BS 2361 .M128 1897 
 M'Clymont, J. A. b. 1848. 
 The New Testament and its 
 writers 
 
The New Testament and Its Writers 
 
1 6mo, flexible cloth, each, net^oc. 
 The Old Testament and Its Contents 
 
 By Professor James Robertson, D.D. 
 
 The New Testament and Its Writers 
 
 By Rev. J. A. McClymont, D.D. 
 
 Our Lord's Teaching 
 
 By Rev. James Robertson, D. D, 
 
 Lessons on the Gospel of St. Mark 
 
 By Rev. A Irvine Robertson, D.D. 
 
 Studies in the Acts of the Apostles 
 
 By Rev. William Robertson, M. A. 
 
 Landmarks of Church History 
 
 Bv Prof. Henry Cowan, D. D. 
 
 Religions of the World 
 
 By Principal G. M. Grant, of Queen's Uni- 
 versity, Canada. 
 
 A Handbook of Christian Evidences 
 
 By Rev. Alexander Stewart, D.D. 
 
 Expositions of the Apostles* Creed 
 
 By Rev. J. Dodds. 
 
 The Presbyterian Churches: 
 
 Their Place and Power in Modern Christen- 
 dom. By Rev. J. N Ogilvie. M.A. 
 
/^VAui ui ft.ii^n 
 
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 MAn9192G 
 
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 THE GUILD TEXTBOOKS 
 
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 The New Testament 
 
 and 
 
 Its Writers 
 
 By tl/e Rev. 
 J. A. M'Clymont 
 
 
 New York Chicago Toronto 
 
 Fleming H. Revell Company 
 
 Publishers of Evangelical Literature 
 
PREFACE 
 
 My friend and fellow-editor has asked me to write 
 a preface to his book. I think the book will 
 speak for itsel£ I may say, however, that it is 
 a very impartial outline of what is known as 
 Introduction to the Books of New Testament 
 Scripture. I think that in some instances the 
 author has understated the case for the canonicity 
 of a particular Book. It is characteristic of his 
 fairness that he should anxiously avoid taking the 
 place of a mere advocate. 
 
 It seems to me that the perfect lucidity of his 
 style and the fulness of his information will make 
 this a valuable text-book. 
 
 A. H. CHAKTERIS. 
 
NOTE TO READER 
 
 For a foil statement of the External Evidences for the 
 authorship of the several books, see Prof. Charteris* 
 Canonicity^ or Bishop Westcott's History of the New 
 Testament Canon. 
 
 Canon (from a Greek word meaning a measuring-rod) 
 was a name applied to Scripture as the rule of faith. 
 
 In the chapters on the Gospels no attempt is made to 
 deal with the question of alleged recensions of original 
 documents, as being of too technical and at the same 
 time too conjectural a nature to call for treatment in a 
 work of this kind. 
 
 In Scripture References, when the name of the Book 
 is not given, the citations refer to the Book under 
 discussion. 
 
 When Scripture is quoted, the words of the Revised 
 
 Version 
 
 are 
 
 given. 
 R.V. 
 
 ^ 
 
 Revised Version. 
 
 
 
 A.V. 
 
 =: 
 
 Authorised Version, 
 
 
 
 MS. 
 
 s 
 
 Manuscript, 
 Compare, 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 1. The New Testament . • • • 1-4 
 
 2. The Gospels 5'* 5 
 
 3. "The Gospel according to St. Matthew" 16-20 
 
 4. "The Gospel according to St. Mark ** ai-26 
 
 5. " The Gospel according to St. Luke " 27-32 
 
 6. " The Gospel according to St. John " 33-40 
 
 7. "The Acts of the Apostles" • • 4' -46 
 
 8. The Epistles . . . • • 47-48 
 The Epistles of St. Paul . • • 48-51 
 
 9. "The First Epistle of Paul the 
 
 Apostle to the Thessalonians " . 52-56 
 •* The Second Epistle of Paul the 
 
 Apostle to the Thessalonians " . 56-57 
 
 10. "The First Epistle of Paul the 
 
 Apostle to the Corinthians" . 58-64 
 
 11. "The Second Epistle of Paul the 
 
 Apostle to the Corinthians" . 65-69 
 
 12. "The Epistle of Paul to the Gala- 
 
 TIANS" ... . • 70-76 
 
 13. "The Epistle of Paul the Apostli 
 
 TO the Romans** .... 77"^' 
 
VI CONTENTS 
 
 CHJkf, »ACa» 
 
 14. Ths Epistles of ths Imfkisonmsnt • t^Ss 
 ** The Epistlk or Paul the Apostle 
 
 TO THE PhILIPPIANS "... SS-QO 
 
 15. "The Epistle of Paul the Apostle 
 
 TO the Colossians** . , , 91-95 
 ••The Epistle op Paul to Philemon** 95-98 
 
 16. ••The Epistle of Paul the Apostle 
 
 to the Ephesians" . • . 99-103 
 
 17. The Pastoral Epistles . . . 104-105 
 ••The First Epistle of Paul the 
 
 Apostle TO Timothy •• , . , 106-109 
 
 18. ••The Epistle of Paul to Titus" , 110-113 
 ••The Second Epistle of Paul the 
 
 Apostle to Timothy*. . .1x3-115 
 
 19. ••The Epistle of Paul the Apostle 
 
 TO the Hebrews" • . . 116-122 
 
 2a The Catholic Epistles , . 123 
 
 ••The General Epistle of James**. 123-129 
 
 21. "The First Epistle General of 
 
 Peter" 130-136 
 
 22. ••The Second Epistle General of 
 
 Peter" i37-Mo 
 
 ••The General Epistle of Jude" . 140-143 
 
 23. ••The First Epistle General OF John** 144-146 
 ••The Second Epistle of John" . 147-148 
 ••The Third Epistle of John" . 14S-149 
 
 24. ••The Revelation of St. John the 
 
 DmNs* >5<^i55 
 
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND 
 ITS WRITERS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THB NSW TKSTAMElfT 
 
 ITS Name. — The New Testament forms the second 
 and concluding portion of the Revelation given to 
 the world in the line of Jewish history. It derives its 
 name from an expression used by the Lord Jesus Christ in 
 the institution of the rite which was designed to com- 
 memorate His death— *• This cup is the new testament in 
 my blood " — more correctly, " This cup is the new covenant 
 in my blood" (R.V.), in contrast with the old covenant 
 made with Moses (Luke xxii. 20; Matt. xxvi. 28; i Cor. 
 XL 25; cC Exod. xxiv. 8). The use of the word "testa- 
 ment " in this sense was due to the Latin testamentum^ 
 which was early adopted as an equivalent for the Greek 
 word meaning " covenant." 
 
 Its Language. — A period of about four hundred 
 jcars had elapsed after the last of the Old Testament 
 Scriptures was written before the New Testament was 
 commenced. In the interval the Jewish people, spreading 
 far and wide in the pursuit of arts and commerce, had 
 become familiar with the Greek tongue, which was the 
 intellectual bond of the civilised world, as the Roman 
 empire was its bond in a social and political sense. Into 
 this language the Scriptures of the Old Testament had 
 been translated from the Hebrew, about 200 B.C., at Alex- 
 andria, the great meeting-place of Rabbinical learning and 
 Hellenic culture. From the amalgamation of these and 
 other elements there resulted a form of Greek known as th« 
 'or Hellenistic Greek. It waa ia thU Un«:aa^ 
 I 
 
a NEW TESTAMENT Sf ITS WRITERS 
 
 that the New Testament was written — a language mar- 
 vellously fitted for the purpose, both because of the wide 
 prevalence of Greek among the civilised nations of the 
 time (resulting from the conquests of Alexander the Great), 
 and on account of its unrivalled clearness, richness, and 
 flexibility. Hence the New Testament has been aptly 
 described as having **a Greek body, a Hebrew soul, 
 and a Christian spirit that animates them both." 
 
 Its Contents. — The New Testament Scriptures 
 consist of twenty-seven different books, varying in their 
 form and character — the first in order mainly historical, 
 the next doctrinal, and the concluding portion relating 
 to vision and prophecy. This is an order somewhat 
 analogous to that found in the Old Testament, many of 
 whose characteristics alike as regards thought and expres- 
 sion are reflected in the New Testament. The twenty- 
 seven books are the work of nine different authors (assum- 
 ing the Epistle to the Hebrews to have been written by 
 some other person than St. Paul), each book having its 
 special characteristics corresponding to the personality of 
 its writer and the circumstances in which it was written, 
 but all forming part of one divine whole ^ centred in the 
 Lord Jesus Christ and essentially related to an unseen 
 world. They were written at various times, but all in the 
 latter half of the first century — except perhaps the Epistle 
 of James, which was probably written before 50 A.D. 
 
 Its Manuscripts. — The original MSS. have all 
 perished. If written on papyrus they would not last, 
 while those of a more durable substance would be in 
 frequent danger of destruction at the hands of per- 
 secutors. Hence the vast majority of extant MSS. are 
 of a comparatively modern date — anterior, however, to 
 the invention of printing in 1450, when the copying of 
 MSS. practically ceased. A few precious copies written 
 on vellum or parchment have come down to us from a 
 very early period, the most important of which are (l) 
 the Vatican, styled Codex B, preserved in the Vatican 
 Library at Rome, and dating from the fourth century; 
 
 1 " The most remarkable fact in literature as well as in religioo."— 
 PnC CharUiif, Tkt Ntw Ttstamtnt ScripturUt ff. f. 
 
THE NEW TESTAMENT 
 
 (2) the Sinaitic (Codex t?), discovered by Tischendorf in 
 St Catherine's Convent at the foot of Mount Sinai in 
 1859, now deposited at St. Petersburg, hkewise of the 
 fourth century; (3) the Alexandrine (Codex A), pre- 
 served in the British Museum, and dating from the fifth 
 century. These and other ancient MSS. to the number 
 of about a hundred are called Uncials, because written 
 with capital letters without any separation between the 
 words, — the others of a more modem character being 
 called Cursives, because written in a running hand. Of 
 the latter there are about 2000 — an immense array of 
 witnesses compared with the few MSS. of classical works 
 preserved to us, which can generally be counted on the 
 ten fingers. Owing to the greater liability to error in 
 copying with the hand than in the use of the printing 
 press, about 200,000 Various Readings have been dis- 
 covered in the extant MSS. of the New Testament. 
 Happily the differences between the readings are for the 
 most part so minute that they do not affect the substance 
 of revealed truth. As it is the duty of the Church, how- 
 ever, to ascertain, as far as possible, the exact words of 
 the sacred writers, a special department of study has 
 been instituted commonly known as Biblical Criticism or 
 Textual Criticism, which has for its aim to adjudicate on 
 the rival claims of the various readings, with due regard to 
 the age and special characteristics of the several manu- 
 scripts, as well as to the common risks of misapprehension 
 and inadvertence to which all copyists were liable. 
 
 Other Witnesses. — In the performance of the 
 difficult and delicate task just mentioned attention must be 
 paid to two other valuable sources of information, (i) 
 Those writmgs of Church Fathers — ranging from the 
 end of the first century to the fourth or fifth century 
 of the Christian era — which contain quotations firom the 
 New Testament. The value of the Fathers as a help in 
 determining the exact text of Scripture is a good deal 
 impaired by the fact that, not having the advantage of a 
 Concordance, or of our divisions into chapters and verses 
 (an invention of the sixteenth century), they frequently 
 quote from memory and not with strict accnxacy. This 
 
4 A£IV TESTAMENT ts- ITS WRITERS 
 
 ii of less moment, however, when the object is not so 
 much to ascertain the precise language of Scripture as to 
 prove the existence and general reception of the books 
 of the New Testament at an early period in the history 
 of the Church. (2) Ancient Versions or Translations, 
 some of which (for example the Syriac and Old Latin) 
 were made within a century after the time of the apostles.' 
 Iillglish Versions. — The first English Version was 
 completed by John Wycliff in 1383. It was, how- 
 ever, only the translation of a translation (the Latin Vul- 
 gate of St. Jerome). The first English translation from 
 the Greek was finished by William Tyndale in 1525, 
 and put in print the following year at Worms. This 
 was followed by Miles Coverdale's translation of the 
 whole Bible in 1535, the Great Bible, usually called 
 Crannur's (for use in Churches), in 1539, the Geneva 
 BibU in 1557, the Bishops' Bible in 1568, and J^ing 
 /amts's Bible (the Authorised Version) in 161 1. The 
 most recent and reliable results of Biblical criticism are 
 embodied in the Revised Version of 1881, which has in 
 this respect, as in regard to accuracy of translation, an 
 unquestionable superiority over the Authorised Version, 
 the latter having been made at a time when the science 
 was still in its infancy, and before any of the three great 
 MSS. above referred to were available for reference. 
 Possibly the next generation may see further improve- 
 ments, as the result of a closer examination of MSS., 
 Versions, and other ancient writings, as well as through 
 an enhanced appreciation of the language of the New 
 Testament, in the light of the Greek translation of the 
 Old Testament (the Septuagint) and other Hellenistic 
 literature ; but after all, any points in which our English 
 Bible u capable of improvement are infinitesimal com- 
 pared with the general trustworthiness of its contents. 
 Of its imperfections as a translation it may be said, with 
 scarcely less truth than of obscurities in the original, that 
 •* like the spots upon the surface of the sim, they neither 
 mar the symmetry nor impair the glory of the great Source 
 of o«ir Life and Light which is imaged in them. • 
 
 > For Notn aa the Canon, MSS. and Venicma, and Teztnd 
 Criticiua, mc enlarged edition of tiiis book, pp. 8-x8. 
 
THE GOSPELS 
 
 CHAPTER n 
 THI GOSPBLt 
 
 'I'lLtim Name and Nature.— At the head of the 
 
 •*• New Testament stand the four Gospels, This 
 position has been fitly assigned to them, because, al- 
 though by no means the earliest written of the New 
 Testament Books, they contain a record of the life and 
 ministry of Jesus Christ which forms the comer-stone of 
 the whole fabric — Christianity being essentially a his- 
 torical religion, basing its doctrines not on fancy but on 
 fact. The name gospel, which is the Saxon equivalent 
 for a word in the original meaning "good tidings," was 
 originally applied to Christ's preaching (Matt iv. 23 ; 
 Mark L 15), and that of the apostles (i Cor. ix. 16). 
 In course of time it came to be applied also to the books 
 containing a record of the great facts and truths which 
 formed the substance of that preaching. One of the 
 earliest writers to use the word in this sense is Justin 
 Martyr, who wrote about the middle of the second 
 century.* He frequently refers to Memoirs composed 
 by the apostles and their companions, to which he 
 applies the name of "Gospels"; and he informs us 
 that they were read along with the writings of the 
 prophets at the meetings for Christian worship each 
 Lord's Day. 
 
 * Builides (las a.d.X^ qnoted by Hippolyms, dte« John L 9 
 as " said in th4 Gosptlx" out some think, without much reason, 
 that the words are to be referred to one of Basilides' school merely 
 Another instance has been found in the newly-discovered Af>ology 
 tjf Arittidst (135-40 A.D.) which mentions "the sacred writing 
 «hich amonz them (the Christians) is called Gospel" (literally 
 '*«vaiigelic'> 
 
6 NEW TESTAMENT 6* ITS WRITERS 
 
 Their Authenticity. — That the Memoirs to which 
 Justin refers are the same as the Gospels which we now 
 possess may be inferred from the circumstance that almost 
 all the facts concerning Christ's life which he mentions 
 in about 200 scattered passages of his writings are found in 
 one or other of the four Gospels, while in all the express 
 quotations — seven in number — which he makes from 
 the Memoirs the words quoted are also to be found in 
 our Gospels. This conclusion is strengthened by the fact 
 that about twenty years later (170 A.D.) a disciple of 
 Justin named Tatian, a well-informed and far-travelled 
 man, drew up in the Syriac language a sort of harmony 
 of the four Gospels (called Diatessaron), which had 
 a very large circulation in the East. An Arabic trans- 
 lation of this work and a Syriac commentary on it 
 have recently been discovered, from which it is evident 
 that the four Gospels on which Tatian's work was 
 founded were identical with ours. In the Muratorian 
 Fragment^ also, there is a list of New Testament books, 
 which most critics assign to about 170 A.D., where 
 the Gospels of Luke and John are mentioned as third 
 and fourth, the other two being apparently mentioned in 
 a part of the MS. now lost. If further corroboration 
 be needed, we have it in the universally-admitted fact 
 that fifteen years later (185 A. D.) the four Gospels which 
 we possess were circulated in all parts of Christendom — 
 in Europe, Asia, and Africa — in thousands of copies for 
 the use of the innumerable Christians who heard them 
 read at their weekly meetings for worship. 
 
 For these reasons it seems to admit of no doubt that 
 Justin Martyr's Gospels were the same as ours ; and it is 
 easy to trace them back through a series of still earlier 
 writers to the testimony of the apostles. We know 
 that Marcion the Gnostic^ (140 A. D.) built his system 
 
 1 The Gnostics (who derived their name from a Greek word 
 meaning knowledge) claimed a deejjer insight into the mysteries of 
 religion than was possessed by the ordinary believer. But they 
 always professed to be indebted for this knowledge to their fuller 
 comprehension of the meaning of Scripture. Hence the frequency 
 of their appeals to the New Testament writings. 
 
THE GOSPELS 
 
 largely on the Gospel of Luke, of which he published 
 a mutilated edition known as Marcion's Luke. In 
 contrast with Marcion, TertuUian places Valentinus, 
 another Gnostic (140-160 a.d.), as one who used the 
 canon in its entirety. A prominent witness is Papias 
 (Bishop of Hierapolis), who wrote an Exposition of 
 the OracUs of Our Lord about 135 A.D., when he was 
 an old man. Among other things which he had gathered 
 from personal intercourse with friends of the apostles and 
 with two disciples of the Lord (one "the Elder John "), 
 he tells the circumstances under which Matthew wrote 
 his OracUs and Mark his OracUs of the LordA Still earlier, 
 we find many quotations more or less exact from onr 
 Gospels in the lately - discovered "Teaching of the 
 Twelve Apostles" (dating from the end of the first or 
 the early part of the second century) in the language 
 of Basilides (125 A.D.), who wrote twenty-four books 
 an "the Gospel," and in the short extant writings of 
 Polycarp (a disciple of the Apostle John, martyred 155 
 A.D.), of Hermas and "Barnabas" (early in the second 
 century), and of Clement of Rome (close of first century). ^ 
 They are also found in all MSS. of iS" Syriac and Old 
 Latin Versions — both of which are known to have existed 
 in the second century. To this we may add that in the 
 undisputed epistles of Paul, written within a generation 
 after our Lord's death, there are numberless allusions to 
 Christ's history, teaching, and example, which harmonise 
 with the facts recorded in the four Gospels. 
 
 In these circumstances we may challenge those who 
 throw doubt on the credibility of the Gospels to show 
 at what period it was even possible for forgery or falsifica- 
 tion to be perpetrated, and perpetrated so successfully 
 as to impose upon all branches of the Church, leaving its 
 
 » Cf. p. ai. 
 
 ' The extant Christian writings of the first centtiry (other than the 
 New Testament) are extremely meagre, while the writings of the 
 second century till near its close are mainly defences of Christianity 
 (Apologies) addressed to unbelievers, with fewer quotations frum the 
 New Testament than if they had been intended for members of the 
 Church. But the substance, and even the language, of our Gospels it 
 woveo into the earliest Christian writings that have come down to oi. 
 
s NBW TESTAMENT 6» ITS WRITERS 
 
 members and teachers utterly unconscious of the deception 
 that had been practised on them — and this, in matters 
 aflfecting the most vital interests of the Church's faith, 
 regarding which the apostles had been testifying ever 
 since the day of Pentecost on which they began to preach 
 In the name of their Risen Master. 
 
 Of the estimation in which the Gospels were held 
 we may judge from the words of Irensus, a disciple of 
 Polycarp, who, towards the close of the second century, 
 speaks of the written Gospel as '* the foundation and 
 pillar of our faith *' ; and says regarding the Scriptures — 
 which he defines to be the writings both of prophet and 
 evangelist — " the Scriptures, being spoken by the Wocd 
 and Spirit of God, are perfect. "^ 
 
 Their Origin. — For many years, probably for more 
 than a generation, after the death of Christ, there does 
 not appear to have been any authorised record of His 
 life and teaching in the Church. The charge which the 
 apostles had received from their Master was to preeuk 
 the Gospel, and the promise of the Spirit had been 
 expressly connected with the bearing of oral testimony 
 (Matt X. 19, 20). As they had received nothing in 
 writing from their Master's hands, it was not likely they 
 would tee any necessity for a written Word so long as 
 they were able to fulfil their commission to preach the 
 Gospel, especially as they were looking for a speedy 
 return of their Lord, and had no idea that so many 
 centuries were to elapse before the great event should 
 take place. The preaching of the Gospel was enough 
 to tax their energies to the utmost ; and the task of com- 
 mitting to writing was not more alien to the customs ok 
 their nation than it would be uncongenial to their own 
 habits as tmeducated Galilseans. Hence we can readily 
 understand how it was that the Old Testament Scriptures, 
 to which the apostles constantly appealed for proof that 
 Jesus was the Messiah, continued to be for many years 
 
 1 Tbe genaineness of the fourth Gospel b tpecially dealt with h 
 chapu vi.. vbere additional evidence will be foand •ocdallv aP^So> 
 able to that GospeL 
 
THR GOSPELS 
 
 the only inspired writings acknowledged by the Christian 
 Church. A New Testament in our sense of the tenn 
 was something which the apostles never dreamt of ; and 
 it is not to the design of man, but to the inscrutable in- 
 fluence of the divine Spirit and the overruling working 
 of divine Providence, that we owe the composition of 
 oor Gospels before the apostles and other eyewitnesses 
 of the Saviour's ministry had passed away. Drawn up 
 without concert and without the formal sanction of the 
 Church, they contain in a simple form, suitable for all 
 ages and for all classes, several independent records of 
 Christ's life and teaching, of which it may be said with 
 truth that they are better authenticated and more nearly 
 contemporaneous with the events than almost any 
 other record we possess in connection with any period 
 of ancient history. Their dignity and truthfulness are 
 only rendered the more conspicuous by the worthless- 
 ness and folly of the apocryphal gospels invented at a 
 later period, which were designed not so much to meet 
 the spiritual wants of the Church as to grati^ an idle 
 curiosity. 
 
 It is a remarkable fact that two of onr Gospels do not 
 claim to have been written by apostles, but only by com- 
 panions of apostles; and that of the other two only 
 one bears the name of an apostle of eminence. This is, 
 BO far, a confirmation of their genuineness ; for if they 
 had been forgeries claiming an authority to which they 
 were not entitled, they would have been pretty sure to 
 claim it in the highest form. The same circumstance 
 also shows that the apostles generally did not regard 
 it as a duty to record their testimony in writing. 
 
 In the discharge of their commission as preachers of 
 the Gospel, they doubtless followed the practice which 
 was common in the East of trusting to memory rather 
 than to written documents ; and as the Church ex- 
 tended, and they were no longer able to minister 
 personally to the wants of their converts or of those 
 who required to have the Gospel preached to them 
 it would become their duty to train evangelists and 
 
lo NEW TESTAMENT &• ITS WRITERS 
 
 catechists to assist them in the work. In preaching 
 to the heathen, it would only be the leading facts <rf 
 Christ's life that would require to be proclaimed, but in 
 the instruction of those who had already accepted the 
 message of salvation it would be necessary to go more 
 into detail, and set Christ before them as a guide and 
 pattern in their daily life. This instruction was doubt- 
 less given in an oral form, the scholars repeating the 
 lesson again and again after their teachers — which it 
 the meaning of the word •* instructed " ^ in Luke i. 4. 
 We have another trace of such systematic instruction 
 m the expression used in Acts iL 42 : •• They " (the 
 converts) "continued stedfastly in the apostles' teaching." 
 The history of Christ's life and teaching was that 
 originally set forth not in the form of a chronological 
 narrative but rather as a series of lessons imparted by 
 the apostles and their fellow - labourers as occasion 
 required, or "to meet the needs of their hearers,** 
 as one of the early Church Fathers (Papias) sajrt, 
 referring to Peter's style of preaching. During the 
 twelve years or more that elapsed before the dis- 
 persion of the apostles from Jerusalem, a recognised 
 course of instruction had doubtless gained currency in 
 the Church, corresponding to St. Peter's definition of 
 the period in the life of Christ which was the proper 
 subject for apostolic testimony — '* Beginning from the 
 baptism of John unto the day that he (Jesus) was received 
 up from us " (Acts i. 22). With this agree the speciment 
 of apostolic preaching contained in the Book of Acts 
 (iv. 19, 20; X. 36-43; xiii. 23-31), as well as 
 the allusions which the apostles make in their epistles 
 to the Gospel preached by them and the knowledge 
 of Christ's life acquired by their converts. A close 
 examination of such passages makes it evident that, 
 while Christ Jesus was the constant theme of the 
 apostles' preaching, they dwelt chiefly on the great facts 
 that formed the consummation of His ministry — His 
 sofiferings, death, and resurrection ; and we may r^ard it 
 Tanght by word of mouth by dint of repetitiotii 
 
THE GOSPELS 
 
 u an evidence of the faithfulness with which our Gospels 
 reflect the earliest preaching and teaching of the apostles, 
 that they give such prominence to the closing scenes of 
 our Lord's history. We have another token of their 
 authenticity in the fact that they narrate events not in 
 the light shed upon them by the subsequent teaching of 
 the Spirit, but as they were actually regarded by the 
 disciples at the time of their occurrence, long before the 
 publication of the Gospels. 
 
 It would seem that before our Gospels were composed, 
 attempts had been made by private persons to draw up 
 a connected history of the Saviour's life, or at least of 
 His ministry. Such attempts are referred to by St 
 Luke in the preface to his Gospel (i. 1-4). It b evident 
 that he is alluding to other documents than the 
 Gospels we possess, both because he speaks of them as 
 " many," in a tone scarcely consistent with the respect 
 due to apostolic records, and because a comparison of the 
 four Gospels leads to the conclusion that he could not 
 have had any of the three others before him when he drew 
 up his narrative. Whatever part the previously-existing 
 documents referred to by Luke may have had in deter- 
 mining the shape in which the oral Gospel was finally 
 to be recorded, all of them were ultimately superseded 
 by our present Gospels, in whose preservation and 
 triumph we may see an illustration, in the highest sense, 
 of " the survival of the fittest" 
 
 Their Diversity. — On a comparison of the several 
 Gospels, a marked difference is at once apparent between 
 the fourth and the three preceding ones. The latter 
 are called Synoptical, because they give in one common 
 view the same general outline of the ministry of Christ 
 — an outline that is almost entirely confined to His 
 ministry in Galilee and includes only one visit to Jeru- 
 salem ; whereas the fourth Gospel gives an account 
 of no less than five visits to the capital, and lays the 
 scene of the ministry chiefly in Judaea. A still more 
 important distinction between them, with regard to the 
 nature of their contents, has been briefly expressed by 
 
12 NEW TESTAMENT 6* ITS WRITERS 
 
 designating the synoptical Gospels as the bodily Gospels, 
 and St. John's as the spiritual Gospel — by which it is 
 meant that the former relate chiefly to outward events 
 connected with the Saviour's visible presence, reported 
 for the most part without note or comment, while 
 the latter is designed to represent the ideal and heavenly 
 side of His personality and work. Akin to this 
 distinction is the fact that the first three Gospels report 
 Christ's addresses to the multitude^ consisting largely 
 of parabUsy while the fourth Gospel contains discourses 
 of a more sublime character, frequently expressed in the 
 language of allegory and addressed to the inrter eirck of 
 His followers. 
 
 When we enter into a closer examination oi the three 
 synoptic Gospels and compare them with one another, 
 we find an amount of similarity in detail, extending even 
 to minute expressions and the connection of individual 
 incidents, combined with a diversity of diction, arrange- 
 ment, and contents, which it has hitherto baffled the ingen- 
 uity of critics to explain fully. A general idea of their 
 mutual relations may be gathered from the following 
 comparison. If the contents of each Gospel be reckoned 
 lOO, the relative proportion of those things in which a 
 Gospel agrees with one or other of its fellows to those 
 things in which it stands alone would be as follows : — 
 
 
 Peculiarities. 
 
 CoiDcidenc 
 
 St Matthew 
 
 42 
 
 58 
 
 St Mark 
 
 7 
 
 93 
 
 St. Luke 
 
 59 
 
 41 
 
 It is found that the coincidences in language are much 
 fewer than they are in substance — which is only what 
 might have been expected, if the several accounts are 
 derived from independent witnesses. Reckoning the 
 material coincidences in St. Matthew to be 58 as above, 
 the verbal coincidences would only amount to 16 or 
 17 ; in St Mark the former would be 93 as compared 
 with 17 of the latter ; in St Luke 41 as compared with 
 10. It further appears that by fax the greater number oi 
 
THE GOSPELS 13 
 
 these verbal coincidences are met with in the report of 
 9ur Lorcfs discourses and other sayings^ a circumstance 
 which confirms vis in the belief that the Gospel was 
 handed down for a number of years in an orsd form, 
 as the preachers and teachers would feel boand to 
 adhere strictly to the very words in cases of reported 
 speech, whereas they would be under no such obligation 
 in the narration of events. As regards the latter, a 
 considerable modification of the oral Gospel would natur- 
 ally take place during the long period that elapsed before 
 it was committed to writing. The modification would 
 vary in different parts of the Church ; and it is in this 
 way, as well as by taking into account the possibilities of 
 fresh lessons being added from time to time by those who 
 had been *• eyewitnesses and ministers of the word" 
 (Luke L 2), that we can best account for differences, both 
 in expression and in substance, which would otherwise 
 seem unaccountable. If the apostles' teaching was 
 originally given in Aramaic — the form of Hebrew then 
 spoken in Palestine — and had to be translated into Greek 
 by the catechists, this would help still further to aocovnt 
 for the diversity we meet with in the Gospels. 
 
 Their Harmony. — It is possible that further study 
 and investigation may shed more light on the historical 
 and literary relations of the four Gospels, but meantime 
 it is clear that the true way to discern their harmony 
 is not to attempt to piece them together in the vain hope 
 of forming a complete chronological history, but to study 
 each from its own point of view and learn from it what it 
 has to teach concerning the many-sided life and character 
 of Jesus Christ. No one Gospel could possibly do justice 
 to the infinite significance of the great theme ; and in- 
 stead of causing perplexity, the existence of four different 
 Gospels should rather be matter of thankfulness, as setting 
 Christ before us in so many different aspects of His 
 divinely human personality, much in the same way as 
 various portions of the Old Testament set Him forth 
 prophetically under the several aspects of prophet, priest, 
 lawgiver, and king. 
 
14 /^£W TESTAMENT &• JTS WRITERS 
 
 From the nature of the case, the Gospels are neces 
 isunXy fragmentary, as indicated by St. John when he 
 says •• there are also many other things which Jesos did, 
 the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose 
 that even the world itself would not contain the books 
 that should be written " (xxi. 25). The same writer gives 
 us a key to the interpretation of his Gospel when he says, 
 •* These are written, that ye may believe that Jesus is the 
 Christ, the Son of God ; and that, believing, ye may have 
 life in his name " (xx. 3 1 ). In like manner each of the 
 other Gospels, while historical in its character, is aai- 
 mated by a special purpose of its own with its apprO' 
 priate grouping and selection of events. Owing to the 
 frequent change of scene and audience in Christ's ministry, 
 the historical sequence could not be strictly adhered to 
 by any one desirous to trace, from any point of view, the 
 progress of His teaching. At the same time, there was 
 a gradual development in Christ's ministry, culminating 
 in His death, resurrection, and ascension ; and this gradual 
 advance we find reflected in each of the four Gospels. 
 
 Unity amid diversity, — this is what we have to look 
 for in the Gospels, as in the Scriptures generally ; and 
 of this we have a token in the time-honoured fancy of 
 the Church, by which the four Gospels are likened to 
 the four-visaged cherubim, having the faces of a man, 
 a lion, an ox, and an eagle. This comparison has 
 been variously applied, but the interpretation followed 
 in modem works of art, after St. Jerome, identifies the 
 four faces with the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, 
 and John respectively, as setting forth the human, the 
 conquering, the sacrificial, and the heaven - regarding 
 aspects of Christ's being. We shall probably be nearer 
 the truth, however, if we say that while the first Gospel 
 sets forth Christ's life and teaching with reference to the 
 past^ as the fulfilment of the Old Testament, the Gospel 
 of Mark exhibits that life in the present as a manifestation 
 of the activity and power so congenial to the Roman 
 mind ; St Luke, as a Greek, depicts it in its catholic 
 and oomprehensive character, as destined in the future 
 
THE GOSPELS 
 
 lo embrace within its saving influence all the kindreds 
 of the Gentiles ; while the fourth Gospel represents it in 
 its absolute perfection as it is related to the Father in 
 itemity. 
 
 While there b no such thing as uniformity in Scripture 
 any more than in Nature or the Church, there is an 
 essential and deep-lying unity which cannot be broken 
 without serious injury to the truth. The right way 
 to use the Gospels is to combine their various 
 testimony, allowing each to tell its story in its own 
 way and to contribute its allotted part to a full and 
 adequate conception of the Lord's personality and work. 
 While each possesses a distinct individuality of its own, 
 they may and ought to be united in order to form a 
 complete and grander whole. In this sense they have 
 been likened to the four parts of music, which may 
 be sung apart, but blend together to form a perfect 
 harmony. A striking parallel has been drawn by 
 Bishop Westcott between the work of the first three 
 evangelists and the threefold portrait of Charles I. (taken 
 from three different points of view) which Vandyke pre- 
 pared for the sculptor ; while Archdeacon Farrar fur- 
 nishes a beautiful illustration when he says that "the first 
 three evangelists give us diverse aspects of one glorious 
 landscape ; St. John pours over that landscape a flood 
 of heavenly sunshine which seems to transform its very 
 character, though every feature of the landscape remains 
 the same."! 
 
 ^ 1 Vf'iih regard to th« harmony of the four Gospels in matters of 
 historical detail, while it is true that we meet with apparent discrep 
 ancies which it would require more complete information than we 
 possess to explain fully, yet on the other hand there are many case 
 of undesigned harmony which afford positive evidence of their his 
 torical accuracy and truthfulness. (See Blunts Scr i^m xU Cot.'- 
 cidencu.) 
 
i6 NEW TESTAMENT 6» ITS WRlTEKi> 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 *TRS GOSPBL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW* 
 
 ITS Autlior. — St Matthew's Gospel has beai 
 described by one who can scarcely be accused of 
 partiality (M. Renan) as ** the most important book ol 
 Christendom — the most important book that has ever 
 been written." Its importance is derived, not from the 
 genius of the writer, but from the grandeur of the subject. 
 According to the unanimous tradition of the ancient 
 Church, as preserved in the title which this Gospel has 
 borne ever since the second century and confirmed by 
 the testimony of the early Church Fathers beginning 
 with Papias in the first half of the second century, the 
 writer of the book was Matthew, one of the twelve 
 apostles. But for his authorship of this book, Matthew 
 would have been one of the least-known of the apostles, 
 as neither Scripture nor tradition gives us much informa- 
 tion regarding him. Not a single word or act of his 
 after he became a disciple of our Lord is recorded in the 
 Gospels ; and in the Book of Acts his name is never 
 mentioned after the descent of the Holy Spirit on the 
 day of Pentecost. He is evidently to be identified with 
 Levi the publican (Mark ii. 14, 15; Luke v. 27-29; 
 of. Matt. ix. 9, 10), although it is only in his own 
 Gospel (x. 3) that the despised term •'publican" is 
 associated with his apostolic name of Matthew ("the 
 gift of God "), which was probably given to him when 
 he was called to the apostleship, as Simon's name was 
 changed to Peto; H« aeeias to haTe been c man gf 
 
ST. MATTHEW 
 
 worldly means and of a generous disposition, judging 
 from the fact that on the occasion of his apostolic call, 
 when ** he forsook all, and rose up and followed " 
 Jesus, he made '* a great feast " to which he invited a 
 number of his old associates. It is noteworthy that he 
 leaves it to the other evangelists to mention him as 
 the giver of this feast and to record his sacrifice of 
 property in following Christ ; while we have a further 
 token of his modesty in the fact that he puts the name of 
 Thomas before his own in the list of apostles, reversing 
 the order followed in the other Gospels. Traces of the 
 writer's profession as a tax-gatherer have been found in 
 his use of the term "tribute money" (xxii. 19), where the 
 other evangelists employ the more common word "penny" 
 (Mark xii. 15 ; Luke xx. 24) ; and in his repeated use of 
 the word '•publicans'* (v. 46, 47), where Luke employs 
 the word "sinners" (Luke vi. 32, 33). But perhaps the 
 latter instance is an indication rather of his nationality. 
 
 According to an ancient tradition derived from Papias, 
 Matthew wrote his Gospel in Hebrew, — to which Irenaeus 
 adds that he published it among the Jews " while Peter 
 and Paul were preaching in Rome and founding the 
 Church there. " Eusebius in the beginning of the fourth 
 century tells us that Matthew wrote it when he was 
 about to leave the Jews and preach also to other nations, 
 in order to *' fill up the void about to be made in his ab- 
 sence." If this tradition be correct, the Hebrew original 
 must have been very soon superseded by the Greek Gospel 
 which we now possess. This was only to be expected, 
 considering the growing disuse of Hebrew, and the 
 gradual lapse of the Jewish Christians into a heresy which 
 alienated them from the rest of the Church.* Whether 
 the Gospel was written over again by Matthew in Greek, 
 or translated, perhaps under his supervision, by some 
 other writer, is a question which we cannot well answer. 
 
 1 The Ebionite heresy, so named from a Hebrew word meaning 
 PooTj the early Jewish Christians being noted for their poverty. 
 Their heresy consisted for the most part in holding the continuwi 
 obligation of the Jewish Law, and denying the Divinity of the Saviqtir 
 qrhilft admittiiig His Mcssiahship. 
 
 ? 
 
i8 NEW TESTAMENT 6* ITS WRITERS 
 
 The former supposition seems the more probable, as 
 there are some thmgs in the Gospel in its Greek form 
 which we should not expect to find in a translation. 
 That Matthew may have written the Gospel in both 
 languages is in itself not unlikely, as we know that 
 Josephus wrote his history both in Hebrew and in Greek 
 — these two languages being both current in Palestine at 
 that time, as English and Gaelic are now in the High- 
 lands of Scotland. 
 
 Its Date. — From evidence afforded by a sttldy of the 
 book itself (taken in connection with the tradition abore 
 mentioned) e.g. from the use of the expressions "holy city," 
 •• the holy place," •' the city of the great King" (iv. 5 ; 
 V. 35; xxiv. 15; xxvii. 53), and from the nature of the lan- 
 guage used by our Saviour in his predictions of the city's 
 coming doom — in particular from the caution given by the 
 writer in xxiv. 15 ("whoso readeth, let him understand "), 
 which would have had no force or meaning after the pre- 
 dicted calamity had occurred, it has been reasonably 
 inferred that the Gospel in its present form probably 
 appeared before 66 A.D., when the war which was to 
 issue in the destruction of the Jewish capital was on the 
 eve of breaking out 
 
 Its Character and Contents.— The leading charac- 
 teristic of St. Matthew's Gospel, as might be expected in a 
 work intended for the Hebrews, consists in the representa- 
 tion of Jesus as the Messiah^ in whom was fulfilled the Law 
 and the Prophets. In this respect it is fitly placed immedi- 
 ately after the Old Testament, as the uniting link between 
 the old and the new covenants. 
 
 The first verse strikes the keynote, *' The book of th« 
 generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the «<ki 
 of Abraham " — son of David as the heir of the promised 
 kingdom^ ton of Abraham as the child of promise in 
 whom all the families of the earth were to be blessed. 
 The whole book may be regarded as depicting the 
 gradual realisation of these claims in a spiritual sense ; 
 the culminating point being reached in the glorious 
 declaration b^ the risen Lord, *< AH authority hath be^ 
 
ST. MATTHEW 19 
 
 given unto me in heaven and on earth. Go ye therefore 
 and make disciples of all the nations . . . and lo, I am 
 with you alway even unto the end of the world " (Matt, 
 xxviii. 18-20). In the course of the Gospel there are 
 no less than sixty citations of Old Testament prophecy as 
 fulfilled in Jesus. Equally significant is the frequency of 
 the expression "kingdom of heaven" (literally "king- 
 dom of the heavens," reflecting the Hebrew idiom), 
 which occurs thirty-two times, and the designation '• son 
 of David," which occurs seven times as applied to Jesus. 
 The whole plan of the book is in harmony wiih its Mes- 
 sianic character. First we have the nativity of Him who 
 was •'born King of the Jews " and was at the same time 
 to "save his people from their sins" (chaps, i., ii.), — 
 with the strange mingling of light and shadow, of glory 
 and suffering, which was to be typical of the whole life. 
 Then comes the Prelude to the Ministry (iii.-iv. 1 1 ), when 
 the approach of the kingdom of heaven is announced by 
 the predicted Forerunner ; and the Baptism of Jesus, as 
 the fulfilment of all righteousness and the consecration to 
 His public ministry, becomes the signal for a manifesta- 
 tion of the divine favour in the voice from heaven, "This 
 is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased," — followed 
 by the Temptation, in which the decisive choice is made 
 between the " kingdoms of this world " and the unseen 
 kingdom of the Spirit. The way is thus cleared for 
 successive representations of the Saviour as Lawgiver, 
 Prophet, and King. In the Sermon on the Mount 
 (▼.-vii.). He proclaims the Law as from a second Sinai 
 with new meaning and power, — a little later He charges 
 the twelve ap>ostles whom He commissions to preach the 
 Gospel in His name (x.), — at another time He delivers the 
 long series of parables in which the origin, progress, and 
 final destiny of the kingdom are shown forth (xiii.), — anon 
 He lays down the principles that are to guide the members 
 of the Church in their relations to one another, especially 
 to their erring brethren (xviii. ) Then as the conflict with 
 hatred and unbelief grows ever fiercer, there break forth 
 His prophetic denunciations against the Jewish priests 
 
ao NEW TESTAMENT 6* ITS WRITERS 
 
 and rulers, while He becomes more and more outspoken 
 in the assertion of His Messianic claims (xxiii.-xxv.); till 
 at last there comes the awful tragedy upon the Cross, 
 giving place in turn to the triumph of the Resurrection 
 (xxvi.-xxviii.) Interspersed throughout the whole are 
 mighty works and gracious words, spoken and wrought 
 for the suffering and the sinful, which bespeak Him as 
 the Sent of God. ' 
 
 There is a wonderful symmetry in the whole narrative, 
 and many subtle contrasts. In xvi. 21, "From that 
 time began Jesus to shew unto his disciples how that 
 he must go unto Jerusalem and suffer . , . and be 
 killed," there is a striking contrast to iv. 17, "From 
 that time began Jesus to preach, and to say. Repent ye : 
 for the kingdom of heaven is at hand " — the one marking 
 the commencement of His Passion, as the other of His 
 active Ministry. There is a correspondence also between 
 the voice from heaven at His Baptism (iii. 17), and that 
 heard at His Transfiguration (xvii. 5), when His ministry 
 reached its climax and was sealed by the divine testimony 
 in the presence of the two greatest prophets of the old 
 covenant, Moses and Elias, as it had just before been 
 attested by the great confession of Peter (xvi. 16). That 
 confession was a token that the ministry of power and love 
 had done its work upon the hearts of the disciples, and 
 it is fitly followed by the announcement of His appointed 
 sufferings, the disciples being now ready to follow their 
 Master through the valley of His humiliation, which was 
 to conduct them at last from the blackness and darkness 
 of death to the glories of divine life and immortality. 
 
 A distinguishing feature of this Gospel is the large 
 place assigned in it to the words of Jesus, arranged in a 
 tystematic form, not broken up into fragments as they 
 are in the other Gospels. For this reason Godet 
 compares Luke to "a botanist who prefers to con- 
 template a flower in the very place of its birth and 
 in the midst of its natural surroundings, while Matthew 
 is like the gardener who for some special object putt 
 together large and magnificent bouquets. ** 
 
6T, MARK 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 ••TH« gospel according to ST. MAKK** 
 
 T TS Author. — The testimony of the early Fathers, 
 ■^ so far as it has reached us, unanimously ascribes 
 the second Gospel to St. Mark ; but with equal 
 unanimity they connect it with the preaching of the 
 Apostle Peter. The earliest witness is Papias, the 
 bishop already referred to, who makes the following 
 statement on the authority of John, a contemporary of 
 the apostles if not the apostle of that name. •* And this 
 ako the elder said : Mark having become the interpreter 
 of Peter, wrote accurately all that he remembered of the 
 things that were either said or done by Christ ; but, 
 however, not in order. For he neither heard the Lord 
 nor followed Him ; but subsequently, as I said, attached 
 himself to Peter, who used to frame his teaching to meet 
 the immediate wants of his hearers, but not as making a 
 connected narrative of our Lord's discourses. So Mark 
 committed no error in thus writing down particulars just 
 as he remembered them ; for he took heed to one thing, 
 to omit none of the things that he had heard, and to 
 state nothing falsely in his narrative of them." 
 
 So little doubt seems to have been entertained regard- 
 ing the Petrine authorship of this Gospel that we find 
 Justin Martyr apparently referring to it as the Memoirs of 
 Peter. According to Irenaeus, it was written by Mark at 
 Rome after the death of Peter and Paul ; while Clement 
 of Alexandria, writing about the same time, affirms, on 
 the tradition of a long line of presbyters, that St. Mark 
 
aa NEW TESTAMENT &» ITS WRITERS 
 
 wrote at the request of Peter's hearers at Rome, without 
 any interference on the part of Peter himself. 
 
 Regarding the history of the Mark thus referred to, 
 and his relations with the Apostle Peter, we derive 
 mformation from Scripture which is fitted to corroborate 
 in a great measure the ancient tradition. There can be 
 no doubt that we are to identify him with the John 
 Mark mentioned in Acts xii. 12, whose mother Mary 
 was an influential member of the Church at Jerusalem — 
 her house being the place where prayer was made for 
 Peter by the brethren during his imprisonment, and 
 where he himself repaired immediately after his libera- 
 tion. It is an interesting conjecture that this house may 
 have been the scene of the Last Supper and of the 
 Pentecostal effusion of the Holy Spirit. It has also 
 been suggested that the *• young man" referred to in 
 Mark's Gospel, in connection with the arrest in the 
 garden, may have been none other than the author of 
 the book, who was thus led to record an incident 
 which to others would have appeared insignificant (xiv, 
 51). Mark's intimacy with Peter at a later time is 
 evident from I Peter v. 13. From the designation 
 which Peter there applies to him {•«my son"), we may 
 infer that he was one of that apostle's converts. It 
 would appear that at the time the epistle was written 
 he was residing with Peter in Babylon (which was then, 
 and continued to be for long afterwards, a famous seat 
 of Jewish learning) ; but there is reason to believe that 
 in that passage Babylon is only another name for Rome 
 (p. 134). Previous to his association with Peter in 
 apostolic work abroad, Mark had accompanied Paul 
 and Barnabas as their *' minister" or assistant, but 
 had withdrawn from the work (Acts xliL 5, 13). After 
 an interval of some years, he rejoined his cousin Bar- 
 nabas, whose willingness to receive him again as a 
 colleague was so displeasing to Paul that he parted 
 company with Barnabas on this account (Acts xv. 37- 
 39). At a later period we find him again enjoying 
 Paul's confidence, during the imprisonment of the lattei 
 
ST, MARK 
 
 at Rome ; for the apostle refers to him as cue of his 
 "fellow-workers unto the kingdom of God," who had 
 been a "comfort" to him (Col. iv. lo-ii ; Philemon 
 vcr. 24). Still later, we find Paul, in his Second Epistle 
 to Timothy (iv. 11), requesting that evangelist to bring 
 Mark with him, because he was ** useful to him for 
 ministering." This is the last time we hear of Mark in 
 Scripture ; but according to tradition he went again to 
 Rome, and after the martyrdom of Peter and Paul, left 
 that city and went to Alexandria, where he founded 
 a famous catechetical school, and afterwards died a 
 martyr's death. 
 
 Turning now to internal evidence, we find strong con- 
 firmation of the traditional account. The book may be 
 described as very much an expansion or development 
 of the brief statement made by Peter in his address to 
 Cornelius the centurion (Acts x. 36-42). It also follows 
 closely the line of apostolic testimony which Peter had 
 himself marked out immediately after the Ascension 
 (Acts i. 22). The whole tone of the book reflects 
 Peter's energetic, impulsive, imconventional character. 
 Its rapid transition from one incident to another— of 
 which we have a striking illustration in the fact that the 
 Greek word variously translated ** straightway," •* imme- 
 diately," "forthwith," etc, occurs in it no lest than 
 forty-one times ; its practical matter-of-fact tone^ illus- 
 trated by the fact that while it records eighteen miracles 
 it contains only four parables, and twice represents the 
 Lord and His disciples as having their hands so full of 
 work that '* they could not so much as eat bread " (iii. 
 20 ; vi. 31); its vivid description of the excitement 
 occasioned by Christ's ministry, and of the profound 
 impression made on those who heard and saw Him, 
 which would be a subject congenial to Peter's enthusiastic 
 nature (i. 27 ; ii. 2, 12; vi. 33, etc.); its omission of 
 some things redounding to Peter's credit, e.g. his designa- 
 tion as the rock on which the Church was to be built 
 (viii. 29, 30 ; cf. Matt. xvi. 16-19), and the insertion 
 of other things fitted to humble him, such as the 
 
M NEW TESTAMENT 6* ITS WRITERS 
 
 rebuke he received when he would have dissuaded Jesoi 
 from submitting to His appointed sufferings (\aii. 33), 
 and the warning he received by the first crowing of the 
 cock (xiv. 30, 68-72), as well as the introduction of 
 details which would be likely to dwell in Peter's memory 
 (i. 36; xi. 21; xvi. 7) — all these things lend a high 
 degree of probability to the traditional account of Peter's 
 connection with this Gospel. As regards that part 
 of the tradition which represents the Gospel as having 
 been written at Rome for the Christians there, we 
 find confirmation of it in the connection of Mark with 
 Rome already referred to, and in his Roman name 
 '• MarcuSf^ which gradually superseded the Hebrew 
 "John" ; in the absence of the Hebrew genealogy of 
 our Lord ; in the explanation of Jewish wordsy eg, 
 Boanerges (iii. 17), Talitha cumi(v. 41), Corban(vii. Il), 
 Ephphatha (vii. 34), Abba (xiv. 36), and of Jewish cms- 
 toms, e.g. the washing of hands (vii. 3, 4) and Passover 
 observances (xiv. 1 2 ; xv. 42) ; in the frequent use of Latim 
 words and idioms, e.g. ** legion," "centurion," **quad- 
 rantes " — the Roman equivalent to two Jewish mites — 
 (xii. 42) ; and very specially in the mention of Alexander 
 and Rufus (xv. 21), if the latter be, as seems very prob- 
 able, the same person as is referred to by St. Paul in 
 his Epistle to the Romans xvi. 13. 
 
 Its Date. — With regard to the date of the Gospel w« 
 may conclude that it was written between 64 a.d. and 
 68 A,D. — the latter being the year of Nero's death, in 
 whose reign Peter and Paul are believed to have suffered 
 martyrdom. 
 
 Its Character and Contents. — If the first Gospel 
 may be described as Messianic, the second may be fitly 
 styled realistic^ bearing traces throughout of the graphic 
 report of an eyewitness. 
 
 It is minute and circumstantial , giving many details 
 of person, number, place, and time that are not to 
 be found in the other Gospels (xiii. 3 ; vi 7 ; xii. 41 j 
 ^ 3S)« It gives a vivid description of the emotions, 
 kxiiks, gestures, and actions of our Lord and others 
 
ST. MARK 25 
 
 (iiL 5, 34 ; vii. 33 ; viii. 33 ; ix. 36 ; jl 32, etc.) It 
 brings out the picturesque character of many of the 
 scenes enacted in our Lord's ministry, e.g. in the 
 narrative of the Feeding of the five thousand (vi. 35-44) 
 this Gospel "alone tells us of the fresh green grass 
 on which they sat down by hundreds and by fifties j 
 and the word used for ' companies ' means literally 
 ' flower-beds,* as though to St. Peter those multitudes, 
 in their festal passover attire with its many-coloured 
 Oriental brightness of red and blue, looked like the 
 patches of crocus and poppy and tulip and amaiyllis 
 which he had seen upon the mountain slopes." In 
 keeping with this is the photographic character of iti 
 account of the Transfiguration* (ix.) and of the Storm 
 on the Sea of Gennesaret (iv. 35-41). It also frequently 
 reproduces the very words of Jesus (iv. 39; vi. 31; 
 of. Matt. viii. 26) and of others (vi. 22-25), using the 
 term "Rabbi," or teacher ("Master"), as the earlier 
 mode of addressing Jesus, where the other evangelist* 
 prefer " Lord " (iv. 38 ; ix. 5 ; x. 51 ; cf. Matt. viii. 25 ; 
 xviL 4 ; XX. 30-33), and narrates events in the present 
 tense as if they were just taking place (i. 40 ; xiv. 43). 
 
 Altogether, it is a simple, direct, forcible narrative, 
 and gives the general outline of our Lord's ministry in 
 a clearer form than either the Gospel of Matthew or 
 Luke. It sets Him before us as He worked and taught 
 in the living present, making no mention of the law, 
 and scarcely ever quoting prophecy, but aiming simply 
 to depict Him in that aspect of energetic and victorious 
 strength which was fitted to impress the Roman mind, 
 and which is foreshadowed by the opening words, 
 " The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son 
 of God." 
 
 The following are the passages peculiar to Mark's 
 Gospel : — 
 
 The alarm of Jesus' family (iii ai). 
 
 1 RafTaelle is mainly indebted to this Gospel for the detafls of kb 
 great picture. 
 
aG NEW TESTAMENT 6* ITS WRITERS 
 
 The seed growing secretly (iv. 36-29). 
 The healing of one deaf and dumb (vii. 32-37). 
 The gradual healing of the blind man (viil 22-26). 
 The exhortation to watch (xiii. 33-37). 
 The flight of the young man (xiv. 51-52). 
 Certain details about the Lord's Resurrectioii 
 (xtL 6-1 1). 
 
 In this connection it may be well to recall the hxA 
 that while Mark's Gospel has a larger proportion of 
 common matter than any of the others — amounting to 
 no less than 93 per cent of its whole contents — this 
 is probably due, not to its having borrowed from the 
 others, but to its more strict adherence to the original 
 cycle of oral teaching (pp. 8-10). 
 
 Note. — Verses 9-20 in the last chapter are absent 
 from some ancient MSS. (see marginal note, R.V.) 
 The verses referred to differ greatly in style and langusige 
 from the rest of the book, and on this account it has 
 been supposed that they were added by a later hand, 
 probably within a few years after the pablicatioB of the 
 GoqieL 
 
ST. LUKE 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 ••the gospel according to ST. LUK«" 
 
 TTS Author.— The authorship of the third Gospel 
 *- has scarcely ever been disputed. It has uniformly 
 been ascribed to Luke, the friend and companion of the 
 Apostle Paul. 
 
 A comparison of its opening verses with the preface 
 to the Book of Acts, and an examination of the style 
 and structure of the two books, leave no room for doubt 
 that they were written by one and the same person. 
 The indications of his personality afforded by certain 
 passages in the Book of Acts, where he joins himseli 
 with Paul by the use of the first person plural as if 
 he were in his company at the time — viewed in the 
 light of the information afforded by the Book of Acts 
 and the epistles of Paul, regarding the apostle's personal 
 associates and his relations with them, — ^justify us in 
 holding that the early Church was right in ascribing 
 the authorship to Luke.^ 
 
 With regard to Luke's personal history, nearly all that 
 
 I An ex a min ation of the relative pousages, which are too numerous 
 to mention, shows that there are only three of the apostle's friends 
 who could have been with him on the occasions referred to, via. 
 Luke, J«sui Justus, and Demas. But Demas is disqualified by 
 3 Tim. IV. lo, while Jesus Justus is referred to as "of the cir- 
 cumcmon " ^ol. iv. u), whereas the tone, both of the third Gospel 
 and of the Book of Acts, would lead us to suppose that the author 
 was a Ganale. The details *x% given in Birks'i Harm A*MtoUca 
 p. 351. 
 
38 NEW TESTAMENT 6* ITS WRITERS 
 
 we know of him is connected with the apostolic labours 
 of Paul. He is referred to by that apostle as "the 
 beloved physician" (Col. iv. 14), and it has been 
 suggested that it may have been owing to Paul's need 
 of medical attendance that they were first brought into 
 intimate relations with one another (Acts xvi. 6-10; 
 Gal. iv. 13-15). Traces of Luke's profession have been 
 discovered in the frequency with which he refers to Christ's 
 work and that of his apostles as a ministry of healing (iv. 
 18, 23 ; ix. I, 2, 6 ; x. 9; cf. also xxii. 51, which tells of 
 the healing of Malchus' ear, a fact unrecorded by any 
 of the other three evangelists in their account of the 
 incident), as well as in the occasional use of technical 
 and other forms of expression which a physician was likely 
 to employ (iv. 38 ; v. 12 ; vi. 19 ; xxii. 44). 
 
 It has been supposed, not without reason, that it is 
 Luke who is referred to (2 Cor. viii. 18) as "the brother 
 whose praise in the gospel is spread through all the 
 churches"; but whether this be so or not, we have 
 incontestable evidence that Luke was not only a warm 
 friend of the apostle but a valuable coadjutor. In the 
 Epistle to Philemon (ver. 24), which was written during 
 Paul's first imprisonment in Rome, Luke is one of 
 Paul's "fellow-workers" who send greetings, and in 3 
 Timothy (iv. il), which was written during Paul's 
 second imprisonment when many of his friends had 
 forsaken him, we find the brief but weighty statement, 
 " Only Luke is with me." 
 
 Of Luke's nationality and of his history previous to 
 his association with the apostle we have but scanty 
 information. From the distinction drawn between him 
 and those "of the circumcision " (Col. iv. 11-14) it may 
 be inferred that he was of Gentile extraction ; and this 
 inference is confirmed by his Greek name and the 
 character of his style, which — except when he is drawing 
 from older documents or reporting speeches conveyed to 
 him by others — is more classical than that of the other 
 Gospels, alike as regards the structure of the sentences 
 and the choice of words, as well as in his use of an 
 
ST. LUKB 
 
 opening dedication, a feature quite foreign to the 
 Hebrew style. According to Eusebius and Jerome, 
 who wrote in the fourth century, Luke was a native 
 of Antioch in Syria. Of this we seem to have confirma- 
 tion in the full account he gives of the Church at 
 Antioch, and also in his mention of Nicolas as •*« 
 proselyte of Antioch " (Acts vL 5).^ 
 
 While tradition has always ascribed the third Gospel 
 to Luke, it has assigned to Paul a somewhat similar 
 part in its production to that which Peter bore in ^• 
 lation to the Gospel of Mark. Such a connection 
 is rendered probable both by what we know of the 
 relations between Paul and Luke, and by the character 
 of the Gospel itself, which is so liberal and philanthropic 
 in its tone as to form an excellent historic groundwork 
 for the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith, 
 which was characteristic of Paul's preaching. There u 
 also a striking similarity between the words attributed to 
 our Lord in the institution of the Supper (xxii. 19, 20) 
 and those in i Cor. xi. 24, 25 (Luke having doubtless 
 often heard Paul use the words in the celebration of the 
 Sacrament), and in the accounts which the two books 
 give of our Lord's appearances after His Resurrection 
 (Luke xxiv. ; i Cor. xv. 1-7). The duty of prayer and 
 the influence of the Holy Spirit, which figure so largely 
 in this Gospel, are also characteristic of Paul's writings ; 
 and there are certain habitual forms of expression 
 which are common to them both, e.g. a threefold classt- 
 ficedion of ideas (xv. 3, 8, ii ; ix. 57-62; xL 11-12; 
 cf. I Cor. xiii. 13 ; Eph. iv. 4-6). 
 
 From his preface we learn that it was Lake's object 
 to draw up in as complete and consecutive a form as 
 possible an account of the main facts regarding Christ's 
 person and work, by reference to the most authentic and 
 reliable sources of information. His missionary travels 
 
 1 A panJIel has been drawn between this circumstance and the 
 Mitnti — I made by two Scottish authors alone (Scott and Alison), out 
 cf eight writers who give an account of Napoleon's Russian campaign, 
 •f tm fiaot that General Barclay de Tolly was of Scottish < 
 
30 NEW TESTAMENT 6- ITS WRITERS 
 
 with Paul would afford excellent opportunities for 
 collecting such information. In particular the two 
 years which he seems to have spent in Caesarea during 
 Paul's detention by Felix, where he was within two 
 days' journey of the shores of Lake Gennesaret, the 
 scene of many incidents in our Lord's ministry, would 
 enable him to obtain at first hand, from brethren who 
 had been eyewitnesses, many of those narratives which 
 are only to be found in this Gospel. His high Christian 
 character gave him a moral fitness for the work, while his 
 culture and the love of accuracy manifest in his historical 
 and topographical allusions, marked him out as a suitable 
 instrument in the hands of Providence for writing the 
 Gospel story in a form as well adapted for the philo- 
 sophical Greeks as Matthew's Gospel was to be for the 
 theocratic Jews and Mark's for the practical Romans. 
 
 Its Date. — The date of its composition is uncertain. 
 It may have been as early as 60 A.D., at the close of the 
 two years which Luke spent with Paul at Caesarea ; or it 
 may possibly have been during Paul's imprisonment at 
 Rome, 61-63 A.D., or even some years later; but in 
 any case anterior to the Book of Acts, as the preface to 
 the latter implies. 
 
 Its Cliaracter and Contents.— If St Matthew's 
 
 Gospel may be styled the Messianic Gospel and St 
 Mark's the realistic Gospel, St Luke's may be fitly 
 described as the catholic Gospel — foreshadowing the 
 expansion of God's kingdom in the future as the first 
 Gospel reflects its history in the past^ and the second 
 describes its energy in the present. It is not only more 
 comprehensive in its range, beginning with the birth of 
 the forerunner and ending with an account of the Ascen- 
 sion, but it also brings out more fully the breadth of 
 Christ's sympathy and the fulness and freeness of His 
 love. In illustration of this we may note the following 
 points : (I ) The Gospel of Luke traces Christ's genealogy, 
 not like Matthew's by the legal line to Abraham the 
 head of the Jews, but by the natural Un4 to Adam^ the 
 of humanity (iii. 38), forming thus a fit introdnctioo 
 
ST. LUKE 
 
 to the life of Him who was to be the Kinsman- 
 Redeemer of the whole human family. (2) It exhibits 
 more clearly the reality of Christ's humanity in all the 
 stages of human lite (it 4-7, 21, 22, 40, 42, 51, 52; 
 iii. 23), bringing into prominence more especially His 
 dependence upon God in the great crises of His life, 
 when He had recourse to Him m prayer (iiL 21 | ▼!. IS, 
 13 ; ix. 28, 29 ; xxiii. 34, 46), and inculcating earnest- 
 ness in prayer by two parables peculiar to itself (xL 5- 
 13 ; xviii. 1-8). (3) In keeping with this view of it as 
 the gospel of humanity, we find that it represents Christ's 
 teaching not so much in its theocratic as in its human 
 aspects — its usual formula in the introduction of a parable 
 being not *' the kingdom of heaven is like," as in 
 Matthew's, but "a certain man made a great supper" 
 (xiv. 16), "a certain man had two sons" (xv. II), etc 
 
 (4) It represents Christ zs far-reaching in his sympaihi^s^ 
 full of compassion for the poor, the weak, the suffering, 
 and ready to forgive the chief of sinners. It is in this 
 Gospel we find the parables of The Rich Man and 
 Lazarus (xvi. 19), The Pharisee and Publican (xviii 9), 
 and The Prodigal Son (xv. ii), as also the story of the 
 Good Samaritan (x. 30). It is here we find a record of 
 Christ's visit to the house of Zacchaeus the publican (xix. 
 I), of His gracious reception of the woman that was m 
 sinner (vii. 37), and of His promise of Paradise to the 
 penitent malefactor (xxiii. 43). It is here we find the 
 touching story of the raising to life of the young man at 
 the gate of Nain (vii. 11), who was " the only son of his 
 mother, and she was a widow " ; it is here we are told 
 that Jairus' daughter, whom Christ restored to life, was 
 an "only daughter" (viii. 42) ; it is here we Icam that 
 the demonaic boy whom He healed at the foot of the 
 Mount of Transfiguration was an ♦* only child " (ix. 38). 
 
 (5) It is the Gospel of toleration and brotherly hve^ 
 embracing within the range of its sympathy the 
 Samaritan (ix. 5 1 -56; xvii. 1 1 -1 9), the GentiU (ir. 
 25-27; xiiL 28, 29), \}Ci^ poor (ii 7, 8, 24 ; vL 20 ; 
 ty. 58 ; m. 21), the very youngs this being the only 
 
It NEW TESTAMENT 6* ITS WRITEH^ 
 
 Gospel that tells as that the children brought to Jesus 
 were •* babes " (xviiL 15, R.V.), and the weaker and, 
 up to that time, /ess-honoured sex (i, concerning Mary 
 and Elisabeth ; u. 36-38 ; viiL I>3 ; z. 38-43 ; zziii. 
 ■7, 28V 
 
 It is no accident, therefore, that the words ** Saviour,** 
 "salvation," "grace," occur more frequently in this than 
 In any other Gospel ; it is no accident that it represents 
 the Saviour's birth as heralded by angels to shepherds 
 watching their flocks by night (ii. 8-14), and His 
 ministry as opening in a despised village of Galilee with 
 the gracious words of the evangelic prophet, ** The 
 spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he anointed me to 
 preach good tidings to the poor" (iv. 18) ; it is no acci- 
 dent that as its first chapters resound with the voice of 
 praise and thanksgiving for the birth of the Saviour, its 
 dosing verses tell of the disciples' joy as they returned to 
 'erusalem with the blessing of the Ascended Saviour 
 esting on their heads, to be " continually in the temple, 
 ilessing God." It is because this Gospel from first to 
 Ast tells the "good tidings of great joy which shall be 
 o all the people " (ii. 10), and proclaims a Saviour who 
 • to be "a light for revelation to the Gentiles and the 
 rlory of (Thy people) Israel" (ii. 32), — in whose name 
 •repentance and remission of sins should be preached unto 
 ull the nations, beginning from Jerusalem" (xxiv. 47). 
 L«ke is indeed the most evangelical of all the evangel- 
 its, and as such he has fitly preserved for us the first 
 precious germs of Christian hymnology, which, after 
 ighteen centuries, are still prized as an aid to worship 
 yy almost all sections of the Christian Church, viz. the 
 Magnificat (L 46-55), the Benedictus (i. 68-79), the 
 Gloria in Excelsis (ii. 14), and the Nunc Dimittis (iL 
 r-9-32). 
 
 It adds to the importance of this Gospel, styled by 
 Renan '*the most beautiful book in the world," that 
 about one-third of its contents is peculiar to itself, con- 
 sisting mainly of chapters ix. 51-xviii. 14, relating to 
 ^ Sanour*! last joiumey to Jerusalem. 
 
ST. JOHN 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 ••Tint GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOHH* 
 
 ITS Author.— It is a weighty and significant fact 
 that until the close of the last century the Johan- 
 nine authorship of the fourth Gospel was never senously 
 challenged. Epiphanius, indeed (380 A.D.), tells us ol 
 a very small party who had ascribed it to Cennthus, a 
 heretical contemporary of the Apostle John at Ephesus ; 
 but they seem to have had no other reason for rejectmg it 
 than their aversion to its teaching. During the present 
 century no question has been the subject of more con- 
 troversy ; and scarcely any can be of more importance, 
 considering its close bearing on the doctnnal aspects of 
 Christianity, and especially on the divinity of Jesus Christ. 
 To a large extent the question is covered by the line 
 of evidence already indicated in connection with the 
 Gospels as a whole (see pp. 5-7)- But in some respects the 
 external evidence for this Gospel is stronger than for any 
 of the others. It is specially quoted by such early Gnostic 
 writers as Basilides (125 a.d.), Valentinus (145 A- p., 
 whose favourite phrases were borrowed from its opening 
 verses), and Heracleon (a disciple of Valentinus), who 
 wrote a commentary on it— being the first known com- 
 mentary on any part of the New Testament. More- 
 over, as -John himself survived till near the close of the 
 first century, a comparatively short interval was left 
 between his death and the time when the four Gospels 
 lie known to have been universally accepted by the 
 3 
 
34 NEW TESTAMENT df ITS WRITERS 
 
 Church (185 A.D.) ; and for this interval it so happens 
 that we have a direct chain of testimony consisting 
 of a very few strong and well-connected links. 
 At the lower end of the chain we have Irenaeus, one of 
 the most important witnesses to the general reception 
 of the four Gospels towards the close of the second 
 century. Bom in Asia Minor, where John spent the 
 last twenty or thirty years of his life, he became Bishop 
 of Lyons in Gaul, which had a close ecclesiastical con- 
 nection with his native land. Early in life he was 
 brought into familiar contact with Polycarp (bom 70 A. D), 
 a disciple of the Apostle John, who was for more than 
 forty years Bishop of Smyma and was martyred 155 
 A.D. Among other allusions which he makes to Poly- 
 carp, he says, in a letter to his friend Florinus (177 A.D.), 
 '♦ I can describe the very place in which the blessed Poly- 
 carp used to sit when he discoursed, and his goings out 
 and his comings in, and his manner of life and his personal 
 appearance, and the discourses which he held before the 
 people, and how he would describe his intercourse with 
 John and with the rest who had seen the Lord, and how 
 he would relate their words. And whatsoever things he 
 had heard from them about the Lord and about His 
 miracles, Polycarp, as having received them from eye- 
 witnesses of the life of the Word, would relate altogether 
 in accordance with the Scriptures." 
 
 It is beyond dispute that this Irenaeus accepted the 
 fourth Gospel as a genuine work of the Apostle John. 
 Is it credible that he would have done so, if it had not 
 been acknowledged by his teacher Polycarp, who had 
 been . a disciple of John ? And if it was accepted by 
 Polycarp as a genuine writing, notwithstanding its 
 marked dissimilarity to the other Gospels, what better 
 evidence could we have that John was really its author, 
 and that it was accepted as his, from the very first, 
 by the leaders of the Church in Asia Minor ? 
 
 It may be well to state here very briefly the 'principal 
 «■'<• in John's life, and the drcumstam^s and«r wbi«b 
 49 m ifod to HaTB wntten his Gosp«]L 
 
ST. JOHN 
 
 The younger son of Zebedee, a Galilanm fithennaa 
 who was in a position to have "hired servants," he WM 
 a follower of the Baptist before joining Christ's fellow- 
 ship. To his mother Salome, supposed by some to be 
 the sister of the Virgin Mary (Mark xv. 40 ; John xix. 
 25), who was one of the most devoted followers of 
 Jesus, he and his brother James seem to have been in- 
 debted for much of their enthusiasm. They were sur- 
 named by Jesus ** Boanerges" (sons of thunder), in allusion 
 to the latent fervour and vehemence of their nature, of 
 which we are not without tokens (Matt xx. 20-24 ; Luke 
 ix. 49-54). During Christ's trial and crucifixion John 
 was a close and deeply-interested observer, receiving a 
 charge from his dying Master to act the part of a son to 
 the bereaved Mary (John xviii. 15, 16 ; xix. 25, 26). After 
 the resurrection we find him associated with Peter on several 
 important occasions (Acts iii., iv.), but not a single dis- 
 course of his is recorded in the Book of Acts. He still 
 continued, however, to be revered as a leader of the 
 Church, for we find him referred to by St Paul (GaL it 
 9), in connection with the Council of Jerusalem (50 A.D.), 
 as one of those who were " reputed to be pillars." In his 
 later life, after the fall of Jerusalem (70 A.D.), according 
 to a general and well-supported tradition, John resided in 
 Ephesus, as bishop of the Churches in Asia Minor which 
 had been founded by Paul, and was banished under 
 Domitian to the bland of Patmoe (where he wrote the 
 Book of Revelation, Rev. i. 9), returning to Ephesus in 
 the reign of Nerva, and living there till after the acces- 
 sion of Trajan (98 A.D.) 
 
 It was in Ephesus, which had now become the chief 
 centre of Christianity, and was beginning to be infected 
 by the errors of which Paul had warned its elders at 
 Miletus (Acts xx. 29, 30), that the earliest traditions re- 
 present John to have written his GospeL He is said to 
 have done so on the entreaty, and with the subsequent 
 approval, of the Apostle Andrew and other leading 
 members of the Church, in order to supplement the 
 >»arhing of the three Gospels already published, and 
 
.o NEW TESTAMENT &* ITS WRITERS 
 
 to counteract the errors which were beguiling some from 
 the simplicity of the faith. 
 
 Turning now to the evidence of its authorship afforded 
 by the Gospel itself, we may first of all note the fact 
 that the whole tone of the book would give one the 
 impression that it was written by some one who was 
 familiar with the inner life of Christ and His apostles 
 (i- 35-51; »• ". I7» 22; iv. 6, 8,27; vL 5, 8, 68-71; 
 iz. 3; xi. 16; xii. 21-22; xiii. ; xviii. 16; xx.) All 
 these passages point to one of the twelve disciples as 
 the author — in accordance with the statement (i. 14), 
 ** We beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten 
 from the Father," and the explicit declaration in the 
 24th verse of the last chapter (the whole of which seems 
 to form a postscript added by the apostle and endorsed 
 by his companions), — " This is the disciple which 
 beareth witness of these things, and wrote these things ; 
 and we know that his witness is true." As to which 
 of the disciples is here referred to, we find a clue in 
 verse 20 of the same chapter, where he is identified 
 with **the disciple whom Jesus loved," who had been 
 previously referred to in xx. 2, and xxi. 7, in associa- 
 tion with Peter, and in xiii. 23, where he is described 
 as "reclining in Jesus' bosom" at the Last Supper 
 The presumption that the disciple thus designated was 
 one of the sons of Zebedee, who were admitted along 
 with Peter (as the other evangelists tell us) to a closer 
 fellowship with their Master than the rest of the dis- 
 ciples, is strengthened by the remarkable circumstance 
 that the two brothers are never mentioned in this Gospel, 
 except in the second verse of the last chapter where they 
 are referred to as ♦' the sons of Zebedee." The position 
 there assigned to them in the list of disciples is much 
 lower than is usual in the other Gospels, and would lead 
 OS to suppose that it was modesty that led the author to 
 veil his own name (i. 35-42; xviii. 15, 16; xix. 26, 27), 
 as well as that of his brother James and his mother 
 Salome (whom he nowhere mentions unless at xix- 25), as 
 he is in general very precise and explicit in his mode d 
 
ST. JOHN 37 
 
 designation. A« between the two brothers, there caa 
 be no hesitation in assigning the authorship to John, 
 since James early fell a victim to the I4erodian persecu- 
 tion 44 A.D. (Acts xii. 2). 
 
 If the Gospel was not written by John, it must have 
 been written by some one who wished to pass for that 
 apostle; and those who reject the Johannine authorship 
 have the insuperable difficulty to encounter of finding 
 a writer of the post-apostolic age possessed of the intel- 
 lectual gifts and the spiritual elevation needed for the 
 production of so sublime a work, and at the same time 
 capable of claiming for his unscrupulous fabrications, in 
 the most solemn terms, the authority of an eyewitness 
 and apostle who had reclined in Jesus' bosom. 
 
 Besides the allusions to the inner life of Christ and 
 His apostles which have already been referred to, 
 there may be discerned in this Gospel, on a close 
 examination, many other tokens of its apostolic origin. 
 
 (1) In its account of Christ's ministry it gives a faith- 
 ful picture of the Messianic hopes of temporal sovereignty 
 which existed among the Jews prior to the destruction 
 of Jerusalem, as well as of the conflict which Christ 
 waged with such expectations (i. 19-28; iv. 25; vL 
 14, 15; vii, ; xi. 47-53; xix. 12); while we also find 
 traces of acquaintance with the Temple arrangements of 
 the same period (ii. 13-16; iv. 20, 21 ; x. 23). 
 
 (2) It shows a minute acquaintance vix'Cti Jewish customs 
 (ii. 6; iii. 25; vii. 22; xi. 55; xix. 7, 31), manners 
 (iv. 9, 27; vii. 2, 37; x. 22; xi. 44; xviii. 28; xix. 
 40), and opinions (i. 46; vii. 35, 41, 52; ix. 2, 16; 
 X. 19-21), frequently giving explanations as if it were 
 written by a Jew for foreign readers. 
 
 (3) It also shows a minute acquaintance with the topo- 
 graphy of Jerusalem (v. 2; viii. 20; ix. 7; xi. 18; 
 xviii. 1, 15; xix. 13, 17, 41), and with iki^ geography of 
 Palestine generally (L 28; iii. 23; iv. 5, 35 ; xL 54). 
 
 (4) It is circumstantial in many of its statement s^ and 
 bears the stamp of personal knowledge such as would 
 be possessed by an eyewitness (i. 29, 35-43 ; ii. i, 20 ; 
 
58 NEW TESTAMENT 6f ITS WEI TEES 
 
 !▼. 6, 40, 53 ; vL 16-24, z* 40> xi. 6, 39, etc. | ziL I, 
 zviii. 10, etc. ; xix. 25, xx. i-io, etc) 
 
 (5) While written in Greek, it is Hebraic in its style and 
 structure^ abounding in parallels and contrasts, both in 
 expression and arrangement [e.g. chap. i. ), and frequently 
 quotes from the Old Testament, sometimes directly from 
 the Hebrew (xiii. 18 ; xix. 37, etc.) 
 
 All that can be alleged against the apostolic anther- 
 ship of the fourth Gospel, on account of its marked 
 divergence from the other Gospels in the representation 
 of Christ's character and teaching, is suflSciently met by 
 the fact that "the synoptical Gospels contain the Gospel 
 of the infant Church ; that of St. John, the Gospel in 
 its maturity. The first combine to give the wide experi- 
 ence of the many ; the last embraces the deep mysteries 
 treasured up by the one." If we suppose the fourth 
 Gospel to have been written about 85 A.D., an interval 
 of more than half a century would thus have elapsed 
 since the death of Christ. During that time Christianity 
 had spread into many lands and furnished subjects for 
 reflection to many minds, while the Jewish expectations 
 and prejudices which had clung to many of the early 
 members of the Church had been in a great measure 
 dissipated by the fall of Jerusalem. In these circum- 
 stances it was inevitable that the truths of the Gospel 
 should be viewed in new lights and assume more 
 speculative forms ; and in Ephesus, as the great meeting- 
 place of Oriental mysticism and Greek philosophy, the 
 deeper questions and more theological aspects of the 
 new religion would naturally claim a large measure of 
 attention. (Cf. Paul's Epistles to the Colossians and the 
 Ephesians, pp. 91, 99.) 
 
 We thus see that, as the other Gospels had reference 
 to distinct types of thought for which they were severally 
 adapted, so the fourth Gospel was designed to meet the 
 demand for a more inUllectual presentation of divine 
 truth, which might sorve as an antidote to the Gnostic 
 speculations which were imperilling the recognition at 
 one timt of Christ's divinity, and at another time of His 
 
ST, JOHN 39 
 
 humanity. In God's providence a worthy exponent of 
 this phase of the Gospel was found in the aged Apostle 
 John, whose heart and mind had been so receptive of 
 divine truth even in his youth as to win for him the 
 place of closest fellowship with his Master, and who had 
 since then enjoyed the teaching of the Holy Spmt for a 
 longer period than any of his fellows, and amid more 
 intellectual surroundings, and was thus singularly fitted 
 for th€ great task which Providence had assigned to him. 
 Its Date.— 85-90 A.D., as indicated above. 
 Character and Contents.— Many of the remarks 
 that might have been made under this head have 
 already found place in this chapter, and at pages ii 
 and 14, where a contrast is drawn between the Synoptics 
 and the fourth Gospel. On the whole perhaps no fitter 
 epithet can be found for this Gospel than that apphed to 
 it by Clement of Alexandria at the close of the second 
 century, vix. the spiritual Gospel. It may also be 
 described as the doctrinal or theologUal GospcL It 
 represents Christ's person and work not with special 
 reference to the Past, or the Present, or the Future ; 
 but generally with reference to Eternity, in which I'ast, 
 Present, and Future are alike included. 
 
 Its great theme is set forth in the Prologue or Intro- 
 duction (i. I-18), which strikes the keynote of the whole 
 Gospel. It represents Christ as the Manifestation oi 
 the divine Being, the only Source of Ufe and Ught, m 
 human form ("the Word was God" and "the Word 
 became flesh"), and, as such, the object, on the one 
 hand, of saving faith, and the occasion, on the other 
 hand, of the worid's unbelief. The whole book is an 
 elaboration of this subUme thought, with a singular 
 union of depth and simplicity— chiefly in connectiori 
 with the Lord's visits to Jerusalem at the national 
 feasts, when He had occasion to press His claims, as 
 the Revealer of the Father, upon the teachers of religion. 
 This Manifestation, attested by several forms of dmne 
 witness-bearmg (including miracles, which are always 
 called *• signs " in this Gospel, as expressions of Chnst s 
 
NEW TESTAMENT <5r* ITS WRITER'S 
 
 glory), may be said to reach a climax in xii. 37-40 
 (** though he had done so many signs before them, 
 yet they believed not on him"), after which there is 
 described, on the one hand, the downward course of 
 the world's unbelief leading to the crucifixion, and on 
 the other, the perfecting of the disciples' faith, which 
 attains its final and typical expression in the slowly- 
 matured but deep - rooted confession of the doubting 
 Thomas, ♦' My Lord and my God " (xx. 28). 
 
 As already indicated, the fourth Gospel contains very 
 few incidents of the ministry in Galilee. In this respect, 
 as well as in many of its unexplained allusions (i. 32, 40; 
 iii. 5, 13, 24; vi. 62, 70; XX. 17), it takes for granted 
 acquaintance with the earlier Gospels. The matter 
 which it contains in common with each of the three 
 other Gospels is very limited in extent, but of the most 
 profound significance, viz. the Miraculous Feeding of 
 the Multitude and the Death and Resurrection of Christ. 
 A crucified and risen Saviour who can say of Himself, 
 ** I am the bread of life ; he that cometh to me 
 shall not hunger, and he that believeth on me shall 
 never thirst," — this is the essence of the four Gospels, 
 as it is the essence of Christianity symbolised in the 
 Lord's Supper ; and the final object of the whole New 
 Testament is summed up by the last of the apostle* 
 when he says, "These are written, that ye may belieye 
 that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God ; and thai, 
 believing, ye may have life iu his name *' (au 31). 
 
THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 
 
 CHAPTER Vn 
 
 ••the acts of thk apostlbs* 
 
 T TS Author.— There can be no doubt that the Book 
 * of Acts is from the same pen as the third Gospel. 
 This is evident from the preface at the head of each 
 book, and from the similarity of ^their general style and 
 structure. 
 
 An attempt has been made, however, to raise a 
 distinction, as regards authorship, between different 
 portions of the book. There are certain passages whose 
 genuineness has scarcely ever been disputed — those, 
 namely, in which the writer uses tht first person plural^ 
 as having been himself present on the occasions referred 
 to.^ It is generally acknowledged that these passages 
 are the genuine work of a companion of the apostle. But 
 by a certain school of critics the rest of the book has a 
 very different character assigned to it. According to 
 them, the "we" passages formed the original notes 
 of an eyewitness, which were made use of by a sub- 
 sequent writer in the second century, as the nucleus 
 of a history in great part fictitious, which was designed 
 to bridge over the gulf between Paul and the rest of the 
 apostles. 
 
 ^ From these passages it appears that the writer joiDed Paul's 
 company at Troas Qrvi. lo), that he accompanied him to Philippi, 
 where he was left behind when Paul departed to another city, that 
 after an interval of sbc or seven years he rejoined the apostle on tha 
 tatter's return to Philippi, and accompanied him on his last journey 
 to Jerusalem (xx. 5-xxL i8X and afterwards from Csesarea to Root 
 (xxTU. i-zxviiL 16). 
 
4a NE W TESTAMENT ^ ITS WRITERS 
 
 Even if this theory could be proved to be correct, it 
 would not get rid of the supernatural element to which 
 these critics have such an aversion, for in the passages 
 thus admitted to be genuine there are statements that 
 imply miraculous occurrences (xvi. i8, 26 ; xxviii. 8, 9). 
 
 But in reality there is no evidence whatever to warrant 
 such a view. With regard to external testimony, we find 
 in some of the earliest Christian writers (Clement of 
 Rome,^ Ignatius, Polycarp, Hennas, Justin Martyr, etc) 
 not a few expressions which seem to reproduce the l«ii> 
 guage of this book — drawn not only from the ** we " 
 sections but from other parts of it as welL The impres- 
 sion thus made upon us in favour of the book as it now 
 stands is confirmed by finding it in the Sjrriac and Old 
 Latin Versions, and also in the Muratorian Canon. 
 
 But it is the internal character of the book that affords 
 the best refutation of the theory in question. It has « 
 natural unity of diction andttyU which forbids us to assign 
 it to more than one author, and its several parts are so 
 interlaced by corresponding observations and cUlusions as 
 to confirm us in the belief that it forms me consisteiit 
 whole.* 
 
 That it is a work of the first century is proved by the 
 fact that it dees not contain tks slightest allusion to St. 
 PauPs epistles. In the second century these epistles 
 were so widely circulated that no historian giving a 
 sketch of Paul's life-work could have passed them over 
 in silence. But during the greater part of the period 
 covered by the Book of Acts few of them were yet in 
 existence ; and for some years they would be very little 
 known except in the Churches to which they were ad- 
 dressed. There is no notice taken of them in the Book 
 of Acts, nor is there any echo of their teaching; 
 
 1 E.r. In his I Ep. xyuL there is a reproduction of Acts xiii. 2a, in 
 hi combination of i Sam. xiiL 14 and Ps. Ixxxix. 20, its addition of 
 tSSM phrase "son of Jesse," and its allusion to the divine testimonf. 
 In the Greek the resemblance is even more striking. 
 
 • Cf. vL 5, riiL 40, xxi. 8 ; vii. 58, viii. i, xxii. ao; L 5, zL z6 
 
 tsayine of our Lord's being here twice quoted which does not coca* 
 any « tha four Gospels) ; x. 47, zv. 8 ; iz. 30, xi. as, ale. 
 
THE ACTS OP THE APOSTLES 43 
 
 while there b a remarkable absence of information on 
 ■everal important points mentioned in them which would 
 naturally have called for explanation had they come 
 under the notice of the writer of this book {e.g. Gal. i. 
 17 ; ii. II ; 2 Cor. xi 24). 
 
 But although there Is no sign of acquaintance with the 
 epistles themselves, there are, as we shall see when we 
 come to deal with these writings, many " undesigned 
 coincidence " between statements contained in them and 
 in the Book of Acts, which can only be accounted for by 
 the fact that the writers in both cases were guided by a 
 itrict regard for truth. 
 
 It has also to be noted that while there is no sign of 
 acquaintance with Paul's letters, there is in the speeches 
 attributed to him an admitted resemblance to his style and 
 diction, which is best accounted for by the writer's having 
 been present at the delivery of the speeches, or having 
 received an authentic report of them. It is interesting 
 in this connection to observe that the speech which PatU 
 delivered in Hebrew (xxii. 1-21), and which was no 
 doubt translated into its present Greek form by Luke 
 (judging from the number of Luke's favourite words to 
 be found in it), is far less Pauline in character than the 
 speech at Athens (xvii. 22-31), which was spoken in 
 Greekj and was in all probability reported to Luke by 
 Paul himself. We may add that this latter speech is 
 not only Pauline in its diction, but reflects very plainly 
 the apostle's training in the schools of Tarsus, where 
 the Stoic philosophy was in great repute. We hare a 
 similar token of genuineness in the harmony between 
 the speeches of Peter reported in this book and the first 
 epistle written by that apostle.* 
 
 Of the writer's accuracy in matters of fact abundant 
 evidence can be adduced. In the titles which he gives 
 to the magistrates of the various cities he has occasion to 
 mention, he is supported by the testimony of ancient 
 writings, coins, and inscriptions in a most remarkable 
 
 ^ Gt M. •3( hr. at, and 1 Peter L a, ao; also iv. 11 and i Pat* 
 
44 i^£^ TESTAMENT &• ITS WRITERS 
 
 manner ; e.g, the name of politarchs (** rulers of the 
 city "), which he applies to the magistrates of Thessa- 
 lonica (xvii. 6), though otherwise unknown, has been 
 discovered on an arch still in comparatively good pre- 
 servation in the principal street of the city.* His many 
 allusions also to historical characters and events that are 
 otherwise known to us, are almost invariably found to 
 be true to fact ; while the precision of his nautical 
 expressions and minute geographical allusions in his 
 account of Paul's voyage and shipwreck, has been found 
 so remarkable as to form the subject of a special dis- 
 sertation.^ 
 
 As a last token of genuineness may be mentioned the 
 fact that in the Book of Acts the positions taken up by 
 the Pharisees and Sadducees respectively with reference 
 to Christ's cause are almost the reverse of what they 
 are in the Gospel. This change of attitude was due to 
 the apostles' preaching of the Resurrection, after their 
 Master's departure ; but it \s. a circumstance which only 
 a contemporary would have been likely to realise and 
 represent in such a vivid manner. 
 
 Its Date. — As to the date of its composition, its 
 abrupt termination — leaving us in ignorance of Paul's 
 fate and of his subsequent labours (if he was set free 
 from his imprisonment at Rome) — has led some to 
 suppose that the author brought up his narrative to the 
 very moment when he closed the book and despatched 
 it to his friend Theophilus. In that case it must have 
 left the writer's hands about 63 a.d. But it may be 
 that the work was broken off owing to Luke's death, or 
 he may have had it in view to complete his narrative in 
 another volume, or he may have felt it dangerous to go 
 farther. Yet another view is that the apostle's preach- 
 ing at Rome was purposely'selected by the writer as a 
 suitable finish to his narrative of the Church's progress. 
 On the whole, we may be content with the assurance 
 
 1 Similar instances are found at xiiL 7 ; rvL ao ; xviiL x% ; xxviiL 
 
 See Salmon's Introduction, pp. 348-49, 
 « By Jamec Smith, Esq., F.R.S.. of jordanhilL 
 
THE ACTS OP THE APOSTLES 45 
 
 that it was written by a contemporaiy and companioiB 
 of the apostle. 
 Its Character and Contents. — The keynote of the 
 
 book is struck in i. 8 : **But ye shaU receive power, 
 when the Holy Ghost is come upon you : and ye shall 
 be my witnesses, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and 
 Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." 
 The entire book records the fulfilment of this prophecy. 
 It may be roughly divided into three parts correspond- 
 ing to the widening spheres of labour which were thus 
 mdicated — "Jerusalem" (L 13-vii.) ; **all Judaea and 
 Samaria" (viii.-ix.) ; "unto the uttermost part of the 
 earth" (x.-xxviii.) Each of the three is marked by a 
 notable outpouring of the Holy Spirit (ii 1-4 ; viii. 17 ; 
 X, 44-48). 
 
 Throughout the whole narrative prominence is given 
 to the Lord Jesus Christ as the subject of apostolic 
 testimony (ii. 32; iii. 13-15; v. 31, 32, 42; viiL 5; 
 X. 36-42), as the bestower of the Holy Spirit (iL 33), 
 with His miraculous gifts (iii. 16 ; ix. 34), and divine 
 guidance (i. 24 ; x. 19 ; xvi. 6-10), as personally visible 
 to the martyr Stephen (vii. 56), and as the personal 
 agent in Paul's conversion (ix. 3-5). 
 
 There is great significance in the description of Luke's 
 Gospel, given in the opening verse of this book, as a 
 treatise " concerning all that Jesus began both to do and 
 to teach, until the day in which he was received up." 
 The position of the word " began " is very emphatic in 
 the original, as if to imply that the Acts of the Apostles 
 formed a continuation Oj Chrisfs work. The writer 
 conceives of Him as still carrying on His work in virtue 
 of His Resurrection and Ascension ; and in the introduc- 
 tion to the book he refers to these events as well as to 
 the prediction of His second Advent (i. i-ii). 
 
 The continuity of the divine work is indeed the ruling 
 idea of the whole book. The Gospel kingdom is de- 
 scribed as advancing steadily onwards, beginning at 
 J«<usalem (in the same upper room, perhaps, as had 
 been the scene of the Last Supper), and extending 
 
♦t) NEW TESTAMENT ^ JTS WRITERS 
 
 hnally to Rome, the great metropolis of the Gentiles. 
 More than half the book is devoted to the labours of 
 the Apostle of the Gentiles, and three of his missionary 
 journeys are recorded — with Antioch for his headquarters, 
 where the " disciples were first called Christians "(xl 26). 
 Of necessity it is a mere selection of incidents that is 
 given, both as regards the labours of Paul (cf^ 2 Cor. xi. 
 24-27), and the history of the Church during the thirty- 
 three years or more over which the book extends. The 
 selection was no doubt determined partly by the informa- 
 tion which Luke had gathered from his own observa- 
 tion as an eyewitness or from trustworthy reporters,* 
 and partly by the great object he had in view, namely, to 
 trace the gradual expansion of the Church from its first 
 beginnings as a seeming phase of Judaism to its full 
 development as a catholic communion, in which there 
 was to be no distinction between Jew and Gentile, and 
 where the Law, on which the former prided himself so 
 greatly, was to be superseded by the grau^ of God 
 freely offered in the GospeL 
 
 1 E.g. the account of the mission in Samaria and elsewhert 
 In chap. viii. would, no doubt, be mainly derived from Philip, with 
 whom the writer had spent many days at Csesarea (xxL 8>aQ^ 
 
 > A fkvourit* word both with Sc Luke and St. PmiL 
 
THE EPISTLES 
 
 CHAPTER Vm 
 
 THS BPISTLSS 
 Th* Epistles of St, Paul— His Previous History 
 
 THE Epistles. — One of the distinguishing charac- 
 teristics of the New Testament as compared with 
 all other sacred books in the world is the epistolary 
 character of a large part of its contents. 
 
 It contains 21 letters by 6 different authors — lo (or 9) 
 addressed to individual Churches,^ 5 (or 6) to private 
 persons, and 2 to Hebrew Christians, the remainder being 
 of a more or less general nature (I and 2 Peter, I John, 
 and Jude). 
 
 Besides these, wc have reason to believe from the 
 nature of the case (a Cor. xL 28), and from special 
 allusions (i Cor. r. 9 ; 2 Thess. iil 17), that there were 
 other apostolic letters which have not been preserved. 
 That Providence should have suffered such inspired 
 writings to perish is in no degree more remarkable than ' 
 that so many of our Lord's own words should have passed 
 mto oblivion ; and we can readily understand that dur- 
 ing the apostles' lifetime their letters were less prized 
 than after their death, when the loss any of of their 
 writings was seen to be irreparable. 
 
 Although most of the epistles were written at an 
 earlier period than the Gospels, they represent in general 
 a more advanced stage of Christian theology. In the 
 epbtles we have the fruits of twenty or thirty years' 
 
 2SMpbl47. 
 
48 NEW TESTAMENT &* ITS WRITERS 
 
 reflecnon on the great facts and elementary truths con- 
 tained in the Synoptical Gospels, viewed in the light of 
 Christian experience and under the teaching of the Holy 
 Spirit, taking of the things that are Christ's and showing 
 them to the Church. To the epistles we are mainly 
 indebted for our knowledge of Christian doctrine on 
 such subjects as the Trinity, the relations of Christ to 
 the human race and to His Church, the Atonement, 
 Justification by Faith, and Sanctification by the Holy 
 Spirit. 
 
 But while largely doctrinal in character, most of the 
 epistles differ very considerably from formal treatises, 
 being enlivened with personal allusions, aad dealing 
 largely with questions of a practical nature. 
 
 The Epistles of Paul.— The last remark applies 
 specially to the epistles of Paul, which had their rise 
 not in abstract speculations, but in the needs and circum- 
 stances of the various Churches to which they were 
 addressed. They are filled with the living personality 
 of the writer, and lay hold so vividly upon the reader's 
 sympathies, that they have been described by Luther as 
 " not mere dead words, but living creatures with hands 
 and feet." 
 
 They are thirteen in number. Their composition 
 ranges over a period of about fifteen years, the earliest 
 of them ( I and 2 Thess. ) having been written about 53 
 A.D., sixteen years after the apostle's conversion ; the 
 last of them (the pastoral epistles to Titus and Timothy) 
 very near the close of his life, approaching 68 a. d. 
 
 In the interval were produced two other groups of 
 epistles — those designed to vindicate Paul's apostolic 
 authority, and preserve the Gospel from the inroads of 
 Judaism, viz. X and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, and 
 Romans (written during his third missionary journey, 
 about 57-58 A.D.), and the Epistles of the Imprisonment, 
 viz. Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, and Ephesians, 
 written from Rome about 62-63 •'^•D. 
 
 The most of them were probably collected and io 
 more or less general use in the Church within a shc^rt 
 
THE EPISTLES 49 
 
 ime after the apostle's death, as wc may infer from the 
 traces of them to be found in the writings of Clement 
 of Rome (95 A.D.), Ignatius (died 1 15 A.D.), and Poly- 
 carp (died 155 A.D.) 
 
 In our New Testament the Pauline epistles are ar- 
 ranged according to their length and importance, but 
 there is an obvious advantage in studying them in their 
 chronological order^ as it enables us to trace the progres- 
 sive development of the apostle's theology and the 
 growth of his literary style, as well as to realise the cir- 
 cumstances out of which the epistles successively arose. 
 
 It is a circumstance worth noting as an explanation in 
 some measure of the occasional abruptness and irregu- 
 larity of the apostle's style (and perhaps of its vivacity), 
 that his letters were usually written by an amanuensis 
 to dictation^ — the salutation only being written with his 
 own hand, as a token of genuineness.^ 
 
 His undisputed Epistles. — i and 2 Corinthians, 
 Romans, and Galatians have the distinction of being almost 
 universally admitted to be genuine writings of PauL 
 
 This admission is a most important one from an 
 evidential point of view, as these epistles form a valuable 
 historical link between the earliest preaching of the 
 apostles and the composition of our four Gospels. They 
 contain a great many references to detailed matters of 
 fact mentioned in the Gospels, and prove that the story 
 of Christ's death and resurrection, as told in the four 
 Gospels, was the chief theme of Paul's preaching ( i Cor. 
 XV. 1-8; xi. 23-28). 
 
 With regard to our Lorcts resurrection in particular^ 
 they prove that event to have been generally believed in 
 by the Church in St. Paul's time, and to have been 
 from the first the basis of the apostle's preaching ( I Cor. 
 XV. 1-20). They also imply the exercise oi supernatural 
 powers by the apostle himself, as a fact generally ad- 
 mitted and not likely to be called in question even by 
 those who were opposed to him (2 Cor. xii. 11 -1 3), and 
 
 1 Cf. Rom. zvi. M : I Cor. xn. »i ; GaL vL u ; a Theai. iO. if | 
 PbUemoD, ver. s9> 
 
50 NEW TESTAMENT ^ ITS WRITERS 
 
 they show the existence in the Church of spiritttal gifts 
 on a large scale and with many well-defined variations, 
 that were commonly regarded as the result of super- 
 natural influence (I Cor. xii.-xiv.) 
 
 We are thus in a great measure independent of the 
 four Gospels for our knowledge of the original truths 
 and principles of Christianity ; and we have in the epistles 
 a practical refutation of the mythical theories which would 
 attribute the supernatural elements in our Gospels to the 
 gradual growth of legend in the Church. 
 
 The evidence derived from the epistles is all the more 
 valuable because it is indirect, the letters having mani- 
 festly been written without any such object in view. It 
 has to be noted too that they are addressed to several 
 independent communities far removed from one another. 
 One of these communities (the Church in Rome) had 
 received its Christianity from another source than the 
 apostle, while in the two others (Corinth and Galatia) 
 there were opponents to criticise his statements, as well 
 as friends to sympathise with him. In these circum- 
 stances falsehood or error with reference to important 
 matters of fact was extremely improbable. To this we 
 may add that the letters are evidently the productions of 
 a man whose sincerity is as great as his intellectual 
 acuteness and sobriety of judgment, and who, from his 
 early association with the Jewish authorities at Jerusalem, 
 was in a position to know all that could be said against 
 the alleged facts of Christianity. 
 
 Altogether, it is not too much to say that a study of 
 these epistles leads inevitably to the conclusion that 
 Paul's gospel had the same historical groundwork as the 
 gospel preached at the present day — that groundwork 
 consisting of the same essential and well-attested facts 
 regarding Christ's life and teaching as we find recorded 
 in the four Gospels. 
 
 His previous History. — Regarding the previous 
 life of the author, the following brief statement may 
 suffice. Paul (originally called Saul) was bom within a 
 few yettn after our Lord's nativity, in the dtj of Tarsus 
 
THE EPISTLES 
 
 in Cilicia, a famous seat of classical learning. Hii 
 father, though a Roman citizen, was of Hebrew descent, 
 and brought up his son in the strictest observance of the 
 Jewish law. Trained at Jerusalem under the renowned 
 Pharisaic teacher Gamaliel, Saul became thoroughly 
 versed in Rabbinical literature, and was equally distin- 
 guished for his learning and his zeal. He was among 
 the earliest and fiercest persecutors of the Christians, 
 whom he regarded as apostates from the religion of their 
 fathers ; and it was while he was on his way to Damascus 
 in the execution of a warrant from the high priest that 
 he was suddenly convened (about 37 A.D.) by the direct 
 intei-position of the Risen Christ. From Him he re- 
 ceived a special commission to preach the Gospel to the 
 Gentiles, and in His service he continued with unflinching 
 courage and devotion, in spite of calumny and persecution, 
 to the last hour of his life. After about eight years, 
 spent partly in retirement, partly in preaching in Syria 
 and Cilicia, he joined (about 44 A.D.) his old friend Bar- 
 nabas, a liberal-minded evangelist, at Antioch, which 
 was soon to become the great centre of missionary 
 enterprise for the early Church. In company with Bar- 
 nabas, Paul made his first missionary journey (about 48 
 A.D.), through Cyprus and part of Asia Minor, and at- 
 tended the Council at Jerusalem (about 50 A.D.), to advo- 
 cate the cause of the Gentile converts in their struggle 
 against the bigotry of their Jewish brethren. In the 
 following year he started on his second and more exten- 
 sive missionary tour, in the course of which, under the 
 divine guidance, he crossed over to Europe, founding a 
 number of Churches there, among others that of Thes- 
 salonica. He reached Corinth in 52 A.D., from which, 
 as we shall presently see, he wrote the first of his 
 epistles that have been preserved to iui» namelj I and 
 3 Thessalonians. 
 
Sa N£W TESTAMENT &* ITS WjRITEHS 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 I AND 2 THI^SALONIANS 
 
 ••THS first epistle of PAUL THE APOSTLB 
 TO THE THESSALONIANS " 
 
 \117"H0 wrote it. — There is ample external evidence 
 * * to prove that this epistle was acknowledged to 
 be a genuine writing of St Paul in the second quarter 
 of the second century, while expressions apparently 
 borrowed from it are to be found in writings of a much 
 earlier date. 
 
 The few critics who have called its genuineness in 
 question have done so on internal grounds, alleging 
 against it both its likeness and its unlikeness to the other 
 epistles of Paul. But its unlikeness is satisfactorily ac- 
 counted for by the comparatively early date of its com- 
 position, and the very exceptional nature of the occasion 
 on which it was written ; while its likeness is largely due to 
 the habit of repetition which is a marked characteristic of 
 the apostle, and to the germination of ideas more fully 
 developed in his subsequent writings. Moreover, the 
 resemblance between this and other writings of St Paul 
 is often so subtle and minute — depending on the play of 
 personal feelingy^ or on peculiarities of ttyU^ — as to pre- 
 clude the idea of forgery. 
 
 1 Ct IL x6, iii. 6-IO, and Rom. f. 13, • Cor. L rtS, xllL t. 
 
 • E^. a cursory sequence of thought (i. a-8) ; the combination of 
 ■eeming contraries (i. 6, cf. 2 Cor. viii. 1, Col. i. ii-ia) ; verbal con- 
 traaU (li. 17 ; iv. 7, cf. i Cor. v. 3, 2 Cor. v. i, 2). The force of 
 these arguments cannot be fully understood without a knowledge of 
 she original (Jowett, vol. i. pp. 19-25). 
 
t THESSALONIANS S3 
 
 The language of the epistle with reference to th^ second 
 earning of Christ is also at variance with the supposition 
 of forgery. It seems to imply an expectation on the 
 part of the apostle that he would live to see that event 
 (iv. 15-17). But such an expectation was not likely to 
 be introduced by a forger when it had already been 
 falsified by the apostle's death, — as it must have been, 
 long before forgery could have been successfully at- 
 tempted. In this connection we may also note the 
 apparent discrepancy between Acts xviii. 5 and i Thess, 
 L 3, into which a forger depending for his information 
 on the Book of Acts would not have been likely to fall, 
 and which can only be accounted for by supposing a 
 journey of Timothy (from Athens or Beroea to Thessa- 
 lonica) left imrecorded in the Book of Acts. There is a 
 similar discrepancy between chapter i. 9, which speaks 
 of the converts as having "turned from their idols," 
 and Acts xvii. 4, which would lead us to suppose that 
 the Church of Thessalonica was largely Jewish.* In il 
 17-18 there is a reference to the apostle's disappoint- 
 ment in not being able to carry out his intention of re- 
 visiting his converts, but such an intention is nowhere 
 mentioned in the Book of Acts. All the three variations 
 may be regarded as a proof that the epistle was written 
 independently of the ActSy and that their general harmony 
 b due to their common fidelity to facts. 
 
 To whom written. — ** Unto the Church of the 
 Thessalonians." Thessalonica was then, as it is still 
 (under the name of Saloniki), an important mercantile 
 emporium, with a considerable proportion of Jewish 
 inhabitants sharing in its general prosperity. It is now 
 the second city of European Turkey ; in the time of the 
 apostle it was the capital of Macedonia. It lay in the 
 neighbourhood of Mount Olympus, the fabled home of 
 the gods, and was a place of exile for Cicero, who 
 
 1 The difficulty vaa.y be met by adopting a reading of Acti 
 «Tfi. 4 that is found in some MSS., namely, "of the devout 
 (pjroselytes) and the Greeks a great multitude, or by supposing 
 that the apostle preached to the Geatiles after tba thret Sa hh a th ^ 
 days mentioned in Acts zviL a. 
 
54 NEW TESTAMENT &* ITS WRITERS 
 
 tells how he gazed up at the sacred summit, but saw 
 aothmg but snow and ice. 
 
 The Church of Thchsalonica was planted by St. Paul 
 in the course of his second missionary tour in 52 A.D. 
 (Acts xvii. I-Il), after his memorable visit to Phihppi. 
 His stay in the city seems to have been short, owing to 
 a rising of the mob, stirred up against him by the Jews ; 
 but it was long enough for the Philippians to send " once 
 and again" unto his need (Phil. iv. 16). Previously he 
 had been earning his own bread (ii. 9; 2 These, iii. 
 7-8) — doubtless in the exercise of his calling as a tent- 
 maker (Actsxviii. 3), as "one of the staple manufactures 
 of the city was and is goats'-hair cloth. The sound that 
 follows the ear as one walks through the streets of 
 Saloniki to-day is the wheezing and straining vibration 
 of the loom and the pendulum -like click of the regular 
 and ceaseless shuttle." Paul paid a second visit to the 
 place shortly before his last journey to Jerusalem. The 
 Church was mainly Gentile in its composition, as we may 
 infer not only from i. 9 but also from the fact that the 
 epistles addressed to it do not contain a single quotation 
 from the Old Testament. 
 
 Thessalonica played a great part in the history of 
 Christendom, as a bulwark agb.inst the Turks, whence it 
 was known as the Orthodox city. Its modem popula- 
 tion (about 90,000) consists chiefly of Mohammedans and 
 Jews, and includes but a small number of Christians. 
 
 Where and when written. — The epistle itself 
 
 supplies us with an answer. From iii. 6-8 we learn 
 that it was written on the return of Timothy, whom 
 Paul had sent (apparently from Athens) to rer'sit the 
 Thessalonian Church (iii. 1-2). But Acts xviii. 5 informs 
 us that Silas and Timothy rejoined the apostle during 
 his stay of a year and a half at Corinth. We conclude 
 therefore that the epistle was written from that city, — 
 not long after the apostle's arrival, as we may infer from 
 iL 17. This would be about 53 A.O., probably early in 
 that year. 
 Its Gharacter and Contents.— This epistle is an 
 
X THESSALONIANS 55 
 
 outpouring of the apostlis feelings towards a Church 
 whose hearty reception of the Gospel was to him a mattei 
 of constant gratitude to God (i. 2-6), from which he had 
 been reluctantly separated (ii. \^ ; Hi. i, 2), whose repu- 
 tation had already spread far and wide (i. T-\o), and of 
 whose patience and constancy he had received a gratify- 
 ing report from Timothy (iii. 6-9). It contains also a 
 vindication of his <nun character from the aspersions of 
 the Jews, who seem to have put a bad construction on 
 his sudden departure from the city. In refutation of 
 these calumnies Paul appeals to the experience his con- 
 verts had of his life and conduct while he was with them, 
 and to the salutary effects of his preaching (ii.) He 
 prays that God would grant him a fulfilment of the 
 desire, which he feels intensely, to revisit them for the 
 perfecting of their faith, and that meanwhile their spiritual 
 life may be developed and strengthened (iii. 10-13). 
 With this view he exhorts them (iv.) to the cultivation 
 ^f certain virtues— purity (w. 1-8), brotherly love (w. 
 9.10), industry (VT. 11-12)— which they were in danger 
 of neglecting. 
 
 The characteristic feature of this epistle, however, ai 
 of that which follows, is the prominence it gives to 
 ChHsfs Second Coming. This had been a main theme 
 of Paul's preaching when he was in Thessalonica (L 10 ; 
 ii. 12 ; cf. Acts xvii. 7), and it had so taken possession 
 of his hearers that the bereavements they had suffered 
 by the death of relatives since the apostle left them, 
 were chiefly mourned because they thought the departed 
 friends would have no share in the glory of the Saviour's 
 Advent. The comfort which Paul administers (iv. 13- 
 18) when he assures his converts that their fean in this 
 matter are groundless, gives one the idea that he 
 expected Christ to come in his own lifetime.^ In this 
 respect the language of this epistle differs widely firom 
 the allusions to his approaching death in his later epistles 
 (2 Cor. V. 1} Phil. i. 21-24; 2 Tim. iv. 6). That 
 the apostle should have been left to his own impressions 
 in this matter is in striking harmony with oar Locd's 
 
Sb i^HW iESTAMENT is* ITii WRITERS 
 
 statement, *• But of that day and hour knoweth no cue, 
 not even the angels of heaven, neither the Son, but tue 
 Father only" (Mati. xxiv. 36, cf. Acts l- 7). That it 
 would come suddenly and called for constant watchful- 
 ness was a truth often dwelt upon by Christ, which the 
 apostle could safely enforce, as he does in this epistto 
 (v. i-li). 
 
 ••the second epistle of PAUL THE APOSTLB 
 TO THE THESSALONIANS " 
 
 WllO wrote it. — We have the same external evi- 
 dence for the genuineness of the second epistle as of the 
 first. Internally it bears evidence of being a sequel to 
 the other, being written, like it, in the name of Paul and 
 Silas and Timothy (i. I), and containing a direct allusion 
 to the previous epistle (ii. 15). As might have been 
 expected, it contains fewer and more distant allusions to 
 the apostle's sojourn in Thessalonica. 
 
 The prophetic passage in chapter iL I-12 has been %. 
 stumbling-block to many critics, who have imagined it to 
 bear the stamp of a later period. In reality, however, 
 it is quite consistent with the teaching of the first epistle, 
 which nowhere implies that the coming of Christ was to 
 be immediate, although it was to be sudden and was 
 apparently to take place in the apostle's lifetime. Pre- 
 dictions of a similar kind had been uttered by our Lord 
 Himself (Matt xxiv.), and were also to be found in the 
 books of Daniel and Ezekiel. 
 
 To whom written.— See page 53. 
 
 Where and when written.— Like the first epistle, 
 it is written in the name of Paul, Silas, and Timothy. 
 The three were together at Corinth, and apparently, so 
 far as the Book of Acts informs us, nowhere else. This 
 leads to the inference that this epistle, like the first, was 
 written from that city — probably a few months later. 
 In the interval the excitement and disorder consequent 
 apon the expectation of Christ's coming, in the midst ol 
 
a THESSALOiSiANS Si 
 
 the persecution to which the converts were exposed, 
 had grown even more serious (i. 5 ; ii. 6 ; iii. 6- 1 1). 
 
 Its Character and Contents. — Along with an 
 
 expression of satisfaction with their continued faith and 
 steadfastness in the midst of their persecutions and 
 afflictions (I. I -4), Paul assures the Thessalonians that 
 Christ will infallibly come to vindicate their cause, 
 " rendering vengeance " to His and their enemies, and at 
 the same time ••to be glorified in his saints" (L 5-12). 
 But he warns them against being carried away with the idea 
 — due in some measure to a misconstruction of his own 
 teaching (ii. 1-2) — that Christ's coming was immediately 
 to tjke place. He mentions that certain great events 
 must first come to pass (ii. 3- 1 2), and exhorts them to 
 the exercise of continued patience in the strength of 
 divine grace (ii. 13-17), bidding them lead a quiet, 
 honest, and industrious life, such as he had given aa 
 example of while he was yet with them (iii. 6- 1 6). 
 
 The characteristic passage is ii. I- 12. Its meaning 
 Aas been the subject of endless controversy, owing to the 
 attempts which have been made to identify the •• man of 
 sin," and the **one that restraineth now," with historical 
 dynasties or persons. For the former there have been 
 suggested Nero, Mahomet, the Pope, Luther, Napoleon ; 
 for the latter the Roman Empire, the German Empire, 
 Claudius, and even Paul himself. But the truer inter- 
 pretation seems to be to regard those expressions as 
 referring to two great Undencies — the one antichristlan, 
 in the form of secular unbelief, and the other political, 
 in the form of the civil power. The breakdown of the 
 latter before the aggressive march of Socialistic unbelief, 
 under the leadership perhaps of some one realising on a 
 gigantic scale the antichristian feeling and ambition of 
 the age, may be the signal for the Advent of the true Christ 
 ic His heavenly power and glory. 
 
NEW TESTAMENT <&• ITS WRITERS 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 "THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLB 
 TO THE CORINTHIANS" 
 
 ^ITHO wrote it, — As already mentioned, the 
 ^^ Pauline authorship of this epistle is admitted 
 with practical unanimity. The external evidence is 
 abundant, from the end of the first century onward. 
 In particular we find in the first epistle of Clement of 
 Rome to the Church of Corinth (95 a.d.) the following 
 unmistakable reference : " Take up the epistle of the 
 blessed Paul the apostle. What was it that he first 
 wrote to you in the beginning of the gospel? Of a 
 truth it was under the influence of the Spirit that he 
 wrote to you in his epistle concerning himself and 
 Cephas and Apollos, because then as well as now yon 
 had formed partialities" (cf. i Cor. i. 12). 
 
 But the internal evidence would of itself be decisive. 
 For this epistle — and still more 2 Corinthians — bears very 
 distinct traces of M^ opposition which Paul had to encounter 
 before his apostolic authority was firmly established ; 
 and we know that such opposition had been vanquished 
 long before his death. It is full of minute references 
 to the state of the Corinthian Church — being to a 
 large extent the apostle's reply to a letter of inquiry 
 j&rom that Church (vii. i). But it also deals with 
 a number of evils and disorders in the Church which 
 had come to the apostle's knowledge through other 
 channels (L 11 ; ▼. I ; xi. 18). This last circumstance. 
 
1 CORINTHIANS 
 
 fts Paley points out in his Horct Paulina; (iii. l), is 
 a token of reality, as it was not to be expected that 
 the Corinthians should deliberately expose their own 
 faults. At the same time their acknawledgment and 
 preservation of the epistle, notwithstanding the aspersions 
 which it casts on their early character as a Church, is 
 a proof of its apostolic claims to their regard. It is 
 worthy of remark, too, that it contains numerous refer 
 ences to PauPs movements, which would scarcely have 
 been ventured on by an impostor ; and a comparison of 
 the epistle with the Book of Acts and other parts of the 
 New Testament brings out many striking coincidences, 
 which can best be accounted for on the supposition of 
 its genuineness.^ 
 
 Along with Paul Sosthenes is associated (possibly the 
 converted ruler of the synagogue. Acts xviii. 17), — who 
 may have acted as the apostle's amanuensis. 
 
 To whom written. — *• Unto the church of God 
 which is at Corinth " (i. 2). In the apostle's time 
 Corinth was practically the capital of Greece. It had 
 attained pre-eminence at a much earlier period, owing 
 to its commercial advantages, but had been destroyed by 
 the Roman conqueror about two hundred years before 
 Paul's visit. After lying in ruins for a century, it was 
 rebuilt by Julius Caesar 46 B.C., and peopled by a 
 Roman colony. This may account for the Roman 
 names mentioned in the epistle (i. 14 ; xvi. 17). We 
 have an allusion to the effects produced by the ravage? 
 of the conqueror on the various kinds of buildings (iii 
 12-13), and also to the gladiatorial exhibitions (iv. 9). 
 
 Situated at the foot of a great rock called Acrocor 
 inthus about 2000 feet high on the Isthmus (famous foi 
 its games, ix. 24-27) which connected the Peloponnesu*^ 
 with the mainland, and lying in the direct route between 
 Ephesus and Rome, Corinth rapidly regained its forme! 
 prosperity and became the chief emporium of Europe, 
 
 1 Cf. uL 6 and Acts xviiL 24, xix. x ; xvi. lo-ii. AcU xfac. »i 
 « and I Tun. iv. la; t. i4-«7» acvi. 15, Acts xviii. 8 and Rom 
 xn. 33. 
 
tx) NEW TESTAMENT &* ITS WRITERS 
 
 idth a population of more than half a million, drawn 
 from many lands. It was so notorious for its profligacy — 
 encouraged by its very worship — that a "Corinthian life" 
 was synonymous with luxury and licentiousness. At the 
 same time its inhabitants made such pretensions to pkilo- 
 iophy and literary culture that '* Corinthian words *' was 
 a phrase meaning polished and cultivated speech. 
 
 In this great and busy centre Paul spent a year and 
 a half or more (Acts xviii.) in his second missionary 
 )oumey — being the longest time he had ever yet labouxed 
 continuously in any city. He found a home in the 
 house of Aquila and Priscilla, a Jewish couple who had 
 recently come from Rome in consequence of the d-ecree 
 of Claudius (xvi. 19), eminent for their generosity and 
 devotion (Rom. xvi. 4-5), with whom he wrought at his 
 trade of tent-making (Acts xviiL 2, 3 ; xx. 34, 35 ; i 
 Cor. iv. 11-12). 
 
 Beginning his ministry in the synagogue as usual, he 
 was soon compelled by the opposition of the Jews to 
 seek another place of meeting, which he found in the 
 house of Justus, a converted proselyte. There ht 
 preached the Gospel, encouraged by a message from God 
 in a vision, and continued to do so with no small suc- 
 cess notwithstanding an attempt of the Jews to invoke 
 the civil power against him (Acts xviii. 4-18). His con- 
 verts appear to have been chiefly drawn from the Icwer 
 classes (i. 26-29), but they were not free from the pre- 
 vailing tendency to intellectual pride (i. 17-ii. I £ ; viiL 
 I ), accompanied with a proneness to sensual sin^ eqtially 
 characteristic of their city (v. I-II ; vi. 15-18; xi. 21). 
 The apostle speaks (iL 3) of having been with them "in 
 weakness and in fear, and in much trembling" — possibly 
 the result of his recent apparent failure at Athens. 
 
 Where and when written. — It can be proved 
 with tolerable certainty that the epistle was written from 
 Ephesus^ about the spring of 57 or 58 A.D. 
 
 From iv. 17-19 and xvi. 5 we learn that it wu 
 
 I The note at the end of the epistle in the A.V. ia da* ta • 
 abapprehension of xri. 5. 
 
1 CORINTHIANS 61 
 
 written on the eve of a second visit to Corinth, which 
 the apostle was about to pay after passing through Mace* 
 donia, — having already sent Timothy in advance as hb 
 representative (xvi. 10). When we turn to the Book 0/ 
 Acts we find that such a visit to Greece was paid by the 
 apostle at the close of a sojourn of about three years 
 at Ephesus (Acts xix. 8-10; xx. 1-3, 31), and it appears 
 from xix. 21-23 that almost immediately before he left 
 Ephesus he sent Timothy before him to Macedonia. 
 Moreover, several expressions in the epistle plainly point 
 to Ephesus as the place from which it emanated (xvi. 8- 
 10, cf. Acts xix. 20-26 ; xvi. 19, c£ Acts xviii. 18-26 ; 
 XV. 32). 
 
 As the apostle appears to have travelled for about a 
 year after leaving Corinth on the first occasion (54 
 A.D.), previous to settling at Ephesus, his stay in the 
 latter city may have extended to the beginning of 58 
 A.D. Several allusions to the seasons which occur in 
 the epistle (v. 7-8 ; xvi. 6, 8) lead us to place its com- 
 position in the spring of 58 a.d. or of the preceding 
 year. 
 
 Its Character and Contents. — Of this epistle it 
 
 has been fitly said that it is **a fragment which has no 
 parallel in ecclesiastical history." It deals with a sec- 
 tion of early Church history which exhibits the most 
 marked and varied features. It sets the apostle vividly 
 before us as a teacher and governor, confronted with the 
 dangers and perplexities^ the errors and corruptions 
 to which the Corinthian Church was liable, planted as 
 it was in the midst of the rankest heathenism. In the 
 words of Dean Stanley, *' we are here allowed to witness 
 the earliest conflict of Christianity with the culture and the 
 vices of the ancient classical world ; here we have an 
 insight into the principles which regulated the apostle's 
 choice or rejection of the customs of that vast £abric of 
 heathen society which was then emphatically called 
 ' the world' ; here we trace the mode in which he com- 
 bated the false pride, the false knowledge, the false 
 liberality, the false freedom, the false display, the £ds* 
 
6a NEW TESTAMENT &> ITS WRITERS 
 
 philosophy, to which an intellectual age, especially in a 
 declining nation, is constantly liable." 
 
 The epistle is thus eminently practical, dealing with 
 questions that had actually emerged in the experience of 
 the Church to which it is addressed. In form it is 
 orderly and logical, taking up one point after another in 
 regular succession ; in style it is more simple and direct 
 than most of Paul's compositions, rising a'^ times into 
 the sublimest eloquence, as in the eulogium on charity 
 in the 13th chapter. 
 
 As already mentioned, the epistle was in part the 
 reply to a letter of inquiry which had been sent to the 
 apostle by the Corinthian Church in consequence of a 
 letter which he had previously addressed to them. (v. 9. 
 II ; vil I ; xvi. 17-18). 
 
 But the first six chapters have mainly reference to 
 certain dangers threatening the Church, of which infor- 
 mation had reached the apostle from another quarter, 
 causing him the utmost anxiety and grief (2 Cor. ii. 4). 
 These dangers were mainly twofold — the prevalence of 
 party spirit, and the tendency to immorality. Hence 
 the prominence given, in the opening salutation, to the 
 holiness to which Christians are called, and to their 
 unity in Clirist ; hence, too, the fact that in the accom- 
 panying thanksgiving for tokens of grace in the Corin- 
 thian Church, it is gifts of knowledge and utterance 
 rather than graces of character that are specially men- 
 tioned. 
 
 (I) The tendency to sectarian division mentioned in 
 I. 12 seems to have been fostered by emissaries from 
 Jerusalem, who wished to undermine Paul's authority, 
 and wrought upon the feelings and prejudices of the 
 Jewish portion of the Church (ix. I-S ; 2 Cor.) The 
 visit of Apollos, a learned and eloquent Jew of Alex- 
 andria, after Paul's departure (Acts xviii. 27-28), had 
 tended in the same direction, by leading to an invidious 
 comparison between his philosophical and rhetorical style 
 <rf preaching and the more simple method of Paul, al- 
 though the latter continued to regard hxm as a valuable 
 
I CORINTHIANS 63 
 
 coadjutor (xvi. 1 2). But there were some — probably the 
 Judaising party — who were content neither with the 
 teaching of Paul nor of Apollos, but were disposed 
 to range themselves under the name and authority of 
 Cephas^ as the leader of the twelve apostles and an 
 observer of the Law. Others professed to be inde- 
 pendent of human teachers, and claimed a more direct 
 connection with Christy probably through their personal 
 acquaintance with ** the brethren of the Lord" (ix. 5), or 
 their national and historical affinity with Christ. In 
 opposition to all these divisive courses, the apostle insists 
 on the supremacy of Christ as the one Lord and Saviour. 
 He introduces His name more frequently in this epistle 
 than in any other of his writings (nine times, for example, 
 in the first nine verses), and represents himself and 
 other apostles as being not the heads of different schools, 
 but simply the ministers of Christ, by whom their con 
 verts were brought to a knowledge of the truth as it is 
 in Jesus. 
 
 (2) With regard to the immorality invading the Church, 
 the apostle begins by referring to a terrible scandal — the 
 marriage bya Christian of his stepmother during his father's 
 lifetime (v. 1-5, cf. 2 Cor. vii. 12). In the exercise of 
 his apostolic authority he pronounces a stem sentence on 
 the offender, and urges the necessity for an uncompro- 
 mising opposition to all such sin, and separation from 
 those guilty of it, if they be members of the Church (chap. 
 T. ) In the next chapter, after deprecating the bringing of 
 legal actions by Christians against one another in the 
 heathm courts, he rebukes the Antinomian tendencies 
 among them, and lays down the fundamental principles 
 on which the Christian law of purity must rest. 
 
 The apostle then proceedstoanswer the inquiries of his 
 converts on the subject of marriage and celibacy y dis- 
 tinguishing between his ovni personal views and the ex- 
 pressed will of Christ (vii.) In viii.-x. he deals with what 
 was to his readers a subject of vast importance — the duty 
 of Christians with reference to \x\t feasts that were held in 
 the idol temples, and more particularly with regard to the 
 
64 NEW TESTAMENT dr* ITS WRITERS 
 
 use of ^t flesh of animals offered in sacrifice^ which was 
 almost the only kind of animal food that could be bought 
 in the market. This question he bids them consider not 
 in the abstract, but as it bears on the interests of Christian 
 society, and as it is likely to affect not only their own 
 character but the character and feelings of their fellow- 
 Christians. In this connection he cites his own example 
 of self-denial even in things lawful. In xi.-xiv. he lays 
 down directions for the guidance of his converts ir 
 matters of public worships — dealing with such ques 
 tions as the wearing of a covering on the head in the 
 public services, the duty of a modest reticence on the 
 part of the female members of the congregation, the 
 necessity for sobriety and decorum in the celebration o? 
 the Lord's Supper, the harmony and common end of th< 
 various gifts conferred by the Spirit (of which he enum 
 erates no less than nine), the superiority of love to al 
 such gifts, the relative value and importance of thi 
 several gifts, the propriety of making the religious service; 
 intelligible to all, so that they may be able to join b 
 the loud Amen as the token of their fellowship. H 
 sums up his teaching on public worship in the tw 
 cardinal principles, *• let all things be done unto edifj 
 ing," *• let all things be done decently and in order 
 \xiv. 26, 40). The 15th chapter contains a dissertatio 
 of incomparable value on the Resurrection of the dead- 
 a doctrine which some of the Corinthians had begun - 
 call in question, partly in a spirit of worldly-mindedness, 
 and partly as the result of a sceptical philosophy. In 
 verses 4-8 we have a summary of evidences for the his- 
 torical reality of our Lord's resurrection, delivered within 
 twenty-five or thirty years after His death, while most 
 of the witnesses were still alive. In the i6th or closing 
 chapter we find a number of directions and intimations 
 having reference, among other things, to the collection 
 for the poor saints at Jerusalem (which the apostle hoped 
 to find ready on his next visit to Corinth), — after which 
 the epistle concludes with the usual kind messages and 
 •ntogmph greeting from the apostle. 
 
t CORINTHIANS 65 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE 
 TO THE CORINTHIANS'* 
 
 ^l/HO wrote it.— The Pauline authorship of this 
 * '^ epistle is involved in that of I Cor. There is in 
 several points such a subtle harmony between them as 
 can only be accounted for by their common authorship ; 
 and the impression that both are genuine writings of 
 Paul is confirmed by an examination of relative passages 
 in the Book of Acts. * 
 
 That the author did not derive his information from 
 the Book of Acts may be inferred from the circumstance 
 
 1 The troth of thus statement will be manifest to any one who will 
 take the trouble to compare carefully the following corresponding 
 passages with the assistance of Paley's Horte Paulina (iv.) : — 
 
 I Cor. xvL 5 ; 2 Cor. vii. 4.7 ; ix. 2-4 (regarding Paul's visit to Mace- 
 donia). 
 I Cor. ▼. 1-5 ; a Cor. iL 7, 8 ; vii. (regarding the scaodaloos of- 
 
 7-12 fence). 
 
 I Cor. xvi. I, 9 ; a Cor. viiL 10, (regardmg the money promised 
 
 II ; ix. 2-7 but not collected). 
 
 Acts xix. 23- XX. 1 ; a Cor. I. 3-10 (regarding the trouble which be- 
 fell Paul in Asia). 
 < Cor. i. 15, 16 ; L 23-ii. 9 ; 1 Cor. (regarding his change of route 
 xvi. 5-7 ; iv. 17, i8 ; Acts xix. previous to writing 1 Or., and 
 2 J, 22 a\s. motive for it). 
 
 AcU xviiL 1-5 ; a Cor. L 19 ; xL 9 (regarding Silas and Timothy's 
 coming to him from Macedonia). 
 Acts XX. 6, 7; a Cor. iL la, 13 (regarding the door opened to 
 
 him at Troas). 
 a Cor. s. i4-rf ; Acta xviiL i-il (regarding the limita of bi* mis 
 sionary travel*). 
 
66 NEW TESTAMENT <5r* ITS WRITERS 
 
 that the name of Titus, which is prominent in the 
 epistle, is not once mentioned in Acts. The same con- 
 clusion may be drawn from a comparison of xi 32 and 
 Acts ix- 23-25, as well as from the fact that xi. 24-25 
 has nothing corresponding to it in the Book of Acts, 
 though at the same time there is nothing inconsistent 
 with it. With regard to the apparent discrepancy in 
 chapter xiii. see page 67. 
 
 Apart from the minute correspondences above referred 
 to, there is a living interest and an air of reality about 
 the epistle which is scarcely ever met with in forgeries, 
 especially of that early period. 
 
 With regard to external evidence a few echoes of 
 expressions occurring in the epistle are to be found in 
 the fragmentary writings that have come down to us 
 from the beginning of the second century. By the end 
 of that century the quotations from the epistle in the 
 writings of Irenaeus, Tertullian, etc, are explicit and 
 unmistakable. 
 
 The amanuensis in this case was probably Timothy, 
 as he is associated with the apostle in the opening verse. 
 
 To whom written, — '* Unto the church of God 
 which is at Corinth, with all the saints which are in the 
 whole of Achaia." See page 59. 
 
 Where and when written. — It was evidently 
 written a few months after i Cor., say in the summer of 
 57 or 58 A.D., from some town in Macedonia, probably 
 Thessalonica.1 
 
 In the interval the apostle had left Ephesus (L 8-10), 
 after his narrow escape from the violence of the crowd 
 and had proceeded to Troas, where he anxiously ex- 
 pected the arrival of Titus. The latter had been sent 
 to Corinth, either with the first epistle or shortly after its 
 dispatch, to enforce the apostle's views and to bring 
 him back word of the effect produced by his epistle at 
 
 1 " From Philippi" according to note at end of epistle in A.V. 
 But this is not so probable in view of the fact that the apostle seems 
 to have ah-eady visited the Churches of Macedonia (viii. 1-4), in 
 the course of which Philippi would naturally come first, to OM 
 tnvsUiug southward. 
 
a CORINTHIANS 
 
 thiit momentous crisis in the history of his meet in- 
 fluential Church (viiL 6 ; xiL l8 ; i Cor. xvi. 12). 
 
 In his disappointment at not finding Titus, he had no 
 heart to embrace the opportunity of preaching at Troas, 
 and had proceeded to Macedonia (ii. 12-13), where 
 Titus at length joined him (viL 5-6). It was after 
 getting Titus' report, bringing him great reluj of mind 
 in the midst of his severe trials and heavy responsi 
 bilities (vii. 4-16; xL 28), that he appears to have 
 written this epistle, — which he sent by the hands of 
 Titus and " the brother whose praise in the gospel is 
 spread through all the churches" (viii. 6, 16-18). 
 
 A difificulty has been raised about the expression in 
 xiiL I, "This is the third time I am coming to you." 
 Some think the apostle had paid a second visit to 
 Corinth, from Ephesus, prior to the writing of his first 
 epistle. But another explanation is to be found in the 
 importance attaching to the visit he had intended to pay 
 on his way to Macedonia (L 15). The confidence of 
 the Corinthians in him had been shaken by the dis- 
 appointment he had caused them ; and he wished to 
 impress upon them the reality of his intention, although 
 he had been unable to fulfil it. No doubt he would have 
 been more strictly accurate if he had expressed himself 
 as in xiL 14, "Behold, this is the third time I am 
 ready to come to you-** 
 
 Its Cliaracter and Contents.— If i Cor. may be 
 
 said to be our great instructor regarding the inner hfe 
 of the Churchy the second epistle is our chief source 
 of information regarding the personality of the apostle 
 himself. It is an outpouring of personal feeling almost 
 from beginning to end, expressing itself in many dif- 
 ferent moods and with a great variety of style. It is 
 well described by Erasmus when he says that " at one 
 time the apostle wells up gently like some limpid spring, 
 and by and by thunders down like a torrent with a 
 mighty crash, carrying everything before it ; now he 
 flows placidly and smoothly, now spreads out Car and 
 wide, as if expanding into a lake, then disappears, and 
 
58 NEW TESTAMENT ^ ITS WRITERS 
 
 suddenly reappears in a different place." But although 
 the least systematic of Paul's writings, it contains many 
 passages of priceless worthy for the comfort and edifica- 
 tion of the Church. 
 
 The apostle had learned from Titus that his first letter 
 had served its purpose and that the interests of Church 
 discipline had been secured. But the same messengei 
 had informed him that/r^jA cause for anxiety had arisen 
 in the rapid growth of a party hostile to his influence, 
 who were seeking to trade upon the disaffection which 
 had been caused among his converts by his failure to 
 visit them according to promise (i. 16-17). 
 
 Traces of such opposition are discernible even in the 
 first epistle (i Cor. i. 12 ; ix. 1-6) ; but it had been greatly 
 stimulated by the intrigues and false pretensions of rival 
 teachers from Jerusalem, who had brought letters of 
 commendation with them, and were using Peter's name, 
 and even that of Christ, for party purposes (ii. 17 ; iii. 
 i-a; ▼. 12; X. 7-12, 18; xi. 3-5, 12-15, 22-23). 
 
 To defeat the efforts of these Judaising teachers 
 sind to refute the charges and insinuations which they 
 were bringing against him was the main object of this 
 epistle. By doing so the apostle hoped to obviate 
 the necessity for any sharp dealing after he arrived at 
 Corinth (xiL 20-21 ; xiii. 10). 
 
 In L-viL Paul seeks to conciliate the affection of his 
 converts by giving them an account of his sufferings and 
 of the anxiety he had felt on their behalf. He explains 
 that his delay in visiting them had not been owing to 
 any fickleness of purpose on his part, but to a desire for 
 the restoration of peace and purity before he came 
 among them. He gives a frank exposition of his views 
 and feelings, his trials and supports, as a minister of 
 Christ, making glad and thankful acknowledgment of 
 the kind reception they had given to his deputy, and of 
 the full amends they had made in the important case of 
 Church discipline about which he had written to them. 
 In viiL-ix. he exhorts them to a prompt and liberal 
 fulfilmttU flf their promise to contribute £v the relief of 
 
'J CORINTHIANS 
 
 the needy brethren at Jerusalem, — a promise of which 
 he had boasted to the churches at Macedonia in order 
 to stimulate their generosity. In this connection 
 he sets forth more fully than anywhere else in hii 
 writings the motives and dispositions which should 
 actuate Christians in the discharge of this duty o< 
 pecuniary liberality. 
 
 At this point there is a sudden change in the apostle's 
 tone; and the remainder of the epistle (x.-xiiL) is de* 
 voted to a vindication of his character cu an apostle. He 
 enumerates his many claims to the respect and obedi- 
 ence of his converts, and closes with an impressive 
 salutation, followed by the form of Benediction which 
 has now become so general in the Church : ** The grace 
 of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the 
 communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you alL" 
 
 That the epistle succeeded in regaining, or rather in 
 retaining, for the apostle the general confidence of his 
 Corinthian converts, may be inferred from the venera 
 tion in which his memory was held amongst them a few 
 years after his death. Of this veneration we find un- 
 mistakable tokens in the epistle of Clement to the 
 CorinthiaM, written towards the doac of the fint 
 oeDtiuy. 
 
JO NE W TESTAMENT <&• ITS WRITERS 
 
 CHAPTER Xn 
 
 ••tot epistle of PAUL TO THE GALATIANB* 
 
 \^H0 wrote it. — This is another epistle wbow 
 ' • genuineness is scarcely disputed. Its main topic 
 — the relation of Christians to the ceremonial law of the 
 Jews — would lead us to fix its composition at a period 
 anterior to the destruction of Jerusalem, when the question 
 was practically set at rest. 
 
 Its character and style are inconsistent with the idea 0J 
 forgery, (i) The picture which it gives of the state of 
 the Galatian Church is too lifelike, and the play of 
 feeling it exhibits on the part of the apostle is too subtle 
 for the inventive power of an age so little skilled in that 
 kind of fiction. (2) Its representation of facts, as regards 
 the relations of Paul with the other apostles, is too 
 candid to have been got up in the interests of Church 
 unity, and on the other hand is too moderate in its tone 
 to have been firamed in the interests of any known party 
 in the Church. (3) A comparison of the personal and 
 historical allusions in the epistle with statements in the 
 Book of Acts and some of the other epistles ascribed to 
 Paul, shows a substantial harmony, along with an occa- 
 sional diversity that betokens independence — the epistle 
 furnishing details of many incidents in Paul's life that 
 are only mentioned in a general way by the author of 
 the Book of Acts.^ (4) There is in several respects a 
 
 1 For proofs of independence, cf. L 15-18, Acts ix. 19-26 ; iL i-m^ 
 AcU KT. i-ai ; iL zx-i4 (which has noUiins; corresponding to U in 
 
GALATIANS 7» 
 
 strong resemblance between this epistle and those to the 
 Corinthians and the Romans (see p. 74). 
 
 With regard to external evidence there are the usual 
 echoes and reflections in the Apostolic Fathers and the 
 apologetic writers of the first two centuries ; while many 
 direct quotations are to be found in the writings of the 
 Fathers about the end of the second century. The 
 epistle is also included in the Canons and Versions of the 
 second century. 
 
 To whom written. — "Unto the churches of 
 Galatia." In the time of the apostle, Galatia might 
 either be understood to refer to the recently created 
 Roman province of that name in Asia Minor, or be 
 used in the older and more popular sense, to desig- 
 nate a broad strip of country in that province, about 
 two hundred miles long, running from south-west to 
 north-east. It is m this latter sense that the ter« 
 ** Galatia " is usually understood here, in accordance 
 with the usage in the Book of Acts. * It was inhabited 
 by a mixed race of Phrygians, Greeks, Celts, Romans, 
 and Jews, who had successively obtained a footing in it 
 l^ different means and with varying degrees of success. 
 Of these elements of the population it was the Celtic 
 invaders from Western Europe that had made their 
 influence most strongly felt. They found their way into 
 the country in the third century B.C. ; and after them 
 and the Greek immigrants who were there before them 
 the country was called Gallo-Graecia, So deep and 
 lasting was their influence, that even in the end of the 
 fourth century A.D. Jerome was able to trace a strong 
 resemblance between the language of Galatia and that 
 spoken on the banks of the Moselle and the Rhine ; and 
 modem travellers have been struck with the fair hair 
 and blue eyes that mark an affinity between the pastoral 
 tribes of Galatia and the peasantry of Western France. 
 
 Acts, although corroborated in some of its circumstances by zL 3^ 
 •6; xiv. 26, XV. i^i^, xxi. 18-25). For fulness of detail in this 
 epistle see il : L Z7-X9, Acts ix. 25-28, xxiL 18 ; vi. 13-141 cf 
 s Cor. xiL 7-9 ; TU I, cf. a Cor. iL 6-8 ; vi. is, cf. Rom. stvL «^ 
 • Tlwss. uL 17. 
 
 Sm Note A, p. y«. 
 
ji NEW TESTAMENT &- ITS WRITERS 
 
 Confining ourselves to the Scriptural evidence on th« 
 subject, we jcan see how the enthusiasm^ as well as the 
 fickleness and love of novelty, which have been char- 
 acteristic of the Gauls both in Europe and Asia, left 
 their mark on the early history of the Galatian Church 
 (i. 6 ; iiu 1-3 ; iv. 13-16 ; v. 7). We may also discern 
 traces of the superstition^ drunkenness, avarice, vanity, 
 irascibility, and strife that sometimes impair the 
 charm of the Celtic character (v. 15, 21, 26; vi 3, 
 4. 6). 
 
 The preaching of the Gospel in Galatia by Paul seems 
 to have been due to his detention in that country on hia 
 way to the more promising field of proconsular Asia, 
 caused by an attack of the painful and humiliating 
 malady to which he was liable — probably an aggravated 
 form of ophthalmia (iv. 1 3- 1 6, c£ 2 Cor. xii. 7- 10). 
 This visit to Galatia, which took place in the course of 
 his second missionary journey, about 51 A.D., is alluded 
 to in the Book of Acts in the most general terms (xvi. 6); 
 but from some passages in this epistle already quoted, it 
 would appear that his faithful and energetic preaching of 
 Christ crucified (iii. i, 2) had excited great enthusiasm and 
 affection. A second visit to Galatia is recorded in Acts 
 xviii. 22, 23, during the apostle's third missionary journey, 
 about 54 A.D., when he "went through the region of 
 Galatia and Phrygia in order, stablishing all the dis- 
 ciples." From this language we may infer that not a 
 few congregations had been formed in the district ; but 
 it would seem that their feelings towards the apostle 
 and his Gospel had in the meantime undergone a 
 change, and that he had, on this second occasion, to 
 speak to them iv tones of warning (L 9; t. 31 ; 
 iv. i6-20). 
 
 The only other intercourse between Paul and the 
 Galatian Church, of which we have any record in the 
 New Testament, is that mentioned in i Cor. xvi. 1-6, 
 concerning the collection for the poor of the Church at 
 Jerusalem. From this passage it appears that the 
 apoetle had held communication with Galatia some 
 
eALATiANS 73 
 
 jeare ailer his second visit — possibly while he was at 
 Ephesus ; and in this way the news may hare reached 
 him of his converts' lapse from the truth. 
 
 Their falling away had evidently been connected with 
 an attempt on the part of Judaising teachers to take 
 advantage of the ritualistic tendencies which, as Caesar 
 tells us, were characteristic of the Gauls, and which had 
 been fostered by the worship of the Phrygian Cybele, 
 with its "wild ceremonial and hideous mutilations " — 
 the object of these teachers being to persuade to an 
 observance of the ceremonial law of Moses (iii. 1-3 ; iv. 
 10, II, 21 ; V. 2-4, 7, 13; vL 12, 13). 
 
 Although the Galatian Christians were mainly con- 
 verts from heathenism (iv. 8 ; v. 2 ; vi 12), some of them 
 had doubtless been coimected with the Jewish syna- 
 gogues, either as members or as proselytes. Numerous 
 Jews had been attracted to the cities of Galatia by the 
 commercial advantages which these afforded ; and <A 
 their privileges, Josephus tells us, a monumental record 
 existed in the temple of Augustus at Ancyra, the 
 ancient capital of the district. The existence of this 
 Jewish element in the Church explains the frequent 
 allusions to the Old Testament and the influence gained 
 over the impressible and impulsive Galatians by the 
 Judaising Christians of Jerusalem, who were <'realous 
 of the law," and desired to make the Gospel tributary 
 to the synagogue and the temple (i. 7). They had 
 taken advantage of Paul's absence to undermine his 
 character as an apostle, and had endeavoured only too 
 successfully to cause a reaction, in the minds of the 
 superstitious Galatians, from the simplicity and spiritual- 
 ity of the Gospel. It was an attempt to recover the 
 ground which they had lost at Antioch and elsewhere 
 (u. 4, 5, II, 14; Acts XV. 1, 23-29). 
 
 Wliere and when written. — From what has been 
 already said as to the allusions in this epistle to the 
 apostle's second visit to Galatia, we may infer that iti 
 composition was subsequent to 54 A.D., the date of the 
 visit referred to. The expression "so woaa" (i. 6^ 
 
U ^B W TESTAMENT dr* ITS WRITERS 
 
 R.V. ** so quickly ") has been thought to imply 
 that the epistle must have been written very shortly 
 afterwards. But it is their calUngy or conversion, that 
 the apostle had in view, and the language would be 
 equally appropriate whether an interval of five or of ten 
 years had elapsed. 
 
 A comparison of this epistle with 2 Cor. and Rom. 
 brings out its striking resemblance to both of these — 
 to the former in the writer's tone of feeling regarding 
 his apostleship and the attacks made upon him ; to 
 the latter, in language, reasoning, and general cast ci 
 doctrine. It was manifestly written previous to Romans^ 
 being to it as ** the rough model to the finished statue ** ; 
 and it appears also to have been written when the 
 tension of the apostle's feelings was less severe than 
 when he wrote 2 Cor. With great probability, therefore, 
 we may place its composition in the period of transition 
 between these two epistles towards the close of the 
 year 57 A.D. It may have been written on the apostle's 
 journey from Macedonia to Achaia (Acts xx. 2), for 
 the expression " all the brethren which are with me " 
 (i. 2) would be more likely to be used by the apostle 
 while he was the centre of a travelling party, than if he 
 had been residing at the seat of a congregation. 
 
 Its Character and Contents. — From first to last 
 the epistle is marked by a conspicuous unity of purpose 
 — its main object being to counteract the Judai sing process 
 that had been going on for some time in the Galatian 
 Church. An important factor in that process had been 
 the denial of Paul's apostolic authority on the ground 
 that he had never seen the Lord, and that he owed his 
 knowledge of the Gospel to the apostles who had their 
 headquarters at Jerusalem- On the question of circum- 
 cision and the observance of the law it was allied that 
 he was particularly to be distrusted, as a renegade from 
 the religion of his fathers. 
 
 Without a word of his usual praise and thanksgiving, 
 the apostle begins with a bold assertion of his apostolic 
 office as directly conferred upon him by the Lord. This 
 
GALATIANS 7S 
 
 is followed by an account of his intercourse and relations 
 with the other apostles after his conversion, showing 
 that he owed his conception of the Gospel not to them, 
 but to influence exerted on him from above (e.g. in the 
 solitudes of Arabia, L 17). His ministry had been 
 Acknowledged by the reputed pillars of the Church 
 (James and Cephas and John) as having the same 
 Divine sanction for the' Gentiles, as their preaching had 
 for the Jews. Since that time he had consistently 
 maintained the freedom of his converts from the bondage 
 of the Law, having even gone so far on one occasion as 
 to rebuke Peter for his dissimulation, when he would 
 have withdravm from fellowship with the Gentile 
 Christians at Antioch (i. 18 -ii.) 
 
 Having thus disposed of the personal aspect of the 
 question, he passes to its more doctrinal asput by appeal- 
 ing to Uie spiritual blessing which the Galatians had 
 experienced under his ministry when he preached the 
 Gospel to them without any mixture of Jewish rituaL 
 He proves that the Law has been superseded by the 
 Gospel, the latter being the full assertion of that principle 
 of faith that had always lain at the foundation of men's 
 acceptance with God, even in the time of Abraham. 
 He shows that the Law given by Moses could only create 
 a sense of sin without providing a remedy. It was but 
 a temporary means of training God's people for the 
 enjoyment of their privileges as His children — standing 
 in the same relation to the Gospel, as the children of 
 Hagar the bondwoman did to Isaac the child of promise 
 (iii.-iv.) In v.-vi. the apostle warns them against the 
 abuse of their spiritual freedom, setting before them the 
 true principles of Christian morality, and exhorting them 
 to several duties of which they had need to be reminded. 
 He concludes with a postscript in his own handwriting 
 (▼L 1 1- 1 8), in which he sums up the argument with an 
 emphasis and decision that contrast strongly with the 
 hesitation apparent in some of the earlier passages, 
 where he b trying to vindicate his conduct without 
 casting any unnecessary reflections on the other apostles. 
 
76 NEW TESTAMENT ^ ITS WRITERS 
 
 He exposes the unworthy motives of his opponents, 
 reaffirms the supreme importance of the Cross of Christ 
 and of regeneration in Him as essential to the true 
 Israel of Gk>d, and appeals to the marks which he bears 
 of recent persecution, as the seal of his apostleship and 
 the token of his renewed devotion to the Saviour. 
 ••From henceforth let no man trouble me, for I bear 
 branded on my body the marks of Jesus." ^ Finally 
 he invokes the Divine blessing on his converts in terms 
 specially fitted to lift them above the thought of carnal 
 ordinances — ••The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be 
 with your spirit, brethren." 
 
 The whole epistle is marked by a force and vehemence 
 that strain the apostle's power of expression to the 
 utmost. It has done more than any other book of the 
 New Testament for the emancipation of Christians, 
 not only from the yoke of Judaism, but from every 
 other form of extemalism that has ever threatened the 
 freedom and spirituality of the GospeL It was Luther's 
 favourite epistle, to which he was ••wedded," as he 
 said ; and from it he largely drew his inspiration in his 
 conflict with the Church of Rome. 
 
 1 With this we may connect the fact that in the rery next epistle 
 which he writes Paul styles himself " the bondservant of Jesos 
 Christ " (Rom. i. i, R.V. margin), being the first time, so fkr as we 
 know, that he ever so designated himself. 
 
 NoTK A- — While the majority of scholars have hitherto agreed in 
 civing to Galatia the narrower mterpretation that is assumed in the 
 foregoing chapter, there are an increasing number who hold that the 
 name is to be taken in iu wider meaning as a designation for the 
 Roman province, which included several other districts besides that 
 of the Asiatic Celts. Recently a careful and elaborate argument in 
 favour of this view has been advanced by Professor W. M. Ramsay, 
 who brings to the discussion of the question a rare knowledge of the 
 archaeology and topography of Asia Minor. He maintains that the 
 Churches to which the Epistle was addressed were no other than 
 those of Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe, which were planted 
 by Paul in his first missionary journey, and of which we have an 
 account in Acts xiii. xiv. For an analysis of Professor Ramsay's 
 argumenu see the demy 8vo edition of this book, pp. X3&-i4X, «r 
 Guild Library voL, pp. 89-^ 
 
ROMANS 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 «*TH« CPISTLB OF PAUL THE APOSTLI TO THE 
 ROMANS " 
 
 WHO "WTOtO it. — The Pauline authorship of this 
 epistle is universally admitted. It has a fair amount 
 of external evidence in its favour ; but its strong resem- 
 blance to Galatians is enough to prove its common 
 authorship with that epistle. Moreover, a comparison 
 of its contents with other Pauline epistles and with the 
 Book of Acts affords valuable confirmation of its genuine- 
 ness and authenticity.^ 
 
 From xvL 22 we learn that the epistle was written 
 by Tertius as the apostle's amanuensis. 
 
 To whom written. — "To all that are in Rome, 
 beloved of God, called to be saints.** These words and 
 
 1 Besides the remarkable coincidences with regard to the time and 
 place of its composition, p. 79, the following points are worthy of 
 notice. (1) The statement of the apostle's long-felt desire to visit 
 Rome, and of his hope of now doing so after fulfilling his mission to 
 Jerusalem, is in harmony with the purpose he expressed at Ephesus 
 some time before, i. 13 ; xv. 22-25 ; Acts xix. 21. (2) The request 
 which the apostle makes to the Christians at Rome that they would 
 onite with him in prayer that he " may be delivered from them that 
 are disobedient in Judaea," corresponds with the later expression of 
 his feelings as he was approaching Jerusalem (xv. 30, 31 ; Acts xx. 22, 
 *3- (3) The apostle's teaching in this epistle and in Galatians is in 
 striking harmony with hb mission as the apostle of the Gentiles, 
 and goes far to explain the accusation brought against him on his 
 last recorded visit to Jerusalem (Acts xxL 19)1 (4) The nature of 
 the visit to Rome contemplated by the apostle when he wrote this 
 epistle, namely " that I may come unto you in joy through the will 
 of God, and together with you find rest " (xv. 32) is so very different 
 from what he actually experienced, when he was carried a prisoner 
 to Rome, that it could not have been so described bjr any one w^ 
 dfew his iafipcaotioo from tb« Book of Act^ 
 
78 NBIV TESTAMENT 6* ITS WRITERS 
 
 the absence of any mention of bishops and deacons either 
 in this epistle or in the account of the welcome which 
 Paul received from the Roman brethren three years after- 
 wards (Acts xxviii. 15) would seem to indicate that there 
 was no formally organised Church in the city, but merely 
 groups of believers meeting for worship in private houses 
 (xvi. 5). They seem to have been mainly of Gentil* 
 origin (i. 5, 6, 13-15; xi. 13-24; xy. 15, 16). But 
 the whole tenor of the epistle, abounding as it does in 
 quotations from the Old Testament and in allusions to 
 the Jewish Law, clearly shows that they had been led to 
 a knowledge of the truth through their connection with 
 the Jewish faith as proselytes of the gate (indeed, some 
 of them appear to have been bom Jews — ii. 17 ; xvi. 7 — 
 and hence the expression, *• I speak to men that know 
 the law" — vii. i). The Jews bad for a long time been 
 a numerous and powerful section of the community at 
 Rome, and their religion had gained great influence 
 among the educated classes. The introduction of 
 Christianity among them had apparently been due not 
 to apostolic labour (certainly not to the labours of Peter 
 whose alleged episcopate of twenty-five years at Rome is 
 contrary to all the evidence of the New Testament), but 
 to the influence of Christian travellers, especially, we 
 may believe, of the " sojourners from Rome, both Jews 
 and proselytes," who had witnessed the wonderful works 
 of God on the great day of Pentecost (Acts ii. 10). Al- 
 though Paul had never been at Rome, many of the 
 Christians there were personally known to him — possibly 
 owing to their banishment from Rome by the Edict of 
 Claudius, — as we may infer from the numerous greetings 
 in the closing chapter. From L 7, 8 ; xv. 14, it would 
 appear that the condition of the Christians at Rome was 
 in many respects satisfactory, and in keeping with this 
 we learn from Tacitus that a great multitude of Christians 
 suflered martyrdom there in the reign of Nero a few 
 years later. But the Apostle's language (in chap, xiv.) 
 would indicate the existence of weakness and disagree- 
 ment among them, in connection with certain scruples 
 
ROMANS 79 
 
 felt by some of their number with regard to the eating <rf 
 animal food and the observance of days and seasons. 
 They were also liable to many serious temptations, as we 
 may infer from the exhortations in xii. -xiii. ; and their 
 spiritual life required to be strengthened (L 1 1 ). 
 
 Where and wlien written.— From the writer's 
 
 circumstances, as stated in xv. 22-26, viewed in the light 
 of Acts XX. 1-3, xxiv. 17-19; I Cor. xvi. 1-4 ; 2 Cor. 
 viii. 1-4, ix. I, 2, we gather that the epistle was written 
 towards the close of Paul's second visit to Corinth (early 
 in 58 A.D.), on the eve of his journey to Jerusalem to carry 
 up the alms collected for the poor brethren there, after 
 which he was to make his long - intended visit to 
 Rome.^ 
 
 Its Character and Contents. — In an intellectual 
 
 sense this epistle may be said to be the apostle's master- 
 piece ; theologically it \& the most important of all his 
 epistles. Coleridge has pronounced it " the most 
 
 1 In remarlcable hamlony with this inference as to the datt of the 
 epistle are the facts (i) that of those who were with Paul previous to 
 his journey into Asia, as stated in the Book of Acts (xx. a), three, 
 namely, Sosipater, Gains, and Timothy send their salutations 
 in this e^iistle ; (2) that salutations are sent to Prisdlla and 
 Aquila (xvL 3), who are mentioned as having rendered great service 
 and incurred great danger on behalf of the apostle and in the 
 interests of the Church of the Gentiles — which finds confirmatioo in 
 Acts xviii. 2-26 ; i Cor. xvi. ig ; (3) that the apostle speaks (xv. 19)0! 
 having preached the Gospel ' from Jerusalem, and round about even 
 unto Illyricum" — a country adjoining tht western frontier of Mace- 
 donia, — a statement which could not have c>cen made before the visit 
 recorded in Acts xx. 2, as the previous visit, of which an account 
 is given in Acts zvL-zviii., was confined to the eastern coast of 
 Europe. 
 
 Equally in keeping with the inference as to the plact of com- 
 position are the facts (i) that " Gains my host " and " Erastus the 
 treasiu-er of the city," send their greetings (xvL 23), the former 
 being mentioned in i Cor. i. 14 as one of the very few persons at 
 Corinth whom the apostle had himself baptized, the latter in Acts 
 rix. 22 as a comp>anion of Paul and in 2 Tim. iv. 20 as left behind 
 at Corinth ; (2^ that Phoebe, by whom the epistle was apparently 
 sent to Rome, is commended (xvL 1-2) as *' a servant of the churcn 
 that is at Cenchreae," this being orie of the ports of Corinth which 
 had been previously visited by Paul (Acts xviiL 18). 
 
 In connection with the mention of Phoebe it is interesting to ob- 
 serve that even at this early period the Christian Church had tearoed 
 to ^fpreciau the value of female energy and devotion. 
 
8o NEW TESTAMENT &* ITS WRITERS 
 
 profound work ever written." Calvin said of it that " it 
 opened the door to all the treasures in the Scriptures " ; 
 while Luther pronounced it •' the chief book of the New 
 Testament, and the purest Gospel." 
 
 As already mentioned, it bears & striking resemblance 
 to Galatians (written a short time before it) not only in 
 individual words and phrases, but in the general drift of 
 its teaching with regard to the superiority of the Gospel 
 to the Law. It is, however, more dispassionate in tone, 
 being less personal in its character, and containing « 
 more full and comprehensive treatment of the subject. 
 
 It may be said to embody the results of the recent 
 controversy with the Judaisers, stated in a logical and 
 systematic form, and at the same time with such modera- 
 tion and caution as was fitted to disarm the prejudices 
 and conciliate the favour of the Jewish element in the 
 Church. That element had not yet been infected with 
 the leaven of malignant bigotry, emanating from Jeru- 
 salem, which had made its influence felt in so many of 
 the other Churches where Paul had laboured ; and the 
 epistle was intended to serve the purpose of prevention 
 rather than cure. It was also intended to pave the way 
 for the apostle's visit to the Church at Rome, whose 
 destined greatness he foresaw, and by whose assistance 
 he hoped to obtain a still wider field for his missionary 
 labours. 
 
 Being addressed to the Christians of imperial Rome, 
 this epistle is distinguished by its cosmopolitan tone, 
 which is shown at the outset (i. 4, 5) by a reference to 
 the "obedience of faith" to which '*all the nations" 
 »re called in "Jesus Christ our Lord." It sets forth 
 the universality of the Gospel as **the power of God unto 
 salvation to every one that believeth ; to the Jew first, 
 and also to the Greek " (i. 16), and brings out the contrast 
 not between Moses and Christ, as in Galatians, but be- 
 tween Adam and Christ as the representatives of nature 
 and of grace (v. 12-21). With no less propriety, in 
 writing to the inhabitants of a city that was the seat of 
 justice for the whole civilised world, the apostle k>oks wX 
 
ROMANS 8i 
 
 the great question of salvation from », Judicial ox forensic 
 point of view, — exhibiting the bearing of the Gospel on 
 the interests of law and righteousness, proving the guilt 
 of all men, both Jews and Gentiles, at the bar of Divine 
 judgment, and proclaiming the doctrine of justification 
 by faith as the only means of acceptance with God. 
 
 Having set forth ihe great scheme of redemption, the 
 apostle deals with its bearing on the fortunes of tkt 
 chosen people (ix.-xi.) He shows that their failure to 
 enter into the blessmgs of the New Covenant, which 
 gave him "great sorrow and unceasing pain in (his) 
 heart," was due to their own spiritual blindness, as 
 foretold in the writings of the prophets. Their recent 
 experience was in keeping with the analogy of God's 
 dealings with them in the past, but their rejection was 
 only partial and temporary, destined to lead in the 
 mysterious wisdom of Divine providence to a still fialler 
 manifestation of Divine goodness. " For God hath shut 
 up all unto disobedience, that he might have mercy 
 upon all " (xi. 32). 
 
 After this lesson on the philosophy of history, in 
 which the apostle seeks to justify the ways of God with 
 men and is moved again and again to adoration of the 
 Divine wisdom, he exhorts his readers to the cultivation 
 of various graces and virtues as the best refutation of 
 the charge of lawlessness to which the gospel of the free 
 grace of God is liable (xii.-xiv.) In conclusion, he sends 
 numerous greetings to indi\adual Christians with whom 
 he is personally acquainted, many of whom had rendered 
 valuable service to the Church, and with whom he had 
 probably been brought into contact at Ephesus and other 
 great centres. 
 
 There are several breaks in the epistle where it might 
 have fitly terminated ; and this circumstance, together 
 with variations in the arrangement of these passages in 
 some of the MSS., has given rise to the idea that the 
 epistle was sent as an encyclical or circular-letter, with 
 varying terminations, to a number of Churches. We 
 may add that the fact of this epistle, although addressed 
 
83 NEW TESTAMENT &* ITS WRITERS 
 
 to Romans, being written in Greek, is not only in keeping 
 with the apostle's literary habit, but is also in accordance 
 with the general use of Greek at the time throughout the 
 civilised world. The Christian congregations of the first 
 century were like so many Greek colonies, as far as lan- 
 guage was concerned ; and it was not till the latter part 
 of the second century that a Latin version and a Latin 
 literature arose, chiefly for the benefit of the Christians 
 in North Afirica. It may be noted that most of those to 
 whom the apostle sends salutations in this epistle bcai 
 Graek 
 
PHIUPPIANS 
 
 CHAPTER xnr 
 
 CPISTLES OF THE IMPRISONMEWT 
 
 AFTER the letter to the Romans there is an interval 
 of three or four years before we can trace any further 
 correspondence on the part of the apostle. Leaving 
 G)rinth in the spring of 58 A.D., he made his way tc 
 Jerusalem along the coast of Macedonia and Asia Minor. 
 In the course of his journey we find him taking farewell 
 of one Church after another, under a strong presentiment 
 of approaching calamity. Soon after his arrival in 
 Jerusalem, he was arrested on account of a tumult result- 
 ing from a last eflfort which he made to conciliate the 
 Jewish Christians. Removed as a prisoner to Caesarea, he 
 was there detained in custody for two years under the 
 governor Felix ; but, soon after the appointment of 
 Festus as the successor of Felix, the apostle appealed 
 for trial to the imperial judgment - seat, and was sent 
 to Rome accordingly, under a military escort. After 
 a disastrous voyage, in which he suffered shipwreck on 
 the island of Malta, where he had to pass the winter, 
 he arrived at Rome in the early summer of 61 a,d. — his 
 long - cherished wish at length realised, but in a very 
 different manner from what he had at one time antici- 
 pated. Owing to protracted delay in the hearing of his 
 case — a thing by no means uncommon under the 
 Emperors — he remained for two years in military 
 custody, his right hand chained to the left hand of the 
 loldier who guarded him. He was permitted, howevef. 
 
84 NE W TESTAMENT <&* ITS WRITERS 
 
 to reside in his own hired lodging, and to hold free 
 converse with friends and visitors. 
 
 It was during this period that the epistles to the 
 Philippiansy the Colossians^ Philemon^ and the Ephesiam 
 were composed. Each of these epistles bears tokens of 
 having been written daring the author's imprisonment 
 (PhiL L 7, 13, 14, 17 ; CoL iv. 3, 18 ; Philemon w. 9, 
 10, 13 ; Eph. iii. i, iv. i; cf. Acts xrviii. 16, 20). It is 
 further evident that the imprisonment was occasioned 
 by his preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles (CoL I 
 24-27; Eph. vi. 19-20; Acts xxii. 21-22, xxvi. 19-21). 
 Some think that the imprisonment in question was that 
 which the apostle endured at Caesarea. But in several 
 respects the circumstances referred to in the epistles 
 harmonise better with his stay in Rome. In particular 
 the impression made by his bonds which " became mani- 
 fest in Christ throughout the whole praetorian guard, and 
 to all the rest" (PhiL i. 13), and still more the mention 
 of ** Caesar's household " (iv. 22), point to the imperial 
 city — while the apostle's purpose of visiting Macedonia 
 after his release (iL 24), would not answer to his state 
 of mind while he was looking forward to a visit to Rome. 
 We may add that the expression used in Acts xxviii. 20 
 to describe Paul's confinement, namely *♦ this chain," 
 Is almost identical with the language of Ephes. vi. 20, 
 margin. The same cannot be said of Acts xxvL 29, 
 relating to the imprisonment at Caesarea. 
 
 With regard to the order in which these four epistles 
 were written, many critics have been disposed to assign 
 Philippians to a later date than the three others. But 
 none of their arguments when examined appear to have 
 much weight. Philemon — which can be shown to be 
 contemporaneous with Colossians (see p. 93) — affords 
 as probable an indication of having been written when 
 the imprisonment was drawing to a close (ver. 23,) 
 as anything to be found in Philippians. We cannot, 
 however, infer much, from such expressions, as the 
 apostle's prospects may have undergone various vicissi- 
 tude* during his imprisonment We are on ssiiBr ground 
 
PHIUPPIANS 
 
 when we base our judgment on the general character of 
 the several epistles. When we do so we are led to the 
 conclusion that this epistle marks the transition from 
 Romans to Colossians and Ephesians. While the former 
 resembles it in many points both verbal and doctrinal,^ 
 we discern in the two latter a new phase of doctrine of 
 which scarcely any trace can be found in the Epistle to 
 the Philippians. 
 
 But while Philippians was probably anterior in date 
 to the three others, the effects of the apostle's preaching 
 in Rome, as stated in L 13, as well as the account of 
 Epaphroditus' mission to that city, with its attendant 
 circumstances (ii., iv. ), imply that some considerable time 
 had elapsed since the apostle's arrival. We may there- 
 fore assign this epistle to the early part of 62 A.D., and 
 the three others to the close of the same year or the 
 beginning of 63 A,D.* 
 
 ••the BPISTLB of PAUL TH« APOSTLE TO THE 
 
 philippians" 
 
 Who •wrote it. — The Pauline authorship of this 
 epistle is generally admitted. It is a characteristic out- 
 pouring of the apostle's tender, affectionate, and devout 
 heart ; the circumstances which gave rise to It come out 
 in the course of the epistle in a casual and unaffected 
 manner ; and corroboration of them is found in the Book 
 
 1 Cf. PhiL L 3-8, Rom. L S-ii ; PhU. L 10, Rom. fl. 18 ; Phfl. iu. 
 4. 5, Rom. xii. i ; Phil. iu. o, Rom. x. 3; Phil. m. 10, 11. Rom. 
 Yi. 5. In a general sense the similarity of these two epistles as 
 contrasted with Colossians and Ephesians may be accountwl for 
 by the former being addressed to Churches in Euroft, the latter 
 to Christians of /I «■« ^/'»M»»". ^ , . . 
 
 a It is possible the apostle may have written other letters donng 
 his imprisonment. His anxiety about his own prospects did not 
 prevent him from engaging in active labour among the soldiers and 
 others brought into contact with him. or from superintending by means 
 of his colleagues and envoys the various Churches which looked to 
 him for guidance. In this connection the following names occur 
 In the epistles— Luke, Timothy, John Mark, Demas, Jesus Justus. 
 Epaphroditus (of Philippi), Tychicus (of EpbesasX Epaphras («f 
 
 CoiossaeX awl Aiistarchus (of 
 
 lycnicus ^oi r. 
 Thessalonica). 
 
so NEW TESTAMENT &* ITS WRITERS 
 
 of Acts and elsewhere. It is difiScult to imagine what 
 purpose a forger could have had, or how he could ever 
 have achieved success, in fabricating a letter of such a 
 distinctly personal character. 
 
 With regard to external evidence, traces of expres- 
 sions used in the epistle may be found in several writers 
 at the end of the first and at the beginning of the second 
 century. A little later we find increasing evidence of 
 the epistle's recognition as an apostolic work, until at 
 the close of the second century its general acceptance in 
 the Church is put beyond doubt. One writer (Tertullian, 
 about 200 A.D.) states that it had all along been read 
 and acknowledged by the Church of Philippi. 
 
 To whom written. — "To all the saints in Christ 
 Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and 
 deacons." Philippi was /Ae first place at which St 
 Paul preached the Gospel in Europe — in the course of 
 his second missionary journey, 52 A.D. A very full and 
 graphic account of this visit is given by St Luke, who 
 along with Timothy and Silas accompanied the apostle on 
 the occasion (Acts xvi. 1 1-40.) The city lay a few miles 
 inland from the coast of Macedonia, at the confluence of 
 Asiatic and European life on the great Egnatian highway, 
 where there was a pass in the mountain barrier stretching 
 north and south. Founded on an ancient site by Philip, 
 king of Macedonia (who named it after himself) in the 
 middle of the fourth century B.C., the city was raised to 
 the dignity of a Roman colony by Augustus (42 A.D.) in 
 commemoration of his great victory over Brutus and 
 Cassius gained in the immediate vicinity. As a colony it 
 became politically "a miniature likeness of Rome ^^ ; and 
 the high sense of Roman citizenship which pervaded 
 the community may be seen at several points in Luke's 
 narrative (Acts xvi. 20, 2i, 35-39) as well as in allusions 
 in the epistle (i. 27, R.V. margin ; iii. 20, R.V.) There 
 were comparatively few Jews in the place, as we may 
 infer from the want of any regular synagogue and the 
 absence of any Hebrew name in the list of converts. 
 Onty three members of the Church are specially men« 
 
PHIUPPIANS 
 
 doned in the account of Paul's visit These are a 
 proselyte of Asia, a Greek, and a Roman — representing 
 the catholic nature of the Church which Paul had come 
 to establish, — representing, too, the liberal and liberat- 
 ing spirit of the Gk)spel, two of them being women, and 
 one of the two a slave, the absolute property of her 
 master. The consecrating influence of the Gk)spel on 
 family relations is brought out here for the first time in 
 the history of the Church, — Lydia's " household " being 
 baptized with her, and the jailor rejoicing greatly *• with 
 all his house." The prominence assigned to women both 
 here and in the neighbouring Churches of Thessalonica 
 and Beroea (Acts xvi. 13 ; Acts xvii. 4, 12 ; cf. iv. 2, 3) 
 if in harmony with what we know from other sources to 
 have been characteristic of Macedonian society. 
 
 Paul's visit to Philippi was memorable not only for 
 the converts whom he made but also for the sufferings he 
 endured and the signal deliverance that was granted to 
 him. The Church which he then formed excelled all 
 others in its devoted attachment to his person and its 
 repeated acts of generosity to him. This generosity he 
 accepted, contrary to his ordinary rule, because of his per- 
 fect confidence in the sincerity and affection of the donors. 
 
 We hear of two subsequent visits which the apostle 
 paid to Philippi— in 57 and 58 a.d. (Acts xx. 2, 6). His 
 experience on these occasions, as well as in other com- 
 munications which he held with them, had done much to 
 cheer his heart In their contributions for the relief of 
 the poor saints at Jerusalem they appear to have con- 
 tributed, in common with the other Macedonians, even 
 "beyond their power" in "much proof of affliction" 
 and "deep poverty" (2 Cor. viii. 1-4). 
 
 Where and when written.— At Rome, 61-62 
 
 A.D. (see pp. 84-85). 
 Character and Contents.— Of all St Paul's 
 
 epistles this is the most benign, breathing a spirit of the 
 warmest sympathy and approval. At chap. iv. i he 
 addresses the Philippians as •* my brethren beloved and 
 longed for, my joy and crown." In this respect it rar. 
 
«8 NEW TESTAMENT 6f ITS WRiTERS 
 
 passes even I Thess., which it resembles not a little in its 
 gentle and confiding tone. 
 
 Without any assertion of apostolic authority, it begins 
 with a very ftill thanksgiving for the tokens of grace 
 which the Philippians had so generally manifested since 
 the Gospel was preached among them. These tokens 
 led the apostle to cherish a confident persuasion that 
 they would advance more and more in the Christian life 
 and realise a fulfilment of his constant prayer on their 
 behalf (L l-ll). 
 
 He then adverts to his own circumstances, and ■ refers 
 to the salutary influence of his bonds in witnessing for 
 Christ among the imperial guard and in the city gener- 
 ally, while his friends were stimulated by his example, and 
 even his enemies the Judaisers were provoked to greater 
 activity on his account The mutilated gospel taught 
 by these he regards as better than none for those who 
 know not Christ ; and instead of troubling himself about 
 their opposition to him, he will rather take comfort from 
 their labour, feeling assured that all his trials will work 
 together for good. He is prepared either for life or for 
 death as the will of the Lord may be, although he has a 
 strong impression that he will be delivered and per- 
 mitted to visit Philippi once more (i. 12-26). In any 
 case he would appeal to them to \itfirm and united in 
 defence of Christ's cause — counting it a token of salvation 
 that they are permitted ** not only to believe on him, but 
 also to suffer in his behalf" (i. 27-30). He would 
 counsel them to avoid all rivalry and self-seeking, and to 
 cultivate that humility which was so signally displayed 
 by the Lord Jesus Christ and was attended in His case 
 with such glorious results. He exhorts them to work 
 out their salvation with fear and trembling as in God's 
 presence and with God's help, striving to walk worthy of 
 their calling and to justify the apostle's boast concerning 
 them. They might rest assured that he was as devoted 
 to their interests as ever, and was ready, if need be, to 
 give up his life on their behalf. He hoped soon to send 
 to them their mutual and trusty firiend Timothy with 
 
PHlLIFtiAMi> 
 
 news of his prospects, and in return he hopes to hear oJ 
 their state before he visits them in person. Meanwhile 
 he is sending to them Epaphroditus, the messenger o/ 
 their bounty, who has been of invaluable service to him 
 since his arrival, but whose recent illness and anxiety 
 on their account render it expedient that he should 
 return to Philippi (ii.) 
 
 At this point (iii. i) it would seem as if the apostle 
 had intended to draw to a close — probably by a renewal 
 of his counsels to unity and brotherly love. But from 
 some cause — perhaps owing to his being interrupted by 
 fresh news of the Judaisers — he launches into a new 
 subject, warning his converts against the infatuation of 
 those who would put their confidence in Jewish rights 
 or privileges^ and avowing his own renunciation of all 
 such claims, in view of the new life which comes from 
 fellowship with the risen and exalted Christ. That life 
 cannot be realised without strenuous and persevering 
 effort in the path of duty. He would therefore caution 
 them against the gross abuse of the doctrines of grace 
 which some are guilty of, and he bids them take his own 
 life as an example of the Christian course. In chap. iv. 
 he returns to the subject of the dissensions among them, 
 and refers to two women of in6uence in the Church whom 
 he is anxious to see restored to terms of friendship. For 
 this purpose he invokes the aid of Epaphroditus ("true 
 yoke-fellow ») and other leading members of the Church. 
 He adds several exhortations of a general nature that are 
 among the most beautiful precepts in the New Testa- 
 ment (iv. 4-9). In conclusion, before sending the final 
 salutations, he thanks the Philippians warmly for the 
 renewal of their bounty towards him, which he welcomes 
 not so much on his own account as for the evidence it 
 affords of their devotion to the Gospel. For their kind- 
 ness to him God will yet reward them with the higher 
 treasures that are hid in Christ Jesus (iv. 10-23). 
 
 It is worthy of note that the " bishops and deacons" 
 specially addressed in the opening of the epistle (i. i ) re 
 present the only two classes of local Church office-bearcrt 
 
90 NEW TESTAMENT 6* ITS WRITERS 
 
 that are mentioned in the New Testament, The former 
 (bishops or overseers^ R.V. margin) are identical with 
 the "elders" or presbyters elsewhere mentioned, to 
 whom were entrusted governing and teaching functions 
 in the Church, while the deacons appear to have been 
 specially charged with the care of the poor. The three 
 Episcopal orders of bishop, priest, and deacon cannot be 
 distinctly traced before the second centoif. 
 
COLOSSIANS 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 COLOSSIANS — PHILEMON 
 
 "THE BPISTLB OP PAUL THE APOSTLX TO THE 
 COLOSSIANS " 
 
 HP HE Pauline authorship of this epistle, as well as of 
 -*• that to the Ephesians (which it closely resembles), 
 has of recent years been called in question, not for 
 any want of external evidence, but because of its 
 peculiar phraseology as compared with the earlier epistles 
 of PauL The objection, however, is one of little 
 force. It is no uncommon thing for a writer's voca- 
 bulary to undergo a considerable change in the coarse 
 of a very short period, when he is placed amid new 
 surroundings and under the influence of new asso- 
 ciations.^ Anything strange about the apostle's language 
 in this epistle is sufficiently explained by the circumstances 
 under which he wrote, and was evidently occasioned by 
 the tKw errors which he was called to encounter. 
 
 It is alleged, however, that we have in this epistle, 
 not only novelty in language but also in doctrine^ 
 especially with regard to the nature and office of Christ. 
 But the truth is we have here only the full development 
 of ideas which had germinated in the apostle's mind 
 years before ( i Thess. L i ; i Cor. viiu 6, xi 3 ; 2 Cor. 
 iv. 4), and are to be found in other books of the New 
 
 i A dow emininwrion of the works of Xenophon, for 
 Ihw brooght to light a remarkable rariarioD of language in 'the 
 books btwrot* amr he began to more about from nUce to nlaoe 
 UkeScPauL 
 
9a NEW TESTAMENT df ITS WRITERS 
 
 Testament (i John i. 3; Heb. L 2). In the notable 
 passage in Philippians (ii. 5-1 1) regarding the original 
 glory and the ultimate exaltation of the Saviour, as lofty 
 d claim is made on His behalf to the reverence and 
 adoration of the Church as is anywhere to be found in 
 this epistle. 
 
 It is worthy of note, too, that this epistle has a special 
 mark of genuineness in the singular connection which 
 subsists between it and the Epistle to Philemon (iv. 7-18, 
 Philemon 2, 10-12, 23, 24).^ 
 
 To whom written. — "To the saints and faithful 
 brethren in Christ which are at Colossae.** The Church 
 at Colossae seems to have been the Uast important of 
 the Churches to which Paul is known to have written. 
 The city itself had at one time been populous and im- 
 portant, but its prosperity was very much reduced before 
 the days of the apostle. It lay on the river Lycus, 
 a tributary of the Mseander in the Phrygian part of Asia 
 Minor, not many miles distant from its more prosperous 
 neighbours, Laodicea and Hierapolis (iv. 1 3), in "a 
 sombre and melancholy region " covered with the traces 
 of volcanic action. In common with these cities, Colossae 
 had doubtless been indebted for its knowledge of Chris- 
 tianity to the evangelistic labours of Paul at Ephesus^ 
 the metropolis of the district, from which his influence 
 had spread far and wide, '* almost throughout all Asia " 
 (Acts xix. 10, 26 ; I Cor. xvi. 19). Although we may 
 infer from his language in the epistle (ii. i) that Paul 
 had not personally laboured among the Colossians, it 
 would seem that their chief evangelist, Epaphras, had 
 been one of his disciples (L 7, R. V.) 
 
 1 This connection is such, that if Philemon be genaine (as genets 
 ally admitted), Colossians must likewise be so ; otherwise it must be 
 a forgery founded on Philemon. But this is seen to be very unlikelj 
 when it is remembered that— (i) in the Epistle to Philemon there is 
 no mention whatever of Colossae, or of any place in its neighbour- 
 hood, nor yet of the messenger Tychicus ; (2) there are variations 
 in the salutations sent in the two epistles, such as we can scarcely 
 imagine to have been resorted to in the interests of forgery ; and 
 (3) in Colossians there is no reference whatever to Philemon himself 
 or the peculiar circumstances of Oaesimus as a runaway slave. 
 
COLOiiSJANS 93 
 
 This Epaphras had paid a visit to Rome during Paul's 
 imprisonment there. Whether he had come for the 
 express purpose of consulting the apostle regarding the 
 state of the Colossians is not clear ; but at all events he 
 made Paul acquainted with the dangers that were be- 
 setting the Church notwithstanding many tokens of grace 
 (i. 3-8 ; iL 8-20; iv. 12, 13). The interest in Colossae 
 which was thus awakened in the mind of the apostle by 
 his conversation with Epaphras was further stimulated 
 by his intercourse with Orusimui^ a runaway slave from 
 the same city, who was in some way or other brought 
 under his influence at Rome, and proved an invaluable 
 friend (iv. 9, cf. Philemon). He could not permanently 
 retain Onesimus in his service, as he was the lawful 
 property of another, so he took the opportunity aflForded 
 by the mission of Tychicus (a trusty delegate) to Asia 
 (iv. 7-9 ; Acts XX. 4 ; 2 Tim. iv. 12) to send Onesimus 
 along with him, giving the latter a conciliatory letter 
 to his master Philemon (pp. 95-98). At the same time 
 he addresses a longer communication to the members 
 of the Colossian Church, with special reference to the 
 evils to which they were exposed. The latter he entrusts 
 to the care of Tychicus, by whom he also despatches 
 another epistle intended for a still wider circle of readers 
 (Eph vi. 21, 22). 
 
 Where and when written.— At Rome, 62-63 ^.ix 
 
 (pp. 84-85). 
 
 Character and Contents. — It has been remarked 
 that this epistle lacks the vivacity and fluency which 
 characterise the apostle's style when he is addressing 
 readers personally known to him. 
 
 To the ordinary reader it is probably the most difficult 
 of Paul's epistles, owing to the fact that it was designed 
 to be a corrective of certain errors of a recondite nature 
 with which we have little or nothing to do at the 
 present day. For these errors the Jewish element of 
 the population, which prevailed so largely in that part 
 xA the world, was largely responsible. It was not the 
 Pharisees, however, whose endeavours, at an earlier 
 
94 NEW TESTAMENT &* ITS WRITERS 
 
 period, to foist the ceremonial law of the Jews on the 
 Christian Church had been so strenuously and success- 
 fully resbted by the apostle of the Gentiles, but the 
 Essnus^ another sect of the Jews, that were now the 
 corrupters of the faith. Their pretensions were of a 
 more abstruse and philosophic character, savouring of 
 combined mysticism and asceticism; and along with 
 their teaching was mingled the theosophy of Asia Minor, 
 resulting in the strange form of heresy which we find 
 the apostle combating in this epistle. 
 
 The heresy was partly speculative, partly practical, but 
 at the root of the whole there lay an abhorrence of matter 
 as the abode of evil, and a consequent depreciation of 
 everything connected with man's physical existence. 
 This led, on its speculative side, to an elaborate system 
 of mediation between the Supreme Being and the world of 
 matter, by means of a spiritual hierarchy consisting of a 
 graduated series of emanations from the deity, the lowest 
 of which was supposed to have been far enough removed 
 from the Supreme Being to be capable of bringing into 
 existence the base material world. In opposition to 
 this theory the apostle insists upon the absolute and 
 universal mediatorship of Christ — in the outward uni- 
 verse created through Him (i. i6) as well as in the 
 Church of which He is the Head (i. i8). 
 
 On its practical side the error took the form of a 
 rigorous asceticism, intended to free man's spirit from 
 the degrading influence of the world and the flesh. To 
 counteract this tendency, the apostle proclaims the 
 inspiring and life-giving power of fellowship with Jesus 
 Christy by whose death upon the Cross reconciliation 
 has been effected between heaven and earth, and in 
 whom •' dwelleth all the fiilness of the Godhead bodily." 
 The spirit of Christ ought to raise Christians above the 
 mere elements or ** rudiments " of the world, imparting 
 to them new motives and a higher consciousness ; and 
 the apostle calls upon his readers to consecrate "in 
 Christ " all departments of their personal and social life. 
 
 While the speculative and practical aspects of the 
 
PHILEMON 95 
 
 subject are not kept entirely distinct, the former is 
 chieriy dealt with in chap, i., following the opening 
 salutation, thanksgiving, and prayer ; while the latter 
 is treated in ii.-iv. 6. The remainder of the epistle 
 (iv. 7-18) is occupied with salutations and personal 
 explanations and directions. 
 
 In several passages a reference may be traced to the 
 intellectual pricU and exclusiventss which were associated 
 with the errors of the Colossian Church. Among its 
 Jewish members, the pride of intellect was taking the 
 place of the old pride of aationaUty. In opposition 
 to this tendency the apostle declares that ** in Christ " 
 — not in any philosophy which man could devise — 
 ** are all the treasures of vnsdom and knowledge hidden " 
 (ii. 3). He prays that they **may be filled with the 
 knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and 
 understanding" (i. 9). He represents the Gospel as 
 a " mystery " that has been *♦ manifested " to the whole 
 Church — his duty as an apostle being to proclaim Christ, 
 " admonishing every man, and teaching every man in all 
 msdom ; that he may present every man perfect in 
 Christ " (i. 25-28 ; ii. 2-3). He thus declares the 
 Church to be a spiritual democracy in which there is 
 no room for any privileged class or inner circle of 
 disciples — even the Scythians, the least refined of 
 nations, being raised to the same level, in a spiritual 
 sense, as the Jews themselves, or the most cultivated of 
 the Gentiles (iii. 11). 
 
 "THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO PHILEMON** 
 
 Who wrote it. — This epistle is thoroughly Pauline ; 
 and its contents are of too private and (from a doctrinal 
 and ecclesiastical point of view) too insignificant a nature 
 to have ever been admitted into the Canon if it had not 
 been a genuine writing of Paul's. 
 
 Its close connection with Colossians has alreadv been 
 referred to. The circumstances under which it reached 
 fl^lemoii, and even the latter 's place of residence, woulJ 
 
96 NEW TESTAMENT &* ITS WRITERS 
 
 be shrouded in mystery if it were not for Colossians. 
 Yet no hint is given there of the episode in Paul's life 
 which gave rise to this epistle — the only thing relating 
 to it being an allusion to Onesimus as ** the faithful and 
 beloved brother who is one of you " (Col. iv. 9). So 
 independent are the two epistles in their contents. 
 
 To whom written. — "To Philemon our beloved, 
 and fellow -worker." 
 
 To ascertain Philemon's residence we have, as already 
 remarked, to consult the epistle to the Colossians. 
 Philemon himself is not mentioned there ; but Archippus 
 whom Pa\il associates with Philemon and Apphia (prob- 
 ably Philemon's wife) in the opening greeting of this 
 epistle, is mentioned in Colossians in such a way as to 
 imply that he was an office-bearer of the Church either 
 at Colossse or in the neighbourhood (iv. 17). From 
 the context (iv. 15, 16) it has been suggested that 
 Laodicea, which was about twelve miles from Colossse, 
 was the scene of Archippus' labours. The association 
 of his name vnth that of Philemon, in the epistle 
 addressed to the latter, would lead us to suppose that 
 he was either Philemon's son or his minister. The 
 connection of Philemon with Colossse is further evident 
 from the fact that his slave Onesimus is spoken of in 
 Colossians as " one of you," and is announced as a 
 visitor to Colossae (Col. iv. 9) at the same time as he 
 is restored to his master (Phil. 12). 
 
 We gather from the epistle that Philemon had been 
 converted to Christianity through the instrumentality o» 
 the apostle, and had since then earned a reputation foi 
 charity and devotion, his house being one of the meeting- 
 places of the Church. It was owing to special circum- 
 stances^ however, that he had the distinction of having 
 an apostolic letter addressed to him. A slave of his, 
 Onesimus by name, had absconded (like many anothei 
 Phrygian slave) and made his way to Rome, apparently 
 with the aid of money stolen from his master. There 
 he was providentially brought under the influence o 
 Patllf aQd becanae a confirmed Christian, endearing him- 
 
PHILEMON 
 
 self to the apostle by his grateful and devoted services 
 n the Gospel. As he was Philemon's lawful slave, Paul 
 could not think of retaining him permanently in his 
 service. He therefore took the opportunity afforded by 
 Tychicus' return to Asia to send him back to his master, 
 in doing so he gave him a letter to Philemon with the 
 view of winning for him a merciful reception, and to 
 save him from the severe and cruel punishment which 
 was permitted by the Roman law — even to the extent 
 of death — in such cases. 
 
 Where and when written. — At Rome, 62-63 
 
 A.D. (see pp. 84, 85). 
 
 Character and Contents.— This is the only 
 
 extant letter of Paul's written to a friend on a matter 
 of private business. On all sides it has received the 
 svarmest praise and admiration — not on account of its 
 language, which has nothing particular to recommend ii, 
 but for its tcut^ deluacy^ and good feeling. While the 
 ap)Ostle puts the case very strongly in favour of Onesimus 
 — so strongly that it has been finely said " the word 
 emancipation seems trembling on his lips," — he refrains 
 from any interference with Philemon's civil rights, 
 seeking only to awaken within him such feelings ot 
 humanity and kindness as will be a safeguard against 
 harsh and unbrotherly conduct. In this respect the 
 epistle affords a good illustration of the remedial and 
 reforming influence of the Gospel, which seeks to gain 
 »ts ends from within and not from without, by persuasioii 
 rather than by compulsion. 
 
 It has been described as the letter of a Christian 
 ^entleman^ animated by strong Christian feeling, tem- 
 pered with discretion, and expressed with dignity and 
 moderation not untouched with humour.^ The whole 
 tone and structure of the letter was well fitted to bring 
 lut the better nature of Philemon; and it was doubtless to 
 strengthen the appeal — by making Philemon realise that 
 the eyes of his fellow-Christians were upon him — that 
 
 A In verse ii there is a play on the name "Onesimus," which it 
 4|e original means " profitable." 
 
98 NEW TESTAMENT ^ ITS WRITERS 
 
 Paul associates Timothy with himself in his opening 
 greeting, and sends salutations from several others whose 
 names are given at the close. He even throws out a hint 
 that it may not be long btfore h« visits Philemon is 
 person (verse 23). 
 
EPHESIANS 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 ••the bpistlk op padl the apostlb to the 
 
 ephesians " 
 
 WHO wrote it. — As regards extenuJ evidence, this 
 is one of the best-attested of Paul*« epistles ; and 
 until recently its genuineness was never doobted. 
 
 Internally it bears a strong resemblance to ColossianSy 
 78 of its 15s verses containing expressions that are also 
 found in that epistle. No doubt the resemblance is due to 
 the fact that the two epistles were written at the same time 
 on kindred subjects to kindred Churches. In both epistles 
 Tychicus is referred to in similar terms as the apostle's 
 messenger ; and they both bear to have been written 
 by the apostle while he was a prisoner (vL 2i, 22; 
 CoL iv. 7-9). From the occurrence of the significant 
 word " also " in the former passage, we may infer that 
 Ephesians was written later, although but a few days may 
 have intervened — the closing verses of Colossians (iv. 
 15-18) having been subsequently added. As might 
 have been expected under the circumstances, the simi- 
 larity between the two epistles does not extend to 
 continuous passages, but is confined to single verses and 
 occasional expressions such as would be likely to remain 
 in the writer's memory and reappear in his language if 
 he were writing a second time within a very short 
 interval. 
 
 We have a remarkable token of the genuineness of 
 this epistle, as of ■evenJ others attributed to Paoli 
 
fbo NEW TESTAMENT & ITS WRITERS 
 
 in the fact that while the writer dwells with great 
 satisfaction on the admission of the Gentiles to the 
 blessings of the Gospel, he shows so much regard 
 for the rite of circumcision interpreted in a spiritual 
 sense, and is so careful to show that in this sense It 
 is realised in the hearts of all true Christians (ii. 1 1 ; iii. 
 r-9; cf. Col. ii. ii; Phil. iii. 2, 3; Gal. vi. 16; Rom. ii. 
 28, 29). This is a state of feeling which was most 
 natural in a Jewish -bom Christian like Paul, after the 
 struggle against the bondage of the Law was practically 
 over. 
 
 To whom written. — it is now generally agreed that 
 this epistle was not addressed to the Church at Ephesus 
 exclusively, but was of the nature of a circular-letter for 
 the general use of the Churches of Proconsular Asia.* 
 
 There can be little doubt, indeed, that we have here 
 the epistle referred to in CoL iv. 16, where the apostle 
 directs the Colossians to read also " the epistle from 
 Laodicea,^'' and to send their own letter in exchange, for 
 the benefit of the Christians there. Even before the 
 middle of the second century we find a heretical writer 
 (Marcion) connecting this epistle with Laodicea. Yet 
 it is evident that it could not have been specially ad- 
 dressed to Laodicea, as the apostle sends his salutations 
 to " the brethren that are in Laodicea " through another 
 channel (CoL iv. 15). The difficulty b met by suppos- 
 ing that we have here a circular-letter of which Laodicea 
 
 1 In favour of this supposition are the facts (i) that the words •' b 
 
 Ephesus" (L i) were absent from many of the ancient MSS. known 
 to Basil (360 A.D.), and are wanting in the two oldest MSS. that hare 
 come down to us (N and B) ; (2) that no persona! salutations are 
 found in the epistle although Paul had laboured successfully for 
 several years at Ephesus, forming many intimate friendships (Acts 
 XX. 17-38), nor any reference whatever to his experiences during 
 that time ; (3) that he writ*6 as if the Christian graces of his readers 
 were only known to him b^ report, and as if his apostleship to the 
 Gentiles were only known to them by hearsay (i. 15-19 ; iii. 1-4 ; iv. 
 17-22 ; cf. Col. i. 3-9) ; (4) that the usual apostolic autograph is absent, 
 owing, we may suppose, to copies of the epistle for the several 
 Churches having to be made out in the course of the messenger"? 
 joomeys or at the different places at which they had to be deliverec 
 
EPHESIANS loi 
 
 recK"^ed a copy in common with other Churches of the 
 province, — to be communicated to the neighbouring 
 jhurch at Colossae, The name of the Ephesian Church 
 would naturally become associated with the epistle owing 
 to AS being the leading Church of the district, receiving 
 the fir>t copy from Tychicus on his way to Colossae, 
 and being the source of many later copies to Churches 
 : other parts of the world. 
 
 Its Character and Contents. — It has been said 
 by Coleridge that this is "one of the divinest composi 
 Kons of man. It embraces every doctrine of Chris 
 V inity ; first, those doctrines peculiar to Christianity ; 
 secondly, those precepts common to it with natural 
 religion." In its doctrinal ^zx\. (L-iii.) the epistle is dis 
 ♦inguished by a tone of exultation which will not stoop to 
 controversy, expressing itself in the flow of a sublime 
 eloquence rather than in the form of a logical argument. 
 Instead of labouring to demonstrate those truths, regard- 
 ing the standing of the Gentiles and his own position as 
 the apostle of the Gentiles, for which he had contended 
 in his earlier epistles, the writer takes these things for 
 granted and soars into far loftier regions — viewing the 
 Gospel and the Church in relation not to time, but to 
 eternity, not to the nations of the world, but to the 
 universe at large. Here, as in Colossians, Paul re 
 cognises Christ as the appointed Head of the universe — 
 material as well as spiritual — and sees in His atoning 
 death the universal centre of divine providence. Here, 
 as there, he is thrilled with a sense of joy not untouched 
 with awe when he contemplates the great mystery of the 
 divine will — the eternal purpose of God so long concealed, 
 but now at length revealed and so far realised through 
 his instrumentality, to wit, the destined union of Jew 
 and Gentile in the mystical body of the risen and exalted 
 Christ In this union he sees the pledge and token of 
 that universal gathering together in one of "all things m 
 Christ, tbe things in the heavens, and the things upon tht 
 earth," that is to be the consummation of God's purposes 
 n Christ (i. lO). But, whereas in Colossians he dwHb 
 
loa NE W TESTAMENT <5f ITS WRITERS 
 
 mainly on the person of Christ as the " fulness of the 
 Godhead bodily," here he is impelled rather to the con- 
 templation of the Church as "the body of Christ, the 
 fulness of him that filleth all in all," and expatiates 
 upon the glory and riches of the spiritual blessing with 
 which its members are blessed in heavenly places in 
 Christ* 
 
 The first half of the epistle is thus for the most part 
 a hymn of praise for the grace of God^ manifested accord- 
 ing to His good pleasure which He had purposed in him- 
 self, — accompanied with the apostle's prayer for his readers 
 that they may realise the glory of their calling. Hence 
 it was Calvin's favourite epistle, as Galatians was of 
 Luther. 
 
 In the second part the apostle descends by a swift and 
 beautiful transition to the duties of common life, ** I 
 therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beseech you to walk 
 worthily of the calling wherewith ye were called " (iv. i ) ; 
 and the remainder of the epistle consists of practical 
 exhortations based on the ideal unity of the Church as 
 the harmonious body of Christ, and embracing the various 
 forms of social and domestic duty to which *' the new 
 man " is called in the ordinary relations of life. Finally 
 there is a stirring call to put on the whole armour of God 
 for the conflict with the powers of evil, — expressed in the 
 language of a metaphor which may have been suggested 
 to Paul by his military surroundings at Rome, and 
 forming a passage of great force and beauty, which of 
 itself would make this epistle a precious heritage of the 
 Church. 
 
 The catholic nature oi this epistle shows that the 
 apostle's education was now complete. The Saviour, 
 whom he only knew at his conversion as the Risen One 
 dwelling in another world, has become to him as an 
 all-pervading Presence which may be realised even now 
 in the sphere of human life, as the type of all affection 
 and the centre of all authority, in the State and in the 
 
 1 The word " spirit " or " spiritual " occurs 13 times in this epistle 
 *the heaTmlies " 5 times, " the erace of God " 13 time*. 
 
EPHESIANS Z09 
 
 family as well as in the Church. During his residence 
 at Rome, the seat of empire and the centre of the world's 
 secular life, Paul learned, as he had never yet done, the 
 meaning of the Saviour's prayer, "Thy kingdom 
 Thy will be done on earth u it is in beaveB." 
 
UH MM\^ TESTAMENT txf ITS WRITER^ 
 
 CHAPTER XVn 
 
 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES 
 
 I and 2 Timothy and Titus are known as the Pastoral 
 
 Epistles, because they relate chiefly to the qualifications 
 and duties of office-bearers entrusted with the pastoral 
 care of the Church. 
 
 They are distinguished from all the other epistles o! 
 Paul by their wan>^ of historical agreement with any 
 period in the life of the apostle as recorded in the Book 
 of Acts, and also by their strongly -marked individuality 
 alike in style and substance. Hence their genuineness 
 has been more called in question than any of the other 
 epistles of Paul — notwithstanding a large amount of ex- 
 ternal testimony in their favour. 
 
 The objections taken to them, however, on these 
 grounds are almost entirely obviated if we suppose them 
 to have been written subsequently to the events narrated 
 hi the Book of Acts. This is a supposition that in itself 
 involves no improbability. It was, as we have seen, Paul's 
 own expectation (Phil. ii. 24 ; Philemon, ver. 22) that he 
 would be released from the imprisonment in which the 
 Book of Acts leaves him ; and for this expectation he 
 seems to have had sufficient grounds in the inadequacy 
 of the evidence brought against him, as well as in the 
 tolerant attitude of the Roman Government previous to 
 the great fire in Rome (64 A.D. ), which was falsely 
 attributed to the Christians and brought terrible persecu- 
 tioas in its train. Moreover, there is an early and general 
 
THE PASTORAL EPISTLES 105 
 
 tradition to the effect that he was released. Asstiming 
 that his liberation did take place, the difficulty of har- 
 monising the epistles with his life disappears ; while the 
 late date of their composition — possibly some years after 
 his release — would go far to account for the peculiarity 
 of their contents. It is no wonder that questions of dis- 
 cipline and government as well as of orthodoxy should 
 now receive from the apostle a larger measure of attention 
 than they had ever yet done, considering the growing 
 needs of the Church and the responsible position of those 
 to whom the epistles are addressed. The Church had 
 now been for many years a visible institution with office- 
 bearers of its own ; and important doctrines had been 
 vindicated and established. To conserve these doctrines 
 and to provide for the regular superintendence of the 
 Church after he and the other apostles had passed away, 
 was Paul's great object in writing these epistles.^ 
 
 The idea that the epistles may have been the products 
 of a later age is in many respects untenable. Alike as 
 regards the office-bearers mentioned, namely, bishops and 
 deacons, and the doctrinal needs and dangers of the 
 Church, they remind us far more of the state of things 
 existing during Paul's first imprisonment, when he wrote 
 Philippians and Colossians, than of anything In the 
 second century. By the latter time the name of '* bishop " 
 had been appropriated to a chief dignitary ruling over 
 the ** presbyters " or elders, instead of being applied as 
 here to the presbyters themselves as the overseers of 
 the congregation (Titus L 5, 7, cf. Acts xx. 17-28) ; 
 while the vague notions engrafted on the Jewish Law, 
 towards the close of the apostolic age, as a more enlightened 
 kind of piety ("knowledge falsely so called"), had then 
 developed into an elaborate system called Gnosticism, 
 which set itself in direct opposition to the orthodox faith, 
 and, unlike the heresy in these epistles, repudiated ail 
 affinity with the Jewish Law. 
 
 1 The large infusion of new words (jLe. words not elsewhere as«d 
 by the apostle) is in accordance with the gradual expansion of his 
 vocabulary, which is evident on a compansoo of Paul's soccessiv* 
 
tab A£ W TESTAMENT <5r» ITS WRITERS 
 
 "THE FIRST KPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO 
 TIMOTHY " 
 
 Who wrote it. — We can trace allusion to this 
 epistle as far back as the close of the first century. A 
 hundred years later we find it universally accepted as 
 Paul's, although it had been rejected in the course of the 
 second century by one or two heretical writers,* owing to 
 the difficulty of reconciling its teaching with their favourite 
 tenets. 
 
 In a general sense its peculiarities in language and con- 
 tents have already been accounted for. In some respects, 
 however, its peculiarities are positively in favour of the 
 Pauline authorship. How unlikely that a forger would 
 insert the word «' mercy " * (i. 2) in the usual Pauline greet- 
 ing •• grace and peace," or that he should have failed to 
 make a lavish use of the connecting particles " wherefore," 
 " then," etc, which are so common in Paul's writings. 
 
 Objection has been taken to the expression " let no 
 man despise thy youth" (iv. 12), as if the apostle could 
 not have applied that lang,iage to Timothy when he was 
 already a man of about thirty-five years of age. But 
 youth is relative ; and in Paul's eyes Timothy, being so 
 much his junior, and having been known to him as a 
 lad, would naturally seem young, — especially in view of 
 his great responsibilities in being set over so many elders.' 
 
 1 Marcion and Basilides. 
 
 3 This remark applies also to 2 Tim, (i. a.) and Titus (L 4)1 
 
 8 Equally groundless is the objection that Paul had predicted 
 to the Ephesian elders that " he should see their face no more " (Acts 
 XX. 25), whereas this epistle implies that he had recently paid them 
 another visit. For the words quoted contain the expression of a 
 presentiment or at most of a conviction, not of an inspired prophecy, 
 on the part of the apostle ; and, besides, the language of the epistle, 
 •' as I exhorted thee to tarry at Ephesus when I was going into 
 Macedonia," does not necessarily imply that the writer himself had 
 been at Ephesus. It is quite possible he may have exhorted 
 Timothy by a message from a distance, or have met him at Miletus 
 as he had met the Ephesian elders several years before. 
 
 Again it has been argued that the instructions contained in this 
 epistle mi^ht have been more easily given by the apostle in person 
 during his recent visit to Ephesus, or oo the subsequent visit to 
 
1 TIMOTHY 107 
 
 To whom written. — ** Unto Timothy, my true 
 child in faith." The disciple thus addressed was one of 
 the apostle's converts, and became his dearest friend and 
 coadjutor in the closing years of his life. Of a pious 
 Jewish family by the mother's side — his father was a 
 Greek — he received a strict religious training in the scrip- 
 tures of the Old Testament (Acts xvi. i ; 2 Tim. i. 1-5; 
 iii. 14-15). He seems to have been converted to Chris- 
 tianity during Paul's first visit to Lystra and Derbe ; for 
 on the apostle's second visit to that quarter about three 
 years afterwards, Timothy was a disciple so well reported 
 of by the brethren at Lystra and Iconium as to be 
 deemed worthy of being associated with Paul as a 
 labourer in the Gospel (Acts xvi. 1-2; i Tim. i. 2; 
 2 Tim. iii. lo-ii, ct Acts xiv. 9-21). To this posi- 
 tion he was duly ordained by the laying on of hands, 
 after being circumcised to render him more acceptable 
 to the Jews (Acts xvi. 3; i Tim. vi. 12; iv. 14; 
 2 Tim. i. 6). Thereafter we find him constantly as- 
 sociated with the apostle either as his companion or as 
 his delegate to Churches at a distance. He was with 
 the apostle during his first imprisonment at Rome, being 
 associated with him in three of the four epistles which 
 Paul then wrote (Phil., Col., and Philemon). From 
 this epistle we gather that after the apostle's release 
 Timothy was left for a time in charge of the Church at 
 Ephesus ; and it was while in this trying and responsible 
 position that he received the two epistles that bear his 
 name. 
 
 Where and when written. — The first epistle 
 
 seems to have been sent to Timothy from Macedonia 
 
 which he was stUl looking forward (iii. 14). But this latter visit was 
 regarded by the apostle as very uncertain (iii. 15); while the formei 
 one, as we have seen, is a very doubtful inference from i. 3. Even 
 if it be true, however, that the apostle had recently been at Ephesus, 
 there is nothing improbable in the supposition that it was in conse- 
 quence of what he then learned of the condition of the Church, and 
 as the result of subsequent reflection, that he was led to furnish 
 Timothy with these rules and directions in a written form, which 
 could be of permanent service, and if necessary might be referred to 
 in the haahng of the congregation. 
 
io8 NEW TESTAMENT <5r» ITS WRITERS 
 
 under the circumstances referred to in L 3 ; but whether 
 before or after Paul's intended visits to Philippi (Phil, 
 ii. 24), Colossie (Philemon, ver. 22), and Spain — which, 
 according to an ancient tradition originating in the first 
 century, he did visit (Rom. xv. 24) — it is quite impossible 
 to say. Various routes have been sketched by which Paul 
 may have travelled after his release from Rome, compris- 
 ing visits to the places just mentioned and also to Ephesus, 
 Crete (Tit. i. 5), Nicopolis (Tit. iii. 12), and Troas 
 (2 Tim, iv. 13) ; but they are all more or less con- 
 jectural. While it is impossible to ascertain the precise 
 movements of the apostle after his release, or the exact 
 year in which this epistle was written, we may safely 
 place it between 64 A.D., the year after Paul's release, 
 and 67 A.D., shortly before his death, — the date usually 
 assigned to the latter being 68 A.D., the last year of 
 Nero, under whom, according to the general tradition, 
 Paul suffered martyrdom. The more probable year is 
 67 A.D., which gives an interval of several years to 
 account for the change in the apostle's style and in the 
 condition of the Church, and makes the three pastoral 
 epistles very nearly contemporaneous. 
 
 Its Character and Contents.— These have been 
 
 already indicated in the general remarks at pp. 104, 105. 
 The epistle is partly official, partly personal. Although 
 addressed to Timothy individually, it contains Paul's 
 apostolic instructions to guide him in the work of super- 
 vision assigned to him at Ephesus (i. 1-4). The antici- 
 pations of evil which Paul had expressed to the Ephesian 
 elders at Miletus (Acts xx. 29-30) had already in some 
 measure been realised, and there was great need for 
 wisdom in the rulers of the Church. It is not easy to 
 trace any regular sequence in the topics discussed ; but 
 the contents of the epistle may be summarised as 
 follows : — 
 
 The folly and danger of the Judaic fancies with which 
 false teachers were overlaying the Gospel (i.); exhorta 
 tions to catholicity of spirit as well as to reverence and 
 decorum in acts of worship (ii.) ; the qualifications 
 
I TIMOTHY X09 
 
 requisite in the office-bearers of the Church (bishops and 
 deacons), and the need for fidelity and care on their part 
 in view of the increasing corruption (iii.) ; counsels re- 
 garding Timothy's treatment of the elders and other 
 classes in the congregation (iv.-v.) ; cautions against 
 covetousness, and exhortations to the rich to make a 
 good use of their means — concluding with an appeal to 
 Timothy to guard that which was committed to his trust, 
 and to avoid •• profane babblings, and oppositions of the 
 knowledge which is falsely so called " (vi.) 
 
 Although in some respects on a humbler level intellect- 
 ually than most of Paul's writings, and bearing traces 
 of the writer's advancing years, this epistle contains not 
 a few golden texts to be held in everlasting 
 
 I i f. If i JL r«i ia. i< ; ft <» XQ» aft 
 
xio NE W TESTAMENT &* ITS WRITERS 
 
 CHAPTER XVin 
 
 TITUS — 2 TIMOTHY 
 «*THE EPISTLB OF PAUL TO TITUS •* 
 
 ^ITHO wrote it. — To the general remarks «t 
 *' pp. 104, 105 we may add the following notes 
 of genuineness : — 
 
 (1) The quotation in i. 12 is in accordance with the 
 manner of St Paul, who is the only New Testament 
 writer that quotes heathen authors (Acts xvii. 28 ; i 
 Cor. XV. 33). At the same time the use of the word 
 ** prophet ^^ in this passage, as compared with **poet" in 
 Acts xvii. 28, is against the supposition of imitation, 
 
 (2) The introduction of such unknotun names as 
 Artemas and Zenas, as well as of Nicopolis (iii. 12, 13), 
 which are mentioned nowhere else in the New Testa- 
 ment, and the unique designation of the apostle him- 
 self (i. i), are at variance with the idea of forgery. 
 
 To whom written, — "To Titus, my true child 
 after a common faith " (i. 4). Judging from the allu- 
 sions to Titus in Paul's epistles* he seems to have been the 
 ablest and most reliable of all the friends and coadjutors 
 whom the apostle had about him in his later years. As 
 an uncircumcised Gentile who had been converted by 
 Paul, he represented in his own person the breadth and 
 freedom of the Gospel, for which the apostle had so 
 cealously and successfully contended. 
 
 1 In the Book of Acts Titus is never 
 
TITUS III 
 
 The conversion of Titus had taken place at ft com- 
 paratively early period in the apostle's ministry, for he 
 accompanied Paul and Barnabas on their visit from 
 Antioch to Jerusalem to vindicate the freedom of the 
 Gentiles from the ceremonial law of the Jews (Gal. ii. 1-4). 
 
 From the allusion to him in the passage just cited we 
 may infer that he was well known to the Galatians ; and 
 it is possible he may have been the labourer among them 
 referred to in Gal. iii. 5. We find him figuring promi- 
 nently at another crisis in the apostle's ministry, when 
 the strife and confusion in the Corinthian Church 
 threatened to destroy the apostle's influence. His re- 
 markable success in the difficult mission then assigned to 
 him (pp. 66, 67), which called for the exercise of combined 
 firmness and tact, and from which Apollos appears to 
 have shrunk (i Cor. xvi. 12), marked him out as an 
 able and trustworthy delegate, and explains his selection 
 ten years later for the important and trying position 
 which he temporarily held in Crete when this letter was 
 addressed to him. 
 
 Of the state of the Church in Crete we know very little 
 except what may be gathered from this epistle. In all 
 probability the Gospel had been first brought to the 
 island by those of its inhabitants who witnessed the out- 
 pouring of the spirit on the day of Pentecost ('• Cretans," 
 Acts ii. II). More than thirty years had passed since 
 then, and there were now, probably, quite a number of 
 congregations in the island, which was 140 miles long 
 and was famous for its hundred cities. 
 
 Paul had been there once before, on his way from 
 Caesarea to Rome ; but being a prisoner at the time he 
 could have had little or no opportunity of preaching. It 
 may have been on that occasion, however, that he saw 
 the necessity for or^^anising the various congregations, as 
 he was now seeking to do through the instrumentality of 
 Titus. It was a difficult task, for the Cretans bore a 
 bad character. ** Liars, evil beasts, idle gluttons," was 
 the description given of them by •• one of themselves " 
 (E^menides. 600 B.& ) — a testimony confirmed by several 
 
iia N£IV TESTAMENT (Sr* ITS WRITERS 
 
 other ancient writers. They were a mixed population of 
 Greeks and Asiatics, with a considerable infusion of 
 Jews. To the influence of these latter, acting on native 
 superstition, the corruption of Christian doctrine, of 
 which we hear in the epistle, appears to have been 
 largely due (i. lo, 14 ; iii. 9).* 
 
 Where and when written. — The strikmg resem- 
 blance of this epistle to i Tim. justifies us in assigning 
 it to the same year (say 67 A.D.) It may have been 
 written in Asia Minor when the apostle was on his way 
 to Nicopolis. 
 
 Its Character and Contents. — Although addressed 
 
 to a friend, this letter, like i Tim., has to a certain extent 
 an ofScial character. This is evident from the greeting : 
 •* Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus 
 Christ . . . " (i- 1-4)- It was intended to furnish Titus, as 
 the apostle's representative in Crete, with the same assist- 
 ance in his work as had already been rendered to 
 Timothy. From L 5 it would appear that the apostle 
 had heard of opposition being offered to Titus, and 
 desired to strengthen his hands for his arduous under- 
 taking. With this view he gives him directions for the 
 appointment of properly - qualified presbyters in every 
 city, who should be able and willing to teach "the 
 sound doctrine," and to counteract the useless and un- 
 warrantable speculations of a semi-Jewish character, in- 
 volving endless controversy, which were propagated by 
 dishonest self-seeking teachers. He also reminds Titus 
 of suitable exhortations to be addressed to the various 
 classes in the Church, for the promotion of that practical 
 godliness which ought to accompany sound doctrine. 
 Titus himself is admonished to show himself in all things 
 " an ensample of good works." 
 
 The epistle contains a number of memorable sayings, 
 including several of the most comprehensive statements 
 of Christian truth to be found in the New Testament 
 (iL 11-14; iii. 4-7). In IL 11-14 ^^ ):iaye an excellent 
 
 ^ In the tobseqaent history of the island, Titos has figured pro- 
 niiiently as the patroo-saint of the co mmo a it y. 
 
a TIMOTHY 1x3 
 
 illustration of that ** doctrine which is according to godli- 
 ness," that sober-minded union of faith and practice, 
 which is the ripest fruit of Christianity, and which formi. 
 the chief burden of this most salutary letter. 
 
 The epistle concludes with some allusions to personal 
 Matters (iii. 12-15), i° '^^ course of which Paul bids 
 Titus come to him at Nicopolis as soon as Artemas 01 
 Tychicus has arrived to relieve him. This is an arrange- 
 ment scarcely consistent with the view of some Episco 
 palian writers that Titus held a permanent official posi 
 tion in the island. 
 
 "Tmi SKCOND EPISTLE OF PAUL THE AK>tTLX 
 TO timothy" 
 
 Who wrote it. — In several passages this epistle 
 bears the stamp of genuineness as a writing of St. 
 Paul's, notably at L 5- 18 and iv. 9-22. In particulai 
 the opening thanksgiving (i. 3) is characteristic of 
 Paul, eight of his ten other epistles having a similar 
 commencement. At the same time this is not such a pro- 
 minent feature as to lead to imitation ; and, as a matter 
 of fact, it is not found in the two other pastoral epistles. 
 
 A strong proof of genuineness is afforded by the proper 
 nanus in the epistle. They are twenty-three in number, 
 Including ten mentioned elsewhere. In connection with 
 several of these ten, remarks are made which a forger 
 would have been very unlikely to invent. E.g. *• Demas 
 forsook me, having loved this present world" (iv. 10, 
 cf. Col. iv. 14), is a record more like what we should 
 have expected to find concerning Mark, in view of his 
 former desertion of Paul (Acts xiii 13) ; whereas we 6nd 
 favourable mention of him in this epistle (iv. ii). 
 Dalmatia is also a strange place to have invented as a 
 destination for Titus (iv. 10). considering that he had 
 been written to so recentlv at Crete. A striking argu 
 ment has been derived frmn the occurrence of the namr 
 Linus in iv. 21. The argument is based on the fac 
 uuit Linus, Cletus, and Clement are the names qf thf 
 
ri4 NEW TESTAMENT <5t- ITS WRITERS 
 
 first three *♦ bishops" of the Church of Rome, preserved 
 in her Eucharistic Service, dating from the second 
 century. If the epistle had been written in the post- 
 apostolic age, Linus, it is held, would have been sure to 
 receive a more prominent place in the list of salutations, 
 and his name would have been accompanied with that of 
 Cletus, or at all events with that of Clement, as the latter 
 was believed to have been an immediate disciple of Paul. 
 
 These marks of genuineness are so numerous and 
 strikmg that this epistle is accepted by many critics who 
 reject the two others. But as the main objections to 
 the latter, on the score of their novel language and 
 teaching, and their want of correspondence with the 
 Book of Acts, apply equally to 2 Tim., it is generally 
 admitted that the three epistles must stand or fall 
 together. Hence any argument for the Pauline author- 
 ship of this epistle has a reflex influence on that of the 
 two others. 
 
 To whom written.— "To Timothy, my beloved 
 child" (i. 2), see p. 107. 
 
 Where and when written.— From L 8, 16-18, it 
 
 is evident that this epistle was written by Paul while a 
 prisoner at Rome. That it was a different imprisonment 
 from that mentioned in Acts xxviii. may be inferred not 
 only from the general considerations adduced on p. 104, 
 but more particularly from the apostle's anticipation of a 
 fatal result (iv. 6-8) as compared with his expectation of 
 release in Phil. ii. 24 and Philemon, ver. 22.* 
 
 Moreover, the difiFerencc between Paul's position during 
 
 1 The tame conclusion may be drawn fma. the fikct that Timothy 
 was now at a distance from the apostle (i. 2), whereas he had beea 
 with him when he (the apostle) wrote Philippians (L i), Colossians 
 (L i), and Philemon (ver. i) ; as well as from the absence of Demas and 
 Mark (iv. lo-ii) who had sent salutations from Rome in Col. iv. 10 
 14. In this inference we are further confirmed by iv. 20, " Era'V*s 
 abode at Corinth : but Trophimus I left at Miletus sick." On his 
 last journey to Jerusalem, before his imprisonment at Rome, Paul 
 was accompanied by Trophimus from Miletus to Jerusalem (Acts 
 XX. 4, 15 ; xxL 29) ; and as Timothy was with Paul during his visit to 
 Corinth, narrated in the same chapter, he could not have required 
 to be informed that Erastus had abode in that dty, if it weie tl|« 
 •MM occawoo that was refetrcd to* 
 
a TIMOTHY 115 
 
 his first imprisonment (Acts xxviii. 30-31 ; PhiL t 12- 
 14) and at the time when he wrote this epistle (iL 9 ; 
 L 15-17 ; iv. 16) leads us to the same conclusion. Such 
 a second imprisonment was in itself not at all unlikely 
 after the great fire in 64 A.D., when the Christian 
 religion was put under the ban ; and we know the apostle 
 had no lack of enemies to give information against him. 
 If we are right in dating the first epistle 67 A.D., we 
 may assign this one to 67-68 A.D. 
 
 Its Character and Contents. — We hare here the 
 apostle's last will and testament in favour of the Church, 
 in the form of a farewell charge to his beloved child 
 Timothy. He still hoped to see him once again, and 
 repeatedly urges him to do his best to come to him 
 shortly — " before winter," while navigation is still prac- 
 ticable (iv. 9, 21). His yearning for Timothy's society 
 in his lonely prison reminds us of our Lord's desire for 
 the sympathy and prayers of His disciples on the eve of 
 His Passion ; and in this epistle, as in our Lord's 
 teaching during the week preceding His death, there 
 b blended with a sublime confidence in the speaker's 
 own future, dark foreboding of approaching trial and 
 temptation for the Church. He warns Timothy of the 
 "grievous times" to come (iii. i), and exhorts him to 
 adhere steadfastly to the teaching he had received from 
 the apostle on the foundation of the Scripture *' inspired 
 of God," and to take security for such teaching being 
 «»ntinued by " faithful men who shall be able to teach 
 others also " — bidding Timothy emulate his own example 
 in the endurance of hardship and in the practice of self- 
 denial for the sake of the Gospel 
 
 A peculiarity of this as of the other pastoral epistles 
 is the introduction of short and weighty sayings with the 
 words, "Faithful is the saying." In ii. II-13 we have 
 what is probably part of a Christian hymn, expressing the 
 faith in which the apostle would have Timothy to meet 
 his tzial& 
 
ii6 AAK/ ThiiIAMh.Nr is' ITS WRITERS 
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 ••the epistle or paul the apostle to thb 
 
 HEBREWS * 
 
 \ lyHO wrote it. — This is a question which cannot 
 ^^ be answered with any degree of certainty. The 
 earliest witness on the subject b Pantaenus of Alexan- 
 dria, in the middle of the second century, who assigned 
 the epistle, as Eusebius tells us, to the apostle PauL 
 In keeping with this opinion we find that the Eastern 
 Church generally regarded it as the work of Paul ; but 
 some of the most learned of its bishops and teachers 
 were constrained by internal evidence to depart some- 
 what from the traditional view. Their idea was that 
 Paul might have written the original, and one of his 
 disciples have translated it into Greek ; or that the 
 apostle might have supplied the thoughts, and some 
 disciple have put them into words. In this sense Origm 
 maintains that the thoughts were worthy of the apostle* 
 but " who it was that wrote the epistle, God knows." 
 
 The opinion of the Western Church was for a l(M)g 
 time adverse to the Pauline authorship. Clement of 
 Rome, who wrote before the close of the first century, 
 frequently quotes the epistle, but never claims for it the 
 authority of PauL If he believed that the epistle was 
 written by Paul, it is difficult to account for the ignor- 
 ance of the Roman Church on the subject in succeeding 
 generations — all the more so because of the connection 
 of the epistle with Italy (xiii. 34). It was not till the 
 
HBBRE WS 
 
 117 
 
 close of the fourth century, and in spite of its traditions 
 to the contrary, that the Western Church accepted the 
 epistle as a writing of Paul's.^ 
 
 Even if the external testimony in favour of the Paul- 
 ine authorship were much stronger than it is, a study of 
 th€ style and structure of the book would compel us to 
 adopt a different view. Instead of the rugged, impetuous, 
 and occasionally disjointed style of the apostle, we have 
 here polished diction and carefully-constructed sentences. 
 •*Th€ movement of this writer resembles that of sm ori- 
 ental sheikh with his robes of honour wrapped around 
 him ; the movement of St. Paul is that of an athlete 
 girded for the race. The eloquence of this writer, even 
 when it is at its most majestic volume, resembles the 
 flow of a river ; the rhetoric of St. Paul is like the rush 
 of a mountain torrent amid opposing rocks." On account 
 of this general dissimilarity of style, as well as because of 
 many well-marked differences in detail, * the idea that 
 Paul wrote this epistle has now been generally aban 
 doned. Nor can we even regard it as the translation 
 of a Hebrew work of the apostle's. Not only is it 
 possessed of such a rhetorical grace and finish as is 
 scarcely attainable in a translation, but in several other 
 respects it bears unmistakable tokens of having beer. 
 
 1 Bm it is interesting to observe that the Westminster Confessim: 
 does not include it among St. Paul's epistles. 
 
 > (1) There is in this epistle a marked absence of the opening 
 otlutation and thanksgiving usual with St. Paul. 
 
 (2) There is an acknowledgment on the part of the writer that 
 he and his readers were indebted in some measure for their know- 
 ledge of the Gospel to " them that heard " the Lord (ii. 3), whereas 
 Paul repudiated for himself any such dependence on the testimonv 
 of others (Gal. L ir-17). 
 
 (3) In quoting from the Old Testament the writer of this epistle 
 makes use of such phrases as "God saith," "the Holy Spirit 
 saith, "he testifieth, ' which are not found in St. Paul's writings. 
 
 (4) He invariably quotes from the Septuagint in its Alexandrian 
 MS., without regard to the Hebrew, whereas Paul often corrects 
 the Septuagint by the Hebrew, and when he quotes from the Greek 
 version, follows the text found in the Vatican MS. 
 
 (?) ^e never designates the Saviour as " oar Lord Jesus 
 Chnst" or "Christ Jesus our Lord" (expressions which occur 
 n^ly seventy times in Paul's epistles), but gcneraliy speaks of 
 Hun •« " Jesos," or " Chrirt," or '^the Lord." 
 
ii8 NEW TESTAMENT ^ ITS WRITERS 
 
 originally written in Greek.^ But although we cannot 
 assign the epistle to St. Paul, this need not impair oui 
 sense of its value as an acknowledged portion of the New 
 Testament. Its value is independent of its human 
 authorship. ** If it should be found that a noble pic- 
 ture which had been attributed to Raphael was not by 
 that artist, there would not be one masterpiece the less, 
 but one great master the more." 
 
 While the evidence is conclusive against the epbtle 
 having been written by Paul, there is yet reason to be- 
 lieve that it was the work of one of PauVs school. The 
 writer appears to be acquainted with some of Paul's 
 epistles.* He uses many words which are found no- 
 where in the New Testament except in Paul's writings, 
 or in his speeches as reported by Luke ; and he refen 
 to Timothy as a personal friend (xiii. 23). 
 
 By which of Paul's friends or associates the letter was 
 written it is difficult to say. Neither Clement nor Luke 
 (whose names were suggested as early as the third cen- 
 tury) can have been the author, so greatly do their stylet 
 differ from that of the epistle. Luther's conjecture that 
 ApoUos may have been the writer is favoured by the 
 description of the latter in Acts xviii. 24-28, viewed in 
 connection with the internal characteristics of the epistle. 
 But if Apollos was the writer, it is difficult to account 
 for the complete disappearance of his name from the 
 traditions of the Church, more especially in the East. 
 
 There is another name, in itself not at all an improb- 
 able one, for which we have the authority of Tertullian of 
 Carthage, who wrote in the beginning of the third century. 
 That presbyter refers to Barnabas as the author of the 
 epistle, in terms which imply that this was no new sup- 
 position ; and his testimony is all the more important 
 
 1 It has numerous plays on Greek words, and contains expres- 
 sions that have no equivalent in Hebrew j it makes its Old Testa- 
 ment quotations direct from the Septua^nt, in some cases even 
 building an argument on forms of expression which do not occur in 
 the Hebrew. 
 
 ^ 3 Cf. iL 8 and x Cor. xv. 37 ; u. xo and Rom. xL 36 ; u. 14, * 
 Tim. L xo and x Cor. xv. 36 ; v. X3-14 and i Cor. iiL a ; vL 10 and 
 s Then. L 3 ; z. 30 amd Rom. xii. 19 ; xii. 14 and Rom. xiL it. 
 
HEBRE WS 1 19 
 
 because he had been at one time resident in Rome and 
 knew what was the current belief of the Church there. 
 In many respects the name of Barnabas answers the 
 requirements of the case. As a Jewish Christian who 
 enjoyed the confidence of the apostles and was on inti- 
 mate terms with the Church at Jerusalem, of which he 
 had been an early benefactor ; as a Levite, familiar with 
 the usages and customs of the Jewish sanctuary ; as a 
 native, and frequent visitor, of Cyprus, sufficiently ac- 
 quainted with Hellenistic literature to be able to preach 
 to Hellenists, and at one time (according to an ancient 
 tradition) a teacher, like his nephew Mark, at Alexandria, 
 with which Cyprus was closely connected ; as a good 
 man full of the Holy Ghost and of faith, whose sur- 
 name of Barnabas, *' son of exhortation" (conferred on 
 him by the apostles), marked him out as a man of great 
 persuasive influence : — in all these respects this Church- 
 leader was well fitted to be the writer of a " word of 
 exhortation" (xiiL 22) — in the Greek language and after 
 the Alexandrian mode of thought — to the wavering and 
 distracted Hebrews (Acts iv. 36, 37 ; ix. 26, 27 ; xL 19- 
 30 ; xiil I ; xv. 39). 
 
 To whom "written. — "To the Hebrews." We 
 have no reason to doubt that this part of the superscrip- 
 tion — which probably formed the whole of the original — 
 gives a correct indication of the readers for whom the 
 epistle was intended. The whole tenor of the epistle 
 implies that it was written iox Jewish Christians. But 
 various allusions show that it was not intended merely 
 for Hebrew Christians in general, but for some definite 
 community {9. 11-12 ; vi. 9-10; x. 32-34 ; xiii. I, 7, 19, 
 23. ^Tiich of the Hebrew communities, in particular, 
 is addressed has been much disputed. Alexandria, 
 Antioch, Ephesus, Rome, have all been suggested. 
 5ut from the way in which the Gentiles are entirely 
 ignored in the epistle — the word "people," which fre- 
 quently occurs, being always used to designate the Jews — 
 it would seem most probable that the letter was intended 
 for Christians in Jerusalem or in some other part of 
 
lao NRW TESTAMENT &* ITS WRITERS 
 
 PaUstim. It was only in Palestine that Churches were 
 to be found entirely composed of Jewish Christians ; and 
 the troubles that overtook these congregations soon 
 afterwards in connection with the destruction of Jerusalem 
 would go far to account for the ignorance and uncer- 
 tainty of the early Church as to the authorship and the 
 original destination of this epistle. Moreover, it was in 
 Palestine that the temptations to relapse into Judaism^ 
 against which the writer is so anxious to guard his readers, 
 were most formidable. The sacerdotal splendour of the 
 ancient sanctuary threw into the shade the simple forms of 
 Christian worship ; and the flames of patriotic zeal burned 
 more fiercely in the Holy Land than among the Jews of the 
 Dispersion. The Hebrew Christians residing there must 
 have felt themselves more and more under the necessity 
 of choosing between their country and their faith, between 
 a rcToIt against the Romans and a patient waiting for the 
 coming of the Saviour. Exposed to persecution and 
 excommunication at the hands of their fanatical and 
 exasperated countrymen, deeply attached to the religion 
 of their fathers and with a strong love of outward 
 ceremonial, disappointed by the delay of the Second 
 Coming and by the rejection of the Gospel on the part 
 of so many of their kindred, they stood in ui^ent need 
 of the consolations and the warnings which are addressed 
 to them in this epistle. 
 
 Where and when written. — The only clue to 
 
 guide us as to the place of writing is to be found at 
 chap. xiii. 24 : ''They of Italy salute you." This may 
 either mean that the writer was sending greetings from 
 the Church in Italy, or from Italian Christians resident in 
 some foreign city from which he wrote. On the whole, 
 the former seems the more natural interpretation. If it 
 be adopted, we may suppose the writer to have been 
 waiting in some Italian city for the arrival of Timothy 
 after his liberation from imprisonment at Rome (xiii. 23). 
 On this supposition the date of the epistle would be 
 about 68 A.D., which tallies with other indications of 
 time in the epistle. That it was written before the Fall 
 
HhBKE WS 
 
 of Jerusalem is evident not only from the allusions to tht 
 sacrificial system as still going on (x. 2-3, etc.) and to tht- 
 old covenant as "becoming old " and ♦' nigh unto vanish 
 ing away" (viii. 13), but still more perhaps from the 
 absence of any allusion to the destruction of the Temple. 
 That event, if it had already occurred, would have rendered 
 superfluous any other proof of the transitory and imper- 
 fect nature of the Old Testament dispensation. 
 
 Its Chaxacter and Contents. — In many respects 
 
 this book has more of the character of a treatise than of 
 a letter. Its great theme is the superiority of Chris- 
 tianity to Judaism. This superiority it proves not so 
 much by minimising the old covenant — which Paul 
 had been obliged to do in vindicating the freedom of 
 his Gentile converts — as by magnifying the new in the 
 sense of its being a fulfilment of the old. 
 
 The epistle may be divided into two parts, the first 
 mainly of an argumentative or expository character 
 (L-x. 18), the second chiefly hortatory and practical 
 (x. 19-xiii.) 
 
 (l) In the former the writer seeks to establish the 
 supremacy of Christ and of the Christian Dispensation. 
 After the opening statement (L 1-3) as to the divine 
 revelation being completed and concentrated in the 
 •*Son," he proceeds to show His superiority to the 
 angels, through whom the Law was believed to have 
 been given (i.-ii-), to Moses (iii.), and to Joshua 
 (ir.) But hb main efforts are directed to proving His 
 superiority and that of His religion to the sacerdotal 
 system of the Jews. In v.-vii. he shows that Christ, 
 while possessing in common with Aaron all the qualifica- 
 tions of a true priest, belongs to a higher order of 
 priesthood, represented not by Aaron but by Melchizedek. 
 In the story of the meeting of Melchizedek with 
 Abraham (Gren. xiv. 18-20) and the prophetic allusions 
 to the former (Ps. ex. 4) he finds many reasons of an 
 allegorical nature to justify this view. He represents the 
 Head of the Christian Church as the possessor of an un- 
 changeable priesthood, secured by the divine oath — not 
 
laa NBW TESTAMENT ^ ITS WRITERS 
 
 transitory, bat permanent— exercised not on earth but in 
 heaven— constituted ** not after the law of a carnal com- 
 mandment, but after the power of an endless life." In 
 viii.-x. 1 8, a similar superiority is proved to belong to 
 the Christian Dispensation^ with its law written on the 
 heart, and its sacrifice offered "once for all" in a 
 '• tabernacle not made with hands," whereby Christ 
 hath "through his own blood " •* obtained eternal redemp- 
 tion." 
 
 (2) In the course of the ai|^ment occasional exhorta- 
 tions and warnings are introduced (ii 1-4 ; iii. 7-13 ; iv. 
 11-16; V. 12 -vi. 20). But the practical application 
 is mainly reserved for the concluding chapters, x. 19- 
 xiii. After exhorting his readers to avail themselves of 
 the " new and living way " which has been thus conse- 
 crated for them into " the holy place," and warning 
 them against the terrible consequences of apostasy, he 
 comforts their hearts with the assurance that though they 
 may be disowned by the sacerdotal leaders at Jerusalem, 
 they are in the true line of fellowship with the saints 
 and holy men of old, whose devotion had been shown, not 
 by the observance of an outward ceremonial, but \)y faith 
 in the unseen (xi. ) In the next chapter, after exhorting 
 them to patience under their trials through the sustaining 
 power of God's fatherly love, he introduces a striking 
 contrast between the terrors of Sinai and the attractive 
 glories of Mount Zion. In the last chapter (xiii.) he 
 gives a number of salutary counsels and admonitions, in 
 the course of which he calls upon his readers to go forth 
 unto Jesus (as it were) "without the camp, bearing his 
 reproach," remembering that Jesus Himself "suffered 
 without the gate. " He alludes to the sacrifices of praise 
 and well-doing which are required of the Christian, and 
 bids his readers " obey them that have the rule over 
 (them), and submit to them." The epistle concludes 
 with a beautiful benediction, and a £ew last words of per* 
 •ooal explanation and greeting. 
 
/AME5 laQ 
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 THE CATHOLIC EPISTLES 
 
 THERE are seven epistles which from the fonrth 
 century have gone under the name of the Catholic 
 (or General) Epistles, viz. James; I and 2 Peter; i, 3, 
 3 John ; and Jude. They were so called in contra- 
 distinction to Paul's epistles, which, with the exception 
 of the pastoral epistles, are addressed to individual 
 Churches^ also seven in number. In most of the Greek 
 MSS. the Catholic epistles stand next to the Book of 
 Acts, although they were much later than the epistles 
 of Paul in obtaining general recognition in the Church. 
 
 «*THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES*** 
 
 In common with four other of the Catholic epistles, 
 viz. 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, and Jude, this epistle is 
 described by Eusebius (about 325 A.D.) as a disputed 
 book of the New Testament, in the sense of not being 
 universally acknowledged by the Church. 
 
 In the fourth century the claims of these and other 
 writings to a place in the New Testament Canon were 
 carefully sifted, the result being to vindicate the char- 
 acter of each of the disputed epistles (as appears from the 
 Decrees of the Council of Laodicea, 364 A.D., and of 
 
 ^ Thf* Hebrew original of this name is Jacob 
 
124 NE W TESTAMENT b' ITS WRITERS 
 
 Carthage, 397 A.D.), while a number of other books 
 which, although not in the New Testament, had been 
 read in church along with them were finally disallowed. 
 
 With regard to the Epistle of James in particular the 
 rarity of allusions to it in the early Christian writers^ 
 may be accounted for by its circulation being confined to 
 Jewish Christians, as well as by the narrow sphere of 
 labour in which the writer himself moved, his life 
 apparently having been entirely spent in Jerusalem. 
 
 The internal evidence of the book is entirely in its 
 favour, and it is now generally admitted to be a genuine 
 work of "James, the Lord's brother" (GaL L 19), who 
 presided for many years over the Church at Jerusalem, 
 (i) The writer's modest designation of himself — •' James, 
 a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ " is against 
 the idea of forgery. (2) The epistle was evidently 
 written for Jewish Christians by one of themselves. It 
 speaks of Abraham as **our father" (ii. 21) ; it calls the 
 readers' place of worship •' your synagogue *' (il 2, R. V.) , 
 it calls God •♦ the Lord of Sabaoth " (v. 4) ; it takes for 
 granted an acquaintance with Old Testament characters 
 (ii. 25; V. 10, 17); it alludes to Jewish forms of oath 
 (v. 12) ; it refers to "the law "as still binding (iL 8-1 1 ; 
 iv. II); and it contains no allusions to those sins of the 
 flesh which figure so prominently in epistels meant for 
 Gentile readers. (3) It bears traces of having been 
 written by a native of Palestine — in its allusions to 
 **the scorching wind" (i. ii), the sea (L 6; iil 4), 
 ••sweet water and bitter" (the latter referring to the 
 brackish springs of the country, iii. II-12); the vine, 
 olive, and fig (iii. 12); "the early and latter rain" 
 (v. 7). (4) It shows a familiar acquaintance with 
 Christ's teaching, although in doing so it does not use 
 precisely the language of our Gospels.* (5) It reflects 
 
 1 The earliest express quotation from this epistle is fonnd in the 
 writings of Origen ; but the language of Clement of Rome, and still 
 more clearly of Hennas, would lead us to believe that it was known 
 to these waters. Still more significant is the fact that it has a place 
 b the ancient Synac Version (the Peschito). 
 
 > C£ 1.5, 6 and Markxi 23; i. as and Joho xUL 17; iLsandLok* 
 
JAMBS 1*5 
 
 A state of Jewish society, the rich oppressing the poor, 
 vhich in a great manner ceased to exist after the 
 rebellion that terminated in the destruction of Jerusalem. 
 With regard to the author's personal history the 
 following points may be noted. He and his brothers 
 Joses, Simon, and Jude (Matt. xiii. 55 ; Mark vi 3) 
 were either the children of Joseph and Mary, and 
 younger brothers of our Lord, or else they were the 
 children of Joseph by a former marriage. The latter 
 supposition seems the more probable, both because it is 
 in harmony with the earliest traditions of antiquity, and 
 because it helps to explain the attitude of James and his 
 brothers towards Jesus during His lifetime (Matt. xii. 46 
 •md John vii. 3-5), and the committal of Mary to the 
 keeping, not of her stepsons, but of the Apostle John 
 (John xix. 26). We find that at an advanced period in 
 our Lord's ministry His brethren did not believe in Him 
 (John vii. 5) ; but immediately after the Ascension they 
 are associated with the disciples in the upper room 
 '.A.ct8 i. 14). 
 
 According to a tradition, which we have no reason to 
 lis believe, their conversion was due to the appearance 
 of the risen Lord to James, which is mentioned i Cor. 
 XV. 7. Among the Christians at Jerusalem James soon 
 took a prominent place, being, indeed, the recognised 
 head of the Church there after the death of James, the 
 brother of John (44 A.D.), and the dispersion of the 
 other apostles. This commanding position he owed 
 partly, no doubt, to the special relation in which he 
 stood to Jesus, and partly to his own high character, 
 which procured for him the name of the Just (or 
 Righteous) and Obliam ("the bulwark of the people "). 
 He is said to have been a Nazarite, and so much given 
 to prayer in the Temple that his knees had grown hard 
 like those of a cameL He was essentially a Hebrew of 
 the Hebrews, who clung to the law and the prophet*, 
 and valued the Gospel as their ftilfilment Hence hii 
 
 n. ao; hr. gand LoImvL as; iv. 10 and Matt, ssifi. s»t «. la aad 
 lfatt.T. V. 
 
u6 NEW TESTAMENT 6- ITS WRITERS 
 
 name was sometimes used by the Judaising party in 
 opposition to Paul (Gal. ii. 12 ; cf. Acts xv. 24) — as 
 indeed it continued to be long after his death ^ — although 
 he himself recognised Paul as the apostle of the Gentiles, 
 and did not insist on a full observance of the law bj 
 Gentile converts (Gal. 11 9; Acts xv. 19-21, 25-26). 
 He died a death of martyrdom, being stoned by the 
 Jews — as Josephus and Hegesippus relate — shortly before 
 the destruction of Jerusalem, on accoimt of his testimony 
 to Jesus as the Messiah. 
 
 To whom written, — " To the twelve tribes which 
 are of the Dispersion" (i. l). In view of the Jewish 
 traits in the epistle, which have been already pointed 
 oat, and having regard to the migratory habits of the 
 readers (iv. 13), there is no reason to take these opening 
 words in any other than a literal sense. Jews of the 
 Dispersion were to be found in almost every part of the 
 world, as appears from Acts iL 5-1 1. The expression 
 there used to describe the pilgrims who came up to 
 Jerusalem, "devout men from every nation under 
 heaven," is supported by the evidence of many in- 
 dependent witnesses, such as Philo and Josephus. 
 These exiled Jews were chiefly located in Babylon, 
 Syria, and Egypt ; and it was probably to those re- 
 sident in Syria that copies of this epistle would be first 
 lent The epistle is addressed to Christian Jews (iL i, 
 7 ; T. 7-8), of whom there were many in Syria liable to 
 persecution and violence similar to that which Saul was 
 inflicting on the Christians previous to his conversion ; 
 ct ii 6-7 and Acts ix. 1-2. While addressing himself 
 mainly to Christian readers the writer seems also to have 
 occasionally in view his unbelieving countrymen. The 
 denunciations in v. 1-6 may be regarded as an apos^rsphe 
 to the wealthy unbelievers, chiefly of the sect of the 
 Sadducees, who truckled to the Romans and oppressed 
 their poorer brethren, especially those who professed 
 Christianity. James would have many opportunities of 
 hearing of the trials which beset his believing coimtrymeo 
 & Ib tbt^o-caOed) Ckmentim Htmilin and Rt n gn itwm . 
 
JAMES uf 
 
 in their distant homes ; and, as he seem* never to hare 
 left Jerusalem, it was natural that under a sense of the 
 high responsibility attaching to his position he should wish 
 to address them in writing as he does in this epistle. 
 
 Where and when written.— Both Scriptureand tra 
 dition concur in representing James as having constantly 
 resided at Jerusalem, so there is no reason to doubt that 
 the letter emanated from that city. With r^ard to the 
 date of its composition there is less certainty. That it 
 was written before the outbreak of the war, 66 a. D., which 
 put an end to the Sadducean ascendency, is generally 
 admitted. We may also infer, from the absence of any 
 allusions to the sharp controversy regarding the obligations 
 of the Jewish law on Gentile converts which gave rise to 
 the Council of Jerusalem (50 A.D.), that it was not written 
 either at that time or for several years afterwards. 
 
 On the whole, considering the marked absence from 
 the epistle of anything like developed Christian doctrine, 
 the continued expectation which it exhibits of Christ's 
 speedy coming to judge the world (v. 8), and the appli- 
 cation of the term Synagogue to an assembly of Christian 
 worshippers (ii. 2), we are justified in assigning to the 
 epistle a very early date — say 44-49 a, D. If this supposi- 
 tion be correct, we have here the oldest book of the New 
 Testament 
 
 Its Character and Contents.— This epistle is Usi 
 
 doctrinal or theological than any other in the New Testa- 
 menL It partakes largely of the character of the Sermon 
 on the Mount, which it resembles, not only in its general 
 tone and sentiment, but in many of its expressions. * Its 
 tone is eminently practual, the object of the writer being 
 to inculcate Christian morality as essential to salvation 
 {t.g. XL 14.26). But it gives a prominent place to faith 
 and patience {e.g. I 2-12), and includes in its good works 
 the careftil ruling of the tongue (iil 1-12). It also dwells 
 
 1 Ct La and Matt. ▼. 10-12 ; L 4 and Matt. t. 48 ; L 5 and Matt, 
 vfi. 7-12.; u ao and Matt v. 22 ; iL 13 and Matt, rl 14.15 ; fi. 14 aad 
 Matt, viu 21.33 ; »v. 4 and Matt. vL 24 : nr. 10 and Matt. ▼. w ; iv. 
 u and Matt. vu. r-5 ; ▼. a and Matt, vl 19; % m mkI Mate ^ sal 
 f* 8S aiMi Matt. T. 34-37. 
 
138 NEW TESTAMENT 6* ITS WRITERS 
 
 much on the wisdom^ which should characterise the 
 religious man {e.g. iii. 13-18), and refers in detail to 
 many other forms of duty — Christi<in practice being to 
 the writer the highest form of outward worship (L 27). 
 The .tyle of the epistle is sententious and forcible, passing 
 swiftly, and sometimes without any apparent Ic^cal forma- 
 tion, from one topic to another, and it has about it not a 
 little of the vehemence and fervour of the old prophets. 
 James does not hesitate to denounce in very strong and 
 plain terms, which savour, in some respects, of the 
 language of Amos,* the greed and cruelty of the rich, 
 the servility of the poor, and the general vanity, strife, 
 h3rpocrisy, and worldly-mindedness which were character* 
 istic of Ae Jews at tWs period of their history, and had 
 begun to infect the Christians in their midst. 
 
 He insists on character as the test of true religion, and 
 demands that a man shall show the reality of his faith by 
 his life and conduct In his protests against an empty 
 profession of religion, he is led into the use of language 
 which has sometimes been supposed (by Luther, for 
 exampre) to be irreconcilably at variance with the teach* 
 ing of Paul.' But in reality there is no such incon- 
 sistency beween them. 
 
 The good works which James contends for are alto- 
 gether different from the ritualistic observances which Paul 
 refused to acknowledge as necessary for salvation ; the 
 justification he has in view in this epistle is not the initial 
 admission into the Divine favour which Paul's Gentile 
 converts needed, but the continuance of God's people in 
 a state of grace to which they are already called ; while 
 the faith which he depreciates is not that personal union 
 with the Lord Jesus Christ which Paul declared to be all 
 important for the Christian, but mere intellectual belief, 
 such as the acceptance of the monotheistic doctrine (iL 19) 
 
 1 Hence James has been called " the Apostle of Wisdom " ; and the 
 designation given to him in the Greek liturgy is that of ** James the 
 Wise." 
 
 ' Cf. iv. 13, T. i-a and Amos viiL 5, 10 ; t. j and Amos vL !•€. 
 
 S It may have beeo the language of James iL 10 that ga 
 tQ the misrepresentations referred *>n in Acts zv. S4. 
 
JAMES I2(, 
 
 that lay at the foundation of the Jewish faith. No one 
 can read Romans il 17-24 without seeing that Paul 
 would have concurred most heartily in all that this 
 epistle says about the necessity for carrying religion into 
 
xy> NEW TESTAMENT 6* ITS WRITERS 
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 •the first epistle general of pbtek' 
 
 T^HERE is abundant evidence to prove that this 
 -^ epistle was written by the apostle whose name it 
 bears. Hardly any book of the New Testament is better 
 supported by external evidence (extending as far back as 
 the writings of Polycarp in the early part of the second 
 century), while internally it bears in many of its features 
 the stamp of Peter's mind, and the traces of his experi- 
 ence, as these are represented to as in the Gospels and 
 in the Book of Acts. 
 
 From these sources we learn that the apostle was 
 originally called «* Simon, the son of John," and that 
 he was a fisherman of Bethsaida before he attached him- 
 self to Jesus. With his brother Andrew, who brought 
 him to Jesus, he was a disciple of John the Baptist before 
 finding the Messiah. At His very first interview with 
 the new disciple, Jesus discerned his great capacity for 
 rendering service to His cause, and gave him a prophetic 
 token of the part he was to play in the early history of 
 His Church by conferring on him the new name of 
 Cephas (in Greek, Peter^ meaning rock or stone), (John 
 L 40-42). The significance of the name was more fully 
 unfolded at a later time on the occasion of Peter's great 
 confession of Jesus as the Christ (Matt. xvi. 13-19). 
 Like John and James, Peter was admitted to a closer 
 fellowship with his Master than the rest of the disciples 
 (Mark v. 37 ; Matt. xviL i ; xxvi. 37, cf. Mark ilL 16, 17). 
 In company wiib }ohn he «ai a witness of Christ's 
 
I PETER I3X 
 
 trial in the high priest's palace, where he fell into the 
 threefold denial of his Master — to be bitteriy repented 
 of immediately afterwards (Matt. xxvi. 69-75 ; Mark 
 xiv. 66-72 ; Luke xxii. 54-62 ; John xviii 15-27). On 
 the third day after the crucifixion the same disciples 
 went together early in the morning to the tomb and 
 found it empty, as Mary Magdalene had told them^ 
 The new faith which then sprang up in Peter's heart 
 was confirmed by several interviews granted to him by 
 the risen Christ, who gave him a new commission, thrice 
 uttered, to devote himself to the interests of his Master's 
 flock, and predicted that he would iie a martyr's death (John 
 XX. i-io, 19 ; Lukexxiv. 33-34 ; i Cor. xv. 5 ; Johnxxi.) 
 
 In the Book of Acts we find Peter acting as the 
 leader and spokesman of the early Church at several 
 crises in its history, viz. the election of an apostle in place 
 of the betrayer ; the descent of the Holy Spirit on the day 
 of Pentecost ; the admission of the Gentiles, in the person 
 of Cornelius, the Roman centurion, to the communion of 
 the Church ; and the emancipation of the Gentile con- 
 verts from the bondage of the Jewish law at the Council of 
 Jerusalem (Apts i. 15-26; ii. 1-42; x. ; xv. 6-1 1). It 
 appears that shortly after the last -mentioned occasion (50 
 or 51 A.D.) Peter was guilty of vacillation in his relations 
 with Gentile Christians at Antioch — reminding us of his 
 earlier weakness, — which called forth a public remon- 
 strance from the apostle of the Gentiles (Gal. ii. 11-14). 
 
 Regarding Peter's subsequent life scarcely any in- 
 formation is furnished by the New Testament; but 
 ihere is an ancient and general tradition that he suffered 
 .nartyrdom at Rome along with Paul during the persecu- 
 tion in the reign of Nero. Many legends have gathered 
 round his imprisonment, death, and burial. The lack 
 of evidence for these need not prevent us from acquiesc- 
 ing in the general belief of the early Church that it was 
 at Rome Peter suflFered the death by martyrdom which 
 had been predicted by his Lord. This is contradicted by 
 no other ancient tradition of the Church, and we have 
 some confirmation of it in this epistle (see p. 134). 
 
I3a NE W TESTAMENT 6» ITS WRITERS 
 
 In illustration of the remark already made as to the 
 harmony of this epistle with Peter's experience and 
 character, we may note the following points, (i) The 
 writer claims to have been "a witness of the sufferings 
 of Christ " (v. i), and retains a vivid impression of them, 
 as shown in his description of Christ's patience (ii. 20-24} 
 and the frequency of his allusions to the subject. (2) 
 He gives prominence to Christ's resurrection, and repre- 
 sents it as the source of a new and living hope (i. 3-4, 21 ; 
 iii. 20-21), which had precisely been Peter's experience. 
 (3) He dwells upon the pastoral aspect of Christ's 
 ministry (ii. 25 ; v. 2-4) as if under an abiding sense of 
 the responsibility laid upon him by his Master's threefold 
 charge to act the part of a shepherd to his flock. (4) 
 He enlarges on the idea embodied in Peter's name, 
 representing the Church as ♦• a spiritual house " composed 
 of living stones, with Christ Himself as the chief comer- 
 stone (ii. 4-8) — ^to which he had already given expression 
 in his address to the Sanhedrim (Acts iv. 11-12), after 
 the example of his Lord — quoting from the Old Testa- 
 ment (Matt. xxi. 42). (5) His injunction to his readers, 
 "all of you gird yourselves with humility" (literally, 
 *• put on humility like a slave's apron," v. 5), sounds 
 like a reminiscence of the Saviour's action which so 
 astonished Peter when **he took a towel and girded 
 himself" in order to wash His disciples' feet, saying, when 
 He had finished, " I have given you an example that ye 
 also should do as I have done to you" (John xiii. 2-17). 
 (6) His language in L 17 ("And if ye call on him as 
 Father, who without respect of persons," etc. ) bears a 
 strong resemblance to Peter's words at Csesarea, **0f 
 a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons," 
 etc. (Acts X. 34). (7) In ii. 13-16, " Be subject to every 
 ordinance of man for the Lord's sake ... as free," 
 we have probably the reproduction of the lesson taught 
 to Peter by his Lord with regard to the payment of the 
 tribute money (Matt. xvii. 24-27). 
 
 In the last-mentioned passage, as in many others, we 
 can discern traces of the graphic and pictorial style charac- 
 
t PHThR X33 
 
 teristic of the Gospel of Mark, which there is reason to 
 believe is largely a record of Peter's preaching. Such 
 are the expressions, "not using your freedom for a cloke 
 of wickedness" (ii. i6), the word translated ^^ cloke ^^ 
 being peculiar to Peter (only used here), and meaning a 
 veil ox covering \ "ye should put to silence the ignorance 
 of foolish men" (ii. 15), the word rendered '*/«/ to 
 silence " meaning, in a literal sense, to muzzle (as a dog), 
 and being only applied elsewhere in the New Testament 
 to the subduing of an unclean spirit, and the stilling of the 
 raging sea — both in the Gospel of Mark (i. 25 ; iv. 39) ; 
 ** leaving you an example that ye should follow his steps " 
 (ii. 21), the literal meaning of the word translated 
 " example " being the copy-head set before a scholar for 
 his patient and persevering imitation ; ** your adversary 
 the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom 
 he may devour " (v. 8). Akin to the pictorial style of 
 the epistle is the " wealth of epithets " by which it is 
 distinguished, e.g. "an inheritance incorruptible, and 
 undefiled, and that fadeth not away" (i. 4). Ci. L 7f 19; 
 iL 9, etc 
 
 It appears from v. 12 that in writing this epistle he 
 had the assistance of " Silvanus, our faithful brother,** as 
 his amanuensis, who is, no doubt, to be identified with 
 the " Silas " mentioned in Acts xv. 22, 32, 40, and the 
 Silvanus of i Thess. i. i ; 2 Thess. i. i ; 2 Cor. L 19. 
 
 To whom written. — ** To the elect who arc 
 tfojoumers of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cap- 
 padocia, Asia, and Bithynia.** The meaning of tWs 
 address has been much disputed. By some it has been 
 taken in a literal sense as denoting the Christian Jews 
 of the Dispersion residing in the various parts of Asia 
 Minor that are here specified. But this is inconsistent 
 with the language used by the apostle to his readers in 
 L 14; iL 9-10 (where he quotes the same passage from 
 Hosea that Paul applies to the calling of the Gentiles in 
 Rom. ix. 25); iii 6 (R.V.); iv. 3 (R.V.) All these 
 passages would lead us to suppose that the readers of 
 the epistle were largely Gentiles, as we know the mem- 
 
134 NE IV TESTAMENT 6* /TS WRITERS 
 
 bers of the Churches in Asia Minor for the most part 
 were.^ 
 
 The best interpretation of the words ** sojourners of 
 the Dispersion " is to take them in a spiritual sense 
 with reference to the heavenly Canaan, from which 
 Christ's followers on earth may be regarded as tem- 
 porary exiles, the Churches to which they belong being 
 scattered branches of a commonwealth that has its home 
 and its metropolis in heaven. This interpretation is 
 justified by the whole tone of the epistle, which gives a 
 spiritual meaning to the blessings of the Old Covenant. 
 It accords in particular with ii. ii, "Beloved, I beseech 
 you as sojourners and pilgrims, to abstain from fleshly 
 lusts, which war against the soul." 
 
 When and where wrioten. — The only thing we 
 have to guide us as to the place of writing is v. 13: * • She 
 that is in Babylon, elect together with you, saluteth you," 
 i.e. the Church (or else St. Peter's wife, i Cor. ix. 5 ; 
 Matt. viii. 14). By " Babylon " we are probably to 
 understand the city of Rome, as the new seat of oppres- 
 sion and cruelty to God's people. This was the view 
 generally held by the early Church Fathers ; it is in 
 accordance trith the figurative language of the epistle, 
 referred to in the previous section ; and it accounts for 
 the strong resemblance between this epistle and that of 
 Paul to the Romans.* It is almost certain that Babylon 
 has this meaning in the Revelation ; and it woidd 
 add to the force of Peter's exhortations to courage and 
 patience, that he was himself, when he wrote, in the very 
 heart of the conflict. 
 
 With regard to the date of its composition, the proba- 
 
 1 For information regarding the Church in Pontus see Acts ii. ^ ; 
 zviiL a ; in Galatia, pp. 71-73 ; in Cappadocia, Acts ii. 9 ; in Asia, 
 Acts xrC\\. 24-26 ; xx. 17-35 ; Ephesians and Colossians. These 
 Churches had received the Gospel from Paul and his associates. 
 Hence the value of Peter's testimony in v. 12. 
 
 2 E.g. cf. ii. 6-8, Rom. ix. 33, and Isa. viii. 14, xxviii. 16 ; ii._ 13- 
 14, Rom. xiii. 1-4. A resemblance can also be traced to Ephesians 
 and the Epistle of James, showing how little truth there is in Baur % 
 theory of an irreconcilable opposition between Pattl and the rest of 
 th« apostles (Salmon's Intrcdttctwn, pp. 485-89). 
 
I PETER 135 
 
 bility seems to be that the letter was written shortly 
 after the outbreak of the Neronian persecution, when 
 the Churches in the provinces were beginning to experi- 
 ence the effects of the imperial example at Rome, Thi? 
 would be about 64-5 A.D. 
 
 Its Character and Contents. — This epistle 
 
 breathes the spirit of practical earnestness so character- 
 istic of its author. The Greek word "to do good" 
 occurs no less than nine times in the course of the five 
 chapters. There is no want of allusion to Christian 
 privilege and Christian doctrine ; but it is always for a 
 practical purpose, as furnishing motives for Christian 
 obedience. Of this we have an illustration in the 
 frequent use of the words ** wherefore," " because," etc., 
 by way of enforcing practical applications (i. 13, 16, 22; 
 ii. I, etc). The chief duty which the writer wishes to in- 
 culcate is that of patience under suffering (i. 6-7 ; ii. 19- 
 21; iii 13-18; iv. 12-19). Ill many cases this suffering 
 arose from persecution. But it was social rather than 
 legal persecution, proceeding from suspicion and ill-will 
 on the part of the non-Christian members of the commun- 
 ity (ii. 18-19; iii. 16). The very name of Christian was 
 becoming a term of reproach (iv. 16) ; and even worse trials 
 were in store for them (iv. 12, 17). For the endurance 
 af all such unmerited sufferings the apostle points them 
 to the example of the Saviour (whose sufferings are re- 
 ferred to in every chapter), at the same time bidding them 
 take care that they did not bring trouble on themselves 
 by their unworthy conduct. Their trials, he reminds 
 them, are only for a time (i. 6; iv. 7; v. 10), and 
 will receive abundant compensation at the revelation of 
 Christ's glory (i. 7; iv. 13-14; v. 10). "The sufferings 
 of Christ and the glories that should follow " are indeed 
 the two poles around which the whole argument of the 
 epistle turns, resulting in a beautiful blending of patience 
 and hope. Hence Peter has been styled *' the Apostle 
 of Hope." 
 
 Along with the calls to patience there are mingled 
 vaiioos other admonitions addressed to cititgHX^ iL 13' 
 
136 NE W TESTAMENT 6f ITS WRITERS 
 
 17; servants^ il 18-20; wives^ ill 1-6; husbands^ iii 7; 
 elders of the Churchy v. I -4; and the congregation gener- 
 ally, with reference to various duties, iv. 5-II, etc 
 It is worthy of note, that although this epistle has so 
 little of a speculative character, it has been the means of 
 revealing two interesting truths, which would not have 
 been otherwise known to us (i. 12, last clause; iiL 18- 
 20). It may also be said to contain a practical refuta- 
 tion of the Romish theory as to Peter's jurisdiction in 
 the Church. So far from making any claim to authority 
 or pre-eminence, the writer expressly puts himself on a 
 level with the other presbyters, and deprecates anything^ 
 like a spirit of lordship in the exercise of their ministry 
 (v. 1-3). The names " priest," " bishop," ^ " Church," 
 are never even mentioned by him. 
 
 1 Except in tt. as* where, however, it is Chffat Himself who is so 
 Aesicnated. 
 
a PETER *37 
 
 CHAPTER XXn 
 
 8 PKTE» — ^JUDB* 
 "THE SECOND EPISTLE GENERAL OF P«T««" 
 
 WHO wrote it,— The genuineness of this epistle 
 has been more questioned than that of any othex 
 book in the New Testament The external evidence for 
 it is comparatively meagre. While it may be true that 
 echoes of its language are to be found in not a few works 
 of the second century, yet the first writer to make express 
 and unmistakable mention of it b Origen (230 A.D.), and 
 he does so in such a manner as to show that he has doubts 
 about its genuineness. A century later it is classed by 
 Eusebius among the disputed books of the New Testament. 
 
 The difficulty of accepting it as a genuine writing of 
 Peter has chiefly arisen both in ancient and in moden) 
 times from its differing so greatly in tone and substance 
 from the first epistle, written, as we have seen, near the 
 close of Peter's life. There is scarcely any reference in 
 it to our Saviour's sufferings or resurrection, which figure 
 so largely in the first epistle ; and what it chiefly incul- 
 cates is knowledge rather than hope. 
 
 But, apart from the versatility of Peter*i mind, this 
 difference may to a large extent be accounted for by 
 the different circumstances under which the two epistles 
 were written. WTiile the first epistle was evidently 
 designed to encourage and support Christians under 
 persecution, this later one was intended to warn them 
 against false teachers who were spreading corruption in 
 I Oa the connecuon between these two epistles, see p. Z4a. 
 
138 NE W TESTAMENT 6* ITS WRITERS 
 
 the Church. At the same time this epistle, like the firit, 
 is eminently practical, insisting on the necessity of 
 Christian duty for the perfecting of Christian knowledge, 
 emphasising the danger of knowledge without pr&ctice 
 (L 5-10; ii. 20-21), and giving a practical turn to the 
 ailment (iii. ii, 14). Moreover, a close examination 
 of the language and thought in this epistle brings out 
 many points of resemblance between it and P$Ur*s 
 language elsewhere. A likeness to the first epistle will be 
 found on a comparison of the undemoted passages.^ It 
 may also be seen in the frequent use of twofold expres- 
 sions, e.g. (in this epistle) •• precious and exceeding great," 
 "not idle nor unfruitful," "without spot and blame 
 less " (i. 4, 8, 9, 19 ; ii. 3, 10, 13, etc.), and in the marked 
 recurrence in both epistles of the word •' holy. '* A number 
 of rerbal coincidences have also been observed between 
 this epistle and the Gospel of Mark as well as Peter's 
 speeches in the Book of Acts ; but they are for the 
 most part verbal, and such as can only be appreciated bj a 
 student of the originaL' 
 
 It has also been found that this epistle, like the first, 
 it distinguished by the use of rare words, occurring scarcely 
 anjTwhere else in the New Testament ; and these are, for 
 the most part, of a striking and pictorial character, after 
 the manner of Peter. E.g. "whose sentence now firom of 
 old lingereth not*' (ii 3), "turning the cities of Sodom 
 and Gomorrah into asA^s** (ii 6), *^ enticing onstedfast 
 souls," " they entice in the lusts of the flesh " (ii 14, 18) 
 (the word translated " entice " meaning literally to takt 
 with a baity being such a word as a fisherman would 
 naturally use) "which the ignorant and nnstedfast fltmu/, 
 as they do also the other scriptures " (iii. 16) — the Greek 
 word for " wrest " meaning to put on the rack, like a 
 criminal, for the purpose of extorting a desired confession. 
 
 It is worthy oif remark as a note of genuineness that 
 
 & L •, I Pm. L t : L 7, 1 Ptt. L n, fiL I ; L 19-90, i Fct. L >»>xa ; 
 Pet. L tS; BL 5, 1 Ptt. iO. so: L 3, X Pec ▼. le; B. (4* 
 
 ft. I, X Pel 
 
 I Traced bv Dr. Lamby b S^^mJm't Ctmmtutafjt md Es^ost 
 <^, voL Iv., Firtt Seriofc 
 
a F&TER 139 
 
 tltbcxugh the writer wa* evidently acquainted vrith the 
 fiisl epistle (iiL l), he does not copy its des:gnation of the 
 apostle, as a forger might surely hare be«n expected to 
 do, nor doe* be attach the «ame address to the epistle 
 (L I, I Pet. L I), Similarly, when he mentions the 
 wordj spoken by the roice from hearen at the Trans- 
 duration, he does not gire them exactly as they are 
 reported in the Gospels ; and, in immediate connection 
 with the Transfiguration, he makes use of two words, 
 namely ••uberaacle" and "decease," that would natur- 
 ally be associated in Peter's mind with the memory erf 
 that great incident (L 14-18, cf. Luke ix.. 31-33). In 
 his use of the expression in the same passage, " even as 
 our Lord Jesus Christ signified unto me," we may trace 
 an allusion to our Lord's prophecy in John xxL 18-19. 
 
 To whom writteiL — Apf>arently to tiic same 
 readers as the first epistle (iiL i). 
 
 Where and when written. — We may regard it 
 
 as certain that it was written before the destruction of 
 Jemsalem. Otherwise such an impressive instance ol 
 divine judgment could scarcely have been left unnoticed 
 in alluding to the retributive justice of God. 
 
 At the same time the errors and dangers described in 
 dus epistie, which bear a strong resemblance to those 
 referred to in the pastoral epistles (i Tim. iv. 1-2 ; vi. 
 5, 20-21 ; 2 Tim. ii 18 ; iii. 1-7), prove that it could 
 not have been written much sooner than 70 A..D. The 
 allusion to Paal's episties as known to his readers liii. 
 15-16) leads to the same conclusion, as does also the 
 frequency of th« expression " put in remembrance " and 
 kindred words (L 12, 13, 15 ; iii. 1-2), which indicate 
 an advanced period in the apostolic age, as well as in the 
 life of Peter — if he was the writer. 
 
 Like the first episUe, this was probably written from 
 Rome ; bat the use of the ap>ostle's Hebrew name of 
 Symeon, or Simon (L l), as weD as the connection of 
 this epistie with that of jude, would seem to indicate a 
 Palestinian influence of some sort, possibly in the persor. 
 of Peter"! amanaensis or secretary. 
 
40 NEW TESTAMENT 6* ITS WRITERS 
 
 Its Character and Contents. — This epistle, unlike 
 the first, is full of denunciation and warning. It was 
 designed to put its readers on their guard against false 
 teachers, who were enticing unsteadfast souls, •* promis- 
 ing them liberty while they themselves are bondservants 
 of corruption." In opposition to their immoral doctrines 
 this epistle inculcates a steady and persevering endeavour 
 after holiness as the only way to advance in true know- 
 ledge and secure an entrance into the eternal kingdom 
 of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. In particular, 
 the writer seeks to confute the arguments and counteract 
 the influence of certain scoffers who made light of the 
 Second Coming, as if it were a vain delusion, and appealed 
 to the constancy of Nature as a warrant for their unbelief 
 The delay of the divine judgment the writer attributes 
 to the fact that " one day is with the Lord as a thou- 
 sand years, and a thousand years as one day," alleg- 
 ing the delay to be a proof of God's mercy and long- 
 suffering. The destruction of the world in the days of 
 Noah is cited as an act of divine judgment analogous to 
 that which is to take place at the end of the worid, 
 when the destroying element, however, shall be not water 
 but fire. From the dread catastrophe there shall arise 
 " new heavens a 1 a new earth wherein dwelleth right- 
 eousness," for which Christians ought to be preparing ; 
 and the epistle concludes much in the same way as it 
 commenced, by a call to " grow in the grace and know- 
 ledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." 
 
 The intrinsic worth of the epistle is well expressed by 
 Calvin when he says, " the majesty of the Spirit of Christ 
 exhibits itself in every part of the epistle." 
 
 ••the general epistle of jude" 
 
 Who wrote it. — " Judas, a servant of Jesus Christ, 
 and brother of James." It may be regarded as certain 
 that the James here referred to was the well-known head 
 of the Church at Jerusalem, one of our Lord's brethren, 
 and the writer of the epistle that bears his name (cf. 
 
JUDE 141 
 
 Matt xiiL 55 ; Mark vi. 3). Jude is therefore not to be 
 identified with any of the apostles of the same name 
 mentioned in the Gospels. Had he been an apostle he 
 would doubtless have claimed the title, instead of being 
 content to call himself " the brother of James." Regard- 
 ing Jude personally we know little or nothing, but an 
 interesting tradition concerning two of his grandsons has 
 been preserved by Hegesippus. That historian (as 
 quoted by Eusebius) tells how the Emperor Domitian, 
 being moved with jealousy, sent for these two kinsmen 
 of our Lord to inquire of them regarding the kingdom 
 to which they aspired. When he learned from them 
 that they were merely peasant proprietors farming a few 
 acres of land in Palestine, and saw their hands homy 
 with constant labour, and when they told him further 
 that the kingdom to which they looked forward was not 
 of this world, but to be revealed when Christ came to 
 judge the quick and the dead, his alarm was removed, 
 and he allowed them to depart in peace. Tradition tells 
 that they lived to the reign of Trajan, honoured by the 
 Church for their confession and for their relation to the 
 Lord. 
 
 The obscurity of Jude himself is a strong argument for 
 the genuineness of the epistle, as a forger would have 
 chosen some more distinguished name to associate with 
 his work. Although it is reckoned by Eusebius among 
 the disputed books, wc find it quoted by Clement of 
 Alexandria in the end of the second century ; and it 
 has also a place in the Muratorian Canon. 
 
 To whom written. — On this subject we are left to 
 conjecture. Considering the Jewish features of the book 
 and the Jewish character of its author, it would seem 
 probable that it was written to Christians in Palestine, 
 bat not to any particular Church, as it contains no special 
 salutations or messages. 
 
 Where and when written. — Regarding the 
 
 place of writing we have no direct information, but all 
 the circumstances point to Palestine as its source. From 
 the absence of any allusion to the destroctioa of Jerusalem 
 
142 NEW TESTAMENT b* ITS WRITEES 
 
 we may infer that it was written prior to that event ; but 
 here, as in 2 Peter, the evils with which the epistle 
 deals preclude us from giving it a much earlier date, aqr 
 65-68 A.D. 
 
 Its Character and Contents.— This epistle, con- 
 sisting of a single chapter, bears a very striking likeness 
 to the second chapter of 2 Peter, so much so that we 
 may conclude with confidence that the one was borrowed 
 from the other. As this epistle has certain features of 
 originality about it which the other lacks, we may infer 
 that St. Peter and not Jude was the borrower. It is 
 quite possible, however, that the Epistle of Jude may 
 itself be the translation of an Aramaic original — ^judging, 
 for example, from its fondness for threefold expressions. 
 
 The epistle is remarkable for several allusions to 
 matters of ancient history that are not recorded in the 
 Old Testament. In ver. 14 we have a quotation from an 
 apocryphal book of Enoch (of which several copies of 
 an Ethiopic version were brought from Abyssinia by the 
 traveller Bruce in 1773) ; and ver. 9 seems to have been 
 derived from a book called ** The Assumption of Moses," 
 only a small part of which has been preserved to us. 
 These allusions are no more at variance with the 
 doctrine of Inspiration than the quotations in the Old 
 Testament from the *' Book of Jasher," etc, or Paul's 
 allusions to "Jannes and Jambres" (2 Tim. iii. 8), or his 
 quotations from heathen writers. In 2 Peter, however, 
 these quotations are so modified as to lose their apocryphal 
 character, and there is also an omission of one or two 
 references to Levitical uncleanness, as if the writer 
 desired to adapt his epistle as far as possible for general 
 use. 
 
 The epistle is full of sharp and stem denunciation, 
 aimed at practical evils of a most heinous character, 
 committed by men who were ** turning the grace of our 
 God into lasciviousness, and denying our only Master and 
 Lord, Jesus Christ." These evils were founded upon a 
 gross abuse of Christian liberty, and were somewhat 
 similar to the terrible excesses which brok^ oat among 
 
JUDB I4J 
 
 the Anabaptists after the Protestant Reformation, re- 
 sulting from the abuse of the doctrine of Justification 
 by Faith, when professing Christians combined the guilt 
 of Cain (bloodshed), of Balaam (seduction), and of 
 Korah (insubordination) ver. ii. In view of the corrup- 
 tion both of faith and manners that was thus beginning 
 to infect the Church, Jude exhorts his readers to ♦'con- 
 tend earnestly for the faith which was once for all 
 delivered unto the saints," and appeals to the past 
 history of God's judgments for proof of the punishment 
 in store for the present offenders, whom he commends 
 nevertheless to the compassion and care of their believing 
 brethren. 
 
 The epistle concludes with one of the most beautiiu] 
 doxologies to be found ia the New Testament. 
 
144 ^^W TESTAMENT 6* ITS WRITERS 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 I, a, AND 3 JOHN 
 
 "THB FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF JOHN* 
 
 AITHO wrote it. — This epistle is quoted by two ol 
 ^ ' the Fathers who had been disciples of the Apostle 
 John, viz. Polycarp and Papias. It is also recognised, 
 and quoted, as John's by Irenaeus, who had been a dis- 
 ciple of Polycarp. It is freely quoted by Clement o{ 
 Alexandria and TertuUian ; it is referred to in the Mura- 
 torian Fragment, and it is one of the books contained in 
 the old Syriac Version. 
 
 Its internal character is such as to confirm us in the 
 belief that it was written by the author of the fourth 
 Gospel. Not only has it many verbal similarities,^ but it 
 is dominated by the same Christian idealism which refers 
 all things in human life to the ultimate principles of light 
 and darkness, truth and error, good and evil, love and 
 hatred, life and death, God and the devil. So intimate 
 is the connection between the two books that the epistle 
 was regarded by the late Bishop Lightfoot as forming 
 a postscript to the Gospel 
 
 To whom written. — In all probability it was 
 addressed in the first instance to the Churches of Asia, 
 
 \ E.g. cf. L I, John L I, x^ XX. 27 ; La, John iiL ii ; L 3, Joh- 
 xvii. 81 J L 4, John xvL 24 ; l 5, 6, John L 5, iiL ai, viiL la ; ii. 11, 
 John xii. 35 ; uL 14, John v. 34 ; iv. 9, John C 14, iiL x6 ; ir. 14, Tohr 
 nr. 4a ; t. 6, John six. 34, 
 
I JOHN 145 
 
 unong whom the Apostle John spent the latter part of 
 his life. The exhortation in v. 21, «' guard yourselves 
 from idols," would have special significance in the 
 neighbourhood of Ephesus, which was a great strong- 
 hold of idolatry; and the absence of allusions to the Old 
 Testament bears out the supposition that the epistle was 
 addressed to converts from heathenism Although there 
 are no personal or historical allusions such as would have 
 been likely to occur if it had been a letter addressed to 
 an individual Church, yei the writer speaks in a quiet 
 tone of authority as if he were well known to his readers 
 and expected that his words would command respect.^ 
 
 Where and when written. — It was probably 
 
 wruien in the same city as tradition assigns to the Gos 
 pel, viz. Ephesus; and about the same time — 85 a.d., 
 or a few years later. It takes the Gospel for granted, 
 and in certain passages {e.g. ii. I, etc, "my little 
 children ") the tone of its language is such as would befit 
 an aged apostle addressing men of a later generation. 
 
 Its Character and Contents.— In this epistle— 
 
 probably the last inspired utterance of the New Testa- 
 ment excepting the two brief missives that follow it — we 
 have the translation into the Chriitmn life of those great 
 truths, rei^ardiny the fellowship of God with man, that are 
 found in the fourth Gospel in connection with the life 
 and ministry oi Jesus Christ. That Gospel, as we have 
 seen, is doctrinal as well as historical, but its doctrines 
 are here applied tu the lives of Christ's followers. The 
 epi-tle IS thus in advance of the Gospel, being designed 
 to lead Christians to a conscious realiscUton of the new life 
 to which they are called in fellowship with Christ (cf. v. 
 13' and i. 4 with John xx. 31). 
 
 Its thought springs uiaiiily out of a twofold concep 
 tion of the Divine Nature as ««%-4/" (i.-ii.), and as 
 
 1 Aagustine and other Latin writeri speak of the epistle a* 
 •ddressed to the Partkians, but this was probably a mistake 
 occasioned by the Greek term partfunos T' virgin "), which was 
 frcaoently applied to th* Apostle John, in allusion to bu tuppose^i 
 MfaloBg celibacy. 
 
 10 
 
.46 NB W TESTAMENT &• ITS WRITERS 
 
 '* love" {\y. 7-v.), united by a bond of righteousness (ii. 
 29-iv. 6). There is no laboured argument such as we 
 find in some of Paul's epistles, but simply an appeal to 
 first principles that are to be seen with the spiritual eye, 
 not to be proved by means of logic. 
 
 Although lofty and spiritual, the teaching in the 
 epistle is at the same time intensely practical. It was 
 evidently intended to counteract the growing tendency to 
 magnify knowledge at the expense of practice (16-7; ii. 
 3-6 ; iii. 6-IO ; cf. ii. 18-19). One form of this incipient 
 Gnosticism was associated with the name of Cerinthus, 
 who lived at Ephesus in the time of the apostle. Cerin 
 thus, like many others, ^ denied the reality of Christ's 
 humanity, maintaining, in particular, that the Divine 
 Being only entered into the man Jesus at his Baptism and 
 left him on the eve of his Passion. Hence the emphatic 
 statement of the apostle (v. 6), " This is he that came by 
 water and blood, even Jesus Christ ; not with the water 
 only, but with the water and with the blood," — that is to 
 say, the Saviour fulfilled His divine mission in His decUh 
 upon the cross as well as in His baptism. Again and 
 again, in other passages, the apostle insists on the reality 
 of the union between Jesus and the Christ, as an essential 
 element of the Christian faith (ii. 22 ; !▼. 2-3, 1 5 ; v. 
 I, 5;cf. i. 1-4). 
 
 While it gives no quarter to evil and falsehood, the 
 epistle overflows with exhortations to the love of God 
 and man (ii. 9-1 1 ; iii. 11-18; iv. 7-13, 16-21 ; ▼. 1-2). 
 As we read the apostle's langiiage ticre, we find it easy to 
 believe the story told of him by Jerome, that when he was 
 coo old to preach he used to be carried to church, 
 simply to repeat in the hearing of the congregation, 
 '* Little children, love one another." And when some 
 one asked him, " Master, why dost thou always speak 
 thus? "he answered, "Because it is the Lord's com- 
 mand ; and if only this be done, it is enough. " 
 
 D9uta from a Greek word meanmft mfpmnmt% ool 
 
a JUH^ Ut'i 
 
 "THE SECOND EPISTLE OF JOHN* 
 
 Who wrote it. — The external evidence for the 
 genuineness of this epistle is not so convincing as in the 
 case of the one that we have just been considering ; but 
 this is easily accounted for by its brevity and its being 
 less suitable for public reading in church. At the same 
 time, it is expressly quoted by Irenaus and Clement of 
 Alexandria, and is mentioned in the Muratorian Frag- 
 ment. It appears also to have been acknowledged by 
 Eusebius, although he placed it among the •' disputed" 
 books. With regard to internal evidence, it has all the 
 appearance of being genuine. Like the third epistle it 
 bears to be written by *• the elder," a designation which 
 Implies that the writer was a well-known personage 
 in the Church. Papias applies the name of ** elders " 
 specially to the surviving disciples of the Lord, as men of 
 a past generation, — so that there was a certain appropriate- 
 ness in John so describing himself, as the last of the 
 apostles.^ An imitator who wished to pass for John 
 would have made his claim in more distinct terms ; 
 and the contents of the epistle are such that no 
 reasonable motive can be assigned for forgery. 
 
 The genuineness of the epistle derives considerable 
 support also from its strong resemblance to the first 
 epistle, — no less than seven of its thirteen verses having 
 something parallel in the other.' 
 
 To whom written. — " Unto the elect lady and her 
 children." It is a question whether these words are to 
 be taken literally, or in a f.gurativc sense as the designa- 
 tion of a Church and its members. C/n the whole the 
 latter seems the more probable, in view of the expres- 
 doDS used in verses i, 4, 3, 10, 13. Such language 
 
 1 Ct Peter't nse of the expression " a fellow-dder," as applied to 
 himielf (i Peter t. i). 
 
 » C£. rer. i and i John iii. 18 ; ver. 4 and iv. ai ; ver. 5 and B. 
 
 I; w. 6 ud V. 3 ; ver. 7 and iv. 1-3 ; ver. g and iL 33 ; ver. la and 
 4* 
 
14? NR W TESTAMENT 6* ITS WRITERS 
 
 need not surprise us in the case of a writer so fond d 
 symbolism as the author of the Apocalypse and the 
 fourth Gospel. > But which of the Churches in Asia 
 is thus addressed we have no means of knowing. 
 
 Where and when written. — Probably from Ephe- 
 sus, — subsequently to the first epistle. 
 
 Its Character and Contents.— While the epistle 
 contains expressions of warm affection for the members 
 of the Church in question (whom the apostle appears to 
 have recently visited), its main object was evidently to 
 warn them against the insidious and corrupting influ- 
 ence of certain heretical teachers who were going about 
 denying the reality of Christ's humanity (ver. 7). The 
 apostle urges an uncompromising opposition to all such 
 teachers, in terms that remind us of the story told by 
 Irenaeus on the authority of those who had received it 
 from Polycarp, that finding Cerinthus in a public bath, 
 the apostle rushed out at the sight of him, exclaiming, 
 *• Let us fly lest even the bath fall on us, because Cerin- 
 thus, the enemy of the truth, is within," — a speech that 
 betrays a lingering of the spirit that had once been re- 
 buked by his Lord (Luke ix. 54). On the other hand, 
 the blending of love ^ with truth in the earlier part of the 
 epistle is equally characteristic of the disciple ** whom 
 Jesus loved "; and it finds similar illustration in the 
 beautiful story of " St John and the Robber." 
 
 "THE THIRD EPISTLE OF JOHN** 
 
 Who wrote it. — If we admit the second epistle to he 
 the work of John, we can have no difficulty in accepting 
 this also as his. The two epistles have been aptly termed 
 ^* twins " ; * and the contents of this epistle are to peculiar 
 
 ^ Some think that a similar metaphor is to t>e found in Che First 
 Epistle of Peter (v. 13), whom tradition associates in his later years 
 with John. 
 
 ) The word " love " occurs four times in this than eputie, and 
 " truth " five times. 
 
 * For resemblances cf. ver. i and s John vcr. t ; ««r. f^ amf 
 Joha ver. 4: ver. x^ and • John ver. ix 
 
3 JOHN J49 
 
 In their bearing on the position and authority of the a{)Ostle, 
 as to preclude the idea of forgery. 
 
 To whom written. — " Unto Gains the beloved." 
 The name Gains occurs several times in the New 
 Testament ; ' but whether the receiver of this letter 
 is to be identified with any of those who are elsewhere 
 so called it is impossible to say, the name being a very 
 common one. He is addressed as a faithful and liberal 
 member of the Church (verses 1-6). 
 
 Where and when written. — Probably from 
 
 Ephesus, — subsequently to the first epistle. 
 
 Its Character and Contents.— This epistle, like 
 
 the second, gives us a momentary glimpse of Church- 
 life in Asia towards the close of the first century, ^^'hile 
 the second contains a warning against heresy y this relates 
 rather to the evil of schism. It shows us the practical 
 diflRculties which even the Apostle John had to encounter 
 in the government of the Church. In Gaius (the re- 
 cipient of the letter) we have a sincere and charitable 
 Christian whose influence and example John invokes in 
 opposition to the factious and intolerant conduct of an 
 ambitious ecclesia.«;tic named DiotrepheSy who has gone 
 so far as to close his doors on " the brethren " who 
 had come in the apostle's name, apparently bearing a 
 letter from him — perhaps our second epistle (verses 9-lo). 
 The aged head of the Church in Asia feels that it will 
 be necessary, the next time he visits the district, to hold 
 a reckoning with the offender for his malice and pre- 
 sumption. Meanwhile he warns Gaius against being 
 led astray by the example of Diotrephes ; and in pleasing 
 contrast he refers to one Denutrius — pwssibly the '* silver- 
 smith" of Ephesus (Acts xix. 24), and apparently the 
 bearer of this letter — who •* hath the witness of all men, 
 and of the truth itself" Finally the apostle pleads the 
 same excuse for his brevity as he does in the case of the 
 second epistle, viz. that he hopes soon to vuit hii 
 readers, when they "shall speak face to face." 
 
 'Acu xix. a9 ; zs. 4 } Rom. xvu sj ; ■ Co*. L i^ 
 
ISO NEW TESTAMENT 6* tTS WRITERS 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 "Tme REVELATIOW OF ST. JOHN THE DITITni" 
 
 THE Anthor. — There is very strong external eridence 
 to prove that this book was written by the Apostle 
 John. Passing over some earlier apparent witnesses, we 
 find unmistakable mention of it in the writings of Justin 
 Martyr. He expressly refers to it as the work of the 
 apostle, in the dialogue which he held with Trypho, an 
 unbelieving Jew, in the very city of Ephesus where John 
 lived, and within half a century after his death. Equally 
 clear and explicit is the testimony of Irenaeus, who, as 
 we have seen, was a disciple of Polycarp, the disciple of 
 John. In one passage of his writings, Irensetu even 
 gives as his authority for preferring 666 to 6i6 as "the 
 number of the beast," in the disputed reading (xiiL i8), 
 the testimony of those who had seen John face to 
 face. The book is twice mentioned in the Canon of 
 the Muratorian Fragment, once in such a way as to 
 imply that it was publicly read in church ; it was one ci 
 the books on which Melito, Bishop of Sardis, wrote a 
 commentary (about 170 A. D.) ; and it is expressly quoted 
 as " the Scripture " in the letter sent by the persecuted 
 Christians of Vienne and Lyons to their brethren in Asi« 
 Minor (177 A.D.) 
 
 But soon after the middle of the second century the 
 book began to be regarded with suspicion, owing to the 
 use made of it by a heretical party called the Montanists, 
 who indulged in extravagant noti(»is r^;arding the 
 
THE RBVBLATOIN OF ST. JOHN 151 
 
 '• thousand yean** of Christ'f reign with IIis saints which 
 was to take place before the end of the world (xx.) The 
 feeling of distrust was strengthened by observing what a 
 marked difference there was in the language and style of 
 the Revelation and of the other works ascribed to John ; 
 and a considerable amount of controversy took place on 
 the subject. Ultimately, however, the objections were 
 overruled, and the book obtained general acceptance in 
 the Church. 
 
 In modem times the controTersy has been renewed ; 
 and objectors are still disposed to insist, as of old, on the 
 internal marks of a different authorship from that of the 
 fourth Gospel.* In particular it is pointed out that 
 whereas the Gospel is written in good Greek, the Revela- 
 tion is full of grammatical mistakes and eccentricities } 
 so that while there is scarcely anything in the former to 
 show that the writer was other than a Greek, the lattei 
 would give us the impression of its having been written 
 by a person who first thought in Hebrew and had after- 
 wards to turn his thoughts into a language with whidi 
 he was imperfectly acquainted. 
 
 To meet this objection the following considerations 
 may be adduced : — 
 
 (i) The difference in the nature and contents of the 
 two books ; the one being mainly narrative or colloquial, 
 the other being formed on the model of the Old 
 Testament prophets. (2) The possible effect on the 
 apostle of twenty years' residence in Ephesus, in the 
 way of improving his knowledge of Greek. (3) The un- 
 favourable circumstances under which he appears to have 
 written the Revelation ; and the possible employment by 
 him of a skilled Greek amanuensis in the composition of 
 the GospeL 
 
 On the other hand, amid all the diversity between 
 the two books both in ideas and in language, there are 
 not wanting some important features of resemblance, 
 betokening an identity of authorship. 
 
 > Th* TQbingen school, however, generally admit 
 dM wcric of thfs apostle, and reject the fourth GospeL 
 
152 A'BIV TESTAMENT ^ ITS WRH LKS 
 
 (1) The name •♦ Lamb" is only applied to the Saviour 
 in the fourth Gospel (i. 29, 36) and in the Revelation 
 (v. 6, 8, 12, etc.), although it is indirectly referred to in 
 I Peter i. 19 and Acts viii. 32. In like manner the 
 name *'Word" is only applied to the Saviour in the 
 Gospel of John (L i, etc.), in First Epistle of John (i. i, 
 "the Word of life"), and in the Revelation (xix. 13, 
 " The Word of God "). 
 
 (2) Some of John's favourite expressions, such as, "he 
 that overcometh," " witness " (noun or verb), " keep (my) 
 word," are of frequent occurrence in the Revelation. 
 
 (3) In Revelation i. 7 we seem to have an echo of 
 John xix. 34-37, where alone the piercing of our Lord 
 with the spear is recorded, and where there is the 
 same quotation of Zech. xiL lo— in the same unusual 
 form. 
 
 (4) The Greek word meaning "true" or "real," in 
 opposition to what is false or spurious, occurs nine times 
 in St John's Gospel, four times in i John, and ten 
 times in the Revelation ; but only five times in all the 
 rest of the New Testament. 
 
 (5) The Revelation, like the fourth Gospel, recognises 
 our Lord's pre-eminence and His title to divine honours 
 (i. 8, 17, 18; iii. 14, 21 ; v. 9, 13; xix. 16; xxii. 13). 
 
 (6) A still stronger feature of resemblance may be 
 seen in the similarity of the representations which the 
 two books give of the Saviour's triumph as resulting from 
 successive conflicts terminating in apparent and temporary 
 defeat. In these conflicts the Gentiles take the place 
 held by the unbelieving Jews in the Gospel ; and the 
 " disciples " of the earlier days are represented by the 
 Church, or "the bride" (of Christ). 
 
 It has been objected that the Revelation, unlike the 
 other writings of John, gives the name of its avowed 
 author (i. i, 4, 9 ; xxii. 8). But this is sufficiently 
 accounted for by the prophetical character of the book. 
 It was the practice of the prophets of the Old Testa- 
 ment, although not of the historians, to mention tbeix 
 names in their writings. 
 
THE REVELATION OlF ST. JOHN 153 
 
 For whom written. — It was evidently meant fat 
 the Church at large — represented by ** the seven Churches 
 
 which are in Asia " (i. 4). 
 
 Where and when written.— From i. 9 we leam 
 
 that the revelation was made to John when he " was in 
 the isle that is called Patmos " (in the JEgczn Sea) *' for 
 the word of Grod and the testimony of Jesus." From L 
 II ; X. 4 ; xiv. 13 ; xix. 9 ; xxi. 5, we should infer that 
 it was committed to writing in the island immediately after 
 it was received. As to the date of the apostle's banish- 
 ment to Patmos, Irenaeus expressly mentions that the 
 vision was seen almost within his own generation at the 
 end of the reign of Domitian (Emperor 81-96 A.D.) 
 There is nothing in any earlier writer to throw discredit 
 on this statement ; and there are several things in the 
 book itself which seem to point to a late date of composi- 
 tion, e^. the appearance of marked spiritual declension 
 in several of the Churches addressed (ii. 4-5; iii. 1-2), 
 the use of the expression '• the Lord's day " (i. 10), instead 
 of the earlier "first day of the week," and of the phrase 
 **s5magogue of Satan" (ii. 9; iii. 9), which would 
 scarcely have been employed by a Christian writer 
 previous to the destruction of Jerusalem. 
 
 At the same time there are some observations by 
 writers later than Irenaeus that favour an earlier date. 
 Tertullian tells us that at Rome the Apostle John was 
 plunged in burning oil, without sustaining any injury, 
 and that he was afterwards banished to an island. It is 
 in connection with the martyrdom of Peter and Paul 
 that he makes the remark, which suggests the close of 
 Nero's reign as the time referred to ; and accordingly 
 we find Jerome (about the end of the fourth century) 
 making an explicit statement to that effect. It is quite 
 possible Irenaeus may have made a mistake, occasioned 
 f)erhaps by the frequency of banishment in the reign 
 of Domitian ; and this is the view taken by some 
 critics at the present day, who can only account for 
 the style and character of the book on the supposition 
 that it was written a considerable time before the 
 
X54 NEW TESTAMENT fir* ITS WRITERS 
 
 Gospel. Thr key to the interpretation of the book, 
 they conceive, is to be found in the identification of 
 the reigning king in xvii. lo with the Emperor Galba, 
 the successor of Nero. The latter is regarded as the 
 head of the beast referred to in xiii. 3, the healing of 
 Its wf-und symbolising the restoration of Nero, who was 
 then supposed to be still alive and in hiding in the East 
 Confirmation of this is found in xvii. 8, 11, and also in 
 the symbolical "number of the beast" ("the number of 
 a man . . , Six hundred and sixty and six," xiii. 18), which 
 answers in Hebrew letters to the name " Neron Cjesar." 
 But it would be more natural to reckon the number 10 
 Greek letters (as Irenaeus did); and in either case a 
 correspondence to it can be made out in the case of a 
 great many other prominent names. This weakens very 
 much the force of the argument, for ** we cannot infei 
 much from the fact that a key fits the lock, if it is a lock, 
 in which almost any key will turn." 
 
 Its Character and Contents. — The Revelation or 
 
 Apocalypse (a Greek word meaning *• uncovering ") has 
 many of the characteristics of the Book of Daniel. 
 Both t)ooks consist largely of prophecy couched in the 
 language of symbolism. This was a mode of expression 
 frequently adopted by Jewish writers towards the close 
 of the Old Testament dispensation, when owing to 
 foreign oppression it would have been dangerous to 
 speak plainly in matters affecting the national interests. 
 
 The central theme is the second coming of Christ, in 
 a magnificent setting of imagery — designed to represent 
 the great struggles and events that arc to precede the 
 final consummation. 
 
 •• After the Prologue, which occupies the first eight 
 verses, there follow seven sections — 
 
 1. The letters to the Seven Churches of Asia (L 9- 
 ilL 22). 
 
 2. The Seven Seals (iv.-vii.) 
 
 3. The Seven Trumpets (viii.-xi.) 
 
 4. The Seven Mystic Figures — The Sun -clothed 
 Woman; the Red Dragon; the Man-child; the Wild 
 
fHE kEi't.L.-\noN OP ST. JOHN 13- 
 
 Beast from the Sea ; the Wild Beast from the Land ; 
 the Lamb on Mount Sion ; the Son of Man on the 
 Cloud (xii.-xiv.) 
 
 5. The Seven Vials (XV. -xvL) 
 
 6. The Doom of the Foes of Christ (xvii.-xx.) 
 
 7. The Blessed Consummation (xxi.-xxii. 7). The 
 Epilogue (xxii. 8-21)."^ 
 
 The unity of the book is one of its most striking 
 features ; and the attempts which have recently been 
 made by some critics to assign it to several different 
 authors have not been attended with success. 
 
 It must be acknowledged that the interpretation of 
 the Revelation in detail is still, to a great extent, shrouded 
 in mystery. Even those who feel assured that Nero is 
 the man represented by the number of " the beast " find 
 themselves beset with insuperable difficulties when they 
 come to deal with certain portions of the book, while in 
 other passages their theory would seem to imply that 
 some of the predictions of the Seer were very soon falsified 
 by events. This is a supposition which it is almost as 
 difficult to reconcile with the high estimation in which 
 the Apocalypse continued to be held by tke early Church, 
 as with its divine inspiration. 
 
 The safest and probably the truest Interpretation of 
 the book is to regard it as a symbolic representation of 
 great principles rather than as a collection of definite 
 predictions. In other words, it is intended for the 
 edification and comfort of Christ's people, not to give 
 detailed information regarding the future to those who 
 are clever enough to solve its enigmas. ** Here, if any- 
 where, faith and love are the key to knowledge, not 
 knowledge the key to faith and love. It is in the very 
 spirit of the book, not in a spirit hard or narrow or 
 unsympathetic, that it closes with the words 'the grace 
 of the Lord Jesus Christ be with the saints.' " * 
 
 1 Farrar't Metiagex of the Books, p. saa 
 S Dr. Milligan on the Book of Revelation. 
 
 fttfurilitr evidtnct regarding^ the Date and Place ofCompMiiUm. 
 Me the d*mv 8«w edition 0/ this Uxt-book, pp. 975-6, t GuiU 
 Library v«L» p, 190* 
 
 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMKKICA 8 
 
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