanity that I am uttering.’ And then he appealed to Agrippa. The facts which he -had stated were notorious. They were familiar to every Jew, and Agrippa, being a Jew, was aware of them. ‘ King Agrippa,’ he said, ‘do you believe the Prophets? I know that you do.’ Agrippa perceived his intention. He was about to clinch the argument and drive it home: ‘ You admit that my Gospel is approved by the Scriptures ? Then, as a faithful Jew, you must accept it.’ It was an embar- rassing predicament for the King. He was indeed impressed, - but he must at all hazards maintain his submission to the » 1 Like the minister of St. Ronan’s, ‘just dung donnart wi’ learning.’ « IMPRISONMENT AT CAESAREA 489 imperial government, and he durst not commit himself in presence of the Procurator after the latter’s unflattering pronouncement. He writhed and feebly protested against thus being driven into a corner: ‘ You are for persuading me by a short argument to become a Christian.’! ‘ Would to God,’ was the reply, ‘that, by a short argument or a long one, not only you but all my hearers to-day became such as I am, apart from these bonds!’ | This ended the proceedings. The great personages and The their train withdrew and discussed the case. They agreed a da that the prisoner was guilty of no crime; and Agrippa’s nounced verdict was that he might have been released if he had not appealed to the Emperor. 1 ἐν ὀλίγῳ με welders (NBEHLP) Χριστιανὸν γενέσθαι (EHLP, Vulg.). The only question here regards the meaning of ἐν od\lyy. A.V. renders ‘almost,’ making Agrippa confess himself on the verge of conversion. But ‘almost’ (propemodum) would be ὀλίγου or παρ᾽ ὀλίγον. ἐν ὀλίγῳ can only mean either (1) ‘in brief,’ ‘by a short argument,’ sc. λόγῳ (cf. Eph. iii. 3), or (2) ‘in a short time,’ sc. χρόνῳ (cf. Plat. 4fo/. 22 B). In the latter sense it would be a sneer : ‘It will take you longer than you imagine to persuade me to turn Christian.’ For γενέσθαι NAB read ποιῆσαι. This could only mean ‘in a little’ (whether ‘in a short time’ or ‘ by a short argument’) ‘you are persuading me, so as to make me a Christian,’ which R.V., with questionable legitimacy, paraphrases ‘with but little persuasion thou wouldest fain make me a Christian.’ If ποιῆσαι be accepted, it is then necessary to read πείθῃ (Α) for πείθεις, “you are confident of making me a Christian’; but γενέσθαι is attested by its occurrence in Paul’s echo of Agrippa’s words (ver. 29). Ac. xxvii- XXVvili, 15. The prisoner despatched to Kome. Attended by Luke and Arist- arebus, THE VOYAGE TO ROME It was now the close of July 59,1 and nothing remained but to despatch the Apostle to Rome. Several other prisoners were to be transported with him, probably condemned criminals destined to play their part as bestiarit, fighting with wild beasts in the circus for the entertainment of the populace ;? and they were consigned to a military guard, a detachment of the Augustan or Imperial Cohort. This was a corps attached to each provincial legion and charged, like the Frumentarii at a later date, with the duty of com- municating between the Emperor and his forces abroad, especially in the way of conveying despatches and escorting prisoners. They were known at Rome as the Peregrint or ‘ soldiers from abroad,’ and during their visits to the Capital they were quartered in the Castra Peregrinorum on the Celian Hill adjacent to the imperial residence on the Palatine. A ship belonging to the Mysian port of Adra- myttium was in the harbour of Cesarea, preparing to set sail on a trading voyage along the coast of the Province of Asia; and the intention apparently was that she should convey the prisoners and their escort to the busy port of Ephesus, where they would be likely to find a ship bound for Rome; or, failing this, they might proceed with her to Adramyttium, whence they would sail to Neapolis and march by the Egnatian Road to Dyrrachium. It would have been a distressing experience for the Apostle had he been obliged, during the long voyage, to herd 1 Cf. Append. I. 3 Cf. note on 1 Cor. iv. 9, p. 254. * Cf. Ramsay, St. Paul the Traveller, pp. 315, 348. The σπεῖρα Σεβαστὴ is otherwise explained as a cohort of Sebastenes, originally levied under Herod the Great at Sebaste or Samaria and now incorporated with the imperial army (cf. Schirer, /ew7sh People, τ. ii. pp. 51 ff.). But the designation would then be σπεῖρα Σεβαστηνῶν. 490 “Ce δον THE VOYAGE TO ROME 491 with that gang of desperadoes; but he was spared this ignominy. He would hardly have been subjected to it in any case, since he was no condemned criminal, but a Roman citizen going to plead his cause before the Emperor ; and it appears, moreover, that he enjoyed a certain distinction. He was accompanied by Luke and Aristarchus.!_ It seems strange that their presence should have been permitted, and the explanation is suggested by a story which Pliny tells 5 of Arria, the heroic wife of the Stoic Thrasea Petus. Her husband was being conveyed a prisoner from Illyricum to Rome, and at the embarkation she vainly entreated that she might accompany him. ‘ You will give a man of consular rank,’ she pleaded, ‘some attendants to serve his food, to attire him, to put on his sandals: I will singly perform every office.’ Thus it appears that, though he might not take friends with him, a prisoner might have attendants ; and it was doubtless in this capacity that those two devoted followers accompanied the Apostle. His health was broken by all that he had recently undergone, and Luke would go with him as his physician and Aristarchus as his servant. Their attendance would lend him dignity and procure him exceptional consideration ; and from the outset he was courteously treated by Julius, the centurion in command of the convoy. It would be August ere the ship set sail. She had to call Course at Sidon, some seventy miles north of Caesarea, to complete “° τὐρὰ her lading, and during her stay there Julius allowed Paul the privilege of going ashore and enjoying among the Christians of that great Pheenician city the attention which his infirmity required. From Sidon their direct course lay west-north- west to the island of Rhodes, but at that season the wind in the Levant blows steadily from the west, and working to windward was impossible for an ancient ship with her single mast amidships and one huge square sail. And so she steered northward with the wind a-beam under the lee of Cyprus, until she fetched Cilicia; and then,’ availing 1 The historian’s presence is indicated by the use of the first pers. pronoun ‘we’ throughout the narrative. ® Epist. 111. 16. 3 ἐπιμέλεια (xxvii. 3) is one of Luke’s medical terms. Cf. Hobart, A/ed. Lang. of St. Luke, pp. 269 f. 4o2 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL herself of the land-breezes and the current which there sets steadily westward,! crept along the southern coast of Asia Minor for fifteen days *® until she gained the port of Myra in Cilicia. Tranship- There Julius had the good fortune, as he deemed it, to Sees find a large ship hailing from Alexandria and bound for Cf. xxvii, Italy with a cargo of corn, and he put his convoy on board τῷ of her. Egypt was the chief granary of the Empire, and the ships which conveyed to the Capital the immense supplies which its teeming populace required, were numerous and large. Lucian ὃ has furnished a minute description οὗ one named ‘ The Isis’ which was driven into the Pirzeus by stress of weather, and which amazed the Athenians by her “enormous dimensions. Her length was a hundred and eighty feet, her breadth forty-five, and the depth of her hold forty-three and a half. Her crew was like a camp, and her cargo, it was said, would have fed all Attica for a year. ‘ The Isis’ indeed was a marvel for size, and this ship would be smaller ; still she was a large vessel, and it is some . indication of her dimensions that, when they were all on es xxvii board, she carried, besides her cargo, a complement of is two hundred and seventy-six. iad a From Mya the ship crept a hundred and forty miles rar. along the coast until she cleared it abreast of Cnidus and Havens. Jost the aid of the land-breeze and the current. Unable to cross the A?gean in face of the westerly wind she held south- ward to Crete, and, rounding Cape Salmone, the eastern extremity of the island, crept along the southern coast to Fair Havens, a bay still bearing the same name five or six miles to the east of Cape Matala and close to the town of Lasea.4 It was impossible meanwhile to proceed farther, since on passing Cape Matala the ship would be exposed to the westerly wind. She fretted at her moorings ‘for a considerable time’; and at length, when the first week of October had passed,® the situation grew serious, since navigation was dangerous after the autumnal equinox and 1 Cf. Smith, Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul, pp. 68 f. ® After διαπλεύσαντες (xxvii. 5) 112, 137, SyrP add δι’ ἡμερῶν δεκάπεντε, 8 Navig. seu Vot. 4 Cf. Smith, Voyage and Shipwreck, Append. I. 5. Cf. Append. I. THE VOYAGE TO ROME 493 would be entirely suspended by the winter storms from November 11 to February 8.1 Accordingly a council was held, and Paul, as an experienced Departure traveller who had thrice been shipwrecked, was admitted to el ae it. The owner of the ship and the sailing master were of Phe course present, but Julius, though a military officer, presided ἘΝ bonne _over the deliberations, since the ship was in the service of the imperial government. The Apostle perceived the danger of putting to sea, and strongly advised that they should remain at Fair Havens; but the owner and the sailing master opposed him. Fair Havens was a poor harbour for wintering in, and they recommended shifting some fifty miles westward to Phoenix, the modern Lutro, a land-locked bay facing east and confronted by an island which formed a natural breakwater.? There the ship would have lain secure whatever wind might blow. It was a seamanlike course, and Julius naturally approved A Ν. Ε. of it. And it seemed to justify his decision that the wind ®"* opportunely veered round and blew gently from the south. If it held, the ship on rounding Cape Matala would have the breeze over her port quarter, and would make Phoenix easily and swiftly. It occasioned, however, a preliminary difficulty that the Cape jutted southward, and it seemed doubtful whether the cumbrous craft could lie’ sufficiently close to the wind to weather it. She came perilously near the rocks,* and the life-boat had been lowered and was towing astern in case of need; but she contrived to scrape past, and then eased off and steered W.N.W. across the Gulf of Messara. She had not proceeded far when a terrific tempest burst upon her. It was the Euraquilo,*a tearing nor’-easter, 1 Cf. Append. I, p. 648. 3 βλέποντα κατὰ λίβα καὶ κατὰ χῶρον (xxvii. 12), “looking down the south-west wind and down the north-west wind,’ in the directions towards which these winds blew, #.¢. north-eastward and south-eastward. The island lay across the mouth of the bay, and thus there were—from the view-point of a ship at anchor within— two exits, one to the north-east and the other to the south-east. On weighing anchor and setting sail, she would run either ‘down the south-west wind’ or ‘down the north-west wind.’ 3 xxvii. 13: ἄσσον παρελέγοντο τὴν Κρήτην. 4 εὐρακύλων ΑΒ", ‘north-east wind,’ compounded of εὖρος, ‘east wind,’ and Lat. aguélo, ‘north wind.’ The variants εὐροκλύδων, ‘east wind wave,’ and εὐρυκλύδων, ‘broad wave,’ are meaningless corruptions, Cf. εὐρόνοτος, ‘south- east wind.’ Ship ‘hove to’ under the lee of Clauda. Driving westward, The Apostle’s good cheer. 494 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST, PAUL the dread of seamen in those parts; and it smote the ship on the starboard side, and she had to pay off and drive before it. The strain of the huge sail was severe, and there was danger of the timbers starting and the ship foundering ; but fortunately there lay some thirty miles to leeward the islet of Clauda, and, running under its shelter, the crew were able to make her snug. They brought her head to wind, and got the swamped small-boat on board; then they ‘ frapped ’ the ship, passing cables under her keel and binding them round her hull to hold her together ; and finally they lowered the great sail with its heavy yard, and ‘ hove her to’ under a storm-sail. Their only other resource would have been to let her scud before the tempest under short canvas ; but this would have been rushing to destruction, since right to leeward, at a distance of between three and four hundred miles, lay the dreaded quicksands of the Syrtis off the African coast. The sole remedy therefore was to ‘ heave her to’ and ride out the gale. It had caught her on the starboard side as she was crossing the Gulf of Messara, and it was on the starboard tack that she now lay heading it under Clauda. So situated, she kept drifting astern but always forging northward, and thus she was carried almost due westward. The sea grew ever wilder, and the leaky ship laboured heavily. There was imminent danger of her sinking under them; and so next day the crew lightened her of all superfluous lumber, and the following day, by the united effort of all hands, ‘ flung the gear’ overboard, probably the huge sail-yard with its cumbrous tackle. Thus relieved, she rode more easily, but her condition remained parlous. Her strained timbers were leaking badly, and at any moment she might settle down. The only hope lay in running her ashore somewhere ; but ever since the storm broke, the sky had been obscured by dense, black clouds and no reckoning could be taken. All hands were continually toiling at the pumps, and they had hardly tasted food; for cooking was impossible, and their provisions were soaked. In their extremity Paul came to the rescue one morning, and heartened his despairing comrades with a brave re- assurance. He reminded them that it was against his THE VOYAGE TO ROME 495 judgment that they had quitted Fair Havens, and the event had justified his counsel. Nevertheless there was no reason for despair. During the past night his God had vouchsafed him a revelation. An angel had assured him that his life would be preserved and he would undergo his trial before the Emperor ; and they would all share his deliverance. The ship alone would perish: she would be cast on some island. In view of the Jewish manner of recognising the voice of God in His providential orderings! it is hardly reasonable to postulate here an actual angelophany. On board the storm- tossed ship as in his cell in the Castle at Jerusalem on the Cf. xxiii, night after the scene in the Sanhedrin, his visiting Rome *” was an indubitable certainty in the Apostle’s mind. It was ordained of God, and it must come to pass. Thus on that fearful night, as he considered his position, he was assured that he would not perish in the tempest. The ship was plainly doomed, but he would escape ; and if he escaped, his fellow-voyagers would escape too. Whether they believed his assurance or not, it would Land dis- appear that his prediction of the ship being cast on some ὅκα island was not lost on the crew. They kept a vigilant out- look, and on the fourteenth night of the frail vessel’s desperate battle with wind and wave they detected land under their lee. They could not see it, for it was midnight ; but they heard the sullen boom of breakers, and perhaps, as they peered into the black darkness, they might descry the white spray dashing high. They took soundings, and found twenty fathoms; and presently, sounding again, they found only fifteen. Plainly they were driving down on a rock-bound coast, and their only hope was that there might be some creek into which they could steer the ship and beach her. The dawn would disclose their situation, and meanwhile they must stay the vessel’s drift, lest she should strike in the darkness. They accordingly lowered four anchors. Prepara- They lowered them from the stern, thus letting her swing panning round head to land in readiness for running ashore. The ancient steering-gear consisted of two large paddles pro- jecting from either quarter; and now that the ship was Σ᾿ ΟΣ p. 122. Crew's attempt to abandon the ship. Cf. xxvii. 40. Paul rallies his comrades, Cf. 1 Cor. xi, 24. The island of Melita. 496 “LIFE AND LETTERS OF S28: PAUL riding by the stern, they raised these and secured them with lashings. They would also lower the storm-sail which had hitherto kept her ‘hove to’; and it seems that they also cut away the heavy mast. And thus they held on, eagerly expecting what the dawn would reveal. It was a distressful situation, since the wallowing ship might founder at her anchors. At any moment a heavy sea might break over her poop and engulf her. The seamen were alive to the danger, and, evidently with the connivance of their officers, they resolved to desert the ship and take to the life-boat on the chance of getting ashore. They lowered the boat on the pretext of putting out an anchor at the bow. It was a transparent trick, since an anchor at the bow would have been useless; and Paul detected their base intention. He turned to Julius and told him that there was no chance of escape unless the sailors stood by the ship to execute the difficult manceuvre of beaching her; and the soldiers promptly cut the boat’s hawser and let her go adrift. At that anxious crisis Paul was the one ‘still, strong man,’ and he realised the expediency of rallying his panic- stricken comrades and bracing them for the final ordeal. All those terrible days they had eaten little, and, as they crouched on the wave-swept deck, he counselled them to take some food. It would be their last meal on board the doomed ship, and there was no longer any necessity for sparing their scanty provision. And he set the example. He took a piece of bread, and after the Christian fashion which turned every common meal into a sacramental feast, ‘gave thanks and broke it and ate.’ The whole company joined with him, and their spirits rose. The sullen mariners resumed their duties. The less the ship’s draught the higher would she drive on the beach and the better the chance of escape ; and so they set to work and lightened her by throwing her cargo of grain overboard. Presently the dawn broke, and the prospect opened to their wistful gaze. They saw an island under their lee. It was Melita, the modern Malta ;1 but none of them, not even 1 There was another Melita, the modern Meleda, in the Adriatic Gulf off the coast of Dalmatia; and it has been maintained (cf. Coleridge, Zable Talk, August 18, 1832) that this was the scene of the shipwreck. The reasons alleged THE VOYAGE TO ROME 497 the sailors, recognised it, since it was off the course which they were accustomed to steer in making the voyage to Rome. To the left lay a rocky headland, the Point of Koura, where the sea was breaking with that thunderous roar which had been booming in their ears all night. But right ahead was a deep bay with a fringe of smooth sand excellently adapted for beaching the ship. It was a welcome sight, and they hastened to avail themselves of the oppor- tunity. They unlashed the rudders, and, since the mast was gone, set the little foresail which, in its normal use, served to facilitate the operation of putting the ship about by making her ‘ pay off’ on the other tack after she had been brought head to wind.! Then they slipped the anchors, and the ship bore down toward the beach. Ere she reached it, she ran on a sunken reef.2. The stern Ait safely was battered to pieces by the terrific impact of the pursuing "4+ billows, but the bow stuck fast in the soft clay. There was still a chance of escape, since the reef acted as a breakwater, and the sea betwixt it and the beach, though deep, was smooth, and it would be easy to swim or paddle ashore. It might have been expected that the common danger would are: (1) The island was in the Adria (cf. ver. 27), and Malta lies close to Sicily in the open Mediterranean. But 6’Adpias was not merely the gulf on the east of Italy; it included also the whole middle basin of the Mediterranean. The geographer Ptolemy distinguishes ‘the Adrian Gulf’ (’Adplas κόλπος), which bounds Italy on the east, and ‘the Adriatic Sea’ (᾿Αδριατικὸν πέλαγος), which bounds it on the south, and also bounds Sicily on the east, the Peloponnesus on the west and south, and Crete on the west. (2) The inhabitants are termed ‘barbarians’ (xxviii. 2), whereas the Maltese were highly civilised. But βάρβαρος means simply ‘a foreigner.’ Cf. n. on Rom. i. 14, p. 380. (3) There are no vipers (xxviii. 3) in Malta. But the extinction of noxious creatures is nothing uncommon. Cf. Smith, Voyage and Shipwreck, pp. 150 ff. 1 6 dpréuwy (xxvii. 40), not ‘the mainsail’ (A.V.), but ‘the foresail’ (R.V.), set ona little mast over the prow. In his description of the shipwreck of his friend Catullus, Juvenal (x11. 69) tells how the mast was cut away during the storm, and then, when it abated, ‘the wretched prow ran before the wind with a poor device of clothes outspread and its own sail, the only one remaining’ (δέ, guod superaverat unum, velo prora suo); where the scholiast annotates : artemone solo velificarunt, ‘they sailed with the artemon only.’ 53 τόπος διαθάλασσος (ver. 41), ‘a place dividing the sea.’ ‘ Zentam intelligit, quales multe solent esse non procul a littore, ita tamen ut inter eas et littus mare interluat’ (Grot.). Thus Dion Chrysostom (v. 9) speaks of the shoals of the Syrtis as βραχέα καὶ διαθάλαττα καὶ ταινίαι μακραί making the sea impassable (ἄπορον). 21 Kindly islanders. XXVii. 3. Tit. iii, 4. 498 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL have established a bond of brotherhood between the hapless castaways; but self-preservation is a strong and pitiless instinct, and just as the sailors had attempted to take to the boat and desert their comrades, so now the soldiers planned a still worse brutality. The Roman law held them answerable with their lives for the safe delivery of their prisoners,! and they proposed to butcher the wretched gang lest they should swim ashore and make off. Julius would have agreed but that Paul would have been included in the massacre. His respect and affection had been enlisted by the Apostle’s bearing throughout that terrible fortnight ; and for his sake he prohibited the atrocity, and directed that such as could swim should plunge in and strike out for the shore, and that the others should construct rafts of the wreckage. And presently all the two hundred and seventy- six were safe on the beach. Luke in his Greek manner calls the islanders ‘ barbarians,’ meaning not that they were savages but merely that they were not Greeks.? Melita was originally a Phoenician settle- ment; subsequently it passed under Greek dominion ; but since 218 B.c. it had belonged to Rome and was included in the Province of Sicily. The inhabitants were thus highly civilised. Their language would be the Common Greek, the lingua franca of the Empire.* And, albeit heathen and superstitious, they were a kindly folk. All in the vicinity had trooped down to the beach on espying a ship in peril ; and they helped the castaways ashore and entreated them humanely. ‘They afforded us,’ says Luke, ‘ uncommon philanthropy’; and it is remarkable that the word occurs but thrice in the New Testament—once of the kindness which Julius, a Roman soldier, showed his prisoner; here of the kindness of those heathen to the shipwrecked voyagers ; and again of the kindness which God has manifested in Christ to sinful man. It would be the beginning of November,’ and the castaways were shivering in the biting north-east blast and the driving rain. There was no imme diate refuge for so many, since the town of Melita stood inland, remote from the scene of the shipwreck; but the ΘΕ: 155. * Cf. n. on Rom. i. 14, p. 380. ACh ap. ΔῈ 4 Cf. Append, 1. THE VOYAGE TO ROME 499 islanders kindled a bonfire! in some sheltered nook, and warmed and fed the forlorn strangers. Here an incident occurred which afforded Paul a golden The chief opportunity. In that spirit of self-forgetfulness which he sm ὑτὴ had displayed on board the doomed ship, he employed himself rte" in gathering a faggot of brushwood, and he was putting it on Paul of the fire when a viper which had lodged in it fastened on his panions hand. The islanders expected to see him drop dead, and in their superstitious fashion concluded that he was a criminal overtaken by vengeance. But ere the half-numbed reptile had struck its fangs into his flesh, he calmly shook it off into the fire, and was none the worse. It was an entirely natural occurrence ; but it seemed a miracle to the islanders and, like the folk of Lystra, they now concluded that he was Ac. xiv. 11. a god. Forthwith he was invested with sanctity in their eyes, and hence a substantial benefit presently accrued. Hard by lay the estate of Publius, the chief magistrate or, as the native title was, ‘ the Primate’ of the island,” and he invited the Apostle and his attendants, Luke and Aristarchus, to his residence until they should procure a lodging of their own. His gracious hospitality was richly rewarded. His father ΠΡ ΕΘ was prostrate with a malady which Luke, with professional pat accuracy, defines as dysentery with intermittent fever ; * and the Apostle was introduced into his chamber, and after praying by his couch laid his hands on him, as the Master Cf. Lk. iv. had been wont, and healed him. The miracle was a pro- το ἢ clamation of the Gospel. Paul indeed wrought it, but he wrought it in the name of Christ and ere working it he openly invoked Christ’s aid. The wonderful story spread over the island, and from near and far the sick repaired to the house of Publius and were healed. Their gratitude was boundless. 1 πυρά, in 1 Macc. xii. 28 ‘a camp-fire.’ 3 ὁ πρῶτος τῆς νήσου. The plur. (οἱ πρῶτοι) is frequent in the sense of ‘the principal men’ of a place or community (cf. xiii. 50, xxv. 2, xxviii. 17), but the sing. is never so used. Nor could Publius have been called ‘the principal man of the island’ while his father was still alive unless in a public or official capacity ; and it appears from two inscriptions found at Citta Vecchia, the ancient Melita, that ὁ πρῶτος was an official appellation. Cf. Lewin, Fast. Sacy., 1901. 5. The plur. πυρετοί is a technical medical term. Cf. Hobart, Med. Lang. of St. Ltke, p. §2. Voyage to Italy. Sojourn at Puteoliand progress to a Rome. 500. LIFE-AND ER TREE RS (Ole oly raw They compassed Paul and his companions with observances and loaded them with benefactions. Their generosity was opportune. It would enlarge the Apostle’s scanty store and furnish him and his companions for the months which they must pass on the island. It enabled him to procure a lodging and remove thither after a sojourn of only three days under Publius’ hospitable roof. It happened that another Alexandrian corn-ship, named ‘ The Twin Brothers ’ after Castor and Pollux, the patrons of seamen, had been stayed in her passage and had found in the island a safe winter-harbour ; and it was arranged that she should carry Julius and his convoy to Italy. On February 8 navigation was resumed, and Paul embarked with his companions laden with parting gifts from the grateful people. The ship set sail, and a favouring breeze sped her on her course as far as Syracuse. There the wind headed her, and she was forced to put into the anchorage. After she had lain for three days it veered to the north-west, and she managed by dint of tacking to fetch Rhegium; but, unable for lack of sea-room to beat through the Strait of Messina, she lay there for twenty-four hours. Then the wind set in from the south, and she ran directly and swiftly on her course. Within twenty-four hours she reached her destination, the port of Puteoli on the Bay of Naples. Puteoli was the principal harbour in the south, of Italy ; nd, though over a hundred miles distant from Rome, it was the regular port of the Egyptian corn-ships.1 There they unladed, and there the passengers disembarked and pro- ceeded to the Capital by the Appian Road.? The Apostle and his company did not set out immediately. Julius had to communicate his arrival to his superior officer and await instructions regarding the disposal of his prisoners; and meanwhile they were detained at Puteoli.? The detention 1 Cf. Sen. Epést. xxvii. 2 On his journey from Alexandria the Emperor Titus followed the Apostle’s route. Cf. Suet. 727. 5: ‘Festinans in Italiam, cum Rhegium, deinde Puteolos oneraria nave appulisset, Romam inde contendit expeditissimus.’ 3 In xxviii. 14 the chief authorities have ἐπιμεῖναι, “we were besought (by the brothers) to remain among them.’ But it was Julius and not Paul who had the ordering of the march, and thus the variant ἐπιμείναντες is inevitable: “having found brothers, we remained among them for seven days and were comforted.’ THE VOYAGE TO ROME 501 was grateful to Paul; for he was unnerved by his rough experience, and his heart was troubled as the supreme ordeal approached. In a city so important as Puteoli and so intimately connected with the Capital there was naturally a community of Christians. They were unapprised of the advent of the famous Apostle; but he searched them out, and was received with warm kindness. It comforted him and his companions; and after a week’s sojourn among those sympathetic friends they started on their march. Tidings of his approach had reached Rome, and the Christians hastened out to meet him. They had never seen his face, but they had heard his fame and they had read the great encyclical which he had sent them from Corinth three years previously. One contingent encountered him at Appii Forum and a second at Tres Taberne, and their welcome was like a royal ovation.? It dispelled his misgivings. It showed him that the appeal of his encyclical had not fallen on deaf ears and that the hearts of the Roman Christians were open to him. ‘ He thanked God and took courage.’ 1 εὑρόντες, cf. xxi. 4. 5. els ἀπάντησιν, cf. p. 130. Airival at at Rome. Cf. xxviii. 20. Hostile reception by the Jewish leaders. THE FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME ΟΝ reaching Rome Julius marched his gang of prisoners to the Castra Peregrinorum on the Celian Hill, and handed them over to the commander, the Princeps Peregrinorum.+ Paul, however, doubtless on the ground of the report of Festus and the testimony which Julius would bear to his behaviour during the terrible voyage, was accorded a welcome privilege. He was allowed to reside outside the barracks, apparently in the house of some _ hospitable Christian,? in the enjoyment of comparative freedom. He was not indeed suffered to stir abroad, and he was linked by the wrist day and night to a military guard; but his attendants, Luke and Aristarchus, might go where they would, and visitors had unrestrained access to him. Throughout his ministry his constant rule had been ‘ to the Jew, in the first instance, and to the Greek,’ and he pursued it on his arrival at Rome. He allowed himself only three days of much needed repose; and then, precluded from visiting the Synagogue, he invited the representatives of the Jewish community, probably the Rulers of the Synagogue, to wait upon him, and told them the story of his arrest, his imprisonment, and his appeal to the Emperor, affirming at the same time his loyalty to his people and the ancient Faith. They accorded his statement but a chill reception. No letter regarding him, they said, had been 1 The Old Latin (Gig.) rendering of the term στρατοπεδάρχης in the sentence which HLP insert in ver. 16: ὁ ἑκατόνταρχος παρέδωκε τοὺς δεσμίους τῷ orparo- πεδάρχῃ, τῷ δὲ Παύλῳ ἐπετράπη, x.t.X. Cf. p. 490. * His abode is called a ξενία (ver. 23), which may signify either an inn (Suid. : καταγώγιον, κατάλυμα) or a hospitable lodging with a ξένος (cf. Rom. xvi. 23; Ac. xxi. 16). The latter seems most suitable in Phm. 22, the only instance of the term in N. T. In any case it was only a temporary accommodation, for he pre- sently removed to a rented lodging. Ch pe a3. 502 FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME 503 sent them from the Sanhedrin, nor had any evil report of him reached their ears ; but they knew the hostility with which his sect was universally regarded, and therefore they must hear what his opinions were ere they could pronounce upon them. A day was fixed, and at an early hour they came to his abode in large numbers ; and he expounded his Gospel to them, and right on to the evening adduced from the Scriptures testimonies to the Messiahship of Jesus. Some of his hearers were convinced, but others rejected his argu- ments ; and when they fell a-wrangling, he announced that he must leave them alone and devote himself to the Gentiles. It was thus that the Apostle’s ambition to see Rome was The realised ; and if his fortunes were dark, those of the Im- RuP perial City were still darker. It was the sixth year of Nero’s reign. Born on December 15, A.D. 37,1 he had at the death of Claudius on October 13, 54, been acclaimed Emperor at the early age of seventeen.?, Though the child of a wicked father, Cnzeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, and a still more wicked mother, the younger Agrippina, who had plotted for his elevation to the throne and hesitated at no crime to attain her end,* his youth was rich in fair promise. It won him the His early regard of the populace not only that his maternal grand- ?*°™S* parents were the good Germanicus and the elder Agrippina but that he had inherited from his infamous father the charm of physical beauty.* He was, moreover, singularly fortunate in possessing two wise counsellors.® One was his tutor, the Stoic philosopher, L. Annzus Seneca, brother of Gallio, that Proconsul of Achaia who had befriended Paul at Corinth in the year 52. And the other was Afranius Burrus, the Prefect of the Pretorian Guard, a distinguished soldier who exhibited in a degenerate age the ancient Roman austerity and rectitude. 4 Suet. Ver. 6. Ὁ Tac. Aun. x11. 69; Suet. Ver. 8. Lewin, Fas?. Sacy., 2066. * When Domitius was congratulated on the birth of his son, he is said to have remarked that a child of himself and Agrippina could be nought but a thing of detestation and a public ill (Suet. Mer. 6). And it is told of Agrippina that she consulted the astrologers about Nero, and when they told her that he would be Emperor and kill his mother, she replied: ‘Let him kill me, provided he is Emperor’ (Tac. 4, XIV. 9). * Tac. Ann. XI. τί; 12. § Jbtd. X11. 2. Quin- quennium Neronts, Subse- quent reign of terror. Paul's dis- courage- ment. sox LIFE “AND LETIERS OPtaty tae Seneca and Burrus dominated the youthful Emperor, and his reign opened auspiciously. On his accession he declared his intention of reverting to the precedent of Augustus ; and he made good his profession, on the testimony of his merciless biographer,! by ‘omitting no opportunity of liberality, clemency, or courtesy.’ He abolished or diminished the more oppressive taxes, repressed the malign activities of the informers,? and treated the Senate with respect while refusing the servile honours which it would have heaped upon him. He also ameliorated the administration of justice. Extreme penalties were rarely inflicted; and it is told how on one occasion when he was asked to sign a death-warrant, the young Emperor sighed: ‘ How I wish that I could not write!’ Such was the manner of Nero during the first five years of his reign; and it is no wonder that after forty years of atrocity under Tiberius, Caligula, and Claudius this benignant regime, the guinquennium Nerons, should have seemed a very age of gold and been wistfully remembered in the dark days which ensued.? It was, however, short-lived. It is said that Seneca was early aware of his pupil’s latent ferocity, and would remark to his intimates that ‘ once the lion tasted blood, his native cruelty would return.’ And the predic- tion was terribly fulfilled in the month of Apmil, 59, when Nero, now in the twenty-second year of his age, impatient of the domination of his mother Agrippina, procured her assassination.* This was the end of the happy quinquennium and the beginning of that reign of terror which has invested the name of Nero with lurid horror and unrivalled infamy. It had happened less than a year ere the Apostle’s arrival. Perhaps it was at Puteoli that he had his first intelligence of the ominous crime, and this would account for the gloom which there enshrouded his soul. He had been trusting that he would find justice in the court of the Emperor and soon be set free to prosecute his ministry in the Capital; but now 1 Suet. Mer. 10-15. ® Cf. pp. 384 f. * Cf. Aurel. Vict. Ces. §: ‘uti merito Trajanus sepius testaretur procul differre cunctos principes Neronis quinquennio.’ 4 Tac. 4un. xiv. 1-9. Cf. Lewin, Fast Sacr., 1874. FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME - 505 that dream was rudely dispelled. And, as the days passed and he learned in his seclusion how events were shaping, his hope would wax ever fainter. It is an evidence of his anticipation of a speedy trial that Defer- he had accepted the hospitality of some Christian in the πεῖν ΟΣ city. It was a temporary accommodation, and he availed himself of it only for the brief space which, he expected, would elapse ere the hearing of his appeal. But the days passed, and still he was never summoned before the imperial tribunal. Nor is the reason obscure. There was open enmity between him and the Jews of Rome, and it lay with the latter to sustain his prosecution in name of the Sanhedrin. They could hardly hope for the condemnation of a prisoner whom the Procurator Festus had pronounced innocent, but they might delay his trial and thus prevent him from propagating his heresy in their midst; and this end they would easily compass by requesting time for the accumulation of evidence and the production of witnesses.! It would be at the best a tedious process, since the sphere of the Apostle’s cf. Ac. activities was so remote and so extensive ; and they would be *™ 5: at no pains to expedite it. Moreover, they had a friend at court in the person of the infamous Poppza Sabina, subse- quently Nero’s Empress and now his mistress.2_ Despite her flagrant immorality she was, like not a few ladies of rank at that period,® a votaress of the Jewish religion, and at least two instances are recorded where she successfully supported Jewish interests.* It is thus in no wise inexplicable that Paul’s case should A rich have been deferred. No less than two years elapsed ere he Ae xii. was brought to trial, and it was a repetition of his experience 39: at Czesarea. Every day he hoped that the summons would Cf. Phil. come, and every day he was disappointed. Yet he did pin st' not let the time pass unimproved. He removed from his friend’s hospitable abode to a lodging which he rented in the city, and there in the freedom of his own dwelling he re- ceived numerous visitors and instructed them in the faith of the Gospel. Notwithstanding its limitations his ministry achieved signal success ; and indeed those very limitations 1 Cf. Tac. Ann. XIII. 43, 52. 5 Jbid. ΧΠῚ. 45, 46; XIV. I, 60, 61. * Ch pp.6 tf. * Jos. Vit. 3; Ant. XX. viii. 11, Cf, Phil.ci: 12,03. Cf. Phil. iv. 22. Judaist enmity. Cf. Ac. ii. 10. soo) “LIFE AND ΤΕ TIERS ΘΕ ΒΕ ΕΝ: procured him a rare and unexpected opportunity. He was constantly under the surveillance of a Pretorian guardsman ; and it proved no irksome duty for the soldiers who were told off to discharge it. The gracious prisoner won their hearts. They heard his discourses to the visitors who at stated hours thronged his chamber, and the letters which he dictated to his amanuensis for the comfort and instruction of his Churches ; and in his leisure hours he would converse with them and tell them of the Saviour for whose sake he wore the chain. When they returned to the barracks, they carried a report to their comrades, and it quickly spread abroad. The Apostle and his Gospel became the talk of the city. The slaves of the imperial palace heard it, and some of them repaired to his lodging and were won to the Christian Faith. There was thus much to gladden the captive, yet there was not a little also to grieve him. The hostility of the Jews was inevitable, and it would sit ightly upon him ; but it vexed him that he encountered enmity in the Church. The Christian community at Rome was mixed, partly Jewish and partly Gentile. Its origin is obscure, but it is certain. that the Gospel had early obtained a footing in the Metro- polis, and it was probably introduced by those Jews from Rome who witnessed the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the great Day of Pentecost. Hence it would appear that the first Roman Christians were Jewish converts, but they were ere long reinforced by Gentile believers. The Roman satirist lamented some fifty years later that Syrian Orontes had long poured its stream into the Tiber—a turbid flood of oriental jargon, mountebankery, and immorality.1 But these were in no wise the sole contributions which Syria made to the Imperial City. Antioch on the Orontes was the metropolis of Gentile Christendom, and she would send many a Christian to Rome. Thus the Roman Church was a mixed community, and it was rent by the troublous controversy which Paul had encountered in Galatia, Macedonia, and Achaia. The Judaists raised the old outcry against his Gospel of universal grace, and insisted on the permanent obligation of the Mosaic Law and the necessity of imposing its ceremonies on Gentile converts. It grieved the Apostle, Σ Juv. 11. 62 ff. FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME τοῦ yet he recognised that even this vexatious controversy was serving the supreme end. The Judaists, notwithstanding cy. phil i. their narrow prejudice, were Christians, and even a Judaist “57 Gospel was better than paganism. Moreover, he had con- fidence in his message of salvation by faith, and he was sure that discussion would inevitably issue in its triumph. Such was the course of events at Rome while Paul awaited Epaphro- his citation to the Emperor’s tribunal. It appears that Philippi: Luke and Aristarchus had left him soon after his arrival.1_ He would doubtless despatch them on errands to some of the cf. 2 Cor. Churches whose welfare was his constant care ; and it seems ™ 3 δ that Luke went to Philippi where he had ministered so long and where his appearance would be warmly welcomed.? The Apostle, however, had not been left alone ; for Timothy had joined him, and not only acted as his amanuensis but ministered to him with that beautiful tenderness which had always characterised his attitude toward his father in Christ and which was specially conspicuous amid the distresses of those later years. And by and by he was gladdened by the advent of another true-hearted comrade. This was Epaphroditus of Philippi, and he came as the deputy of his Church. The Philippians had been apprised of the Apostle’s fortunes. Secundus of Thessalonica on returning from Jerusalem to Macedonia three years previously would report his arraignment before the Sanhedrin and his im- prisonment at Cesarea, and occasional intelligence of his situation would subsequently be conveyed to Philippi. Indeed it is likely that he would write to so important a Church during his two years’ seclusion. Communication 1 The evidence is twofold. (1) They are not expressly included in the greeting at the close of Phil. (iv. 21, 22) as, in view of their intimacy with the Philippians, they must have been had they been present. They had rejoined the Apostle when he wrote Col. and Phm., and they are mentioned in these letters (cf. Col. iv. 10, 14; Phm. 24). (2) Had they, especially Luke, been present, Paul could not have written Phil. ii. 19-21. ? Luke’s visit to Philippi is proved by Phil. iv. 3, if he was indeed the γνήσιος σύνζυγος. ' 8 The canonical epistle is the only extant letter of the Apostle to the Philippians ; but Polycarp (Adi. iii) speaks of ‘letters’ (ἐπιστολάς) which Paul had written to them and which they then possessed. This indeed is not conclusive, since the plur. ἐπιστολαί might denote a single letter (cf. Lightfoot, PAz?., pp. 138 ff.) ; put the probability remains. fos. bIFE“*ANDILET ΕΝ ΞΕ Ss fy raat. would cease on his departure for Rome; but now, if Luke ~ had indeed gone to Philippi, he would tell the story of the | eventful voyage and inform the brethren of their revered teacher’s plight in the Imperial Capital. . ae Their sympathy was awakened, and they promptly dis- : ΣΝ played it in their own practical and generous fashion. ὙΠῸ cpppan Apostle was in sore need. He was not indeed actually destitute, for he had been well furnished by the liberality of the people of Melita ; but he had to meet the expense of his rental and maintenance at Rome, nor was he permitted to | go abroad and earn a wage by plying his craft of tent-making. : And he was a stranger in the vast Metropolis. The Church — there was not his foundation. Its members were bound to him by no ties of gratitude and affection, and the converts © whom he had won since his arrival belonged to the poorer — order—soldiers of the Praetorian Guard and slaves of the - imperial household. They could afford him nothing. His little store was fast dwindling, and unless he were brought — speedily to trial he must be destitute. His plight was grievous, and it appealed to the Philippians. Their gener- ous souls were conscience-stricken. Nine years previously, when his need was sore, they had repeatedly relieved it ; 1 but when the need passed, their liberality had ceased. It was not that their hearts had been estranged. Their love was as true and fond as ever, and had they known of his distress, they would gladly have succoured him. And now that they were apprised of it, they hastened to make amends. Cf. ii, 19; They levied contributions, and they wrote a letter of gracious *sympathy. They deplored the long winter of their apparent neglect, and assured him that it had been occasioned not by any defect of love but solely by their ignorance of his need ; and they begged him to cheer them with tidings of his con- dition. And they deputed Epaphroditus to convey their letter and their gift to Rome. Devoted It was probably midsummer when Epaphroditus presented eee himself. Paul and his two companions had arrived there dius at about the beginning of March, and Luke would hardly ' leave him immediately. The journey to Philippi via Dyrra- chium and the Egnatian Road occupied little less than a + Cf. pp. 137, 152 FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME _ 509 month ; 1 and if he set out in April, he would arrive in May. A considerable time would be consumed by the telling of his story and the raising of the contribution, and thus July would be well advanced ere Epaphroditus joined the Apostle. He proved himself a true friend and a staunch ally. He made no haste to return home, but stayed on with the Apostle and aided him in his ministry, particularly, it would seem, in his controversy with the Judaists. And for this ‘ warfare’ he Ct. ii. 25. was well qualified, since the question had so recently been debated in Macedonia and he was familiar with the issues. His zeal, however, cost him dear. The autumn was an insalubrious season at Rome,? and Epaphroditus sickened amid his labours, and for a while his life was in danger. During his tedious convalescence his heart turned homeward, and his longing became insupportable when he received an anxious message from his friends. They had heard of his sickness and would fain know how he was faring; and he decided to set out immediately and relieve their apprehension. He would convey to Philippi an answer to the letter which A letter to he had brought, and the Apostle addressed himself to its"? composition. It had been long delayed. In view of his activities at Rome it can hardly have been earlier than September when Epaphroditus fell sick ; and it would take the better part of two months for the report of his illness to find its way to his friends and their anxious inquiry to travel back to Rome. And thus it would be the month of November when Paul wrote. His letter is an outpouring of his heart’s gratitude and affection. It is the sweetest and tenderest of all his surviving letters, and its tone evinces how much he owed to the sympathy of his Philippian friends and the kindness of their deputy. His situation was indeed distressful. He was a prisoner; and not only was he vexed by the hostility of a powerful party in the Roman Church but 1 The distance between Rome and Brundisium was about 360 miles, and it occupied some ten days (cf. Ovid, Zfzst. 1v. v. 7 f.: ‘Luce minus decima dominam venietis in Urbem, | Ut festinatum non faciatis iter.’). The passage from Brundisium to Dyrrachium depended on weather conditions, but a single day commonly sufficed. From Dyrrachium to Philippi the distance was about 370 miles, and this would consume about a fortnight, since travel was less expeditious there than in Italy. * Cf. Hor. Epist. 1. vii. 1-9. Fro LIFE AND LETTERS Of 751. ae his prospect was dark and ominous. The long deferment of his appeal was disquieting, and the rumours which reached him of Jewish machinations and imperial tyranny justified gloomy forebodings of the final issue. His spirit might well have been oppressed, yet it was light and glad. ‘ Joy’ is the letter’s refrain, occurring oftener within its brief compass than in any other.! LETTER -TO-PHILIPPI Address After the formal address, making special mention of the and com- mendation. Elders, “ the Overseers’ or Shepherds of the Flock,? and. the Deacons, since it was they who had directed the Church’s contribution on his behalf, the letter opens with an assurance of the Apostle’s continual and affectionate regard. iit Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the Overseers and 2 Deacons. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 34 I thank my God whenever I think of you, ever in my every supplication for every one of you making my supplication 5 with joy for the part you have taken in spreading the Gospel 6from the first day until the present hour. Just this is my confidence, that He who inaugurated a good work in you 7 will carry it to perfection until the Day of Christ Jesus. And indeed it is right for me to be thus disposed on behalf of you all, since I hold you in my heart, being as you all are, alike in my imprisonment and in my defence and confirmation of the ὃ Gospel, my partners in grace. For God is my witness how I 9am longing for you all in the tenderness of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer—that your love may still more and more 10 overflow in full knowledge and all perception, that you may 11 have moral discernment * so as to be sincere and offenceless against the Day of Christ, replete with that harvest of right- eousness which is wrought by Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. phe ὭΣ In their letter the Philippians had commiserated the pos 5 ° siiu.tion Apostle on his unhappy situation; and now he hastens to at Rome. 1 xdpa, ‘joy,’ five times (i. 4, 25; ii. 2, 29; iv. 1); χαίρειν, ‘rejoice,’ eleven times (i. 18 δές ; ii. 17 δὲς, 18 δὲς, 283 iii. 13 iv. 4 δὲς, 10). 3 Cf. n. on Ac. xx. 28, p. 463. 3 εἰς τὸ δοκιμάζειν ὑμᾶς τὰ διαφέροντα, cf. ἢ. on Rom. ii. 18, p. 390. FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME κι: show them how wonderfully it had eventuated. It had procured the Gospel an entrance into the barracks of the Pretorian Guards and had stirred most of the Roman Christians to courage and zeal, while even the opposition of the Judaists was serving a gracious end by compelling reflection. And so they must not grieve. It was true that his personal prospect was dark. His fate was hanging in the balance, and there seemed little likelihood of his escaping condemnation and a martyr’s death. But his resolution was so to bear himself that, whatever the issue, Christ might be magnified. Indeed he had no fear of death. It would be a blessed release, and he would almost choose it. Yet when he considered how eagerly the Philippians desired him, he could not but believe that he would be spared and have the joy of seeing them again. 12 Now desire you to recognise, brothers, that my fortunes have actually issued in the advancement of the Gospel. 13 It has become notorious among the whole of the Pretorian Guard and all the rest of the citizens that it is for my 14 relation with Christ that I am a prisoner ; and the majority of the brothers have gained confidence in the Lord by my imprisonment and with more overflowing boldness are 15 fearlessly talking of the Word of God. There are some indeed who are preaching the Christ for envy and strife, but there are some also who are doing it for good will. 16 The latter are prompted by love, knowing that I am r7appointed for the defence of the Gospel, while it is by partisanship that the former are prompted to proclaim the Christ, in no pure spirit, thinking to aggravate the distress 180fmyimprisonment. Andwhatthen? Only that in every way, whether in pretence or in truth, Christ is being pro- claimed ; and in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice ; 19for I know that ‘this will result for me in salvation ’ Job xiii, through your supplication and a rich supply of the Spirit 16 UX. 20of Jesus Christ, according to my eager expectation and hope that in nothing shall I be put to shame, but with all boldness of speech now as always Christ will be magnified in my body whether through life or through death. 21,22 For to me living is Christ and dying is gain. But if living in the flesh be my portion, this means for me a harvest of 23work ; and which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am ina dilemma: I have the longing to strike my tent and be Ct. 2 Cor. 24 with Christ, for this were far, far better; yet my staying™ ™ 25 still in the flesh is more necessary for your sakes. And of this Cwofold incentive to Christian unity ; (1) The Heavenly Citizen- ship. Wy Ὁ Ch, iil. 20. 5120 LIFE AND LETTERS: OR ΞΕ (Pate I am confident, and I know that I shall stay, I shall stay on among you, for your advancement and joy in the Faith, 2650 that in me you may have in Christ Jesus abundant reason for boasting through my advent again among you. Unhappily the music of the sweet letter is broken by a jarring note. The peace of the Philippian Church had been disturbed by a petty dissension. It was indeed no very serious matter, but it grieved the Apostle that even so slight a blot should sully the fair fame of this the noblest of his Churches. But for that his pride in the Philippians would have been without alloy, and he lovingly yet passionately pleads with them to banish it and ‘ complete his joy.’ He sets before them two inspiring ideals. First he appeals to them to be worthy of their Christian ‘ citizenship,’ here introducing a new conception which had of late captivated his imagination and thenceforth moulded his thought of the Church. It grew out of his Roman citizenship, and it had taken definite shape in his mind when he found himself within the gates of the Imperial Capital, the Queen of the Nations, the Mistress of the World, and surveyed from that proud centre ‘ the wide arch of the ranged empire.’ It seemed to him, as to St. Augustine three and a half centuries later, an earthly adumbration of the Civitas Dei, the Heavenly Commonwealth. The imperial spirit was strong in the Roman colony of Philippi, and he appeals to his friends to recognise their nobler citizenship and prove worthy of it, all the more that they were surrounded by jealous and malignant enemies. 27 Only be worthy in your Citizenship of the Gospel of Christ, that, whether I come and see you or be far away, the account I have of you may be that you are standing fast in one spirit, with one soul supporting the Faith of the Gospel in its struggle, 28 and never fora moment intimidated by your opponents. This is for them an evidence of ruin, but it is an evidence of your 29 salvation—an evidence from God; because the privilege has been granted you on Christ’s behalf, not only to have faith in 30 Him but to suffer on His behalf, engaged as you are in the same sort of contest which you saw me maintaining and now hear of my maintaining. But there was another and far more moving ideal. It was FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME) 513 always the Apostle’s wont to invest the commonest of duties (2) The with the loftiest of sanctions; and just as he had incited /2;*' the Corinthians to Christian liberality by setting before humilis them the example of the Lord’s sacrificial self-impoverish- » 2 Cor. viii ment, so now he presents to the Philippians a like incen-? tive to self-effacement. He reminds them of Christ’s self- humiliation. He was the Eternal Son of God, yet He freely surrendered that dignity. He became man; the Lord of Glory made Himself a slave. It was a reversal of creation. At his creation man was ‘ made in the image of God, after Gen. i. 26. His likeness’; and that Divine Image, the Archetype of ἐν γος Humanity, was the Eternal Son. God’s purpose was " the i. 15 iii. conformation of humanity to the image of His Son’; but Cf Rou: this was frustrated by sin. The Divine Image in humanity ἡ: 29: was defaced, and to remedy the disaster the Eternal Son was “made in the likeness of men.’ It was a temporary humiliation. Observe how the Apostle distinguishes between the ‘form’ and the ‘ fashion.’ Form is permanent, fashion transient. Man’s form is the eternal image of God, and his fashion the frail and perishing estate into which sin has Cf. 1 Cor. brought him; and the Archetype of Humanity, that He “3” might ‘conform humanity to His own image,’ shared its fashion and endured to the uttermost its suffering and shame. And this infinite self-renunciation is His glory. It has exalted the name of Jesus and won Him universal adoration. fi. x If, then, the appeal of union with Christ counts for any- thing, if love’s persuasion counts for anything, if the Spirit’s fellowship counts for anything, if tenderness and com- 2 passion count for anything,’ complete my joy by espousing the same cause. Cherish the same love; be united in 3soul; espouse the one cause. Never be actuated by partisanship or vaingloriousness, but with humility deem 1 The difficulty here lies in εἴ τις σπλάγχνα. The obvious emendation εἴ τινα (Chrys., Ambrstr., Vulg., T. R.) has no MS. authority. εἴ τις σπλάγχνα is generally regarded as a mere grammatical slip on the part of the Apostle; but since Cod. Bez. (D) and several minuscs. have also εἴ Tis παραμύθιον, some ancient interpreters take the nouns as predicates : ‘if any one would be a comfort to me, if any one would be a consolation to my love, if any one would be a fellowship of spirit to me, if any one would be tenderness and compassion.’ Cf. Euth. Zig. One authority (Euthal 9984) has ef τι οὖν παράκλησις, and the proba- bility is that εἴ τι, sé guzd valet, should be read throughout. Cf. Moulton, Proleg., Ὁ. 59. 2K ΕἸ LIFE AND LETT RS OF Si. oe 4one another more important than yourselves, with an eye not to your own several interests but also to those of your sneighbours. Harbour this sentiment which dwelt even in 6Christ Jesus. Though He existed primally in God’s form,! He did not deem His equality with God a treasure to be 7clutched.2, No, He emptied Himself by taking a slave’s 8form, being made in the likeness of men. And, being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself by carrying His gobedience as far as death, yes, death on a cross. And therefore God also highly exalted Him and bestowed on το Him the Name which is higher than every name, that at Is. xlv. 23. the name of Jesus ‘every knee might bend,’ among ‘the 11 denizens of heaven and earth and the nether world,’ ὃ ‘ and every tongue confess’ that Jesus CHRIST 15 LorD to the glory of God the Father. 1 And so, my beloved, as you have always been obedient, now—not merely as you would if I were with you but all the 1 ὑπάρχων, cf. note on Gal. ii. 14, p. 200. μορφή is forma, the distinctive and unchangeable form. Cf. Chrys. : τὸ ἀπαράλλακτον ἡ μορφὴ δείκνυσι καθώς ἐστι μορφή. It is impossible to be of one essence and have the ‘form’ of another essence. .g., no man has the form of an angel, nor has an irrational beast the form of a man. σχῆμα is habitus, figura, the ‘fashion’ or ‘shape,’ which may change while the ‘form’ remains. Thus, the σχῆμα of the world passes away (1 Cor. vii. 31), but not its μορφή : the world itself remains though its ‘fashion’ changes. Satan may ¢ransfigure himself (μετασχηματίζεσθαι) but he could not transform himself (μεταμορφοῦσθαι) into an angel of light (cf. 2 Cor. xi. 14). Hence ἐν μορφῇ Θεοῦ ὑπάρχων affirms our Lord’s essential and eternal deity (as against Arianism) ; μορφὴν δούλου λαβών His true humanity (as against Doketism). The reality of His incarnate humanity is further affirmed by σχήματι εὑρεθεὶς ws ἄνθρωπος : in the days of His flesh He exhibited the ‘fashion’ of a man— ‘habitus, cultus, vestitus, gestus, sermones victus, et actiones’ (Beng.). It may seem impossible that one who was ‘in the form of God’ should take ‘the form of a slave’; and thus Spinoza (£f7s¢. xxi) pronounces it no less absurd to say that God assumed human nature than to say that a circle has assumed the nature of a square. This, however, ignores the basal postulate of the Incarnation, viz., man’s kinship with God, his creation ‘in God’s image.’ Hence Christ, ‘ existing primally in God’s form,’ could nevertheless ‘take a slave’s form’; He could become man without ceasing to be God. And conversely, just as He, being in a slave’s form, could be ‘transformed’ (μεταμορφοῦσθαι) into His primal glory (cf. Mt. xvii. 2; Mk. ix. 2), so we, without ceasing to be men, can be ‘ transformed ’ into His image (cf. Rom. viii. 29, xii. 2; 2 Cor. iii. 18)—the εἰκών in which we were created (cf. 1 Cor. xi. 7; Col. iii. 10)—and be ‘made partakers of the divine nature’ (2 Pet. i. 4). 5 ἁρπαγμός, a ‘catch,’ a prize to be greedily clutched as a lion seizes his prey (cf. Moulton and Milligan, Vecad.). Here not, as the Arians understood it, a ἕρμαιον, a privilege which Christ might have grasped and made His own, but, as the argument requires, a dignity which He actually possessed and would not retain like a miser clutching his gold. Cf. Isid. Pel. Zfzst. iv. 22. 3 A phrase of contemporary Gnosticism. Cf. Hippolytus, αἰεί. v. 8. FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME στρ more since I am far away—with fear and trembling work 130ut your own salvation ; tor it is God that operates in you both the willing and the operating in pursuance of His 14g00d pleasure. Do everything without murmurings and rsdisputations, that you may prove blameless and _ pure, ‘God’s spotless children’ in the midst of ‘a crooked and Dt. xxxii. perverse generation,’ among whom you are seen shining like Peis ἢ x6stars in the world, holding forth a message of life, that τ Γ΄ may have reason for boasting on the Day of Christ that I did not run my race in vain or ‘spend my labour in vain.’ Is, xtix. 4; 17 Nay, though my life-blood be poured out over the sacrifice ᾿ἰχν. 23. and priestly ministration of your faith, I rejoice and I 18share the joy of you all. And in the same manner I would have you also rejoice and share my joy. And now the Apostle passes to a personal explanation. The In their letter the Philippians had begged him to ‘ cheer SPostle’s τ a ἥ : ; present them with information of his concerns,’ and he tells them that eae 5, he hopes ere long to send Timothy to them and be cheered” with information of their concerns. He was only waiting until he should be able to tell them how his case was likely to go; and his expectation was that he would soon be set at liberty, and then he would visit them himself. Meantime he was sending Epaphroditus back to Philippi to relieve the anxiety which the tidings of that good friend’s sickness had occasioned them ; and they must honour him all the more for the service which he had rendered in their name during his stay at Rome. 19 NowIam hoping, if the Lord Jesus will, to send Timothy to you ere long, that I too may be ‘cheered by information of 20 your concerns.’!_ I have no one with a soul like his—no one 21 who will have a kindly regard for your concerns ; for they are 22 all seeking their own ends, not those of Christ Jesus. But you are aware what he has proved himself: like father and child he 23and I slaved together in the service of the Gospel. Him, then, I am hoping to send as soon as ever I make out my prospects ; 24 but I am confident in the Lord that I shall myself also come 25ere long. I deemed it necessary, however, to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow-worker and _fellow- soldier, whom you sent on an errand of priestly ministration 26to my need, since he was longing after you all and was home- 27 sick 2 because you had heard that he was ill. Indeed he was τ κἀγώ, “1 also,’ a reference to the Philippians’ letter. They had hoped to be cheered with tidings of his welfare, and he reciprocates their courtesy. 3 ἀδημονεῖν, cl. The Days of His Flesh, p. 4.57. Cf. x Cor. xvi. 17. Final charge. An inter- ruption, A Judaist attack. Cf. Rev. xxii. 15. Cf. Rom. ii, 29; Col. il, 11. 616 LIFE AND LETI ERS OF Si Pave ill, almost at death’s door; but God had mercy on him, and not on him only but on me too, lest I should have grief upon 28grief. I am sending? him, then, the more eagerly, that you may be rejoiced by the sight of him and my grief may be 29lessened. Welcome him, then, in the Lord with all joy, and 30 hold men like him in honour; for it was his devotion to the work of Christ that brought him nigh to death. He hazarded his life to make up to me the ministry which you could not render. And now he draws to a conclusion. Ere he closes he reverts to the dissension which was disturbing the Philippian Church, and would reiterate his counsel. fii.: For the rest, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To repeat what I have already written to you is not irksome for me, and it is safe for you Here he breaks off. Something has occurred which interrupts the stream of his dictation and arrests Timothy’s pen ; and when he resumes, it is to pour forth a torrent of burning indignation. The occasion was plainly a peculiarly offensive exhibition of Judaist animosity ; but he does not stay to define it, and hence it may be inferred that Epaphro- ditus had been the victim. It was unnecessary to recount the incident, since he would explain the circumstances when he delivered the letter. It was probably a rencontre at a meeting of the Church. Epaphroditus had been discoursing and had been assailed by the Judaist faction; and now he has returned vexed and pained, and tells the story. Apparently the attack was threefold. First, the Judaists had indulged in coarse vituperation. They had stigmatised the Gentile converts as ‘ uncircumcised dogs ’—that foul epithet which the Jews were so fond of hurling at the Gentiles,” likening them to the pariahs which prowled in quest of garbage among the refuse-heaps outside an oriental town ; and this enkindled a flame of chivalrous resentment in the Apostle’s breast. He retorted the epithet. The Judaists were the real pariahs, and their legal rites were the garbage. Their boasted circumcision was only a symbol of spiritual grace, and the symbol without the grace was valueless. It 1 ἔπεμψα, epistolary aor. Cf. n. on Gal. vi. 11, p. 219. 8 Cf. The Days of His Flesh, p.250. —_— τ ω FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME 51} was no true ciycumcision but mere conctsion, mere mutilation, Cf. Lev, mere ‘cutting in the flesh.’ Again they had assailed the ™ * Apostle ; and he replies that he was a better Jew than any of them, and his present attitude was no jealous depreciation of a privilege which he did not possess. He had been ‘ born in the purple.” He was an heir of the sacred traditions, and had once been devoted to the Law; but he had found in Christ a nobler righteousness, and recognised that legal rites were in comparison naught but ‘refuse.’ Then they had preferred their old charge that the Gospel of salvation by faith relaxed moral obligation; and this touched him in the quick. His Gentile converts, even the Philippians, too often lent colour to the calumny by their retention of the pagan taint ; and he implores them to realise the ethical requirements of the Gospel. The Christian life was a con- tinual conflict, a strenuous struggle toward the goal of a Christlike character, and he was himself striving to attain it. 2 Beware of the ‘dogs’; beware of the ‘ evil workers’; be- Cf. 2 Cor. 3 ware of the concision.! For we are ‘ the circumcision ’"—we Σ᾽" 13: who serve God’s Spirit and boast in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. 4 And yet I have reason for confidence even in the flesh. If any one else fancies he may have confidence in the flesh, still 5more may I: circumcised as I was when eight days old ; born of Israel’s race and of Benjamin’s tribe, a Hebrew of Hebrew 6 parentage ; as regards the Law a Pharisee; as regards zeal a persecutor of the Church; as regards righteousness—legal 7righteousness—past blame. But all these which were once 8gains to me, I have for Christ’s sake deemed loss. Yes, and more than that: I deem everything to be loss for the sake of the transcendent advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.? 1 A contemptuous parody—not περιτομή but κατατομή, not ‘circumcision’ but ‘amputation’ (cf. Gal. v. 12). Such paronomasia was congenial to the ancient mind. Diogenes the Cynic was addicted to it. Cf. Diog. Laert. v1. 24: ‘He called the σχολή (school) of Euclid χολή (bile) and the διατριβή (discourse) of Plato κατατριβή (waste of time).’ It is frequent in N. T. generally as a play upon words like the jingling proverb μαθήματα παθήματα, ‘experience teaches’ (cf. Herod. 1. 207; Asch. Agam. 170), and in this kindly fashion our Lord employed it (cf. Mt. xvi. 18). Cf. Moulton’s Winer, p. 794-6. , 2 Deissmann (Light from Anc. East, p. 383, n. 8) quotes a 1®c. Byzantine inscription which records of a citizen of Olbia that he had ‘advanced to know- ledge of the Augusti’ (z.¢., the Emperors Augustus and Tiberius), μέχρι ras τῶν Σεβαστῶν γνώσεως προκόψαντος. On this analogy it is Zersonal not speculative knowledge of Christ that the Apostle means. Cf. Jo. x. 15, xiv. 7, xvii. 3, 25. Cf. Ac. xx. 24. διὸ. LIFE AND LE FTE RS Of St Peruse For His sake I suffered the loss of everything and deem it but 9 refuse,! that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own—the legal righteousness—but that which comes by faith in Christ, the righteousness which God rogives on the ground of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His Resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, 11 being conformed to His death in the hope of attaining to the resurrection from the dead.” 12 Not that I have already laid hold or have already accom- plished the course ; but I am pressing on in the hope of laying fast hold on that for which Christ Jesus laid fast hold on me. 13 Brothers, I do not yet reckon myself to have laid fast hold on it, but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining 14 out. toward what lies ahead, I am pressing on to the goal for the prize of God’s upward call in Christ Jesus. 15 Let all of us, then, who are mature,® be thus minded; and if in aught you are differently minded, this also will God reveal to 16you. Only, so far as we have reached, let us march in unbroken rank. 17 Unite in imitating me, brothers, and keep an eye on those who comport themselves after the pattern which we have set -x8you. For there are many who comport themselves—I used Resump- tion of final charge. often to speak of them to you, and now I speak of them even 19 With tears, as the enemies of the Cross of Christ. Their end is ruin, their god is their appetite, and their glory is in their 20 Shame—men who mind earthly things. Our Eternal Common- wealth is in Heaven ; * and thence we are expecting a Saviour, 2xthe Lord Jesus Christ, who will refashion the body of our humiliation into conformity with the body of His glory after the operation of the power He has even to subject the universe to Himself. And now the Apostle resumes the exhortation which had been so rudely interrupted. He names the two ladies— Euodia and Syntyche—who had occasioned the dissension. Nothing is known of them beyond this unhappy reference. Their record had hitherto been honourable. They had been won to the Faith during his ministry at Philippi and had lent him valiant assistance in the founding of the Church, and throughout the ten years which had since elapsed they had served it well, perhaps in the capacity of deaconesses. 1 A reversion to ‘the dogs’ (ver. 2), σκύβαλα being refuse thrown to dogs. Cf. Suid. ; σκύβαλον, κυσίβαλόν τι ὄν, τὸ τοῖς κυσὶ βαλλόμενον, 3 ἡ ἀνάστασις τῶν νεκρῶν, the general resurrection ; 7 ἀνάστασις 7 ἐκ νεκρῶν, the resurrection of believers (cf. Ac. iv. 2 with Ac. xvii. 323; I Cor. xv. 12). * τέλειοι, cf. n. on I Cor. ii. 6, p. 248. 4 ὑπάρχει, cf. n. on Gal. ii. 14, p. 200. —— εν νυ FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME 519 Hence he was the more grieved by their present behaviour ; and he appeals to Luke, who had proved his skill in spiritual no less than physical healing, to help them to a better frame. The ranks of his old comrades had been thinned in the process of the years, and he bespeaks kindly considera- tion of the survivors, particularly one named Clement. Un- distinguished as they might be in the world’s esteem, their names were in the Book of Life. iv. x And so, my brothers beloved and longed after, my joy and 2crown, thus stand fast in the Lord, beloved. I exhort Euodia! and I exhort Syntyche to espouse the same cause 3in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you, true yoke-fellow,? help them —those women who shared my struggle in the cause of the Gospel, they and Clement ® also and the rest of my fellow- workers whose names are in ‘ the Book of Life.’ Cf. Ps. Ixix, 28, 1 Not Euodias (masc.). The fem. pronouns αὐταῖς, αἵτινες (ver. 3) show that both persons were women. And the reiterated mapaxa\® makes the admonition impartial : both needed it. 3 ηνήσιε σύνζυγε. Whom the Apostle thus designates is problematic, but four suggestions may perhaps be confidently dismissed. 1. The quaint notion that, despite the masc. terminations, γνήσιος sévfuyos denotes a woman and that she was Paul’s wife (Clem. Alex. Strom. 111. vi. 53; Orig. ad Rom. Comm. 1. 1), whom Renan (S¢. Paz/, v1) identifies with Lydia of Philippi. 2. The idea that Σύν ζυγος is a proper name, and the Apostle plays upon the common meaning of the word (cf. Phm. 10, 11)—‘Synzygus (yoke-fellow), truly so named.’ This notion, like the former, was prevalent in Chrys.’s day (τινὲς δέ φασιν ὄνομα ἐκεῖνο κύριον εἶναι). 3, Chrys., while rejecting the idea that the reference is to Paul’s wife, thinks it may have been to some other woman but more probably to the brother or the husband of Euodia or Syntyche ; cautiously adding, however, πλὴν etre τοῦτο εἵτε ἐκεῖνο οὐ σφόδρα ἀκριβολογεῖσθαι det. 4. Paul here apostrophises either Epaphroditus (Grotius, Lightfoot), the bearer of the letter, or Timothy (Estius), whom he intended sending to Philippi (cf. ii. 19-23). But, though he might have given such an injunction to either, he could hardly have introduced a personal ‘aside’ into the letter. It remains that he is addressing some prominent personage at Philippi, to whom the letter was consigned and who would read it to the Church ; and Luther hits the mark when he understands ‘the chief Bishop’ or Presbyter. That had been Luke’s position during his ministry at Philippi, and on revisiting the Church he would resume the dignity if not the office. There was no one whom Paul could more fittingly have designated his ‘true yoke-fellow,’ a phrase which recalls Agamemnon’s designation of Odysseus (Esch. Agam. 815) : ζευχθεὶς ἔτοιμος ἦν ἐμοὶ σειραφόρος, ‘when yoked he was ever to me a ready trace-horse.’ 8. Connecting μετὰ καὶ Κλήμεντος with συνήθλησάν μοι. It may also be con- nected with the remote συνλαμβάνου αὐταῖς : ‘help them, you and Clement also.’ On the former construction Clement and the rest of Paul’s converts were partisans of Euodia and Syntyche, and hence it would appear that the dissension arose from a feeling on the part of the original members of the Church that they received less deference than they deserved from the later adherents, 520. (LIFE AND LEDTERS OF Sto Pave Thesecret The mischief of dissension was that it broke the Church’s of peace. eace, and banished joy, and dishonoured the Gospel. The remedy lay in the cultivation of a spirit of ‘ sweet reasonable- ness’; and this was attained by the unburdening of the soul at the Throne of Grace and the resolute pursuit of lofty ideals. 4,5 Rejoice in the Lord always; again will I say it, rejoice. Let — your sweet reasonableness! be known to all men. The Lord 6is nigh. Be anxious about nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests Cf. Jo. i. 7 be made known in God’s presence. And the peace of God, τ, 2 (Gk.). which transcends all understanding, will be the warden of your hearts and thoughts in Christ Jesus. 8 For the rest, brothers, all that is true, all that is dignified, all that is righteous, all that is pure, all that is lovely, all that is winsome, whatever virtue there may be and whatever 9 praise, take these things into your reckoning. All that you learned and received and heard and saw in me, put in practice; and God, the Giver of Peace, will be with you. Acknow- One matter remains—the monetary relief which the gee" Philippians had sent the Apostle, and he acknowledges it ee in a few sentences which only a gentleman could have written—a rare blending of gratitude, dignity, and humour. They had explained, somewhat grandiloquently, their apparent neglect—the tardy ‘revival of their drooping mindfulness’ of him; and he accepts their apology. He was glad of their gift; not for the relief which it afforded, since he had learned to endure privation, but for the assur- ance which it conveyed of their constant kindness. And he thanks them for it. It was like them to send it. Some ten years previously, when he was driven out of Macedonia,? they alone had considered his need and ‘ settled accounts’ with him. He uses this phrase significantly, indicating that their contribution was no charity. It was a debt which they owed him for his precious service of them, and had they disowned it, they would have been the losers. And now that they have sent him another payment, he playfully writes 2 τὸ ἐπιεικές (ἡ ἐπιεικία), the quality which, according to Matthew Arnold, distinguished Jesus, the temper which maintained His ‘sure balance.’ Cf. 2 Cor. x. I. 2 Cf. p. 152. se FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME - 521 a formal receipt : ‘ Paidin full; received from Epaphroditus.’ At the same time their gift was hallowed by their love. It was more than a payment; it was a fragrant offering, and it would win them God’s rich blessing. το Nowit rejoiced me greatly in the Lord that ‘at long last’ you had ‘revived your drooping mindfulness of me.’ And in this connection you were indeed mindful of me all the while, but τὰ younever had an opportunity. Not that Iam speaking under pressure of want ; for I have learned, whatever my circum- 12 stances, to be content. I know how to be brought low; I know how to be affluent. Into each and every experience I have been initiated—fulness and hunger, affluence and want. 13 I have strength for everything in Him who puts power into r4,15me. Yet thank you for participating in my distress.!- And you Philippians know as well as I do that in the early days of the Gospel, when I quitted Macedonia, no Church 16settled accounts with me? but you alone. For not only at Thessalonica but again and yet again you sent me t7help in need. Not that I am seeking after your gift ; no, it is the interest which accumulates to your account that 18 I am seeking after. I am paid in full,* and I am affluent. My wants are all supplied now that I have received from Epaphroditus what you sent me, ‘an odour of a sweet Ex. xxix. fragrance,’ a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God. 18; Ez το And my God will supply all your need according to His ™ 4” 2oriches in glory in Christ Jesus. And to our God and Father be the glory for ever and ever. Amen. 2x Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are 22 with me greet you. All the saints greet you, especially those belonging to Czsar’s household. 23 THE GRACE OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST BE WITH YOUR SPIRIT. It was toward the close of the year 60 when Epaphroditus The _ took his departure for Philippi, carrying the letter with him. Prisoners The Apostle would miss his gracious and helpful presence, panions. 1 καλώς ποιεῖν, a Common Greek colloquialism, frequent in papyri. (1) The aor. ‘thank you.’ Cf. Ac. x. 33. Oxyrh. Pap. 1066, 3: xaos μὲν ἐποίησας ἀποστίλας μοι τὴν ῥίνην, ‘thank you for sending me the file.’ The fut. ‘ please.’ Cf. 3 Jo. 6. Oxyrh. Pap. 300, 5: καλῶς ποιήσεις ἀντιφωνήσασά μοι ὅτι ἐκομίσου, ‘please send me a reply that you received it.’ 2 els λόγον δόσεως καὶ λήμψεως, ‘on the score of payment and receipt.’ Cf, Moulton and Milligan, Vocad. 3 In Common Greek ἀπέχω (cf. Mt. vi. 2), ‘I have received it,’ was the technical acknowledgment of payment. ἀποχή, ‘a receipt.” Cf. Oxyrh. Pap. QI, 25: κυρία ἡ ἀποχή, ‘the receipt is valid.’ Cf. Col. iv. 10, 14; Phm, 24. GEICO 10. Cf. 2 Tim. iv. 10. Arrival of John Mark and Tychicus. Cf. Col. iv. Io; 2 Tim. iv. II. Cf, Eph. Vis 21 (ΘΟΙ͂Σ ἔνι δ; 8. 522. LIFE’ AND ΘΒΕ ΗΒΕΞΕΟΞ Τ but he was not left alone. Timothy was with him, and by and by others joined him. Luke and Aristarchus returned from their expeditions with the old kindness in their hearts. It seems that his health had been impaired by his long confinement, his ceaseless employment, and his wearing anxiety ; and thus the advent of ‘the beloved physician ’ was doubly welcome. Aristarchus too did his part. So assiduous was he in his tendance, never quitting the Apostle’s chamber, that the latter playfully styled him ‘ my fellow- captive.’ Another arrival was Demas. He seems to have belonged to Thessalonica; and since his name is coupled with Luke’s, it may be presumed that he had accompanied the latter from Macedonia, conveying doubtless his Church’s sympathy. He is merely mentioned without commendation, and this evident coldness is justified by the part which he subsequently played. Time wore away, and the year 61 would be nearing its close when the Apostle was gladdened by a welcome surprise. It was the arrival of John Mark who ten years previously had occasioned the tragic rupture between him and his noble-hearted comrade Barnabas.! Of Mark’s doings during the interval there is no record, but it is plain that he had redeemed his character. Though a Jew, he was loyal to Paul’s Gentile Gospel ; and since in the immediate sequel he is found ministering in the Province of Asia, the likelihood is that it was thence that he had come to Rome. Nor is it without suggestion that another who appears on the scene at this juncture is Tychicus the Ephesian. He was one of the deputies who accompanied the Apostle to Jerusalem in the spring of 57 to present the Gentile contributions for the poor Christians in the Sacred Capital ; and when his errand Cf. 2 Tim. iv. II. Cf. Col. iv. 109. was accomplished he had returned to Ephesus. There, probably, he had encountered Mark; and when the latter was apprised of his intention to visit Rome, he would propose to accompany him that he might make his peace with the Apostle. The reconciliation was complete; and Paul not merely renewed the old fellowship with him but publicly absolved him by writing to the Churches of Asia and commending him to their confidence, 1 Chop 117. FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME 523 Nor should it go unnoticed that there was yet another who cheered the Apostle during his weary captivity—Jesus, a Jewish Christian, who, after the fashion of that period,} Jesus Justus, Cf. Col. iv. bore also the Gentile name of Justus. Since he is an unknown ἢ personage, and thus can hardly have been ἃ provincial deputy, he was probably a member of the Roman Church ; and this invested him with an honourable distinction. He was the only Jewish Christian in the city who befriended the Apostle: all the rest were Judaists. It was a serious errand that had brought Tychicus to Rome. A heresy had arisen in the Province of Asia and was working deadly mischief in the Church; and he had been deputed to convey the tidings to the Apostle and obtain his counsel. The intelligence was no surprise to Paul ; for he had long foreseen the evil. Already during his ministry at Ephesus he had perceived the trend of thought; and four years previously, in the message to the Churches of Asia annexed to his encyclical on Justification by Faith, he had sounded a note of warning, and he had repeated it with stronger urgency in his moving address to the Ephesian Elders at Miletus. And now he learns that his forebodings have been realised. What was the heresy ? It was the initial phase of that subtle philosophy which was known in after days as Gnosticism. Gnosticism was, at all events in the domain of Gentile Christianity, a fusion of Oriental theosophy and Greek philosophy ; and it was natural that it should have its home in the Province of Asia, that borderland betwixt East and West. It were indeed illegitimate to anticipate later de- velopments and identify the heresy which confronted the Apostle with the elaborate, complex, and fantastic system which flourished in the second century; at the same time it were no less illegitimate to ignore their affinity. Systems are never born in a day, and the full-blown Gnosticism which appears on the pages of St. Irenzeus was no sudden growth but the development of ideas which had been operative for generations. It were reasonable to assume a prior: that they had already emerged in the Apostle’s day, and the assumption is historically attested. Thus, according to St. Irenzus,? the 1 Cf. p. 21. 8 tv. li. 2; ef. 111, prefat. Heresy in the Pro- vince of Asia. Cf. Rom. xvi, 17-20. Cf Ac; xx, 29, 30. Incipient Gnosti- cism. The pro- blem of God’s re- lation to the world, Gnostic theory of emana- tions. Cf. Rom, vill. 38 ; (ΟἹ, 1, τό. Eph. vi. 12. s24 LIFE ‘AND LETRERS. OF ST. PAUE Gnostics were disciples of Simon Magus, ‘ the father of all heretics’; and Hippolytus early in the third century designates the Gnostic sect of the Ophites or Naasenes ‘ the progenitors of subsequent heresies’ and places them in the order of his discussion before Simon Magus and before Cerinthus, the Apostle John’s adversary during his ministry at Ephesus.! Hence it is no mere surmise but an historical fact that Gnosticism had already appeared in the days of the Apostles. It was indeed still undeveloped, but its characteristic ideas were thus early in vogue; and it was these that were disturbing the Churches of Asia and engaged Paul’s attention. Its basal principle was that persistent postulate of ancient thought—the inherent and essential evil of matter ; and this presented the twofold problem of the mode of creation and the relation of God to the world. 11 the world were God’s direct creation out of nothing or an immediate emanation from His own essence, then He would be the author of evil. And if He be perfect goodness and purity, then it is impossible for Him to have contact with evil and impure matter. There is thus a wide gulf between God and the world ; and the question was how that gulf should be bridged. The answer was furnished by a theory of successive emanations, a series of intermediaries between God and the world. These were the gous, a hierarchy of angels designated ‘thrones,’ ‘lordships,’ ‘ principalities,’ ‘ authorities,’ and ‘ powers,’ and inhabiting, in order of dignity, ‘ the heavenly regions ’ which rose, tier above tier, to the Throne of God.?* The pleroma or ‘ fulness’ dwelt in God, and it was weaker in each successive emanation until the lowest rank was reached—‘ the world-making angels,’ * ‘the rulers of this 1 Reifel -V. 63° Vials * According to Zest. of Levi (cf. p. 335) in the Sixth Heaven are the Arch- angels, the Angels of the Presence; in the Fifth the Messengers of God, who bear the prayers of men to the Angels of the Presence; in the Fourth Thrones and Authorities, the Holy Ones; in the Third the hosts of avenging angels. Orig. De Princip. 1. v. 3 (Latin translation) specifies, in ascending order, (1) the Holy Angels (sanctz angelz), (2) Principalities (grzncipatis, ἀρχαί), (3) Powers (potesiates, δυνάμει), (4) Thrones (¢hront), (5) Lordships (dominateones, KuptoTyTes). 5 κοσμοποιοὶ ἄγγελοι (cf. Iren. 1. xix; xx. 1). FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME 525 dark world, the spiritual hosts of wickedness,’ under Satan, “the gon of this world, the Prince of the authority of the Eph, ii. 2. air.’ Fantastic as the theory appears, it was no {frivolous A ruinous speculation. It was, on the contrary, a serious attempt to ὅτ: solve an ancient and abiding problem—the problem of the origin of evil; and it stimulated much profitable inquiry in the course of the early Christian centuries. Nevertheless it was a pernicious heresy, and, had it prevailed, the Faith must have perished. How widely it diverged from Chris- tianity appears by its very name. It was the doctrine of gnosis or ‘knowledge,’ and its advocates distinguished themselves from the simple multitude who had only ‘ faith’ by assuming the designation of ‘ Gnostics.’? They were “the spiritual’ or ‘the perfect,’* while mere believers, uninitiated into the mysteries of the gnosis, were ‘the animal.’4 It was just the old distinction between the esotevics and the exoterics in the philosophic schools, a revival of the spirit of caste which the Gospel had exorcised. The poison of the heresy lay in its dualism, and its mischief (z) Its was both theological and ethical. In the former connection (P71 ot. it struck at the very foundation of the Faith. Since matter "tion. was essentially evil, there could be no true Incarnation. Christ was not God manifest in the flesh, ‘ the fulness of deity embodied,’ but merely an gon, an angelic intermediary. Cf. Eph. This pernicious doctrine had already emerged in Paul’s Co? "te. day; and it was subsequently developed by Cerinthus. paket “He alleged,’ says St. Irenzus,® ‘that the world had not been made by the First God, but by a power separate and remote from the Authority which is over the Universe, and ignorant of the God who is over all. And Jesus, he supposed, had not been begotten of a virgin, but He had been born of Joseph and Mary, a son, in like manner to all the rest of men, and had become more righteous and wise. And after His Baptism the Christ descended into Him from the Sovereignty which is over the Universe, in the form of a 1 Cf. Tert. De Prascript. 7; Adv. Marc. 1.2; Eus. Hist. Eccl. ν. 27. 8 Cf. Iren. 1. i. 11; Clem. Alex. Strom. 11. iii. 10. 8. ol πνευματικοί, οἱ τέλειοι (cf. n. on 1 Cor. ii. 6, p. 248). © οἱ ψυχικοί (cf. n. on 1 Cor. ii. 14, Ὁ. 249). 4, xa. (2) Its un- ethical implicate. Cf. Rev. ii. 6, 14, I5. The Nico- laitans. Ac. vi. 5. 526 LIFE AND LETTERS OF sro rave dove; and then He proclaimed the unknown Father and accomplished miracles ; and at the end the Christ withdrew from the Jesus ; and the Jesus had suffered and been raised, but the Christ had remained throughout impassible, being spiritual.’ This distinction between the Divine Christ and the human Jesus, who were never truly one but were merely associated during the three years of our Lord’s ministry, is the inevitable | issue of the theory. In Paul’s day, however, the heresy was as yet primarily ethical, and this mischief also flowed from : its dualistic presupposition. The argument with Gentile converts was that, since matter and spirit are distinct | domains, the things of sense are, for the spiritual man, ‘indifferent,’ and he is free to indulge his carnal appetities. as he pleases.!_ This doctrine had already been urged in the Corinthian Church,? and it was professed and practised in the Churches of Asia by a school of sectaries who were still. active in the days of the Apostle John. They were known as the Nicolaitans, and they derived their name from Nicolaus, one of the Seven Deacons. He was a Gentile, belonging to Syrian Antioch; and since he had been a proselyte to Judaism ere his conversion to Christianity, it may be inferred that he was a restless spirit. At all events he soon went far astray. His position was defined by his maxim that ‘ we should disregard the flesh’ ; 3. and a story is told which illustrates his meaning. He was taunted by his fellow-apostles with jealousy regarding his beautiful wife, and he brought her forward and intimated that any one who would might marry her.* So entirely did he ‘ dis- regard the flesh.’ His attitude, however, was liable to mis- construction. It is Clement of Alexandria who tells the story, and, while expressly absolving Nicolaus of personal incontinence, he affirms that ‘the adherents of his sect followed up the incident and the maxim simply and in- considerately and committed fornication without restraint.’ They were, he alleges elsewhere,® ‘ dissolute as he-goats.’ 5. Cf. Iren. 1. xx. 2, 33 11) xlix. I. 9 Cf. p. 238. 3 ὅτι παραχρᾶσθαι τῇ σαρκὶ det. 4 Clem. Alex. Strom. 1Π1. iv. 25; cf. Eus. Hest. Eccl. ut. 29. δ Jord. τι. xx. 118. ΟΕ, Tert. 4dv. Marc. τ. 29; Hippol. Phzl. vi. 36. FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME 527 Such scandal would have been impossible among Jewish Gentile Christians, disciplined by the stern ethic of the Mosaic Law ; jewish but this restraint was lacking in the Churches of Asia. se. Their members were Gentiles, and it appears that they had travelled beyond that repudiation of moral obligation which the Apostle had so frequently to deplore in his converts from heathenism and which furnished the Judaists with so effective an indictment of his Gospel of Salvation by Faith. Judaism was nothing to them. They despised the Jews and ignored the historic basis of Christianity. And hence arose a striking reversal of the accustomed conditions. Hitherto it had been necessary for the Apostle to plead with the Jews for the recognition of the Gentiles, but now he has to exhibit the glory of the ancient Covenant to his Gentile converts and warn them against despising that precious heritage. Such was the situation which had emerged in the Province The Asian of Asia, and it occasioned the leaders of the Churches no noc small disquietude. It would appear that they held a repre- jaa sentative conference, and resolved to communicate with the Apostle. They wrote a letter in name of all the Churches, acquainting him with their perplexity and soliciting his counsel ; and they deputed Tychicus to convey it to Rome. The report was no surprise to Paul. He had detected An ency- symptoms of the heresy during his ministry at Ephesus, and renee after his departure he had kept himself informed of its progress. It had engaged his anxious consideration, and thus he was able to deal effectively with it ; and he forthwith addressed himself to the task and composed an encyclical letter.2_ This is the letter which stands in the New Testament 1 καὶ ὑμεῖς, ‘you also’ (vi. 21), proves that Paul had received a letter from his readers: they had told him of their concerns, and Tychicus would tell them of his.” Cf. χάγώ, ‘I also’ (i. 15). 3 Beza was apparently the first to perceive that the letter is an encyclical. ‘Suspicor,’ he says in his note on the subscription, ‘non tam ad Ephesios ipsos proprie missam epistolam quam Ephesum ut ad ceteras Asiaticas ecclesias trans- mitteretur.’ The evidence is twofold. 1. The address ἐν ᾿Εφέσῳ (i. 1) is omitted by the two earliest and most authoritative MSS. (N*B), and it was absent from the still earlier text of Origen. Reading τοῖς ἁγίοις τοῖς οὖσιν καὶ πιστοῖς, he attached a metaphysical significance to τοῖς οὖσιν, connecting it with the Ineffable Name (cf. Ex. iii. 14): ‘the saints who share the essence of the Eternal.’ The fact is that here, as in ‘the Epistle to the Romans’ (cf. p. 376), the address was left Cf. vi. 21, “2. ξ28 LIFE AND LETLERSCOR TS ΡΤ Canon as ‘ the Epistle to the Ephesians.’ It was not written for the Ephesians alone. It is an encyclical, and it was designed not exclusively for the metropolitan Church, but for all the others in the Province—the Churches at Smyrna, Per- gamos, Thyatira, Sardes, Philadelphia, Magnesia, Tralles, Hierapolis, Laodiceia, and Colosse. Tychicus was charged with its conveyance to Asia and its presentation at its several destinations; and this was a large commission, involving extensive travel and much negotiation. His itinerary was arranged. He would return to Ephesus and deliver the letter there ; and thence he would set forth on his tour of the Province. Probably he would betake him- self northward to Smyrna and Pergamos, and then strike inland to Thyatira, and thence by Sardes and Philadelphia to Magnesia. From Magnesia he would ascend the valley of the Meander to Tralles and pursue his journey eastward to Hierapolis, Laodiceia, and Colosse in the valley of the Lycus. The letter, being an encyclical, lacked the element of personalia, and he was charged not merely to deliver it but to convey to each Church the affectionate greetings and particular counsels of the Apostle. It is unlikely that he was furnished with a special copy for each Church. The same manuscript would serve for all. A blank had been left in the address, and in reading it to each community he would supply the name ; and doubtless ere his departure a copy would be made and preserved for future reference among the Church’s records. ENCYCLICAL TO THE CHURCHES OF ASIA ‘The Epistle to the Ephesians is evidently a catholic epistle, addressed to the whole of what might be called St. Paul’s diocese. It is the divinest composition of man. It embraces every doctrine : ) of Christianity ;—first, those doctrines peculiar to Christianity, — and then those precepts common to it with natural religion.’ 5. T. COLERIDGE. blank in the original draft and the destination was entered in each copy. 2. The absence of Zersonalza and, more particularly, sentences like i. 15 and iii. 2 prove that Paul is addressing strangers and not the Church of Ephesus which he knew so intimately. Theod. Mops. recognised this difficulty, and evaded it by suppos- ing that the letter had been written to the Ephesians before the Apostle visited them. BAe Ὁ- FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME 529 After the customary address and greeting, the letter begins with an elaborate thanksgiving for the rich heritage of Christian blessings. Here the Apostle skilfully introduces his argument. He tacitly assails the Asian heresy by em- ploying several of its distinctive terms—‘ spiritual,’ ‘ the heavenly regions,’ ‘ wisdom,’ ‘ fulness ’—-and exhibiting the true satisfaction of their claims in the Gospel. The heresy contrasted ‘ spiritual ’ and ‘ material,’ ‘ the heavenly regions ’ and ‘the world’; the Gospel unites them: ‘God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly regions in Christ.’ It is not by escaping from ‘ the prison of the body’ and material environment that we attain spiritual perfection ; already this is ours by union with the Risen Lord. Then he enumerates the Christian blessings. The first is our eternal election in Christ; next, its realisation in time —our redemption in Christ ; and, finally, the discovery in Christ of God’s providential purpose, ‘the mystery of His will.’ In the heretical philosophy ‘ mystery’ signified the secret lore which only the ‘ spiritual’ knew; but on the Apostle’s lips it had a grander meaning. It was God’s purpose of grace so long hidden but now gloriously manifested in Christ.1 And its discovery brings ‘ wisdom ’—a truer and nobler wisdom than the heretics imagined. The wisdom which they flaunted was intellectual, and it went hand in hand with moral foulness; but the Christian wisdom was a holy thing: ‘He poured the riches of His grace on us to overflowing in wisdom and moral discernment.’ The discovery of ἡ the mystery of His will’ brought wisdom inasmuch asit revealed the oneness of the Universe, ‘ gathering it under one Head in the Christ’; but in revealing the one- ness of the Universe it revealed also the oneness of humanity. The Jews indeed possessed a peculiar prestige in their long history of faith in God and hope in the Promised Saviour ; ——. but, though this was lacking to the Gentiles, they had heard the glad tidings of salvation ; faith had made it theirs; and the Holy Spirit had sealed their title to the future heritage. {τ Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will, to the saints 2 who are ——-and hold the Faith in Christ Jesus. Grace to >. CE p. 320, ZL Introdue- tion of the arguinent. Cf, if. 6. The Christian heritage. Cf, Dt. XXXils 9. Commen- dation of two truths: $30 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every ‘spiritual’ blessing in ‘ the 4 heavenly regions ’ in Christ, in pursuance of His election of us in Him ere the world’s foundation, that we might be holy and 5 blameless in His sight. In love! He foreordained us to be restored to the status of sonship® through Jesus Christ, 6 according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace which He lavished on us in His Beloved. 7 And in Him we have our redemption through His blood, the remission of our trespasses, according to the riches of His 8grace, which He poured on us to overflowing in all wisdom gand moral discernment® when He discovered to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure which He το purposed in Him for the establishment of a new order when the seasons had run their course, to gather the Universe under one Head in the Christ, the heavens and their belongings and the τι earth and all that is on it; even in Him in whom we were made God’s heritage, having been foreordained according to the purpose of Him who operates the Universe according to the r2counsel of His will, that we might be for the praise of His 13 glory—we who had beforehand hoped in the Christ. And in Him you also, on hearing the Word of Truth, the Gospel of your salvation—in Him you also had faith and were sealed 14 with the Spirit of promise, the Holy Spirit, who is the earnest of our inheritance,* that God might redeem His ownership ~ for the praise of His glory. I. THE THEOLOGICAL QUESTION (i. 15-ili) And now the Apostle embarks on his argument. He courteously reciprocates the kindness which the letter from Asia had expressed, and assures his readers of his warm regard. With most of them indeed he had no personal acquaintance; but he had heard of their faith and love during his sojourn at Ephesus, and since his departure his 1 So Chrys., Theod. Mops., Theodrt., construing ἐν ἀγάπῃ with mpoopicas. Otherwise either (1) with ἐξελέξατο, ‘elected us . . . in love’ (Oecum.), or (2) with ἁγίους καὶ ἀμώμους, ‘holy and blameless in love’ (Ambrstr., Vulg.). 8. Cf. n. on Gal. iv. 5, p. 209. * σοφία is theoretical, φρόνησις practical. Cf. Plat. Def.: σοφία ἐπιστήμη dvurdderos’ ἐπιστήμη τῶν del ὄντων' ἐπιστήμη θεωρητικὴ τῆς τῶν ὄντων αἰτίας. | φρόνησις δύναμις ποιητικὴ καθ᾽ αὑτὴν τῆς ἀνθρώπου εὐδαιμονίας" ἐπιστήμη ἀγαθῶν — καὶ κακῶν' διάθεσις καθ᾽ ἣν κρίνομεν τί πρακτέον καὶ τί οὐ πρακτέον. Arist. Ata Nie. Vi. 7. © Cho, 310: FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME 531 interest in them had never flagged. It was his constant prayer that they might miss nothing of their rich heritage in Christ. Here, with the heresy in view, he introduces two profound (τὴ The truths. The first is the Universal Sovereignty of the Risen alia Christ. Observe how here and throughout his argument he ‘igty of he Ri speaks not of ‘ Christ’ but of ‘ the Christ,’ and, in view of Christ. the doctrine which Cerinthus ere long advocated and which was already in vogue, identifies Him with the human Jesus, who died and was raised from the dead. The Christ was truly incarnate. He was no mere gon, no mere link in a chain of angelic intermediaries between God and the world. He is the Supreme Lord enthroned evermore at God’s right hand ‘ above every “ principality ’’ and “ authority ”’ and ‘‘ power’ and “ lordship’ and every name in vogue.’ And with this truth he links another—-Christ’s Headship (2) His over the Church. The idea is not an absolute novelty. ἐλάαν Already he has spoken of the corporate unity of Christians, Church- likening them, in their mutual relationships, to members of τς ὁ αν one body ;! but here he enlarges the conception. Christ + 12-313 om, Xil. is the Living Head, and the Church is His Body, ‘ the fulness 4, s. of Him who fills the Universe in every part.’ It is the perpetuation of the Incarnation. What the flesh was to the Lord in His humiliation, that the Church is in His exaltation. And thus there is no impassable gulf between God and the world. 13 Therefore I too, since I heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which prevails among you and the love which you have for all 16 the saints, never cease to give thanks on your behalf, making 17mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom 18and revelation in full knowledge of Him; the eyes of your heart being so enlightened that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what is the riches of the glory of His ‘ inheritance Dt. xxxiii. r9in the saints,’ and what is the surpassing greatness of His 3 4 power for us who have faith according to the operation of His 20strength’s might which He has exhibited in the Christ by raising Him from the dead and ‘seating Him at His right Ps. ex. 1, 2x hand ’ in ‘ the heavenly regions ’ far above every ‘ principality ’ and ‘ authority ’ and ‘ power ’ and ‘lordship ’ and every name z2in vogue, not only in this but in the future age. And He‘ put Ps. viii 6, 1 Cf. p. 291. 532 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL Life by union with Christ. Reconcilia- ion of Jews and Gentiles: everything in subjection under His feet,’ and gave Him to the 23 Church as her Supreme Head—the Church which is His Body, the ‘ fulness ’ of Him who fills the Universe in every part. This thought completes the argument. Christ is the Church’s Head, and she is His Body in vital union with Him. - His people, Gentiles and Jews alike, once ‘dead through their trespasses and sins,’ now share His life, His resurrection, His enthronement ‘in the heavenly regions.’ ‘ Because,’ says St. Augustine,! ‘ your Head has risen, hope, you other members, for this which you see in your Head. It is an ancient and true proverb: ‘‘ Where the head is, the other members are too.’’ Christ has ascended into Heaven, and thither we shall follow.’ fiir And you, when you were dead through your trespasses 2 and sins, in which you once comported yourselves according to ‘the gon of this world,’ according to ‘the Prince of the authority of the air,’ the spirit who is now operating in the 3sons of disobedience—and in them we too were all once occupied in the lusts of our flesh, doing all that our flesh and our thoughts would; and we were by nature children 40f wrath like the rest. But God, rich as He is in mercy, sbecause of the great love with which He loved us, dead though we were through our trespasses, made us alive with 6the Christ—it is by grace that you have been saved—and raised us with Him and seated us with Him in ‘the 7heavenly regions’ in Christ Jesus, that He might demon- strate in the ages to come the surpassing riches of His 8 grace by His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace that you have been saved through faith ; and that gnot of yourselves: it is God’s gift; not of works, that no roone may boast. For we are His making, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God had arranged beforehand that we might comport ourselves in them. It is not without design that the Apostle here introduces his doctrine of Salvation by Faith. He is about to deal with another aspect of the situation—the cavalier attitude which the Churches of Asia had adopted toward Judaism; and lest his remonstrance should be misconstrued, it was well that he should preface it with a reaffirmation of his Gospel of free grace. The Asian Christians were predominantly, ® In Psalm. XXIX Enarr. ii. 14. FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME 533 if not exclusively, converts from heathenism ; and they knew the Jews only as their Apostle’s adversaries and bitter assailants of their own title to salvation. It was natural that they should retaliate and disdain the Jews and the Jewish religion. And the mischief was twofold. The Church was rent in twain, and the agelong estrangement which Christ had come to heal was perpetuated. And the Gentiles were themselves the chief sufferers. For the Jewish Faith was a precious heritage. It was the historic basis of the Gospel ; and when they ignored it and construed Christianity in terms of human speculation, they were forsaking the fountains of heavenly wisdom and turning the Gospel into a barren philosophy. The Apostle confronts this twofold danger with a magnifi- (1) The cent conception—the Commonwealth of God. It was ono originally an Old Testament ideal. Israel was a theocracy, 4° and the holy nation was the Commonwealth of God. Its citizens were the Chosen People, and the rest of the nations were aliens. But the Gospel had enlarged the ideal. The boundaries of the Commonwealth of God had been extended, and they included not Israel alone but humanity. Christ had revealed ‘ the mystery of God’s will,’ His eternal purpose of universal grace. He had healed the enmity between Jews and Gentiles and ‘ reconciled them both in one Body to God.’ And, as has already appeared, this larger and nobler Imperial ideal had been revealed to the Apostle by his imperial (20 Pine environment. Rome was the capital of the world, the Church. fountain of law and civilisation, the centre whence so many highways radiated, like rich arteries, carrying their vitalising streams to the remotest province. All the nations, in themselves strangers and foreigners, were united in her, and each shared her glory, her strength, her peace. And here he recognised an emblem of the Commonwealth of God and rose to a loftier conception of the Church. It is significant that in his earlier letters the term ‘ church’ denotes a par- ticular community. Thus, in the year 51 he addressed ‘ the : Th. i. 1; Church of the Thessalonians’ ; in the year 53 ‘ the Churches δ τος" of Galatia,’ meaning the Christian communities of Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe; and in the years 55 1 Cor. i.2; and 56 ‘ the Church of God which is at Corinth.’ But now *° * * Phils x: Col. i, 2. (2) The Living Temple. Οἵ Cor: ili, 11. Is. xxviii. 16; cf. τ Pet. ii. 6. Cf. Rom. ii, 28, 29. Is. lvii. 19. 534° LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST, PAUL he employs a new style. The Church is in his thought no longer a particular community of Christians, nor even the sum of all the communities. She is the Body of Christ, her Sovereign Head ; she is the Commonwealth of God, embrac- ing in her universal citizenship all the faithful on earth and in Heaven. And thus he addresses, not ‘the Church of the Philippians ’ or ‘ the Church of the Colossians,’ but ‘ all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi’ and ‘ the saints and faithful brothers at Colosse.’ It is a noble conception, yet it failed to satisfy the Apostle. It seemed too secular; it needed consecration. And so he glides into another ideal. The Church is more than a Commonwealth; she is a Living Temple. Christ is the foundation or, in the prophetic phrase, ‘ the chief corner- stone,’ which signifies ‘ the primary foundation-stone at the angle of the structure by which the architect fixes a standard for the bearings of the walls and cross-walls throughout.’ } On that foundation the spiritual fabric is reared. Stone is added to stone, not only the Apostles and Prophets—the men who had companied with the Saviour and their fellows who were inspired by the Holy Spirit—but all faithful souls. And thus the Living Temple grows from age to age toward its glorious completion. 11 And therefore remember that once you, the Gentiles in the flesh, ‘ the Uncircumcision ’ as you are called by what is called “the Circumcision,’ a circumcision made with the hand in the 12 flesh—that you were at that season apart from Christ, alienated from the Commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the Covenants of the Promise ; no hope had you and no God in 13the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were ‘ far off’ have been brought ‘nigh’ in the blood of the Christ. 14 For He it is that is our peace, He who made both one and pulled down the wall which fenced off one from the other,? 1 ἀκρογωνιαῖος, cf. Moulton and Milligan, Vocad. 3 The area of the Temple at Jerusalem was divided into two courts, the outer and the inner, separated by a balustrade three cubits in height, with pillars at regular intervals on which was inscribed in Latin and Greek an intimation that no alien (ἀλλόφυλον) might pass into the inner court but on pain of death (cf. Jos. De Bell. Jud. v. v. 2; Ant. Xv. xi. 5). One of these piilars with its Greek inscription was discovered by M. Clermont-Ganneau in 1871 (cf. Schilrer, Jewish People, τι. i. p. 266). This is doubtless the reference of τὸ μεσόστοιχον τοῦ φραγμοῦ, and it would appeal all the more to the Gentile Christians of Asia, FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME - 535 tseven the enmity between them, by invalidating in His flesh the Law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that He might in Himself create the two into one new man, thus making 16 peace, and might reconcile them both in one Body to God 17through the Cross, slaying the enmity by it. And He came Is. lii. 7, and ‘ preached the Gospel of peace to you who were far off and !¥" 19: 18 peace to those who were nigh.’ For through Him we have both of us the entrée 1 in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So, then, you are no longer strangers and sojourners. No, you are the saints’ fellow-citizens and members of God’s house- zohold. You have been built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets,? the ‘chief corner-stone’ being Christ Jesus 21 Himself. And in Him all the building,’ being welded together, 22 grows into a holy temple in the Lord. And in Him you also are being built together into a habitation of God in the Spirit. The Apostle has now completed his discussion of the A per- speculative aspect of the heresy; and his heart prompts 3ppealand him to a devotional conclusion, a prayer for the establish- ἃ Prayer ment of the Churches in the truth. He introduces it by reminding his readers of the proof which he had given them of his devotion to their eternal welfare, and the title which this conferred upon him to their grateful and affectionate regard. He was ‘the prisoner of Christ Jesus on their behalf—if indeed,’ he adds, ‘ you have heard of the steward- ship of that grace of God which was given me for you.’ He is not here suggesting a doubt. Of course they had heard of it, and knew what his devotion in the cause of the Gentiles had cost him. And this constitutes his plea: ‘ If you know, you must hearken to my appeal.’ The thought of the trust since it was Paul’s supposed violation of the prohibition by introducing their countryman Trophimus into the inner court that had occasioned the riot at Jerusalem and his subsequent imprisonment (cf. Ac. xxi. 28). 1 Cf. n. on Rom. v. 2, p. 400. 7 Not (1) ‘the foundation which consists of the Apostles and Prophets’ (Chrys. : τουτέστι, θεμέλιος οἱ ἀπόστολοι καὶ of προφῆται), since Christ is the foundation (1 Cor. iii. 11), nor (2) ‘the foundation which they have laid’ (Ambrstr.), since it is God that lays the foundation (cf. Is. xxviii. 16), but ‘the foundation on which they are built and on which you also are built in their goodly company.’ ‘The Prophets’ are here, as the order proves, not the ancient (cf. Ambrstr. : ‘hoe est, supra novum et vetus Testamentum collocati’) but the Christian Prophets (cf. p. 72), who were reckoned next in dignity to the Apostles (ef. iv. 11; 1 Cor. xii. 28). * πᾶσα ἡ οἰκοδομή N®ACP. The more strongly attested πᾶσα οἰκοδομή, ‘every building,’ ‘each part of the building’ (cf. Mt. xxiv. 1), would denote each separate Christian community. Cf, i. 9. 536 LIFE. AND LETTERS: OF ΞΡ which had been committed to him diverts him for a brief space from his purpose, and he lingers over it and reiterates that grand conception of ‘the mystery of the Christ,’ His discovery, to ‘ His holy Apostles and Prophets,’ of God’s universal grace. Here Paul not merely includes himself in that august fellowship but arrogates to himself a unique position, inasmuch as he had been specially charged with the proclamation of the mystery. And, lest his claim should seem to savour of boastfulness, he hastens to avow his sense of personal unworthiness: ‘To me, the very least of all saints, was this grace given.’ Nor, when he spoke of his sufferings on their behalf, would he have the Churches fancy that he grudged these. His Apostleship was a supreme honour, and it was worth all and more than all that it had cost him. fii. 1 For this reason I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus on 2behalf of you Gentiles \—if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of that grace of God which was given me 3for you, how that by revelation was the mystery dis- covered to me, as I have already written in a brief 4sentence, in view of which you can, in reading the Scriptures,? perceive what I understand by ‘the mystery 501 Christ,’ which in former generations was not dis- covered to the sons of men as it is now revealed to His 6holy Apostles and Prophets in the Spirit, that the Gentiles share with us in the Inheritance and belong to the same Body and participate with us in the Promise gin Christ Jesus through the Gospel, of which I was made a minister according to the bounteousness 3 of the grace of God which was given me according to the operation of His 8power. To me, the very least of all saintS, was given this grace—to preach to the Gentiles the untrackable riches gof the Christ, and to show in clear light what my steward- | ship is—the stewardship of the mystery which from age to age has been hidden in God, the Creator of the Universe, rothat now may be discovered to ‘the principalities’ and ‘the authorities’ in ‘the heavenly regions,’ through the ® The sentence is resumed at ver. 14 after the digression (vers. 2-13). 8 ἀνάγνωσις (cf. 1 Tim. iv. 13; Mt. xxiv. 15) was the public reading of the Law and the Prophets in the Christian assemblies according to the synagogal practice (cf. Lk. iv. 16-20; Ac. xiii, 15 ; 2 Cor. iii. 14). Paul means that, if they kept his doctrine of ‘the mystery of Christ’ in view during the reading of the O. T., they would find it corroborated διὰ γραφῶν προφητικῶν (cf. Rom. xvi. 25, 26). 3 τὴν δωρεάν, cf. n, on Rom. V. 15, Ρ. 407. FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME § 537 1rChurch, the richly woven ‘wisdom’ of God, according to the agelong purpose which He has achieved in Christ τῷ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have such boldness and such 13a confident entrée through our faith in Him. And there- fore I ask you never to lose heart amid my distresses on your behalf ; for these are your glory. 14 For this reasonI bend my knees in the presence of God Cf. Phil. iv. 15the Father, from whom .all ‘fatherhood’ in heaven and ® 160n earth derives its name,! that He may grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be mightily endued with power through His Spirit to the inmost core of your 17 being, that the Christ may dwell through faith in your r8hearts, so that, rooted and founded in love, you may have the strength to grasp, with all the saints, in its 19 breadth and length and height and depth, and to know, though it surpasses knowledge, the Christ’s love, that you may be filled up to all ‘ the fulness ’ of God. zo And to Him who has all-transcendent power to do far, far beyond our requests or thoughts, according to the 2x‘ power’ which is operative in us, to Him be the glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus to all generations age after age. Amen. 2. THE ETHICAL QUESTION (iv-vi. 20) And now the Apostle turns to the ethical aspect of the τ. Dissen- heresy. The trouble which it had created in this connection Ὁ ᾽ was twofold. It had, in the first place, excited a bitter controversy, and the Churches were rent by fierce animosities. This temper the Apostle rebukes by reiterating and elabor- ating his conception of the corporate unity of the Church. Christ was her Living Head, and she was His Body. There was one Body and there was one Spint, and it behoved the members to ‘ maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.’ There was room indeed for infinite diversity, since to each member a peculiar function was assigned, and the Risen Lord had bestowed on the Church all the rich and various 1 The Heavenly Fatherhood is the archetype of all earthly fatherhood. Cf. Theodrt. : ds ἀληθῶς ὑπάρχει πατὴρ ὃς οὐ παρ᾽ ἄλλου τοῦτο λαβὼν ἔχει ἀλλ᾽ αὐτὸς τοῖς ἄλλοις μεταδέδωκε τοῦτο. πατριά is here ῥαζεγγήζας (Vulg.), not gens, ‘ family,’ ‘tribe’ (cf. Lk. ii. 4; Ac. iii. 25). In the latter sense πᾶσα πατριά would signify ‘every family’ (R.V.), not ‘the whole family’ (A.V.), which would be πᾶσα ἡ warpid (cf. ii. 21). Cf. i. 20, Ps, Ixviii, 18, a8 LIFE “AND ΒΕ OR Si Pan. gifts which He had won by His redemptive conflict, according to the Psalmist’s word : ‘He ascended on high and led captive a train of captives; He gave gifts to men.’ The quotation diverts the Apostle for a moment from his argument, and he pauses to indicate its Christological significance, employing that Rabbinical manner of exegesis which he had learned in the school of Gamaliel. He saw in the passage an affirmation of the reality of the Incarna- tion and a refutation of the dualistic heresy. The Lord’s * ascension ’ implied His previous ‘ descent.’ ‘ He descended,’ says he, quoting from another psalm, ‘ “into the lowest parts of the earth,” ’ that is, into the darkness of the womb. There He was clothed in mortal flesh; and when He re- ascended to His seat at God’s right hand, He carried with Him His glorified humanity. And thus had the gulf between’ God and man been bridged, not by a hierarchy of angelic intermediaries but by the Incarnate Lord. From this digression he returns to his argument. The gifts of the Exalted Redeemer were manifold. There were various offices in the Church of larger or lesser dignity, but these all served the self-same end—‘ the knitting of the saints together, the upbuilding of the Body of the Christ’ ; and there was no occasion for rivalry or jealousy. It was only as each member discharged his proper office that he shared the corporate life and attained his full Christian manhood. iv. τ I beseech you, then—I, the prisoner in the Lord—that you comport yourselves worthily of the call which you have 2 received, with all humility and meekness, with long-suffering, 3forbearing one another in love, earnest to maintain the 4 unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one Body, and there is one Spirit, just as there was one hope which 5 your call inspired when you received it ; there is one Lord, 6one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of all, who rules all, wields all, and pervades all. 7 Yet to every one of us was grace given as it was measured 8 out by the bounteousness of the Christ. And therefore the Spirit says : “ He ascended on high and led captive a train of captives; He gave gifts to men.’ x FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME = 539 9Now what does ‘He ascended’ mean but that He also ro‘ descended ’ into ‘ the lowest parts of the earth’?! The very One who ‘ descended ’ is also the One who ‘ ascended ’ far above all the heavens, that He might ‘ fill’ the Universe. 11 And He it is that ‘ gave’ here Apostles, there Prophets, 12 there Evangelists, there Pastors and Teachers,? to knit the saints together 8 for the work of ministration, for the up- 13 building of the Body of the Christ, until we all of us attain to the unity of the Faith and of the full knowledge of the 1 εἰς τὰ κατώτατα τῆς γῆς, cf. Ps. cxxxix. I 5: ἐν τοῖς κατωτάτω (v. 1, κατωτάτοις) τῆς yns. If the phrase be a quotation from the psalm, then κατώτατα should be preferred to the more strongly attested karwrepa. In any case μέρη is a manifest gloss. The interpretation of the passage is much disputed. 1. The Fathers generally (Iren., Tert., Hieron., Ambrstr.) find here a reference to the Descensus ad Inferos, the belief, so picturesquely presented in the apocryphal Evang. Nicod. and incorporated in the Apostles’ Creed (c. A.D. 500), that during the three days between His Death and His Resurrection, while His body lay in the sepulchre, our Lord descended to Hades, where the souls of the saints of old were kept imprisoned until their redemption was accomplished, and brought them forth in triumph. This was known in medieval English as ‘the Harrowing’ or ‘ Harrying of Hell’ (cf. Chaucer, A///eres Tale, 3512). In its earliest form the idea was that His errand was exclusively to the saints of Israel, the righteous who had believed the promise of His coming, from Adam to John the Baptist (cf. Just. M. Dial. cum Tryph. Jud., Sylb. ed., p. 298; Iren. 111. xxii, xxxil. 1; IV. ΧΙ. 4; Vv. xxxi; Tert. De Anzm. 55); but by and by a larger hope was cherished. (1) It had been a fancy of Hermas, early in 2™4 c., that the Apostles also had descended and preached to the departed and given them the seal of Baptism (Sm. 1X. xvi), and Clem. Alex., with characteristic large-heartedness, seized upon it and supposed that, whereas the Lord had preached in Hades to righteous Jews, the Apostles had preached to virtuous heathen (Strom. VI. vi. 453 cf. 11. * ix. 44). (2) Still later it was held, with a yet wider charity, that the Lord’s preaching in Hades was addressed to all its captives; and Augustine, while refraining from dogmatism, expresses his sympathy with the idea (cf. Zzst. clxiv). If the Apostle were indeed referring here to the Descensus ad Inferos, his argument would be that Christ had established a universal dominion—from the depth of Hell to the height of Heaven. But the reference is more than dubious. The idea of the Descensus is a later growth, alien from N. T., even, on a just interpretation, from 1 Pet. iii. 19, iv. 6. It first appears, though vaguely, in Ign. ad Magn. ix. 2. Chrys. and Theod. Mops. understand by the Lord’s descent ‘into the lowest parts of the earth’ His death and burial ; and tkis is the view of most modern interpreters. 3. Though it has found little acceptance, there is good reason for the view of Witsius, Beza, and others, who recognise here a quotation of the Psalmist’s phrase (cxxxix. 15), which signifies ‘in the darkness of the womb’ (cf. sch. Zum. 635: ἐν σκότοισι νηδύος τεθραμμένη). ' The passage is thus an affirmation of the Incarnation (cf. Gal. iv. 4; Jo. i. 14), most relevant to the Apostle’s argument in view of the heretical denial of its possibility. 2 ποιμένες, ‘shepherds,’ were the Overseers (ἐπίσκοποι) or Presbyters (cf. ἢ. on Ac. xx. 28, p. 463); διδάσκαλοι, the Catechists (cf. pp. 80, 218). 5 πρὸς τὸν καταρτισμὸν τῶν ἁγίων, cf. n. on 1 Th. iii. 10, p. 161. Ps οχχχίν 1S. 540. LIFE AND LETTERS OF (ST. Page Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the i4stature of the Christ’s ‘ fulness,’ 1 that we may be no longer babes, wave-tossed mariners, carried hither and thither by every wind of the discipline * which originates in men’s sleight of hand, in trickery for the furtherance of error’s 15 wiles ; but, holding the truth in love, may in every respect 16 grow into Him who is the Head, even Christ. From Him all the Body, linked and welded together by every joint supplying vital energy as each single part requires, derives its growth for its own upbuilding in love. 2, Licen- Dissension, however, was by no means the worst scandal. svousnes* ΤῊ heresy relegated the sins of the flesh to the category of ‘things indifferent’; and the gross licence which had disgraced the Corinthian Church was rampant in the Churches of Asia. Christian and heathen morals were indistinguishable. 17 This, then, I say and testify in the Lord, that you no longer comport yourselves as the Gentiles do, in the r8futility of their mind, being darkened in their thought, alienated from the life of God by reason of the wilful ignorance which is in them and the callousness of their sgheart. Sunk in insensibility, they have abandoned them- selves to wantonness to work all uncleanness greedily. 20,21 But it is not thus that you have learned the Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and been taught in Him—and this is 22 the truth in Jesus—that you should lay off, as regards your former behaviour, your old self which is doomed to the 23corruption that the lusts of error ever bring, and be 24renovated by the spirit of your mind, and clothe you with the new self which was created after God’s likeness in the righteousness and piety of the truth. The pre- The Apostle now proceeds to deal with this aspect of the va""S situation; and how appalling it was appears from his 1 ἡλικία, either ‘stature’ (cf. Lk. xix. 3) or ‘age’ (cf. Jo. ix. 21; Heb. xi. 11). It was taken here in the latter sense by the Latin versions (cf. Vulg.: ‘in mensuram etatis plenitudinis Christi’); and Augustine found in the passage an intimation of the condition of the redeemed in the hereafter (cf. De Civ. Det, XXII. xv). They will ‘attain to the measure of the age of His fulness’; and since He died and was raised and ascended at the age of thirty-three, in the'very prime of manhood when He had passed the immaturity of youth and was still untouched by the decay of age, this will be the condition of all who are raised in Him and share His glory. They will ‘flourish in immortal youth.’ There will be neither immaturity nor infirmity in our glorified humanity. Cf. Thom. Aquin. Summ. Theol, 111, Q. xlvi, Art. ix. 3 Cf. p. 593. FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME | sai catalogue of the prevailing iniquities—lying, quarrelsome- ness, dishonesty, uncleanness, and drunkenness. a5 And therefore lay off falsehood and ‘ speak truth every Zech, vili one with his neighbour,’ inasmuch as we are one another’s °° 26members. ‘Be angry and sin not’ Let not the sun set Ps. iv. 4. 27upon your angerment ;? and never give room to the Devil. 28 Let the thief be a thief no longer, but rather let him toil with his own hands at honest work, that he may have a9something to share with one in need. Never let unwhole- some speech pass your lips, but only such as is good for improvement of the occasion, that it may give grace to the 3ohearers.* And do not grieve God’s Holy Spirit in whom 3ryou were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and passion and anger and clamour and reviling be banished from your midst, and withal every sort of 3zmalice. Treat one another kindly and tenderly, forgiving v. reach other just as God in Christ forgave you. Follow 2God’s example, then, as His beloved children, and comport yourselves lovingly, just as the Christ loved you and gave Ps. x1. 6. Himself up on your behalf, ‘an offering and a sacrifice’ τῷ ae to God ‘ for an odour of a sweet fragrance.’ ene 3 And as for fornication and every sort of uncleanness or greed, let them never be even named among you, as befits 4saints; obscenity, too, and foolish talking or levity,’ which are all misbecoming. Your business is rather sthanksgiving. For keep this fact in recognition — that every one addicted to fornication or uncleanness or greed —and greed is idolatry—has no inheritance in the Kingdom of the Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words. These are the things which bring down the anger of God upon the 7sons of disobedience. Take, then, no part with them. 8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the 1 The Pythagorean rule (Plut. De Frat. Am. 488). Cf. Jer. Taylor, Great Exemplar, τι. xii. 30. * Cf. Plut. Perici. viii. 4: ‘He was so scrupulous in regard to his speech that always, when he was going to the platform, he would pray to the gods that not a word might fall from him unwittingly unfitted to the occasion in question (πρὸς τὴν προκειμένην χρείαν ἀνάρμαστο»).᾽ 3. εὐτραπελία, ‘versatility.’ In a good sense in classics. Cf. Arist. Rhe?. 1. xii. 16: ἡ γὰρ εὐτραπελία πεπαιδευμένη ὕβρις ἐστίν. Plato (Rep.. VIN. 563) couples εὐτραπελία and χαριεντισμός, ‘pleasantry.? The εὐτράπελος was dis- tinguished, on the one hand, from the γελωτοποιός, * buffoon,’ and, on the other, from the σκληρός, ‘churl.’ The word, however, degenerated, and Suidas defines it as μωρολογία, κουφότης, ἀπαιδευσία. The Antiochenes termed their boasted scurrility (cf. p. 67) εὐτραπελία (Julian, M7sop. 344 8). Cf. Trench, M. 7. Syn. ; Jer. Taylor, Serm. xx1i1, ‘The Good and Evi! Tongue.’ Social relations ships. Cf. 1 Cor. Xie 3. 542 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL 9Lord. As children of light comport yourselves—for the fruit of light grows in the soil of every sort of goodness roand righteousness and truth,—always proving what is 11 well-pleasing to the Lord; and have no dealings with the unfruitful works of the darkness ; rather expose them. 1a, 13 For it is disgraceful even to speak of theirsecret doings. But being exposed, they all are manifested by the light ; for 14 all that is manifested is light. And therefore it is said : 1 ‘ Awake, O sleeper, And arise from the dead, And the Christ will give thee light.’ 15 Take careful heed, then, how you comport yourselves. 16 Let it not be as unwise men but as wise, buying up the 17 opportunity, because these are evil days. Therefore do not lose your moral sense, but understand what is the will of the Lord. 18 And never get drunk with wine—that way lies profligacy r9—but be filled with the Spirit. Talk to each other in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs; sing and make zgomusic in your heart to the Lord. Give thanks always for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to the 21God and Father. Be subject to one another in Christ’s fear. Here is the sovereign antidote to the moral plague—the grace of the Holy Spirit. It satisfies the soul; it quenches unholy desires; it makes the heart grateful and glad and gentle ; it banishes selfishness and establishes the law of love. Every domain of society had been infected with the foul contagion, and the Apostle proceeds to commend the blessed remedy to every class—husbands and wives, parents and children, masters and slaves. 22 Wives, be subject to your own husbands as to the 23 Lord, because a husband is his wife’s head as the Christ also is the Church’s Head, Himself His Body’s Saviour. 24 But, as the Church is subject to the Christ, so let the wives be to the husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives just as the Christ also loved 26the Church and gave Himself up for her, that He might make her holy, after cleansing her with the laver of water, 27 by the Word,? that He might present the Church to Himself ® A verse of a Christian hymn. ® ἐν ῥήματι belongs to ἁγιάσῃ. The Word of God (cf. vi. 17), His truth, is the means of sanctification (cf. Jo. xvii. 17). Chrys., construing ἐν ῥήματι with καθαρίσας τῷ λουτρῷ τοῦ ὕδατος, understands by ‘the word’ the baptismal formula ‘jin the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.’ FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME καὶ all-glorious with never a spot or a wrinkle or aught of the 28sort, but that she might be holy and blameless. Thus also ought husbands to love their own wives—just as they love their own bodies. One who loves his wife loves him- 29self. Forno one ever hated his own flesh ; no, he nurtures 30 and cherishes it just as the Christ does the Church, because 31 we are members of His Body. ‘ For this reason shall a man forsake his father and mother, and shall be joined to Gen. ii. 24 32his wife; and the twoshall become one flesh.’ This mystery is great: my reference is to Christ and to the 33Church. However, as regards you individually, let each love his own wife just as he loves himself ; and as for the wife, let her see to it that she fear her husband.! vi. rt Children, obey your parents in the Lord; for this is a 2duty. ‘Honour thy father and mother ’—this is the Ex. xx. 13; 3 first commandment with a promise attached to it—‘ that Ὁ". 16: it may prove well with thee, and thy days be long upon the earth.’ 4 And, fathers, never anger your children, but nurture them in the Lord’s instruction and admonition.” 5 Slaves, obey your human lords with fear and trembling in the simplicity of your heart as you obey the Christ, 6not in the way of eye-service as though you had only men to please, but as Christ’s slaves, doing God’s will with the 7soul’s devotion. Serve with good-will as the Lord’s slaves 8and not men’s, knowing that whatever good each does, he will get it back from the Lord, whether he be a slave or a free man. 9 And, lords, act on the same principles toward them. For- bear your threating, knowing that both theirs and yours is the Lord in Heaven, and there is no respect of persons with Him. Human effort is impotent without heavenly reinforcement. The It was a hard warfare that his readers must wage—a warfare PeroPly against strong and subtle spiritual forces; and the Apostle not only summons them to the conflict but shows them “the panoply of God.’ Already in writing to the Thessa- cr, x Th. lonians and the Corinthians he had employed the metaphor ¢,:',? , of the soldier and his armour; but now he elaborates it and portrays in minute detail a mail-clad warrior.. Here is another evidence of his Roman environment; and it was doubtless the pretorian guardsmen who took their turns in 1 As the Christian fears Christ (cf. ver. 21). ἌΓΡΙΟΙ: Is. lix.) 37.5 XLix ΧΙ, 4; Hos. Vi. 5. Cf. 2 Cor. Vv. 20. Conclu- sion, s44 LIFE AND LETTERS OF jl. Faye the wardenship of the prisoner, that furnished him with the material of the picture. His nimble imagination caught the spiritual analogy, and he turned it into an effective parable. το Henceforth find your power in the Lord and in the might of 11 His strength. Clothe yourselves with the panoply of God, that you may have power to stand against the stratagems of the 12 Devil. For it is not with flesh and blood that we have to wrestle, but with ‘the principalities,’ with ‘the authorities,’ with ‘ the rulers of this dark world,’ with ‘ the spiritual hosts 130f evil’! in ‘the heavenly regions.’ Therefore take up the panoply of God, that you may have power to stand your ground in the evil day, and after every achievement still stand firm. 14 Stand, then, with ‘ the girdle of truth about your waist ’ and 15‘ the cuirass of righteousness on your breast’ and the equip- r6ment of ‘the Gospel of peace on your feet.’ In every en- counter take up the shield of faith, on which you will have 17 power to quench the flaming missiles ? of the Evil One. And receive ‘ the helmet of salvation ’ and ‘ the sword of the Spirit,’ 18 that is, ‘the Word of God.’ With all prayer and supplication pray at all seasons in the Spirit, and for that be vigilant in all 19 perseverance and supplication for all the saints, and on my behalf that speech may be given me, whenever I open my 2omouth, to publish boldly the mystery of the Gospel on behalf of which Iam an ambassador—in a chain ! ’—that in telling it I may speak as boldly as I ought to do. An encyclical, being intended for various communities, was necessarily couched in general terms and lacked the greetings wherewith the Apostle was wont to conclude his letters. When he despatched his great encyclical on Justification by Faith he annexed a personal message to each copy, and he would probably have done the like in this instance had there been no better way. But Tychicus had undertaken the toilsome office of conveying the letter to 1 Both οἱ κοσμοκράτορες and τὰ πνευματικὰ τῆς πονηρίας are Gnostic phrases. Cf. Iren. 1. i. 10. The term ὁ κοσμοκράτωρ was derived originally from the Talmud, where it denotes the Angel of Death. Cf. Vayik. Rad. 18: ‘At that time the Lord called the Angel of Death and said to him: “‘ Although I have made thee Kosmocrator (")Q9p11D?)p) over the creatures, yet hast thou no power over this nation, because they are My sons.”’ 3 The falarice or malleoli, fitted with pitch and tow and launched ablaze to fire houses and other buildings. 3 “Paradoxon,’ says Bengel. ‘Mundus habet legatos splendidos.’ An ambassador's person was sacrosanct. FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME 545 Asia and delivering it to the various churches, and he would, more effectively than any written message, express to each all that was in the Apostle’s heart. ax That you also may know my situation and my employment, Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, 22 will acquaint you with everything. I am sending him to you for this very purpose, that you may be acquainted with our concerns, and that he may encourage your hearts. 23 Peace to the brothers and love and faith withal from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 24 GRACE BE WITH ALL WHO LOVE OUR LoRD JESUS CHRIST IN “INCORRUPTION.’ ὦ It was not without occasion that the Apostle introduced Conversion . . . . fi Oj- in his practical exhortation a counsel to slaves and masters. tive slave. An addition had been made to his little company in the person of Onesimus, a fugitive slave. His master was Philemon, a prominent member of the Christian community at Colossee and one of Paul’s Asian converts. Though he cf. phm. belonged to a Christian master, Onesimus was not himself a Ὁ Christian. He was a slave of the lowest order—a Phrygian slave, and a Phrygian slave was a byword for rascality. It was a common proverb that ‘a Phrygian was the better of a flogging ’ ; and Onesimus had acted up to the reputation ‘of his class. He had stolen from his master and decamped. Cf. Phm. And he had naturally betaken himself to Rome. The vast δ metropolis was, in the phrase of a Latin historian,® ‘ the cesspool into which the refuse of the world streamed’; and nowhere could the fugitive find a safer refuge than in its 1 ἀφθαρσία, one of the heretical terms. Cf. fragment of Gnostic Gospel (Oxyrh. Pap. 1081, 10-19): εἶπεν" πᾶν τὸ γεινόμενον ἀπὸ τῆς φθορᾶς ἀπογείνεται ὡς ἀπὸ φθορᾶς γεγονὸς, τὸ δὲ γεινόμενον ἀπὸ ἀφθαρσίας οὐκ ἀπογείνεται ἀλλὰ μένει ἄφθαρτον ὡς ἀπὸ ἀφθαρσίας γεγονός, ‘He said: Everything that is born of corruption perishes as having been born of corruption; and what is born of incorruption does not perish but remains incorrupt as having been born of in- corruption’ (cf. Jo. iii. 6). One of the Gnostic ‘syzygies’ was ᾿Δφθαρσία καὶ Χριστός (cf. Iven. 1. xxvii. 1). Paul here (1) affirms the reality of the Incarnation, the oneness of the Divine Christ and the human Jesus (τὸν Κύριον ἡμῶν ᾿Ιησοῦν Χριστόν), and (2) places ‘incorruption’ in loving Him—not in the negation but in the consecration of matter. 3 Cf. Suid. : Φρὺξ ἀνὴρ πληγεὶς ἀμείνων καὶ διακονέστερος. Οἷς. Pro Flacc. 27: * Utrum igitur nostrum est an vestrum hoc proverbium Phrygem plagis fiert solere melicrem ?’ 3. Sallust, Car#l. xxxvii; cf. Tac. Ann. Xv. 44. 2M Advent of Epaphras of Colossz. Cf. Col. i. 6, 7; iv. 12. The cities on the Lycus: Colosses, Laodiceia. 540 ‘LIFE AND LETTERS OF ΒΝ teeming purlieus. He was soon in distress and needed a friend. Paul, confined to his lodgings, would never have encountered him ; but his comrades were free, and they did the work of evangelists in the city ; and it is an indication of the nature of their ministry that in the course of it one of them came across the wretched fugitive. Perhaps it was Tychicus. Since he was an Asian, he may have visited Colosse and stayed at the house of Philemon; and he would recognise Onesimus. He brought the forlorn creature home, and the gracious Apostle won his poor soul for Christ. Kindness begat kindness, and Onesimus was like a son to his benefactor, tending him with affectionate devotion. By a curious coincidence hardly had Paul finished his encyclical to the Churches of Asia when another Colossian presented himself. This was Epaphras, and not only was he a native of Colosse but it was he who had introduced Christianity into the city. He was one of the numerous provincials who had visited Ephesus during the Apostle’s ministry there and been won to the Faith; and he had carried home the glad tidings and had ever since been the leader of the Church. Colosse had not escaped the poison which had infected the Province, and Epaphras had come to acquaint the Apostle with the situation and obtain his counsel. He must of course have been aware of the appeal which the Churches of Asia had addressed to the Apostle, and it might be supposed that this should have sufficed him. But it appears that he was confronted by a peculiar difficulty and had need of special counsel. Colossz, once a great city,! had in those days sunk into comparative insignificance.? It had been eclipsed by the rise of two prosperous neighbours. One was Laodiceia, which competed with Apamea Kibotos for the position of chief city in Phrygia. It lay on the left bank of the Lycus, fully five miles to the west of Colosse, backed to the south by the snow-capped range of the Cadmus; and it had risen to importance under the imperial rule.® 1 Cf. Herod. vii. 30; Xen. Anmad. τ. ii. 6. ® Cf. Strabo, 576, 578. 5 Strabo: ἡ δὲ Λαοδίκεια μικρὰ πρότερον οὖσα αὔξησιν ἔλαβεν ἐφ᾽ ἡμῶν καὶ τῶν ἡμετέρων πατέρων. FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME 547 Its situation favoured its advancement, since it was not only a station on the great trade route between Ephesus and the East but the junction of three busy highways—from Sardes in the north-west, from Doryleum in the north, and from the southern port of Attaleia. The Province of Asia, under Roman administration, was divided into ‘ jurisdictions,’ and the most important of these was the jfurisdictio Ciby- vatica; and Laodiceia was its capital, where the taxes of the twenty-five subordinate towns were collected and the pro- consular courts held their sessions. It was a financial centre, and Cicero resorted thither during his Cilician proconsulship to cash his treasury bills.2, Nor was its prosperity due merely to political circumstances. It derived a splendid revenue ὃ from a breed of sheep peculiar to the neighbourhood with fleeces of raven gloss and fine texture; it excelled also in sandal-making ;4 and its fame and wealth were further augmented by the manufacture of a reputed eye-salve, the ‘Phrygian powder,’ > employed in a celebrated school of medicine between Laodiceia and Carura.® Laodiceia was thus a prosperous city, and it is a striking evidence not only of her wealth but of the spirit which animated her, that when, some three years later, she and the neighbouring cities of Hierapolis and Colossz were laid in ruins by one of the earth- quakes so frequent in that volcanic district, she repaired the destruction by her own resources without the usual subsidy from the imperial exchequer.’ This magnanimous spirit had its perils, and it is no surprise that in the pride of their achievement the Laodiceans should have boasted of their material riches, oblivious of their spiritual destitution, and needed the apocalyptic counsel to purchase ‘ gold tried with Rev. ill. 17, fire’ and the ‘ white raiment’ which was better than their ™ 1 Plin. Nat. Hist. v. 29. 5 Cf. ad Fam. 111. §; ad Aitic. V. 15. 5 Strabo: προσοδεύονται λαμπρῶς ἀπ᾽ αὐτῶν. 4 Cf. Schtirer, Jewzsh People, 11. i. p. 44. 5 Cf. Ramsay, C7t. and Bish. of Phryg., 1. Ῥ. 52. ® Strabo, 580. 7 Tac. Ann. xv. 27. Tacitus assigns the earthquake to the year 60; and it would then be strange that the Apostle in writing to Colosse early in 61 should have made no reference to the recent disaster. But Eusebius (Chrom. Ol. 210), who has here a better title to credence (cf. Lightfoot, Co/., pp. 38 ff.), puts it after the burning of Rome in 64. Hiera- polis. Jewish popula- tion. Cf. Col. iv. 13, 540° LIFE‘ AN D°LE ΕΒ OFT Si) racer fine stuff of raven black, and anoint their blind eyes with a salve more efficacious than their ‘ Phrygian powder.’ Across the Lycus, some four miles distant from Laodiceia, stood the city of Hierapolis, backed by the Mesogis range.} Its enduring fame is that there, about the year A.D. 50, was born that noblest of the Stoic teachers, Epictetus, ‘a slave, and maimed in body, and a beggar for poverty, and dear to the immortals.’ Its chief industry was the dyeing of woollen fabrics in scarlet and purple, but this was not the main source of its abundant prosperity. The physical peculiarities which distinguish the valley of the Lycus attain at Hierapolis their highest development. The neigh- bourhood teems with hot springs ; and so strongly are these impregnated with calcareous deposit that the courses of the cascades which leap down the mountain-side are marked by a snow-white incrustation, and it is told how the husband- men used to embank trenches round their gardens and vineyards and flood these from the streams, and in a year’s time the channels had hardened into fences of solid stone.? Some of the springs were poisonous,’ especially one deep well known as the Plutonium which, like the Grotta del Cane near Naples, exhaled mephitic vapour fatal to any living creature that breathed it except, according to local fable, the priests of Cybele. Most of them, however, were merely medicinal; and thus the city acquired fame as a health resort, and the numerous baths which still survive among its extensive ruins, show how largely it was frequented. There was naturally an intimate fellowship between the Christian Churches in those adjacent cities. Probably all three had been founded by Epaphras, and he maintained a constant and solicitous surveillance over them. The imme- diately significant fact, however, is that there was in that 1 Cf. Strabo, 629 f. It is an evidence of the connection between the Asian heresy in the Apostle’s day and the later Gnosticism that Hierapolis was subsequently designated Ophiorymé, ‘the Serpent’s stronghold’ (cf. Acta Philippi, 107), as the home of the Jewish-Gnostic sect of the Ophites or Naasenes, so named because the serpent (ὄφις, ving) was the symbol of their worship (cf. Hippol. Refut. v. 4). 3 Strabo: τὸ μὲν yap ὕδωρ els πῶρον οὕτω ῥᾳδίως μεταβάλλει πηττόμενον ὥστ᾽ ὀχέτους ἐπάγοντες φραγμοὺς ἀπεργάζονται μονολίθους. Cf. Vitruv. VIII. 3. * Hence the epigram (Axthol. 1. 65): εἴ τις ἀπάγξασθαι μὲν ὀκνεῖ θανάτον δ᾽ ἐπιθυμεῖ, | ἐξ ἱερᾶς Πόλεως ψυχρὸν ὕδωρ πιέτω, FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME - 549 locality a large and influential Jewish colony. It originated in the reign of Antiochus the Great (223-187 B.c.) who, in view of civil commotion in Lydia and Phrygia, deported thither from Mesopotamia two thousand Jewish households, that their proved loyalty might leaven the prevailing dis- affection. Some of these would certainly be settled in the valley of the Lycus, and they would share in the increasing prosperity of its cities and be continually reinforced by fresh accessions of their enterprising race. How numerous and important the Jewish population became is evinced by the circumstance that their annual tribute of a half-shekel apiece to the Temple at Jerusalem amounted to so large a sum that in 62 B.c. Flaccus, the Propretor of the Province of Asia, took alarm. He prohibited the exportation of so much treasure and arrested in Laodiceia no less than twenty pounds weight ; * representing, it has been calculated, over eleven thousand male adults irrespective of women, children, and slaves. The Jewish population in the valley of the Lycus was thus a Jewish very large; and, though the Churches were predominantly Phase of the Asian Gentile, they would include a proportion of Jewish converts.® heresy. These may have been few, but they were influential, and they = Roe had succeeded in turning the heresy into a Jewish channel **** and casting it in a Jewish mould. Intellectual movements are commonly epidemic. They are inspired by the spirit of the age, and their influence is all-pervasive. Thus, those Gnostic tendencies which in Gentile communities expressed themselves in terms of Greek philosophy, especially Neopythagoreanism, found a home also in Judaism. That home was Essenism,‘ and its affinity with the incipient Essene Gnosticism which had invaded the Churches of Asia is Prmciples: distinctly apparent. Its fundamental principle was the { Ee essential evil of matter. The body was corruptible and matter. evanescent. It was the prison-house of the immortal soul, and only on its severance from the body would the soul be 1 Jos. Amt. X11. iii. 4. 3. Οἷς. Pro Flacc. xxviii. 5. It is not without significance in this connection that there were Phrygian Jews in the multitude of converts on the great Day of Pentecost (cf. Ac. ii. 10). © Cfisp. 447: sso LIFE AND LETTERS: OF Ys tare. released from its bondage and joyfully soar on high. It does not appear, nor indeed is it likely, that the Essenes engaged in characteristically Greek speculation regarding the mode of creation, yet they had metaphysical theories of their — own. No one was admitted to the order until he had served faithfully a noviciate of three years; and then he must pledge himself by‘ awful oaths,’ chiefly ‘that he would neither hide anything from the members of the sect nor disclose anything regarding them to others, no, not under violence even unto death; that he should communicate none of their ordinances to any one otherwise than he had himself received them; but that he would refrain from robbery, and likewise closely guard the books of their sect and the names of the Cf. Col. ii. angels.” * Hence it appears that the Essenes had a hidden Ξ lore, enshrined in ‘ sacred books,’* and a doctrine of angels. (2) Angelic The latter is especially significant. It is essentially Jewish, inediaries. aNd it is illustrated by two specific ideas. One is the ~ Rabbinical notion that the Law had been delivered to Moses by angelic mediators ; 5 and the other the Philonic doctrine i. 26,277 of the creation of man. It is written in the Book of Genesis, first, that God said, ‘ Let us make man in our image,’ and, then, that ‘God created man’; and Philo explains this as meaning that in the creation of man God co-operated with the angels. ‘All else was made by God, but man alone was fashioned with the aid of other fellow-workers. The Father of the Universe converses with His own powers, to which He gave the fashioning of the mortal part of our soul, in imitation of His own art when He formed the rational in us; deeming it right that what rules in the soul should be wrought by the Ruler and what is subordinate by sub- ordinates..> Thus the Jewish doctrine conceived the angels as bearing a part in revelation and creation; and the Essenes elaborated it, especially by assigning names to the angels and defining their functions after the manner of the Book of Enoch. Hence it appears that their doctrine exhibits a close analogy to the Gnostic theory of a hierarchy 1 Cf. Jos. De Bell. Jud. τι. viii. 116 ® γί. 7. ® Jbid, 12. 4 Cf. ἢ. on Gal. iii. 20, p. 206. δ Phil. De Profug. 556 (Mangey). ® Enoch, xx, xi. FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME J 551 of angelic intermediaries between God and the world; and furthermore its elevation of the angels to the rank of God’ 3 Ct Col. ii fellow-workers issued in angel-worship.? Moreover, the Essenes were visionaries. They pored over (3) Asceti- 6. 3 cism. the prophetic Scriptures and undertook to foretell the future. Indeed, according to one widely approved though doubtful etymology, their name signified ‘the Seers.’* Josephus affirms that their predictions rarely missed the mark, and he has furnished several striking instances.‘ Visionaries are commonly ascetics, ‘lean-look’d prophets whispering fearful change ’ ; and here is a clue to the Apostle’s reference when he describes the ascetic teacher who was unsettling the Churches by the Lycus, as ‘ poring over his visions, Col, ii, 18. idly puffed up by his carnal mind.’ For the Essenes were ascetics. Indeed this was their primary and fundamental characteristic ; and if Philo’s explanation of their name as signifying ‘the Holy Ones’ be etymologically untenable, it is at all events historically accurate. They shared with 1 Preaching of Peter, quoted in Clem. Alex. Strom. VI. v. 41: μηδὲ κατὰ *Tovdalous σέβεσθε, καὶ yap ἐκεῖνοι μόνοι οἰόμενοι τὸν Θεὸν γινώσκειν οὐκ ἐπίστανται, λατρεύοντες ἀγγέλοις καὶ ἀρχαγγέλοις, μηνὶ καὶ σελήνῃ. Orig. Contra Cels. ν. 6: πρῶτον οὖν τῶν ᾿Ιουδαίων θαυμάζειν ἄξιον, εἰ τὸν μὲν οὐρανὸν καὶ τοὺς ἐν τῷδε ἀγγέλους σέβουσι" τὰ σεμνότατα δὲ αὐτοῦ καὶ δυνατώτατα. Cf. the apocalyptic protest against the angelolatry which had invaded the Churches of Asia (Rev. xix. 10; xxii. 9). Theodrt. (on Col. ii. 18) says that angelolatry continued long in Phrygia and Pisidia, and even in his own time (5"® c.) was still uneradicated. 2 Cf. Jos. De Bell. Jud. τι. viii. 12. 8 ᾿Ἐσσαῖϊοι from ΠῚΠ, ‘see,’ a derivation which seems to be countenanced by Suidas: of ἐπιμελοῦνται τῆς ἠθικῆς λέξεως θεωρίᾳ δὲ τὰ πολλὰ παραμένουσιν. ἔνθεν καὶ ἜἜσσαϊῖοι καλοῦνται, τοῦτο δηλοῦντος τοῦ ὀνόματος, τουτέστι, θεωρητικοί. The origin of the name is uncertain. Besides the above many explanations have been suggested (cf. Lightfoot, Co/., pp. 347 ff.), and of those three may be adduced. (1) ‘The Holy Ones,’ from ὅσιος, This Philo’s derivation. Cf. Quod Omnis Probus Liber, 457 (Mangey): διαλέκτου ᾿λληνικῆς παρώνυμοι ὁσιότητος. Hence probably the form ’Ocgato:. (2) ‘The Healers’ or ‘ Physicians,’ from Aram. NDN, ‘heal.’? Cf. the kindred Egyptian sect of the Θεραπευταί, ‘Healers.’ This is countenanced by the statement of Josephus (De Bell. Jud. τι. viii. 6) that the Essenes ‘with a view to the healing of ailments sought out remedial roots and the properties of stones.’ (3) ‘The Silent Ones,’ from nwn, “keep silence,’ in reference to their secrecy regarding their hidden lore. Josephus (Ζόζα. 5) says that ‘to those without the silence of those within appeared as some awful mystery.’ 4 Cf. the predictions of Judas (4m/. x1. xi. 2; De Bell. Jud. τ. iii. 5), Menahem (Af. xv. x. 5), and Simon (De Bell. Jud. τι. vii. 3). Excessive veneration of the Mosaic Law. Sun- worship. ss@ LIFE AND LETTERS*OP Sat. four the Greek philosophers the initial postulate of the inherent and necessary evil of matter; but there the agreement ended. The common principle yielded two diametrically opposite inferences. It was argued, on the one hand, that material things are, for the spiritual man, ‘ indifferent’ ; and, on the other, that the flesh must be mortified that the spirit may be unfettered.1_ Thus the principle issued now in libertinism and now in asceticism, and it is remarkable that the Gnostic schools of the second century were divided between these two attitudes. The Gentile schools, like the Carpocratians, were libertine, while the Judaistic Encratites were ascetic. And already in the Apostle’s day the dis- tinction had asserted. itself in the Province of Asia. The general attitude, defined in his encyclical, was libertine, but the attitude in the Churches by the Lycus was ascetic. And the reason is that in the latter the heresy was cast in the Essene mould, and the Essenes were ascetics. They shared the Pharisaic reverence for the Mosaic Law, but they carried it beyond the utmost reach of Pharisaic scrupulosity. ‘The chief object of veneration among them next to God was the name of the Lawgiver ; and if any one blasphemed against him, he was punished with death.’ They observed the Sabbath with extreme rigour. ‘ They not only prepared their food the day before, that they might not so much as kindle a fire on that day, but they durst not so much as remove a vessel nor do their natural office.’ 3 Their ablutions were frequent. They bathed in cold water before each meal and whenever they incurred defilement. In the sultry East the practice of anointing the body after bathing was almost a necessity, but they would have none of it, regarding oil as a pollution; and they always wore white raiment.® So resolute were the Essenes in eschewing the contamina- tion of impure matter, and thus far they remained true to the spirit of Jewish ceremonialism. But their ascetic solicitude carried them further and betrayed them into a usage which 2 Cf. Clem. Alex. Strom. 111. v. 40: φέρε δὲ els δύο διελόντες πράγματα ἁπάσας τὰς αἱρέσεις ἀποκρινώμεθα αὐτοῖς. ἢ γάρ τοι ἀδιαφόρως ζῆν διδάσκουσιν, ἣ τὸ ὑπέρτονον ἄγουσαι ἐγκράτειαν διὰ δυσσεβείας καὶ φιλαπεχθημοσύνης καταγγέλλουσει, ® Jos. De Bell. Jud. τι. viii. 9. ® Ibid. 3, 5, 9. FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME ) 553 approached perilously near idolatry and suggests Zoroastrian influence. Light is purity, and they worshipped the sun, cr. pt. iv. oblivious of the Scriptures’ denunciations. ‘Before the miner appearance of the sun,’ says Josephus,? ‘ they utter nothing Job xxx. of profane matters but only certain ancestral prayers to bias, ie “hiv. as though supplicating him to rise.’ The Jewish Law had 17’ 1 ordained that ordure should be buried in the earth, and the cr. Dr. Essenes observed this precept ; only, their anxiety was not τ’ lest the unclean thing should offend the eyes of the Lord but “lest it should outrage the beams of the god’; and ‘ the god’ is here the Sun. It is such idolatry that the Apostle has in view when he warns the Christians in the valley of the Lycus against the empty deception of the heretical teacher col, ii, 8, who was making them his booty ‘ according to the world’s 7% dim lights,’ and reminds them that ‘ when they died with Christ, they left the world’s dim lights.’ The Gnostic ideas were en /’air in those days, and they Essenism expressed themselves everywhere in terms of the prevailing ‘”*™w'4 thought. Just as in the Greek world their vehicle was the Colossian : : 4 ς heresy. Neopythagorean philosophy, so in the Jewish world it was Essenism. It may indeed seem incredible that the doctrine of an isolated sect of anchorites in the Wilderness of Engedi should have been diffused abroad and travelled as far as the Province of Asia; but the truth is that the Essenes were not all recluses. Many of them remained in the world. There was a Gate of the Essenes in Jerusalem ;? and Josephus says that ‘ they were numerous in every city. * Thus their opinions and practices were notorious, and they would in- fluence many who did not profess themselves Essenes. Indeed their principal use wasthat they served as a congenial nidus for the larger ideas which were everywhere stirring in the minds of men and which but for them would hardly have found a lodgment in Judaism. The Churches in the valley of the Lycus, being predomi- ae nantly Gentile, would naturally have fallen into line with ee their neighbours throughout the Province, but it appears οἰ, (οἱ, jj that a persuasive teacher had arisen in their midst. He was 8: a Jewish Christian ; and while he taught the common heresy, Cf. i. 16. 1 Jos. De Belt. Jud. τι. viii. 5. Δ. Jbid. ν. iv. 2. 3 [bid. τι. Viti. 4. Cf. Eph. iv. 17-V. 21; Col. ii. 16- 23. Letier to the churches by the Lycus. Cf. Col. iv. 16. 554 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL he gave it the distinctive Essene cast. The distinction was mainly ethical: elsewhere in the Province the heresy was libertine ; in the valley of the Lycus it was ascetic. . Such was the situation which had confronted Epaphras and which he reported to the Apostle; and the latter pro- ceeded to deal with it in a letter addressed to the Church at Colosse. To a large extent it traversed the same ground as his encyclical, since the intellectual problem was identical : the Gnostic ideas which had invaded the other churches of the Province prevailed also in those by the Lycus. Hence he thus far simply reiterates his argument and reproduces much of his phraseology. This was inevitable in writing immediately on the same theme.! Had the intellectual problem been all, the encyclical would have sufficed ; but there was also the ethical question. He had dealt elaborately in the encyclical with the prevailing libertinism; but his argument there was irrelevant to the situation in the valley of the Lycus, and therefore he omits it and substitutes a disquisition on asceticism. Nevertheless there was much in the encyclical which was profitable for the Colossians and their neighbours, especially its full discussion of the Gnostic tendencies ; and he would have them read and ponder it also. So he adheres to the original plan. Tychicus would convey both letters. He would make his tour of the Province and deliver the encyclical to each of the churches by the way. Colosse was his ultimate destination ; and on reaching it he. would deliver to the Christians there both their own letter and the encyclical which he had brought from Laodiceia, his previous station. And since their letter was designed for their neighbours as well, it must be transmitted first to Laodiceia and thence to Hierapolis. 1 George Eliot’s correspondence furnishes an apposite parallel. Writing to Madame Bodichon on 4th Dec. 1863 she says: ‘You perceive that instead of being miserable, I am rather fotlowing a wicked example, and saying to my soul, “Soul, take thine ease.’ Then on 28th Dec. she writes to Mrs. Peter Taylor : *T am wonderfully well in body, but rather in a self-indulgent state mentally, saying, ‘Soul, take thine ease,” after a dangerous example.’ Cf. Sir Walter Scott’s letter to Rev. Mr. Gordon, 12th Apr. 1825 (Lockhart’s Zzfe of Scott, chap. Ixxv), repeating phrases which occur in his portraiture of Rev. Josiah Cargill in St. Ronan’s Well, chap. xvi (published Dec. 1823)—‘ diminished the respectabiftty,” “ concto ad clerum,’ ‘walk through the parts.’ FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME | 555 LETTER TO COLOSS# After the customary salutation and address the Apostle Address expresses his appreciation of the past record of the Colossians, ἀμ ¢o" mendation He had’ never indeed visited them, but he had heard of their cg. ii, 1. faith and love, and what Epaphras had told him had con- firmed those pleasing reports—a needful assurance lest they should suspect their ‘ faithful minister’ of an ungracious representation. ix Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, 2and Timothy the brother, to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colosse. Grace to you and peace from God our Father. 3 We thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, always 4for you in our prayers, since we have heard of your faith in 5 Christ Jesus and the love which you bear to all the saints in view of the hope laid up for you in the heavens, which you heard of long ago in the word of the truth of the Gospel. 6 That Gospel has come to you in the fruitfulness and growth which it displays throughout the world; and these it has displayed among you also, ever since the day when you heard 7and gained full knowledge of the grace of God in truth, as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow-slave, who is a 8 faithful minister of the Christ on your behalf,’ and who has informed me of your love in the Spirit. And lest they should fancy that recent developments had Assur. alienated his own regard, he assures them also of his constant *"°°°" continued affection and his earnest solicitude for their spiritual tsard. advancement. 9 Therefore we also, ever since the day when we heard of it, have never ceased praying on your behalf and asking that you may be filled with the full ‘knowledge’ of His will in all ro‘ wisdom’ and ‘spiritual’ understanding, so that you may comport yourselves worthily of the Lord and please Him in everything by bearing fruit and growing in every good work 1x through the full ‘ knowledge ’ of God, by enduement with every kind of power, according to the might of His glory, to, be ever 12 enduring and long-suffering, with joyous thankfulness to the 1 The authorities are fairly divided between ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν and ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν. The former (‘on your behalf’) reminds the Colossians of Epaphras’ devotion to them. The latter (‘on our behalf’) would mean that he had preached to them as the Apostle’s deputy ; but in this case it should rather have been ὑπέρ pov. The universal supremacy of Christ. Rom, viii. 39. 556 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL Father who has qualified you to share in the lot of the saints in r3light. He rescued us from ‘the authority of the darkness’ and transported us into the Kingdom of the Son who is His love’s | 14 embodiment, in whom we have our redemption, the remission of our sins. 1, THE THEOLOGICAL QUESTION (i. I5-ii. 6) Here by interweaving several of its characteristic phrases —‘ knowledge,’ ‘ wisdom,’ ‘ spiritual,’ ‘ the authority of the darkness ’—the Apostle has introduced the heresy; and now he proceeds to its refutation. He affirms the pre- eminence of that ‘ Son who is the embodiment of the Father’s love,’ and defines His relation to God, to the Universe, and to the Church. He was no mere @on, no mere angelic intermediary, but the Eternal Son of God incarnate, in the fine phrase of Hugo Grotius, Dei inaspectt aspectabilis imago, ‘the Visible Image of the Invisible God.’ That is His relation to God, and His relation to the Universe is its corollary. The Father’s heart is wide, and He created the Universe and peopled it that He might lavish upon it His overflowing affection. His Eternal Son was not enough, and He created a multitude of sons in His image ‘ that,’ as the Apostle says elsewhere, ‘ He might be the first-born among many brothers.’ But the Eternal Son, by nght of primo- geniture, remains evermore the Lord of all creation, the - Father’s universal household. That is His relation to the Universe : it is ‘in Him’ and ‘ through Him’ and ‘ for Him.’ But sin has destroyed the primal order and necessitated reconciliation ; and what Christ was to the former order, He is also to the latter. He is the Head of the Church. He was the beginning of the former creation, and He is the beginning of the latter; as the First-born, the Eternal Son, He was Lord of the human family, and as the First-born from the dead He is Lord of the redeemed who share His Death and His Resurrection. 1 rob Tlod τῆς ἀγάπης αὐτοῦ. Cf. Aug. De Trin. xv. 37: ‘The love of the Father, which is in His ineffably simple nature, is nothing else than His very nature and substance, as often already we have said and dislike not often to repeat. And therefore “‘the Son of His love” is none else than One who has been begotten of His substance.’ FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME - 557 15 And He is the image of the invisible God, the First-born τό Lord of all creation, because in Him was created the universe of things in the heavens! and on the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether ‘ thrones’ or ‘ lordships’ or ‘ principalities ’ or ‘authorities’: the universe has been created through Him 17and for Him ; and He is before all things, and in Him they are 18an ordered universe. And He is the Head of the Body, the Church. He is the Beginning, the First-born from the dead, 19 that He may everywhere occupy the first place, because it was God’s good pleasure that all ‘ the fulness ’ should dwell in Him zoand that He should through Him reconcile the universe to Himself by making peace through the blood of His Cross—yes, reconcile all through Him whether on the earth or in the heavens. This was no mere theory for the Colossians; they had Incentives experienced it. Once alienated from God, they had been ;2.5ta* reconciled through Christ’s infinite Sacrifice—His true {ncarnation and His Death ‘in the body of His flesh’ ; and nothing could prevent their attainment of the final glory of His redemption but their own unfaithfulness, their abandonment of the Gospel which had already done so much for them. That was the peril which threatened them, and the Apostle addresses to them a double appeal, a double argument for resisting the heretical allurement and standing true to the Gospel. First, it was ‘ the Gospel which had been preached in all the creation under heaven.’ Its efficacy had been proved in every land, and should they forsake it for an evanescent speculation ? And, again, it was ‘ the Gospel of which he had been made a minister.’ He was the Apostle of the Gentiles, and it was for the sake of the Colossians and their fellow-Gentiles that he had toiled and suffered and was at that hour in bonds. It was a delicate appeal to their chivalry, a suggestive challenge to their loyalty. He was their champion, and he was enduring the malice of that party which would have excluded them from the Church. There were, as he significantly observes later, only three Cf. iv. το, Jewish Christians befriending him in his sore need. Would ™ 1 ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς in the Colossian letter corresponds to ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις in the encyclical (cf. Eph. i. 3, 20, ii. 6, iii. 10, vi. 12). The phrases are distinctive of the Jewish and Gentile phases of the heresy respectively. The ‘heavens’ here are the Seven Heavens of Rabbinical Theology, and the conception was employed by the Judaist Gnostic Valentinus in the 2"4 ς, (cf. Iren. 1. i. 9). Cf. Rom. viii. 10; 2 Cor. xiii. 5; Gal. iv. το. bos. LIFE AND LETTERS Of St rau the Colossians forget this and espouse a Judaist propa- ganda ἢ Not that he grudged his sacrifices for their sake. It was in a glorious cause that he was suffering ; and its glory lay in this—that he was not merely suffering on their behalf; he was sharing the Redeemer’s vicarious Sacrifice. His Death on Calvary was not the whole of Christ’s Passion. He is the Head of the Church, and He shares the anguish of His meanest member. His Sacrifice is an agelong Passion, and it is continued by every believer who, according to His word, ‘ takes up his cross and follows Him.’ That was the Apostle’s inspiration. His sufferings were a sacred privilege ; they were his fellowship with the Glorified Lord, his con- tribution to the achievement of God’s ‘ mystery,’ the eternal purpose of universal redemption. And that was the reason of his insistent solicitude. The heresy was, at the best, a message for the few, for the esoteric circle of ‘the spiritual,’ ‘the perfect,’ who were initiated into its ‘secret wisdom.’ But the Gospel was for “every man’; and therefore it was that he was so anxious for his friends in the valley of the Lycus who had never seen his face or heard the truth from his own lips, and strove so hard to confirm their faith and arm them against the plausible sophistries which were invading their minds. 21 And you, alienated as you once were, and enemies in your 22 thought amid your evil works, He has now reconciled in the body of His flesh through His Death, to present you holy and 23 blameless and unchargeable in His sight, if indeed you abide by the Faith, founded and steadfast and never moved away from the hope of the Gospel which you heard—that Gospel which has been preached in all the creation under heaven, and of which I Paul was made a minister. 24 1am now rejoicing in my sufferings on your behalf, and I am doing my part to complete in my person what is lacking in the Christ’s distresses on behalf of His Body, that is, the a5Church, of which I was made a minister according to the stewardship which God gave me for you to fulfil the Word 26 of God, the mystery which has been hidden from the ages and the generations. But now it has been manifested to His 27Saints, to whom it was God’s will to discover what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which 28is “ Christ in you, the hope of glory.’ And Him we proclaim, admonishing every man and teaching every man in every sort FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME 559 of ‘ wisdom,’ that we may present every man ‘perfect ᾿ in agChrist, And to this end I toil and contend with all the energy wherewith His power endues me. fit For I wish you to know what a hard contest it is that I am waging on behalf of you and the people at Laodiceia and all 2 who have never seen my face in bodily presence, that their hearts may be encouraged and that they may be welded together in love and gain all the riches of intelligent satisfac- tion, till they attain a full ‘ knowledge’ of the mystery of God, 3even Christ, in whom all ‘the treasures of wisdom’ and ls. xlv. 3; 4‘ knowledge ’ are ‘hidden.’ I say this that no one may befool Pre t 3, 5 you with plausible sophistry. For, though I am far away in ~ bodily presence, yet I am with you in spirit and rejoice to see your discipline and the solid front which your faith in Christ presents. 2. THE ETHICAL QUESTION (ii. 6-iv. 6) And now the Apostle turns to the ethical aspect of the Christian question. It was indeed well that the Christians in the valley of the Lycus had recognised their moral obligation and repudiated the libertinism which disgraced the other Churches of the Province. So far they were truly Christian ; for Christ is His people’s pattern, and they are His only as they are like Him. The Apostle has just spoken of the ‘discipline’ of the Colossians and ‘the solid front which their faith in Christ presented’; and now he applies this military metaphor. A gallant leader is the inspiration of histroops. He is their exemplar, like Shakespeare’s hero by whose light ‘ Did all the chivalry of England move To do brave acts: he was indeed the glass Wherein the noble youth did dress themselves : He had no legs that practised not his gait ; . so that in speech, in gait, In diet, in affections of delight, In military rules, humours of blood, He was the mark and glass, copy and book, That fashion’d others.’ ‘ As, then,’ says the Apostle, ‘ you have received the Christ, Jesus the Lord, comport yourselves in Him.’ They were indeed right in seeking purity, but they sought it bv a wrong method—not by glad fellowship with the Living Condemna- tion of asceticism. 560 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL Lord but by the morose practice of Judaistic asceticism. Despite the Apostle’s protest the error persisted and spread down the valley of the Meander. Some fifty years later it prevailed in the Church at Magnesia, and St. Ignatius laid his finger on the mischief when he exhorted the Magnesians to ‘put away the evil leaven which had grown stale and sour, and betake themselves to the new leaven, which is Jesus Christ.’ The stale leaven is the spirit of asceticism, and it embitters the soul. The new leaven is the love of Christ, and it floods the heart with health and gladness and makes it, in the Apostle’s phrase, ‘ overflow in thanksgiving.’ 6 As, then, you have received the Christ, Jesus the Lord, com- 7port yourselves in Him. Be rooted, be built up in Him; be confirmed by the Faith as you were taught it ; and overflow in thanksgiving. And so he warns the Colossians against the ‘ philosophy and empty deception’ of the ascetic heresy. It was an attempt to recall them from the free, glad life of the Gospel to the futile bondage of Judaistic ceremonialism. All that it offered, Christ had given them. They had in Him the true circumcision—the purity which the old rite merely symbolised. For what did their Baptism signify? It signified their union with Christ. They had died with Him ; they had been buried with Him ; they had been raised with Him; and now they shared His triumphant life. His victory over the powers of evil was their redemption. Here the Apostle flashes out a magnificent picture. The ceremonial Law had been the debtor’s bond, and God had reckoned with it in Christ. He had met its claims, and He had nailed the cancelled bond to His Cross, advertising to the Universe that it was no longer valid. And in cancelling the bond He had disarmed the powers of evil. His Sacrifice was their defeat. The Cross was the Victor’s chariot, and He had led the vanquished ‘principalities and authorities’ in His triumphal train. 8 See toit! Perhaps there will be 3 some one who is making you his booty through his philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the world’s 1 Ignat. dd Magn. viii-x. 8 Cf. n. on Gal. ii. 2, p. 199. FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME = 5061 9dim lights,! and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells roall ‘the fulness of deity ’ embodied ; and you are ‘filled’ in Him. He is the Head of every ‘ principality ’ and ‘ authority.’ irAnd in Him you were circumcised with a circumcision not made by hand when you put off the body of the flesh and rzreceived the circumcision of the Christ by your burial with Him in Baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through your faith in the operation of God who raised Him 13from the dead. And you, when you were dead by reason of your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh—He made 14 you alive with Him; He forgave us all our trespasses; He obliterated the condemnatory bond*—the bond of legal ordinances—which bore so hard against us; and He has taken 15it out of court and nailed it to the Cross.* He despoiled ‘ the principalities ’ and ‘ the authorities,’ and paraded them openly * 1 στοιχεῖα, cf. n. on Gal. iv. 3, p. 208. Here (cf. ver. 20) the term has perhaps a double reference—(1) to the ‘rudimentary ideas’ of Judaism and (2) to the Essenic sun-worship. 2 The ancient writing material was papyrus, and since the ink did not permeate the fibre, it could be washed off, leaving the sheet clean. 5. Grotius sees here a reference to the custom, which prevailed in some places in his day and which he supposes to have prevailed in Asia, of driving a nail through a cancelled bond. The suggestion has been rejected on the ground that there is no evidence of the custom in the Apostle’s day, but Gal. iii. 1 (cf. n., p. 203) is sufficient. It was customary to post up magisterial announcements in public, but here, in contempt, it is not an edict cancelling the bond that is posted up, but the cancelled bond itself. 4 The double compound ἀπεκδύεσθαι is apparently a Pauline coinage, occurring only here and iii. 9 (cf. the noun ἀπέκδυσις, ii. 11). The interpretation is much disputed. 1. It was taken generally by the Fathers as a proper reflex. mid., ‘having stripped Himself’; and then the passage was construed in two ways: (1) The Greek Fathers took ras ἀρχὰς καὶ τὰς ἐξουσίας as the obj. of ἀπεκδυσάμενος, ‘having stripped Himself of the principalities and the authorities, He paraded them openly’ (Chrys., Theod. Mops., Theodrt.). So Lightfoot: ‘The powers of evil, which had clung like a Nessus robe about His humanity, were torn off and cast aside for ever.’ (2) The Latin Fathers supplied τὴν σάρκα as obj. of ἀπεκδυσάμενος and construed τὰς ἀρχ. καὶ τὰς ἐξ. with ἐδειγμάτισεν, ‘having stripped Himself of the flesh, He paraded the principalities and the authorities’ (Ambros. Zxjos. Ev. sec. Luc. V. 107; Aug. Epzst. cxlix. 26). The objection to both is that they involve an abrupt change of subj., making Christ the subj. in ver. 15. God (cf. vers. 12, 13) is the subj. throughout the passage. 2. The mid. is not necessarily reflex. but may denote what one does in one’s own interest (cf. Moulton’s Winer, pp. 322 ff.); and so it was taken here by Hieron. (‘exspolians principatus et potestates, traduxit confidenter’) and Ambrstr. (‘exuens principatus et potestates, ostentavit in auctoritate’), ‘having stripped’ or “despoiled the principalities and the authorities, He paraded them,’ in His triumphal procession (cf. p. 352). ἐδειγμάτισεν, οἴ. Hor. Efést. 1. xvii. 33: “captos ostendere civibus hostes,’ 2N Its futility and harm- fulness. Is. xxix. 13; cf. Mt. XV. 9. 502 LIPE AND .LEDPERS(OR Sb) Pause by leading them in triumphal procession in the chariot of the Cross.# Here lay the condemnation of the heresy alike in its ascetic and in its speculative aspect. The reimposition of ceremonial ordinances was a reaffirmation of the cancelled bond, and the worship of angels a re-enthronement of the vanquished powers and a dethronement of the Victor. There is no need of angelic intermediaries ; for Christ is our Head, and in union with Him we are in vital contact with God in all His fulness. And this is the one secret of purity. Asceticism is unavailing; for it deals with externals and never touches the inner springs. Nor is it merely unavail- ing; it is positively mischievous. It is an affectation of “humility ’; and, as the philosophic Emperor has shrewdly observed, ‘ the pride which is proud of the lack of pride, is most offensive of all.’ ? 16 Let no one, then, judge you in eating and in drinking or in 17 the matter of a feast or a new moon or a Sabbath.* These are only the shadow of things to come, but the substance is the 18Christ’s. Let no one rule you out of the prize,’ delighting in “humility ’ and worship of angels, poring over his visions,® rgidly puffed up by his carnal mind, and not holding fast the Head, from whom all the Body, supplied and welded together by means of its joints and ligatures, grows with a God-given zogrowth. If, when you died with Christ, you left the world’s dim lights, why, as though still alive in the world, are you 21: overridden by ordinances: ‘Do not handle this’; ‘ Do not 22taste that’; ‘Do not touch the other thing ’"—things which all waste away when they have served their use—according to 23 the ‘commandments and teachings of men’? These restrictions have all a show of ‘wisdom’ in self-imposed worship and 1 ἐν αὐτῷ, z.e., ἐν τῷ σταυρῷ (cf. ver. 14). The Cross is here God’s triumphal chariot, just as it is His throne according to the Christian variant in Ps. xcvi. 10 LXX (insisted on by Just. M., Tert., Aug.): ὁ Κύριος ἐβασίλευσεν ἀπὸ τοῦ ξύλου. Cf. Lat. hymn: ‘ Impleta sunt que cecinit | David fideli carmine, | Dicens in nationibus, | Regnavit a ligno Deus.’ * M. Aurelius, XII. 27: ὁ yap ὑπὸ ἀτυφίᾳ τῦφος τυφόμενος πάντων χαλεπώτατος. * The stereotyped catalogue of Jewish observances. Cf. 1 Chr. xxiii. 31; 2 Chr.\ii. 4; xxxi- 2: Ez. χὶν 17: Hos. χἱ ΠΡ Iss. ἘΠ 4 καταβραβεύειν, of an umpire (βραβεύΞξ) who decides against the rightful winner. Cf. Suid. : καταβραβευέτω" καταλογιζέσθω, κατακρινέτω, καταγωνιζέσθω. τὸ ἄλλου ἀγωνιζομένου ἄλλον στεφανοῦσθαι λέγει ὁ ᾿Απόστολος καταβραβεύεσθαι. § ἐμβατεύειν, in the classics of a god ‘haunting’ sacred ground (cf. Soph. 0, C. 679; Aisch. ers. 449); in the ritual of the Greek Mysteries of the initiate “setting foot on’ the divine life (cf. Moulton and Milligan, Vocaé.). FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME _ 563 “humility ’ and ascetic rigour, but they possess no value for combating carnal indulgence. After thus demonstrating the futility of asceticism the Apostle exhibits the Christian method of attaining purity. The believer is united with Christ at every stage of His redemptive progress—His Death, His Burial, His Resurrec- tion, His Exaltation. He not only died with Christ to this world, but he was raised with Him and lives with Him. ‘ Your life,’ says the Apostle, ‘is hidden with the Christ in God. Recognise this; seek the things which are above, and set your minds on them.’ It is precisely the counsel which he had administered to his Galatian converts eight years previously : ‘Comport yourselves by the Spirit, and no desire of the flesh will you ever perform.’ This is the golden secret. Experience has ever proved the futility of asceticism, and foul things were rife at Colosse. The remedy lay in forsaking the dead past and breathing the atmosphere of the new creation, that high domain where the old distinctions are obliterated and the divine ideal which slumbers in every child of the human race, be he a wise Greek or a religious Jew or a degraded savage or an oppressed slave, is quickened and released. ἴα If, then, you were raised with the Christ, seek the things which are above, where the Christ is, ‘ seated at God’s right zhand.’ Set your minds on the things which are above, not 30n those which are upon the earth. For you died, and your 4life is hidden with the Christ in God. When the Christ is manifested—He who is our life—then you also will be 5manifested with Him in glory. Mortify, then, your members which are upon the earth—fornication, uncleanness, sensual- 6ity, evil desire, and the greed which isidolatry. These are the 7things that bring down the anger of God; and that was the arena where you also comported yourselves in the days when 8 your life was there. But now you also must lay them all off— anger, passion, malice, reviling, obscene talk : let it never pass gyour lips. Speak no falsehood against one another, since you have divested yourselves of the old self with its practices, το and have clothed yourselves with the new self which is being renovated to ever fuller knowledge ‘ after the image of its 11Creator.’ And there is here no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free man; but Christ is everything and in everything. Purity by Η͂ “΄ union with Christ. Cf, Rom, vi. 1-9. Gal, v. 16. Ps, ex, I. Gen, i. 27, How to attain it. Consecra- tion of the home. 364 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL But how is it possible always to inhabit this serene domain? The way is simple and practical. The fountain of all evil is selfishness and the pride and enmity which it breeds ; and the remedy lies in the cultivation of a kindly, meek, patient, and forgiving spirit. And how may this be achieved ? First, says the Apostle, remember how the Lord has forgiven you, and you will forgive others. Nay, you will not only forgive; you will love. Second, in every question which may arise, recognise that the supreme interest is the pre- servation of brotherly fellowship. Never seek a _ con- troversial triumph. Make the Peace of Christ the arbiter ; let it decide your differences. Again, store your mind with Gospel teaching and sing the songs of redemption. There is a blessed efficacy in a holy text or a glad hymn. And, finally, in everything you say or do, have Christ’s approval. 12 Clothe yourselves, then, as God’s chosen, holy and beloved, with tender compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, long- 13 Suffering, forbearing one another and forgiving each other, if one has a grievance against another. Just as the Lord forgave 14 you, so must you also. And over all these graces put on love: 15 this is the bond of ‘ perfection.’ And let the Christ’s peace be umpire in your hearts ; for it is indeed to peace that you were 16 called in one Body. And show yourselves thankful. Let the Christ’s Word dwell within you richly. In all ‘ wisdom’ teach and admonish each other with psalms and hymns and 17 Spiritual songs in grace, singing in your hearts to God. And everything that you do in word or in work, do it ever in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. The home is the sanctuary of life, and there especially should the Christian graces be displayed. And so the Apostle reiterates the precepts which he had addressed in the encyclical to husbands and wives, parents and children, masters and slaves. x8 Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is becoming in r9the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and never be bitter zoagainst them. Children, obey your parents in everything ; 21 for this is well-pleasing in the Lord. Fathers, never irritate 2zyour children, lest they be discouraged! Slaves, obey in everything your human lords, not in eye-service, as though 1 ΟΣ ὑ. δὲ. FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME - 565 ou had only men to please, but in simplicity of heart, 23fearing the Lord. Whatever you are doing, work with the 24soul’s devotion, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the recompense of the inheritance. It is to the Lord Christ that you are slaves. 25 For one who does wrong will get back the wrong which he iv.thas done; and there is no respect of persons. Lords, accord what is right and equitable to your slaves, knowing that you also have a Lord in Heaven. It was a difficult situation that the faithful Christians in Tye the valley of the Lycus occupied, confronted as they were Prone with a subtle heresy and encompassed by keen and aggressive the con- controversialists. They were guardians of the Faith, and“ ” it became them to bear themselves well and commend the truth to the unbelieving world. And so the Apostle counsels them to abound in prayer; and lest he should seem dicta- torial and didactic, he begs them to remember him in their intercessions, since he too occupied a difficult situation and needed the aids of heavenly grace. ‘ Wisdom’ was a catch- word of the heresy, and they must exhibit a nobler wisdom. They must be ever watchful and miss no opportunity. Zeal, however, is insufficient. Controversy may confute, but it never convinces; it merely exasperates. It is only a gracious word that prevails; and ‘grace,’ says Samuel Rutherfurd, ‘is a witty and understanding spirit, ripe and sharp.’ 2 Persevere in prayer; be vigilant in it with a spirit of 3 thankfulness ; and pray withal for us that God may open to us a door for the Word, so that we may tell the mystery of the 4 Christ for the sake of which I am even in bonds, that I may s make it as manifest as I should tell it. Comport yourselves in ‘wisdom’ toward those without, buying up the opportunity. 6Let your argument be always gracious, seasoned with salt,! that you may know how you should answer every one. Here ends the argument. There was no need to encumber Closing the letter with personal matters, since not only was Tychicus ™°*8°* to convey it to Colosse but Onesimus, the fugitive slave, was 1 The use of salt is twofold—(1) to preserve from corruption and to flavour (cf. Job vi. 6) ; and thus λόγος ἅλατι ἠρτυμένος is opposed to λόγος σαπρός, ‘rotten talk’ (Eph. iv. 29), and (2) μωρολογία, ‘foolish’ or ‘insipid talking’ (Eph. v. 4). μῶρος (cf. zzsi~idus), ‘foolish,’ had also the physical signification of ‘ insipid,’ ‘tasteless.’ Cf. Mt. v. 13; Lk. xiv. 34. 566 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL: returning thither in his company ; nevertheless the Apostle thought fit to enter the greetings of his companions at Rome. And the reason was that there were two of these who required his special commendation. One was John Mark. The old quarrel was notorious, and now that it was healed, the Apostle would have the happy issue known, all the more that Mark purposed visiting Colosse. Already, it seems, the Apostle had intimated this and bespoken a welcome for him, and now he reiterates the injunction. Then there was Epaphras, the Colossian Presbyter. By carrying to Rome a report of the controversy in the valley of the Lycus he had incurred not a little odium, and the Apostle takes occasion to certify his loyalty to the Colossians and their neighbours at Laodiceia and Hierapolis. The letter was addressed to Colosse, but it was designed equally for the neighbouring churches. The Apostle had never visited them, yet there was at least one Laodicean whom he knew. This was a lady named Nympha, whose house was the meeting-place of the Christians in the city. Doubtless, like Epaphras, she had visited Ephesus during his ministry there, and had been won by his preaching; and so he sends his greeting to her and the congregation at her house. 7 With my situation Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful 8minister and fellow-slave in the Lord, will acquaint you. I am sending him to you for this very purpose, that you may be acquainted with our concerns, and that he may encourage your ghearts; and with him Onesimus, the faithful and beloved brother who is one of yourselves. They will acquaint you with all that is doing here. ro Aristarchus, my fellow-captive, greets you; and Mark, Barnabas’ cousin—regarding him you have received my trinjunction: ‘if he comes to you, welcome him,’—and Jesus called Justus. These are the only Jewish converts who are my fellow-workers for the Kingdom of God, and they have 12 proved an encouragement to me. Epaphras, one of yourselves, greets you. He isa slave of Christ Jesus, and he is ever wrest- ling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand ἡ perfect ’ 13 and satisfied in everything that is the will of God. For I bear him testimony that he is deeply concerned for you and the 14 people at Laodiceia and those at Hierapolis. Luke, the beloved physician, greets you, and Demas. 15 Greet the brothers at Laodiceia, and Nympha and the Church FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME — 567 r6at her house.1_ And when this letter has been read among you, take care that it be read also in the Church of the Laodiceans, 17and that you also read the one from Laodiceia.® And say to Archippus: ‘ Look to the ministry which you received in the Lord, that you fulfil it.’ And now, according to his custom,® he takes the pen from The sign- his amanuensis Timothy and adds his sign-manual. His ¢7%"*" writing was ungainly at the best, and it was none improved by the fetter dangling from his wrist ; and he surveyed the sprawling characters with a smile and inserted a pathetic apology : ‘ Remember my bonds.’ 18 THE GREETING OF ME PAUL WITH MY OWNHAND. REMEMBER MY BONDS. GRACE BE WITH YOU. 1 The text here is uncertain. (1) Νύμφαν καὶ τὴν κατ᾽ οἶκον αὐτῆς ἐκκλησίαν, ‘Nympha and the Church at her house’ (B 67** SyrP &t), (2) Νυμφᾶν καὶ τὴν κατ᾽ οἶκον αὐτῶν ἐκκλησίαν, ‘Nymphas and the Church at their house’ (SACP), z.¢., perhaps, ‘the house of him and his friends.’ Probably, however, αὐτῶν is due to the preceding ἀδελφούς. (3) Νυμφᾶν καὶ τὴν κατ᾽ οἶκον αὐτοῦ ἐκκλησίαν, “Nymphas and the Church at his house’ (DEFGKL), obviously a copyist’s correction. ? That is, the encyclical which Tychicus had presented at Laodiceia and brought on to Colosse. Each church in the Province received it from the previous town in the circuit: for the Colossians it was ‘the letter from Laodiceia,’ and for the Laodiceans it would be ‘the letter from Hierapolis,’ and so forth. It is significant that ‘the Epistle to the Ephesians’ was entitled by Marcion ‘to the Laodiceans’ (cf. Tert. dav. Marc. v. 17). Until it was recognised as an encyclical, the reference here was a puzzle. 1. It was supposed that ‘the letter from Laodiceia’ was one, no longer extant, which Paul had written to the Laodiceans and which he desired the Colossians also to read; and at an early date a forgery appeared, professing to be the lost letter. The text is given by Westcott (Canon, Append. E) and Lightfoot (Co/., pp. 285ff.). It is fatal to this theory that Paul bids the Colossians convey his greeting to ‘the brothers at Laodiceia’ (cf. ver. 15). That was necessary when all that the latter had from him was an impersonal encyclical, but it would have been unnecessary had he just written them a personal letter. 2. Dislike of the idea that an apostolic writing had perished, accentuated by antipathy to the forgery, suggested another theory. It was pointed out that Paul speaks of a letter from, not ¢o, Laodiceia, and hence it was argued that it was nota letter which he had written to the Laodiceans but one which they had written to him, consulting him about certain difficulties. Chrys. mentions this opinion as current in his day.(rivés λέγουσιν) without indicating his own; but the theory was warmly espoused by Theod. Mops. and Theodrt. Such a letter, however, would have been in Paul’s own hands, and he would not have directed the Colossians to procure it from Laodiceia but would have sent it tothem. 3. The letter was one which Paul had written from Laodiceia, variously identified with 1 Tim. (Joan. Damasc., Theophyl.), 1 or 2 Th., Gal. It is a sufficient answer that the Apostle had never visited Laodiceia (cf. ii. 1) ; and, moreover, all those canonical epistles were certainly written elsewhere. 5. Chip. 255. Philemon and his household. Cf. Phm. II, 12; Col. iv. 9. Cf. Phm. 19, Cf. vers. 5, 6. Cf. ver. 2. Rom. xvi. 23. Cf, Phm. 22. Cf. Phil. ii. 25. Cf. iv. 17. 568. LIFE AND LETC ERS( OF 11: The Apostle’s task was not complete when he had finished his letter to the Colossian Church. He had still another to write on behalf of Onesimus. The fugitive’s master was Philemon, who is known only from this correspondence. He was a citizen of Colossz ; and he was not only a Christian but a convert of the Apostle, one of the fruits of his ministry at Ephesus. Since he owned at least one slave and probably more, he was a man of means, and he was distinguished no less for his generosity than for his piety. His house was the Church’s meeting-place, and he deserved the encomium which the Apostle had bestowed on Gaius of Corinth, ‘ my host and the host of the whole Church.’ He kept an open house, and Paul compliments him by intimating his intention to avail himself of its lavish hospitality should he, as he hoped, visit Colosse in the event of his speedy release. His wife Apphia? was like-minded, and their son Archippus ? followed in their steps. He held some office in the Church, and the Apostle, who never dealt in cheap praise, styles him “my fellow-soldier,’ a title which he has bestowed only on one other, Epaphroditus of Philippi, and which speaks of strenuous devotion. It might indeed be construed as rather a challenge than a commendation ; and in his letter to the Colossian Church the Apostle sends Archippus an express and emphatic injunction to diligence in his ministry, as though he had been exhibiting remissness.2 But this is probably an unfair judgment. It is said that ‘ the ministry which he had received’ was the charge of the Colossian Church during the absence of Epaphras ; * and in view of the 1 Not the Latin 4f/za but a Phrygian name (᾿ ἃ πφία) frequent in inscriptions (cf. Lightfoot, Col., pp. 304 ff. ; Fresh Revision, p. 186). The masc. is ᾿Απφίανος, and they are derived from ἀπφά, a term of endearment for a brother or sister, ἀπῴφύς being the corresponding term for a father (Suidas). 2 Cf. Phm. 2, where the addition καὶ τῇ κατ᾽ οἶκόν σου ἐκκλησίᾳ indicates that Philemon, Apphia, and Archippus belonged to one household, the natural inference being that Philemon and Apphia were husband and wife and Archippus their son. It is curious that Theod. Mops. alone of the Greek Fathers draws this inference. Chrys. recognises Philemon and Apphia as husband and wife but dismisses Archippus as ἕτερόν τινα lows φίλον. 3 Cf. Chrys. : τίνος ἕνεκεν οὐ γράφει πρὸς αὐτόν ; ἴσως οὐκ ἐδεῖτο, ἀλλὰ ψιλῆς μόνης ὑπομνήσεως ὥστε σπουδαιότερος εἶναι. 4 Cf. Ambrstr. : ‘Post enim Epaphram, qui illos imbuit, hic accepit regendam eorum Ecclesiam.’ Since the warning to Archippus follows greetings to the FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME | 569 anxiety of the latter for his people’s welfare, all the more cf. co. iy, since he contemplated remaining a while at Rome, it was 7 15: natural that the Apostle should, without reproach, exhort the young teacher to gird himself to his heavy task. Whether there were other members of Philemon’s family or goman no, these were not his entire household. Slavery was a ‘aves: universal institution in the ancient world, and it was a poor house which had not its retinue of slaves. Ten were accounted a beggarly array, too few for dignity and barely enough for respectability.1 Incessant conquest flooded Rome’s slave-market with prisoners of war, and the abundant wealth of her citizens enabled them to maintain large households. Some were enormous. Just as ten were the fewest that decency permitted, so two hundred constituted an adequate equipment ; 5 but this number was frequently far exceeded, and it is recorded that in the time of Augustus a wealthy freedman, C. Cecilius Claudius Isidorus, notwithstanding considerable losses during the Civil War, left in his will 4116 slaves.2 Of course wealthy Romans had their country estates as well as their town-houses, and such vast numbers included both the urbana and the rustica familia. The latter, being employed in tillage, would be the more numerous; nevertheless the domestic entourage was very large, and Horace speaks of the ridicule which the Pretor Tillius incurred because, on the journey of sixteen miles between Rome and Tivoli, he was attended by only five slaves. The lot of the ancient slave was pitiful. He was defined Their hard by Aristotle as ‘a live chattel,’ and again as ‘alive implement,’ °"""°™ whereas an implement was ‘a lifeless slave.’® And if this was his condition in Greece, it was worse at Rome, where luxury had hardened men’s hearts. In the eye of the law slaves were not persons (persone) but things (ves). They Laodiceans (cf. Col. iv. 15-17), Theod. Mops. infers that Laodiceia, not Colossz, was the scene of his ministry ; and Lightfoot approves the suggestion, illustrating the alleged remissness of Archippus by the prevalent lukewarmness of ἴῃς Laodiceans (cf. Rev. iii. 15, 16). 1 Hor. Sat. 1. iii. 11 f. ; Val. Max. Iv. iv. 11. 2 Hor. zdzd. * Plin. Nat. Hist. XXX111. 47. 4 Sat. 1. vi. 107-9. ® Cf. Becker, Charicles, Excurs. to Sc. vit; Gallus, Excurs. to Sc. I. © De Rep. 1. 4: καὶ ὁ δοῦλος κτῆμά τι ἔμψυχον. Eth. Nic. vill. 13: ὁ γὰρ δοῦλος ἔμψυχον ὄργανον, τὸ δέ ὄργανον ἄψυχος δοῦλος Cruelty. szo LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL were their master’s property, and he accounted them as cattle.t Like cattle they were bought and sold. They were stripped, and exposed, with a placard on their necks stating their qualities and blemishes, on a pedestal in the market, that intending purchasers might inspect and handle them, and they were trotted round like horses to prove their agility.» And they got names like those bestowed on horses and dogs—Onesimus, ‘ Profitable,” Chresimus, ‘ Useful,’ Symphorus, ‘ Suitable,’ Epictetus, ‘ Acquired,’ and so forth. They were mated, too, like cattle. Their union was not marriage (matrimonium) ; it was mere cohabitation (con- tubernium), and their offspring were their master’s property, an increase of his herd. They were absolutely at his mercy ; and though a humane master would treat his slaves kindly, humanity was rare in ‘ that hard Pagan world.’ It is told of Epictetus, the Stoic philosopher, that he was taken in child- hood to Rome from his native Hierapolis, just about the time when the Apostle was there, and sold to Epaphroditus, the profligate freedman of Nero ; 3 and one day his brutal master was amusing himself by torturing him. He twisted his leg. ‘You are breaking it,’ the child remonstrated. The ruffian persisted, and broke it; and all that the little Stoic said was: ‘ Didn’t I tell you that you were breaking it ?’? Such barbarities were painfully frequent. Offences were mercilessly punished. Runaways (fugitiv’) and _pilferers (fures) were branded on the forehead with the letter F.® Scourging was common;? and so was crucifixion, the servile supplicium,® and it was often accompanied with brutal outrages—the hacking off of a limb or the cutting out of the tongue.? Slaves were cast to the wild beasts in the circus ; 2 Cf. Sen. Zfzst. xlvii: ‘nec tanquam hominibus quidem sed tanquam jumentis abutimur.’ ’ 7 Cf. Plaut. Bacch. tv. vii. 17; Οἷα. In Pis. τὸ, De Offic. 111. 17; Hor. Fpist. τι. ii. 1-19; Prop. tv. v. 51f.; Sen. 2) 22:7. Ixxx. ® Cf. Epict. 1. i. 20. 4 Orig. Contra Cels. vil. 53. The story is perhaps attested by the philosopher’s own words (1. xii. 24): σκέλος οὖν μοι γενέσθαι πεπηρωμένον ; ἀνδράποδον, εἶτα δι᾽ , & σκελύδριον τῷ κόσμῳ ἐγκαλεῖς : 5 Sen. De /ra, Ill. 3. 4 Plaut. Cas. τι. vi. 49, Aul. 11. iv. 46; Mart. Epigr. 111. xxi; Diog. Laert. Bion. tv. 46. 7 Cf. Juv. xiv.18 f. 8 Hor. Epist. τ. xvi. 47. 9 Cf. Sen. De Jra, ut. 3: ‘lacerationes membrorum.’ Οἷς. Fro Cluent. 66: *Stratonem quidem in crucem actum esse exsecta scitote lingua.’ FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME | 571 and it is said that a Roman knight, Vedius Pollio, practised a savage refinement on this atrocity. He had at his villa, after the luxurious fashion of the age,! a fishpond for the supply of his table, and offending slaves were thrown into it that he might enjoy the spectacle of the lampreys tearing their bodies.2- Once, when Augustus was dining with him, a slave chanced to break a crystal cup, and Vedius ordered him to be thrown to the lampreys. The wretch escaped from the grasp of his executioners and cast himself at the Emperor’s feet, asking only that he might be put to some less horrible death. Shocked by the cruelty, Augustus ordered that all the crystal cups should be broken in his presence and that the pond should be filled up. So trivial were the offences which were held to justify Contempt retribution so severe. And even when they gave no pro- vocation, the slaves were treated with stern insolence. As they waited at table, they durst not speak or so much as move their lips. A whisper was checked with the rod; a cough, a sneeze, or a sigh was punished with scourging, and a word breaking the silence incurred a heavy penalty.4 There were indeed masters, especially humanitarians of the Stoic school, who practised benevolence. ‘I am glad,’ writes Seneca to his friend Lucilius,’ ‘to be informed that you live familiarly with your slaves. This becomes your prudence and your erudition. Are they slaves? Nay, they are men. Are they slaves? Nay, sharers of our dwellings. Are they slaves? Nay, humble friends. Are they slaves? Nay, fellow-slaves. This is the gist of my injunction: so live with an inferior as you would wish a superior to live with you. Live kindly with your slave ; courteously admit him to your conversation, to your counsel, and to your board. Let some dine with you because they are worthy, and some that they may be so.’ This seemed, however, in those days grotesque eccentricity, and the prevalent sentiment was represented by Nero’s freedman Pallas, the brother of the Procurator Felix, of whom it is recorded ® that he would not degrade his voice by addressing 1 Cf, Mart. Epigr. x. xxx. 21-4. 2 Plin. Nat. Hist. 1X. 39. ® Sen. De Jra, 111. 40. © Cf. Sen. Zpzst. xlvii. * Tid. 4 Tac. Ann. XIII. 23. Cf. Eph. ili, 12; ix Jo. iii. 27, v. 14. Cf. Gal. iv. 7 JOnxv. 15. Danger of insurrec- tion. 572 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL his slaves, and intimated his wishes by a nod or a gesture or, where necessary, by writing. This may have been extreme insolence, yet it was characteristic of Roman society ; and the general attitude is amusingly exemplified by an anecdote of Piso the orator. His rule was that his slaves should never presume to address him save in answer to questions; and once he invited Clodius to a banquet. At the stated hour all the guests arrived except Clodius, and Piso repeatedly sent the slave who had conveyed the invitations, to see if he were coming. ‘ Did youinvite him ?’ he at length inquired. “I did,’ was the reply. ‘ Then why has he not come?’ “He declined.’ ‘ Then how did you not tell me at once ?’ “Because you did not ask me this.’ Even in the kindlier Greek world a like restraint was imposed, and the prohibition of ‘freedom of speech’ was accounted the worst hardship of a slave’s lot?—a circumstance which illumines the thought in the minds of the Apostles when they reckon ‘ freedom of speech toward God’ as the supreme privilege of recon- ciliation. It is the privilege of sonship: we are no longer slaves but sons. There was indeed a measure of excuse for such severity in the overwhelming numbers of the slaves. The population of Rome under Augustus and Tiberius was about two million souls; and of these, it is reckoned,? between eight and nine hundred thousand were slaves, while the proportion was much larger in rural Italy. The presence of so vast a multitude of indignant serfs was a constant menace, and the peril was illustrated not merely by the memory of the Servile Wars in Sicily in the later years of the second century B.c. but by more recent insurrections nearer home.* It was a common proverb: totidem esse hostes quot servos, “so many slaves, just so many enemies’ ;® and though the philosopher counselled that they should be won by kindness,® it seemed a surer policy to hold them down with a strong hand and intimidate them by terrible examples. There was an old law that, if a slave murdered his master, not he alone but all 1 Plut. De Garrul. 18. * Eur. Phen. 390-92. 5 Furneaux, Annals of Tacitus, 1. Ὁ. 90. 4 Tac. Ann. Iv. 27. δ Sen. Epist. xlvii. ® Jbid.; ‘colant potius te quam timeant.’ FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME 573 his fellow-slaves should be put to death; and in A.D. 61, the very year when the Apostle wrote to Philemon on behalf of his fugitive, a case occurred which startled Rome. The Prefect of the city, Pedanius Secundus, was murdered by an aggrieved slave ; and after an impassioned discussion in the Senate, the law was enforced, and the entire familia, four hundred unoffending creatures of both sexes and every age, shared the criminal’s doom.! Slavery was thus a monstrous institution, an outrage on A recog- humanity and religion; nevertheless it is no marvel that παν Philemon, that distinguished Christian, should have owned slaves, nor yet that Paul should have entered no protest. The institution was universally recognised, and it had been approved by the wisest teachers of antiquity. Thus, in Approved depicting his ideal state, it never occurred to Plato that ¥3'*° there should be no slaves in it. His only requirement was 4tstotle. that the Greeks should spare their own race and not make slaves of fellow-Greeks.2 And Aristotle defended the in- stitution on the principle that there are differences between men: some are naturally slaves, since it is right that the better should rule the worse, as the soul rules the body and The Stoic the husband the wife.? Even the Stoics never challenged Sen its legitimacy. Freedom, they held, lies in the soul, not in the body. The body is external to the man and, like any other of his possessions, belongs to the category of ‘ things indifferent,’ things which are not in his power and therefore should cost him no concern. ‘ He is free,’ says Epictetus, “who lives as he wills.’ ‘ No one is a slave while he is free in his choice.’ ‘ Fortune is a sore bond of the body, but the soul’s only bond is vice. For one whose body is at large while his soul is in bonds is a slave; and, contrariwise, one whose body is in bonds while his soul is at large, is free.’ ® ΚΜ will put you in bonds.” Man, what are you saying ? Me? My leg you will put in bonds, but my choice not even Zeus can conquer. “1 will throw you into prison.” My poor body. ‘Iwill behead you.” Well, when did I tell you that my neck, unlike all others, could not be severed ? ’ ® 1 Tac. Ann. XIV. 42-5. ® Plat. Rep. v. 469. ® Arist. Rep. 1. 13. Ory. ie, δ Fragm. 31, 32 (Schenkl). βογ 1 23,'24, The Apostle's attiiude. Rom, vi. 12-23. t Cor, vii. 20-24. Cf. 1 Cor. pra) Baa te Ye Gal. ili, 28 ; Col. iii. 11. His letter to Phile- mon. 2 Tim, iii. 17. Cf. Col. iv. 6. 574 LIFE AND ΕΒ Paw Such was the Stoic attitude, and the Apostle’s was much similar. The enslavement of the body was nothing to him. In his eyes sin was the only slavery, and Christ’s slave was the only freeman. Hence it never occurred to him to condemn the institution of slavery. It belonged to the old order which Christ had for ever abolished. it was doomed by the Christian revelation of the universal Fatherhood of God with its corollary, the universal brotherhood of man. And thus, when he wrote to Philemon on behalf of his fugitive slave, he did not require him to emancipate Onesimus ; he imposed a larger injunction: ‘ Welcome him back no longer as a slave but something more than a slave—a ‘brother beloved.’ This letter has a peculiar interest as the only surviving specimen of the Apostle’s private correspondence ; and it well deserves a place in the sacred canon. It contains indeed no doctrine, and for this reason, St. Jerome tells us, it was rejected by not a few in early days: ‘it is not Paul’s,’ they alleged, ‘ or, even if it be Paul’s, it contains nothing to edify us.’ But the purpose of doctrine, as the Apostle says, is ‘that the man of God may be perfect, equipped for every good work’; and the letter shows how well the Apostle’s doctrine had served its use in his own person. It is the letter of a Christian gentleman, kindly, courteous, tactful, unselfish, and chivalrous, not too proud to solicit a favour yet incapable of servility, and withal possessing that quality of humour which is the salt of social intercourse. It is the sort of appeal which is irresistible. Philemon would recog- nise, when he read it, that the debt lay with him—a debt which he could never discharge. LETTER TO PHILEMON t Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy the brother, 2to Philemon, our dear friend and fellow-worker, and Apphia the sister, and Archippus our fellow-soldier, and 3 the Church at your house. Grace to you all and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 4 Ithank my God always and make mention of you in my 5 prayers, when I hear of your love and faith—the faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and your love for all the FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME 575 6saints—that the generosity which your faith inspires may, in a full discovery of all the good that is among us, effect 7a closer union with Christ. For I have found much joy and encouragement in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother. 8 And therefore, while I have in Christ no hesitation in genjoining upon you what is becoming, for love’s sake I rather beseech, though I be the man I am-— Paul, an ambassador! but now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus. 101 beseech you for my child whom I have begotten in my 11 prison—Onesimus, once so useless to you, but now right 12 156] both to you and to me.? [ am sending him back to 13 you, though it is like tearing out my very heart. I would fain have retained him by my side to minister on your 14 behalf to me while I am in prison for the Gospel; but 1 decided to do nothing without your approval, that your goodness may not be a matter of necessity but your own 15free act. For perhaps it was for this reason that he was severed from you for a brief hour—that you might have him 16 back for ever, no longer as a slave but something more than a slave, a brother beloved, most of all to me, but how much more than ‘most of all’ to you, both as a fellow-creature and as a fellow-Christian ! 17 If, then, you hold me your fellow, receive him as you 18 would myself. And if he has done you any wrong or is in το your debt, put this to my pecouny PAUL WRITE IT WITH MY OWN HAND: I WILL REPAY IT *—not to mention to you 1 πρεσβύτης in classical Greek is ‘an aged man’ and πρεσβευτής ‘an ambassador’ ; but it seems certain that πρεσβύτης means ‘an ambassador’ here. (1) Since the Apostle was about sixty, he might fairly have designated himself “an aged man,’ but he could hardly have urged his age as a plea for deference on the part of Philemon, who, if Archippus was his son, could be little younger. (2) νυνὶ δέ, ‘but now,’ makes πρεσβύτης and δέσμιος antitheses, contrasting the dignity of the ambassador and the ignominy of the prisoner. (3) The Apostle’s language here is an expansion of his phrase πρεσβεύω ἐν ἁλύσει (Eph. vi. 20). Though πρεσβύτης is given by all MSS., Bentley conjectured πρεσβευτής as the true reading, and the frequent confusion of the two forms elsewhere would warrant the emendation. It is, however, unnecessary, since it appears that in later Greek they were inter- changeable in the sense of ‘an ambassador.’ Cf. Lightfoot. 2 A play on the name Onesimus, ‘ Profitable.’ 3 Here Paul takes the pen from his amanuensis Timothy and playfully writes and signs a debtor’s bond, his ‘note of hand’ (χειρόγραφον), just as he had given the Philippians ‘a receipt of payment’ (cf. ἢ, on Phil. iv. 18, p. 521). The debtor’s formula was ἀποδώσω, ‘I will repay,’ or as here the stronger ἀποτίσω, implying liability to punishment or fine; and the formula of acquittance was ἀπέχω, ‘I have received.’ The formula had to be written with the party’s own hand, or, if he could not write, a proxy wrote it for him with the note ἔγραψα ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ. Cf. Deissmann, Light from the Ancient East, pp. 334 ἴ. 576 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL 2zothat you owe me more than this—your very self. Yes, brother, let me have ‘ profit’! of you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ. 2x Iam writing to you with full confidence in your compli- ance, knowing that you will do far more than I mention. 22And at the same time prepare hospitality for me;? for I am hoping that through your prayers I shall be granted to ou. a Epaphras, my fellow-captive® in Christ Jesus, greets 24you; also Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow- workers. 25 THE GRACE OF THE LoRD JESUS CHRIST BE WITH THE SPIRIT OF YOU AND YOURS. 1 Another play on ‘ Onesimus.’ 3 ξενίαν, cf. p. 502. 3. Epaphras, like Aristarchus (Col. iv. 10), is thus styled on account of his assiduous attendance on the captive Apostle (cf. p. 522). be plage! } Se) Pe 2 ANCIENT TRADE ROUTES Τὸ PALESTINE Roman Mites English Miles ΠΝ os νο 5 ae Φ. 49 μο too ago “0 ‘The lines of voyage and travel shown on the Map are only approximate BOOK IV THE CLOSING YEARS ‘O, but they say the tongues of dying men Enforce attention like deep harmony : Where words are scarce, they are seldom spent in vain, For they breathe truth that breathe their words in pain. He that no more must say is listen’d more Than they whom youth and ease have taught to glose; More are men’s ends mark’d than their lives before : The setting sun, and music at the close, As the last taste of sweets is sweetest last, Writ in remembrance more than things long past.’ SHAKESPEARE 20 ¢ ἐδ fii ᾿ A ἼΛΗΝ THE HISTORICAL PROBLEM THE narrative of the Book of Acts recounts the Apostle’s History of career from his conversion in the summer of 33 until his ‘%%,20* arrival at Rome in the spring of 60. He was brought thither as a prisoner in consequence of his appeal to the Emperor’s judgment, and his trial was unexpectedly deferred. He was detained in /ibera custodia, occupying a private lodging and, though fettered and guarded, enjoying the society of his friends and freely conversing with all who chose to visit him. There the narrative leaves him, merely intimating that his captivity was protracted for two full years. Evi- dently he was then brought to trial; and, since there is no further record, the inference would seem to be that he was condemned and executed. Against this conclusion, however, there are weighty con- No place siderations ; and the chief is presented by that group of the'pot. three letters, commonly known as ‘ the Pastoral Epistles,’ Epis tie which claim the Apostle as their author. It is not the least service which Luke has rendered to the Church, that he has illumined the correspondence of his beloved master. The latter teems with personal, local, and controversial references ; and these, were they undefined, would be frequently puzzling and sometimes quite unintelligible. The Book of Acts, however, furnishes the contemporary background, and against this the Apostle’s correspondence lives and moves and exhibits a varied and thrilling drama. Ten of his letters have hitherto fallen naturally and fittingly into position; but here is the difficulty which the’ Pastorals present and which constitutes the main reason why their authenticity has been so largely disputed—that they find no place in the historical framework. se Consider the First Letter to Timothy. It appears that, {μισῶν 679 Cf i. 3. 4, Cf. Ac. XViii. 19-21. Cf. iii. 14. Cf. Ac. xx, 29, 30. (2) Letter to Titus. Cf. {. 5. 560 LIFE AND LETTERS’ OF ST. Page when the Apostle wrote it, he was at liberty. He had been at Evhesus and had found false teachers at work there; and on his departure for Macedonia he had left Timothy behind him to counteract their mischievous activities. It was a difficult ministry, and the purpose of the letter was to encourage Timothy in its prosecution. Where in the historical narrative can this incident be assigned a place ? Twice, and only twice, is it recorded that the Apostle visited Ephesus. He called there in the course of his homeward voyage from Corinth at the close of his second mission in spring 53; but this cannot have been the occasion in question, for on taking his departure then he did not travel to Macedonia but continued his voyage eastward to Czesarea. Nor had Christianity then been established in Ephesus; whereas, when the letter was written, there was a church in the city completely organised. His other appearance at Ephesus was in the ensuing autumn, and on this occasion he con- tinued there for two years and a quarter. Thereafter, it is true, he proceeded to Macedonia; but he did not leave Timothy behind: he had despatched him in advance to Corinth by way of Macedonia. So neither is there a foothold Ὁ for the letter here. It has been suggested 1 that he may have paid a hasty visit to Macedonia in the course of his protracted ministry in the Asian capital, leaving Timothy in charge of the Church during his absence, and it lends colour to the hypothesis that he actually paid such a visit to Gorinth, though it is unrecorded in the Book of Acts.2- Thehypothesis, however, is ruled out not merely by the improbability that the Asian heresy should in so brief a space have attained such dimensions as the letter represents, but by the fact that in his interview with the Ephesian Elders in spring 57 upwards of a year after his departure from the city he warned them of the impending danger. The heresy which was rampant when he wrote the letter, was then still undeveloped. And what of the Letter to Titus? The situation here is that Paul had visited Crete in company with Titus, and had left him there to complete the organisation of the churches in the island. It was after his departure from Crete that he 1 Cf. Wieseler, Chronolog. des apostol. Zeitalters, p. 286. ® CE. p. 326. THE HISTORICAL PROBLEM 581 wrote the letter; and when he wrote it, he contemplated cr. iii. τα, spending the winter at Nicopolis. On the assumption that it belongs to his recorded ministry, what place can be found for this episode? His sole connection with Crete was the cr. Ac. view he had of it from the bay of Fair Havens while the ship “77> which was carrying him to Rome lay there wind-bound. The centurion Julius had indeed allowed him to land at cf ver. 3. Sidon and enjoy the society of his friends at the Phcenician port ; but there is no evidence that he went ashore at Fair Havens, and even if he did, he had no time for winning converts and founding churches, since it seems that the ship stayed in the anchorage little over a week. Nor was Titus with him. His companions in the voyage were Luke and Aristarchus. It is indeed conceivable that somewhere in the course of his travels he may have paid a visit to Crete and engaged in a mission which the Book of Acts has left unnoticed ; but this is improbable, and the improbability becomes extreme when it is remembered that his visit to Crete was followed by a winter’s sojourn at Nicopolis, which also is unrecorded in the Book of Acts. It is inconceivable that so important and protracted an episode should have been ignored by the historian, nor is there room for it in the crowded narrative. And what of the Second Letter to Timothy ? It was (3) Second plainly written on the very eve of the Apostle’s martyrdom ; Chin δ 8. and, on the assumption that it belongs to his recorded history, then it has its place at the close of the Book of Acts. It is there stated that he was detained a prisoner at Rome for two full years, and it is assumed that, when at length he was brought to trial, he was condemned and executed. Timothy was apparently at Ephesus, and the Apostle, fore- ct. iv. 9. seeing the fatal issue, wrote and summoned himto Rome. ‘* This construction of the situation, however, involves insuperable difficulties. Timothy was not at Ephesus at the close of the two years’ imprisonment. He was at Rome, and he had acted as the Apostle’s amanuensis when, near the close, he wrote his letters to Colosse and Philemon. More- over, Paul had then been a captive for upwards of four consecutive years. He had passed two years in prison at Czsarea, and had been conducted thence to Rome and there Cf. iv. 13- 20. Peculiari- ties of the Pastorals: Style. Language. Compari- son with other groups: (1) The ‘Thessa- lonian letters. . 502) LIVE AND LERIERS OR VST PAUL had passed two more weary years in bonds. Yet in this letter to Timothy he refers to incidents which had lately happened in the course of his travels in the East—how he had left his mantle and some precious literature at Troas, had parted from Erastus at Corinth, and had left Trophimus at Miletus sick. It thus appears that there is no place for the Pastorals in the recorded history of the Apostle’s ministry ; and this further must be considered—that they are differentiated from the rest of his letters by peculiarities of style, language, and ideas. One misses in them his rugged and nervous eloquence, his glowing passion, his massive argumentation, the rush of his eager dialectic, his crowding thoughts, and his frequent digressions. The difference is indeed unmistakable, yet it in nowise precludes identity of authorship. It is a difference, not of personality, but merely of mood and cir- cumstances ; and it is a sufficient explanation, were there no other, that the Pastorals are private letters dealing mainly with practical affairs. Less impalpable and elusive than the quality of style is the distinction of language ; and the fact confronts us that the Pastorals abound in novel terms, alien from the Apostle’s recognised vocabulary. Thus in the first letter to Timothy, which occupies six and a half pages in Westcott and Hort’s edition, there are 123 peculiarities—over 18 to the page; in the second letter to Timothy, with four and three-quarter pages, there are 80-——about 17 to the page; and in the letter to Titus, with two and three-quarter pages, there are 43— about 16to the page. There are, moreover, 49 terms peculiar to the Pastorals, occurring in two or all of them and nowhere else in the Pauline writings. Thus the group exhibits in all 295 peculiarities—about 21 to the page. And what does this mean? It has been construed as a conclusive evidence against the Pauline authorship of the Pastorals: their speech bewrays them. But consider the other letters. These fall into chronological groups, plainly distinguished by their linguistic peculiarities. The first group is the two letters to the Thessalonians, written in the autumn of 51 and dealing with the eschatological problem. That was the Apostle’s earliest controversy, and his language THE HISTORICAL PROBLEM 583 _ is simple and untechnical. The first letter, with five and a half pages, exhibits 35 peculiarities; and the second, with three pages, 19—in both instances fully 6 to the page. There is, besides, one term which occurs in both and nowhere else in the Pauline writings; and thus there are in all 55 peculiarities in the group or between 6 and 7 to the page. The second group comprises the letter to the Galatians (June 53), (2) Those the first to the Corinthians (early summer 55), the second Peon ging to the Corinthians (closeof 55—autumn 56), and the encyclical Just ‘to the Romans’ (beginning of 57). It belongs to the period versy. of the Judaist controversy ; and this is the motif of Galatians and Romans, while the Corinthian letters deal also with the special problems which had emerged in the Achaian capital. It was inevitable that the necessities of this complex argumentation should develop and enlarge the Apostle’s vocabulary ; and so we find in the Galatian letter, with eight pages, 70 peculiarities—almost g to the page; in First Corinthians, with twenty-four pages, 233—-almost Io to the page ; in Second Corinthians, with sixteen and a half pages, 166—fully τὸ to the page ; and in Romans, with twenty-six pages, 180—about 7 to the page. There are also 174 words occurring in two or more of the group and nowhere else in the Pauline writings. And thus the sum of peculiarities G) ane is 823—fully 11 to the page. The third group is composed rpistles. of the Prison Epistles: Philippians (toward the close of 60), a letter of grateful acknowledgment; Ephesians and Colossians (early in 62), dealing with the incipient Gnosticism of the Province of Asia; and their companion, the little letter to Philemon. Philippians, with six pages, has 65 peculiarities—almost 11 to the page ; Ephesians, with eight and three-quarter pages, 74—between ὃ and 9 to the page ; Colossians, with six pages, 55—fully 9 to the page; and Philemon, with a page and a quarter, 8—between 6 and 7 to the page. There are also 20 words which are common to Ephesians and Colossians and occur nowhere else in the Pauline writings; and in the entire group there are 229 occurring nowhere else in the Pauline writings—between 10 and 11 to the page.! Thus it emerges that the letters which relate to each of Later date, 1 Cf. Append. VII. of the Pastorals, Evidence for the Apostle's later ministry : 1. Income pleteness of Luke's narrative. 584 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL the historic controversies are plainly distinguished and the members of each group linked together by linguistic peculiar- ities. And when it is found that the Pastorals are similarly distinguished, being marked off from the other letters and interrelated by a still larger array of linguistic peculiarities, it follows not only that they constitute a separate group but that they belong, not to the Apostle’s recorded ministry, but to a later period when novel conditions had arisen, new ideas, new problems, new institutions. Hence it would appear that, if it was indeed Paul who wrote the Pastorals, his career did not end where the history closes; and the inference is strongly attested. In his preface to the Book of Acts Luke refers to his Gospel, and it is significant that he styles it not ‘the former’ but ‘ the first narrative.’1 He has left only two narratives ; and had these been all that he had in view, then, when he referred in the second to its predecessor, he would have designated it “the former,’ and his phrase ‘ the first narrative’ suggests that he had an ampler plan. He purposed writing a history of the origin and progress of the Christian Faith, and his Gospel was the first of a series of ‘narratives.’ It was followed by a second, our Book of Acts; but this did not complete his design. He had yet another ‘narrative’ in contemplation, and it would have carried the history down toward the close of the first century, if there be truth in the tradition that he died at the age of seventy-four. His death arrested his literary labours, and his monumental work remains incomplete. The third ‘narrative’ was never written, and the Book of Acts evinces this by the abruptness of its conclusion. It leaves the Apostle a prisoner at Rome with the intimation that his captivity lasted ‘ two whole years,’ thus plainly suggesting that thereafter something happened and the historian intended relating the issue in the ensuing narrative. What the issue may have been—whether thecondemnationand execution of the Apostle or his acquittal 5. Ac. i. 1: τὸν πρῶτον λόγον. The mere linguistic argument is not indeed conclusive, since in Hellenistic Greek the distinction between compar. and superl. was largely ignored (cf. Moulton, Pro/eg., pp. 77 ff.) and πρῶτος was freely used for πρότερος (cf. Mt. xxi. 36; 1 Cor. xiv. 30; Heb. x. 9; Rev. xxi. 1). But the distinction was in nowise obliterated, and it would hardly be neglected by Luke a literary Greek. Cf. Ramsay, St. Paul the Traveller, pp. 27 f. Ὁ THE HISTORICAL PROBLEM 585 and release—is left uncertain; but had it been the former, it would have been easily told, and the reservation suggests that much still remained. The prisoner was released and resumed his ministry, and the next narrative would have recounted his further travels and achievements. Nor does this inference lack express corroboration. It 2. The appears, on the Apostle’s own testimony, that, as his (tinony. captivity dragged on its weary course, his prospects steadily brightened. Already toward the close of the year 60, though Phit. ii. 24. the issue remained uncertain, he had good hope of release ; and thereafter his confidence so increased that about the beginning of 62 he could bid Philemon expect his speedy Phm. 22. arrival at Colosse and prepare for his entertainment. And 3. Primi according to primitive and trustworthy testimony his tradition expectation was realised. In the last decade of the first century St. Clement of Rome, remonstrating with the con- Clemens tentious Christians at Corinth, appealed to historic examples. ®°™“"™"* “Τὸ leave,’ he says, ‘ the ancient examples, let us pass to the champions who lived nearest to our day. By reason of jealousy and strife Paul pointed the way to the prize of endurance. After he had seven times worn bonds, had been exiled, had been stoned, had played the herald in the East and in the West, he won the noble renown of his faith, having taught the whole world righteousness and passed to the boundary of the West. And after testifying before the rulers so was he rid of the world and went to the Holy Place, having proved a very great exemplar of endurance.’! If, as seems indubitable,* by ‘the boundary of the West’ be meant the Pillars of Hercules, there is here a plain testimony by a contemporary of the Apostles that Paul not only was released and resumed his ministry but fulfilled his long cf. Rom. cherished purpose of visiting Spain. And this is explicitly δ’ ἢ affirmed by that valuable document, the Muratorian Frag- Mura- ment, a mutilated and corrupt manuscript discovered in @'@" 1740 in the Ambrosian Library at Milan by an Italian scholar, Ludovico Antonio Muraton. Its author is unknown, but he mentions that he was a contemporary of Pius, Bishop of Rome (143-157). It was written at Rome after the death of Pius, probably about the year 170; and it says: ‘ The 1 Clem. Rom. Ad Cor. V. 3 Cf. Lightfoot ad for. 586 ‘LIFE AND LETTERS) OF (STUPAUL Acts of all the Apostles are written in one book. Luke puts it shortly to the most excellent Theophilus that the several ‘events were enacted in his presence, as he also evidently Statement of Theo- dore of Mop- suestia. Are the Pastorals second century imitations ? indicates by omitting the passion of Peter as well as Paul’s departure from the city on his journey to Spain.’ Here the Apostle’s release and his journey to Spain are assumed as notorious facts. It is needless to adduce the testimonies of later writers— Eusebius, St. Athanasius, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Epiphanius, and St. Jerome; but it is worth while to quote the explicit statement of Theodore of Mopsuestia. ‘St. Paul,’ he says, ‘twice visited Rome during the reign of Nero. First on his appeal to Festus in Judea, when the latter to please the Jews would have sent him to Jerusalem. So he was conducted a prisoner to Rome; and thence, on his release by Nero's judgment, he was ordered to depart in safety. After his two years’ stay at Rome he departed, and is seen to have preached to many the doctrine of piety. On a second occasion, however, he visited Rome, and while he stayed there it happened that by the sentence of Nero he suffered capital punishment for the preaching of piety.”! The passage survives only in a rude Latin version, but its meaning is indubitable. The Apostle suffered two imprisonments at Rome in the reign of Nero. The former followed on his appeal at Czsarea to the Emperor’s judgment, and it lasted for two years. Then he was brought to trial and acquitted and ordered to quit the capital. He resumed his apostolic labours and preached extensively ; and by and by he paid a second visit to Rome and was again arrested. On this occasion apparently he suffered no long imprisonment. He was promptly tried and sentenced to death. Hence, though it is impossible to find a place for the Pastorals in the framework of his recorded ministry, it in no wise follows that they are not writings of the Apostle. The narrative of the Book of Acts is incomplete, and it is reasonable to seek a resting-place for the letters in the ensuing period. The question, however, arises whether the peculiarities of language and thought which exclude them from his recorded ministry, be consistent even with this 2 Theod. Mops. 4d Ephestos Argumentum. THE HISTORICAL PROBLEM ς8) later date. The fact presents itself that, while each of the previous groups is distinguished by its linguistic peculiarities, the peculiarities of the Pastorals are much more numerous— thrice as many as those of the first group and twice as many as those of the second and third. And it has been alleged, moreover, that the letters breathe the atmosphere of a far later period. They exhibit theological ideas which are alien cr. 2 ‘tim. from the Apostle’s recognised thought, giving, for example, ; ra the epithet of ‘ Saviour ’ not only, in his accustomed manner, ii. 6 νι, to Christ but to God ; they ascribe to him a novel interest in i. τ, ii. 3, ecclesiastical organisation; and the heresy which they Ti {' combat is the Gnosticism of the second century, Marcion’s # το, Ν᾽. 4. famous work The Antitheses being actually, it is alleged, Cf. x Tim. mentioned by name. Hence it has been concluded that they δ *” are not the work of Paul but merely, as Coleridge puts it,? ἐπιστολαὶ Παυλοειδεῖς, controversial writings ascribed, after the ancient fashion,” to the great master. This judgment, however, ignores much important evidence. Testimony ἡ Not the least weighty is the testimony of the Apostolic A oetelt Fathers. St. Clement of Rome had seen and conversed with Fathers. the Apostles Paul and Peter,? and in his Epistle to the Corinthians, written during the last decade of the first century, not only are there several passages which seem “oa echoes of the Pastorals* but there is one indubitable quotation from the letter to Titus.* There are numerous echoes also in the Epistles of St. Ignatius.6 And in the Epistle of St. Polycarp, a disciple of the Apostles and especi- ally the Apostle John,’ there are, besides echoes, four distinct a ἃ Table Talk, June 15, 1833. 2 The Pythagorean philosophers ascribed their writings to the master, recognising ‘him as the source of all their wisdom and claiming no glory for themselves. Cf. Tamblich. De Vit. Pyth. 198. 3 Tren. 11. iii. 2. * Cf. vii with 1 Tim. ii. 3, v. 4; xxix with 1 Tim. ii. 8; lxi with 1 Tim. ΤᾺ ᾿ δ ii: ἕτοιμοι εἰς πᾶν ἔργον ἀγαθόν. Cf. Tit. iii. 1. ; 6 Cf. Ad Magn. xi with 1 Tim. i. 1; Ad Polyc. iii with 1 Tim. i. 3, vi. 33 Ad Eph. xx with 1 Tim. i. 4; 4d Eph. xiv with 1 Tim. i. 5; Ad Rom. ix with 1 Tim. i. 13; 4d 7radl. vii with 1 Tim. iii. 9, 2 Tim. i. 3; Ad Magn. viii with 1 Tim. iv. 7, Tit. i. 14, iii. 9; Ad 7rad/. viii with 1 Tim. v. 14; Ad Zph. ἢ and 4d Smyrn. x with 2 Tim. i. 10; Ad Polyc. vi with 2 Tim. ii. 3, 43 Ad Smyrn. iv with 2 Tim. ii. 10. ? Cf. Iren. m1. iii. 4. iv, 21. The pecu- liarities of the Pastorals congruous with their Pauline author- ship: I. Inci- dental usages. x Tim. vi. Xs 1, αἷς Ὁ: ΘΕ Ζ Tim. ii. 21, Rom. xiv. 4, Eph. vi. 5, 9, Col. ill. 22, iv. x. Cf. x Pet. ii. 18. 588 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL quotations.! It is indeed conceivable that the debt might be on the other side, and that the Pastorals are Pauline imitations and their author quoted from the Apostolic Fathers ; but it is unlikely that he should have so flagrantly convicted himself in view of the skill wherewith he has elsewhere executed his imitation. Thus, in the second letter to Timothy Paul is represented as sending a greeting from Linus. And who was Linus? He was the Overseer of the Roman Church after the martyrdom of the Apostles Paul and Peter.? Thenceforth he was a distinguished personage in the Church’s annals, and his name would hardly have been introduced so slightly by a second century imitator who was capable of betraying himself by putting on the lips of Paul the language of the Apostolic Fathers. The decisive question is whether the peculiarities which the Pastorals exhibit be inconsistent with their Pauline authorship and necessitate their relegation to a later period ; and a little investigation of the historical data will disclose their entire congruity with the Apostle’s circumstances. It may indeed be affirmed without temerity that, had Luke been permitted to continue his narrative and exhibit the historical background of the Pastorals, their authenticity would hardly have been challenged. As it is, the situation is indicated merely by suggestions and inferences; yet even so it is sufficiently illuminating. Not a few of the peculiarities are merely incidental. Thus, it has been remarked that in the Pastorals, when the Apostle speaks of slaves and slave-owners, he designates the latter ‘masters,’ whereas he elsewhere styles them ‘lords.’ But what does this mean ? ‘ Master’ was the regular term ; and wherever in his earlier letters he speaks of slaves and their ‘lords,’ it is always with a didactic purpose. He is incul- cating the reciprocal duty of kindness and faithfulness, and after the most sacred of examples he enforces it by a word- play and affirms that bond and free alike are all slaves— 1 Cf. iv: ἀρχὴ δὲ πάντων χαλεπῶν φιλαργυρία with 1 Tim. vi. 10. iv: οὐδὲν εἰσηνέγκαμεν eis τὸν κόσμον ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲ ἐξενεγκεῖν τι ἔχομεν with I Tim. vi. 7. xii: ὑπὲρ πάντων τῶν ἁγίων προσεύχεσθε. .. ὑπὲρ βασιλέων with 1 Tim. ii. 1. ix; τὸν νῦν ἠγάπησαν αἰῶνα with 2 Tim. iv. 10. v: Kat συμβασιλεύσομεν and 2 Tim. ii. 12 are probably independent quotations from a primitive hymn. 2 Cf. Iren. rt. iii. 2; Eus. Ast. Accl. 111. 2. THE HISTORICAL PROBLEM 589 “slaves of Christ the Lord.’ ‘Slaves,’ he says, ‘ obey in cr. Mt. wi everything your human lords, fearing the Lord. Lords, ?4'/? *"" accord what is right and equitable to your slaves, knowing 2° that you also have a Lord in Heaven.’ Again, the peculiarities of the Pastorals include a little 2 Medic: group of medical terms: ‘gangrene’ or ‘cancer,’ ‘cautery,’ 7)* ἡ, “distempered,’ ‘patient of ill,’ ‘healthful,’ ‘ healthy,’ 17; τ Tim. ‘bring to life’; and it seems reasonable to attribute these 2 Timm. ii to the Apostle’s constant intercourse with his ‘ beloved ?4;,17™ physician,’ who bore him company throughout those closing vi-3,2Tim. years and tended him in his frequent ailings. Nor will this Titi.9,s5. be deemed far-fetched if it be observed how many—no "7245: fewer than twenty-eight 1—of the lexical peculiarities which 13: distinguish the Pastorals from the other Pauline leitters,, occur elsewhere in the New Testament onlyin Luke’swritings, his Gospel and the Book of Acts—an evidence of the influence which his converse had on the Apostle’s language. And what of the novel interest which the Pastorals evince 3. Intere=: in ecclesiastical organisation? There were two orders in "°° the ministry of the primitive Church—the Elders or Over- sanisatic seers, who cared for its spiritual welfare, and the Deacons, who administered its temporal affairs; and, so far as the earlier letters indicate, it would appear that they bulked little in the Apostle’s esteem. It is the congregations that engage his concern. Once and only once does he mention Lacking in the two orders—when he addresses his Philippian letter jP« £3" ‘to the saints in Christ Jesus, with the Overseers and Deacons.’ This is his solitary mention of the first order ; and as for the second, it appears again incidentally in his commendation of Phoebe, ‘a deaconess of the Church at rom,.xvi.: Cenchree,’ who conveyed his great encyclical to Ephesus ; and also in his inculcation of uncomplaining and faithful employment of the various ‘ gifts of grace’: ‘ ifit be deacon- xii. 7. ship, let us devote ourselves to our deaconship.’ It is remarkable that he never in the earlier letters uses the term ‘Elder’ or ‘ Presbyter,’ preferring in his solitary mention of the office the synonym ‘ Overseer.’ And the reason seems to have been that Presbyter was a Jewish title. The Christian congregations were organised after the model of 4 35 injt Tim. ; 9 in 2 Tim. ; 4in Tit. Cf Append. VII. The term episcopos. Ac. xx, 28. 1 Pet. v. 2, 500 LIFE/AND) LETAERS OF Sia Pfaue the Synagogue; and as the latter had its Presbyters, so they had theirs. It was a venerable and appropriate title ; yet by reason of its Jewish associations it lent itself to a mischievous perversion, encouraging the Judaist contention of the permanence of the ancient order and the abiding obligation of the Law. Hence in the stress of the Judaist controversy the Apostle naturally mistrusted it, and, though it was the official designation, rather employed the alter- native ‘ Overseer.’ And this latter, in its primitive use, was a beautiful name. It was a pastoral term, and its proper idea appears in Paul’s | address at Miletus to the Ephesian Elders. ‘ Take heed,’ | he says, ‘ to yourselves and all the flock among which the Holy Spirit appointed you overseers, that you shepherd the Church of the Lord which He won with His own blood.’ And so the Apostle Peter counsels his fellow Elders: ‘ Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, taking thell oversight of it, not constrainedly but willingly after God’s) way ; and when the Chief Shepherd is manifested, you will) receive the unfading crown of glory.’ This designation of ] our Lord, ‘ the Chief Shepherd,’ occurs only here, and it) used to be regarded as a Christian coinage after the = of ‘ Chief Priest’; but it is proved by a recent discovery to have been no high title but a homely and familiar designa- tion in the annion Greek. Egyptian exploration chanced i upon a wooden tablet which had hung about the neck of ἃ mummy and bore a rude inscription commemorating the | dead man’s name and calling and age: ‘ Plenis the younger, — chief shepherd, lived —— years.’1 The pastures of the wilderness were widely scattered, and the sheep were led in several flocks where they could find sustenance. Each flock was tended by its own shepherd, and there was a chief shepherd who had the oversight of them all. Here is the | apostolic conception of a Presbyter or Elder. He was | shepherd, and his congregation was the flock committed to his charge. But the Church was composed of many con- gregations. There were many flocks, and many shepherds | | 1 Πλῆνις vew- | repos ἀρχιποί- | μενος ἐβιώ- | σεν ἐτῶν - - -- ἀρχιποίμενος is a slip for ἀρχιποίμην, proving the illiteracy of the writer. Cf. Deissmann, al from the Ancient East, pp. 97 ff. ; Moulton and Milligan, Vocad, THE HISTORICAL PROBLEM 591 each taking the oversight of his own flock ; and over them all there was the Chief Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ, ‘ the Heb. xiii. Great Shepherd of the Sheep,’ the supreme Shepherd and ἢ}. Te Overseer, ‘the True Shepherd,’ the Shepherd in whom the * rT, τῇ. idea of shepherdhood is realised. It was a beautiful conception, and it is no wonder that Eectesias. Paul should have loved it, and preferred it to the cold official !'°*)°"S°” designation when he was pouring out his heart to his con- "se! ‘ae verts and thinking not of ecclesiastical organisation but Pastoralas only of their doctrinal instruction and evangelical profit. It was otherwise, however, when he was addressing not a congregation but a Presbyter charged with the oversight of a congregation and embarrassed by administrative diffi- culties. And such was the occasion of the Pastorals. Timothy and Titus were charged, in peculiarly trying cir- cumstances, with the business of government and organisa- tion, and he deals with their actual and pressing needs. As it happened, both had need of counsel in the matter of the appointment of office-bearers, and in addressing himself to this practical concern he naturally uses the official termino- logy. In writing to Timothy he indeed retains the more con- x Tim. iii. genial term ‘Overseer,’ but he presently drops it and yt το. employs the official designation ‘ Elder ’ or ‘ Presbyter’ ; and in his letter to Titus he reiterates his counsels and employs Tit. i. s, 7. both terms interchangeably. It is true that the Apostle’s interest in ecclesiastical Its import- organisation is peculiar to the Pastorals and has no parallel ταῖς igen ἐπ in his earlier letters ; but the explanation lies in the novelty pe Sai of the situation. If he has never heretofore written thus, the reason is simply that occasion has never heretofore arisen. And though questions of order and discipline were indeed secondary in his esteem, he had never slighted them or depreciated their importance. It appears from the Book of Acts that, wherever he preached in the course of his travels, he never reckoned his work complete until he had organised Cz. Ac. xiv. his converts into a congregation and ordained Presbyters ** “™ *” over them ; and thus it was no innovation when he enjoined Tit. i. s. Titus to organise the converts in the island of Crete and appoint Presbyters in every city. The discussion of those questions of ecclesiastical organi- 592 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST: PAUL 4. The sation and administration has furnished no inconsiderable heszy. Proportion of the novel terms which distinguish the Pastorals; but there was a far graver problem which claimed the Apostle’s attention, especially in his letters to Timothy ; and this has put its impress on both his language and his cf. Ac, xx. thought. It was the Gnostic heresy which he had already ne foreseen during his ministry at Ephesus, and which had so quickly developed and overspread the Province of Asia. He had dealt with it during his Roman imprisonment in his encyclical ‘ to the Ephesians’ and his letter to Colosse ; but his arguments had proved unavailing to arrest its malignant growth, and the situation in the Province and particularly in the capital was now more serious than ever. ‘Genealo- He summarily and accurately defines the heresy and its aes implicates when he bids Timothy ‘ charge some not to teach radon strange doctrines or give heed to fables and interminable | τ Tim.i.3, genealogies.’ The phrase ‘interminable genealogies’ has — ἢ been much disputed, but it can hardly be anything else than a contemptuous designation of the Gnostic theory of a succession of emanations from the Divine Pleroma, a hier- archy of @ons mediating between God and the world.t Nor is this the sole reference in the Pastorals to that fantastic speculation, which rested on the philosophic postulate of the inherent evil of matter and the impossibility of direct contact between it and a holy God. It was only through angelic mediators that He could have to do with the world whether — in creation or providence or redemption; and thus the ; Saviour was reduced to the rank of an gon. It is this theory © Tim. iv. that the Apostle has in view when he affirms that God created aur all kinds of food, and ‘ everything which God created is good,’ thus denying the-inherent evil of matter; and again ii. 5. when he affirms that there is ‘one Mediator between God — and man, Himself man, Christ Jesus,’ thus at once asserting — the divine dignity of our Lord and sweeping away the imagination of a hierarchy of angelic mediators. Apocry- And what were the ‘ fables’? The Gnostics followed the Pables. allegorical method of interpretation, and just as the Neo- platonists had applied it to the Homeric Poems and Philo 1 Cf. p. 524. Gnostic ‘genealogising’ is exemplified in the Naasene hymn which Hippolytus quotes (v. 5) as summarising all the mysteries of the heresy. i - THE HISTORICAL PROBLEM 593 to the Jewish Scriptures, so they applied it to the narrative of our Lord’s earthly life.| They saw in the evangelic history an allegory of the relation between God and the world, portraying the union of spiritual and holy powers with evil matter and their final triumph. It was all myth. And, not content with allegorising the history, they were ever weaving new fables until it was lost in a mass of wild and fantastic inventions This is the origin of the apocryphal Gospels which appeared in such rank profusion during the early centuries. Such as have survived are indeed later than the Apostle’s day, but Hippolytus mentions one which was current among the Naasenes and set forth their doctrine of the soul’s rebirth from the earthly to the spiritual 2—‘ the Gospel according to the Egyptians,’ which survives only in a few patristic quotations. The peril was extreme. It menaced the very life of the The Church. There was as yet no written Gospel; and the poise” story of the Lord’s earthly life was an oral tradition. The catechists who were charged with the business of its con- servation and communication, were called didaskaloi or Cf. τ Tim. ‘Teachers,’ 4 and the cognate term didaskalia or ‘ discipline’ ναὸς x denoted both their office and its material. The Oral Tradi- 7" ae tion was the Church’s most precious possession, and the task Cf. τ Tim. of its conservation was always supremely important, demand- τ Ἐπὶ ΤῸ ing scrupulous fidelity ; but the appearance of those legend- i εῚ ae mongers constituted an unprecedented menace and demanded i. 9, ti. τ, το, tenfold vigilance, lest corruptions should steal in. And hence the Pastorals abound in importunate warnings and novel definitions. They speak of ‘ the heathful Discipline ’ τ Tim. i. in contrast with ‘ the disciplines of demons,’ ‘ the genuine δον Ake Discipline’ in contrast with ‘the profane and old-wifish τον fables ’ of the heretical teachers, ‘ the Discipline which is the vi 3 norm of religion.’ And they call the sacred treasure by a significant name—‘the deposit,’ ‘the genuine deposit.’ τ Tim, vi. 20; 2 Tim, This is a banker’s term ; ® and the idea is that the Evangelic i. 14, 1 Cf. Hippol. v. 3, 4. 9 Ibid. 5. * Cf. Hilgenfeid, Libr. Deperd. Fragm., pp. 42 ff. 4 Cf. p. 80. Papias (Eus. Ast. Τα. 111. 39) says that Mark’s Gospel was his report of the διδασκαλίαι of his master Peter. = °° Cr. ea Days of His Flesh, p. xv. §o64.° LIFE AND LETTERS OF S22 aa Tradition was a precious trust which amid the corrupting influences of the time must be sedulously guarded, preserved inviolate, and transmitted unimpaired. ‘O Timothy,’ pleads the Apostle, ‘ guard the Deposit, shunning the profane babblings and incongruities of the “ Knowledge” (gnosis) so falsely named’; and again: ‘ The genuine Deposit guard through the Holy Spirit who dwells within us.’ The Oral Tradition was ‘ the genuine Deposit,’ and its commixture with those base counterfeits, the Gnostic fables, was the danger of the hour. And here lies the crowning evidence of the apostolic date of the Pastorals. Once the Tradition had been committed to writing, the Church possessed an authori- tative record of the sayings and doings of her Lord in the days of His flesh; and their solicitude for the inviolate conservation of the Tradition demonstrates that the Pastorals were written ere the appearance of our Gospels. The earliest of these is the Gospel according to St. Mark ; and if, as seems. certain, it was composed shortly before the fall of Jerusalem in the year 70, then the Pastorals were written just before it in the extremity of the Church’s need. ATeachers The Teachers were not left without aid in the discharge Manua’», of their difficult and responsible office. It appears that a i, 13. Manual had been prepared for their guidance.? It furnished τ Tim. iii, an ‘ outline’ of the Evangelic Tradition ; and besides this Sees τι, it seems to haye contained rules regarding the offices of the τό, τσ. Eldership and the Deaconship ; directions for the Christian eee use of the Old Testament Scriptures ; a variety of evangelical he te ae. truths and practical maxims; and a collection of Christian’ τ Tim. iii, hymns. This is the source of those ‘ faithful words’ which Waa the Apostle quotes, and of other passages which, though 1Tim.i. Jacking express reference, are plainly quotations. And it is S10, ὦ significant that these exhibit striking affinities with the ἘΝ ὮΙ anguage and thought of Luke. Thus, of the word * equip ° 4-8. which occurs in the Pastoral definition of .the use of «he Old 2 Tim. iii, Testament Scriptures— that the man of God may be perfect, δὰ equipped for every good work,’ there is only one other Ac. xxi. 5. instance in the New Testament, and this is found in the Book Tit. ii, 1, of Acts. Again, the word ‘ appear’ which occurs twice in a ae lengthy quotation in the letter to Titus, occurs elsewhere in AGED, 412, THE HISTORICAL PROBLEM 595 the New Testament only twice—in Luke’s Gospel, of the Lk. i. 70. appearing of ‘ the dayspring from on high,’ and in his Book Ac. xxvii, of Acts, of the appearing of sun or stars to storm-tossed *” mariners. And no less striking is the word ‘ philanthropy ’ Tit. iii. 4. or ‘love of man’ in the same passage. It is a Lucan word, and occurs elsewhere only in the Book of Acts.! It is, xxviii. 2; moreover, remarkable how characteristic of the quotations is Ὁ ““"" + the phrase ‘ God our Saviour.’ It isa phrase of the Teacher’s r Tim. iv. Manual, and though the Apostle has adopted it in several τον instances, he never disregards his accustomed differentiation τ Tim. i. 1, between God and Christ the Lord.2 It seems, however, ;",3) ™ that the Manual ignored this distinction, and not only spoke of God and Christ equally as ‘ our Saviour’ but styled Christ cf. Tit. iii. “our Saviour God.’ Thus, according to the true rendering, es it speaks of ‘ our great God and Saviour Christ Jesus’ ; and Tit. ii. 13 it would appear that its outline of the Evangelic Tradition, ‘the healthful words of our Lord Jesus Christ,’ was entitled 1 Tim. vi. 3. ‘The Discipline of Our Saviour God.’ The significant fact Tit. ii. το. here is that the phrase ‘God our Saviour’ is found also in Luke’s hymn, the Magnificat, and nowhere else in the New Lk. i. 47. Testament outside of the Pastorals save in the noble bene- diction at the close of the Epistle of St. Jude. It seems a reasonable inference from all those linguistic Probably coincidences between the writings of Luke and the Teacher’s προς βιοὺς Manual that the latter may have been his work. And the inference is corroborated by the circumstance that the Manual contained Christian hymns; for ‘ the beloved phy- sician ’ had the quality of a poet, and it is to him that the Church owes three of her finest canticles—the Magnificat, Lx. i. 46; the Benedictus, and the Nunc Dimittis. If the Teacher's §54,°%-79) Manual was his work, then it was the forerunner of his gracious Gospel; and, like his Gospel, ‘ the Gospel of the sinful,’ it was, as the quotations in the Pastorals show, pervaded by the spirit of his revered master and beloved friend. 1 Of the 295 linguistic peculiarities in the Pastorals no fewer than 28 are found in quotations from the Teacher’s Manual. Cf. Append. VII. * Cf. pp. 426, 464. THE APOSTLE’S LATER MINISTRY Its record. THE Apostle’s later ministry extended from the close of his first Roman imprisonment in the spring of 62 until his re-arrest—a period, as will appear in the sequel, of some five and a half years. It is unrecorded by the sacred historian ; but it was during its course that the Pastorals were written, and from their numerous and significant allusions it is possible, with the aid of tradition, to reconstruct its general outline with a measure of probability. Expulsion | When at length after two weary years of captivity he was — nc" arraigned before the Emperor, he was acquitted ; but since — his continued presence in Rome would have provoked his Jewish enemies to fresh hostility, he was ordered, in the interest of the public peace, to quit the city. And whither did he betake himself ? In his letter to his friends at Philippi Phil. ii. 24. toward the close of the year 60 he had promised that in the event of his release he would pay them a visit; and quite recently, when the issue of his trial was assured, he had Phm. 22, apprised Philemon of his intention to visit Colosse and bidden ~ him prepare for his entertainment. It is reasonable to assume that he was not unmindful of these engagements. He left Rome, accompanied by his beloved physician © Luke and Timothy his son in the Faith who had both done | so much to alleviate the hardship of his long imprisonment, — and set out for the East. | Voyage to The sea was now open for navigation, and he took ship for — pos’ Ephesus. This was not his destination, yet it was inevitable — that he should make a considerable stay in the Asian capital, where he had so many associations and interests. Not only had he laboured there for two years and a quarter—the longest sojourn which he had made in a single city and the most eventful period in the whole course of his apostolic 596 z Se ee ee, .᾿ ; aga APOSTLE’S LATER MINISTRY 597 career, but there that subtle heresy which had since invaded the Province had its chief centre. Its mischievous operations had been reported to him during the second year of his imprisonment, and he had dealt with it by letter; and now he would be eager to ascertain what effect his arguments had produced. He quickly perceived that the mischief, so far from Timothy abating, had gathered strength. His worst forebodings had 52t0"* been realised. Alike in its doctrinal and in its ethical aspect the heresy had attained a larger development, and was poisoning the very fountain of the Faith. He would labour to counteract the mischief, and he doubtless protracted his sojourn to the utmost. But at the longest it was all too short ; and when at length he took his departure in pursuance of his engagements elsewhere, he left Timothy behind to superintend the distracted Church and continue the work « Tim. i. 3 which he had begun. νὰ His promise to the Philippians had been the first made, visit to and it must be first fulfilled ; and accordingly, when he left }/*°° Ephesus, he betook himself 1d Macedonia. His chief interest lay at Philippi, and on their arrival he and Luke, who was held in affectionate remembrance for his long and gracious ministry there,! would receive a warm welcome. But their activities would extend much farther. Some six years previously the Province had been disturbed by Judaist machination,? and they would make a tour of the churches and confirm them in the Faith. From Macedonia in pursuance of the promise to Philemon Overland they travelled to Colosse. They might have taken ship Coc.” from Neapolis to Ephesus and journeyed up the valley of the Meander; but since it appears that, when the Apostle by cf. τ Tim. and by wrote to Timothy from the valley of the Lycus, he" * had never seen the latter since his settlement in the Asian capital, it may be inferred that they crossed to Troas and, disembarking there, travelled overland by Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardes, and Philadelphia. If, as is probable, it was now winter-time, early in 63, the difficulty of navigation would determine their choice of this route ; and Paul would be glad of the opportunity of visiting those cities by the way Piha ek Sh. * Cf. pp. 260, 344. Sojourn in the valley of the Lycus, ΟΕ ΘΟ ἀξ Timothy's discourage- mnent at Ephesus. Chor (Cor, iv. £7, XVi 19; Phil. ii, 19-42. Cf. Ac. xvi. I-3. Chana: iv 12. 6 Cf. x Gor: XVi, KO. soo - LIFE AND LETTERS OF Ὁ aos and ascertaining how they were affected by the Gnostic heresy, On their arrival at Colosse they would be hospitably welcomed by Philemon and his family, and they would meet at least two old friends, Epaphras, the leader of the Colossian Church, and Onesimus, Philemon’s slave who had absconded to Rome and had heard from the captive Apostle of the freedom of the children of God and had returned to his master ‘ no longer as a slave, but something more than a slave—a brother beloved.’ It was Paul’s first and long desired visit to the valley of the Lycus, and his interest would extend to all its churches. It was natural that he should pass from Colosse to its more important neighbour, the large and prosperous city of Laodiceia; and it was there, according to tradition,! that he wrote the first of the Pastorals. And what was the occasion ? It is clearly indicated in the | course of the letter. Of all the Apostle’s friends perhaps the sweetest and gentlest was Timothy. There is none whom he more frequently and warmly commends, and none, save perhaps Luke, who had deserved better of him by personal devotion. Yet his very excellences involved limitations, and these seriously incapacitated him for the office which he held. He was charged with the oversight of the Ephesian Church and the eradication of the heresy which had taken root in its midst. It was a difficult task, demanding ex- perience, discretion, and courage; and these qualities Timothy lacked. As the very name Presbyter or Elder implies, mature age, with the wisdom which it brings, was accounted essential in one who was entrusted with the oversight of a Christian community ; and Timothy was still a young man. Since he was a mere lad living with his pious mother and grandmother in their home at Lystra when Paul enlisted him as his attendant in the summer of 50, he was now under thirty years of age; and it would be difficult for him to exercise the needful authority among the fathers of the Church. A strong and self-reliant personality might have succeeded, but Timothy was constitutionally timid. 1 Subscript. A: ἐγράφη ἀπὸ Λαοδικείας, Κὶ : ἐγράφη ἀπὸ Λαοδικείας ἥτις ἐστι μητρόπολις Φρνγίας τῆς Πακατιανῆς, L. THE APOSTLE’S LATER MINISTRY 599 He had a gentle and affectionate nature with a woman's tenderness and devotion, and in the Apostle’s company he Cf. Phil. ii. shrank from no hardship and feared no ordeal ; but he could **?4 not stand alone, and years afterwards Paul still remembered crf. 2 Tim. how he had wept when they parted at Ephesus. That was" * an ill augury for the successful conduct of so difficult a _ charge ; and whatever forebodings.it may have awakened in Paul’s breast were fully realised. It appears that Timothy’s timidity so mastered him that he was disposed to shrink cf. x Tim. into retirement and shirk the public duties of his ministry. δ τ Lacking initiative and resolution, he was accessible to personal influence and lent a credulous ear to slanderous and plausible tongues. It seems that he was thus betrayed into painful and disastrous blunders through acting precipitately “f * Tim. on groundless charges against Presbyters and, at the same ne time, ordaining unworthy men to the sacred office without sufficient investigation of their credentials. It is in keeping cf. x Tim. with his character that he was disposed to asceticism ; and“ ” he suffered the inevitable penalty not only in physical weakness but also, as he had confided to his revered master, cf. 2 Tim. in morbid and impure imagination. pi cos The Apostle was doubtless kept informed of the progress Letter to of events at Ephesus. Timothy would write him as oppor- πον. tunity offered ; and it appears that after his arrival in the valley of the Lycus he received a communication which necessitated his energetic intervention. Timothy’s embar- rassments had multiplied until his position seemed intoler- cf. x Tim able, and he was disposed to resign his charge and quit the* > city. And the Apostle immediately wrote him and per- emptorily vetoed the proposal, bidding him persevere in his ministry and discussing for his guidance the problems which confronted him. THE FIRST LETTER TO TIMOTHY The letter opens with the customary address. It is The natural that the Apostle’s greeting to one so intimately and κι tenderly associated with him should bepeculiarly affectionate, all the more that he has stern rebukes to administer ; but it seems strange that he should have thought fit to affirm his Injunction to perse- vere. Cf. x Gor. IX.) 7 600 -LIFE AND LETRERS OF Six ae cL apostleship. Did not Timothy know and acknowledge his divine calling ? The reason is that the letter was no mere private communication. It deals with questions of general import ; and, as appears from the final benediction, ‘Grace be with you all,’ it was designed for the instruction and cor- rection of the whole Church. Paul had weighty judgments to pronounce, and therefore he affirms at the outset his apostolic authority. i.1 Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus according to the command 2 of God our Saviour and Christ Jesus our Hope, to Timothy, a true child in faith. Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. He addresses himself at once to the immediate occasion— Timothy’s discouragement and his proposal to demit his office ; and this pusillanimous step he sternly vetoes and reiterates his original mandate. And what was that? The troublers of the Ephesian Church were Gnostic Judaists, and their doctrine was a blend of contentious philosophy and ascetic legalism ; and Timothy’s commission was to counter both by keeping the Church true to the Christian message of a love which cleanses the heart and renders legal restraint unnecessary. 3 As I exhorted you when I was going to Macedonia, stay on at Ephesus,! that you may charge some not to teach strange 4 doctrines or give heed to fables and interminable genealogies, since these occasion questionings rather than faithful discharge 5 0f the stewardship which God has entrusted to us. And the end which the charge should aim at is love springing from a 6clean heart and a good conscience and unaffected faith ; and it is by missing these that some have swerved into futile 7talking. They would be teachers of the Law, though they do not understand either their own statements or the subjects on which they dogmatise. 8 Now we know that the Law is beautiful if one use it law- 9 fully, recognising that law is not enacted for a righteous man but for lawless and disorderly persons, impious and sinful, unholy and profane, assaulters of their fathers or mothers, το murderers, fornicators, sodomites, kidnappers, liars, perjurers, 1 The sentence is elliptic: ‘as I exhorted you stay on, [so do].’ Grotius avoids the anacolouthon by taking ἵνα παραγγείλῃς as imperat.: ‘see that you charge’ (cf. Eph. v. 33). Tare, AFOSTLE'’S LATER: MINISTRY’ 601 and whatever else is opposed to the healthful Discipline, τὶ according to the τῶν ha of the glory of the Blessed God with which I was entrusted. It was a hard task, but by the Lord’s grace it could be The achieved. Was not Paul himself a conspicuous example of $P°*'** the efficacy of grace? He had been a blasphemer and a ex@mple. persecutor ; and if he, ‘ the foremost of sinners,’ had found mercy and been so signally used in the Lord’s service, what was not possible to one whose early years had been so rich in promise? Here was an incentive to Timothy; and it was reinforced by the disastrous issue of the heresy, parti- cularly in the case of two of its ringleaders whom for their blasphemous aberration the Apostle had _ recently excommunicated. 12 Iam thankful to Him who put power into me, Christ Jesus our Lord, because He deemed me faithful and appointed me 13to His service, though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a bully. But mercy was vouchsafed me because it was in ignorance that I did it while still a stranger 14 to the Faith ; and the grace of our Lord multiplied exceedingly, bringing that faith and love which come of union with Christ 15 Jesus. Faithful is the word and worthy of all acceptance that ‘ Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners’; and τό οἱ these I am foremost. But it was for this reason that mercy was vouchsafed me, that in me as the foremost Jesus Christ might demonstrate all His long-suffering as a pattern for those who would afterwards rest their faith on Him for life eternal. 17 Now to the King of the Ages, incorruptible, invisible, only God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen. 18 This is the charge which I deposit in your keeping, my child Timothy, according to the expectations which your early promise inspired, that, begirt with them, you wage the 19 honourable warfare, keeping hold of faith and a good con- science. It is because they have thrust away the latter that 20 some have suffered shipwreck in relation to the Faith. Among these are Hymeneus and Alexander, whom I ‘ delivered to Satan’! that they might be instructed not to blaspheme. And now he turns to practical instructions regarding the Christian life of a Christian community. One inevitable corollary of °°“ the Gnostic heresy with its postulate of the evil of matter and its distinction between ‘ the spiritual’ and ‘ the carnal’ 2 Cf. 'p. 256. Cf. 1 Jo. v. g-Ir. CEE. δ {ΠῚ Se Cf. Rom. ix. I. Church offices, 602 “LIFE AND LETTERS ORs sre was a relaxation of civic and social obligation; and so he inculcates the primal duties of public loyalty and domestic piety. fii: I exhort, then, first of all that petitions, prayers, interces- 2 sions, thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, especially on behalf of kings and all in high station, that we may lead a | 3 tranquil and peaceful life in all religion and dignity. This is honourable and acceptable in the sight of our Saviour God, 4 who wishes all men to be saved and reach a full knowledge of sthe Truth. For there is one God, one Mediator also between 6 God and men, Himself man, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom on behalf of all—the testimony which God has 7yborne at proper seasons; and it was for this that I was appointed a herald and an Apostle—it is truth that I am telling, it is no lie—a teacher of Gentiles in faith and truth. 8 It is my desire, then, that the men should pray in every place, uplifting holy hands, without anger and disputation. g And it is my desire also that women should array themselves in orderly attire modestly and discreetly, not with plaits and rogold or pearls or costly clothing,’ but, as becomes women τι professing godliness, by the practice of good works. Let 12a woman be a peaceable and submissive learner. I do not permit a woman to teach or to domineer over a man; no, 13she must be peaceable. For Adam was fashioned first, 14then Eve. And it was not Adam that was deceived ; it was woman that was out and out deceived and is involved in 15 transgression.2, But she will find salvation in her office of motherhood —if they continve in faith and love and sanctification and discretion withal.® Then he turns to the Church and its administration. ᾿ 2 Cf. ἃ wife’s epitaph αἱ Heraclia on the Black Sea: ἡ φίλανδρος καὶ σώφρων 7 φιλόσοφος ζήσασα κοσμίως. 3 ἡ γυνή, not ‘his wife,’ but ‘the woman,’ involving womankind. Cf. Chrys. : raca ἡ φύσις ἐν παραβάσει γέγονε δι᾽ ἐκείνης. 3 The meaning of this difficult passage is clear in the light of the Rabbinical doctrine of the status of woman (cf. Taylor, Sayzngs of the Fathers, p. 15). She was forbidden to learn, much more to teach, the Law. But she was not therefore denied salvation. She found it in the performance of her proper offices; and these were to send her children to be taught in the synagogue; to attend to domestic concerns and leave her husband free to study in the schools; to keep the house for him till he returned. In the discharge of these womanly tasks women will find salvation, always, adds the Apostle, on the supposition that ‘they continue in faith and love.’ μείνωσιν plur., since 7 γυνή (ver. 14) signifies ‘womankind.’? This interpretation rules out various notions which have been imported into the passage, as that rexvoyovla means (1) Baptism, ‘quod est filiorum generatio’ (Pelag.), (2) the Virgin Birth (anonym. in Theophyl.). PEECAPOSTLE’S ‘LATER MINISTRY 603 iii 1 Faithfulis the word ; 1 ‘ If one aspires to Overseership, it is cr. Mt. “a beautiful work ”’ that he is desiring.’ XXVi- το, 2 The Overseer, then, must be irreproachable, a faithful husband,? sober, discreet, orderly, hospitable, apt at teach- 3ing, not quarrelsome in his cups or ready with his fists, but 4 sweetly reasonable, no fighter, nor fond of money, ruling his own house honourably, keeping his children in subjection 5 with all dignity—if one knows not how to rule his own house, 6how will he manage God’s Church ?—no novice, lest he be swollen with windy pride and incur the same condemnation zas the Devil. And he must also have an honourable reputation with outsiders, lest he incur reproach and fall into the Devil’s snare. 8 Similarly, Deacons must be dignified, not double-tongued, gnor hard drinkers or dirty money-makers; they must be men who hold the mystery of the Faith in a clean conscience. ro And let these also first be proved, and then let them take τι Office if nothing can be laid to their charge. Deaconesses # similarly must be dignified, no slanderers, sober, trust- 12 worthy in everything. Let Deacons be faithful husbands, 13 ruling honourably their children and their own houses. For those who have served honourably in the deaconship are winning themselves an honourable station and much boldness in preaching the Faith which is in Christ Jesus. All these instructions have a personal bearing. It was Timothy's for Timothy that the Apostle was concerned. His sojourn {2?.4n4 in the valley of the Lycus was drawing to a close, and he ἀν. hoped that he might ere long revisit Ephesus, and then he would deal effectively with the situation. It was impossible, however, to forecast the future, and in the meanwhile he would have Timothy worthily administer his august office. He was charged with the oversight of the Church ; and what was the Church ? She was, according to one of the hymns in the Teacher’s Manual, the repository and guardian of the - truth, the witness to the high mystery of the Incarnation. * 1 Chrys., followed by W. H., attaches the formula to the preceding sentence (ii, 15). For πιστός here D* reads ἀνθρώπινος, ‘human’—‘a proverbial expression of general application and profane origin’ (Zahn). 2. Literally ‘one woman’s man.’ There is no reference either to polygamy or to remarriage. The Apostle did not prohibit the latter (cf. v. 11, 14). 3 It was through pride that Satan and the rest of the rebel angels fell. Cf. Eicclus.:x, 135, 2) Pet, il: 43 Jud. 6. 4 γυναῖκας, not wives of deacons or women generally but women holding the office of deaconship, deaconesses. This is the patristic view. Cf. Theophyl. : οὐ περὶ τῶν τυχουσῶν γυναικῶν λέγει ἀλλὰ περὶ τῶν διακονισσῶν. Cf. Lk. iti. Gen. i. 4, Io, 12, 18, 21, 25, 3%. 664 LIFE AND LETTERS, OF Sie PAu And the situation which had arisen at Ephesus was no surprise. It had been long impending; and the Apostle had foreseen it, and had strenuously protested against those ascetic tendencies and insisted on the truth that material things are God’s creatures and nothing which God created is evil but, according to the Scriptures, ‘ all very good.’ And Timothy’s business now was the inculcation of that principle and the commendation, by precept and example, of the Christian ideal of holiness—not the mortification of the body but its consecration. 14 I am writing you all this though I hope to come to you r5ere long. I am writing it in case I should be detained, that you may know how you must conduct yourself in the House of God, that is, the Church of the Living God, the 16 pillar and basement of the Truth. And confessedly great is the mystery of our religion : He who? ‘Was manifested in the flesh, Was pronounced righteous by the Spirit, Was seen by angels, Was heralded among the Gentiles, Was trusted in the world, Was received up in glory.’ iv. x But the Spirit expressly says that in later seasons some will fall off from the Faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits zand disciplines of demons, through the masquerading ? of 3 false talkers seared in their own conscience, prohibiting marriage and enjoining abstinence from foods which God created to be partaken of with thanksgiving by those who hold the Faith and have attained full knowledge of the 4 Truth ; because everything which God created is ‘ good,’ and there is nothing that should be rejected if it be received 5 with thanksgiving ; for it is hallowed through the Word of God and intercession. 6 This principle inculcate on the brothers, and you will be a genuine minister of Christ Jesus, feeding on the words of the Faith and of the genuine Discipline which you have 7followed. But their profane and old-wifish fables have 8nothing to do with. Train yourself to religion; for physical training is profitable for a little while, but religion is profitable for everything, carrying as it does a promise 9 of life present and future. Faithful is the word and worthy * Reading ds. The variant Θεός, ‘God,’ originated in a copyist’s mistaking ΟΣ fer OZ, the uncial contraction of ΘΕΟΣ. 3 ὑπόκρισις, properly ‘play-acting.’ Cf, The Days of His Flesh, Ὁ. 102. THE APOSTLE’S LATER MINISTRY 605 το of all acceptance: ‘ For this is the end of our toiling and wrestling, that we have set our hope on a Living God who is the Saviour of all men, especially of such as hold the Faith.’ Timothy was a young man, and it would seem that his Cali to natural timidity had betrayed him into two fatal blunders. ““’°"°" He had allowed himself to be overawed by the sanctimonious Οἵ. iv. 7é- pretensions of the ascetics and had acquiesced in their ἢ" practices instead of taking a resolute stand and boldly exhibiting the true ideal. And, further, he tended to seclude himself and neglect the public offices of his ministry, par- ticularly the public ‘ reading’ of the Old Testament Scrip- tures and the ensuing ‘ exhortation,’ after the manner of Cf. Ac. xiii the Jewish Synagogue, and the even more important in- “δ stitution of ‘ discipline ’—the schooling of the Church in the Evangelic Tradition. This weak dereliction was a grievous disappointment to the Apostle, belying as it did the bright promise of Timothy’s early years and the high hopes enter- tained of him at his ordination. 11,12 Charge and teach all this. Let no man despise you for your youth, but prove a pattern to those who hold the 13 Faith in word, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Until I come give heed to public reading, to exhortation, to 14 discipline. Be not neglectful of the gift of grace within you, which was conferred upon you in the hope which you Cf. i. 18. had inspired when the Presbytery laid their hands upon 15 you. Practise these things, employ yourself in them, that 16 your progress may be manifest to every one. Take heed to yourself and to the Discipline ; persist in your offices, for in doing this you will save both yourself and your hearers. Timidity was Timothy’s snare, and it had involved him The office - : of personal in many embarrassments. Not the least serious was the admoni. tion. 2 Ordination by ‘the laying on of hands’ was a primitive practice. Cf. Ac. vi. 6, viii. 17. The Presbytery was the college of Presbyters in each community ; and its primitive constitution and procedure are illustrated by Clem. Rom. Ad Cor. xlii-xliv. (1) πρεσβύτεροι and ἐπίσκοποι were synonymous. Cf. Lightfoot, n. 9 on xlii, (2) The Christian office of Presbyter was Jewish in origin. It was not founded by Christ: the Apostles instituted it after the example of Moses. (3) That it might be permanent, they ordained that successors should be appointed as vacancies occurred through death. (4) These appointments were made by the ἐπίσκοποι or πρεσβύτεροι with the consent of the whole Church (συνευδοκησάσης τῆς ἐκκλησίας πάσης). Cf, the narrative of Polycarp’s ordination in Pion. 772. Polye. xxiii. The order of widows. Cf. Ac. vi. I, ix. 39, 41; Ja. i. 27. 606. LIFE AND LETTERS OBS ice difficulty which he experienced in the administration of personal admonition. It was a delicate duty, and when he braced himself to its performance, he was betrayed by sheer nervousness into excessive severity. The Apostle’s counsel is: ‘Never reprimand; remonstrate lovingly. Be like a son to older men and women and a brother to the younger.’ νὰ Never reprimand an older man, but exhort him asa father; 2and younger men as brothers ; older women as mothers, and younger as sisters in all purity. A gracious characteristic of the Apostolic Church was its kindly solicitude for the poor. Almost from the outset of its career provision had been made for the maintenance of forlorn widows ; and ere long, with a wise appreciation at once of the humiliation which charity inflicts and of the abuses which it inevitably occasions, those unfortunates were organised into an order resembling yet distinct from that of the Deaconesses. Capable widows were charged with a variety of gracious offices, especially the care of orphans and the nursing of the sick ;1 and thus they were serviceable to the Church, and their maintenance was no charity but a. well earned remuneration. It was a beneficent institution, but it required vigilant surveillance. It was designed for the relief of the really necessitous, not for aged widows who had children or grandchildren well able to support them, nor for young widows who could earn their own livelihood and who, if they were supported in idleness, would turn mischievous and wanton. Thus a strict censorship was needed ; and here apparently Timothy had proved remiss. Scandals had ensued, and to prevent their recurrence the Apostle lays down two rules ; first, that no widow should be admitted to the order unless she were absolutely desolate ; and, second, that none be admitted unless she had attained the age of sixty and bore a creditable character. a 4 Honour widows who are really widows; but if any widow bas children or grandchildren, let them learn first to act religiously by their own house and recompense their fore- s bears ; for this is acceptable in the sight of God. One who is really a widow and left desolate has set her hope on God 1 Cf. Lightfoot on Ignat. 4d Smyrn. xiii. fia APOSTLE’S LATER MINISTRY 607 and continues at her supplications and her prayers night cr, Lk. ii 6,7and day; but gaiety in a widow is a living death. And 37. 8 press these charges, that they may be irreproachable. But if any one does not provide for his own, especially his house- hold, he has denied the Faith and is worse than one who is a stranger to it. 9 Let no widow be put on the list unless she be sixty years 10 Οἱ age, a faithful wife, with a reputation for ‘ beautiful works’ —-the nurture of children, the entertainment of strangers, the washing of the saints’ feet,! the relief of distress, the τα pursuit of every good work. But younger widows have nothing to do with ; for when they grow wanton against the 12 Christ, they want to marry, and incur condemnation for 13 cancelling their initial pledge. And at the same time they learn to be idle, gadding from house to house ; and not only idle but tattlers and busybodies, talking about things which 14Should not be talked about. My wish then is that younger widows ἢ marry, bear children, be mistresses of houses, and rsgive the adversary no outlet for reviling ; for some have 16already swerved after Satan. If any woman who holds the Faith is connected with widows, let her relieve them, and let the Church not be burdened, so that it may relieve the real widows. Cf. Mt. ΧΧΥΪ, το. Another difficulty which Timothy had experienced arose Μαπαρο- from his dealings with the Presbyters. His commission was the suppression of the disorders which the heresy had occasioned ; and his jurisdiction was extensive, since in so large a city there would be several congregations,? and besides these he had the oversight of all the churches in the Province. Each had its Presbyters, charged with the offices of administration and instruction ; and it appears that they had in many cases been demoralised by the example of the heretical teachers. The latter were generally 1 Two true womanly qualities: (1) Motherliness, in the widest sense. ‘One who is a mother only to her own children is not a mother; she is only a woman who has borne children’ (George MacDonald). (2) Hospitality, so needful in those days when travellers went afoot. When Paul speaks of ‘the washing of the saints’ feet’ (cf. The Days of His Flesh, p. 203), he is recalling his own experience in the course of his missionary journeyings, when he had found a kindly welcome in many a humble honie. 2 Curss., Chrys., Hier. add x7pas—a correct gloss. 3 Cf. the multiplicity of synagogues in Damascus (Ac. ix. 2, 20) and Salamis (xiii. 5). 4 Cf. ii. 8: ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ. Theod. Mops. 4*gumenium, ‘ut omnem peragrans Asiam universam quz illo sunt ecclesias gubernaret.’ ment of Presbyters Cf. vi. 5. JOE πῦσν; ds ef, 1 Gor, Ix. 0. Cf. Dt. xix. 15. 608 LIFE AND ‘LET TERS ΟΡ Si PAUL mercenary adventurers, trading on their propaganda and reaping a rich harvest from the credulity of their dupes ; and their abundant emoluments had excited envy and dis- content in the breasts of the Presbyters. This unpleasant | development had embarrassed Timothy, and the Apostle — counsels him regarding it. He recognises that, in so far as the exactions of their sacred functions had impaired their livelihood, the Presbyters were entitled to remuneration, and there was a double claim on the Church’s generosity in the case of those who had devoted themselves absolutely to her service, especially in the way of preaching and the laborious office of ‘ discipline,’ the oral transmission of the Eevangelic Tradition. That was fair, and it was sanctioned by the Scriptures; yet it was far from justifying the Pres- byters in emulating the mercenary heretics and making a trade of religion. A decent livelihood was all that they should desire. It is plain that this delicate question had occasioned much heart-burning. Hard things had been said of the Presbyters, and Timothy’s handling of the situation had been injudicious. He had listened to evil reports, and had pronounced censure without strict investigation ; and some- times, when scandal had arisen, he was himself to blame. The simplicity which was credulous of malicious gossip, was credulous also of hypocritical pretension ; and he had ordained unworthy men to office. A little prudence would have averted these disasters; for though a man’s true character may not always be apparent at the first glance, it cannot remain hidden. A discerning eye soon penetrates the hollow mask, and detects also the modest worth which ‘loves to be unknown and to ke made of no reputation.’ 17 Let the Elders who discharge their office honourably be counted worthy of double remuneration, especially those who 18 toil in word and discipline. For the Scripture says: ‘ Thou shalt not muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain’ ; rgand ‘worthy is the workman of his wage.’! Against an Elder never admit an accusation unless it be supported by two 20 or three witnesses. As for those who sin, reprove them in the sight of all, that the rest may be deterred. 1 Not a quotation from Scripture but a proverbial maxim, quoted also by our Lord(ch Lk. χ. 7); fake APOSTLE’S LATER MINISTRY 609 zx I solemnly charge you in the sight of God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels, that you observe these instructions with- 22out prejudice, doing nothing from partiality. Lay ordaining hands on no one hastily, and be not a party to other men’s 23sins. Keep yourself pure. (Be no longer ‘a water-drinker,’ but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your 24 frequent indispositions.!) There are some men whose sins are patent and lead the way to a judgment of them; but there 25 are some also whose sins dog their steps. Similarly, ‘ beautiful works ’ are patent, and such as are otherwise cannot be con- cealed. At Ephesus, as in every great city of early days, the in- relations stitution of slavery constituted a problem for the Church. between Christianity recognised the brotherhood of the children of and slaves. men and their equal worth in the sight of the Universal Father, and in a community where the distinction of bond and free was cancelled, it was inevitable that the relation of masters and slaves should be increasingly complicated. The abolition of slavery was indeed the necessary issue of the Gospel ; but at that early date it was still unperceived, and the only practical remedy for the unrest was the inculcation of that love which would reconcile masters and slaves and banish both cruelty and resentment. vi.r All who bear the yoke of slavery, let them deem their own masters worthy of every honour, that the Name of God and 2 the Discipline may not be calumniated. And those who have faithful masters, let them not despise them because they are brothers, but be the more devoted because the recipients of their good service are faithful and beloved. All these were problems incidental to the normal adminis- pDenuncia- tration of the Church, and besides them there were troubles [ion oth from without. Timothy was confronted with that vexatious heresy, and the Apostle concludes his counsels with a denunciation of its emissaries and their evil ways—their departure from the Evangelic Tradition, their conceit, their ignorance, their contentiousness, and, above all, their mercenary greed. It proves how scandalous this last was 1 A marginale (cf. p. 245), inserted in the margin after the letter was written as a needful corrective of Timothy’s disposition to asceticism. ὑδροποτεῖν was a good Greek word, but it carried a suggestion of contempt. In the Comic Poets ὑδροπότης was ‘a thin-blooded fellow.’ 2Q 610 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL and how perilous its contagion that, when he read over the letter, he was moved to enforce his warnings by entering on the margin an additional exhortation. 3 All this teach and exhort. If any one teach otherwise and do not accede to healthful words—those of our Lord Jesus 4 Christ—and the Discipline which is the norm of religion, he is swollen with windy pride, knowing nothing but distempered about questionings and verbal disputations which originate senvy, strife, calumnies, evil suspicions, persistent wranglings on the part of men corrupted in their mind and bereft of the 6Truth. They think that religion is a source of profit. And religion 7s a great source of profit when contentment goes with 7it. For we carried nothing into the world, nor ! can we carry 8 anything out of it ; but if we have food and covering, these will gsuffice us. Those who would fain be rich fall into temptation and a snare and many desires which are witless and mischievous, ro Since they sink men in wreck and ruin. For the love of money is the root of all evils, and some in their ambition for it have been led astray from the Faith and pierced themselves with many a pang. rr But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteous- 12 Π655, religion, faith, love, endurance, meekness. Face the Faith’s honourable contest ; win the Eternal Life for which you were called and made the honourable confession in the sight of 13many witnesses. My charge in the sight of God who brings all things to life,? and Christ Jesus who at the bar of Pontius 14 Pilate witnessed the honourable confession, is that you keep the commandment without spot or reproach until the Appearing 15 of our Lord Jesus Christ ; and this will He display at His own seasons who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of the 16 kingly and the Lord of the lordly, who alone possesses im- mortality, inhabiting light unapproachable, and whom no man ever saw or can see; to whom be honour and might eternal. Amen. 177 (Those who are rich in the present age charge not to be uplifted with conceit nor have their hope based on the visionari- ness of riches, but to repose it on God who affords us everything r8richly for our enjoyment, to be beneficent, to be rich in x9 ‘ beautiful works,’ to be open-handed and liberal, storing up for themselves a sound foundation against the future, that they may win the real life.) 3 1 Omitting ὅτι, which is probably ‘an accidental repetition of the last two letters of κόσμον, ON being read as OTI’ (W. H. Append.). 3 ζωογονεῖν, ‘bring to birth alive’ (cf. Ex. i. 17, 18, 22), a medical term (cf. Hobart, Med. Lang. of St. Luke, p. 155); elsewhere in N. T. only in Lk. xvii. 33, Ac. vii. 19. Cf. p. 580. * Another sarginale, enforcing vers. 9, 10. THE APOSTLE’S LATER MINISTRY 611 And now after his wont he takes the pen from his amanu- The ensis and writes the closing sentence with his own hand. Apostles The Evangelic Tradition was the Church’s most precious ™#nual. possession, and his last word is an earnest appeal to Timothy to preserve it inviolate and guard it from heretical corruption. 22 QO TIMOTHY, GUARD THE DEPOSIT, SHUNNING THE PROFANE BABBLINGS AND INCONGRUITIES! OF THE ‘ KNOWLEDGE” SO 21 FALSELY NAMED. IT IS BY PROFESSING THIS THAT SOME HAVE MISSED THE MARK IN RELATION TO THE FAITH. GRACE BE WITH YOU ALL. It was probably early in the year 63 that the Apostle had Progress to arrived at Colosse, and his sojourn in the valley of the δ τα Lycus would continue for several months. Since it would have been perilous for him to linger in that malarial region during the heat of midsummer, it may be inferred that he took his departure by June at the latest ; and it is hardly doubtful that he would travel eastward into the adjacent Province of Galatia and visit his Churches at Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe. Thence he would proceed to Syrian Antioch, the metropolis of Gentile Christendom and the constant base of his missionary opera- tions; and he would arrive there in autumn, crossing the Taurus ere the passage was closed by the winter snows. This is indeed mere probability, but it finds a measure of confirmation in the circumstance that in the sequel he appears in the company of Titus, that young Greek who had attended him and Barnabas from Antioch on their elee- mosynary mission to Jerusalem in the summer of 45,2 and who had subsequently acquitted himself so creditably in the difficult negotiations with the recalcitrant Church of Corinth.’ Antioch was the home of Titus, and it is likely that he would return thither when his work in the West was done, and labour there during the Apostle’s long captivity. It is remarkable that his name is never mentioned in the Book 1 ἀντιθέσεις, supposed by critics who regard the Pastorals as Pauline fictions of 224 ¢,, to be an express reference to Marcion’s work ‘The Antithesis.’ But ἀντίθεσις was a familiar term both in Classical and in Common Greek (cf. Moulton and Milligan, Vocad.). Perhaps the Apostle was thinking of the Gnostic ‘anti- theses ’—God and the world, spirit and matter, light and darkness, etc. * Ciepp. 73. 3 Cf. pp. 340f., 345. 612° LIFE’ AND LETTERS OF Sir rav of Acts, since, as it happened, he and Luke had hardly ever come into contact. He is known only from incidental allusions in Paul’s letters; but these sufficiently testify to his rare qualities, and doubtless had the historian been permitted to complete his work, his later narrative would have rescued Titus from the obscurity which unfortunately invests him. Missionto The way was now open for the fulfilment of the Apostle’s Wat long cherished design of continuing the westward progress ck aie of the Gospel and carrying it as far as Spain ; and he would ~~" set out on this momentous mission in the spring of 64, as soon as navigation was resumed on Feb. 8. He did not go alone. Luke and Titus accompanied him, and probably others. The ship would naturally call at the port of Ephesus, Cf.1 Tim. and he would land there and, in fulfilment of his promise, 13. interview Timothy. With so large an enterprise in view he would make no long stay. The next station on the route was Corinth, and there in ordinary circumstances he would have continued his voyage to Italy, but that country was now closed against him. He had been banished from Rome on his acquittal in the spring of 62; and, moreover, it was probably at this very juncture that the world was startled by that appalling calamity, the conflagration of the Imperial capital. It broke out on July 109, 64, and raged for six days;1 and since the blame of it was fastened on the Christians, it would have been certain death had the Apostle and his company appeared in the vicinity while the popular fury was at its height. And so it appears that he avoided Italy and travelled overland through Epirus and u.2Cor. Dalmatia. These were new countries to him, but he had mia long cherished the hope of visiting them. And already he xv.1g Was no stranger to their people; for some seven years previously the Gospel had been diffused from Macedonia and Achaia to Jllyricum, and along the route he would encounter Christian communities where his name was revered. On reaching the head of the Adriatic he would enter Venetia at Aquileia; and, journeying westward, he would traverse Gallia Cisalpina until he reached the port of Massilia (Marseilles), and thence he would take ship to Spain. 1 Cf. Lewin, Fast. Sac., 1955 f. THE APOSTLE’S LATER MINISTRY 613 All this is merely inferential, but it appears less pre- Ministry in carious when it is remembered that Christianity was planted ag not only in Spain but in Gaul at a very early date, and St. Irenzeus appeals to the churches in these countries as witnesses to the Apostolic Tradition.1 The story of the Apostle’s fortunes on those fresh fields would have made a stirring chapter in his biography ; and here one poignantly realises how grievous is the loss entailed by the cutting short of Luke’s narrative. Regarding his ministry in Gaul there is indeed one uncertain suggestion. It seems that ‘ Galatia’ was an alternative form of ‘ Gallia’ ;? and if there be truth in the ancient opinion that, when the Apostle in the course of his last journey to Rome ‘sent Crescens to Galatia,’ it 2 Tim. iv was not to the Asiatic Province that he sent him but to™ Gallia Cisalpina, then it appears that his ministry there had borne abiding fruit. As for his work in Spain, however, it is unillumined even by so doubtfula ray. The one certainty is that he would have no difficulty in obtaining a hearing for his message, since there were considerable Jewish colonies in Spain, especially along the eastern sea-board ; 8 and in each city he would, according to his wont, visit the synagogue and discourse to the congregation. It was probably in the spring of 66 that he once more The island turned his face eastward. Whatever his success in Spain, ° “ret he had at least accomplished his purpose of carrying the Gospel to ‘ the Boundary of the West’; and he now heard the call of other lands where he had never yet preached. One was the island of Crete, which had doubtless lain on his heart ever since in the autumn of 59 he had surveyed it from the deck of the ship which was conveying him to Rome. It was a large island, measuring, according to Pliny,’ 270 Roman miles in length, 50 at the broadest, and 589 in circumference. It was an irregular ridge of mountains, forming three groups—Mount Leuke to the west, Mount Ida in the middle, and Mount Dicte to the east. The coastline was broken by sharp promontories and deep bays, and the 1 Tren. 1. iii. 3. Cf. Lightfoot, Gal. pp. 3, 31; Moulton and Milligan, Voc. In2 Tim. ἐν. 19 Tisch., following NC and other authorities, reads Γαλλίαν. 5 Cf. Schiirer, 11. ii. p. 242, 4 Nat. Hist, τν. 20. 614. "LIFE AND LETTERS OF i ae surface was a tumble of hills and woodlands and fertile valleys.1 It was closely populated, and contained, according to Pliny, a hundred famous cities. The chief of these were Gortyna, betwixt Mount Ida and the southern coast, and Cnossus toward the north. Crete figures largely in ancient mythology. There was the storied Labyrinth, the creation of Dedalus and the prison of the Minotaur; and at Mount Ida the infant Zeus had been nurtured, and his fabled tomb was the chief of the island’s sacred shrines. Character The people bore an evil reputation. Their falsehood was of the . ‘ ἐπ , . te a ’ people. proverbial. ‘Cretising’ was synonymous with ‘lying,’ and ‘playing the Cretan with a Cretan’ meant ‘ out-tricking a trickster.’ 2. They were avaricious and unscrupulous ; these vices, it was said, were indigenous, and the Cretans were the only people who counted them no disgrace. The wine of Crete was famous,* and drunkenness prevailed. Even the women were addicted to it. It appears, moreover, from the record of history that the Cretans were a turbulent and lawless race. It was their complicity with the pirates, those pests of the Mediterranean, that provoked the war which issued in their subjugation to Rome by Metellus in the year 67 B.c.; and in later days they were still prone to sedition and rebellion. Cretan There were many Jews in Crete, especially in the cities ; ® Tens. and though not a few of them, like the family of the Cretan wife of the Jewish historian Josephus,® occupied the first rank in wealth and influence, they were frequently ring- leaders of disorder. They remained true to their ancestral cf. Ac. ii, faith, winning proselytes and making pilgrimages to the Holy me City at the seasons of the great Feasts; nor did their in- sularity exclude them from contemporary movements in Cf. Tit. i the intellectual and religious domain. It is an evidence of 13-16; iii. Ξ this that the Gnostic ideas of the Province of Asia had been wafted across the A¢gean and taken root in the island. ΤΑΣ _ Crete had thus sore need of the Gospel. And it was ministry in Crete. 1 Cf. Strabo, 475: ἔστι δ᾽ ὀρεινὴ καὶ δασεῖα ἡ νῆσος, ἔχει δ᾽ αὐλῶνας evxdprous. 3. ΟΕ, Plut. £m. Paul. 25. 5. Polyb. vi. 46. 4 Juv. xiv. 270 ἢ ® 1 Macc. xv. 23; Phil. Leg. ad Catum, 36; Jos. Ant. xvi. xii. 1; De Bell, Jue Se OR pf. 6 Jos. Vit. 76, Ι : THE APOSTLE’S LATER MINISTRY 615 natural that the Apostle should turn thither. He had already planted the Faith in the countries on the northern shores of the Mediterranean basin and in the islands of Cyprus and Melita; and now, when he was warned by the decay of his physical powers and the increasing menace of his adversaries that the end was approaching, it would seem that the evangelisation of Crete, the one spot in the long circuit from Syria to Spain still untouched, would be the fitting crown of his life’s labour. Of his mission in the island there is no record ; but he would certainly follow his wonted procedure. He would visit the various cities, beginning perhaps with the capital Gortyna, and pass from place to place until he had traversed the wholeisland. It is plain from his references that he experienced to the full the obnoxious cr. Tit. i idiosyncrasies of the Cretan character, since after his 15 13: departure from their midst he attested the justice of the people’s odious reputation: Nevertheless his work was in nowise unsuccessful. He won many converts and founded cr. ver. s. numerous churches. He took his departure in the autumn, leaving Titus to nis continue and consolidate the work, particularly by the ¢epatture. ordination of Presbyters in every city where a church hadi | been formed. Much indeed had still to be done, and it would have been well for Crete could he have remained; but it seems that he was exhausted by the protracted strain and designed to spend the approaching winter in some peaceful retreat. There was constant and easy communication between Crete and Cenchrez, the port of Corinth, and he would naturally voyage thither. He would find a cordial welcome among his numerous friends in the Achaian capital ; and one of these was Apollos, who had doubtless fulfilled his intention of returning thither and resuming the powerful ce. x Cor. ministry which had been interrupted by the unhappy con- *” 15 troversy in the Corinthian Church.} The Apostle’s ultimate destination was uncertain when he winter re- left Crete, but he presently reached a decision and fixed δ οτος upon Nicopolis for his winter residence. It happens that there were no fewer than eight places which bore this name, and it must remain questionable which of these is here 1 Cf. pp. 240f., 323. Letter to Titus at Crete. Cf. Tit. iii. 13. 616° “LIFE AND ‘LET PER RS ΡΝ intended. The most famous is the city of Epirus which Augustus had founded and named Nicopolis, ‘ the City oi Victory,’ in commemoration of his triumph over Antony and Cleopatra in the year 31 B.c. Two others were in Thrace—one in the west on the river Nessus, and the second on the Hemus in the east. A fourth was in Armenia. A fifth was in Bithynia on the Bosporus.!' A sixth was in Cilicia near the ridge of Amanus on the border of Cilicia and Syria.2. A seventh was in Judea—the town whose Jewish name was Emmaus. And there was still another in Egypt near Alexandria. St. Chrysostom took the Apostle to mean Nicopolis in Thrace, presumably the town on the Nessus; but St. Jerome naturally thought of the famous city in Epirus, and this is the prevailing opinion. The probabilities, however, point rather to the Cilician Nicopolis. It was situated about equidistant from Tarsus, the Apostle’s birthplace, whither his heart would instinctively turn in his old age, and Syrian Antioch, the headquarters of his ministry. It would recommend the Cilician town for his winter’s residence that it was within easy reach of both. And the very indefiniteness of his reference is perhaps determinant. Titus belonged to Syrian Antioch, and when the Apostle intimated to him his intention of ‘ wintering at Nicopolis,’ he would immediately think of the familiar town in his own Province of Syria-Cilicia. Any other Nicopolis would have required definition. On deciding where he would spend the winter Paul wrote to Titus; and the purpose of the communication was not merely to acquaint the latter with his movements but to counsel him on the fitting discharge of his heavy responsi- bilities. His position was difficult, and the Apostle, besides writing much helpful advice, entrusted the conveyance of the letter to two eminent Corinthians who would administer encouragement and inspiration. These were the brilliant Apollos and a converted Rabbi named Zenas.* 1 Plin. Mat. Hist. v. 43. 2 Strabo, 676. * Strabo, 795, 800. * According to subscript. in Syr8*b, Theod. Mops. According to Cop. Vers the bearer of the letter was Artemas (ver. 12). THE APOSTLE’S LATER MINISTRY 617 SHE: LETIER:TO TITUS The address has a double purpose. It affirms Paul’s The apostleship, his title to speak with authority ; and it defines 24°": the Gospel message in view of the Cretan situation. The Christians there would be largely Jewish converts, and the adversaries of the Faith were chiefly Jews more or less imbued with the Asian Gnosticism. Accordingly the Apostle emphasises the historic antecedents of Christianity. It was no novel institution. It was based on the ancient Promise which Israel had trusted from generation to generation and which, he observes with a reference to the Cretan character, cf, i, 12. was worthy of trust since it had been given by ‘ the God who never lies." That Promise had been defined ever more clearly by successive revelations, and the Gospel was its final fulfilment. i.x Paul, a slave of God and an Apostle of Jesus Christ for the establishment of the faith of God’s chosen and the advance- ment of the knowledge of the truth which is the norm of 2 religion and rests on the hope of life eternal which the God 3 who never lies promised ere the ages began, while at fitting seasons He manifested His Word in the message which was entrusted to me according to the commandment of our 4Saviour God: to Titus, a true child after a common faith. Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Saviour. The business of Titus was the consolidation of the Apostle’s Appoint work in Crete. Converts had been won, but they would po",o inevitably relapse unless provision were made for the con- and their firmation of their Christian profession and their instruction in tions. — the Faith. And therefore it was necessary that the several congregations should be effectively organised. This was the business which had been entrusted to Titus; and his prin- cipal task was the ordination of Presbyters in each com- munity. The Apostle reiterates the qualifications for the sacred office. The work of a Presbyter was mainly twofold : on the one hand, the communication and commendation of the Evangelic Discipline to the congregation ; and, on the other, the refutation of the objections of unbelievers. And his qualifications were an irreproachable character and 618° LIFE AND LETTERS OF-Si ΕΠ scrupulous adherence to the Tradition as he had himself been instructed in it. 5 It was for this reason that I left you in Crete—that you might put to rights what had still to be done, and appoint as Pres- byters in every city, according to the direction I gave you, 6men who have nothing laid to their charge, faithful husbands, with believing children not accused of profligacy or unruly in ytheir behaviour. For an Overseer must, as a steward of God, be one who has nothing laid to his charge, not churlish,! or wrathful, or quarrelsome in his cups, or ready with his fists, 8or a dirty money-maker, but hospitable, a lover of the good, 9 discreet, righteous, pious, self-controlled, maintaining the faith- ful Word as it was taught him, that he may be powerful both at exhorting on the healthful Discipline and at refuting our opponents. Local It was specially needful that Titus should insist on these difficulties. qualifications in view of local circumstances—the moral laxity of the Cretan character and the activity of the Gnostic Judaists, especially their ascetic propaganda which, by its false ideal of holiness, issued in moral disaster. ro For there are many disorderly persons, futile talkers and Cf. Gal. ii, 11 deceivers, especially the champions of circumcision ; and their 12. mouths you must shut, since they upset whole households by teaching what they should not for the sake of dirty money- zzmaking. Said one of them, a prophet of their own: ὃ “Cretans are ever liars, ill animals, indolent gluttons.’ 13 [his testimony is true. Wherefore refute them with sharp 14 Severity, that they may be healthful in the Faith and give no heed to Jewish fables and precepts of men who turn their backs 15 upon the Truth. Everything is clean to the clean ; but to the defiled and faithless nothing is clean ; no, their very mind and r6conscience are defiled. They profess to know God, but by their works they deny Him, being abominable and disobedient and for every good work worthless. Advicein The remedy lay in loyalty to the Evangelic Tradition, “ the cea tease, healthful Discipline’; and the Apostle indicates what manner of exhortations Titus must address to the various classes of his hearers—the older men and women and the younger men. It is significant that, evidently for prudential 2 αὐθάδης. Cf. Theophr. Char, 111 (Jebb): ‘The churlish person is the sort who, when asked ‘‘ Where is so-and-so?” says ‘Don’t bother me,” and when addressed does not answer.’ * Epimenides. Cf. pp. 11, 24. ι 0, i reasons, he does not require Titus to address the younger women directly but relegates the task of schooling them to the older women. Titus was still comparatively young, and while it was expedient that he should refrain from personal dealing with the younger women, he was thus fitted for instructing the younger men; and the Apostle reminds him that his most potent influence resided in the example of his personal character. In Crete as elsewhere Christianity was confronted by the institution of slavery and the peculiar difficulties which it involved. Apparently the Cretan slaves were infected by the prevailing spirit, and the Apostle bids Titus exhort those converts who belonged to this unhappy order to eschew turbulence, insolence, and dishonesty, and by a display of kindly fidelity ‘adorn the Discipline of their Saviour God,’ exhibiting the grace of Christianity by re- producing in their own persons the life of the Incarnate Lord. THE APOSTLE’S LATER MINISTRY 619 ii. x But as for you, speak things which befit the healthful 2 Discipline: that old men be sober, dignified, discreet, 3 healthful by their faith, their love, their endurance; old women likewise reverend in demeanour, no slanderers or 4Slaves to wine, exemplars of honour, schooling the young 5 women to love their husbands and their children, to be discreet, pure, good housewives, kindly, submissive to their own husbands, that the Word of God may not be calumni- 6,7ated. The younger men likewise exhort to be discreet in every respect, presenting in your own person a pattern of ‘beautiful works ’"—-exactitude ! in the Discipline, dignity, 8 healthy speech which no one can condemn, that the opponent may be discomfited through having nothing bad to say gabout us. Bid slaves be submissive to their own masters in all circumstances and give satisfaction, never speaking ro back, never pilfering but displaying all kindly fidelity, that they may adorn the Discipline of our Saviour God in all circumstances. All this he enforces by an apt and beautiful quotation Quotation from the Teacher’s Manual, and charges Titus, as his message Teacher's is so august, to proclaim it with due authority. ‘ Let no one Manual. despise you.’ If he remembered the injunction to. preserve 1 ἀφθορία, ‘incorruption,’ scrupulous repetition of the Tradition in its proper purity. The adject. occurs in a papyrus contract with a wet-nurse binding her to feed the child ‘with her own milk, pure and uncorrupt’ (καθαρῳ καὶ ἀφθόρῳ), Cf. Moulton and Milligan, Vocaé. 620) LIFE AND LETTERS. OF STo PAGE the Tradition inviolate and bear himself with becoming dignity, no one would despise either his message or himself. 11 For ‘ the grace of God appeared fraught with salvation 12 for all men, instructing us to deny irreligion and worldly desires and live discreetly and righteously and religiously 13in the present age, awaiting the Blessed Hope, even the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Christ Ps, cxxx. 8. 14 Jesus,! who gave Himself for us that He might “ ransom Ez |. us from all lawlessness ’’ and “‘ purify for Himself a people XXXVI1. 23; : : ” ce . yp? τῶν μῶ, peculiarly His own,” eager for “‘ beautiful works. 15 Speak all this, and exhort and rebuke with all imperative- ness. Let no one despise you. Conten- Turbulence was not peculiar to the slaves. It was a vousness Cretan characteristic, and the Apostle enjoins Titus to remedy. inculcate respect for law and government and a neighbourly and peaceable disposition. Nor must he judge the Cretans too severely. The unlovely qualities so conspicuous in them were, in greater or less degree, universal in unregenerate humanity. It is, he says, quoting once more from the Teacher's Manual, the mercy of God that has saved us; and what the rich grace of His Holy Spirit has done for us it will do for them. That was the message which Titus must proclaim. And he must hold aloof from the foolish specula- tions and legalistic contentions of the adversaries of the Faith. Disputation is an unprofitable employment, availing nothing and issuing in worse hostility; and where an encounter was inevitable, he should simply state the truth and, if it were rejected, decline further controversy. ii.t Remind them to be submissive to principalities and authorities, to obey magistrates, to be ready for every good 2 work, to calumniate no one, to be peaceable, sweetly reason- 3 able, displaying all meekness toward all men. For we too were once witless, disobedient, deceived, slaves of various desires and indulgences, leading our lives in malice and envy, 4 detestable and hating each other. But ‘ when the kindness sand philanthropy of our Saviour God appeared, not on the 1 It appears from numerous instances in the papyri that this was a regular formula among Greek Christians. It was indeed alien from the Pauline manner thus θεολογεῖν τὸν Χριστόν (cf. p. 426); but linguistic evidence proves this passage a quotation from the Lucan Manual (cf. pp. 594f.), and it is therefore unneces- sary to Paulinise the formula by rendering it ungrammatically ‘the great God and our Saviour Christ Jesus.’ Cf. Moulton, Prof. p. 84. THE APOSTLE’S LATER MINISTRY 621 score of works—works in the way of righteousness—which we did, but according to His mercy He saved us through the 6laver of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit whom He poured forth upon us richly through Jesus Christ our 7 Saviour, that, being accounted righteous by His grace, we might enter on our heritage according to the hope of life eternal.’ 8 Faithful is the word, and on all this I would have you insist, that those who have put their faith in God may be careful to practise ‘beautiful works.’ These are beautiful Cf Mt. gand profitable for men. But foolish questions and genea- **’ '® logies and strife and legalistic quarrels avoid, for they are 10 profitless and futile. With a factious person after admon- 1rishing him once or twice have nothing to do, knowing that a man of this sort is perverted; he is a sinner and is self- condemned. And now the letter concludes with some personal matters. Personal The Apostle was retiring to Nicopolis, but he would only pass το the winter there. Then he would set forth on a fresh mission and would require the assistance of Titus. In due time he would send a messenger to summon him, and this would be either Artemas or Tychicus. The latter was an old friend. He was an Ephesian,! and when he last appeared, it was as Eph. vi. 21; the bearer of the encyclical to the Churches of Asia and ©” the letter to Colosse. As for Artemas, this is his first and only mention ; and it may be that he was a young Corinthian or perhaps a Cretan convert who was accompanying the Apostle in the capacity of his attendant.2, Zenas and Apollos were the bearers of the letter to Crete. They would make no long stay in the island, and Paul pointedly enjoins Titus to see to it that, when they took their departure, they were adequately provided for the homeward journey. It lay with the Cretan Church to furnish them; and the Apostle, aware of the Cretan avarice, apprehended neglect. And, in case the plea of poverty might be offered, he takes occasion to bid Titus inculcate on the Cretan Christians the duty of industry, that they might earn an honest livelihood and dis- charge their just liabilities. ; 12 When I send Artemas to you or Tychicus, do your best to join me at Nicopolis; for there I have decided to winter, * Cf. p. 371. Cf. p. 79. The sign- manual. Wintering at Nicopolis. Tit. iii, 12. ΟΕ Lim; iv. 13. 622 LIFE AND LETTERS OF Si. rau 13 And equip Zenas, the Teacher of the Law,! and Apollos for their | 14 journey as best you may, that they may lack nothing. And let our people also learn to practise honourable crafts for their necessary needs, that they may not live barren lives. 15 ALL MY COMPANIONS GREET YOU. GREET OUR FRIENDS IN FAITH. GRACE BE WITH YOU ALL. It was the winter of 66-67 that Paul spent at Nicopolis ; and while it was a season of much needed repose, it would be no season of inactivity. ‘ Wintering’ was a military phrase ; and, like a wise general, he would ‘ prepare in winter- quarters for the summer campaign.’ # His residence was in the very centre of the Province of Syria-Cilicia where, betwixt his conversion and his call to the Apostleship of the Gentiles, he had laboured for some nine years. He was thus in the midst of friends; and while he refrained from travel, he would receive numerous visitors and hold frequent com- munication, especially with Tarsus and Syrian Antioch. He would, moreover, be daily engaged in the study of the ancient Scriptures, his constant companions. 1 youixds, a Scribe, a teacher of the Jewish Law. Cf. Mt. xxii. 35: εἷς ἐξ αὐτῶν νομικός -- ΜΙκ. xii. 28; εἷς των γραμματέων, 5. Cf. Epict. 1. ii. 32. THE SECOND IMPRISONMENT AT ROME THE advent of spring summoned him to resume his labour, 4 mission and he would doubtless repair to Syrian Antioch and thence τα set forth, with the Church’s benediction, on a fresh mission. He did not go alone. The faithful Luke, his ‘ beloved physician,’ had never left his side ; Tychicus the Ephesian Tit. iii, το. too had accompanied him to Nicopolis, and Titus had been cr. 2 Tim. summoned thither from Crete. These three, at all events, τ bore him company. It appears that they betook themselves to the Province of The Pro. Asia, where the Gnostic heresy was still distracting the "°° churches. Paul would surely visit Ephesus, probably taking ship thither from Seleuceia ; and it seems that his retinue was augmented at Ephesus by the accession of at least two old friends—Erastus, who during his ministry in the Asian capital had shared with Timothy the office of his attendant, Ac. xix. 22. and his fellow-townsman Trophimus. On his departure he visited other cities in the Province, among them Miletus, Cf 2 Tim. where Trophimus fell sick and had to be left behind. aac The dream of his heart during the years of his missionary Resolution labours had been to visit the Imperial capital and win it for batkts Christ ; and it had been realised after a fashion when he ®°™*: was taken thither in bonds and pined in captivity for two long years. On his release he was banished from Rome ; but he had clung to the hope of returning thither, and it seems that now, after the lapse of five years, he had resolved to venture back. It was a momentous enterprise, and so powerfully did it appeal to his friends in Asia that some of them were ambitious to share it and joined his train. Fore- cr 2 Tim most among these enthusiasts were Phygelus and Hermogenes. * *~ Conscious of the risk he was running, he would fain visit Progvess by the way as many of his churches as he might ; and so, it *"°"*" 623 Maceden‘a to Corinth, Cf. 2 Tim. iv. 13. Cf. ver, ro, 624 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL appears, he determined not to take ship from Ephesus to Italy, but to travel overland through Macedonia to Achaia and thence proceed to Rome. Accordingly he turned his steps to Troas. During his stay there he was entertained by a Christian named Carpus; and it perhaps betokens the burden of anxiety which pressed upon his heart in those days, that on his departure he forgot his mantle and his books, including his precious rolls of the Old Testament Scriptures. From Troas he would make the familiar passage to Neapolis, the port of Philippi; and thence he travelled by Amphipolis and Apollonia to Thessalonica, where Demas joined his company.’ From Thessalonica he journeyed on to Corinth, and there, for some unspecified reason, Erastus remained. It may have been that his services were needed in Achaia, and with so large a retinue the Apostle could easily spare him. There also, perhaps, he parted with two others of his followers. Tidings of his progress toward ’ Rome had, it would seem, reached the Churches of Dalmatia Give fim: iV. ΣΟ, Arrival at Rome. Arrest. and Gallia Cisalpina, and they desired that he should travel thither overland and visit them en voute. This was impractic- able, since his mission brooked no delay ; but he responded to the appeal by despatching two delegates. To Dalmatia he sent Titus, and to Gaul Crescens who is otherwise unknown and who may perhaps have been one of his Asian followers. With his retinue thus diminished he took ship for Rome. It would be late in the summer of 67 when he arrived, and he found himself confronted by active hostility. His acquittal in the spring of 62 had been a grievous disappointment to the Roman Jews ; and when they heard of his return, they would bestir themselves to frustrate his design of propagating the Christian heresy in the capital. Nor was this a difficult task. His banishment from Rome had never been repealed, and his reappearance was a defiance of the judicial sentence. It might indeed, after so long an interval, have been condoned by the authorities, who were concerned solely with the maintenance of public order ; but if the question were raised and the old quarrel rekindled, they would in all likelihood enforce the decree. Here the Jews recognised their oppor- tunity. They had an energetic leader in one Alexander, 2 Cf. p. 522. SECOND IMPRISONMENT AT ROME 625 a Jew who plied the trade of coppersmith in the city.} He delated the Apostle, and the latter was arrested. The Emperor was not then at Rome. In the autumn of Absence of 66 he had betaken himself to Greece, where he played the X* mountebank after his manner by competing at the public games and winning a succession of easy victories.” In the summer of 67 he had been present at the Isthmian Games, and in the autumn he was still at Corinth, busied with the ambitious project of cutting a canal across the Isthmus.® Of course his absence did arrest the course of justice in the capital, and the Apostle would be arraigned before his representatives, perhaps the freedman Helius, who had been left in command of the city, or Nymphidius Sabinus, the second Pretorian Prefect, who had remained when his colleague Sofonius Tigellinus accompanied their imperial master to the East.® The initial stage in the proceedings was the prima actto oF Precogni- precognition ; ®and here he experienced a painful disappoint- “°™ ment. None of the Roman Christians had the courage to cf. 2 Tim appear on his behalf. And indeed this is hardly surprising. δ᾿ = The blame of the firing of Rome in midsummer 64 had been laid upon the Christians, and they had been subjected to savage reprisals,’ and public odium still rested upon them. This aggravated the Apostle’s danger, and it would deter the Roman Christians from taking his part and refuting the charges which Alexander urged against him. Less excusable were the friends who had accompanied him to the capital. So alarmed was Demas for his personal safety that he in- Cf. iv. το. continently decamped and returned home to Thessalonica ; and the Asian contingent also took themselves off. tan The preliminary investigation might have concluded the Remanded case. Had the prisoner offered no defence, he would forth- ἦτ τ with have been condemned; while, had he succeeded in establishing his innocence, he would have been acquitted. But neither happened. He had no advocate, and pleaded 1 A different person from Alexander ot Ephesus (cf. 1 Tim. i. 20). 3 Cf. Lewin, Fest. Sac., 1995 f. 3. Jbid., 2053-55. * [bid., 1919, 1968. δ Jbid., 1994. ΟΣ pp. 2ga8. 7 Cf. Tac. Ann. xv. 44; Suet. Mer. 16; Juv. 1. 155 ff. 2R ChvAc; XXiV. 10-21, ΧΧΥΪ, I-23, Ct. 2 Tim. iy. 16, 17. Faithful friends. Onesi- phorus, Letter to Timothy. 626 ‘LIFE: AND ‘LETTERS ‘OR STi Pauw his own cause; and, as in the court of Felix and at his examination before Agrippa, his defence was a statement of the Gospel which he preached, defining its true nature and showing that it was no seditious propaganda. His very forlornness threw him back upon God, and his impassioned pleading made a powerful appeal. It is an evidence of the profound impression which it produced that, unsupported as it was by witnesses, it convinced the court of the necessity of fuller investigation, and he was remanded to prison for further trial. It was no small success, and it justified him in hoping that his trial might issue in his acquittal. His case was indeed perilous, but it was in no wise desperate ; and as he lay in his cell, he would employ his mind in ordering the arguments which he would urge in his defence, taking counsel with God and staying his heart-upon His sovereign will. Nor did he lack at that anxious crisis the support of human affection. Luke and Tychicus had both stood faithful; and another friend presently appeared on the scene. This was Onesi- phorus. If there be any credibility in a romance of later days, he was an old acquaintance. He had belonged originally to the town of Iconium in Southern Galatia, and when the Apostle arrived there in the autumn of 48 after his expulsion from Pisidian Antioch, he was welcomed and entertained by him and his wife Lectra and their two sons, Simmias and Zeno.” Be this as it may, Onesiphorus and his household were now resident at Ephesus, and he was a devoted member of the Church there. It seems that he was a deacon,® and he was zealous in the discharge of the charit- able functions belonging to his office. It happened that he had occasion to visit Rome in those days, probably on some business errand; and on learning the Apostle’s plight he fearlessly sought him out and gained admission to his cell. Since his visits were frequent, it would appear that he made a considerable stay in the capital, perhaps protracting his sojourn that he might cheer the venerable prisoner. In their converse they would talk much of Ephesus, and 2 Act. Paul. et Thecl. 2. 8. Several MSS. introduce their names in 2 Tim. iv. 19 * Cf. i, 18, where the best authorities omit μοι, SECOND IMPRISONMENT AT ROME 627 the Apostle would inquire how the Church had been faring of late in the troubled city. He learned that the situation had in nowise eased. The Gnostic heresy was still active, and Timothy was still disheartened. A fresh apprehension invaded the Apostle’s mind. His Asian followers had returned home, and they would publish the story of his arrest and his perilous situation. He knew Timothy’s timidity, and he feared lest the heavy tidings should overwhelm him. And so he set about the writing of a letter which would rally his courage and keep him faithful to his charge. THE SECOND LETTER TO TIMOTHY At the outset he strikes the keynote of his message by the The use of a novel formula. In his first letter to Timothy, writing 774°°™ amid his missionary activities, he styled himself ‘-an Apostle of Christ Jesus according to the command of God our Saviour’; now, writing under the shadow of death, he styles himself “an Apostle of Christ Jesus according to the promise of life in Christ Jesus.’ iit Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God 2 according to the promise of life in Christ Jesus, to Timothy, a beloved child. Grace, mercy, peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. He begins with an exquisitely tender expression of iis Expression personal regard and affection for Timothy. Their long of-Personal intimacy was a gracious memory which filled his heart with gratitude to God. It grieved him that so gentle a spirit should be so hardly bested, and he would fain be with him ; yet it reassured him when he thought of the beautiful faith which had sanctified his early home and which, he was confident, dwelt in his own heart. 3 I am thankful to God, whom I serve as my ancestors did before me with a clean conscience, that I have such unceasing 4remembrance of you in my prayers night and day. Mindful of your tears, I am longing to see you, that I may be filled s with joy; and I recall the unaffected faith which is in you—a faith which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded that it dwells in you too, 628 LIFE AND LETTERS OF’ ST. PAUL Challenge It was this persuasion that had moved him to ordain Timothy's Limothy to his hard ministry at Ephesus, and he bids him manhood. justify it. His position was indeed difficult, and this con- stituted a challenge to his manhood ; and recent events had only accentuated it. The Apostle’s peril was an appeal to Timothy’s chivalry and devotion, his faith in the Gospel which had divested death of its terror and irradiated the hereafter with the assurance of immortality. This glorious prospect was the Apostle’s inspiration in that black strait. His destiny was in safe keeping: Christ would ‘ guard the deposit.’ 6 This is the reason why I remind you to fan into a flame God’s gift of grace which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For the spirit which God gave us is not a spirit of cowardice ; 8 no, it is a spirit of power and love and mastery. Do not, then, be ashamed of the testimony which our Lord claims, nor of me His prisoner; no, share my hardships for the Gospel, as 9God gives you power, He who saved us and called us witha holy calling, not according to our works but according to His own purpose and the grace which was given us in Christ Jesus roere the ages began, and has now been manifested through the appearing of our Saviour Christ Jesus. He has undone death 1rand illumined life and incorruption through the Gospel, for rz which I was set as a herald and apostle and teacher. And that is the reason why I am suffering all this. Yet I am not ashamed ; for I know Him in whom I have reposed faith, and { am persuaded that He has the power to guard what I have deposited with Him against that Day. Conservae This suggests a practical exhortation. His soul was the Pe eeke ts deposit’ which the Apostle had committed to Christ’s Tradition. keeping ; but there was another deposit which Christ had committed to His faithful ministers—the record of His revelation, that oral tradition which was so gravely imperilled in those days by the legend-mongering of the Gnostic heretics. Its inviolate preservation and its transmission, unimpaired and uncorrupted, constituted the supreme duty of every Christian teacher. There was as yet no written Gospel, but already Luke had anticipated his work as an Evangelist rTim. vi.3. by drawing up an outline of ‘ the healthful words of our Lord Jesus Christ’; and Paul bids Timothy make faithful and loving use of it. di - SECOND IMPRISONMENT AT ROME. 629 1. Provide yourself, in the faith and love which are in Christ esus, with an outline of the healthful words which you heard 1fromme. The genuine Deposit guard through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. The Asians who had deserted the Apostle in his need had Exemplary returned home, and Timothy had heard the story of his ae arrest, particularly from the lips of the two Ephesians, P29" Phygelus and Hermogenes. It was likely that their alarm would create a panic in the Church, and by way of antidote he mentions the courage which Onesiphorus had displayed. It had greatly cheered him, and he invokes a blessing not only on Onesiphorus at Rome but on his household at Ephesus. 15 You know this, that all your Asians turned their backs 160n me, and among them Phygelus and Hermogenes. The Lord grant mercy to the house of Onesiphorus; for he many a time refreshed me, and he was not ashamed of my 17Chain, but on his arrival in Rome he eagerly sought for me rand found me. The Lord grant that he may find mercy from the Lord on that Day! And of all his service in the deaconship at Ephesus you are very well aware. It was not merely for personal reasons that he mentioned Exhorta- the incident. His hope was that so fine an example would ji7? geve. shame the pusillanimity of Phygelus and Hermogenes and tion. rally the Church, especially Timothy. And so he exhorts the latter to prosecute his ministry in the strength of Christ’s grace, particularly that transcendently important office— the guardianship of the Evangelic Tradition and the discipline of competent catechists, and to face the stern conflict manfully. Hardship was inevitable, but this is a condition of every gallant achievement. Think of the soldier and the athlete. And without it there is no reward. The husband- man is entitled to his harvest, but he must win it by hard toil. All this is a parable; and the truth finds its supreme exemplification in ‘ Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David.’ Observe the significance of this appellation ‘ Jesus Christ’ occurring side by side with ‘Christ Jesus ’—‘ the grace which Christ Jesus supplies,’ ‘an honourable soldier of Christ Jesus,’ ‘ the salvation which isin Christ Jesus.’ The former—first Jesus, then Christ—is 2. ΔΙ Ππ| 8. x; The surest refutation of the heresy, 630 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL the order which the Synoptic Gospels follow, beginning with our Lord’s humanity and rising to His deity; the latter— first Christ, then Jesus—is the order of the Fourth Gospel, which begins in Eternity and tells how the Word became flesh.1 ‘Christ Jesus,’ descending from Heaven and dis- covering the heart of the Unseen Father, is our Hope ; ‘ Jesus Christ,’ sharing our mortal weakness and attaining, through suffering and death, to the glory at God’s right hand, is our Example, inspiring us to endurance and assuring us of ultimate triumph. : iijx You then, my child, find your power in the grace which 2 Christ Jesus supplies ; and what you heard from me with the corroboration of many witnesses, deposit in the keeping of faithful men, such as will be qualified in turn to teach 30thers. Take your share of hardship as an honourable 4soldier of Christ Jesus. No one, when he goes a-soldiering, entangles himself with the business of his livelihood: his aim is to win the approval of the officer who enlisted him. 5 And if one engages in an athletic contest, he is not crowned 6unless he have observed the rules of the contest. The husbandman who does the toil must be the first to participate 7in the fruits. Perceive my meaning: the Lord will give you understanding in every case. 8 Keep in memory Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a 9 descendant of David, according to my Gospel. It is in this Gospel’s service that I am suffering hardship and have been put in bonds like a criminal. But the Word of God has not 1obeen bound. Therefore I endure everything for the sake of His chosen, that they too may obtain salvation—the salvation which is in’Christ Jesus, and with + glory eternal. τι Faithful is the word : “Tf we died with Him, we shall also live with Him ; 12 If we endure, we shall also reign with Him } If we shall deny, He also will deny us; 13 If we are faithless, He remains faithful : Deny Himself He cannot.’ Such was the message with which Timotl y was charged, and it was by proclaiming and commending ‘t that he would most effectively counteract the heretical teachers. Con- ΣΌΝ p. 379: SECOND IMPRISONMENT AT ROME 631 spicuous among the latter were two, Hymenzus and Philetus, who allegorised the Christian promise of the Resurrection as signifying not a future consummation but a present experi- ence, the rising of the regenerate from the grave of their earthly bodies and their realisation of the spiritual life.? Such subtleties were indeed pernicious, poisoning men’s minds and operating like a stealthy cancer. But con- troversy was useless and harmful, issuing only in strife and embitterment. The surest refutation of error is the exhibition of the truth. And the truth was secure. It was an ancient Cf. Dt. iv fashion with the Israelites to publish their faith by inscribing ἢ τ *™ holy texts above their doorways; and the Church bore her seal. It was a double seal, one side visible to the eye of God alone and the other discernible by human judgment. What though there were impostors in the Christian com- munity ? The Lord recognised His own, and profession was tested by character. The commingling of true and false is meanwhile inevitable ; and just as the Lord had likened the mt. xiii. Church to a field where wheat and tares grow side by side, **9* so the Apostle likens her to a great house which contains both precious and worthless vessels. Timothy’s duty was plain. He must shun evil and exhibit on his own life ‘ the broad seal of Heaven’; and he must seek lovingly and patiently to win the errorists to repentance. 14 Remind men of all this, solemnly charging them in the sight of God to refrain from verbal disputation, a thing which 15 serves no useful end and tends to subvert the hearers. Do your best to present yourself to God as sterling coin, a workman who has no need to be ashamed of his right handling of the 16 Word of Truth. As for profane babblings, avoid them ; for 17they will make further progress in irreligion, and their talk will keep eating like a cancer. Of this sort are Hymenzus and τ Philetus. They have missed the mark in relation to the truth, saying that resurrection is an accomplished experience ; and they are upsetting the faith of some. το Yet God’s firm foundation stands fast, bearing this seal ‘ The Lord knows those who are His’ and ‘ Let every one who Num. xvi. “names the Lord’s name” depart from unrighteousness.’ ἧς a e zo In a great house there are not only gold and silver vessels but also wooden and earthen, and some for honourable and others 1 The doctrine of the Naasenes (Hippol. v. 3). Cf. Iren. 11. xlviii. 2; Tert. De Resurr. Carn. 19. 632 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST.’ PAUL 21 ἴοι dishonourable use. If, then, one clear himself out from the latter, he will be a vessel for honourable use, sanctified, 22 serviceable to the master, prepared for every good work. Fly youthful desires, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, peaceful fellowship with those who call on the Lord out of a clean heart. 23 But with foolish and -uninstructed questionings have nothing 24to do, knowing that they breed quarrels; and a slave of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle toward all, apt at teaching, 25 patient of ill,1 in meekness instructing those who steel them- selves against him,” in the hope that God may grant them 26repentance issuing in full knowledge of the truth, and that, coming to their sober senses, they may escape from the Devil’s snare and be captured by him to serve God’s will. Apremoni- Those defections from the truth were no surprise ; for they inlets seemed to the Apostle, sharing as he did the primitive ex- ing End. pectation of the Lord’s speedy return to judgment, pre- parations for the approaching consummation. He describes the abounding wickedness, dwelling especially on the malign machinations of the heretical teachers who, after the con- stant fashion of spiritualistic charlatans, found their readiest dupes in credulous and neurotic females. It is indeed a dark picture, and it is no wonder that it seemed to him prophetic of the end. Im truth, however, iniquity always abounds, and it has appeared to devout souls in every generation as though the world were hastening to its doom. The antidote lies in remembrance of the past; and, not without incon- sistency, the Apostle proceeds to refute his own eschato- logical inference by reminding Timothy that the situation was in nowise unprecedented. His Ephesian adversaries had their prototypes in the Egyptian magicians who had opposed Moses and who in Jewish iegend bore the names of Jannes and Jambres; and they would be confounded like their predecessors. iii: But recognise this—that in the last days distressful z2seasons will set in. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, braggarts, swaggerers, calumniators, disobedient to 3 parents, unthankful, unholy, destitute of natural affection, truceless, slanderers, uncontrolled, savage, no lovers of the 4good, betrayers, reckless, swollen with windy pride, loving 5pleasure more than God, with an outward form of religion 1 ἀνεξίκακος, a medical term. Cf. Moulton and Milligan, Voe. 3 Cf. Moulton and Milligan, Voc. under ἀντιδιατίθημι. SECOND IMPRISONMENT AT ROME 633 while they have denied its power. On these turn your back. 6For to this sort belong those who sneak into houses and captivate weak women heaped over with sins, the sport of 7capricious desires, always learning and ever powerless to . 8reach a full knowledge of the Truth. And even as Jannes cf, Ex. vii and Jambres! opposed Moses, so these also oppose the 11, 22. Truth, men mentally debased, counterfeit coin in relation to gthe Faith. However, they will make no further progress ; for their mentality will be exposed just as it happened with the others, There was no occasion for disquietude, and the Apostle A personal introduces a personal appeal. It was nigh twenty years since *PP*" Timothy had made his acquaintance, and throughout that long period the example of his father in Christ had been before his eyes. Among his childish memories were the persecutions which the Apostle had encountered in Galatia —at Antioch, Iconium, and his native town of Lystra— and the deliverances which had been vouchsafed him. Suffering was inevitable in Christ’s service, and Timothy would not forget his master’s example or belie his own early promise. These were dark days, and there was urgent and ever increasing need of faithful service. Timothy’s difficul- ties were a challenge to his devotion, and it was accentuated by the prospect of the Apostle’s death. Soon he would be gone and receive the crown of his long conflict, and then it would lie with Timothy to continue his work and win the same reward. ro But you followed the course of my discipline, my conduct, my purpose, my faith, my patience, my love, my endurance, 1rmy persecutions, my sufferings—what was done to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra ; what persecutions I under- _ izwent, and how the Lord rescued me from them all. Yes, and all who wish to live religiously in Christ Jesus will be 13 persecuted. But evil men and magicians? will progress from 14 bad to worse, deceiving and deceived. But asfor you, continue in all that you learned and were assured of, knowing from 1 The Rabbinical names of the Egyptian magicians. Cf. Wetstein. Jewish fables were employed by the Gnostic legend-mongers. Cf. Zvang. Nicod. (Gest. Fil.), v. 3 The successors of Jannes and Jambres. Like all the Gnostics (cf. Eus. 7st. Eccl. tv. 7), the Naasenes practised magic-incantations and exorcisms (cf. 1 Tim, iv. 1), and they found a fitting arena in Ephesus, the home of magic (cf. p. 228), Cf. Phil. ii. Ἐπ: Adarkened prospect. ΟΕ ἊΣ 634. LIFE AND ‘LETTERS! OF ST)! PAUL 15 whom you learned it, and that since your infancy you have known the Sacred Writings which have power to give. you the wisdom that issues in salvation through faith in Christ 16 Jesus. ‘ Every God-breathing scripture is also profitable in connection with discipline, with refutation, with correction, 17 with instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, equipped for every good work.’ iv.r I solemnly charge you in the sight of God and of Christ Jesus who will soon judge living and dead, and by His Ap- 2 pearing and His Kingdom: proclaim the Word; be urgent in season, out of season; refute, rebuke, exhort, always patient 3in your teaching. For there will be a season when they will not put up with the healthful Discipline, but, wanting to have their ears tickled, will accumulate teachers to suit their own 4desires, and from the Truth they will turn away their ears 5and be turned aside to their fables. But as for you, keep your sober senses in all circumstances ; suffer hardship; do 6the work of an evangelist ; discharge your ministry. For already is the drink-offering of my blood being poured forth, 7and the season for my unloosing has arrived. I have faced the honourable contest, I have finished the course, I have 8kept the Faith ; and now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved His Appearing. This intimation of his certain and imminent martyrdom is significant. Hitherto the letter has been a message of counsel and encouragement to Timothy, contemplating his continuance at Ephesus and expressing the Apostle’s longing to see him there again in the event of his release. But it seems as though at this point tidings had reached the prisoner which quenched his lingering hope. His case 1 A quotation from the Teacher’s Manual (cf. p. 594). θεόπνευστος may be (1) like ἔμπνευστος, passive, ‘breathed by God,’ advinztus inspirata (Vulg.). Cf. Plut. De Plac. Phil. 904 Ἑ : τοὺς ὀνείρους τοὺς θεοπνεύστους. Pseud.-Phocyl. 121: τῆς δὲ θεοπνεύστου σοφίης. (2) Like ἄπνευστος, εὔπνευστος, active, ‘breathing God.’ Thus Marcus Eremita Xgyptius was ὁ θεόπνευστος ἀνήρ (Wetstein), ‘breathing God’ as a flower breathes its perfume (cf. 2 Cor. ii. 15). Hence, since everything about a holy man is holy, it was used of some belonging of a holy man. Cf. Nonn. Paraphr. 1. 99: ἱμάντα θεοπνεύστοιο πεδίλου, ‘the latchet of His God-breathing sandal.’ So here. It was properly the sacred writers, ὑπὸ Πνεύματος ‘Aylov φερόμενοι (2 Pet. i. 21), that were ‘God-breathing,’ but just as the Lord’s sandals were ‘God-breathing,’ so the sacred writings were ‘God- breathing’ too. The passive sense, ‘every God-breathed scripture,’ is inadmissible, since it is the Spirit, not the Scripture, that is the breath of God (cf. Jo. xx. 22). } SECOND IMPRISONMENT AT ROME 63s had taken an adverse turn. Something had emerged, and whatever it may have been, it sealed his doom. He recognised that his condemnation was certain, and he now alters his instructions to Timothy. He would never return to Ephesus and see him there; yet he would fain see him again if only to bid him farewell. And so he charges him to leave Ephesus and hasten to Rome. There was no foreseeing how long his imprisonment might drag on ere he was brought to trial; and he directs Timothy to convey to him the belongings which he had left at Troas—his mantle, of which he was feeling the need as the days grew chillier, and his manuscripts and rolls of the Old Testament Scriptures which, as St. Chrysostom suggests, he desired to bequeath to his faithful friends—and also to bring with him John Mark whom, after their happy reconciliation during his former imprisonment at Rome, he had sent to Asia, and who was now labouring presumably at Ephesus.1 The reason which he alleges is that in his desolation Mark’s tendance would be helpful to him, and it was the more needful, since he was despatching his present attendant Tychicus to convey the latter to Ephesus ; but doubtless there also was a gracious intention in the request. It was a final testimony that the old quarrel was buried in oblivion. He would fain die at peace with all men. 9,10 Do your best to join mesoon. For Demas abandoned me for love of the present age, and went his way to Thessalonica. 11 Crescens went to Galatia,? Titus to Dalmatia. Luke alone is with me. Bring Mark along with you; for he is service- 1zable in waiting upon me, and I am sending Tychicus * to 13 Ephesus. The mantle * which I left at Troas in the house of Carpus, fetch when you come, and the books, especially 14the parchments.6 Alexander the coppersmith displayed 2 CEp. 566. ΒΟῸΣ p. 613. 3 ἀπέστειλα, epistolary aorist. Cf. p. 219. 4 perdvys (pawwddrgys), penula, ‘mantle.’ Suidas: χιτωνίσκος᾽ οἱ δὲ παλαιοὶ, ἐφεστρίδα (‘wrapper’). The word signified also a portfolio for carrying books. Cf. Chrys. : φελόνην ἐνταῦθα τὸ ἱμάτιον λέγει᾽ τινὲς δέ φασι τὸ γὙλωσδόκομον ἔνθα τὰ βιβλία ἔκειτο. 5. The ‘books’ were probably documents of his own, written on papyrus, the common writing-material; while the ‘parchments’ were his precious rolls (volumina) of the O. T., written on vellum. Cf. Theodrt. : μεμβράνας τὰ εἰλητὰ κέκληκεν" οὕτως γὰρ Ῥωμαῖοι καλοῦσιν τὰ δέρματα, Ps, Ixii. 12; Prov. xxiv. 12. Ps, xxii, 21. Closing greetings. 636 LIFE‘ AND ‘(LETTERS OR ΘΙ much rancour against me: ‘the Lord will requite him rs according to his works.’ And against him be you too on 16 your guard; for he stoutly opposed our cause. At my first defence no one supported me, but all abandoned me: may x7 it not be reckoned to their account! However, the Lord stood by me and put power into me, that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles hear it; and 181 was rescued ‘from the lion’s mouth.’ The Lord will deliver me from every evil work and bring me safe into His Heavenly Kingdom. Glory to Him for ever and ever. Amen. The letter closes, after the accustomed manner, with personal greetings, and even here the Apostle’s disquietude intrudes. He sends greeting to his old friends Prisca and Aquila and to the family of good Onesiphorus; and then, with generous consideration, he pauses to do justice to an absent comrade. He has just described his forlorn condition by way of justifying his request that Timothy and Mark should hasten to him. Of all the companions who had set forth with him from Asia, only Luke remained. Tychicus indeed had also stood faithful, but he was the bearer of the letter to Ephesus and he would presently be gone. They had not all deserted him, and he has explained the absence of Crescens and Titus ; but now he bethinks himself that he has made no mention of Erastus, and, lest it should be inferred that he too had proved recreant, he repairs the omission and explains that ‘ Erastus had stayed at Corinth.’ And with a like purpose he mentions that Trophimus, another of his Ephesian followers, was absent inasmuch as he had fallen sick at Miletus. Then he reverts to his own urgent need. It was the autumn, and two or three weeks would elapse ere his summons reached Ephesus. Since navigation was dangerous after the autumnal solstice and was entirely suspended after the first week of November, there was no time to lose. And so he amends his injunction: ‘ Do your best to join me soon.’ ‘ Do your best,’ he says, “ to come ere winter.’ And then, as though to prove that, little as they had availed him in his need, the Roman Christians were still true to him, he sends greetings not only from their leaders but from ‘ all the brothers.’ wil 4 . SECOND IMPRISONMENT AT ROME 637 19 Greet Prisca and Aquila and the house of Onesiphorus. 2oErastus remained at Corinth, and Trophimus 1 left at Miletus, ill. at Do your best to come ere winter. Eubulus and Pudens and Linus and Claudia and all the brothers greet you. 2 THE LORD BE WITH YOUR SPIRIT. GRACE BE WITH YOU ALL. THE APOSTLE’S MARTYRDOM What It has appeared that in the course of the writing of his letter ein to Timothy the Apostle’s case took an adverse turn. His doom: — successful defence at the preliminary examination had en- couraged the anticipation that his formal trial would issue c£i.g. In his acquittal ; and when he began the letter he cherished the hope that ere long he would rejoin Timothy at Ephesus. ct. iv. 6-8. But presently the prospect was overclouded. His hope vanished. He recognised that his doom was sealed, and he Cf.iv.9,2r. penned an urgent entreaty that Timothy should hasten to Rome and be with him at the end. What was it that had happened so untowardly ? Evidence is lacking, but there are two suggestions which are not without probability. (x) Hisde- At the precognition the Apostle had been arraigned on fianceofthe the old charge of seditious propagandism ; and, though it Eman? (Ove aggravated by the calumny that it was the Christians who had fired the city in the year 64, he had succeeded in demonstrating its unreasonableness. It was likely that, if he were brought to trial on that score, he would be acquitted ; Cf. iv. 14, and it would seem that his Jewish prosecutors, particularly ig Alexander the coppersmith, fearing lest their prey should escape, had resolved to concentrate on the circumstance that he had been expelled from Rome five and a half years previously and had now returned in defiance of the edict. Here he could offer no defence, and his condemnation was inevitable. This is indeed mere conjecture, yet there is reason for it; and it is this. Timothy, his companion during his first imprisonment, would be included in the edict of expulsion in March 62, and in bidding him hasten Cf. iv. rs. to Rome the Apostle warns him of the danger which he would run, since it was likely that Alexander would proceed against him also. Nor was the apprehension groundless. At all 638 THE APOSTLE’S MARTYRDOM 639 events some two years later the author of the anonymous Epistle to the Hebrews informs his readers that Timothy had xiii. 23. been set at liberty, and it is a reasonable inference that he had reached Rome ere the end and had been arrested. Luke ran the same risk, yet it does not appear that he was arrested ; and the fact that Timothy was assailed by Jewish animosity would seem to prove how fearlessly, despite his constitutional timidity, he had supported his beloved master. Nor is this the only suggestion. At the precognition in (2) The _ autumn Nero had been absent in Greece; but presently oP"! some state crisis had arisen, and he had been hastily sum- P!*sure moned back to Rome.* The case of a poor Jewish stranger would naturally have concerned him nothing, but an incident had occurred which touched him closely. St. Chrysostom relates that, probably during the interval between his arrival in the city and his arrest, Paul had encountered a beautiful concubine of the dissolute Emperor and had won her for Christ ; and when she refused to resume the un- hallowed alliance, the incensed tyrant wreaked his vengeance on the Apostle and had him sentenced to death.? There is intrinsic probability in the story, nor would His St. Chrysostom have lightly retailed a baseless fable; and “"“"™ it strikingly illustrates the sudden change in the Apostle’s fortunes. The Emperor’s displeasure sealed his doom. It would be toward the close of the year when he was brought into court, and he was sentenced to execution, not, like the Apostle Peter who, according to tradition, was tried and condemned on the self-same day, by the servile supplicium of crucifixion but,as became a Roman citizen, by decapi- tation. , It was a merciful ordinance of the Roman Senate that ten That precious scripture, the Epistle to the Hebrews, is certainly not Paul’s work. Ancient opinion is thus stated by St. Jerome (Catal. Script. Eccl. under Paulus Apostolus): ‘The Epistle addressed to the Hebrews is not believed, on account of the difference of style and language, to be his work but a work either of Barnabas, according to Tertullian, or of the Evangelist Luke, according to some, or of Clement afterward Bishop of the Roman Church, who, they say, arranged and adorned the opinions of Paul in his own language.’ It was an acute and_.attractive suggertion of Luther that the author was Apollos, the learned and eloquent Jewish Christian of Alexandria. * Cf. Lewin, 2055. ® Chrys. Adv. Vitup. Vit. Monast. τ. iv. His execution. Tre Fontane, 640 LIFEVAND LETTERS OPVsl Au. days should elapse between the condemnation of a criminal and his execution in order that the Emperor, should he think fit, might grant him a free pardon; and though it was too often overridden by personal or political animosity, it was doubtless observed in the Apostle’s case. He was con- ducted from the court and recommitted to his cell, and on the tenth day he was led forth to death. It was customary, especially when there was some likelihood of a popular demonstration, that an execution should take place outside the city ; 2 and so it was ordered in the case of Paul, perhaps in view of the turbulence of his Jewish enemies. The scene of his execution, according to the constant testimony of tradition, was a spot subsequently known as Aque Salvie some two miles southward from the Ostian Gate. It was excellently suited for a public spectacle, being a hollow gitt by low hills and thus forming a sort of natural amphi- theatre. Thither he would be conducted by a detachment of the Pretorian Guard under the command of a centurion, and the procession would be followed by a noisy and insulting rabble. For a mile and a quarter the route lay along the Ostian Way, passing to the right just outside the Ostian Gate the conspicuous Pyramid of Caius Cestius Epulo ; 4 and thence it diverged for three-quarters of a mile into the New Ardeatine Way, whence a lane leads down to Aque Salvia. There his eyes were bound and his head laid on the block and severed by the headsman’s axe. This is the utmost that may be surely believed of the Apostle’s martyrdom ; and of all the devout imaginations of later days there is perhaps only one which is worthy of regard. In the valley of Aque Salvie stand three churches, and one of these, named San Paolo alle Tre Fontane, occupies, it is affirmed, the very spot where he died.> The story is that, when his head was struck off, it rebounded thrice, and each time it smote the ground, a living fountain gushed forth possessing a healing virtue, whence the name Aque Saluia, ‘the Healing Waters.’ And there is a heart of 1 Cf. Suet. 775. 75; Tac. Ann. 111. 51. 8 Cf. Tac. Hist. Iv. 11. 5 Cf. Act. Petr. et Paul. 37: τὸ δὲ τοῦ ἁγίον Παύλου (σῶμα) els τὴν ᾿Οστησίαν ὁδὸν ἀπὸ μιλίων δύο τῆς πόλεως. 4 Cf. Baedeker, Central Jtaly, p. 329. 5 Jbid., p. 448. THE APOSTLE’S MARTYRDOM 641 truth in the beautiful legend. Like the superscription on the Cross in HebrewandGreek and Latin, the Three Fountains aptly symbolise the Apostle’s Gospel of world-wide salvation. There is an early and steadfast tradition that he was His burial buried by the Ostian Way,! and the Church of San Paolo, on the site of a small church erected by the Emperor Con- stantine about a mile outside the Ostian Gate, marks his resting-place. The story is that after his execution his mutilated body was cast into the criminals’ charnel-house, and a Roman convert, a lady named Lucina, sought it and bore it away and buried it in her own garden.? There beside the city of his desire lies his mortal body, awaiting the day when, according to his Gospel, it shall be raised immortal and clothed with incorruption, and his undimmed eyes behold the City of God, the realisation of his wistful dream. 1 Cf. the Roman Presbyter Caius in Eus. Hist. Ecel. τ. 25. 3 Cf. Baedeker, Central Italy, pp. 445 f. APPENDIX I PAULINE CHRONOLOGY SAUL’s BIRTH AT TARSUS . : : ° ΟΥΑΙ Σ In the Oratio Encomiastica in Principes Apostolorum Petrum et Paulum, erroneously ascribed to Chrys., Paul’s career is thus summarised : τριακονταπέντε ἐδούλευσε τῷ Κυρίῳ μετὰ πάσης προθυμίας" τελέσας δὲ τὸν ὑπὲρ τῆς εὐσεβείας δρόμον ἀνεπαύσατο ὡς ἐτῶν ἑξήκοντα ὄκτω, ‘ Thirty-five years he served the Lord with all eagerness ; and having finished his course in the cause of religion he went to his rest about sixty- eight years of age.’ The precision and confidence of this statement attest it as a recognised tradition; and if it be accepted, then, since he was executed toward the close of 67 (vid. infra), he was born about the year I, five or six years later than our Lord (cf. The Days of His Flesh, pp. 11 f.), and converted about 33. MARTYRDOM OF STEPHEN . : : : : April 33 From the activity of the Hellenist synagogues (cf. Ac. vi. 9) it is probable that it was during the paschal week, when the city was thronged with foreign worshippers, that Stephen was arrested. In 33 the Passover fell on April 2 (cf. Lewin, Fasti Sacri, p. 241). SAUL’S CONVERSION . d : : : summer of 33 The persecution in Jerusalem was sharp and short, and as soon as he had finished the work there Saul set out for Damascus (cf. Ac. viii. 3, ix. 1,2). The thunder-storm (cf. ix. 3) suggests the heat of midsummer. Moreover, it would seem to have been summer-time when he returned to Jerusalem three years later, since all the Apostles except Peter were then absent from the city, probably on missions. They would not travel in the winter (cf. Mt. xxiv. 20). Stay AT DAMASCUS . ; é summer 33—summer 36 A period of three years broken by a season of retirement in Arabia (Gal. i. 17, 18). Cf. Ac. ix. 23; ἡμέραι ixavai— a vague phrase denoting generally a considerable time (cf. Ac. ix. 43, xviii. 18, xxvii. 7). Its use here of a period 645 646 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL of three years is precisely paraileled by 1 Ki. ii. 38, 39: ‘Shimei dwelt in Jerusalem many days (039 Ὁ"2)). And it came to pass at the end of three years, etc.’ The order of events here is (1) confession of Jesus in the synagogues of Damascus ‘ for some days ’ (Ac. ix. 19, 20) ; (2) retirement in Arabia (Gal. i. 17)—-perhaps several months; (3) active propaganda in Damascus (Ac. ix. 22)—over two years. FoRTNIGHT’S VISIT TO JERUSALEM (Ac. ix. 26-30; Gal. i. 18, IQ} ts : : : : ᾿ . . summer 36 In Tarsus AND SyrtA-CiziciA (Ac. ix. 30; Gal. i. 21) summer 36—summer 45 AGRIPPA’S PERSECUTION . . spring and early summer 44 Ac. xii. I-23 is a digression explanatory of the situation presented in xi. 27-30. The persecution was in progress at Passover and terminated with Agrippa’s sudden death during the celebration of the victorious return of the Emperor Claudius from Britain in spring 44 (cf. Jos. Ant. ΧΙΧ. viii. 2). The tidings would take some time to reach Judza, and it would be summer ere the celebration was held. Cf. Lewin, 1674. ARRIVAL AT ANTIOCH OF FUGITIVE PROPHETS (Ac. xi. 27) late in 44 PREDICTION OF FAMINE (Ac. xi. 28) . - - spring 45 SAUL’s CALL TO ANTIOCH (Ac. xi. 25, 26) . summer 45 ELEEMOSYNARY EXPEDITION TO aah So: (Ac. xi. 307° (Gal ii: τὴ : . summer 46 The famine Eappenea ude the ΠΡ ἘΠΕ δὴν ρος Fadus and Tiberius Alexander (cf. Jos. Ant. Xx. v. 2) ; it began while the former was still in office and continued after the latter’s accession. The administration of Fadus began in 44, and Alexander’s ended in 48. The dividing year is unrecorded, but if each held office for equal terms, then it was 46 ; and thus the period of the famine was 45-46. Cf. Lewin, p. lxix, 17or. Orosius indeed assigns the famine to the year 44 (vii. 6); but it appears that he has miscal- culated the events of Claudius’ reign and antedated them all by a year (cf. Ramsay, St. Paul the Traveller, p. 68). Further, if it was in the fourteenth year after his conversion that Paul paid his eleemosynary visit to Jerusalem (cf. Gal. ii. 1), then that visit fell in the summer of 46. CONFERENCE AT JERUSALEM : . late summer 46 It is assumed in the text that Gal. li. I-10 refers to Paul’s second visit to Jerusalem (cf. Ac. xi. 29, 30, xii. 25). So Tert. Contra Marc. 1. 20; Eus. Chron. Pasch.; Calv.; PAULINE CHRONOLOGY 647 Caspari, Chron. and Geogr. Introd., 35; Ramsay, St. Paul the Traveller, pp. 51-60; Lake, Earlier Epistles, pp. 279-86. Other views, however, have been taken: 1. Irencus (111. xiii. 3) connected Gal. ii. 1-10 with the third visit (cf. Ac. XV. I-29), identifying the conference with the Council at Jerusalem. And this is the general opinion in modern times (Grot., Neand., Baur, Meyer, Conybeare and Howson, Farrar, Weizsicker, Lightfoot). 2. Wieseler connected it with the fourth visit (cf. Ac. xviii. 22). 3. Epiphanius (xxvill. 4) thought of the fifth visit (cf. Ac. xxi. 15 ff.), an opinion which no one shares. The choice lies between the second visit and the third ; and the evidence for the former is conclusive. (1) Paul says that he ‘ went up in pursuance of a revelation ’ (Gal. ii. 2); and this can hardly be other than a reference to the prophecy of Agabus (cf. Ac. xi. 27-30). At the third visit he went up by the Church’s appointment (cf. Ac. xv. 2). (2) κατ᾽ ἰδίαν τοῖς δοκοῦσιν (Gal. ii. 2) implies a private conference and not an open discussion (cf. Ac. xv. 6, 22). (3) The argument in Gal. i. 17-li. Io is decisive. Paul maintains that he had received his Gospel from the Lord and not from the Twelve, and this he demonstrates by recounting his dealings with the latter. He specifies two interviews, one three years and the other fourteen after his conversion, at neither of which had they questioned his doctrine ; and it would have been fatal to his argument had there actually been during the interval another interview (cf. Ac. xi. 29, 30) which he suppresses. Lightfoot pleads that it was legitimate for him to ignore the second visit since it fell, as he calculates, during Agrippa’s per- secution and the Apostles had fled from the city, adducing by way of evidence that the Antiochene bounty was de- livered not to the Apostles but to the Elders (cf. Ac. xi. 30). But (a) ‘ the Elders’ is a generic term for the leaders of the Church and may include the Apostles (cf. 1 Pet. v. 1). (Ὁ) A persecution which drove the Apostles from Jerusalem would have prevented the visit of the relief-party. In fact Agrippa’s persecution had happened two years earlier. Nor (c) does it appear that the Apostles fled from it any more than from the fiercer persecution under Saul (cf. p. 46). It is indeed said that on his escape from prison Peter betook himself to Mary’s house and then went εἰς ἕτερον τόπον᾽ (Ac. xii. 17); but this need not mean ‘to another town.’ Rather ‘ to another house ’—his own lodging in the city. Unfortunately the chronological note “then after an interval of fourteen years ’ (Gal. ii. 1)—#.e., according to the ancient reckoning, thirteen full years—is indecisive, since it is questionable whether the starting-point of the calculation is the conversion in 33 or the previous visit in 36. On the 648 ‘LIFE AND’ LETTERS OF ΤΟ Ὁ former and more probable view the occasion was, as the foregoing evidence proves, the eleemosynary visit in 46 (Ac. xi. 29, 30); on the latter it would be the visit to the Council in 49 (cf. Ac. xv. 2). SAUL’s VISION IN THE TEMPLE (Ac. xxii. 17-21) beginning of 47 Generally connected with the first visit to Jerusalem (cf. Ac. ix. 26-30), but this is plainly its proper place. (τ) The first visit was terminated not by a divine vision but by a Jewish plot. (2) The command that Saul should hasten from Jerusalem in order that he might be sent to the Gentiles was fulfilled not by his retiral to Tarsus (cf. ix. 30), but by his despatch from Antioch on his first mission (cf. xiii. I-3). Perhaps a confirmation is furnished by the textual variation in xii. 25. The situation there requires ὑπέστρεψαν ἐξ (A Syr** Sah Cop Arm Ath?) or ἀπὸ (DE Vulg.) “Ἱερουσαλήμ, ‘returned from Jerusalem’; but several im- portant authorities (N9BHLP Syr? ΖΕ το) give εἰς Ἱερουσαλήμ, “to Jerusalem,’ probably (cf. Ramsay, St. Paul the Traveller, pp. 63 1.) because the vision in the Temple was connected with xii. 25, and ὑπέστρεψαν ἐξ (ἀπὸ) “Ἱερουσαλήμ was then assimilated to ὑποστρέψαντι εἰς ᾿ἱερουσαλήμ (xxii. 17). First ΜΊΘΘΙΟΝ > . ὃ spring 47—midsummer 49 THE DEPARTURE : : . about beginning of March 47 It fixes the terminus a quo and the terminus ad quem that they sailed direct from Seleuceia to Salamis (cf. Ac. xiii. 4,5). (1) Navigation ceased during the winter. It became dangerous after the autumnal equinox and was suspended from Nov. 11 (cf. Veget. De Re Milit. v. 9) until Feb. 8 (Plin. Nat. Hist. τι. 47). (2) On July τα the Etesian Winds set in and blew unintermittently from N.W. until Sept. 14 (cf. Plin. Nat. Hist. 11. 47), and during their prevalence westward-bound ships held northward and crept along the coast of Asia Minor by the aid of land-breezes and tides (cf. Strabo, 683). This was the course of the ship by which Paul sailed from Caesarea in Aug. 59 on his voyage to Rome (cf. 491) ; and so also, according to Act. Barn. (xi-xiv), Barnabas and Mark on their second voyage to Cyprus (cf. Ac. xv. 39) coasted along to Anemurium in Cilicia and then struck across to Crommyon. As‘soon as a good harvest in March 47 was assured, the relief-party would be free to return to Antioch ; and Paul would hasten to obey his call and set forth on his mission. Cyprus . ° ὃ 5 ° March—close of June 47 BAMPRITUIAL (jh) in? nd a ee eas July 47 ἢ i ‘ PAULINE CHRONOLOGY 649 ῬΙΒΙΌΙΑΝ ANTIOCH, . beginning of Aug.—end of Oct. 47 Paul and Barnabas arrived here early in Aug. Ere they began their ministry some time elapsed, long enough for its becoming known that they were qualified to address the synagogue (cf. Ac. xiii. 14, 15)—-probably about a fortnight. The rupture with the Jews (cf. vers. 44-47) would thus occur on the last Sabbath of Aug., and the subsequent diffusion of the Gospel throughout the Phrygian District (cf. ver. 49) involves a considerable time, quite two months. [CONIUM . ὃ ΐ , . Nov. 47—early summer 48 Cf. Ac. xiv. 3: ἱκανὸν μὲν οὖν χρόνον διέτριψαν, “they were away a considerable time.’ The phrase implies a protracted period. Cf. p. 645. EYSTRA. οὖς : ; early summer—end of Aug. 48 The appearance of the Jewish grain-merchants (cf. p. 103) indicates the time of departure. DERBE . 4 : ἃ ; : Sept. 48—midwinter RETURN THROUGH SOUTHERN GALATIA . midwinter—spring 49 DEPARTURE FROM PISIDIAN ANTIOCH . : ‘ spring 49 They stayed to evangelise in the course of their journey through Pamphylia (cf. Ac. xiv. 25); and Paul, mindful of his previous experience in that malarial region, would set out in time to reach the coast and put to sea ere the heat of midsummer. DEPARTURE FROM ATTALEIA ὁ - . ᾿ June 49 ARRIVAL AT SYRIAN ANTIOCH . . midsummer 49 PETER’S VISIT TO ANTIOCH AND APPEARANCE OF JUDAIST PRO- PAGANDISTS : ᾿ : : ; . Close of 49 The historical position of Gal. ii. 11 ff. is much disputed. The decision turns mainly on two questions: (1) whether Gal. ii. 1-10 refers to the Council at Jerusalem (cf. Ac. xv. I-29) or to a previous conference during the eleemosynary visit (cf. Ac. xi. 29, 30; p. 74); and (2) whether Gal. ii. 11 ff. pursues the chronological sequence so clearly indicated in the preceding narrative (cf. i. 18, 21, 11. 1) or introduces an illustrative incident which may have preceded vers. I-Io. Lightfoot, identifying Gal. 11. 1-10 with the Council and insisting on the continuance of chronological sequence, regards this visit of Peter to Antioch as subsequent to the Council and places it during the sojourn of Paul and Barnabas at Antioch after their return from Jerusalem (cf. Ac. xv. 30-40). It seems incredible, however, that Peter should have deserted the cause of Gentile Christianity immediately after 650° LIFE: AND LETTERS OF τὸς his advocacy of it at the Council ; and Lewin (1797) places the incident during Paul’s stay at Antioch after his second mission (cf. Ac. xvii. 23, 24). Others, again, suppose that chronological sequence is abandoned at Gal. ii. 11, and, identi» fying vers. I-10 with the Council, they regard the rencontre between Paul and Peter as having occurred not immediately before the Council but on the occasion of a visit of Peter to Antioch before the first mission of Paul and Barnabas, when he was, it is presumed, sent thither to inspect the original development of Gentile evangelisation (cf. Ac. xi. 26). This is apparently Ramsay’s later opinion (cf. Cities of St. Paul, pp. 302f.). The objection is that it supposes two distinct though precisely similar visits of Judaist propagandists to Antioch, one recorded by Paul (cf. Gal. ii. 12) and the other by Luke (cf. Ac. xv. 1). The identification of Paul’s ‘certain from James’ with Luke’s ‘certain men’ who ‘came down from Judea’ claiming the authority of the Apostles and Elders at Jerusalem, t.e., James and his colleagues (cf. Ac. xv. I, 24), is reasonable if not inevitable; and it establishes the view of Lake (cf. Earlier Epistles, pp. 293 ff.), formerly shared by Ramsay (cf. St. Paul the Traveller, pp. 158 ff. ; Hist. Comm. on Gal., pp. 304 ff.), that the chronological sequence is maintained throughout Gal. ii. ; that vers. 1-ro refer not to the Council but to a conference at the time of the famine; and that vers. Ir ff. relate to the controversy at Antioch which occasioned the Council at Jerusalem. COUNCIL AT JERUSALEM . ‘ ς : . early in 50 SECOND MISSION ; : - - spring 50—May 53 DEPARTURE FROM SYRIAN ANTIOCH . . probably Apr. 50 The ‘confirmation of the churches’ during the progress through the Province of Syria-Cilicia (cf. Ac. xv. 41) demands probably a full month, and the passage of the Taurus was impossible before the end of May (cf. p. 120). DERBE . ‘ i ‘ : i 3 June 50 PISIDIAN noes ; : July 50 It was the danger of ἘΣ ints the valley of the Lycus during the heat of midsummer that deterred Paul from passing into the Province of Asia (cf. Ac. xvi. 6). Cf. p. 122. Troas. 3 : : 5 Ε Ξ ς Aug. 50 PHILIPPI . ᾿ : : - : : Aug.—Dec. 50 THESSALONICA . β : ὃ : Jan.—May 51 A considerable stay hee is implied by (1) the three weeks’ ministry in the synagogue and the subsequent evangelisation PAULINE CHRONOLOGY 651 of the Gentile populace, and (2) the sinc receipt of relief from Philippi (ef. p. 137). Beraa . P : : . . ° May—July 41 ATHENS . : d ‘ Aug. 51 Here Luke’s stoned parative (Ac. xvii. 14, 15) is elucidated by Paul’s statement (cf. 1 Th. iii. 1-6). According to the former it might seem as though Silas and ey notwithstanding Paul’s urgent message, did not rejo him until he had left Athens and settled at Corinth (cf Xvill. 5); but neither is this likely nor is it a reasonable construction of the narrative. It is Luke’s manner after intimating an intention to leave his readers to assume that it was carried out. Cf. his statement of Paul’s purpose to reach Jerusalem in time for Pentecost (xx. 16). So also in his Gospel: contrast Lk. vii. ro with Mt. viii. 13. It must therefore be assumed that Silas and Timothy responded to Paul’s appeal and presently joined him at Athens. And this is attested by τ Th. iii. τ. Luke mentions both Silas and Timothy, but Paul only Timothy since he is writing to the Thessalonians and Timothy was sent to them. The plurs. ηὐδοκήσαμεν, ἐπέμψαμεν (I Th. iii. 1, 2) imply the presence of Silas at Athens. This, then, is the course of events: (1) Silas and Timothy left by Paul at Bercea and instructed to join-him at Athens (Ac. xvii. 15). (2) Silas and Timothy with Paul at Athens (x Th. iii. 1). (3) Tim- othy sent to Thessalonica (1 Th. 111. 1-5) and Silas probably to Philippi (Ac. xviii. 5; Phil. iv. 15). (4) Paul removes from Athens to Corinth (Ac. xviii. τ). (5) Silas and Timothy return to Paul at Corinth from Macedonia (Ac. xviii. 5)— the former from Thessalonica (1 Th. 111. 6) and the latter probably from Philippi (Phil. iv. 15). Paul’s stay at Athens can hardly have lasted less than a month in view of all that happened: (1) the return of the guides to Macedonia ; (2) the journey of Silas and Timothy to Athens; (3) their conference with Paul and their de- parture again for Macedonia; (4) Paul’s inspection of the city; (5) his discussions, evidently frequent (cf. imper. διελέγετο in Ac. xvii. 17), in synagogue and market-place ; (6) his meeting with Stephanas; (7) his arraignment before the Court of the Areiopagos. CORINTH . ; : Sept. 51—close of Feb. 53 The accession a Gallic to the proconsulship of Achaia (Ac. xviii. 12) is an historical landmark, and its date has been fixed by the discovery of a mutilated inscription at Delphi. This is a letter of the Emperor Claudius apparently con- firming certain of the city’s ancient privileges; and it is 652 LIFE’ AND. LETTERS OP Sly PAu. dated by his twenty-sixth acclamatio imperatoria ([αὐτοκράτωρ ull xs’) and mentions Gallio, in official terms, as his “ friend roconsul of Achaia’ ([ Λούκιος ᾿Ιού]νιος Ταλλίων ὁ ΡΝ τ μου κα[ὶ ἀνθύ;! 'πατος [τῆς ᾿Αχαίας)). Hence the twenty- sixth acclamatio fell in the year of Gallio’s proconsul- ship; and this is determined by two data. (1) An inscription in the Carian city of Cys puts in the same year Claudius’ twelfth ¢ribunicia potestas (δημαρχικὴ ἐξουσία), his fifth consulship, and his twenty-sixth acclamatio (αὐτοκράτορα τὸ εἰκοστὸν καὶ ἕκτον. (2) The Arcus Aque Claudie is dated by his twelfth tribunicia potestas, his fifth consulship, and his twenty-seventh acclamatio. The arch was dedicated Aug. I, A.D. 52; and thus by comparison of the Carian inscription it appears that the twenty-seventh acclamatio immediately preceded that date. Gallio assumed his pro- consulate during the Emperor’s twelfth tribunicia potestas and his fifth consulship and just before his twenty-seventh acclamatio; 1.e., at the beginning of the proconsular year on July 1, 52. Cf. P.E.F.Q. St., Jan. 1908, p. 5, Apr. 1908, pp. 163f.; Ramsay, Expositor, May, 1909; Deissmann, St. Paul, Append. r. Ac. xviii. ΤΙ is neither retrospective, indicating the time which Paul had already spent at Corinth, nor prospective, indicating the period between the accession of Gallio and Paul’s departure. Vers. 1-10 relate his settlement, and ver. 11 states the time he spent in the city from his arrival to his departure. He was arraigned before Gallio soon after the latter’s accession, probably in Aug.; and thereafter he remained at Corinth ἡμέρας ixavéds—a vague phrase (cf. p. 645) denoting here some six months. ARRIVAL OF SILAS AND TIMOTHY FROM BERGA , Oct. 51 First LETTER TO THE THESSALONIANS Ν᾿ ‘ Oct. 51. SECOND LETTER TO THE THESSALONIANS , - Νον. 51 ACCESSION OF GALLIO . - ° . . .) July.s, 3 ARRAIGNMENT BEFORE GALLIO , A ‘ : Aug. 52 DEPARTURE FROM CORINTH 5 towards close of Feb. 53 ARRIVAL AT JERUSALEM . : Ξ early May 53 The journey was protracted (1) Paul’s sickness at Cenchree (cf. p. 189) and (2) the stoppage at Ephesus (cf. Ac. xvili. 19-21), but he would easily reach Jerusalem in time for Pentecost (cf. Ac. xviii. 21 T. R.), which fell that year on May 12 (cf. Lewin, p. 307). RETURN TO ANTIOCH Ξ ‘ . toward close of May 53 PAULINE CHRONOLOGY 653 LETTER TO THE GALATIANS : ; : : June 53 Paul paid three visits to Galatia: (1) from Aug. 47 to spring 49 in the course of his first Mission (cf. Ac. xiii. 14- xiv. 23), (2) in early summer 50 at the beginning of his second Mission (cf. Ac. xvi. 1-5), and (3) in autumn 53 at the outset of his third Mission (cf. Ac. xviii. 23); and his statement εὐηγγελισάμην ὑμῖν τὸ πρότερον (Gal. iv. 13) places the letter between (2) and (3). The simple πρότερον would mean merely “formerly ’ (cf. 2 Cor. 1. 15), but the art. marks a distinction between two conditions, either (1) a previous condition in contrast with the present (cf. Jo. vi. 62, ix. 8; 1 Tim. i. 13) or two past conditions. Had Paul been in Galatia when he said εὐηγγελισάμην ὑμῖν τὸ πρότερον, then τὸ πρότερον would have implied only one previous visit: ‘I preached to you on the former occasion, the last time I was here’; but since he was writing ¢o Galatia, it implies two previous visits : ‘ I preached to you on the former of the two occasions when I visited you.’ Hence the letter was written before the third visit in autumn 53. This is the terminus ad quem ; and it excludes both the opinions which prevailed among the Fathers. One, based on the fancy that the Apostle was a prisoner when he wrote (cf. iv. 20, vi. 17), is that the letter was written at Rome. Cf. subscript. in several MSS. : ἐγράφη ἀπὸ Ῥώμης. The other is that it was written at Ephesus, and it has been largely approved in modern times. It is tenable only on the impossible assumption that Paul wrote the letter not during his Ephesian ministry after his third visit to Galatia but during his brief stoppage at the Asian capital in the course of his voyage between Cenchrez and Czsarea (cf. Ac. xviii. 19-21). Again, the terminus a quo is the second visit in early summer 50 ; and this excludes Calvin’s opinion (cf. comment on ii. 1), which is not without recent support, that, since Paul makes no appeal in his anti-Judaist argument to the Apostolic Decree, the letter must have been written before the Council of Jerusalem at the beginning of 50, perhaps in the course of his journey from Antioch to the Sacred Capital (cf. Ac. xv. 3). It has been assigned also, with extreme unlikelihood, to his sojourn at Athens (Aug. 51), and again to his first Corinthian ministry (Sept. 51—Feb. 53) ; but the probabilities point to his stay at Antioch in summer 53 between his second and third Missions and just before his third visit to Galatia. The evidence is twofold: (1) the certainty that he would speedily repair to Galatia in order to retrieve the situation (cf. ἵν. 20) ; (2) the linguistic affinity between the Galatian letter and those belonging to the third Mission (cf. Append. VII, pp. 688 ff.), especially—as Theod. Mops. observes in his preface—z2 Cor. (cf. Gal. vi. 7 with 2 Cor. ix. 6; Gal. i. 6-9 with 2 Cor. 654 LIFE. AND LET TERSVOR Si ree xi. 4; Gal. vi. 15 with 2 Cor. v.17; Gal. iv. 17, 18 with 2 Cor. xi. 2; Gal.i. τὸ, v. 8 with 2 Cor. v.11; Gal. i. 9, v. 21 with 2 Cor. xiii. 2; Gal. iii. 3 with 2 Cor. vili.6; Gal. v. 15 with 2 Cor. xi. 20). And, further, it should be considered that Rom. is an elaboration of the argument hastily sketched in Gal. (cf. p. 373), and the urgent demand for an adequate exposition required the intervention of the least possible delay. THIRD MIssION : Ε . : . July 53—May 57 DEPARTURE FROM SYRIAN ANTIOCH . : } July 53. GALATIA . : : ὃ . Aug.—beginning of Oct. 53 EPHESUS (cf Ac. xix. 8, το; xx. 31) . . Oct. 53—Jan. 56 First LETTER TO CORINTH (LOST) : ξ . autumn 54 The evidence of the writing of this letter is the Apostle’s reference to it (cf. r Cor. v. 9-11). Two fragments of it survive: (1) 1 Cor. vi. 12-20. This passage is a manifest interpolation, alien from the passage and marring the im- pressive close (vers. 9-11). And the repetition of iii. 16, vii. 23 in vi. Ig, 20 is impossible in the same letter. More- over, when it 15 recognised that vii-xvi deals with a letter which had just arrived from Corinth in reply to the Apostle’s previous letter of remonstrance and which submitted to him a series of questions suggested by that previous letter, the significance of various cross-references appears. Thus (i) vi. I3 occasioned the question about ‘ things sacrificed to idols ’ (viii-xi. 1) ; (ii) vi. 14 occasioned the question about the resurrection of the body (xv. 35); and (iii) vi. 20 occasioned the question about slavery (vii. 21-24). (2) 2 Cor. vi. 14-vii. τ. This also is plainly an interpolation. Observe how vi. 13 links with vu. 2. Again, the Corinthians’ wonderment at 2 Cor. vi. 14 (in previous letter) occasioned I Cor. vii. 12-14 (in the Apostle’s reply). This letter must have been written in autumn 54. When Paul was writing the first part (i-vi) of the ensuing letter (our “τ Cor.’), the Passover of 55, which fell that year on March 30 (cf. Lewin, p. 306), was approaching (cf. 1 Cor. v. 6-8) ; and between the two letters there was a considerable interval. Paul expected an answer to his first letter, and when none arrived, he was at length moved to write another by the evil report of ‘ the people of Chloe ’ (cf. 1 Cor. i. 11). SECOND LETTER TO CORINTH (OUR ‘I CorR.’) begun Feb. 55 Paul contemplated its delivery before Passover (cf. v. 6-8). PAULINE CHRONOLOGY 655 ARRIVAL AT EPHESUS OF CORINTHIAN DeEputizs (1 Cor. xvi. 17) Feb. 55 In the early part of the letter (i-vi. 11) Paul proceeds upon the report of ‘ the people of Chloe’ ; at vii. 1 he starts answering a letter just to hand from Corinth. THE SECOND LETTER DESPATCHED TO CORINTH . June 55 Since Paul intimates his intention of ‘remaining at Ephesus until Pentecost,’ 1.6., in the year 56, the letter must have been despatched after Pentecost 55, which fell that year on May 20 (cf. Lewin, p. 306). The composition of the latter part of the letter would occupy a considerable time, involving as it did conference with the Corinthian delegates and careful consideration of the questions presented. Paut’s Hasty VIsiIT TO CORINTH : . autumn 55 The evidence of this otherwise unrecorded episode is two- fold: (1) In his stern letter (2 Cor. x-xiii. 10) he refers to the visit which he had in contemplation and which he actually paid (cf. Ac. xx. 2, 3), as his third visit to Corinth (cf. xii. 14, xiil. 1), mentioning also a second visit which he had paid and reiterating a threat of disciplinary procedure which he had then intimated in the event of continued obduracy (cf. xii. 2). (2) In his glad letter (2 Cor. i-ix, xiii. II-14) after the trouble was ended he refers to a painful visit which he had paid to Corinth—an experience which he had determined never to repeat (cf. 11. 1). This visit would involve hardly a month’s absence from Ephesus. The wind at that season was N.W. (cf. p. 648), and the ship would easily fetch Cenchree in a week. The return, with the wind on the quarter, would be more ex- peditious. STERN LETTER TO CORINTH (CONVEYED BY TITUS) toward close of 55 This letter Paul expressly mentions in the subsequent glad letter (cf. 2 Cor. ii. 2-4, vii. 8); and there is strong reason for recognising 2 Cor. x-xiii. Io as the substance of it. τ. Our ‘2 Cor.’ is plainly composite: it breaks in two between ix. 15 and x. 1. The first portion is a joyful and affectionate congratulation of the Corinthians on their repentance and reformation ; the second an indignant and unmeasured invective against their obduracy and insolence. 2. The two portions are related by a nexus of cross-references. (1) In iii. x Paul protests that some personal apology which he has made is not a resumption of the odious business of ‘ self-commendation ’: of this he has already had enough, and it is no longer necessary. His meaning, otherwise inex- plicable, appears when it is recognised that he is here re- 656 LIFEV AND LETTERS OF Stra ferring to his elaborate ᾿ self-commendation ’ in the previous stern letter (cf. x. 7-xil. 10). (2) In xii. 20-xiii. 3 he intimates his determination to deal severely with the impenitent Corinthians when next he visited them and his distaste for the painful duty ; and in i. 23-ii. 1 he explains that it was this distaste that had kept him from visiting them sooner : | he had stayed away in the hope that they would repent and thus render severity unnecessary. Cf. also ii. 3 with xiii. τὸ and 11. 9 with x. 6. There is a suggestive passage in St. Clement of Rome’s Epistle to Corinthians (xlvii) in the last decade of Ic . Referring to 1 Cor. 1. 10-17, he says: ‘ Take up the letter (τὴν ἐπιστολήν) of the blessed Paul the Apostle: what did he write to you at the beginning of the Gospel ?’ The natural inference is that Clement knew only one letter of Paul to the Corinthians—our ‘1 Cor.’ ; and this is confirmed by the circumstance that he never quotes from or alludes to our “2 Cor.’ The fact would seem to be that only ‘1 Cor.,’ that elaborate discussion of universally interesting questions, was at the outset generally circulated in the Church; but by and by, in justice to the Corinthians, the Apostle’s glad letter of congratulation (2 Cor. 1-ix, xiii. II-14) was published, all the more readily that it had, by his desire (cf. 1. 1), been originally communicated to the neighbouring churches in the Province of Achaia. Many references in the two letters were obscure to strangers, and, in order to elucidate these, fragments of the rest of the correspondence were inter- polated—two passages of the first letter (x Cor. vi. 12-20; 2 Cor. vi. I4-vii. 1) and the bulk of the third (2 Cor. x-xiii. 10). Riot AT EPHESUS AND FLIGHT OF PAUL . ΜΝ ἡ ὦ ΠΕΘΆΒΑν:; - : : : Ἢ till early summer 56 MACEDONIA : : early summer—beginning of Dec. 56 GLAD LETTER TO CORINTH (2 Cor. i-ix, xiii. 11-14) Sept. 56 It seems (cf. v. 1) that Paul wrote at the joyous season of the Feast of Tabernacles, which fell that year on Sept. 13 (cf. Lewin, p. 307) CorINTH, (Ac. xx. 3) ‘ . early Dec. 56—early March 57 Here the encyclical on Justification by Faith (‘ the Epistle to the Romans ’). DEPARTURE FROM CORINTH ἃ Σ early March 57 Evidently Paul’s first ἜΠΕ Τ was to reach Jerusalem in time for Passover, which fell that year on Apr. 7 (cf. Lewin, p. 311). PAULINE CHRONOLOGY 657 Puiiippi (Ac. xx. 6) . Passover 57 The paschal season extended from sunset (when, according to Jewish reckoning, the day began) Apr. 6 to sunset Apr. 14. Troas.. ; : ‘ ! : ᾿ ΑΡΓ. 19-25, 57 Being in haste to keep their appointment at Troas (cf. Ac, xx. 5) they would set out from Philippi immediately on the conclusion of the Feast. The passage from Neapolis to Troas occupied four full days (cf. Ac. xx. 6: ἄχρι ἡμερῶν πέντε, Where Cod. Bez. (D) has πεμπταῖοι, ‘ on the fifth day ’) ; and they stayed at Troas seven days, reckoning from the day of their arrival. Troas To Assos (cf. Ac. xx. 7, II). Monday, Apr. 26, 57 Assos TO MITYLENE . : . . Tuesday, Apr. 27, 57 MITYLENE TO CHIOS . : . . Wednesday, Apr. 28, 57 CuHIOs TO TROGYLLIUM ° ° . Thursday, Apr. 29, 57 TROGYLLIUM TO MILETUS . : . Friday, Apr. 30, 57 INTERVIEW WITH EPHESIAN ELDERS night of Saturday, May 1, 57 The Elders would arrive at Miletus on the evening of May I, and it appears that the interview took place by night since at its close ‘ they escorted him to the ship’ (Ac. xx. 38), which sailed with the morning breeze. MILETUS TO Cos ὃ i : ᾿ Sunday, May 2, 57 Cos To RHODES 3 ὸ Ἐ : Monday, May 3, 57 JERUSALEM d : . eve of Pentecost, May 27, 57 Pentecost fell this year on May 28 (cf. Lewin, p. 311). TRIAL BEFORE SANHEDRIN Σ A ὃ . May 31, 57 ARRIVAL AT CHSAREA δ ἃ Ξ ‘a June 2, 57 TRIAL BEFORE FELIX Α « jane’7, 47 Twelve days elapsed between Paul’s arrival at Jerusalem and his trial at Cesarea (cf. Ac. xxiv. I1), and they are probably computed thus: (1) the day of his arrival at Jerusalem (xxi. 17)—May 27; (2) the day of the meeting of Presbytery (vers. 18-25)—May 28; (3) the day when he presented himself in the Temple with the four Nazirites (ver. 26)—May 29; (4) the day of purgation and the riot (ver. 27-xxii. 29)—-May 30; (5) the day of his trial before the Sanhedrin (xxii. 30-xxiii. 11)—May 31; (6) the day of the conspiracy to assassinate him and his conveyance from Jerusalem (vers. 12-31)—-June 1; (7) the day of his 2T 658 LIFE AND LETTERS OP sir Fave arrival at Caesarea (vers. 32-35)—June 2; (8-12) five days of waiting for his accusers (xxiv. 1)—June 3-7. IMPRISONMENT AT CHSAREA FOR TWO FULL YEARS (Ac. xxiv. 27) June 57—July 59 His imprisonment terminated on the recall of Felix and the accession of Festus. The external evidence of the date is uncertain, but it points to 58 at the earliest and 60 at the latest (cf. Schiirer, 1. ii. pp. 182 ff.). From the narrative of the Book of Acts it appears to have been the year 59, and Festus would, in due course, assume office on July 1. TRIAL BEFORE FESTUS : . about the middle of July 59 EXAMINATION BEFORE AGRIPPA . about the close of July 59 After his accession on July 1 Festus stayed three days at Cesarea and then visited Jerusalem (cf. Ac. xxv. 1). The upward journey would take two days, his visit lasted eight or ten (cf. ver. 6), and the return to Cesarea would take two more. The day after his return Paul was arraigned before him (cf. ver. 6). After an interval of ‘some days’ (cf. ver. | 13), perhaps two or three, Agrippa arrived at Czesarea. His stay lasted ‘a good many days,’ πλείους ἡμέρας (ver. 14; cf. xxi. 10), probably a full week; and it was in the course of it, probably toward the close, that Paul made his defence before him (cf. vers. 22, 23). EMBARKATION FOR ROME . . . . ς Aug. 59 AT Fair HAVENS, CRETE . : 3 . early in Oct. 59 The Fast (Ac. xxvii. 9), 1.¢., the Day of Atonement (cf. Lev. xvi. 29, 30), fell in the year 59 on Oct. 5, five days before the Feast of Tabernacles (Oct. 10). Cf. Lewin, p. 318. They left Fair Havens about the middle of Oct., sailed slowly westward till the gale broke, then made the ship snug and drifted for a fortnight ere discovering land (cf. xxvii. 27). SHIPWRECK ON MELITA . . . beginning of Nov. 59 DEPARTURE FROM MELITA . ‘ d ΣΕ ΘΙ eee On the resumption of navigation (cf. p. 648) after three months on the island (cf. Ac. xxviii. II). ARRIVAL AT PUTEOLI : é . about Feb. 18, 60 The course of some 100 miles from Melita to Syracuse would be accomplished in twenty-four hours; at Syracuse they stayed three days; thence it would take two or three days to beat up to Rhegium, where they stayed some twenty- four hours; the run of about 200 miles from Rhegium to PAULINE CHRONOLOGY 650 Puteoli with a fair wind took some twenty-four hours (ef. XXVlil. 13) : in all, some nine days. DEPARTURE FROM PUTEOLI (cf. Ac. xxviii. 14) about Feb. 25, 60 ARRTYAL AT ROME . . first week of March 60 From Puteoli to Rome along the Appian Way from Sinuessa was about 130 miles’ march. First ROMAN IMPRISONMENT (cf. Ac. xxviii. 30) March 60—March 62 ARRIVAL OF EPAPHRODITUS FROM PHILIPPI midsummer 60 LETTER TO PHILIPPI . ‘ 4 : : ; Nov. 60 The Apostle was a prisoner when he wrote this letter (cf. i. 12-14, 17), and the imprisonment in question is certainly, according to ancient traditien, the first at Rome and not, according to Paulus and a fewothers, the earlier imprisonment at Cesarea (June 57—July 59). On the latter view ἐν ὅλῳ τᾷ πραιτωρίῳ (i. 13) would refer to ‘the Pretorium of Herod ’ (cf. Ac. xxiii. 35), the official residence of the Pro- curator. But οἱ ἐκ τῆς Καίσαρος οἰκίας (iv. 22) plainly indicates Rome. Nor is it without significance that it is in the Philippian letter that the conception of the Church as the Civitas Dez first appears in the Apostle’s thought (cf. p- 512). The ideal was inspired by the spectacle of the Imperial City. ARRIVAL OF TYCHICUS FROM EPHESUS _ toward the close of 61 ENCYCLICAL TO THE CHURCHES OF ASIA (‘ Epistle to Ephesians ’) despatched about beginning of 62 LETTERS TO COLOSS# AND PHILEMON These three letters form a distinct group. Eph. and Col. were conveyed by the same messenger, Tychicus (cf. Eph. vi. 21; Col. iv. 7), and Phm. is linked to them by the cir- cumstance that Onesimus accompanied Tychicus (cf. Col. iv. 9; Phm. 10-12). The Apostle was a prisoner when he wrote all three (cf. Eph. iii. 1, iv. 1; Col. iv. 18; Phm. I, 9, 10, 13). Ancient tradition assigns the group to the Roman imprisonment, but not a few moderns (including Meyer and Bernhard Weiss) have referred them to the im- prisonment at Cezsarea, chiefly on the twofold ground (1) that the fugitive Onesimus could more easily have fled to Czsarea then to distant Rome, and (2) that if the letters had been despatched from Rome, Tychicus and Onesimus would have travelled first to Ephesus en route for Colosse, and then the Apostle must have mentioned Onesimus in the Ephesian letter. But (1) Rome offered a safer refuge for the runaway than the provincial town of Caesarea, and, though 660 LIFE AND LETTERS OP Si.) Pan more remote, it was in fact more easily accessible whether by ship from Ephesus or by the overland route along the Egnatian Way; and (2) Eph., being an encyclical, lacks all personal references. Moreover, their imperial conception of the Church (cf. p. 533) suggests that Eph. and Col., like Phil., were written at Rome. They were written after Phil. when the Apostle’s imprisonment was nearing its end. His trial had been fixed, and he was confident of the issue (cf. Phm. 22). His acquittal was no longer, as when he wrote Phil. (cf. i. 20-26, ii. 24) a question but a certainty. TRIAL AND ACQUITTAL Ξ ‘ : ‘ March 62 AT EPHESUS . - : ° . - : Apr. 62 IN MACEDONIA . ° - - . : till close of 62 At CoLoss# . : - . ‘ early in 63 till June First LETTER TO TIMOTHY - - : . early in 63 PROGRESS THROUGH SOUTHERN GALATIA . late summer 63 At SYRIAN ANTIOCH . : . winter 63-64 MISSION TO GAUL AND SPAIN . : spring 64—spring 66 EVANGELISATION OF CRETE - : : summer of 66 LETTER τὸ Trrus” +. - late autumn 66 Written probably oe Gonth on the eve of Paul’s departure for Nicopolis (cf. iii. 12). AT NICOPOLIS . F Ἢ : Ἶ ; winter 66-67 DEPARTURE ON WESTWARD MISSION . - - spring 67 ARRIVAL AT ROME . ‘ . ; . late summer 67 ARREST AND PRECOGNITION - - : : Sept. 67 SECOND LETTER TO TimoTHY not later than close of Sept. 67 The letter was written during the Apostle’s imprisonment between his precognition and his trial (cf. iv. 16, 17), and he urges Timothy to make haste and join him at Rome ere winter (cf. iv. 9, 21), t.e., before the suspension of navigation on Nov. τι (cf. p. 648). Since it would take some six weeks for the letter to reach Ephesus and Timothy to make the voyage to Rome, the letter must have been written by the close of Sept. at the latest. The overland route from Ephesus to Rome took about twice as long as the direct voyage ; and Paul’s solicitude lest Timothy should miss the last maritime connection shows that he contemplated an early martyrdom. PAULINE CHRONOLOGY 661 TRIAL AND EXECUTION TEN Days LATER toward the close of Nov. 67 According to St. Jerome (Catal. Script. Eccl.) the Apostle was martyred in the fourteenth year of Nero, #.e., between Oct. 13, 67, and June 9, 68, since Nero reigned from Oct. 13, 54, till June 9, 68 (cf. Lewin, 1802 f., 2066). According to Epiphanius (Her. xxvi. 6), in the twelfth year of Nero (ἐπὶ δωδεκάτῳ ἔτει Νέρωνος) ; according to Eusebius (Chron.), in the thirteenth year. 66 is the year accepted by the ecclesiastical calendar, which commemorates the martyrdom on June 29, following here the anonymous Martyrium Pauli prefixed to the works of Ccumenius. The chronology of the Martyrium, however, is palpably erroneous ; and June 29 is inconsistent with the Apostle’s datum (cf. 2 Tim. iv. 9, 21). II THE NARRATIVES OF SAUL’S CONVERSION THERE are three narratives of Saul’s conversion in the Book of Acts. The first the historian’s (ix. 3-9); and the second and third are his own—the former occurring in his speech to the mob from the stairway of the Castle at Jerusalem (xxii. 6-11), and the latter in his address to Agrippa at Cesarea (xxvi. 12-18). And these exhibit two apparent divergences. 1. In ix. 4 and xxii. 7 it is said that after the blaze of light Saul fell to the earth, whereas in xxvi. 14 it is pointedly stated that they all—he and his attendants—fell. The fact is that the whole company fell prostrate, but, whereas his attendants quickly recovered from their panic and arose, Saul lay still, engaged with the vision which was hidden from them. When all was over, he —not ‘ arose’ but—‘ was raised ’ (ἠγέρθη) by them (ix. 8). 2. In ix. 7 it is said that the attendants ‘ stood mute, hearing the voice, but beholding no man’; while in xxii. g it is said: ‘they beheld the light, but they did not hear the voice of Him that talked to me.’ This seems a manifest contradiction; and if it were real, it would be equally serious and surprising. It would not merely cast discredit on the veracity of the story, but would convict the historian of crass carelessness. It is inconceiv- able that so obvious a discrepancy should have escaped so skilful a writer. His justification has been attempted by appealing toa grammatical distinction. In ix. 7 ἀκούειν takes the gen. (τῆς φωνῆς), While in xxii. 9 it takes the accus. (τὴν φωνήν) ; and the distinction is that ἀκούειν τὴν φωνήν signifies to hear the voice and understand what is said, whereas ἀκούειν τῆς φωνῆς is to hear the sound of the voice as a mere tnarticulate noise without distin- guishing the words or understanding the sense. Cf. Grotius: ‘“Sonum confuse audientes, non autem intelligentes verba.’ Bengel: ‘ Audiebat vocem solem, non vocem cum verbis.’ The distinction, however, is not strictly observed. Cf. Acts xi. 7; xxii. 7; Mk. xiv. 64, where in each case it would require the : 668 “ἃ. ὡὐνλ, NARRATIVES OF SAUL’S CONVERSION 663 accus. A simple and satisfactory explanation of the apparent discrepancy is furnished by Chrysostom, who understands that the attendants heard Saul’s voice (ix. 7), but they did not hear the Lord’s voice (xxii. 9). They did not hear the Lord’s question, but they heard Saul’s answer, and they wondered at the one- sided conversation, as it appeared to them. ‘The voice’ in ix. 7 does not necessarily refer to ‘ the voice ’ already mentioned in ver. 4 (Blass), since then in ver. xxii. 9 there would, in view of ver. 7, have been no need to define ‘ the voice’ as ‘ the voice of Him that talked to me.’ III PAUL’S MALADY Waat this may have been is and probably must remain proble- matic. All the valid evidence is furnished by two references of the Apostle. Writing to the Galatians in the year 53, he recalls the circumstances of his first appearance among them six years previously (cf. Gal. iv. 13-15); and here three facts emerge. 1. The occasion of his visit was ‘a physical infirmity.” He had not intended visiting them just then, but an illness had com- pelled him. 2. The malady was not merely distressing to him- self but offensive to those about him. It was ‘a trial to them’ ; and he gratefully acknowledges how they had conquered their natural aversion. 3. It affected his sight, and had evoked their special sympathy: ‘if possible, they would have dug out their eyes and given them to him.’ Jerome presents four opinions apparently current in his day. 1. The Apostle’s ‘infirmity’ was the rudimentary teaching (carnalis met sermonis annuntiatio) which he had at the outset been obliged to address to the Galatians as babes unfit for strong meat (quasi parvulis vobis atque lactentibus per infirmitatem carnis vesiy@). 2. The insignificance of his personal appearance which might have led them to despise his message. 3. A sickness from which he was suffering when he came among them and which, according to tradition, was severe headache (tradunt eum gravis- simum capitis dolorem se@pe perpessum). Cf. Tert. De Pudic. 13: ‘dolorem, ut aiunt, auricule vel capitis.’ 4. The insults and persecutions which the enemies of the Gospel inflicted upon him at the beginning of his Galatian ministry. So Chrys., Theod. Mops., Aug. (Expos. Epist. ad Gal. 37). Whatever the trouble may have been, it was no temporary affliction ; for he refers to it eight years later (cf. 2 Cor. xii. 7) and shows how it had clung to him during the interval and how he had recognised in it a precious use. He styles it here σκόλοψ τῇ PREIS and the primary question is the significance of σκόλοψ, PAUL’S MALADY 665 It properly denoted ‘a stake’ (stipes, sudes), especially the sharp stake which, in the horrible torture of impalement (σ κόλοψις), was driven through the length of the victim’s body, like a spit through a fish, till it emerged from his mouth. Cf. Lipsius, De Cruce, vi; Sen. De Consol. ad Marc. xx; Epist. xiv. It is, however, in- credible that the Apostle should have likened his infirmity, whatever it may have been, to this awful agony. That would have been a gross exaggeration. Norisit necessary to impute it to him, since in later Greek σκόλοψ denoted merely a large ‘ thorn.’ Cf. ZEsop. Fab. 334 (Halm), where for τὸν σκόλοπα Babrius (122) has τὴν ἄκανθαν. And this is the meaning of the word in LXX. Cf. Num. xxxiii. 55 ; Ez. xxviii. 24; Hos. ii. 6. What, then, does the Apostle mean when he says that ‘ there was given him a thorn for his flesh’? An enormous array of opinions is presented by Poole (Synops. Crit.), but these fall under three types. 1. “Some bodily infirmity.’ This is the earliest definition (cf. Iren. v. iii. 1). Presently, however, the infirmity, as we have seen, was specified as headache. 2. Chrys. rejects the tradition of headache (κεφαλαλγία), and here as in Gal. finds a reference to the Apostle’s persecutions. 3. Misled by Vulg. stimulus carnis mea, the medieval monastics supposed that it was the solicitation of carnal desire. Cf. Bern. De Grad. Humil. (prim. grad.). And this is the Roman Catholic interpretation. Cf. Corn. a Lap.: ‘ Videtur communis fidelium sensus, qui hinc libidinis tentationem stimulum carnis vocant.’ On the Apostle’s own testimony his infirmity was a physical malady ; and perhaps this is the utmost certainty attainable. It is regrettable that Lightfoot (Gal., pp. 186 ff.) should have approved the unfortunate theory that, like Julius Cesar, Mohammed, Cromwell, and Napoleon, Paul was an epileptic (cf. Ramsay’s discussion in Teaching of Paul, pp. 306 ff.). It is a warning against rash speculation; nevertheless the very antiquity of the ‘ headache’ tradition entitles it to consideration ; and what is recorded of the Apostle’s malady—especially the circumstances of his first seizure and its frequent recurrence— is strongly suggestive of malarial fever. ‘Every one,’ says Ramsay in his authoritative and persuasive discussion (Hist. Comm. on Gal., pp. 422 ff.), ‘ who is familiar with the effect of the fevers that infest especially the south coasts of Asia Minor, but are found everywhere in the country, knows that they come in recurring attacks, which prostrate the sufferer for the time, and then, after exhausting themselves, pass off, leaving him very 664° LIFE’ AND LETTERS, OF SP Pave weak ; that a common remedy familiar to all is change to the higher lands ; and that, whenever any one who has once suffered has his strength taxed, physically or mentally, the old enemy prostrates him afresh, and makes him for a time incapable of any work. Apart from the weakness and ague, the most trying and painful accompaniment is severe headache.’ IV LUKE AND ANTIOCH THE tradition is that Luke was a native of Antioch. Cf. Eus. Hist. Eccl. ut. 4: Λουκᾶς δὲ τὸ μὲν γένος ὧν τῶν ἀπ’ ᾿Αντιοχείας τὴν δὲ ἐπιστήμην ἰατρὸς τὰ πλεῖστα συγγεγονὼς τῷ Παύλῳ: Hieronym. Script Eccl.: ‘Lucas medicus Antiochensis, ut ejus scripta indicant, Greci sermonis non ignarus fuit, sectator Apostoli Pauli et omnis peregrinationis ejus comes.’ It has from an early date been generally assumed that by Antioch was meant the famous Syrian capital (cf. Hieronym., Comment. in Mait. Prefat.: “Lucas medicus, natione Syrus Antiochensis’); and hence much doubt has arisen. The tradition has either been entirely discredited, as by Meyer, and ascribed to a confusion of Luke with Lucius, the prophet of Syrian Antioch (cf. Ac. xiii. 1), or explained away, as by Ramsay (cf. St. Paul the Traveller, p. 389; Luke the Physician, pp. 65 ff.), who finds something singular in the phrase of Eusebius “being according to birth of those from Antioch,’ and maintains that ‘this curious and awkward expression is obviously chosen in order to avoid the statement that Luke was an Antiochian ; and it amounts to an assertion that Luke was not an Antiochian, but belonged to a family that had a connection with Antioch.’ Ramsay’s theory is that he was a Macedonian and belonged to Philippi. He appears, on the evidence of the first personal narration, in Paul’s company at Troas (cf. Ac. xvi. Io), and he was, Ramsay thinks, the ‘man of Macedonia’ who appealed to the Apostle ‘Come over and help us’ (52. Paul the Traveller, pp. 200 ff.). But indeed there is nothing either curious or awkward in the language of Eusebius. He might have written ‘ Luke being by race an Antiochene’ (τὸ μὲν γένος dv ᾿Αντιοχεύς), but Antioch had furnished other notable converts, and therefore he wrote ‘ being in respect of his race one of the Antiochene group.’ There is, however, good reason for doubting the tradition if Syrian Antioch be intended ; for there is not the slightest evidence 667 668) (LIFE AND LETTERS OF Sy rae in the Book of Acts that Luke was ever connected with that city, excepting only a curious variant in xi. 28 where Cod. Bez. (D), supported by Vet. It. (cf. Aug. De Serm. Dom. in Mont. τι. 57), has ἣν δὲ πολλὴ ἀγαλλίασις: συνεστραμμένων δὲ ἡμῶν ἔφη εἷς ἐξ αὐτῶν ὀνόματι "“AyaBos σημαίνων, ‘And there was much rejoicing ; and when we were assembled, one of them named Agabus spake signifying.’ This implies that the historian Luke was a member of the Church at Syrian Antioch in the year 44, but it is doubtless the emendation of a copyist who shared the idea that Syrian Antioch was Luke’s home. Since, however, in its earliest form as it appears in Eusebius the tradition simply avers that he was an Antiochene, it may very well be Pisidian Antioch that is intended; and this possibility is substantiated by the sacred narrative. (1) Observe the fulness and manifest verisimilitude of the account of Paul’s first appearance in Pisidian Antioch (xiii. 14-52), especially the report of his discourse in the synagogue. It is un- mistakably the report of a hearer and one who had been im- pressed deeply. One evidence is the distinctively Pauline doctrine (cf. vers. 38, 39) ; and even more significant is the preface (vers. 16): ‘And Paul stood up, and beckoning with the hand said.’ There are two peculiarities here. First, the Jewish manner was that a preacher should sit while he addressed his audience (cf. The Days of His Flesh, p. 213), but Paul, as befitted the Apostle of the Gentiles, adopted the fashion of a Greek orator (cf. Ac. xvi. 22). Again, ‘ beckoning with the hand’ was a rhetorical habit of the Apostle, designed to arrest attention at the outset (cf. xxi. 40; xxvi. 1). Here also the eye-witness appears. Luke was present in the synagogue, and the scene lived in his memory. It may be that he took down the discourse in shorthand; for this is a very ancient art, having been practised in Greece at least as early as the fourth century. At all events Diogenes Laertius (1. 48) tells how Xenophon, the ‘ hearer of Socrates ’ (ἀκροατὴς Σωκράτους), ‘took shorthand notes of what he said (ὑποσημειωσάμενος τὰ λεγόμενα) and published them under the title of Memoirs.’ The shorthand writers were termed onpeto- γράφοι, ὀξυγράφοι, or ταχυγράφοι, in Latin notartt. The invention of the art was ascribed to Ennius, and it was extensively practised. Thus Plutarch (Cat. Min. xxiii.) explains how it came about that Cato the Younger’s speech at the trial of the Catilinarian con- spirators was, alone of all his speeches, preserved: ‘Cicero the Consul had beforehand instructed specially swift writers in signs “LUKE AND ANTIOCH 669 which had the force of many letters in little short marks, and introduced them into various parts of the Senate House.’ Socrates Scholasticus (Eccl. Hist. vi. iv.) says that some of Chrysostom’s brilliant Homilies were ‘published by himself, while others were taken down while he spoke by shorthand writers’; and this explains the numerous impromptus which they exhibit, as when he rebukes the congregation for letting themselves be distracted from his discourse by watching an acolyte lighting the church lamps. Cf. Ausonius, Epigr. cxlvi; Becker, Gallus, p- 33; Bingham, Anféig. xiv. iv. 29; Milligan, N. T. Documents, pp. 241 ff. Peculiarly interesting in this connection is Oxyrh. Pap. 724. (2) On their return journey Paul and Barnabas visited Antioch and counselled their converts (cf. xiv. 21-23) ; and in reporting their exhortations the historian includes himself among the hearers by employing the first personal pronoun: they ‘ confirmed the souls of the disciples, exhorting to continuance in the Faith, and that through many tribulations we must enter into the Kingdom of God.’ This may indeed be taken as an abrupt transition from oratio obliqua to oratio recta (cf. Moulton’s Winer, p. 725), but it is more naturally regarded as the first of the ‘ we ' passages.’ a“ (3) When he visited Pisidian Antioch in the course of his second mission, Paul intended to proceed westward into the Province of Asia, but he was providentially prevented, probably by a. recurrence of his malady, and travelled northward, uncertain where he was called tolabour. At Troas the question was decided by the call to pass over to Europe. Luke was with him at that momentous crisis (cf. xvi. 10), and it is reasonable to suppose that he had accompanied the ailing Apostle from Antioch, or perhaps, since the brief record of the northward wandering is in the third person (vers. 7, 8), had followed him thence and joined him at Troas. (4) It is further significant that in his narrative of the Apostle’s movements through Southern Galatia Luke displays a local intimacy which stamps him as a native. An apt instance is Ac. xiv. 6, where, relating the flight of Paul and Barnabas from Iconium, he says that ‘they fled unto the cities of Lycaonia, Lystra and Derbe, and the surrounding District.’ Iconium belonged officially to the Lycaonian District, and therefore it was, no less than Lystra and Derbe, ‘a city of Lycaonia,’ and when they quitted the town, they did not flee into the Lycaonian 67o LIFE “AND LETTERS OF ΓΡΑῸΣ District: they were in that District already. This is true according to the imperial nomenclature; but Iconium had formerly belonged to Phrygia, and its people clung to the old connection and still reckoned themselves Phrygians. And thus Luke’s language here betrays his intimacy with local usage and his sympathy with local sentiment. He was himself a Phrygian. Hence it appears that the sacred narrative associates Luke with Pisidian Antioch and points to the conclusion that, when the primitive tradition makes him an Antiochene, it means Pisidian Antioch. This city was important in the apostolic period, but it quickly decayed and sank into obscurity; and hence it was natural that centuries later, when Antioch was mentioned without definition, it should be supposed that the famous Syrian capital was intended. Υ THE DECREE OF THE COUNCIL AT JERUSALEM THE authorities exhibit a radical divergence in the text both of the motion of James and of the Council’s resolution. 1. The motion (Ac. xv. 20): (1) NCEHLP, Vulg., Chrys.: rév ἀλισγημάτων τῶν εἰδώλων Kai τῆς πορνείας Kat τοῦ (AB om. τοῦ) πνικτοῦ καὶ τοῦ αἵματος, ‘the pollutions of idols and fornication and what is strangled and blood.’ (2) Cod. Bez.(D), Iren, (111. xii. 17), Ambrstr. (on Gal. ii. 1, 2) omit καὶ rod πνικτοῦ, “and what is strangled.’ 2. The decree (ver. 29): (1) N*A*BC, Sah., Cop., Vulg., Clem. Alex. (Pedag. τι. vii. 56), Orig. (In Ep. ad Rom. Comment. ul. 13, ΙΧ. 28; Contra Cels. Vill. 29): εἰδωλοθύτων καὶ αἵματος καὶ πνικτῶν (N°A7EHLP πνικτοῦ) καὶ πορνείας, “things sacrificed to idols and blood and things strangled (what is strangled) and fornication.’ (2) Cod. Bez. (D), Iren., Tert. (De Pud. 12), Cypr. (Test. adv. Jud. 119), Ambrstr. omit καὶ πνικτῶν, ‘ and things strangled.’ The situation is thus that the Alexandrian and the Western authorities are ranged against each other; and the difference between them is that, according to the former, the prohibition was fourfold—(1) things sacrificed to idols, (2) blood, (3) things strangled, and (4) fornication ; whereas, according to the latter, it was threefold—(z) things sacrificed to idols, (2) blood, and (3) fornication. Moreover, at the close of ver. 20 and in ver. 29 after πορνείας the Western authorities generally—-the one important exception being Tertullian—insert the Golden Rule, negatively expressed : καὶ ὅσα μὴ θέλουσιν (θέλετε) ἑαυτοῖς γίνεσθαι, ἑτέροις μὴ ποιεῖν. And after πράξετε (ver. 29) Cod. Bez. (D), Iren., Tert. add φερόμενοι ἐν τῷ ᾿Αγίῳ Πνεύματι, ‘ being borne along in the Holy Spirit’ (cf. 2 Pet. i. 21). The question is, Which of these versions of the decree is authentic? There are two pos- sibilities: either that the clause καὶ τοῦ πνικτοῦ (τῶν πνικτῶν) in the Alexandrian is a marginal gloss interpolated in. the text, or that it is genuine and has been omitted from the Western text ; and the evidence decisively favours the former alternative. τ. It is true that the Alexandrian reading is supported by the great uncials; but it should be considered that the earliest of ; 671 672: LIFE AND LETTERS OF (ST Pave these dates only from the 4 cent., and the Western reading is confirmed by Irenzus (25 cent.) and Tertullian (early 3% cent.). Nor is there lacking textual evidence that the Alexandrian clause καὶ τοῦ πνικτοῦ is a gloss. (1) The variant καὶ πνικτοῦ in ver. 20 suggests that the simple πνικτοῦ was entered in the margin over against αἵματος, explaining the latter in terms of the Mosaic precept (Lev. xvii. 10-16). Presently it crept into the text and «ai was prefixed to make it an article in the enumeration. Afterwards τοῦ was added to bring it into conformity with the other clauses. Here the interpolation is seen in progress. (2) Though elsewhere Origen quotes the fourfold Alexandrian prohibition, in one instance (In Matt. Comment. Ser. 1o, surviving only in a Latin translation) he quotes, not indeed the Western, but a threefold prohibition—immolatum et suffocatum et fornica- tionem, ‘ what is sacrificed and what is strangled and fornication.’ Here πνικτοῦ holds the place of αἵματος in the Western threefold enumeration, suggesting that in some Alexandrian texts the gloss was not interpolated but substituted. And indeed this was a more reasonable procedure, since on the Levitical interpretation αἵματος and πνικτοῦ are synonymous, both alike denoting the eating of flesh which retains the blood. 2. On the assumption that the Western text is authentic the genesis of the Alexandrian is apparent. According to the Western three restrictions were imposed on the Gentile converts, and all three were ethical, not ceremonial. ‘ Things sacrificed to idols ’ denoted the flesh of victims which had been offered in pagan temples and of which only certain portions were consumed on the altars ; and what is here contemplated is, as appears from the controversy which afterwards arose in the Corinthian Church (cf. x Cor. viii), the countenance which a Christian lent to idolatry and its attendant immoralities by participating in a pagan — banquet, particularly when it was celebrated in an idol-temple (cf. p. 269). Thus the prohibition of ‘ things sacrificed to idols ’ or ‘the pollutions of idols’ is not a food-law but an ethical precept. And similarly with the prohibition of ‘ blood,’ αἷμα has here its frequent signification (cf. Lev. xvii. 4; Num. xxxv. 27; Ps. li. 14; Mt. xxiii. 30; Rev. vi. 10) of ‘ murder,’ homicidium (Tert. Cf. Aug. Contra Faust. Manich. xxxii. 13: ‘id est, ne quidquam ederent carnis, cujus sanguis non est effusus. Quod alii non sic intelligunt, sed a sanguine preeceptum esse abstinendum, ne quis homicidio se contaminet.’) ; and so neither is the pro- hibition of blood a food-law. What is forbidden is not the DECREE OF COUNCIL AT JERUSALEM 673 eating but the shedding of blood. The Alexandrian corruption of the text originated in a natural failure to perceive the consistently ethical intention of the decree. It began with a narrow inter- pretation of ‘things sacrificed to idols’; and the situation is illustrated by the subsequent controversy at Corinth. The flesh of the numerous temple-victims furnished the city-market, and the more scrupulous sort of Christians, with the decree of the Council in view, regarded it as unclean. Paul dealt with this scruple, and defined the prohibition of ‘ things sacrificed to idols ’ as applying only to participation in the sacrifice. Once the prohibition of ‘ things sacrificed to idols’ had been misconstrued as a food-law, it was inevitable that the prohibition of ‘ blood ’ should be likewise misconstrued and taken to mean not the shedding but the eating of blood; and it was so defined by the marginal gloss πνικτοῦ, ‘what is strangled,’ which by and by crept into the text. Thus the Alexandrian text was a natural and indeed inevitable corruption of the Western. Cf. Ambrstr.: ‘ Denique tria hc mandata ab apostolis et senioribus data reperiuntur, que ignorant leges Romane, id est, ut abstineant se ab idololatria, et sanguine, sicut Noe, et fornicatione. Que sophiste Grecorum non intel- ligentes, scientes tamen a sanguine abstinendum, adulterarunt Scripturam, quartum mandatum addentes, et a suffocato observ- andum.’ On the other hand, it is an untenable supposition that the Western text is a corruption of the Alexandrian, prompted by dislike of the food-restrictions. And that for this reason, that the prohibition of eating blood actually prevailed and was scrupulously observed in the West, particularly in Gaul and North Africa. Thus in the letter which the Churches of Lyons and Vienne addressed to Asia and Phrygia in 172, and which was probably written by Irenzus, it is told how the female martyr Biblias answered the persecutors’ charge that the Christians indulged in ‘ Thyestean banquets.’ ‘ How,’ she said, ‘ could such persons eat children, when they are not permitted to eat the blood even of brute beasts?’ (Cf. Eus. Hist. Eccl. v. 1.) Simi- larly, according to Tertullian (Apol. 9; cf. De Spect. 13; De Monogam. 5; De Jejun. 4, 15), the Christians were forbidden to eat blood, and therefore they abstained from the flesh of animals which had been strangled or died naturally (suffocatis et morticinis). Hence so little were the Westerns likely to be offended by food- regulations that they would rather have been inclined by their actual practice to approve of these; and their retention of the 2U 674 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL threefold text constitutes a strong evidence of its authenticity. It would appear that there was a disposition among them to adopt the ceremonial interpretation ; and the addition of the Golden Rule and the words ‘ borne along in the Holy Spirit ’ was doubtless designed to safeguard the ethical and spiritual interpretation. 3. According to the Western text the decree of the Council was a courageous decision such as the crisis demanded, recognising the new order and making a clean sweep of the ancient and out- worn ceremonies. But according to the Alexandrian text it was a faltering compromise, meeting the Gentile converts half-way, releasing them from the main obligations of the Mosaic Law, particularly the rite of Circumcision, but requiring that they should propitiate Jewish sentiment by submitting to certain food- restrictions. Such a decision would have been at once futile and mischievous. It would have contented neither party, since no avoidance of unclean meats would have atoned in Jewish eyes for neglect of the supreme rite of Circumcision ; while the food-restrictions would have seemed to the Gentile converts ridiculous and vexatious, and they would speedily have been ignored. ‘The Apostles,’ says St. Augustine (Contra Faust. Manich. xxxii. 13), ‘seem to me to have chosen for the time an easy thing in nowise burdensome to observe, that therein Gentiles and Israelities withal might observe something in common. But that time being past, what Christian now observes this rule, not to touch thrushes or tinier birds unless their blood has been poured out, nor to eat a hare if it has been knocked on the head and not killed by a bleeding wound? And the few who still perhaps dread touching those things, are ridiculed by the rest ; so firmly held ia this matter are all men’s minds by that judgment of the Truth: “ Not that which entereth into your mouth, defileth you, but that which proceedeth out ” (Mt. xv. 11).’. The compromise would have been futile. At the best it would have established a short-lived modus vivendi ; and while it continued, it would have operated mischievously, making a cleavage in the Church and creating a caste-distinction. The presupposition was that the Jewish Christians should continue to observe the Mosaic Law in its entirety ; but a concession was granted to the weakness of the Gentile Christians. They were required to observe only ‘ the necessary things,’ and thus they were recognised as an inferior order. And it would be amazing had a Christian Council reckoned among the ‘ things necessary’ to salvation a scrupulosity which our Lord had so emphatically condemned. VI THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM I. THE Mode.—Baptism (βαπτισμός, βάπτισμα) is the Greek rendering of the Hebrew ΠΟ which was employed of the Jewish ceremonial ablutions, especially the purificatory bath—the Baptism of Proselytes (cf. Edersheim, Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, Appendix x11 ; Schiirer, 11. 11. pp. 319 ff.)—administered to converts from heathenism on their admission to the Common- wealth of Israel. The verb bap signified ‘immerse’ or ‘ dip.’ Cf. 2 Ki. v.14: ‘ Then went he down, and dipped himself (530) seven times in Jordan.’ Here the Septuagint have ἐβαπτίσατο, and βαπτίζειν also. signified ‘immerse.’ It was used, for example, of a ship sinking in the sea. Cf. sop. Fab. 370 (Halm) : τῆς νεὼς κινδυνευούσης βαπτίζεσθαι. Jos. Vit. 3: βαπτι- σθέντος yap ἡμῶν τοῦ πλοίου κατὰ μέσον τὸν ᾿Αδρίαν. Immersion was thus the proper Jewish mode, but it was found not only difficult where water was scanty but in certain cases actually dangerous. It is told that in the days of R. Joshua ben Levi the Galileans represented that the chill was harmful to their women and occasioned sterility (cf. Lightfoot, Hor. Heb. on Mt. 111. 6) ; and among the Christians at all events a modifica- tion was certainly adopted in the administration of the Sacrament. They retained the method of immersion, but two others were recognised and practised in the primitive Church. These were effusion er pouring (ἔκχυσις, effusio) and aspersion or sprinkling (ῥαντισμός, aspersio). The evidence appears on the pages of the New Testament, and it is this—that the sacred writers not merely make distinct allusion to all the three modes but unfold the symbolic significance of each. I. St. Paul plainly had the mode of immersion in view when to the charge that his doctrine of Justification by Faith apart from Works involved antinomianism he opposed the idea of a mystic union of believers with Christ (cf. Rom. vi. 3, 4; Col. ii. 12). Faith identifies us with Him at each stage of His redemptive 675 676. LIFE? AND LETTERS) OF (Si iPad career—His Death, His Burial, His Resurrection, and His Ascension. And this is symbolised by our immersion in the baptismal water: we die with Him, are buried with Him, are raised with Him, and live with Him. This idea was afterwards quaintly elaborated. The fish (ἰχθύς) was the commonest of all the numerous symbols in vogue among the early Christians. It denoted Christ, inasmuch as the letters of ἰχθύς are the initials of ᾿Ιησοῦς Χριστὸς Θεοῦ Yids Σωτήρ, ‘Jesus Christ God’s Son Saviour.’ The Lord had called His disciples to be ‘ fishers of men,’ catching them in the Gospel-net and drawing them out of the world’s restless sea ; and so believers were termed ‘ fishes.’ (Cf. these lines in Clement of Alexandria’s hymn at the close of the Pedagogus : € “ f ἁλιεῦ ΕΝ ‘Fisher of mortals, whom Thou dost save τῶν σωζομένων, ; : See Rees Out of the ocean’s strife, ἰχθῦς dyvots Luring pure fish from the angry wave ἜΣ ἐχϑρ rages With the sweet bait of life.’ γλυκερᾷ (wn δελεάζων. The idea was naturally associated with Baptism—the immersion of the fishes in the water and their drawing forth, their ‘ catching for life’ (cf. Lk. v. το). ‘ We little fishes,’ says Tertullian (De Bapt. 1), ‘ according to our Fish, Jesus Christ, are born in the water’ (‘ Nos pisciculi secundum ἰχθὺν nostrum, Jesum Christum, in aqua nascimur ’). 2. The mode of effusion also appears in the New Testament, and that in a singularly impressive fashion. John the Baptist declared that his Baptism with water unto repentance was prophetic of a nobler Baptism—the Messiah’s Baptism with the Holy Spirit and with fire (cf. Mt. ili. 11) ; and the Lord reiterated the promise at His Ascension (cf. Ac. i. 5). And how was it fulfilled ? On the Day of Pentecost ‘ there appeared unto them tongues parting asunder, like as of fire; and it sat upon each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit’ (Ac. il. 3, 4). That was the promised Baptism; and it is presently defined as an ‘ outpouring’ or ‘effusion’ (vers. 16, 17, 33: ἐκχεῶ, ἐξέχεεν). Cf. Tit. iti. 4-6. It could not have been thus designated unless effusion had been a recognised mode of administration; and the symbolic value of this mode lies in its proclamation of the essential truth that the grace of the Sacrament is an operation of the Holy Spirit. ᾿ς THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM 657 3. Aspersion too was a recognised mode of administration. Cf. Heb. x. 22: ‘Let us draw near with a true heart in ful- ness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled (ῥεραντισμένοι τὰς καρδίας) from an evil conscience, and our body washed with pure water.’ Here are both the symbol of Baptism (‘ our body washed with pure water’) and its spiritual counterpart (‘ our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience’). The language is derived from Ez. xxxvi. 25, 26, where Jerome comments thus: ‘I restored them to their pristine glory, so that, when they believed and turned from their error, I might pour forth upon ‘them the clean water of saving Baptism and cleanse them from all their abominations ; and might give them a new heart to believe in the Son of God, and a new spirit. And it should be considered that the new heart and the new spirit are given through effusion and sprinkling of water (per effusionem et aspersionem aque).’ The closing words indicate that effusion and aspersion were regarded as practically identical, and from this and other passages (cf. Aug. Quest. in Num. xxxiii; Contra Adversar. Leg. οἱ Proph. τι. 23) it appears that in the time of Jerome and Augustine effusion or aspersion was the prevailing mode of ad- ministration. An interesting corroboration is furnished by the textual variations in two passages. (1) Mk. vii. 4: “ When they come from the market-place, except they wash themselves, they eat not.’ Here the MSS. vary between βαπτίσωνται, ‘ baptise (1.6., ‘dip’ or ‘immerse’) themselves,’ and ῥαντίσωνται, “sprinkle themselves.’ (2) Rev. xix. 13, where A.V. has‘ clothed with a vesture dift in blood,’ and R.V. ‘ arrayed in a garment sprinkled with blood.’ These renderings represent different readings. Some MSS. have βεβαμμένον, ‘ baptised’ or ‘ dipped,’ and others περιρεραμμένον or ῥεραντισμένον, ; sprinkled.’ The plain inference is that βαπτίζειν, ‘baptise,’ and ῥαντίζειν, ‘sprinkle,’ had come to be employed as synonymous terms. Τὶ... conclusion from all this evidence is that in the Apostolic Church the Sacrament of Baptism was administered after three modes—Immersion or Dipping, Effusion or Pouring, and Aspersion or Sprinkling. (Cf. 1 Cor. x. 2, where Aspersion and Immersion appear side by side.) Each was recognised as legitimate, and the choice was determined by considerations of convenience and suitability. This is borne out by the article on Baptism in that primitive directory, The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles (vii): ‘Concerning Baptism: thus baptise. After all this preliminary instruction baptise into the name of 678 LIFE VAND LETTERS IOP STP ae the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit in living (2.c., ‘running ἢ water. And if thou hast not living water, baptise into other water; and if thou canst not do it in cold water (i.e., in cases of delicacy), do it in warm. And if thou hast neither, pour forth (ἔκχεον) water on the head thrice in the name of Father and Son and Holy Spirit.’ 11. The Subjects.—The question here 15 whether the grace of Baptism be limited to persons of mature understanding, capable of personal faith, or extends to the children of the faithful, though still unconscious babes. It may seem at the first glance as though the testimony of the New Testament were decisive, since the command is ‘ Believe, and be baptised’ (cf. Ac. 11. 38, 41). But it should be considered that Christianity was then at the outset of its career. The message was a new thing in the world, and converts both Jewish and pagan were baptised on profession of ‘repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ ’ (Ac. xx. 21). So it happens still on mission fields, and the conditions in apostolic days were analogous. Moreover, the Apostles recognised that the promise was not to their converts alone but to their converts’ children (cf. Ac. ii. 37-39) ; and it is repeatedly recorded that they baptised not only their converts but their converts’ households (cf. xvi. 14, I5; 29-34), plainly implying that the faith of the head of the house availed vicariously for his family (cf. 1 Cor. vil. 14). And this inference is surely attested. 1. According to Paul Baptism is ‘ the Circumcision of Christ ’ (Col. ii. 11, 12). It is the seal of God’s New Covenant with Christ and His Chrrch as Circumcision was the seal of the Old Covenant with Abraham and his seed after him (cf. Rom. iv. 11). The New Covenant is not less but larger, wider and more be- nignant than the Old; and as the children of faithful Israelites were comprehended in the Old Covenant and every male received the seal of Circumcision, so the children of believers are coms prehended in the New and receive the seal of Baptism. 2. Infant Baptism was early practised, and Origen expressly and repeatedly affirms that it was derived from the Apostles (ci. Ad Rom. Comment. v. 9; In Lev. Hom. vii. 3; In Luc. Hom. xiv). Its legitimacy went unchallenged until post-Reformation days, and the objection came of over-emphasis of the Lutheran doctrine of Justification by Faith. It is indeed by faith that we are saved ; but, as the Pauline doctrine of Imputation and the scientific law of Heredity proclaim, the efficacy of faith is vicarious .— 2 THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM 679 as well as personal. Christian nurture avails much. The nature which he inherits and the atmosphere which he breathes make a momentous difference to a child; and the Christian Sacrament of Baptism recognises this. As a matter of fact the children of believing parents share the blessings of the Covenant of Grace ; and since they are actually in the Covenant, they receive its seal. 3. It is frequently objected to the practice of Infant Baptism that, so far from being a primitive usage, it is a late outgrowth of the doctrine of Baptismal Regeneration. The Sacrament was conceived as not merely sealing but conferring grace ; and there- fore its administration was extended to infants, since they were doomed on the score of Original Sin, and must perish everlastingly if they died unbaptised. This, however, is a false reading of history. The idea of the regenerating efficacy of Baptism appeared at a very early date, and it invested post-baptismal sin with a peculiar heinousness, since it was nothing less than a desecration of the Holy Spirit’s grace, and not only was it fatal to the sinner but it involved his sponsors in grave liability. So heavy a responsibility, it was felt, should not be lightly incurred ; and during the Middle Ages it was customary for warriors, when on their conversion to the Christian Faith they received the Sacra- ment of Baptism, to exempt their right arms from immersion in ‘ the laver of regeneration,’ that they might thus continue without sacrilege to work bloodshed and violence. But in earlier and less superstitious days a different device was adopted. It was the withholding of Baptism from infants and the postponement of the administration until they had passed the perilous period of youth with its passions and inexperience. This was advocated as early as the close of the second century. ‘The delaying of Baptism,’ argues Tertullian (De Bat. 18), ‘ is more advantageous, especially in the case of little children. For what need is there that danger should be thrust upon the sponsors also, in that it is possible that they may both themselves fail of their promises by dying and be foiled by the issue of the child’s evil disposition ? The Lord indeed says (Mt. xix. 14): “ Forbid them not to come unto Me.”’ Let them come, then, when they grow up; let them come when they learn, when they are taught whither they are coming; let them be made Christians when they can know Christ.’ Thus it appears that Infant Baptism was the Church’s practice down to the time of Tertullian, and its disuse was an innovation dictated by the notion of Baptismal Regeneration. Thence- forward the custom prevailed of postponing the administration 680 LIFE AND: LETTERS OF ST) PAvUL until the attainment of maturity and often indeed until the approach of death. It was, for example, in the year 306 that the Emperor Constantine was converted, but it was not until his last illness in 335 that he submitted to the sacred ordinance (cf. Gibbon, Decline and Fall, chap. xx). The pious Emperor Valentinian 11 in like manner delayed his Baptism, meaning to receive it in due season; but the hand of an assassin cut short his life, and he died unbaptised to the exceeding distress of his relatives, whom Ambrose consoled in a fine discourse, assuring them that the Emperor’s desire for the Sacrament would be accepted by God as equivalent to its observance (Ambros. De Obit. Valent. Consol.). There is also the case of Augustine. He © was three and thirty ere he was baptised (Confess. ix. 6); and he relates that once during his early childhood he fell dangerously ill, and his mother Monnica was minded to have the Sacrament administered to him forthwith; but she was restrained by the dread of his incurring the guilt of post-baptismal sin should he recover. And so it came to pass that he went so long un- baptised, ‘ because after that washing there would be greater and more perilous guilt in the defilement of transgressions’ (Confess. i. 11). Cf. Relig. Baxter. 1.11.6: “1 found in all Antiquity, that though Infant Baptism was held lawful by the Church, yet some with Tertullian and Nazianzen, thought it most convenient to make no haste, and the rest left the time of Baptism to every ones liberty, and forced none to be baptized: Insomuch as not only Constantine, Theodosius, and such others as were converted at Years of Discretion, but Augustine and many such as were the Children of Christian Parents (one or both) did defer their Baptism much longer than I think they should have done. So that in the Primitive Church some were Baptized in Infancy, and some at ripe Age, and some a little before their Death ; and none were forced, but all left free ; and the only Penalty (among men) of their delay was, that so long they were without the Priviledges of the Church, and were numbred but with the Catechumens, or Expectanis.’ Vil TenpAL “PECULIARITIES IN THE ΝΕ LEPTERS I THE EPISTLES TO THE THESSALONIANS 1. In τ Th. and nowhere else in Pauline Epistles :— αἰφνίδιος ν. 3. ἀληθῶς 1]. 13. ἀμέμπτως" ii. 10, iii, 13, v. 23. ἀναμένω" 1. 10. ἀπάντησις iv. 17. amopharviftw* ii. 17. ἀρχάγ- γελος iv. 6. ἀσφάλεια v. 5. draxtos* v. 14. γαστήρν. 3 (also in quot. Tit. i. 12). εἴσοδος 1. 9, 11. τ. ἐκδιώκω 1]. 15. ἐνορκίζωϊ Vv. 27. ἐξηχέομαιξ i, 8. ἡσνχάζω iv. 11. θεοδίδακτος" iv. 9. KaTafwopati. 5. κέλευσμα iv. 16. KodAaxéa*ii.5. ὀλιγόψυχος ἢ v. 14. ὁλόκληρος v. 23. ὁλοτελής v. 23. ὀμείρομαιξ ii. 8. ὁσίως 11. 10. παραμυθέομαι ii. 11, V. 14. περιλείπομαιξ iv. 15, 17. προπάσχω ii. το. σαίνομαι 11]. 3. συμφυλέτης ii. 14. τοιγαροῦν ἵν. 8. τροφός ii. 7. ὑβρίζω τὶ. 2. ὑπερβαίνω ἵν. 6. ὑπερεκπερισσῦῶς ἢ v.13. dro~* 1. 8. ὠδέν᾽ν. 3. 2. In 2 Th. and nowhere else in Pauline Epistles :— ἀναιρέω ii. 8. ἀποστασία ii. 3. amaxtew* ili. 7. ἀτάκτως ili, 6, 11. ἄτοπος iii. 2. δίκη i. 9. ἐἔνδειγμαῖβ i. 5. ἐνδοξά- ζεσθαιΐδ 1. το, 12. €vKavydopar* i. 4. ἐπισυναγωγή 11. 1. θροέομαι ll. 2. καλοποιέωθβ ili, 13. μιμέομαι iii. 7, 9. περιεργάζομαιξ lil. 11. σαλεύω [Ϊ. 2. σέβασμα ii. 4. σημειόομαι iii. 14. Tivw* 1.9. ὑπεραυξάνωδ!,, 3. 4. In 1 and 2 Th. and nowhere else in Pauline Epistles: :— κατευθύνω τ Th. iii, 11, 2 Th. iii. 5 (only other N. T. instance Benedictus, Lk. i. 79). * Nowhere else in N. T, 651 682) LIFE AND LETTERS ΟΣ II PERIOD OF JUDAIST CONTROVERSY 1. In Rom. and nowhere else in Pauline Epistles :— ἄβυσσος x. 7 (quot.). ἀγριέλαιος xi. 17, 24. ἀδύνατος Vili. 3, XV. I. ἀΐδιος 1. 20. αἰνέω xv. τσ (quot.). 5 ἄκακος xvi. 18. ἀκροατής ii. 13. ἀλάλητος" Vili. 26. ἀμετανόητος ii. 5. ἄμμος ix. 27 (quot.). ἀνάγω x. 7. ἀναζάω vii. g. ἀναλογία xii. 6. ἀναπολόγητος" 1. 20, ii, 1. aveAenpwv* i, 31. ἀνεξεραύνητος ἢ xi. 33. ἄνθραξ" xii. 20 (quot.). ἀνόμως" ii, 12. dvoxy* ii. 4, ili. 26. ἀνταπόδομα x. 9 (quot.). ἀνταποκρίνομαι ix. 20. ἄντι- στρατεύομαιϊ vii. 232. ἀντιτάσσομαι xiii. 2. ἀπειθέω ii. 8, x. 21, ΧΙ. 30, 31, XV. 21. ἀπέναντι iii. 18 (quot.). ἀποβολῇ xi. 15. ἀποστυγέω xii. g. ἀποτομία" xi, 22. apa* iii. 14 (quot.). ἀριθμός ix. 27 (quot.). ἀσθένημαξ xv. τ. ἄσπις iii. 13 (quot.). ἀσύνετος i. 21, 31, X. 19 (quot.). ἀσύνθετος 1. 31. ἀσχημοσύνη i. 27. dripd(wi. 24, ii. 23. ἀφαιρέω xi. 27 (qUOt.) adixveopat*® XVi. 19. Gypedouac™ iii 12 (quot.). βδελύσσομαι 11. 22. βούλημα ix. 19. γέμω ili, 14 (quot.). yvwords i. 19. JSetipo i. 13. διαγγέλλω ix. 17. διαπορεύομαι xv. 24. διαταγή ΧΙ. 2. δικαιο- Kpizia® ii 5. 5 κοικαίώμα i. 32, il. 26, v. 16, 18, vill. 4. δολιόω iii. 13 (quot.). δοῦλος (adj.)* v. 19 dts. δώρημα ν. τ6ό. ἐγκαλέω Vili. 33. ἑκατονταετής ἵν. 19. ἐκζητέω iii. 11 (quot.). ἐκκαίομαι i. 2). ἐκκλάομαιξ χι. 17, 19, 20. ἐκκλίνω ili, 12 (quot.), xvi. 17. ἐκπετάννυμιδ xi, 21 (quot.). ἐκχύννομαι v. 5. ἐλαία xi. 17, 24. ἐμπίμπλημι xv. 24. ἐμφανής x. 20 (quot.). ἔνδικος 11. 8. évkevtpi(w* xi. 17, 19, 23, 24..- ἐντυγχανὼ Vill. 27, 34, Xl. 2. ἐπαναμιμνήσκωξδ χν. 15. ἐπαναπαύομαι ii, 17. ἐπικαλύπτεινἘ iv. 17 (quot.). ἐπιπίπτω xv. 3. ἐπιποθίαΣ xv. 22. ἐπίσημος Xvi. 7. ἐπιτυγχάνω xi. 7. ἐπιφέρω iil. 5. ἐπονομάζομαιδ ii. 17. ἑρπετόν. 232. ἐφευρετής 1. 30. ζίω xl. 11. ἥκω xi. 26 (quot.). yrou* vi. 16. θεάομαι xv. 24. θειότης" i. 20. θεοστυγης i. 30. θήρα" xi. g (quot.). teporvAew* 1]. 22. ἱερουργέωδ xv. τό. ἱλαρότης xii. 8. ἱλαστήριον ili. 25. ἰός il. 13 (quot.). καθήκω i. 28. xKabopaw* i. 20. καινότης" vi. 4, Vil. 6. κακοήθειαν 1. 29. καλλιέλαιοςΣ xi. 24. κατάγω x. 6. κατακαυχάομαι xi. 18 dts. κατάκριμα y. 16, 18, Vili. 1. κατάλαλος i. 30. κατανοέω iv. 10. κατάνυξις xi. 8 (quot.). καταράομαι xii. 14. κατασκάπτωδ xi, 3 (quot.). κατηγορέω ii. 15. κεραμεύς xi. 21. κλάδος xi. 16, 17, * Nowhere else in N. T. VERBAL PECULIARITIES IN LETTERS 683 18, 19, 21. κοίτη ix. 10, xiii. 13. κύκλῳ xv. 1g. λάρυγξ" iii. 13 (quot.). λατρεία ix. 4, xii. τ. λάχανον xiv. 2. Aciupa* xi. 5. λειτουργέω xv. 27. λογικός xii, 1, λόγιον iii. 2. λογισμύς ii, 15. ματαιόομαι 1.21. péudouarix. 19. μεστός i. 29, xv. 14. μεταλλάσσωΐ i. 25, 26. μεταξύ ii, 15. μήπω ix. 11. μήτρα iv. 19. μαιχαλίς vil. 3 dis. μοιχεύω ii, 22, xiii. 9. μόλις v. 7. vikdw lil, 4 (quot.), xl, 21 δέ. νομοθεσίαν ix. 4. ὁδηγός ii. 10. οἰκέτης XIV. 4. οἰκουμένη x. 18 (quot.). ὁμοθυμαδόν xv. 6. ὁμοιύόω ix. 29 (quot.). ὀξύς 1 lil, 15. ὄρεξις}. 2). ὁρίζω ἱ. 4. ὀφείλημα iv. 4. παιδευτής 11. 20. madatdrys* vii. 6ὅ.ἁ. παράκειμαιξ vii. 18, 21. πάρεσις Ἐ iii, 25. πέρας x. 18 (quot.). πετεινόν ἱ. 22. πηλός ix. 21. πιότης, Xi 1]. πιπράσκω vii. 14. πλάσμα ix. 2ο. ποιητής ii. 13. που ἷν. 19. πρόβατον viii. 36 (quot.). προγίνομαι iii. 25. προ- γινώσκω Vili. 29, Xi. 2. προδίδωμιν xi, 35 (quot.). προέχομαι" ili, 9. προηγέομαιξ xii, 10. πρόθυμος i. 15. πρόνοια xiii. 14. προπάτωρ" iv. τ. προσκόπτω ix. 32, xiv. 21. πρόσλημψις xi. τς. mpooraris® xvi. 2. προφητικός xvi. 26. πταίω xi. tr. σαβαώθ ix. 29 (quot.). oeBdfouar* i. 25. σκληρότης" ii. 5. σκληρύνω ix. 18. σκοτίζομαι i. 21, ΧΙ. τὸ (quot.). στεναγμός viii. 26. συγγενής IX. 3, ΧΥΪ. 7, 11,21. σύμβουλος xi. 34 (quot.). σύμφυτος" Vi. 5. συναγωνίζομαι "Ὁ xv. 30. συναναπαύομαιξ xv. 32. συν- αντιλαμβάνομαι viii. 26. crvdogatw* villi. 17. συνήδομαι vii. 52. cuvkdprTw* Xi, το (quot.). συνμαρτυρέω ii. 15, vill. 16, ix. 1. iyi Vill. 22. συνσχηματίζομαι συνπαρακαλέομαιξ i, 12. συνστενάζω ΧΙ. 2. συντελέω ix. 28 (quot.). συντέμνω ix. 28 (quot.). συν- τρίβω xvi. 20. σύντριμμαϊ iii, 16 (quot.). σύνφημιξ vii. τό. συνωδίνωϊ viii, 22. σφαγήδ viii. 36 (quot.). ταλαιπωρία iii. 16 (quot.). ταλαίπωρος vii. 24. τάφος ili. 13 (quot.). τετράπους i. 23. τολμηροτέρως xv. 15. τράχηλος xvi. 4. τυφλός 1]. 19. travdpos* vii. 2. ὑπερεντυγχάνω vill. 26. brepvikdw* viii. 37. Urepppovew™ ΧΙ]. 2. ὕπνος ΧΙ]. 11. ὑπόδικος 111. 19. ὑπόλειμμα" ix. 27 (quot.). ὑπολείπομαιϊ xi. 3 (quot.). φάσκω 1. 22. φιλο- ξενία xii. 13. φιλόστοργος xii. 10. φονεύω xiii. g (quot.). φόνος i. 29. φόρος xili. 6, 7. φρόνημα vill. 6, 7,27. φύραμα ix. 21, xi. 16 (also in proverb 1 Cor. v. 6, Gal. v. 9). φυσικός 1. 26, 27. χρηματίζω, Vil. 3. χρηματισμός" xi. 4. χρηστολογίαξ xvi. 18. ψεῦσμα iii. 17. ψιθυριστής" i, 30. ὡραῖος x. 15 (quot.). ὡσεί vi. 13. ὠφελεία 111. 1. 2. In 1 Cor. and nowhere else in Pauline Epistles :— dyapos* vii. 8, 11, 32, 34. ἀγενής" 1. 28. ἀγνωσία xv. 34. dyopafwivi, 20, Vii. 23, 30. addravos* ix. 18. ἄδηλος χὶ. 8. ἀδήλως" * Nowhere else in N. T. 684 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL ix. 26. ἄζυμος v. 7, 8 αἴνιγμα xiii, 12. dkatraxddumros* xi. 5, 13. ἀκολουθέω x. 4. ἀκρασία vii, 5. ἄκων ix. 17. ἀλαλάζω xiii. τ. ἀμέριμνος Vil. 32. duetakivnros*® xv. 58. ἀμπελών ix. 7. dvdvi. 5, xiv. 27. dvaxpivw ii. 14, 15 d75, iv. 3 d7s, ix. 3, X. 25, 27, Xiv. 24. ἀνάμνησις xl. 24, 25 (quot. from Evangelic Tradition). ἀνάξιος vi. 2. ἀναξίως xi. 27. advdpifouac* xvi. 13. ἀντίλημψις" xii. 28. ἀπάγω xii. 2. ἀπελεύθερος vii. 22. ἀπε- piomdorws* vii. 35. ἀπόδειξις ii. 4. droovwvi. 11. ἀποφέρω xvi. 3. ἀργύριον iii. 12. dporpidw ix. το. ἅρπαξ ν. το, 11, Vi. το. ἄρρωστος xi. 30. ἀρχιτέκτων" iil, 10. ἀστατέω iv. 11, ἀστήρ XV. 41. do xnpovéw* vii. 36, xill. 5. ἀσχήμων xii. 23. ἄτιμος iv. 10, xii. 22. dropos* xv. 22. αὐλέομαι xiv. ἡ. αὐλός" xiv. 7. αὔριον xv. 32 (quot.). ἄφωνος xii, 2, xiv. 10, ἄψυχος xiv. 7. βιωτικός vi. 3, 4. Bpoxos* vii. 35. γάλα ili, 2. γαμίζξζω vil. 38. γεώργιον" ili. 9. γογγύζω x. το. γραμματεύς i. 20. γυμνιτεύω" ἵν. 11. δειπνέω xi. 25. Sy vi. 20. Staipeors* xii. 4, 5, 6. διαιρέω xii. 11. διδακτός 11. 13. διερμηνευτής (v. 1.)* xiv. 28. διερμηνεύω xii. 30, xiv. 5, 13. 22. διόπερ" viii. 13, x. 14. διψάω iv. 11 (also in quot. Rom. xit. 20). δουλαγωγέωϊ ix. 27. δράσσομαι iii. το (quot.). δυσφημέω iv. 12. δώδεκα (oi) xv. 5. ἐάω xX. 13. ἐγκρατεύομαι vii. g, ix. 25. εἰδώλιον"Σ viii. το. εἰδωλόθυτος Vili. I, 4, 7, 10, X. 19. εἰσακούω xiv. 21 (quot.). ἔκβασις Xx. 13. ἐκδέχομαι Xl, 33, XVI. τι. ἐκκοπή (v. 1. ἐγκοπή) ix. 12. ἐκνήφωξ xv. 34. ἐκπειράζω x. 9. ἐκτρωμαΐ xv. 8. ἐλεεινός Xv. 19. ἐνέργημα xii. 6, το. ἔννομος ΙΧ. 21. ἔνοχος ΧΙ. 27. ἐντροπή" vi. 5, xv. 34. €€aipw* v. 13 (αιοί.). ἐξεγείρω vi. 14 (also in quot. Rom. ix. 17). ἐξουσιάζω vi. 12, vii. 4 bis. ἑορτάζωπ v. 8. ἐπάνω xv. 6. ἐπερωτάω xiv. 35 (also in quot. Rom. x. 20). ἐπιβάλλω vii. 35. ἐπιθανάτιος iv. 19. ἐπιθυμητής" x. 6. * vil. 18. ἔρημος x. 5 (also in quot. Gal. iv. 27). €ppnvia* xii. 10, xiv. 26. ἔσοπτρον xiii. 12. —Ere- poyAwooos™ xiv. 21 (quot.). εὐγενής i. 26. εὐκαιρέω xvi. 12. evmapedpos*® vil. 35. εὐσημος xiv. 9. εὐσχημοσύνη ΧΙ]. 23. εὐσχήμων vil. 35, ΧΙΙ. 24. ἦθος" xv. 33 (quot.). ἤἠχέω xili. 1. θάπτω xv. 4. Onptopayéw* xv, 32. tapa* xii. 9, 28, 30. ἱερόθυτος > ¢ J > ΄ ἐπίκειμαι ῖχ. 16, ἐπισπάομαι x. 28. ἱερόν ix. 12... ἵνα Ti x. 20.. ἰχθύς xv. ζ0. καίῶ ΧΗ τ᾿ καλάμη iii. 12. καλύπτω iv. 2. κατακαΐίω ili, 15. κατακαλύπτ- Topac* xi. 6 bts, 7. καταμένω (v. 1.) xvi. 6. καταστρώννυμι x, 5. καταχράομαιξ vil. 31, ix. 18. κείρω xi. 6 δίς. κέντρον xv. 55 and 56 (quot.). κημόωξ ix. g (quot.). KxtOdpaxiv. 7. κιθαρίζω xiv. 7. κινδυνεύω xv. 30. KAdw x. 16, xi. 24 ὁ. κόκκος XV. 37. Kopaw* * Nowhere else in Ν, T. VERBAL PECULIARITIES IN LETTERS 685 xi. 14,15. κόμη xi, 15. κορέννυμι iv. 8. κριτήριον vi. 2, 4. κτῆνος XV. 39. κυβέρνησις" xii. 28. xvuBadov* xiii. τ. κυριακός xl. 20. λογία" xvi. 1, 2. AoWopéwiv. 12. λοίδορος" ν. 11, Vi. TO. λύσις" vii. 27. μαίνομαι xiv. 23. poxedAor* x. 25. μαλακός Vi. 9. ΄ θ , ‘ iO ‘\*& . , ΕἼ “, ΄ μαράνα θά (μαρὰν ἀθαγδ xvi. 22. μέθυσος v. τι, vi. το. μείζων xii. 21, ΧΙ. 13, xiv. 5 (4150 ἰῇ quot. Rom. ix. 12). μέλει vii. 21, ix. g. μετέχω ΙΧ. TO, 12, X. 17, 21, 30. μηνύω x. 28. μήτιγεν \ Vi. 3. μοιχός Vi. 9. μολύνω viii. 7. μυρίος iv. 15, xiv. 19. μωρία i. 18, 21, 23, ll. 14, 111. 19. vy* xv. 31. νηπιάζω" xiv. 20. νῖκος» XV. 54, 55, 57 (quots.). ἔυράομαι xi. 5, 6. ὀλοθρευτής" x. το. ὅλως V. I, Vi. 7, XV. 29. ὁμιλία" xv, 33 (quot.). ὁσάκις xi. 25. ὄσφρησις xii. 17. οὐαί ix. 16. οὐδέποτε xiii. 8. οὖς xii. 16 (also in quots. ii. 19, Rom. xi. 8). ὄφελος xv. 32. παιδίον xiv. 20. παίζων x. 7 (quot.). πανταχοῦ ἵν. 17. mapdyw vii. 31. παραμυθία" των ον xiv. 3. παρεδρεύω ix. 12. πάροδος xvi. 7. παροξύνομαι xiii. 5. πάσχα ν. ἢ. πειθός" ii. 4. πεντηκοστή xvi. 8. περιάγω ix. 5. περιβόλαιον" xi. 15 (also in quot. Heb.i. 12). περικάθαρμαδ iv. 13. περιτίθημι Xil. 23. περίψημα iv. 13. περπερεύομαιξ xiii. 14. πέτρα x. 4 bis (also in quot. Rom. ix. 33). πιάζω xi. 32. πλεῖστος XIV. 27. πνευματικῶς ii. 13 (ν. 1.), 14. ποιμαίνω ix. 7. ποίμνη ix. 7 bis. πόλεμος xiv. 8. πόμα χ. 4. πορνεύω vi. 18, x. 8. πόρνη Vi. 15, 16. ποτήριον x. 16, 21, xi. 25, 26, 27, 28. worifwiii. 2, 6, y, 8, xii. 13 (also in quot. Rom. xii. 20). προσκυνέω xiv. 25. προ- pyrevw xi. 4, 5, ΧΙ]. 9, XIV. I, 3, 4, 5) 24, 32, 39- πτηνός" χν. 39. muktevw* ix. 26. πωλέω x. 25. ῥάβδος iv. 21. ῥιπήξ xv. 52. σαλπίζω xv. 52. σελήνη xv. 41. σῖτος XV. 37. στάδιον (‘race- course’)* ix. 24. συμβαίνω x. 11. σύμφορος" vii. 35, xX. 33. σύμφωνυς vii. 5. συνάγων. 4. συνγνώμη νἱῖ. 6. σύνοιδα iv. 4. συνέρχομαι xi. 17, 18, 20, 33, 34, XIV. 23, 26.ἁ συνετός i. το (quot.). συνζητητής 1. 20. συνήθεια viii. 7, xi. 16. συνκεράννυμι ΧΙ]. 24. συνμερίζομαιξ ix. 13. σνιστέλλω vil. 29. σχίσμα i. το, xi. 18, xii. 25. σχολάζω vii. 5. τάγμα xv. 23. τήρησις Vil. 19. τίμιος iii. 12. τοίνυν ix. 26. τράπεζα x. 21 (alsoin quot. Rom. xi. 9). τυπικῶς χ τι. τύπτειν vill. 12. ὑπέρακμος" vii. 36. ὑπηρέτης ἵν. 1. ὑπόστασις ix. 4, Xi.17. ὑπωπιάζω ix. 27. φιλόνεικος xi. τό. φρήν" xiv. 20 bis. φυτεύω iii. 6, 7, 8, ix. 7. χαλκός xiii, 1. χοϊκός" xv. 47, 48, 49. χόρτος iii, 12ὥ. χρηστεύομαι xiii. 4. ψευδομάρτυς xv. 15. Ψυχικός ii. 14, xv. 44 ὀΐς, 46. Ψύχος xi. 26. ψωμίζω" xiii. 3 (also in quot. Rom. xii. 20), ὡσπερεί xv. 8. 3. In 2 Cor. and nowhere else in Pauline Epistles :— ἀβαρής" xi. 9. ἀγανάκτησις" vii. 11. ἁγιότης v.12, ayvorns* * Nowhere else in N. T. 686 /LIFE AND (LETTERS OF ai nia vi. 6, xi. 3. ἀγρυπνίαν vi. 5, xi. 27. déporns* vill. 20. det iv. rr, vi. τὸ (also in quot. Tit. i. 12). GAA Hi. 13. dperpos* KX. 13, 15. ἀναγγέλλω vil. 7 (also in quot. Rom. xv. 21). dva- kaAdtrtw* ill, 14, 18. advexdupyntos* ix. 15. ἀπαρασκεύαστος» * i, 9. τἀποτάσσομαν ii. 13. ἀριστερός Vi. ἢ. ἁρμόζομαιξδ xi. 2. ἄρρητος" xii. 4. ἀρχαῖος v.17. ἄρχω ili, τ (also in quot. Rom. xv. 12). ἀτενίζω ili. 7, 13. adyd(w* iv. 4. αὐθαίρετος viii. 3, 17. ἀφροσύνη xi. 1, 17, 21. βαρύς (quot. of Corinthian criticism). x. 10. Βελίαρ vi. 15. βοηθέω vi. 2 (quot.). PBovdrctouari. 17. βυθός" xi. 25. γένημα ix. το. Saravdw xii, 15. δίψος" xi. 27. SoAdw* iv. 2. Sdrns* ix. 7 (quot.). δυσφημία vi. 8. ἐθνάρχης xi. 32. εἰσδέχομαιξ vi. 17 (quot.). ἐκδαπανάομαι xii. 15. ἐκδημέωδ ν. 6, 8, 9. ἐκδύω ν. 4. expoBew* x. 9. €Aarrovéw* viii. 15 (quot.). ἐλαφρίαξ 1, 17. ἐλαφρός iv. 17. ἐνγράφομαι iii. 2, 3. ἐνδημέωξ v. 6, 8, 9. ἐνκρίνω" X. 12. évrepiratéw* vi. 16 (quot.). ἐντυπόω iii. 7. €£aropéopar*™ i. 8, iv. 8. ἐξίστημι ν. 132. ἐπακούωδ vi. 2 (quot.). émevdtopuar* V. 2,4. ἐπιεικία χ. τ. ἐπιπόθησις vil. 7, 11. émtoKnvow* xii. 9. ix. 4. ἀπεῖπον" iv. 2. ἀπόκριμα ἐπίστασις xi. 28. ewiTiypia® ii. 6. ἐρημία xi. 26. ἔσωθεν vii. 5. Etepo(vyéw* vi. 14. ἑτοίμως xii. 14. εὐφημίαξ vi. 8. εὐφραίνω ii. 2 (also in quots. Rom. xv. 10, Gal. iv. 27). eux veopar* x, 13, 14. ἡδέως xi. 19, ΧΙ. 9, 15. ἡνίκα! ill, 15, 16. TTaopae ΧΗ 13. Gappew v. 6, 8, vil. τό, x. 1,2. θαῦμα xi. 14. θυγάτηρ v. 18 (quot.). θυρίς xi. 33. ἱκανότης" iil, 5. tAapos* ix. 7 (quot.). καθαίρεσις ὃ x. 4, 8, xili. 10. καθαιρέω x. 5. καθώσπερ iii. 18. kaAvppa* 111. 13 (quot.), 14, 15, 16. KarnAevw* ii, 17. καταβάλλω iv.9. KataBapéw* ΧΙ. 20. KaTavapkdw* xi. ο, Xli. 13, 14. καταπίνω il. 7, v. 4 (also in quot. 1 Cor. xv. 54). κατάρτισις xiii. 9g, KaromrpiCopac* iii. 18. λάμπω iv. 6. λῃστής xi. 26. λιθάζω xi. 25. λίθινος ili. 3. μέλαν iii, 3. μέριμνα xi. 28. μεταμέλομαι vii. 8. μετανοέω Xii. 21. peToyy™ Vi. 14. μετρέω Χ. 12. μικρόν xi. 1,16. jroAvopos* vii. 1. μωμάομαιδ yi, 3, vill. 20. νηστεία νἱ. 5, xi. 2). vuxOnpepov*® xi. 25. ὁδοιπορία xi. 26. ὀδυρμός vii. 7 (also in quot. Mt. ii. 18). οἰκη- τήριον v. 2. ὀπτασία xii, τ. ὀχύρωμα x. 4. πάλαι xii. το. πανοῦργος" xil. 16. παντοκράτωρ vi. 18 (quot.). παράδεισος xii. 4. παραυτίκα iv. 17. wapappovew* xi, 23. παρεκτός x1. 28. παρέρ- χομαιν. 17. πένης ix. 9 (quot.). περιαιρέω ili. 16. περίσσευμα Vlii. 13, 14. πέρυσιδ vill, 10,1x. 2. πλάξ ΠΙ. 3. πλατύνω vi. ΤΙ, 13. πληγή Vi. 5, Xl. 23. πληθύνω ix. 10. ποταμός xi. 26. mpoarpeopuc* ix. ἡ. m™poapapravw* xii, 21, ΧΙ. 2. mpoevdpxopac* νὴ. 6, 10. ΧΙ. 16. κατάκρισις iii. 9, Vii. 3. καταλαλία * Nowhere else in N. T. VERBAL PECULIARITIES IN LETTERS 687 προέρχομαι 'χ. 5. προθυμία viii. 11, 12, 19, ix. 2. mpoxatapricw* ix. §. πρόκειμαι vill. 12. mporavarAnpdw* ix. 12, xi. 9. πρόσκαιρος iv. 18. mpooKory* vi. 3. πτωχεία vill. 2, 9. mrwxedw* viii. 9. ῥαβδίζω xi. 25. σαργάνη" xi. 33. σήμερον ili. 14, 15. (also in quot. Rom. xi. 8. σκῆνος v. 1,4. σκόλοψ" xii. 7. σκορπίζω ix. 9 (quot.). σπόρος ix. 10. σπουδαῖος" vill. 17, 22. στενοχω- ρέομαι iv. 8, vi. 12. στρατιά x. 4. ovddw* xi. 8. συμφώνησιςν Vi. 15. συναποστέλλωϊ xii. 18. συνέκδημος viii. 19. συνκατάθεσις Vi. 16. συνοχή ii. 4. συνπέμπωδ viii. 18,22. συνυπουργέω i. 11. συστατικός iil, 1. τεῖχος Xi. 32. τηλικοῦτος i. το. τρίς xi. 25, xii. 8. τυφλόω iv. 4. ὕβρις xii. το. ὕπερ xi. 22. ὑπερβαλλόντως" xi. 232. ὑπερέκεινα" x. τ6.Ἡ ὑπερεκτείνω x. 14. bmepAiav*® xi. 5, xii, 11. ὑψόω xi. 7. φειδομένως" ix. 6 (proverb). φθόγγος x. 10 (also in quot. Rom. x. 18). φυλακή vi. 5, xi. 23. pvolwors* xii. 20. φωτισμός" iv. 4. χαλάω xi. 33. χειροτονέω viii. 19. χορηγέω ix, 10. χρίω i, 21. χωρέω vii. 2. Ψευδαπόστολος" xi. 13. ψιθυρισμός xii. 20. 4. In Gal. and nowhere else in Pauline Epistles :— "Ayap* iv. 24,25. ἀκυρόω iii. 17. dAAnyopew* iv. 24. ἀναστα- TOW ν. 12. ἀνατίθεμαι ii. 2. ἀνέρχομαι 1. 17,18. ἄνωθεν iv. 9. ἀποκόπτων. t2. apaii. 1]. βασκαίνων iii. 1. Pode iv. 27 (quot.). δάκνῳξ ν. τς. διαμένω ii. 5. ἐγκράτεια v. 22. ἐθνικῶς ii, 14. εἴκωἘ ii, 5. ἐκβάλλω iv. 30 (quot.). ἐκλύομαι vi. 9θ.ἁὨ ἐκπτύωΣ iv. 14. €u“pevwiil. το. ἐνευλογέομαι 111. 8 (quot.). ἐνιαυτός iv. Io. ἐξαιρέω i. 4. ἐξαποστέλλω iv. 4, 6. ἐξορύσσω iv. 15. ἐπιδια- τάσσομαι 11}. 15. ἐπικατάρατος ili, τὸ (quot.), 13 (quot.). ἐπίτροπος iv. 2. εὐθέως i. 16. εὐπροσωπέωξδ vi. 12. ἴδε v. 2. iovdat(w* ii. 14. ἰουδαϊκῶς ii. 14. lovdaiopds* i, 13, 14. toropew* 1. 18. καταγινώσκω ii. 11. κατάρα iil. 10, 13. KaTacKoréw* ii. 4. κενόδοξος v. 26. κρεμάννυμι iii. 13 (quot.). μεταστρέφω 17. μετατίθημιϊ. 6. μήν ἵν. το. μορφόομαιξ iv. 19, μυκτη- ρίζομαιδ vi. 7. ὅμοιος v. 2. ὀρθοποδέωδ ii. 14. παιδίσκη iv. 22. 23, 30 is (quot.), 31. παρατηρέω iv. το. παρείσακτος ii. 4. πατρικός 1. 14. mewrpovn* ν. ὃ. πηλίκος vi. 11. πορθέω i. 13, 23. προεῖδον iii, ὃ. προευαγγελίζομαιδ ili, 8. προθεσμία iv. 2, προκαλέομαιδ ν. ζ6ό. προκυρόομαιδ 111. 1]. προσανατίθεμαι i. τό, ii. 6. προστίθημι iii. 19. ῥήγνυμι iv. 27 (quot.). στεῖρος iv. 27 (quot.). στίγμα" ἵν. 1). συνηλικιώτης i. 14. συνπαραλαμβάνω ii, I. . συνστοιχέω" iv. 25. συνυποκρίνομαιξ ii, 12. ταράσσω i. 7, V. 10, τεκνίον (ν. 1.) iv. 19. τίκτω iv. 27 (quot.). ὑποστέλλω 5 Nowhere else in Ν, T, 688 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL ii.12. ὑποστρέφω i. 17. φαρμακία ν. 2ο. φθονέω ν. 26. φορτίον vi. 5. pevaratdw® vi. 3. ὠδίνω iv. 19, 27 (quot.). 5. In two or more of the group and nowhere else in Pauline Epistles :— "ABBA Rom. viii. 15, Gal. ἵν. 6. ᾿Αβραάμ Rom. iv. 1, 2, 3 (quot.), G, 12, 13, 16, ix: 7, xi. 1, 2 Cor. ΧΙ 22;'Gal- 1: ὃ. 7, 8.) ig; ΤΆ ea 29. ἄδικος Rom. iii. 5, 1 Cor. vi. 1, 9. | αἵρεσις x Cor. xi. 19, Gal. v. 20. dkaragracia τ Cor. xiv. 33, 2 Cor. vi. 5, xii. 20. ἀλλάσσειν Rom. i. 23, 1 Cor. xv. 51, 52, Gal. iv. 20. ἁμάρτημα Rom. iii. 25, 1 Cor. vi. τ8, ἀμεταμέλητος" Rom. xi. 29, 2 Cor. vii. to. ἀναγκάζω 2 Cor. xii. 11, Gal il, 3, 14, vi. 12. ἀνάθεμα Rom. ix. 3, 1 Cor. xii. 3, xvi. 22, Gal. i. 8,9. ἀνθρώπινος Rom. vi. 19. 1 Cor. ii. 13, iv. 3, x. 13: ἀντιμισθία" Rom. i. 27, 2 Cor vio es, ἀπέρχομαι Rom. xv. 28, Gal.i.17. ἀπολογέομαι Rom. ii. 15, 2 Cor. xii. 19. ἀπορέω 2 Cor. iv. 8, Gal. iv. Ζο. ἀποστολή Rom. i. 5, 1 Cor. ix. 2, Gal. ii. 8. ἄρσην Rom. i. 27 dis, Gal. iii. 28. ἀφίημι Rom. i. 27, iv. 7 (quot.), 1 Cor. vil. 11, 12,132. ἀφορίζω Rom. i. 1, 2 Cor. vi. 17, Gal. i. 15, ii. 12. βαπτίζω, Rom. vi. 3 #5, 1 Cor. i. 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, X. 2, xii. 13, xv. 29 ds, Gal i. 27. μασιν Rom. xi. 18, xv. 1, Gal v. 10, vi. 2, 5,17. βέβαιος Rom. iv. 16, 2Cor.i. 7. βῆμα Rom. iv. τὸ, 2 Cor. v. 10. γυμνός x Cor. xv. 37, 2 Cor. v. 3. γυμνότης Rom. viii. 35, 2 Cor. xi. 27. d€pw 1 Cor. ix. 26, 2 Cor. xi. 20. δῆλος 1 Cor. xv. 27, Gal. iii. a1. διακρίνω Rom. iv. 20, xiv. 23, 1 Cor. iv. 7, vi. 5, Xi. 29, 31, χὶν. 29. διάκρισις Rom. xiv. 1, 1 Cor. xii. το. διαστολή Rom. iii. 22, x. 12, 1 Cor. xiv. 7. Seépxouat Rom. v. 12, 1 Cor. x. 1, xvi. 5, 2 Cor. i. 16. διχοστασία" Rom. xvi. 17, Gal. v.20. δουλεία Rom. viii. 15, 21, Gal. iv. 24, v. 1. Suvarew* Rom. xiv. 4, 2 Cor. ix. 8, xiii. 3. eiAtxpuvia* τ Cor. v. 8, 2 Cor. 1. 12, 11. 27. εἰσέρχομαι Rom. v. 12, xi. 25, 1 Cor. xiv. 23, 24. ἐκδικέω Rom. xii. 19, 2 Cor. x. 6. éxkAeiw* Rom. iii. 27, Gal. iv. 12. ἐκκόπτω Rom. xi. 22, 23, 2 Cor. Xi. 12. ἐκπίπτω Rom. ix. 6, Gal. v. 4. ἑκών" Rom. viii. 20, 1 Cor. ix. 1]. ἐλευθερία Rom. viii. 21, 1 Cor. x. 29, 2 Cor. iii. 17, Gal. ii. 4, Vi. 13. ἐλευθερόω Rom. vi. 18, 22, vill. 2, 21, Gal.v. 1. ἕνεκεν Rom. viii. 36 (quot.), xiv. 20, 2 Cor. iii. 10, vil.12. ἔξεστιν 1 Cor. vi. 12, x. 23, 2 Cor. xii. 4. ἐπαινέω Rom. xv. 11, 1 Cor. xi. 2, 17, 22. ἐπεί Rom. iii. 6, xi. 6, 22, 1 Cor. v. 10, vii. 14, xiv. 12, 16, Xv. 29, 2 Cor. xi. 18, xiii. 3. ἐραυνάω Rom. viii. 27, 1 Cor. il. το. εὐοδόομαι Rom. i. 10, 1 Cor. xvi. 2. εὐπρύσδεκτος Rom. xv. 16, 31, 2 Cor. vi. 2 (quot.), viii. 12. εὔχομαι Rom. ix. 3, 2 Cor. xiii. 7, 9. ἐφάπαξ Rom. vi. ro, 1 Cor. xv. 6. ἕως (prep.) 1 Cor. i. 8, iv. 13, * Nowhere else in Ν, Τὶ VERBAL PECULIARITIES IN LETTERS 689 viii. 7, xv. 6, xvi. 8, 2 Cor. i. 13, iii. 15, xii. 2 (also in quots. Rom. iii, 12, xi. 8). = (yAow 1 Cor. xii. 31, xiii. 4, xiv. 1, 39, 2 Cor. xi. 2, Gal. iv. 17, 18. (vu) 1 Cor. v. 6, 7, 8, Gal. v. 9. ζυμόω 1 Cor, v. 6 =Gal. v. 9 (proverb). ζωοποιέω Rom. iv. 17, viii. 11, 1 Cor. xv. 22, 36, 45, 2 Cor. iil. 6, Gal. iii. 21. = oowv* x Cor. xi. 17, 2 Cor. xii, 15. wrtTyua* Rom. xi. 12, 1 Cor. vi. VE θάλασσα 1 Cor. x. 1, 2, 2 Cor. xi. 26 (also in quot. Rom. ix. 27). θανατόω Rom. vii. 4, vill. 13, 36 (quot.), 2 Cor. vi. 9. θερίζω 1 Cor. ix. 11, 2 Cor. ix. 6, Gal. vi. 7, 8, 9. θῆλυς Rom. i. 26, 27, Gal. iii. 28. θησαυρίζω Rom. il. 5, 1 Cor. xvi. 2, 2 Cor. xii. 14. - θνητός" Rom. vi. 12, viii. 11, 1 Cor. xv. 53, 2 Cor. iv. 11, v. 4. «θυσιαστήριον Rom. xi. 3, 1 Cor. ix. 13, x. 18. ἰδιώτης 1 Cor. xiv. 16, 23, 24, 2 Cor. xi. 6. idov 1 Cor. xv. 51, 2 Cor. v. 17, vi. 2, 9, Vii. 11, xii. 14, Gal. i. 20 (also in quot. Rom. ix. 33). ᾿Ισραηλείτης Rom. ix. 4, xi. 1, 2 Cor. xi. 22. toxvpos 1 Cor. i. 25, 27, iv. 10, x. 22, 2 Cor. x.10. ixvos Rom. iv. 12, 2 Cor. xii. 18. καθό. Rom. viii. 26, 2 Cor. viii. 12. kav 1 Cor. xili. 2 O25, 3 fer (v. 1.), 2 Cor. xi. 16. κανών" 2 Cor. X. 13, 15, 16, Gal. vi. 16. καταδουλόωἘ 2 Cor. xi. 20, Gal. ii. 4. καχαισ χυνὼ Rom. v. τ, 1x. 33, X. 11, 1 Cor. i. 27 dfs, xi. 4; 5,22, 2 Cor. vii. 14, ix.4. κατακρίνω Rom. ii. 1, viii. 3, 34, xiv. 23, 1 Cor. xi. 32. καταλλαγή" Rom. v. 11, xi. 15, 2 Cor. v. 18, 19. katad- Adoow* Rom. v. 10 dfs, 1 Cor. vii. 11, 2 Cor. v. 18, 19, 20. καταλύω Rom. xiv. 20, 2 Cor v. 1, Gal. ii. 18. κατέναντι Rom. iv. 17, 2 Cor. ii. 17, xii. 19. κατεσθίω 2 Cor. xi. 20, Gal.v.15. κατηχέω Rom. ii. 18, 1 Cor. xiv. 9, Gal. vi. 6. κίνδυνος" Rom. viii. 35, 2 Cor. xi. 26. κληρονομέω 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10, xv. 50 dis, Gal. iv. 30 (quot.), v. ar. 4. kAgros. Rom. i. 1,/6, 7, vit. 28, x Cor. i..1,.2,.24. κλίμαξ Rom. xv. 23, 2 Cor. xi. 10, Gal. i. 21. xoAadi(w 1 Cor. iv. 11, 2 Cor. xii. 7. KxoAAdouac Rom. xii. 9, 1 Cor. vi. 16,17. κράζω Rom. viii. 15, ix. 27, Gal. iv. 6. κρέας" Rom. xiv. 21, 1 Cor. viii. 13. κρυπτός, Rom, ii. 16, 29, 1 Cor. iv. 5, xiv. 25, 2 Cor. iv. 2. Kupow* 2 Cor. ii. 8, Gal. iii. 15. κῶμος Rom. xiii, 13, Gal. v. 21. λίθος 1 Cor. ili. 12, 2 Cor. iii. 7 (also in quot. Rom. ix. 32, 33). λιμός Rom. viii. 35, 2 Cor. xi. 22. μακαρισμός" Rom. iv. 6, 9, Gal. iv. 15. μέθη Rom. xiii. 13, Gal. v. 21. μερίζω Rom. xii. 3, 1 Cor. i, 13, Vii. 17, 34, 2 Cor. x. 13. μεταμορφόομαι Rom. xii. 2, 2 Cor. iil. 18. μικρός τ Cor. v. 6, Gal. v. 9. μωραίνω Rom. i. 22, 1 Cor. i. 20. νέκρωσις Rom. iv. 19, 2 Cor. iv. το. ξύλον 1 Cor. 111. 12, Gal. ili. 13. ὁμοίως. Rom. 1. 27, 1 Cor. vil. 3, 4, 22. . ὅμως: 1 Cor. xiv. 7, Gal. iii. 15. ὅπλον Rom. vi. 13, ΧΙ, 12, 2 Cor. vi. 7, xX. 4. ὄρος τ Cor. xiii. 2 (proverb), Gal. iv. 24, 25. οὐθείς τ Cor. xiii. 2, * Nowhere else in N. T. 2X 690 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL 3, 2 Cor. xi. 8. ὀφειλέτης Rom. i. 14, viii. 12, xv. 27, Gal. v. 3. ὀφειλή Rom. xiii. 7, 1 Cor. vii. 3. ὄφελον 1 Cor. iv. 8, 2 Cor. xi. 1, Gal.v. 12. ὄφις τ Cor. x. 9, 2 Cor. xi. 2 ὀψώνιον Rom. vi. 23, 1 Cor. ix. 7, 2 Cor. xi. 8. παιδαγωγός" x Cor. iv. 15, Gal. iii. 24, 25. πάντως Rom. ili. 9, 1 Cor. v. ΣΟ, ix. 10, 22, Xvi, 12. παρα- Barns Rom. ii. 25, 27, Gal. ii. 18. = mapafnAow* Rom. x. το, xi. 11, 14, 1 Cor. x. 22. παρακοή Rom. v. 19, 2 Cor. x. 6. παρασκευάζω 1 Cor. xiv. 8, 2 Cor. ix. 2, 3. παρεισέρχομαιδ Rom. v. 20, Gal. ii. 4. παρθένος τ Cor. vii. 25, 28, 34, 36, 37, 38, 2 Cor. xi.2. πενθέω 1 Cor. v. 2, 2 Cor. xii. 21. περισσεία Rom. v. 17, 2 Cor. viii. 2, x. 15. περισσός Rom. iii. 1, 1 Cor. xii. 23, 24, xv. 10, 2 Cor. ii. 7, χα, χ. 8. πίνω ‘Rom. xiv. 21,1 Cor. ix. 4, x.'4, 7 (quot:), Ba) gm xi. 22, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, xv. 32 (quot.). πίπτω Rom. xi. 11, 22, xiv. 4, 1 Cor. x. 8, 12, xiii. 8, xiv. 25. πλουτίζωξ 1 Cor. i. 5, 2 Cor. vi, 10. ix. 11. ποῖος Rom. ili. 27, 1 Cor. xv. 25. ποῦ Rom. iii. 27, 1 Cor. i. 20, xii. 17, 19, xv. 55 (quot.), Gal.iv.15. mpoerayyéAAopac* Rom. i. 2, 2 Cor. ix. 5. προερῶ Rom. ix. 29, 2 Cor. vii. 3, xill. 2. Gal. i. 9. προλαμβάνω 1 Cor. xi. 21, Gal. vi. 1. πρόσκομμα Rom, ix. 32, 33 (quot.), xiv. 13, 20, 1 Cor. villi. 9. πτωχός Rom. xv. 26. 2 Cor. vi. το, Gal. ii. το, iv. 9. πωρόω Rom. xi. 7, 2 Cor. iii. 14. σαρκικός τ Cor. 11]. 3 ὁΐδ, ix. 11, 2 Cor. i. 12, x. 4. σάρκινος Rom. vii. 14, 1 Cor. iii. 1, 2 Cor. 111. 3. σιγάω Rom. xvi. 25, 1 Cor. xiv. 28, 30, 34. συκανδαλίζω Rom. xiv. 21, 1 Cor. viii. 13 dfs, 2 Cor. xi. 29. σκάνδαλον Rom. ix. 33 (quot.), xi. 9 (quot.), xiv. 13, xvi. 17. τ Cor. i. 23, Gal. v. 11. ᾿σπείρω 1 Cor. ix. 11, xv. 36, 37, 42, 43, 44, 2 Cor. ix. 6 dts, το, Gal. vi. 7, 8 d%s. σπουδή Rom. xii. 8, 11, 2 Cor. vil. 11, 12, vill. 7, 8, 16. σταυρόω x Cor. i. 13, 23, ii. 2, 8, 2 Cor. xiii. 4, Gal. iii. 1, v. 24, vi. 14. στενάζω Rom. viii. 23, 2 Cor. v. 2, 4. στενοχωρία Rom. ii. 9, viii. 35, 2 Cor. vi. 4, xii. 20. συμφέρω 1 Cor. vi. 12, xX. 23, xii. 7, 2 Cor. vill. 10, xii. τ. ovvamrdyouat Rom. xii. 16, Gal. ii. 12. συνεργέω Rom. viii. 28, 1 Cor. xvi. 16, 2 Cor. vi. 1. συνεσθίω τ Cor. v. τι, Gal. ii. 12. συνευδοκέω Rom. 1. 32, 1 Cor vii. 12,13. συνκλείω Rom. xi. 32, Gal. iii. 22, 23. σὺυν- κρίνω τ Cor. ii. 13, 2 Cor. x. 12. ovvrdoyw* Rom. viii. 17, 1 Cor. xii. 26. συνσταυρόω Rom. vi. 6, Gal. ii. 20. ταπεινός Rom. Xii. 16, 2 Cor. vii. 6, x. 1. τάσσω. Rom. xiii. 1, 1 Cor. xvi. 15. τοσοῦτος τ Cor. xiv. 10, Gal. iii. 4. τοὐναντίον 2 Cor. ii. 7, Gal. ii. 7. τρίτον 1 Cor. xii. 28, 2 Cor. xii. 14, xiii. 1. τρίτου 1 Cor. xv. 4, 2 Cor. xii. 2. ὑμέτερος Rom. xi. 31, 1 Cor. xv. 31, xvi. 17, 2 Cor. viii. 8, Gal. vi. 13. ὑπερβολή Rom. vii. 13, 1 Cor. xii. 31, 2 Cor. i. 8, iv. 7, 17, xii. 7, Gal. i. 13. ὑπερπερισσεύων Rom. ν. 20, 2 Cor * Nowhere else in N. T. VERBAL PECULIARITIES IN LETTERS ὅροι vii. 4. ὕψωμα" Rom. viii. 39, 2 Cor. x. 5. φανέρωσις" τ Cor. xii. 7,2 Cor. iv. 2. φείδομαι Rom. viii. 32, xi. 21, 1 Cor. vii. 28, 2 Cor. i. 23, xl. 6, xii. 2. φημί Rom. iii. 18, 1 Cor. vi. 16, vii. 29, x. 15, 19, XV. 50, 2 Cor. x. το. φθαρτός Rom. i. 23, 1 Cor. ix. 25, xv. 53, 54. “Φορέω Rom. xiii. 4, τ Cor. xv. 49. φράσσω Rom. iii. 19, 2 Cor. xi. 10. povewos Rom. xi. 25, xii. 16, 1 Cor. iv. ro, x 15, 2 Cor. xi. 19. χεῖλος Rom. iii. 13 (quot.), 1 Cor. xiv. 21 (quot.). χρηζω Rom. xvi. 2, 2 Cor. iii, τ. YevdadeAdos* 2 Cor. xi. 26. Gal. ii. 4. ὠφελέω Rom. ii. 25, 1 Cor. xiii. 3, xiv. 6, Gal. v. 2. III Tuer Prison EPIstTLes 1. In Phil. and nowhere else in Pauline Epistles :— ἁγνῶς" 1. τ). ἀδημονέω ii. 26. αἴσθησις]. 9. αἴτημα iv. 6. ἀκαιρέξομαιβ iy. το. ἄλυπος ii. 28. ἀναθάλλωΐ iv. το. ἀναλύω i. 22. ἀποβαίνω!ϊ. 19. ἀπουσία 1), 12. ἀρετή ἵν. 8. ἁρπαγμός" ii. 6. ἀσφαλής iii. 1. αὐτάρκης ἵν. 11. apopdwii. 22. PeBai- wos i. 7. βίβλος iv. 3. yvnolws*® ii. 20. ᾽ δύσιίς iv. τῷ. et Aixpevysi. το. Evriposii. 29. ἐξανάστασις ili. 11. ἐξαυτῆς 1]. 23. ἐπεκτείνομαιδ 11}. 13. ἐπιλανθάνομαι iii. 13. ἐπιπόθητος iy. 1. ἑτέρως ili. 15. εὔφημος iv. 8. εὐψυχέω ii. 19. ζημία ill. 7, 8. ἴσος ii. 6.ἁ ἰσόψυχος" ii. 20. καίπερ iii, 4. κατατομή iil, 2. καταχθόνιος ii. το. κενοδοξία ii, 3. κύων iii. 2. λῆμψις ἵν. 15. μεγάλως ἵν. τος μορφή ii. 6, 7. μνέομαιδ iv, 12. οἶμαι 1.17. ὀκταήμερος" iii. ς. παραβολεύομαι ii. 30. παραμύθιον 1.1. παραπλήσιον ii. 2). πολίτευμα ili. 20. πολιτεύομαι i. 27. πραιτώριον i. 12. πτύρομαι i, 28. σκολιός ii, 15.ἁ. σκύβαλον" iii. 8. συλλαμβάνω iv. 25. συμμορφίζομαιξ iii. το. συναθλέωϊ i. 27, iv. 3. σύνζυγος" ἵν. 3. συμνμιμητής᾽ ill. 17. σύνψυχος" ii. 2. ταπείνωσις iii, 21. τελειόω ili, 12. ὑπερυψόω ii. 9. ὑστέρησις iv. 11. Φαρισαῖος iii. 5. φωστήρ il, 15. χορτάζω iv. 12. 2. In Eph. and nowhere else in Pauline Epistles :— dyvoia iv. 18 ἀγρυπνέω vi. 18. ἄθεος" ii. 12. αἰσχρότης vy. 4. αἰχμαλωσία iv. 8 (quot.). αἰχμαλωτεύω" iv. 8 (quot.). axpoywviaios ii. 20. ἀμφότεροι ii. 14, 16,18. ἀνανεόομαιΐ iv, 23. ἀνίημι Vi.g. ἄνοιξις vi. 19. ἀπαλγέομαι iv. 19. ἀπειλή Vi. 19. dgodos* vy. 15. βέλος" vi. 16. δῶρον 1ϊ. 8. ἐκπορεύομαι iv. 29. * Nowhere else in N. T. 692 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL ἐκτρέφω" v. 29, iv. 4. ἑνότης Ὁ iv. 3, 13. ἐξισχύωϊ ili. 18. ἐπέρχομαι ii, 17. ἐπιδύωϊ iv. 26. émehavoxw* ν. 14 (quot. from hymn). ἐπουράνια (τά) i, 3, 20, il. 6, ili..10, vi. 12. ἐργασία iv. 19. ἑτοιμασία vi. τς. εὖ vi. 3 (quot.). εὔνοια vi. 7. εὔσπλαγχνος iv. 32. εὐτραπελίαξ v. 4. ἡλικία iv. 13. θυρεός" vi. 16. κατα- βολή i. 4. καταρτισμός iv. 12. κατοικητήριον ἰἴϊ. 22. κατώτερος" iv. το (quot.). κληρόομαι i, τι. κλυδωνίζομαιξ iv. 14. κοσμο- κράτωρ" vi. 12. κραυγή iv. 31. κρυφῇ v. 12. KuBia* iv. 14. μακράν ii, 13, 17. μακροχρόνιος vi. 3 (quot.). μέγεθος" i. το. μεθοδία iv. 14, Vi. 11. pecorotyov*® ii, 14. μῆκος ili, 18. μωρο- Aoyia* ν. 4. ὀργίζομαι iv. 26 (quot.). ὁσιότης iv. 24 (only other N. T. instance Benedictus, Lk. i. 75). ὀσφύς vi. 14. πάλη vi. 12. πανοπλία Vi. II. πάροικος li. 19. παροργισμός" iv. 26. πατριά iii, τς. περιζώννυμι vi. 14. πλάτος iii. 18. ποιμήν iv. II. πολιτεία ii. 12, wodvmoixtAos* ili. 10. προελπίζωξ 1. 12. προσ- kaptépyois* vi. 18. προσκολλάομαι ν. 31 (quot.). puris* ν. 27. σαπρός ἵν. 29. σκοτόομαι ἵν. 18. σπίλος ν. 27. συναρμολογέω ii. 21, ἵν. τ6. συνκαθίζω ii. 6.ἁ. συνμέτοχος iii. 6, ν. . συνοικο- Souéw* ii, 22. συνπολίτης" il, το. σύνσωμος" ill. 6. σωτήριον (noun)* νἱ. 17. ὕδωρ ν. 26. ὑπεράνω 1. 21, iv. 10, ὑὕὑποδέομαι ν᾽. 15. ὕψος iii. 18, iv. 8 (quot.). φραγμός 1ϊ. 14. φρόνησις i. 8. χαριτόωϊ. 6. χειροποίητος ii. 11. 3. In Col. and nowhere else in Pauline Epistles :— ἀθυμέων iil, 21. atexpodoyia* iii. 8. ἅλας iv. 6. ἀνεψιός" . 3 ᾿ DY δ᾽ χ ~ ? “ὃ + ese > δύ + iv. το. avtavarAnpow* 1. 24. ἀνταπόδοσις ill. 24. ἀπεκδύομαι ii. 15... 9. ἀπέκδυσις ii. 11. ἀποκρίνομαι iv. 6. ἀπόκρυφος ii. 3. > / ὡς οἷν 2 ’΄ μιν . > με > as * oe ἀπόχρησις il, 22. ἀρεσκίαξ i.to, apttwiv.6. ddedia* ii, 23. BpaBevu* iii, τς. γεύομαι 11. 21. δειγματίζω ii. 15. Soypari- τς 5 26 λ θ “τας, ss ᾽ ΠΕΡ ays > ζομαιδ ii. 20. €BedAoOpyoKia* ii. 23. elpyvoroew* i. 20, ἐμ- * ii. 18. €vtadpa* 11. 22 (also in quot. Mt. xv. 9= Mk. vii. 7). ἐξαλείφω il 14. ἑορτή li. 16. εὐχάριστος ili. 15. θεότης ii. 9. θιγγάνω ii, 21. θρησκεία il. 18. θρόνος i. 16. ἰατρός iv. 14. καταβραβεύωδ ii, 18. κλῆρος 1. 12. prerakivew* 1. 23. poppy* iii. 12. veounvia* ii. 16. ὁδρατός 1, 16. παραλογίζομαι ii. 4. παρηγορία iv. 11. meBavoroyia* 11. 4. πικραίνω 11]. 19. πλησμονήξ il. 22. πόνος iv. 1323. προακούωξ i, 5. προσηλόω" ii, 14. mpwredw* 1. 18, σκιά ii 12. Σκύθης iii, 11. στερέ- wpa* ji. ς. συλαγωγέωξ ii. 8. σύνδουλος ἱ. 7, iV. 7. σωματικῶς" be sible ie ; Aguas λ > oad incl 1. 9. τελειότης 1]. 14. ὑπεναντίος 11. 14. φιλοσοφία i. 8. χειρόγραφον ii, 14. βατεύω * Nowhere else in N. T. VERBAL PECULIARITIES IN LETTERS 693 4. In Eph. and Col. and nowhere else in Pauline Epistles :— ἄδω Eph. ν. το, Col. iii, 16. ἀνθρωπάρεσκος" Eph. vi. 6, Col. iii. a2. ἀπαλλοτριόομαιδ Eph. ii. 12, iv. 18, Col. i. 21. ἀποκαταλ- λάσσω" Eph. ii. 16, Col. i. 20, Ζ1. αὔξησις" Eph. iv. 16, Col. ii. 19. ἄφεσις Eph. i. 7, Col. i. 14. ἀφήν Eph. iv. 16, Col. ii. 19. διάνοια Bean.’ 3, iv. 18, Col. 1 az. δόγμα Eph. ii. 15, Col. ii. 14. δυναμόω Eph. vi. το, Col. i. 11. θεμελιόω Eph. iii. 18, Col. i. 23. κατενώπιον Eph, i. 4, Col. i, 22. κατοικέω Eph. iii. 17, Col. i. 19, ii. 9. κυριότης Eph. i. 21, Col. i. 16. 6OadApodovrAia* Eph. vi. 6, Col. iii. 22. pe{oopar* Eph. iii. 18, Col. ii. 7. σύνδεσμος Eph. iv. 3, Col. 11. 19, ili. 14. συνζωοποιέω Eph. ii. 15, Col. ii. 13. ὕμνος" Eph. v. 19, Col. 111. 16. φδή Eph. v. 19, Col. iii. 16. 5. In Phm. and nowhere else in Pauline Epistles :— > ͵ > ieee ἢ » * ε 4 * ἀναπέμπω II, amotivw* 19, ἄχρηστος" τι. éxovovos* 14. ἐπιτάσσω 8. ξενία 22. dvivapar* 20. mpocodeiAw* το. 6. In two or all of the group (Phil., Eph.-Col., Phm.) and nowhere else in Pauline Epistles :— ἄμωμος Phil. 11. 15, Eph. 1. 4, v.27, Col.i.22. ἀνήκωξ Eph. v. 4, Col. ii. 18, Phm. 8. γενεά Phil. ii. 15, Eph. iii. 5, 21, Col. i. 26. extxopyyta* Phil. i. 19, Eph. iv. 16. συνκοινωνέω Phil. iv. 14, Eph. ν. 11. συνστρατιώτης" Phil. ii. 25, Phm. 2. ταπεινοφροσύνη Phil. ii. 3, Eph. iv. 2, Col. ii, 18, 23, ili. 12. IV Tue PASTORAL EPISTLES 1. In x Tim. and nowhere else in Pauline Epistles :— ἁγνεία ἵν. 12, Vv. 2. ἀδηλότης vi. 17. αἰδώς" 1, 9. ἄλλως v.25. apuorBy* ν. 4. ἀνδραποδιστής" 1. το. ἀνεπίλημπτος iii. 2, Vv. 7, Vi. 14. ἀντίθεσις" vi. 2ο.ἁ. ἀντιλαμβάνομαιΐ vi. 2. ἀντί- Autpov* ii, 6. ἀπέραντος i. 4. ἀπόβλητος" iv. 4. ἀπόδεκτος Ἐ ii. 3, ν. 4. ἀποδοχήν i. 15, iv. 9. ἀποθησαυρίζωνδ vi. 19. ἀπό- Aavots§$ vi. 17. ἀποπλανάω vi. 10. ἀπρόσιτος" vi. 6. ἀργός v. 13 dis (also in quot. Tit. i. 12). a¥Oevréw* ii. 12. ἀφιλάργυρος ὃ iii. 3. βαθμός" iii. 13. βλαβερός" vi. 9. ββραδύνω iii. τς. βυθίζωϊ vi. 9. γραώδης" iv. 7. γυμνάζω ἵν. 7. yupvacia* iv. 8, διαπαρατριβήν vi. 5. Statpopy* vi. 8. δίλογος iii. 8, διώκτης" * Nowhere else in N. T. + Elsewhere in N. T. only in Luke (Gospel and Acts), § Elsewhere in N. T. only in Heb, 694 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL i. 13. δυνάστης 7 vi. 15. ἐἑδραίωμα ili, 15. εἰσφέρω vi. 7. ἔκγονος v. 4. ἐκζήτησις" 1. 4. ἐκφέρω vi. 7. ἐλάσσων v. 9 (also in quot. Rom. ix. 2). ἐμπίπτω iii. 6, 7, vi. g. ἔντευξις ἢ 11. χα, iv. 5. ἐντρέφομαιϊ iv. 6. ἐπακολουθέω vy. το, 24. éwapxéw* 3 > ΄ “ ; , sieht v. το, 16 dfs. ἐπιλαμβάνομαι vi. 12, 19. ἐπιμελέομαιτ iii. 5. ἐπίορκος i, 10. émimAjoow* ν. τ. ἐπισκοπή iil, 1. ἐπίσταμαι oO 3 (0 ε 5 ὃ : 2, ἃ Σ᾽ 2 > , Ἷ lv. 4. ἐπιτίθημι ν. 22. ἑτεροδιδασκαλέω 1. 3, Υἱ. 2. εὐεργεσία vi. 2, εὐμετάδοτος" vi. 18. εὐσεβέωΐ v. 4. (ωογονέωΐ vi. 13. ἤρεμος" li. 2. ἡσύχιος li. 2. θεοσέβειαν ii. 10. θνήσκω v. 6. ἱματισμός li. 9. καταλέγομαιδ ν. 9, KxatagtoAn* 1.9. κατα- oTpnvidw* vy. τι. καυστηριάζομαιδ iv. 2. κοινωνικός" vi. 18. κόσμιος ji. 9, lil. 2. κοσμίως Ἐ ii, 9. κτίσμα ἵν. 4. λογομαχίαξ vi. 4. λοιδορία v. 14. μαργαρίτης ii. 9. ματαιολογία i. 6. μελετάω" iv. 15 (also in quot. Ac. iv. 25). μετάλημψις iv. 3. μητρολῴης 1.9. μονόομαιδ v. 5. νεότης ἵν. 12. νεόφυτος iil. 6. νίπτω ν. 10. νομοδίδασκαλος ἢ i. 7. νοσέωπ vi. 4. ξενοδοχέω v. το. οἰκοδεσποτέωΐ vy. 14. ὁμολογουμένως 1]. 16. ὀρέγομαι ἃ iii. 1, Vi. 10. παραδέχομαι v. 19. πατρολῴης" 1.9. meplepyost Vv. 13. περίερχομαι Vv. 13. περιπείρωξ vi. τος περιποιέομαι 1. 13. πλέγμα ii. g. πολυτελής il. g. πορισμῦς" vi. 5, 6. πραὐπαθία" vi. 11. mperButéprovyt iv. 14. πρόδηλοςβ v. 24, 25. mpoxpipa*® ν. 21. πρόσκλισις ν, 21. προσμένω 1. 3, V. 5. πυκνός V. 22. ῥητῶς iv. 1. σκέπασμαξ vi. 8. σπαταλάω v. 6. στόμαχος ν. 22. σωματικός ἵν. 8. σωφροσύνη ἴϊ.9φ. τάχειον (v.1.) iii, 14. Texvoyovéw* ν. 14. Tekvoyovia* ii, τς. τεκνοτροφέω" » - > . ες ,“ ἃς v.10. τιμάω vy. 3 (also in quot. Eph. νἱ. 2. ὑδροποτέω v. 23. ε λ ὔ yy ¢£ © f ΕΝ ν᾿ o ες ey? vreprAcovatw* 1. 14. ὕὑπόνοιαξ vi. 4. ὕστερος iv. 1. ὑψηλο- φρονέω" vi. 1]. rdapyrpia* vi. τος φλύαρος ν. 13. ψευνδο- λόγος" iv. 2Ζ. ψευδώνυμος vi. 20. a. In 2 Tim. and nowhere else in Pauline Epistles :— dOA€w* ii. 5. ἀκαίρως iv. 2. ἀκρατής" iii, 3. avatwrvpew* i. 6. ἀνάλυσις" iv. 6. ἀνανήφωϊ ii, 26. ἀναψύχωϊ 1. τό. ἀνεξίκακος Ὁ 11. 24. ἀνεπαίσχυντος 11. 15. ἀνήμερος iii. 3. ἄνοιαΐ 111. g. ἀντιδιατίθεμαιδ ii. 25. ἀπαίδευτος ii. 22. ἀπο- τρέπομαιδ iii. 5. ἀπρόσιτος vi. τ6. ἀργύρεος ii. 20. ἄρτιος ili. 17. ἄσπονδος iii. 3. ἀφιλάγαθος" iii. ς. ἀχάριστος ili. 2. βέλτιον i. 18. βρέφος iii. 15. γάγγραιναξδ ii. 17. γεωργός ii. 6. yons* ili, 13. yvvarkaptov™ 1]. 6. SecAta* 1. 7. δρόμος iv. 7 (cf. Ac. xx. 24). ἔκδηλος iii. g. ἐλεγμός" iti. 16. ἐμπλέκω Ii, 4. * Nowhere else in N. T. + Elsewhere in N. T. only in Luke (Gospel and Acts), 8 Elsewhere in N. T. only in Heb. VERBAL PECULIARITIES IN LETTERS 695 evdivw* 1]. 6. ἐξαρτίζωϊ iii, 17. €mavdpOwors* iii, 16. ἐπι- σωρεύων iv. 3. ἐπιτιμάω iv. 2. (wypéwt ii. 26. Cwoyoréwt vi. 13. nmos*® ii, 24 (also ν.]. 1 Th. ii. 7). θεόπνευστος iii, 16. κακο- παθέω ii. 9. κακοῦργος ii. g. καταστροφή ii. 14. Kxatapbetpw* iii, 8. κνήθων iv. 3. κριτής iv. 8. λέων iv. 17. λίαν iv. 15. Aoyopaxéw* ii, 14. μάμμην 1. 5. μάχομαι ii. 24. peuBpava* iv. 13. μέντοι ii. 19. μήποτε ii, 25. νεωτερικός ii. 22. νομή ii, τῇ. ξύλινος ii. 20. ὀρθοτομέωΣ ii. 15. πιστύομαι iii. 14. Tpaypariali 4. προδότης ἡ iii. 4. mpometyst ili. 4. σοφίζω iii. 15. στερεός il. 19. στεφανόωξβ ii. 5. στρατιώτης ii. 3. otpatoAocyéew* li. 4. συνκακοπαθέωδ 1. 8, ii, 3. cwpetw* iii. 6 (also in quot. Rom. xii. 20). σωφρονισμός" i, ἡ. ὑὕὑπόμνησις i. 5. ῴφελόνης iv. 13. φιλάργυρος iii. 2. φίλαυτος ili. 2. φιλήδονος" iii. 4. φιλόθεος Ἑ iii. 4. χαλεπός iii, τ. χαλκεύς" iv. 14. χρήσιμος il. 14. χρύσεος ii. 20. In Tit. and nowhere else in Pauline Epistles :— αἱρετικός Ἐ iii. το. ἀκατάγνωστος ji. 8. ἀντιλέγω 1. 9, ii. g (also in quot. Rom. x. 21). ἀνωφελής ὃ ili. g. αὐθάδης 1. ἢ. αὐτο- κατάκριτος" iii. 11. ἀφθορίαν ii. 7, ayevdijs* i. 2. βδελυκτός 1.16. ἐγκρατής" i. 8. ἐκστρέφομαιϊξ iii, τι. — ewBiopOdw* i. 5. ἐπιστομίζων i. τι. ἐπιφαίνωτ ii. 11, ili. 4. dovy ili. 3. θηρίον i. 12 (quot.). ‘eporperys* ii. 3. Ἰουδαϊκός i. 14. καλοδιδάσ- kaAdos* ii. 3. κατάστημα il. 3, Kooptkos§ 11. 12. Aeirw i. 5, ili. 13. Avrpdouacil. 14. parasoloyos* i. το. μιαίνω i, 15. νομικός 11}. 9, 13. νοσφίζομαιΐ ii. 10. οἰκουργός" ii. 5. ὀργίλος i. 7. παλινγενεσία 111. 5. πειθαρχέωΐ ill. 1. περιούσιος" 11. 14 (quot.). mepippovew* ii. 15 πρεσβῦτις il. 3. στυγητός ili. 3. σωτήριος ἢ li. 11. owpovilw* ii. 4. σωφρόνως ii. 12. ὑγιής li. 8. φιλά- γαθος i. 8. pidavdpos* 11. 4. φιλανθρωπία iii. 4. φιλότεκνος ἢ ii. 4. φρεναπάτης" i. 10. φροντίζω iii. 6. 4. In two or all of the group and nowhere else in Pauline Epistles :— αἰσχροκερδής τ Tim. iii. 8, Tit. i. 7. ἄμαχος τ Tim. iii. 3, Tit. iii. 2. ἀνατρέπω 2 Tim. ii. 18, Titi. 11. ἀνόσιος 1 Tim. i. 9. 2 Tim. ili. 2. ἀνυπότακτοςβ 1 Tim. i. 9, Tit. i. 6, 10. ἀπολείπω 2 Tim. iv. 13, 20, Tit. i. 5. ἀρνέομαι 1 Tim. v. 8, 2 Tim. ii. 12, 13 (quot. from hymn), Tit. i. 16, ii. 12, ἀστοχέω 1 Timi. 6, vi. 21, 2 Tim. ii. 18. βεβηλόςϑ 1 Tim. i. 9, iv. 7, vi. 20, 2 Tim. ii. 16, * Nowhere else in N. T. + Elsewhere in N. T. only in Luke (Gospel and Acts), § Elsewhere in N. T. only in Heb, 696 LIFE AND) LETTERS ΘΕ PAVE Bios τ Tim. ii. 2, 2 Tim. ii. 4. βλάσφημος τ Tim. i. 13, 2 Tim. iii. 2. yeveaAdoyia* τ Tim. i. 4, Tit. iii. 9. δεσπότης 1 Tim. vi. 1, 2, 2 Tim. ii. 21, Tit. ii. 9. διαβεβαιόομαιξδ x Tim. i. 7, Tit. iti. 8. Sidyw* τ Tim. 1]. 2, Tit. iii. 3. Sedaxtexos*® τ Tim. iii. 2, 2 Tim. ii. 24. ἐκτρέπομαιβ τ Tim. i. 6, v. 15, vi. 20, 2 Tim. iv. 4. ἐπίθεσις 1 Tim. iv. 14, 2 Tim. 1. 6. εὐσέβεια τ Tim. ii. 2, iii. 16, iv. 7, 8, Vi. 3, 5, 6, 11, 2/ Tim. iii. 5, Tit) 1, 2.) ctoeSas* .2 Tim 1 τ δ Tit. ii. 12. jrnows 1 Tim. vi. 4, 2 Tim. ii. 23, Tit. ili. 9. = xarn- yopia 1 Tim. v. 19, Tit. 1.6. Kevopwvia* 1 Tim. vi. 20, 2 Tim. ii. 16. κῆρυξ τ Tim. ii. 7, 2 Tim.i. 11. κοσμέω 1 Tim. ii. 9, Tit. ii. 10. μαρτυρία τ' Tim. iii. 7, Tit. 1. 12: μῦθος 1 Tim. i. 4, iv. 7, 2) Tim. iv. 4, Tit. 1.14... νηφάλιος τ Tim. i. 2, τὰ, Tite νομίμως τ Tim. i. 8, 2 Tim. li. 5. ὅσιος 1 Tim. 11: 8, Tit. i. 8. παραθήκην τ Tim. vi. 20, 2 Tim. i. 12,14. παραιτέομαι τ Tim. iv. 7, v. 11, 2 Tim. ii. 23, Tit. iii, 10. παρακολουθέω 1 Tim. iv. 6 2 Tim. iii. 10. mdpotvos* 1 Tim. iii. 3, Tit. 1. 7. meptiornpue 2 Tim. ii. 16, Tit. iii.g. πλήκτης" 1 Tim. iii. 3, Tit. i. 7. ποικίλας a Vim. i. (6, ‘Tit. 111.}2: πρεσβύτερος τ Tim. v. 1, 2, 17, 19, Tit. i. 5. mpoyovos* 1 Tim. v. 4, 2 Tim. i. 3. προσέχω 1 Tim. i. 4, iii: 8, iv. 1, 13, vi. 3, Tit. i. 14. | owepvorys® x Tim: i. 2, 1 gy Die ii. 7. σώφρων" τ Tim. 11]. 2, Tit. i. 8, ii. 2,5. ruddopac* x Tim. iii. 6, vi. 4, 2 Tim. 11. 4. ὑγιαίνω 1 Tim. i. 10, vi. 3, 2 Tim. i. 13, iv. 3, Tit. i. 9, 13, li. I, 2. 5 ὑπομιμνήσκω. 2 Tim. ii. 14, Tit. iii. ἢ ὑποτύπωσις τ Tim. i. 16, 2 Tim. i. 13. φιλόξενος τ Tim. iii. 2, Tit. 1. 8. χείρων τ Tim. v. 8, 2 Tim. iii. 13. ὠφέλιμος" 1 Tim. iv. 8, 2 Tim. iii. 16, Tit. iii. 8. * Nowhere else in N. T. + Elsewhere in N. T. only in Luke (Gospel and Acts). § Elsewhere in N, T. only in Heb, INDEX I.—NAMES AND SUBJECTS ACHAICUS, 259, 261. Acts, an unfinished work, 584. Adada, 106. Adoption, 209, 419 f. Adria, 497. Eons, 524, 592. Agabus, 72, 466. * Ages,’ 153. Agrippa I, 71 f. Agrippa 11, 486 ff. Agrippina, 503 f. Alexander of Ephesus, 342. —— the coppersmith, 624. the Great, 7. Alexandria, 4. Allegorising, Gnostic, 592 f. —— Rabbinical, 27. Altars to unknown gods, 11. Amanuensis, 154 f. Ambrose and Theodosius, 326. Amphipolis, 135. Ananias of Damascus, 55. —— the High Priest, 475, 481. Anastasis, 144. Angaria, 166. Angelic mediators, 524, 531, 559, 592. Angelolatry, 550. Angels, 206, 284. Animal body, 319. Animal-worship, 382. Anthropomorphites, 317. Antichrist, 171 ff. Antinomianism, 153, 161, 195, 201, 214, 235, 293, 411, 517. Antioch, Pisidian, 89 f. Syrian, 65 ff. Antiochene subsidy, 73. Antiochus Epiphanes, 172, 18r. Appeal to the Emperor, 485. Apocryphal Gospels, 593. Apollonia, 135. Apollos, 228, 240, 323, 615 f., 621. Apostasy, 181. Apostle, large use of, 60. Apostleship of Paul challenged, 195, 197 f..1272 ὩΣ ἘΠ ΠΝ Fathers and Pastorals, 587 f. | Apphia, 568. Aque Salvia, 640. Aquila and Prisca, 151, 189 f., 228, 324, 343- Arabia, 56 f. Aratus, 18, 24. Archippus, 568. Archons, 97 f. Areiopagos, 144. Aristarchus, 137, 342, 491, 522. Aristobulus, 456. Arria, 491. Artemas, 621. Asceticism, 235, 447 ff., 551 f., 559f., 604. Asiarchs, 225, 342. Assassins, 473. Astral body, 319. Astrology, 84 f. Attaleia, 87, 106. Attendant, 79. Augustan Cohort, 490. Autobiography, Paul’s 4i4 ff. Nyy Autonomy of the Jews in religion, 45. spiritual, Baptism for the dead, 314 f. Barjesus, 85. Barnabas, 59 f., 69 f., 73, 81, 116 ff., 118. Bernice, 486. Bercea, 139. Bestiarit, 254. ‘ Bishop,’ 463, 589 ff. | Body and flesh, 318 f., 418. | Body essentially evil, 235. Body of Christ (the Church), 291, 442. Brigandage, 9, 89, 90. Burial of Paul, 64r. Burning of Rome, 612, 625. Burrus, 503. CARPUS, 624. Castra Peregrinorum, 490, 502. Casuistry, 390. Catechists, 218. Catholic custom, 286, 310. 697 698 Cenchrez, 189. Cerinthus, 524, 525. Chanina, R., 32. * Chief Shepherd,’ 590. Chloe, 238. ‘ Christ Jesus’: ‘ Jesus Christ,’ 379, 629 f. Christian, the name, 67 f. Church, growth in Paul’s concep- tion, 533 f. modelled on Synagogue, 605. the Body of Christ, 291, 531. the Commonwealth of God, 512, 533. the Living Temple, 534. the Pillar of the Truth, 603 f. Cilician Gates, 104, 120, 223. Circumcision, 109, 391. Civitas Dei, 512, 518, 533- Classical quotations, 24. Clauda, 494. Claudius’ expulsion of Jews from Rome, 131, 151. Claudius Lysias, 472. Clemens Romanus, 585, 587. Clement, 5109. Collection for poor at Jerusalem, 223, 234, 321 f., 344, 366. Colleges, Rabbinical, 26. Colosse, 546. Colossians, letter to the, 555 ff. Common Greek, 7 f. Communism, 36 f. Conference at Jerusalem, 74 f. Corinth, 149 ff., 188. parties at, 240. Corinthians, first letter to (1 Cor. vi. 12-20; 2 Cor. vi. 14-vii. 1), 236 f. second letter to (1 Cor.), 242 ff. third letter to (2 Cor. x-xiii. 10), 327 ff. fourth letter to (2 Cor. 1-ix, xiii. 11-14), 346 fff. Cornelius, 112. Corn-ships, 492. Council at Jerusalem, 111 ff. Couriers, 167. Covenant, Old and New, 354 ff. Cremation, 316. Crescens, 624. Crete, 613 f. Crispus, 168. Cyprus, 8x ff. DALMATIA, 612, 624. Damaris, 148. Damascus, 49 ff. Darwin, 306. Deacon, 39, 589, 603. Deaconess, 189, 603. LIFE AND LETTERSVOR ST. PAUL Death and sin, 403 ff. Decree of Council at Jerusalem, 113. Deity of Christ, 161, 426, 451 f., 464. Delation, 384 1. Demas, 522, 624 f., 635. Demetrius, the silversmith, 341. Democratic constitution of Apostolic Church, 39, 81, III, 114, 605. “ Deposit,’ 593 f., 628. Derbe, 104, 120. Descensus ad Inferos, 539. Dionysius the Areopagite, 147. ‘ Discipline,’ 593. Discipline of offenders, 216. Disembodiment, 359 ff. Dispersion, 3 ff. Divine right of kings, 444. Divorce, 262. ‘Dogs,’ 516. Dreams, 54 f., 125. Drusilla, 480, 482. ‘ EARNEST,’ 349. Earthly body, 319. Egnatian Way, 9. Elder, 463, 589 f., 603, 605. Elders of Ephesus at Miletus, 462 ff. Election, 426 f. Elymas, 85. Empire, Roman, 8 ff. Epeznetus, 191. Epaphras, 546, 566. Epaphroditus, 507 ff., 516. ‘ Ephesian Letters,’ 228. ‘ Ephesians, Epistle to the,’ 528 ff. Ephesus, 225 ff. Epictetus, 548, 570. Epicureans, 143. Epimenides, 11, 24, 618. Episcopos, 590, 605. Erastus of Ephesus, 260, 623 f. Erskine of Linlathen, 301 ff. Essenes, 37, 447, 549 ff. Ethereal body, 52, 319. Euodia, 518. Eunice, 100. Euraquilo (Euroclydon), 493. Eutychus, 461. Evil eye, 203. ‘ Examination,’ 252 f., 425. Execution of Paul, 640. Exorcism, 231 ff. Exposure of children, 386. ‘ FABLES,’ 592. Fair Havens, 492 £ ‘ Faithful words,’ 594. Famine, 72 f. ‘ Fashion,’ 513. INDEX Parte the Heavenly Arche- ype of, 537- «oar of tis Lord,” 361. Feasts in idol-temples, 269. Felix, 480 ff. Festus, 484 ff. Flesh and spirit, 214, 418. ‘ Form,’ 513. Fortunatus, 259, 261. Fortune-teller, 130. ‘ Forty stripes save one,’ 334. Francis of Assisi, 336. ‘ Fruit of the spirit,’ 215. “ Fulness,’ 524, 531. Gatus of Corinth, 168, 372. —— of Derbe, 104, 224, 342, 371. Galatia, 89 f., 223 f. Galatians, letter to the, 195 ff. Gallia Cisalpina, mission to, 612 f., 624. Gallio, 185 f. Gamaliel, 28 f. Gaoler of Philippi, 133 f. Gates of Cilicia, 104, 120, 223. “ Genealogies,’ 592. Gentile converts, low morality of, 161, 195, 214, 517, 540 hostility to the Gospel worldly, not religious, 130, 341. Gentiles and the Law, 108 ff. —— first evangelised at Antioch, 69. Gibbon, 11. Gnosticism, 523 ff. *Gnostics (the name), 525. God-fearers, 12 f. Gods of heathendom, 270 f. Gospel a treasonable propaganda, 131, 138, 174. Grafting, 438. Greek colonisation, 3. conquests, 7. ——- Common, 7 f. HapriAn to his soul, 360. Hagar, 211. Haggadah, 27. Halachah, 27. ‘ Harrowing of Hell,’ 539. Headship of Christ, 531. Heathendom, corruption of, 383 ff. Heavenly body, 319. ‘ Heavenly regions,’ 524. Heavens, the Seven, 335. Hebrews, 38. Epistle to the, 639. Helena, Queen of Abdiene, 73. Helius, 625. Hellenists, 5, 38. ee ee 699 Heresy in Asia, 523 ff. Hermes, ror. Hermogenes, 623, 629. Herod Agrippa 1, 71 f. 11, 486 ff Hierapolis, 548. High Priest, Paul’s encounter with, 4751. Hillel, 28. * House of Interpretation,’ ‘ House of the Book,’ 22. Huns, 176. Husbands and wives, 542 {., 564. Hymeneus, 631. Hymns, quotations from primitive, 161, 410 f., 542, 595, 604, 630. 26. IcontuM, 96 f. Idolatry, 382. Idols, food sacrificed to, 269 ff. ‘ Image of God,’ 513 f., 556. Immortality, quarrel between Sad- ducees and Pharisees, 476 f. Imputation, 313, 402 f., 436. Inarticulate language, 306. Incarnation, 514, 525, 538. Informers, 384 f. Insanity, reverence for, 130. Intellectuals, 244 ff., 249. Irresponsibility of God, 428. Irvingites, 300 ff. Islam, 176. Isthmian Games, 150, 275. James, the Lord’s brother, 60, 108, ΤῊ 1. the son of Zebedee, 72. Jannes and Jambres, 632 f. Jason, 136 f. ὁ Jesus Christ”: ‘ Christ Jesus,’ 379, 629 f. Jesus Justus, 523. “76νν, 380. Jewish Gnosticism, 549 ff. ——— monotheism, attraction of, 12. Jews, contempt for, 5. expelled from Rome, 131, 151. first addressed, 83, 380 f., 502 f. John Mark. See Mark John the Baptist’s disciples, 228 ff. Judaists, 74 f., 108 ff., 194 ff., 260, 329 ff., 372 f., 506, 516 f. Judas Barsabbas, 114, 116. Julian, 67. Julius the centurion, 491 ff Justin Martyr, II. Justus (Titius), 168. yoo, LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL. Kins, divine right of, 444. Kiss, 166, 464. LANGUAGE, universal, 7 f. Languages and tongues, 296 ff. Laodiceia, 546 f. Law, double signification, 396. given by angels, 206. Paul’s attitude to the, 120, 193, 413 ff. study of the, 26. taught by rote to children, 23. Lawyer, 26, 622. Laying on of hands, 605. Letters, conveyance of, 166 f. Letter-writing, 154 f. Libertinism, 235. Liberty, Christian, 272 ff. Linus, 588. Litigation, 242, 258. ~ Lois, roo. ‘Lord,’ title of heathen deities and Emperor, 271. ‘ Lords ’ and ‘ masters,’ 588. Love-feast, 37, 286. Love, praise of, 293 ff. Lucina, 641. Lucius of Cyrene, 80. Luke, 90 f., 105, 123, 125, 135, 344, 368, 491, 522, 584, 595 ἔ., Lycus valley, 546 ff., 598. Lydia, 128 f. Lysias, 472. Lystra, 99 f. MACEDONIA, 125. Macedonian poverty, 366. Magic, Ephesian, 228, 231, 633. Maimonides, 22, 30. Malady, Paul’s, 87, 122, 149, 189. Malaria, 87. Malea, 149. Manaen, 80. Manual of Christian teaching, 412, 594- Marcus Aurelius, 410. Marginalia, 245, 334, 389, 401, 609, 610. Mark, 70, 88, 117, 522, 566, 635. Marriage, 30, 262, 543. Mary of Ephesus, 457. * Masters ’ and ‘ lords,’ 588. Masters and slaves, 543, 564. Matter essentially evil, 524, 549. Medical terms, 56, 70, 161, 491, 499, 589, 610. Melita (Malta), 496, 498. Menander, 24. Mercenariness, 608, 609 f, Midrash, 26 f. | Miletus, 462. Millennium, 154, 300. Ministries in the Church, 292. Miraculous gifts, 35 f. Mishnah, 23. Mixed marriages, 263 f. Mnason, 467. Muratorian, Canon, 585. Mysteries, Greek, 276 f. ‘Mystery,’ 320, 440, 529, 536. . NAASENES, 524, 548. . Names, Jews’ double, 21. Nannacus, 96. Narcissus, 456. Natural affection, 386. Navigation, season for, 648. Nazirite vow, 190, 472. Neapolis, 120. Neopythagoreanism, 448. Nephew of Paul, 478. Nero, 503 ff., 625, 639. vedivivus, 174 f. - Nicolaitans, 526. Nicolaus, 39, 526. Nicopolis, 615 f., 622. Nympha, 566. Oatus, absolution from, 485. Onesimus, 545 f. Onesiphorus, 626, 629. Ophiorymé, 548. Ophites, 524, 548. Oral tradition, 80, 218, 287. Orders of primitive ministry, 463, 589, 605. Ordination, 605. Overseer, 589 ff., 603. PaGAN RELIGION, decay of, τὸ f. Pamphylia, 86 f. “ Panoply of God,’ 543 f. Paphos, 84. Papyrus, 155. Paradise, 335. Parents and children, 543, 564. Paronomasia, 517. Parties at Corinth, 241 f. Pastoral Epistles, 579 ff. Pastors, 539. Paul, the name, 21. ‘ Pedagogue,’ 206 f. Pentecost, 4. Pentecostal Brethren, 302. Pevegyint, 490. Perga, 87, 106. Persecution a furtherance of the Gospel, 65. the first, 45 8. ---- Herod Agrippa 1’s, 71 f. i INDEX Persecution in Macedoni, 141. Peter at Antioch, 108 ff —— at the Council, r1:. Pharisaism, 32. Pharisees, 20 f., 32. Philemon, 545, 568. ~——— letter to, 574 ff. Philetus, 631. Philip, 39 f., 466. Philippi, 126 f. Philippian generosity, 137, 142, 152, 273, 508, 520. Philippians, letter to the, 510 ff. Philosophers, 143 f. Pheebe, 189. Pheenix, 493. Phrygian slave, 545. Phygelus, 623, 629. * Pillars,’ 199. Piracy, 9. ° Plausibility, charge οἱ, 197, 213, 362. Pleroma, 524. Plot to assassinate Paul, 459, 477 ἴ. Politarchs, 136. Pompey’s deportation of Jewish | | Sarcasm of Paul, 327. captives, 3. ?ope as Antichrist, 176. Poppza Sabina, 505. Potter and clay, 428, 430 f. Precognition, 257 f., 625. Presbyter, 463, 439 ff., 603, 605. Presbytery, 605. Prisca, Priscilla, 151. Prison at Philippi, 132 f. Meer: of Gos/pel after Crucifixion, 351. Prophecy and frongues, 302 f. Pras) fet, "Pay 22, 535: ᾿ῬῬτορῇῃβίβϑβϑβ, 310. Prophets, Essene, 551. of the Cevennes, 299 f. Proselytism, 6. Proverbs, 48, 65, 149, 150, 184, 213, | 218, 251, 253, 276, 293, 370, 384, 475, 532, 545, 572, 608, 614. Providential interposition, 122. Publius, 499. Puteoli, 500. Ptolemais, 466. Quinquennium Neronis, 504. Rab, Rabbi, Rabban, 26. Rabbinism of Paul, 27, 204. Rabbis and trade, 24 f. * Reading,’ 536, 605. Reception, 37, 288. Reconciliation, 362, 402. Reformation as the Apostasy, 177. desecration οἱ the Temple, 172. | 701 Reformers as precursors of Anti- christ, 177. Remuneration, 273 ff., 325, 338. " Restraint,’ ‘ Restrainer,’ 173. Resurrection, 144, 311 ff Gnostic doctrine of, 631. Riot of Mphesus, 342 f. ---— Jerusalem, 472 1. Rock, the stricken, 277. Roman Citizenship, 20, 132, 474. Empire, 8 ff. ——— Law, 10, 173 f. —— Peace, 9. Roads, 9. ‘Romans, Epistle to the,’ 378 ff. Rome, burning of, 612, 625. ~—— early introduction of Chris- tianity, 151, 506. Rulers, obedience to, 444 f. SABINUS, 625. Sacramental security, 276 ff. Sacrilege, 389 f. Salamis, 83. Sanhedrin, 475 f. Saul, Paul’s Jewish name, 21. Scurrility of the Antiochenes, 67. Second Advent, 35, 136 f., 198, 153, 170 fi., 300, 632. ‘ Seed,’ 204 f. Seneca, 185, 503, 571. Septuagint, 22. Sergius Paulus, 84. Seven Heavens, 335. Seven, the, 39. Shammai, 28. Shekinah, 277, 337 ἴ., 426. Ships, 492. Shorthand, 668 f. Silas (Silvanus), 114, 118, 142, 152. Simon Magus, 524. ‘ Slave of Christ,’ 265. Slavery, 569 ff., 609. | Socrates, 144. Sosthenes, 187, 243. Sovereignty of Christ, 531. God, 427. Spain, mission to, 612 f. Spirit and flesh, 214, 418. Spiritual body, 319. gifts, 289 ff. ‘ Spiritual marriage,’ 266 f. Spirituals, 238, 289. : Stephanas, 148, 259, 261, $24. Stephen, 39 ff. Stoic, 24, 143. Suicide, 385. Sun-worship, Essene, 553. | Supper, Lord’s, 286 ff. 702 Symeon Niger, 8ο. Syncretism, 12. Syntyche, 518. Syria-Cilicia, 61 f., Syrtis, 494. Tarsus, 17 ff. Taurus, 89, 106. Taxes, 445 f. Teacher, 80, 218, 292, 593. Temple of Artemis, 226 f. Temples, plunder of heathen, 389. Tent-making, 25. Tertius, 378. Tertullus, 481. * Testimonies,’ 229, 394. Theatre, 342. Theodore of Mopsuestia, 586. Thessalonica, 135 f. Thessalonians, first letter to the, 154 ff. —--— second letter to the, 179 ff. ‘ Thorn for the flesh,’ 337, 664 f. Tigellinus, 625. Timothy, 100, 121, 142, 152, 167, I9I, 260, 323, 325, 597 ff., 638 f. first letter to, 599 ff —w— second letter to, 627 ff. Titius Justus, 168. Titus, with eleemosynary expedi- tion, 73 f. —-— question of his circumcision, 741. : accompanies 223.1. first mission to Corinth, 234, 338. ἐν : - --- second mission to Corinth, 340, i119 f. third mission, 345- ots third mission to Corinth, 366. —— joins Paul at Antioch, 611. accompanies him on his last journey, 623. letter to, 617 ff. Tongues, 295 ff. LIFE AND LETTER | Viper, 497, 49 | ST. PAUL | ugelic, 80, 218, ᾿ μὴν Ty a Ἧ re of man, 166, 7. Τ 16), om ἐξ uf She 5 Tr f., 472,623. T of, 154. 4 iF Pi τὴ 6 6 21, 635. i i 216, * Universal Unknown g Unwritten VARRO, το. Vegetariani Veil, 282 ff. % Ventriloquist, Virginity, 266 “ Voices,’ 298. Vows, absolx i Way, the, 47. y West, the bout: Widows, 606. Women and Women in Mace their posi 282 ff., 310, ‘Works of the XENOPHANES, | ZEALOTS, 444. ΠῚ Zenas, 616, 021. τ Zeus, 101. ᾿ Il—-GREEK WORDS AND PHRASES 1888, 209 ἄβυσσος, 433 ἀγαθός, 402 ἄγαμος, 31 Ayap, 211 ἀγνοεῖν, 163 ἀγοραῖος, 138 ἀδημονεῖν, 515 ἀδιάλειπτος, 425 ᾽Α δρίας, 497 αἰών, 153, 524 αἰώνιος, 180 ἀκρογωνιαῖος, 534 ἀλαζονία, 384 . ἀληθεύειν, 211 tds, 565 ἀνάγνωσις, 536 ἀνακόπτειν, 213 dvaxpivery, 252 f. ἀνάστασις ἐκ νεκρῶν, } 518 ἀνάστασις τῶν νεκρῶν, ἀναστατοῦν, 214 ἀνεξίκακος, 632 ἀνεψιός, 79 ἀντιδιατίθημι, 632 ἀντίθεσις, 611 ἀπαντᾶν, 130 ἀπ᾽ ἀρχῆς, 183 ἀπεκδύεσθαι, 561 ἀπέχειν, 521, 575 ἀπόκριμα, 347 ἀρέσκειν, 418 ἁρπαγμός, 514 ἀρραβών, 349 ἀρτέμων, 497 ἀρχιποίμην, ὅ90 ἀσχημονεῖν, 269 ἀτενίζειν, 70 ἄτοπος, 183 αὐθάδης, 618 αὐτάρκεια, 24, 370 ἄφεσις, 396 ἀφθαρσία, 545 ἀφθορία, 619 ἀφορίζειν, 21 ἀφορμή, 215 ἄφρων, 318 Βάαλ (ἡ), 435 βαπτίζειν, 675 βάρβαρος, 380, 497 βασκαίνειν, 203 Βελίαρ, 237 βιωτικός, 259 γαμίζειν, 268 γενεαλογία, 592 γνήσιε σύνζυγε, 519 γνῶσις, 290, 517 δειγματίζειν, 561 δεισιδαίμων, 145 δεσπότης, 588 διάκονος, 463 διδασκαλία, 593 διέρχεσθαι, 83 διθάλασσος, 497 δίκαιος, 402 δικαίωμα, 407 δοκιμάζειν, τὸς δοκιμάζειν τὰ διαφέροντα, 390, 510 δολοῦν, 357 δόσις καὶ λῆμψις, 521 δυνατὰ τῷ Θεῷ, 328 δωρεά, 407 εἶδος, 165 εἰλικρινίᾳ, 354 ἐκδέχεσθαι, 288 ἐκ πίστεως εἰς πίστιν, 381 ἔκστασις, 76 ἔκτρωμα, 312 ἔκχυσις, 675 ἐμβατεύειν, 562 ἐνεργεῖν, 159 ἐνκόπτειν, 213 ἐν ὀλίγῳ, 489 ἐν πρώτοις, 312 ἐν Χριστῷ, 202 ἐξαρτίζειν, 594 ἐπιεικές, ἐπιεικία, 520 ἐπιθανάτιος, 254 ἐπκιμελεία, 491 ἐπισκηνοῦν, 338 ἜΝ τ ϑοὐ τυθωσθον σον δυο ἐπίσκοπος, 463 ἐπιστολαί, 322, τοῦ ἐπισυναγωγή, 182 ἐπίτροπος, 208 ἐπιφαίνειν͵ 504 ἐπιφάνεια, 182 ἐπιχορηγεῖν, 203 ἐπουράνια (τά), 559 Ἔσσαῖοι, 551 ἔσοπτρον, 295 ἑἐσταυρωμένος, 203 ἔσχηκα, 347 ἑτεροζυγεῖν, 236 εὐρακύλων, 493 εὐτραπελία, 541 ἐφ᾽ ᾧ, 403 ἕως τέλους, 348 ζωογονεῖν, 610 ἡλικία, 540 θεόπνευστος, 634 θεοστυγης, 384 θηριομαχεῖν, 315 θριαμβεύειν, 353 ἐδιώτης, 307 ἱερόθυτον, 281 ᾿Ιησοῦς Χριστός, Χριστὸς ᾿Ιησοῦς, 379, 629 ἴ, ἱκαναὶ ἡμέραι, 645 ἱλαστήριον, 396 ἵνα τί, 281 ἱστορεῖν, 59 κάθαρμα, 254 καθορᾶν, 383 καλῶς ποιεῖν, 521 καπηλεύειν, 354 καταβραβεύειν, 562 καταναρκᾶν, 331 καταρτίζειν, 161 κατέχειν, 383 κατέχον (τό), 174 κατηχεῖν, 390 κατοπτρίζεσθαι, 356 108 vog LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL καυστηριάζεσθαι, 589 κοιμᾶσθαι, 163, 288, 405 f. κοσμοκράτορες, 544 κτίσις, 220 κύριος, 271, 588 λαλεῖν, λέγειν, 394 λογικός, 442 λόγιον, 392 λόγιος, 228 μάμμη, 100 μαραναθά, 325 μαρτύριον τοῦ Θεοῦ, 247 μεσόστοιχον τοῦ φραγμοῦ, 534 μετασχηματίζειν, 253, 514 μετατίθεσθαι, 196 μὴ γένοιτο, 202 μολύνειν, 237 μορφή, 514 μόρφωσις, 390 μυστήριον, 320 μωρολογία, 565 γήπιος, 208 vourxds, 622 Zevia, 502 ξύλον, 132 οἰκονόμος, 208 ol πολλοί, 407 ὁλόκληρος, 166 ὁλοτελής, 166 ὀψώνια, 413 παιδαγωγός, 206 ft. παραβιάζεσθαι, 129 παῤαθήκη, 593 παράκλησις, 60 πάρεσις, 396 marpid, 537 περικάθαρμα, 254 περίψημα, 254 πιστεύειν, 156 πλήρωμα, 524 πληροφορεῖν, 399 πνευματικός, 289 ποιμένες, 529 πρεσβύτης, $75 πρεσβύτερος, 403 προγράφειν, 203 προέχεσθαι, 304 προσαγωγή, 400 προσευχή, 127 προστάτις, 189 προσωπολημψία, 199 πρόσωπον, 347 πρότερον(τόΟ), 653 mparos(d), 499 πρῶτος λόγος, 584 Πύθων, 130 πυρά, 499 πυρετοί, 499 πωροῦν, 356 ῥαντισμός, 675 σαρκικός, 249 σάρκινος, 249 σκανδαλίζειν, 272 σκάνδαλον τοῦ σταυροῦ, 214 σκεῦος, 161 σκόλοψ, 664 f. σκύβαλον, 518 σοφία, 84, 200, 530 σπεῖρα Σεβαστή, 490 σπερμολόγος, 143 στέγειν) 160, 294 στίγμα, 220 στοιχεῖν, 217 στοιχεῖον, 208, 561 στοργή, 386 συγγενής, 458 συναντιλαμβάνεσθαι, 421 συνείδησις, 24 συνέκδημος, 342 σύνεσις, 84 συνκρίνειν, 248 σύνοιδα ἐμαυτῷ, 253 σύντροφος, 80 σχῆμα, 253, 514 σῶμα (‘slave’), 410 Σωτὴρ Θεός, 595 τεκνογονία, 602 τέλειος, 248 τέλος, 278, 433 τὸ κατ᾽ ἐμέ, 380 τύπος, 412 ὕβρις, 384 ὑγιαίνειν, ὑγιής, 580 ὑδροποτεῖν, 609 υἱοθεσία, 200 Υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ, 56 Υἱὸς τῆς ἀγάπης αὐτοῦ, 556 ὑπαντᾶν, 130 ὑπάρχειν, 200, 514 ὑπέρακμος, 268 ἴ. ὑπερηφανία, 384 ὑπηρέτης, 79 ὑποκριτής, 110 ὑπόστασις, 332 ὑπωπιάζειν, 276 φελόνης, 635 φημι, 268 ’ φθόνος φόνος, 384 φιλανθρωπία, 498, 595 φρονεῖν, 418 φρόνησις, 530 φωνή. 298 χάρισμα, 289, 413 χειροτονεῖν, 105 χρηματίζειν, 67 χριστέμπορος, 157 ψυχικός, 249, 319 ἵ- δόξα τῷ Θεῷ πάντων ἕνεκα, ἀμήν. ᾿ prey sy -ς ρ Hi Date Due win: ees] Ὸ Tt? JE2 531 Ἁ ΝΣ een ΚΗ πὶ ΤΡ ἢ βήτην 4 ἐπι tah τ a ἌΡΗ oe ae fai i hee ce i eave Md οι ine cr Le τὴ ᾿ ἢ oh eit fe ἯΙ ie eae ts ee ie! fe ise Monit tae att ἘΠῊΝ rt ἮΝ cai He uit a ui Ϊ ᾿ i " ΩΝ Hes . ty ee A PRIN hey, ᾿ a ᾿ ἮΝ = nie ἡ iat Η te) cae a x) raat aan le } eta if a ἯΙ ἈΠ ΠΝ i} ote Laat itt ae 4. εἰν: f at ; as mite i foes a ἣν Wits Nadiad hye tee yh fy ΠῚ Sa ΓΝ 3 ii ie ΠΣ ue mie Wasted FE ibatiat aati tt) shat ΠΝ ΡΜ ΜΠ τὴ i i al MR 4521. Hanae ἡ Hate ipsa Hath Nie Tati absent ih i ΠΝ, vt gai ῃ Pid iW ΔῊΝ tt SO ee {4 τς tat ἡ ἢ at it Hk ἢ ᾿ it ies ie) ἡ Ee Mi ; ἢ Hi eerie 4) oie any i rere) 4}. ἡδὺ ἡ τὰ ει i YY ΠΝ Ἧ Hiatt ne spares ἡ ΠῚ ath} idan ι wit tan XC Dae are li he fe Ahi fas ἣν « “ἢ γα ἐν, yr) i! baa tits ΜῊΝ iy ite τὰ sana ΣῊ οι, ἊΝ Ἢ ΠΗ plies Ae} Hh ἤν ῳ ΟΝ iced te rie ay (rv Vi " μεν 4 set) ΤΑ ΕΣ. tuithoes bua vex hit Vet! Αι ἤν ἤν ᾿ Taba Naot: 1 aa hy ἣν ἮΝ eit ‘ hy Γ ΡΝ {τ bye) AR Ua Wit i VO nr ke ‘ HOT ay vi ν HAN HAY MG} Ue a a ate fer tenis ὃν τ ΕΠ ὙΝ ee! Ἦν Ni PP EAL We dy